E-PL1 first pictures and review

[Byte Me]

Mike,

Frank nailed all of the responses as I would expect! He's got a lot more experience than I do with the m4/3 Oly setup!

The red of the Sola light works awesome at night and provides plenty of light for focus but is always overcome by the strobe so no red shows in pictures. Focus was quick with the red light and one of the biggest benefits was blood worms and the like are not attracted to it so minimal backscatter, unlike using white light for focus lights as my buddy and others did.

Like Frank, I turned off continuous auto-focus. One thing I did do though that IMO made a HUGE difference was I assigned focus to the fn button. That way I could lock focus on what I wanted much more easily than pressing 1/2 down on the shutter release. Made things worlds easier.

I didn't shoot TTL, but put the strobe in auto and set the power to f5.6, would adjust as necessary from there depending on if it was morning, noon (high, bright sun), afternoon or night.

I shoot the Panny 7-14 for wide so got the Zen 7-14 dome. Yes, you can use the 14-42 in that dome as well.

No problem with motion blur unless I was the one that was moving from surge or whatever. There were times that I wanted to bump shutter speed rather than lowering flash power to keep from blowing out highlights but in those cases I generally played w/ f stops.

Have fun and make sure and post back once you get your new setup underwater! Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[nudibranco]

here is what I did to attach the PMLA macro adapter to the zen port. Very easy to attach some thick velcro or thick sticker to both the top and bottom of port and then attach the PMLA adapter. I also use a couple of thick elastics to make sure it stays well in place. With this setup I am able to get very close and get reasonable macro pics. Take it off and you have full 28mm wide angle support with the kit lens...!

 

[Byte Me]

here is what I did to attach the PMLA macro adapter to the zen port. Very easy to attach some thick velcro or thick sticker to both the top and bottom of port and then attach the PMLA adapter. I also use a couple of thick elastics to make sure it stays well in place. With this setup I am able to get very close and get reasonable macro pics. Take it off and you have full 28mm wide angle support with the kit lens...!

Nice work. May have to try that.

 

[dna77054]

Thank you Phil, Under Water, and Byte Me for the quick and very informative replies. After checking the prices, I think I will stick with the oly 9-18 instead of the panny 7-14.

Unless any of you can offer a good reason to go with the 7-14. How much extra field of view does one get from 9mm down to 7mm. Will that extra FOV make much of difference? I will mostly NOT be shooting with a dedicated WA lens, although I may go to Tonga in a couple of years for the whales.

Great to read about the red focus lights abilities. I plan to get a less expensive focus light with a red filter. The SOLA looks great, but I just cannot bring myself to spend that much on a focus light. I am a member of HUPS, the Houston Underwater Photographic Society, and one of our members has one. Maybe he will loan or rent it out.

I will probably get a Sea and Sea YS-01 strobe (backscatter and ocean optical have some nice ready to go Oly PL2 packages) and use my current YS-27 as a second strobe. Anybody know why the YS-01 does not appear to use a diffuser? Will that matter?

Also is there any way to "lock-in" the focus lock so that it the camera keeps the same focus shot to shot. I currently do this with with my compact digital on hard to focus subjects and bracket some shots by slightly changing my distance to the subject, much quicker that auto-focus with my older compact digital. Also do any of you miss manual focus, or the is to auto so good that it is not much of an issue?

Also what would you all recommend for a wet mount macro lens? Is the Oly "2X" wet mount any good? Most wet mount macros I have seen appear to have similar prices. What should I look for in a wet mount macro, and what should I avoid.

Would you recommend have strap wrenches to help change the ports? How difficult is it?

Thanks for all the help.
Mike

 

[Byte Me]

Mike,

I went with 7-14 for one reason - I was told that shooting underwater is like shooting through fog. YOU may be able to see a car 20' away and make out plenty of detial but, zoom all you want you're still shooting through 20' of fog and your camera can't make out any detail. The 7mm end allows you to get even closer yet still capture a huge field of view. It was worth the extra few $ at the time I bought but I understand prices have gone back up.

Sola is a lot more than a focus light! It's a great night video and day fill in video light as well. Iif you only have one strobe it does a very good job of filling the portion of the frame a single strobe leaves out on a big subject.

There are a couple that are much more than the Oly, Inon, etc. I got an Inon because that's the one that Reef recommended.

Strap wrench would for sure make life easier changing the port, especially the first couple times, but if you keep things lubed you shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[under water]

.. is there any way to "lock-in" the focus lock so that it the camera keeps the same focus shot to shot.

You could switch to manual focus after using auto. A few button presses to do that.

Would you recommend have strap wrenches to help change the ports? How difficult is it?

YES!!! I almost popped an artery trying to take the dome off. $3 well spent.

Sola is a lot more than a focus light! It's a great night video and day fill in video light as well. Iif you only have one strobe it does a very good job of filling the portion of the frame a single strobe leaves out on a big subject.

Agreed 100%! If you just want a focus light the Sola600 is probably overkill.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

"Unless any of you can offer a good reason to go with the 7-14. How much extra field of view does one get from 9mm down to 7mm. Will that extra FOV make much of difference? I will mostly NOT be shooting with a dedicated WA lens, although I may go to Tonga in a couple of years for the whales".

Regarding the difference between the 7-14 and 9-18 zooms, at 7mm the lens has a diagonal angle of view of 114 degrees at 9mm the AOV is 100 degrees. This is a large difference when the object is to try to reduce the amount of water between the lens and subject.

Both are excellent lenses when used with the ZEN Underwater ports but provide much different angles of view.

Phil Rudin

 

[dna77054]

"Unless any of you can offer a good reason to go with the 7-14. How much extra field of view does one get from 9mm down to 7mm. Will that extra FOV make much of difference? I will mostly NOT be shooting with a dedicated WA lens, although I may go to Tonga in a couple of years for the whales".

Regarding the difference between the 7-14 and 9-18 zooms, at 7mm the lens has a diagonal angle of view of 114 degrees at 9mm the AOV is 100 degrees. This is a large difference when the object is to try to reduce the amount of water between the lens and subject.

Both are excellent lenses when used with the ZEN Underwater ports but provide much different angles of view.

Phil Rudin

Does the 14-42 work under the Zen 7-14mm dome? If I can find a discounted 7-14mm I may go that route, right now everything I find is about $1000.

 

[Byte Me]

Does the 14-42 work under the Zen 7-14mm dome? If I can find a discounted 7-14mm I may go that route, right now everything I find is about $1000.

Yes, the 14-42 does work under the Zen dome. There has even been at least one person to rig up a way to use the macro wet lens on the Zen dome as well for when using the 14-42

AND that would be Nudibranco up there in this very thread post #22!

 

[dna77054]

Another question guys.

What wet mount macro lens would you recommend.

So far I am looking at the Olympus "2X", the F.I.T +5 diopter, and a Dyron. All have similar prices in the range I am willing to spend.