Canon r50 or Olympus E-M10 IV?

[Macdalmore]

Hi

I'm looking to upgrade my Olympus tg5 since I want better image quality.
I was leaning towards the Olympus E-M10 IV with AOI housing, but I've found a second hand canon R50 with Nauticam pro housing in the same price range.
I've been mainly shooting macro but also the occasional wide angle.
Now I would like to have some advice which camera is better at the moment since I can't find much info on de canon r50.

 

[David Haas]

Search under Canon R50 and Nauticam housing and you should find many posts by me and few others.

The Canon R50 Nauticam will require you sue wet bayonet lenses for wide angle and closer macro but is a dream to dive and shoot.

Good luck!

David Haas

 

[Macdalmore]

Search under Canon R50 and Nauticam housing and you should find many posts by me and few others.

The Canon R50 Nauticam will require you sue wet bayonet lenses for wide angle and closer macro but is a dream to dive and shoot.

Good luck!

David Haas

Thanks for the fast response, I've read all posts so far on this forum about the R50. The wet lenses aren't a deal breaker for me, I just have my doubts about the macro capabilities (since I haven't seen any macro photo's).

 

[keeperguy64]

I've been going through the same decision process and came up with a list of pros for each of the cameras:

R50:

• Phase-detect autofocus (the EM10IV is contrast detect) which is the superior variant. Likely most noticeable in lower light situations and might reduce the need for a focus light
• Larger sensor (APS-C vs micro 4/3) in a very similar body size.
• Nauticam housing has a deeper depth rating (100m vs 40m)

EM10IV:

• Housing is roughly 1lb lighter and smaller
• Interchangeable air lenses (R50 is wet lens only)
• Dedicated exposure controls (R50 has one dial and buttons to change it's function)
• Standard M67 port works with most accessories (the Nauticam R50 housing has a bayonet mount and requires M67 -> bayonet adapters for most attachments)

With the OM setup, if you wanted to use dedicated air macro lenses you'll also need to buy additional ports which will add to the cost, size, and weight. If instead you went with wet lenses the two systems have pretty similar kit lenses and the wet lens options are the same.

Multiple people have told me to buy a nauticam housing as a "buy once cry once" type of purchase. So if you can get a nauticam housing and a comparable (arguably better?) camera for the same price that would be my choice.

 

[David Haas]

I will add owning a Canon R50 and also cheaper Canon R100 the CMOS DPAF focusing capability on these cheap offerings is astounding. And that's coming from a person who shot plenty of dSLR and compact cameras with contrast focus for years.

Just one old guy's option

David Haas

 

[Nemrod]

That is a hard choice. I can see both but now owning the Nauticam NA-R50 I might lean that direction. It all comes down to ports and lenses vs water contact optics. The OM Systems camera can use flash triggers, the R50 cannot as housed by Nauticam. So the R50 will use the camera strobe for sync, the OM uses either a hot shoe mounted flash or a hot shoe mounted trigger. One is very simple and works excellent, the other more complex, expensive and potentially allows longer battery life and faster multiple photos. Both allow full manual control with no-preflash or pre-flash with TTL. The OM will allow RC control with a compatible (YS) strobe.

Since I also have a Sony in a NA-6400 housing with ports and lenses and adapters and electronic flash triggers I thought to just go simple and get the NA-R50 that just does what I need it to do with the fewest extra pieces and complexity and parts to haul about.

IMO, the OM is a more ultimately capable camera ($$ because of the many lenses and port combinations possible and flash and trigger combinations $$) but IQ may suffer in comparison to the R50 due to the smaller sensor. I doubt this is a real issue for your use. If an issue at all.

Edit to add this, the single dial with ISO/f stop/shutter I thought would be a fuss using a button to switch, in fact during use I find the controls to be quick, easy and intuitive to make rapid adjustments, at least with the Nauticam ergonomics it works well. My Sony NA-6400 has dedicated controls, yet, I am as fast with the Canon NA-R50 as with the Sony, or close enough it does not matter.