buying the Olympus C-5050Zoom and PT-015

[Dominiek]

My husband and I have been renting underwater camera's for a couple of years and have now decided to buy a digital camera with an underwaterhousing. We want to buy the Olympus C-5050Zoom with the PT-015 housing. Where (in the States) can we buy this equipment for the best price. Is the PT housing the best one for this Olympus camera?

 

[sapphire]

Dominiek once bubbled...
My husband and I have been renting underwater camera's for a couple of years and have now decided to buy a digital camera with an underwaterhousing. We want to buy the Olympus C-5050Zoom with the PT-015 housing. Where (in the States) can we buy this equipment for the best price. Is the PT housing the best one for this Olympus camera?

I just purchased this camera and housing. I used http://www.pricegrabber.com to find the camera, where I selected the company "NWV Direct" and paid $535. I purchased the housing from http://www.etronics.com for $149. Both sites add shipping to these costs. I had no problems with ordering or receiving the items immediately.

I am still learning how to use the camera, but I had great fun in Cozumel and Little Cayman learning how 'on the fly'! Now I need to take a course in Adobe Photoshop, and look for a strobe!

Have fun shopping!!

sapphire

 

[indiana*joe]

I just got mine 2wks ago. Been doing ALOT of playing to get used to all the workings of the camera. I got mine from CAMETA CAMERA thru the web. $569 + $169 + $12 shipping. I picked them because of the high Ebay rating and no BS way of doing business. I read alot of threads on many of the other places that have all sorts of scam techniques to make the money up from the low quoted prices. As one person I talked to put it - you can only get the products so cheap as the manufacturer cannot sell them cheaper. So of the places were actually advertising below the a major wholesalers cost. Just be sure you get some referrals. Also, I went with a new one instead of a refurb. May or may not have been worth the $100, but at least I sleep better - ha! I ran across a post from a teacher who had received 25 or so from Oly and after running them through a yr long photo class of getting dropped, sat on, etc, they all were still in perfec working condition. Just another data point....

Good luck!

 

[WileEDiver]

sapphire once bubbled...
I just purchased this camera and housing. I used http://www.pricegrabber.com to find the camera, where I selected the company "NWV Direct" and paid $535.

I also ordered (last week) and have already received my C-5050z from "NVW Direct" [$523--included a free camera case]. I was very satisfied with my salesman (Henry) [no hard-sell for accessories]. The entire transaction went very smoothly.

 

[lragsac]

Dominiek once bubbled...
Is the PT housing the best one for this Olympus camera?

The Olympus PT housing is not necessarily the best housing for the camera. It certainly is the least expensive option you would have. It depends on what features you would like to have, how you intend to use the housing, etc. Ikelite and Light & Motion also make housings for the 5050, although they are considerably more expensive. I have the PT housing and I really like it. It's light, compact, easy to care for, and the controls are really nice. It is rated for 130', so that suffices for most people. The really nice thing about it is you can use it without a strobe, and then, as you get comfortable with it and are ready to invest more $$, you can move into a single or double strobe setup.
You might try checking out digitaldiver.net and doing a search or posting a question. There are lots of very knowledgeable folks on that board that can give you pros and cons of the various housings for this camera.

 

[AmateurCichlids]

I purchased mine from digitallydiscovered.com. They screwed up the order twice and were persistent on trying to sell extras. The price was the cheapest I found however at $485 The housing I picked up for $149 at mdi-usa.com and had no problems with them what so-ever. I've been unsuccessful at using this camera without a strobe. I'll be posting a thread on advice for settings and such and what strobe to use with this camera.
AmateurCichlids.
http://www.amateurcichlids.com/scuba/cape_ann.shtml

 

[Gilligan]

There are plenty of folks using the Oly 5050 with only the built in flash. Most of the better photos are with the macro setting. Check out some of the photos in the weekly contest at:
http://www.digideep.com/potw.php
You would be surprised at how good some of them are.
I am still using the 2040Z in the PT-010 and do not use a strobe. I find that using Macro mode with manual settings in the A/S/M selection quite often gives better results with the A selection of the ASM mode using F8 with the shutter speed being automatic. Also turning down the flash seems to help in many cases. This website also shares info on using the camera without a strobe:
http://www.digitaldiver.net/lib_docs/olyprimer.pdf
:shades:

 

[sapphire]

lragsac once bubbled...

I have the PT housing and I really like it. It's light, compact, easy to care for, and the controls are really nice. It is rated for 130', so that suffices for most people.

I forgot to add - it fits into an Igloo cooler, which the dive operation gave me for my "PRB" ("personal rinse bucket") in Little Cayman! I think I might buy one to also protect it on the plane if I want to pack it in my luggage.

I also ordered (last week) and have already received my C-5050z from "NVW Direct" [$523--included a free camera case]. I was very satisfied with my salesman (Henry) [no hard-sell for accessories]. The entire transaction went very smoothly.

Wow, WileDiver, you got a better deal than me! I also had no hard sell, but a suggestion that the Olympus battery charger was not the greatest (it is not!) but I purchased another one elsewhere with some longer-life batteries.

sapphire

 

[sapphire]

AmateurCichlids once bubbled...
I purchased mine from digitallydiscovered.com. They screwed up the order twice and were persistent on trying to sell extras. The price was the cheapest I found however at $485 The housing I picked up for $149 at mdi-usa.com and had no problems with them what so-ever. I've been unsuccessful at using this camera without a strobe. I'll be posting a thread on advice for settings and such and what strobe to use with this camera.
AmateurCichlids.
http://www.amateurcichlids.com/scuba/cape_ann.shtml

I will be looking forward to that so I can research my next purchase!

sapphire

 

[AmateurCichlids]

When I said I'd be posting a new thread, it was to ask for advice, not to give it. I've spent the last five hours going through forums, digital phot sites and personal sites looking for advice on using my Oly-5050, PT-015 with internal strobe and so far I've come up with, "Don't remove the diffuser plate."
I'm hoping I can find someone who uses this setup without a strobe that can give tips on the list of settings they use.
Amateurcichlids