AOI UH-EM1 III housing

[d^2b]

Does anyone have experience with the AOI UH-EM1 III housing? I like the idea of a built in strobe trigger and vacuum system and the price seems quite good, especially some package deals with the body. I'm curious about TTL flash compatibility. I have a couple of Sea&Sea YS01s, and I'd like to continue using them for now.

[1]: Olympus OM-D E-M1 III body + AOI UH-EM1III underwater housing

 

[Barmaglot]

I don't own one, but I've followed some discussions... the included trigger is manual-only, but since your strobes are YS-01 rather than YS-03, this shouldn't be a problem - shooting manual is not particularly complex, and produces more predictable results than TTL. It uses the smaller diameter PEN port system, so mounting larger-diameter pro series lenses is extremely cumbersome - you have to have the housing with a PEN-OMD adapter mounted, but without a dome on top of it, insert the camera body into the housing without a lens attached, attach the lens through the port opening, mount the dome, then seal the housing. When you want to download the photos or change batteries, you have to do the process in reverse - remove the dome, remove the lens, then take the camera body out. Fortunately there is a lens release button on the housing; on the previous E-M1 II model which did not have it, you could mount the lens, but there was no readily available way to get it off. With these caveats, it's a good system.

 

[Furnari]

I upgraded to the AOI EM1-III housing from an M1 mkI in an Olympus housing. As Barmaglot notes, the strobe trigger is manual only. I had a Turtle TTL trigger with the M1mkI, and the transition to shooting manually wasn't as much of a pain in the @ss as I anticipated. What is a pain is using OMD-style ports; it's a lot more steps to take and, as with anything involving camera and housing prep, it can't be rushed. Overall, I'm happy I made the switch- the smaller form factor of the AOI housing is nice both in the water and out of it.

That said- if you don't already have an M1mkIII, the housing for the OM-1 is the same price, and the OM-1 is a pretty significant improvement. The subject detection autofocus makes it worth the added cost, and there is an improvement to image quality. It's not much, but it is noticeable.

 

[d^2b]

That said- if you don't already have an M1mkIII, the housing for the OM-1 is the same price, and the OM-1 is a pretty significant improvement. The subject detection autofocus makes it worth the added cost, and there is an improvement to image quality. It's not much, but it is noticeable.

It's mainly the combination price which makes this tempting: at USD2300, it's only a little more than the OM-1 body alone.

 

[Ardy]

hi guys, just looking to rationalise my camera stack. I have 2x EM5 II bodies for my Oly housing and I use an EM1 mk2 for bird photography. Looking at buying the AOI EM1-III housing which has a kit for the Mk 2. Is there any issues with it apart from manual trigger which is not a problem to me.
I have the AOI DLP-04P semi dome which I have not tried with my 30mm macro but it works with the 60 macro.

 

[bvanant]

The OM-1 housing from AOI seems solid (2 dives with it so far) and it should be fine. Don't know about using the OM1 II in that housing though.
Bill

 

[Ardy]

Hi Bill, Very jealous of your OM-1 but I will buy the AOI OM1 -III which also takes the MkII.

Just trying to get my old head around any issues I may face. Checked that the port release is on the outside.and it is.
Pity about the 12-40 as I would have liked to use that but once I connect the port I rarely if ever take it off, or as Popeye used to sing "Leave well enough alone toot toot!".

 

[d^2b]

I upgraded to the AOI EM1-III housing from an M1 mkI in an Olympus housing. As Barmaglot notes, the strobe trigger is manual only. I had a Turtle TTL trigger with the M1mkI, and the transition to shooting manually wasn't as much of a pain in the @ss as I anticipated.

Just spent a couple of weeks diving in Belize, and mostly taught myself to shoot with manual flash. I think the shots I miss due to my incompetence are no more than the shots I used to miss due to TTL misfire or (more often) waiting for the on-camera flash to recharge. Turning the on-camera flash down to 1/64 power makes it no longer the bottleneck, and the whole setup feels much more responsive.

 

[Orcabait]

I upgraded to the AOI EM1-III housing from an M1 mkI in an Olympus housing. As Barmaglot notes, the strobe trigger is manual only. I had a Turtle TTL trigger with the M1mkI, and the transition to shooting manually wasn't as much of a pain in the @ss as I anticipated. What is a pain is using OMD-style ports; it's a lot more steps to take and, as with anything involving camera and housing prep, it can't be rushed. Overall, I'm happy I made the switch- the smaller form factor of the AOI housing is nice both in the water and out of it.

That said- if you don't already have an M1mkIII, the housing for the OM-1 is the same price, and the OM-1 is a pretty significant improvement. The subject detection autofocus makes it worth the added cost, and there is an improvement to image quality. It's not much, but it is noticeable.

I just purchased the same housing and I can’t figure out the camera settings to with with the optical trigger. I’m using two sea & sea ys-d2s.

Could you share the settings for the flash that you’re using? The documentation seems lacking, or I am just not reading it correctly.

 

[bvanant]

I am assuming here that the AOI strobe trigger for the EM1-III is the same as for the OM-1. I am being careful with instructions, if you have done all this then I apologize.
First make sure that the trigger/vacuum port is charged, usb cable attached til the light is solid green.
Second plug in the plug from the hotshot into the USB-C connector in the housing. Put the camera in the housing and turn on the trigger/vacuum (should be blinking blue). On the camera make sure that the flash setting is on. On the strobe make sure that you are in the single lightning bolt position.
This should work fine, I will verify with a YS-D2 in a few minutes.
Bill