Canon G12 versus Olympus Pen E-PL1

[squadron633]

I went with a set-up that was recommended to me by Backscatter Photography in Monterey. Fortunately, I live in San Jose, CA so I could actually drive to Backscatter and do some talking before I bought.

I have the E-PL1, the Olympus housing, Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe, and the Ultralight tray/arm/mount. Total cost $1900. The camera comes with the standard 14-42 zoom lens; the housing has the flat port.

The G11/G12 takes a fisheye wet lens add-on, as I remember, but the Olympus takes a fisheye lens and port. My belief is that the Olympus allows better incremental additions, and it is a much better camera.

I had the advantage of having used the Olympus before; during DOG days at Monterey, Backscatter was showing it and allowing people to do test dives with it.

I have not added a focus light to it yet. That may be quite useful in Monterey. My previous setup had a really tiny lens, so DOF wasn't that much of an issue.

 

[Greenbriel]

Hi Frank, lovely setup. I am in the process of building some thing similar, just ordered ULCS tray, handle, arms, and the first of two C&C YS-01 strobes. Sola 600 and Zen port (I have the 9-18 also) on the horizon.

Pardon my ignorance, but what are the round objects at the elbows and by one of the strobe heads in your photo?

Of course they announce the E-PL2 and smaller housing 2 weeks after I bought everything, but if you keep waiting for the upgrade you'll never take a photo, right?

Cheers,

-Gabe

Hi Connie,
Thanks for the kudos.
I have the Olympus housing, the Zen dome and the 9-18mm lens as well as a couple of Inon s2000 strobes. I also have the sola600 video/focus light.
This housing or the 10bar one will work fine with your Sea & Sea strobes. In fact I am 99.999% sure the housing is made by Sea & Sea.

 

[under water]

Hi Frank, lovely setup. I am in the process of building some thing similar, just ordered ULCS tray, handle, arms, and the first of two C&C YS-01 strobes. Sola 600 and Zen port (I have the 9-18 also) on the horizon.

Pardon my ignorance, but what are the round objects at the elbows and by one of the strobe heads in your photo?

Of course they announce the E-PL2 and smaller housing 2 weeks after I bought everything, but if you keep waiting for the upgrade you'll never take a photo, right?

Cheers,

-Gabe

Those round things are TLC/Aquatica clamps. That picture shows my setup with an Ikelite tray and handles, ULCS arms and a mix of ULCS and TLC/Aquatica clamps. I have since moved to a complete ULCS setup, tray, handles, arms and clamps. The TLC/Aquatica equipment was great, but so are the ULCS ones.
The round thing attached to the arm on the left side of the picture is an INON holder for external 67mm wet lenses.
It's all very portable.

 

[Greenbriel]

Thanks so much for the quick reply, Frank. Glad you approve of an all ULCS setup Portability was definitely what I was after. I would have like the S&S 110a, but I felt keeping the whole rig more portable beat out a stronger strobe.

Another stupid question: can you use wet lenses with the Zen port? I imagined wet lenses would only work with the stock flat port. I only have the 9-18 and 14-150 lenses for my E-PL1, but was considering getting the kit lens and macro wet lens while we wait for a real macro lens from Oly.

What wet lenses do you use? Do you have a photo gallery where I can see more of your great shots?

Thanks again, appreciate the guidance.

 

[under water]

.... can you use wet lenses with the Zen port? I imagined wet lenses would only work with the stock flat port. I only have the 9-18 and 14-150 lenses for my E-PL1, but was considering getting the kit lens and macro wet lens while we wait for a real macro lens from Oly.

Not with the dome port. Phil mentioned in a post that the new Zen port for the macro lens would have threads to use wet lenses. Oly sells a 67mm adapter that clips (not too securely) onto the front of the port that comes with the housing. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but will pretty soon.

....What wet lenses do you use? Do you have a photo gallery where I can see more of your great shots?

Thanks again, appreciate the guidance.

Thanks! Just click on the picture in my signature. That will bring you to some of my U/W pictures.
I used the UWL-100 quite a bit with my G9. I actually had it on my G9 for 90% of the time during a Turks & Caicos trip in 2009. It was great for video, especially when you popped an orange filter over it. I tried using the UWL-100 with the Oly, but it really doesn't work so I ended up selling it.
I also use the INON UCL-165M67 close-up lens.
http://www.delargy.com/2010_04_Roatan/album/slides/banded_coral_shrimp.jpg

 

[Greenbriel]

What a great gallery Frank! Bookmarked for continued perusal. It's awesome to see you significantly improve over the years. Gives me hope

Here' the only one I have taken so far that's worth sharing (taken in Cozumel last month with a tiny Canon 780IS)

IMG_5905 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The shrimp macro is insane, have to look into that INON lens. I figure I will either buy the 14-42 II when the E-PL2 comes out and use it with an add-on macro lens, or just wait for Oly to release theirs. M43 has really got me jazzed about photography again, both above and below the waves. The Panasonic 20mm 1.7 is a delight on this thing.

Thanks again for all your insight, it's much appreciated.

-Gabe

 

[sipadiver]

Which is preferable for low-light shots - the Canon g12 or the Olympus EPL1 ?

 

[Puffer Fish]

Great discussion guys. I find any of the advanced point and shoot cameras are such a different animal than any interchangeable lens system that it is difficult at best to compare them, but that is what anyone wanting to take nice images is faced with.

I have a G10, S90 and Pany LX-5 in different types of housings (cannon, Ike and 10 bar respectfully) and a GH-1 (with 7-14 and 45 macro).

There are times using any of the above that I wish I had the other one. They require different setups, different skills...I like both actually, for different reasons.

Image quality - well, if you are shooting ISO 80 -100, it is very hard to tell the difference up to and including 11 x 14 prints (assuming one did not crop a lot)..it is all the other stuff that is very different.

 

[under water]

Which is preferable for low-light shots - the Canon g12 or the Olympus EPL1 ?

My experience (extrapolated from G9) and opinion - The E-PL1 or the newer E-PL2 is better.
Bigger sensor = more light = better low light performance.
However, if you are talking about U/W photos, you really should address low light with a strobe. Bring your own light.

 

[PatW]

I looked at a review of the Olympus pen and the verdict was that it was great at base ISO but not good at low light situations.

It does have a larger sensor than the Canon G12 which means you should have better resolution. You should not have as much in the way of diffraction issues. Of course shooting the G12 near wide open will avoid diffraction problems because of the small sensor.

As to the interchangeable lenses, that seems to me to be a little pointless. There are really only 2 camera lines with a good array of interchangeable lenses and those are Canon and Nikon DSLRs. No one else comes close. If you want to go to interchangeable lenses, you are talking about DSLRs. At least, that is my personal take on it.

However, photography can be full of compromises. Underwater camera systems can get enormous fast and enormously expensive. That can lead to shifting over to a campact system like the G12 or the Olympus Pen. The Pen does have the larger sensor and one would think a bit more flexibility because of the interchangeable lenses.

I have a G11. On shore, I use a Nikon D300. I have been pleasantly surprised by the G11. It is a nice little camera.