Housing for C-3020

[scubagirl95]

Hi there,

I am itching to break into u/w photography and have an Olympus C3020. I've been looking at housings for a while and have a few questions.

PT-10 vs Ikelite 6130.1? Ah, the choices.... I have only heard good things about the Ikelite and a few instances of flooding with the PT-10.

Just a new housing or a complete new kit and kaboodle camera and all? Looking at some of the online photos taken with this camera, I think I'll be pretty happy with just the housing. I am a rec diver mostly in Monterey/Carmel although I'm looking to get my first warm water dives pretty soon.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Happy New Year.

Lori

 

[DirtRider]

I have the same camera...curious as well...

 

[ABQdiver]

The real problem is finding a PT-10! In the Olympus digital camera world that camera and housing are out of production. I have one that is still in use (daughter uses it) with a C4040 and it's fine. With only one o-ring, you have to be very deligent with the cleaning routine.

If you spend the dollars for the Ikelite, which will serve you well, see if you can pick up another camera just in case something happens with your present camera.

 

[bobf]

fwiw,

When choosing a digital camera for underwater use, imho that camera should offer full manual control of Aperture, Shutter, and ISO. The camera should also have an off the shelf housing available. The Oly 3020 fulfills all these basic requirements.

However, for the price of a new Ikelite 6130.1 (US $600. msrp), you could almost purchase a brand new Fuji E-900, F-10, or F-810 camera and a new Ikelite 6154.xx housing!

Point is, unless you can find either a used PT-010 or a used 6130.1, I would suggest a newer model camera that offered 2-3 times more megapixels combined with a new housing.

btw, my 6130.1 housing is still in excellent condition four years after purchase.....imho an excellent investment (nfs of course )

my .02psi,
ymmv,
imho,
hth,
b

 

[Gilligan]

Hi there,

I am itching to break into u/w photography and have an Olympus C3020. I've been looking at housings for a while and have a few questions.

PT-10 vs Ikelite 6130.1? Ah, the choices.... I have only heard good things about the Ikelite and a few instances of flooding with the PT-10.

Just a new housing or a complete new kit and kaboodle camera and all? Looking at some of the online photos taken with this camera, I think I'll be pretty happy with just the housing. I am a rec diver mostly in Monterey/Carmel although I'm looking to get my first warm water dives pretty soon.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Happy New Year.

Lori

The aformentioned posts are good advice. The PT-010 housing is near impossible to find and if you do find one it will be a used one.

The Ikelite housing ,while a quality product, is too expensive for your outdated camera.

You are much better off buying a new point and shoot camera with the respective housing.

Do your homework before choosing a camera. Be sure it has manual controls for the shutter speeds and lens openings, manual white balance capability, a large monitor (the bigger the better for underwater) and a strong built in flash.

Many of the new point and shoot cameras, while high in megapixel ratings, have sacrificed other features to cut costs. I noticed some of them have very limited F stop ranges and shutter speeds as well as no zoom capability in the macro mode.

You can get very good underwater photos with a basic point and shoot camera using the built in flash for macro shots and manual white balance for the non-flash shots coupled with a software program for post-processing your photos.

 

[bobf]

............I noticed some of them have very limited F stop ranges...................

Excellent post, agree 100%, just one clarification (as I'm aware Gilligan understands but a newbie may not.........)

When reviewing f/stop range specs on some newer digital camera models, the manufacturer may supply data such as f/2.8-f/4.9. What this states is that when focal length is at minimum, in other words for a wide angle image capture, the minimum aperture opening size is f/2.8. But when you are at full zoom, iow at maximum focal length for a telephoto image, the f/stop ratio is now f/4.9. Point is, the manufacturer is not stating the aperture range of the camera, just the minimum f/stops (the lower the f/stop number, the greater the potential for light capture, the larger the diameter of glass, the more glass required, theoretically the more expensive to produce.......= a selling feature.....)

The aperture most likely has actually stayed the same diameter, only the focal length has changed. Without going into detail, the f/stop data supplied is actually a size ratio between the diameter of the lens opening (aperture) and distance between lens and sensor (focal length).

Most likely, you may still stop down the aperture to f/8 or so. For instance the Oly-SP 350.........

hth,
b

 

[evil_xander]

I have the same camera, C3020Z, and the same problem. Since the PT-010 is nearly impossible to find, and the cost of an Ikelite one exceeds the camera value by far, I've decided to look for a new camera.

Looking at Olympus, Canon and Fuji, it seems I'll go with C7070, mostly because it's an Olympus, with all manual features needed, including wide lense. I can still get one for a fair price, even though it is discontinued (I'm not too fond of SP-XXX series...).

I'd go with Fuji S9500 or even Sony DSC-R1 just by looking at the features and specs, but pricewise, they borderline on the edge of DSLR underwater housings, and that's something I'm not willing to pay at the moment (novice diver and never made a single photo underwater ).

In the future, who knows, but for now, land and underwater, C7070 looks like the lesser of all evils in non-DSLR world.

Not to mention the strobes as a second step...