Question Critique My Setup/Planned upgrade

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AggressorBLUE

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Howdy folks; was hoping to get some input on where I can optimize my photo kit load out and thoughts on some upgrades I’m making. As some background:
-I’m generally a travel diver. Based in the Philly area, I’ve not done any Jersey diving yet, and local dives tend to be up at Dutch Springs (which is now wonky given they were recently sold :( ). So that means most of the truly photogenic dives are on the 1-2 trips I take a year. So ”travel friendly” is a term important to me when selecting dive gear, particualy with camera equipment. For further background, I’ve been diving for about 20 years, and am a certified NAUI DM. Typical dive buddies are my father (30 years exp., NAUI Instructor) and Wife (about 5years exp. AOW and Nitrox).

-The next trip I have is to West Palm, and will be my first time diving the Blue Heron Bridge (Super excited!!!), and really my first foray into serious Macro Photography. NC OBX and FL Keys are also frequent destinations.

So with that said, here’s my current setup:
Main rig:
-Olympus OMD EM-5 Mk II in Ikelite Housing
-Twin Ikelite DS125 Strobes
-Main lens of choice is the Olympus 8MM F1.8 Pro Fish Eye and 8” Ikelite dome.
-Also have the smaller dome and Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro

Secondary Rig:
-Olympus Tough TG-6 and Olympus Housing
-Backscatter AIR wet lens
-Cold shoe mounted Sea and Sea focus light (forget model off top of head, but something like 900 Lumens)


So with that said, I see two roads to macro:
-Option 1: One of the Oly Macros (I’d go for the 60, 30 doesn’t have enough reach, 90 is too expensive) and matching port. Figure about $700 for that option, if I can find the lens used (seems doable, been around awhile). But then I need to Snoot out the Ike strobes, which has additional cost. In fact I was investigating said cost until I saw…

-Option 2: kit out the TG-6 for Macro shooting with Backscatters new MiniFlash 2. Seems like that would be roughly the same cost by the time I got the flash, snoot, fiberoptic cord, and assorted mounting hardware. I’d also pick up the AOI 90* viewer adapter; which at $160 is a much more affordable solution than the $1k cost of the 90* adapter from Ikelite. (I’ll acknowledge the Ike product seems more robust and can swivel, but still…)

Option 1 would see the TG-6 handed over to my Dad/Wife for point-and-shoot duty (the damn sand tiger that followed me around for a whole dive in NC and NO ONE got pictures of was the straw that broke that camels back…), whereas Option 2 would see the EM-5 setup for WA with the 8MM; Neither father nor wife want to deal with strobes and settings; both are fine with the rigs set to “Point and shoot mode;”. For the Bridge I’d likely de-strobe the EM-5 rig and hand off in auto-mode, and my main would be the Macro focused TG-6; for the more open water/reef–and-wreck dives I’d restrobe and main with the EM-5, and set the TG-6 back to flash-less point/shoot.

I lean towards the Option 2: TG-6/MF2 route for a few reasons: the TG-5 seems to punch above weight when it comes to macro. Also the MF 2 looks like a sleek solution for a flash (travel friendly!); I especially like that the onboard focus light can show the exact area and size of the flash cone for fool proof snooting. Not sure a snoot for the DS125 would do the same? Finally, I like that this makes for an overall stramlined rig. The EM-5 II rig isn’t exactly a porker by modern camera housing standards, but its certainly more to push through the water and deal with, especially in surgey and high current conditions (and I’m of the understanding the BH Bridge can get that way; lots of tidal influence depending on dive timing). Sadly, my current Ike housing won’t play nice with optic triggered strobes, so the MF 2 is out of the question For option 1.

BUT, I’m keen to see what the Scuba Board hive mind thinks…

Related tangent: I’m considering buying a couple of Ikelites dome diffusers for the 125s; $90 each seems a bit pricey though; can anyone vouch that they have a marked impact on back scatter reduction? Thats my main motive for seeking them; softer lighting would be nice but I can generally tweak harshness in post. Would live well into option 2 above; the EM-5 is lit and lensed to be the wide angle wonder, the TG-6 is the Micro-Macro-Machine.

Thoughts?
 
Interesting analysis, but you are totally leaving out image quality differences due to sensor size and sensitivity.
The TG-6 indeed punches above its weight....but it is just not the same as your 4/3 OM-5.
You will not be encountering sure and currents at BHB; camera/strobe size is really only important for getting to and from the ater, and into tight psaces while u/w, and tehre aren't many of thsoe at BHB.
The 60mm is a great lens at the BHB.
You don't need snoots for macro, but yes they are nice.
Since you really want to do macro, have you thoguht atbout the 60mm for your OM-5 and the MF-2 with a snoot? Forget the 8mm and your 161s....BHB is not a wide-angle place.....
 
Interesting analysis, but you are totally leaving out image quality differences due to sensor size and sensitivity.
The TG-6 indeed punches above its weight....but it is just not the same as your 4/3 OM-5.
You will not be encountering sure and currents at BHB; camera/strobe size is really only important for getting to and from the ater, and into tight psaces while u/w, and tehre aren't many of thsoe at BHB.
The 60mm is a great lens at the BHB.
You don't need snoots for macro, but yes they are nice.
Since you really want to do macro, have you thoguht atbout the 60mm for your OM-5 and the MF-2 with a snoot? Forget the 8mm and your 161s....BHB is not a wide-angle place.....
Good points re IQ. I admittedly hadn’t weighed that all too much.

That said, to get the Ikelite housing working with the MF2 (or any optical triggered flash), I need to use the below adapter from ikelite (to the tune of $250). Looks like the adapter translates the hot-shoe electrical pulse to an optical one (there’s no room in the house for the clip on flash for the camera, so no way to ‘organically’ optically trigger). Also, I’d be choosing to go all in on optical triggering, as that seems like a semi-permanent modification, and is mutually exclusive to electrical TTL, so I’d have to either sell my DS125s and upgrade to optically triggered or get the adapters for the Ikelite strobes that let them receive optical signals. Either option tosses TTL out the window :(

Link to adapter:

All that said, I’m not entirely against the idea of retiring the 125s’. As I mentioned I’ve been diving for 20 years…and ~15 of those years have been with those strobes. They’re workhorses, but are showing their age. One of the batts is still from the original purchase of them, and needs to be replaced, with another battery is circa 2013, so not far behind it. Point being, if I’m going to jump to optical, maybe now is the time.

Really was hoping to NOT have to buy new strobes yet though… [sigh]
 
Good points re IQ. I admittedly hadn’t weighed that all too much.

That said, to get the Ikelite housing working with the MF2 (or any optical triggered flash), I need to use the below adapter from ikelite (to the tune of $250). Looks like the adapter translates the hot-shoe electrical pulse to an optical one (there’s no room in the house for the clip on flash for the camera, so no way to ‘organically’ optically trigger). Also, I’d be choosing to go all in on optical triggering, as that seems like a semi-permanent modification, and is mutually exclusive to electrical TTL, so I’d have to either sell my DS125s and upgrade to optically triggered or get the adapters for the Ikelite strobes that let them receive optical signals. Either option tosses TTL out the window :(

Link to adapter:
You are right; you have the wrong housing for your OM-2.
So go with the TG-6 and MF-2. Igore the IQ, and ignore the lack of a manual setting, and ignore the limited apertures.....it only has 2, plus a 3x Neutral Density filter.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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