NAUTICAM NA-ELP3 with Olympus 12 mm lens

[PHIL RUDIN]

I had a chance to shoot with the Nauticam NA-EPL3 housing and the Olympus 12mm wide angle lens last week. I was diving with SPLASH DIVE CENTER (splashbelize.com-highly recommended) in Placencia, Belize at Silk Key.

I was using the Nauticam 4.33 inch dome port with this lens and the 8mm fisheye which I will address in another post. I found the lens to be very sharp behind the dome with little corner softness. The lens focuses very close which allowed me to get within inches of the Lion fish below. This is a great lens for fish portraits and larger animals like the Loggerhead turtle feeding on lobster remains being dumped near the keys by local fishermen. I also took some split shots during lunch on one of the local keys. The smaller dome and 12mm lens combo set at F-22 using ISO-200 gave we a shutter speed of 1/160th in the bright midday sun light. The other images also at ISO-200 and 1/160th ranged from F/7.1 to F/9 with two Inon Z-240 strobes. I have now used the Nauticam housings for both the E-PL2 and E-PL3 cameras and find them to be great travel systems.

Phil Rudin

 

[derway]

Thanks Phil! Great work.

So do you feel there is a big difference, auto focus and shutter lag wise, from the epl2 to the epl3?

Will you be reviewing the oly housing?

I see with excitement that 10 bar is making a housing for the ep3, no l. This strikes me as a much better user interface, for M mode.

How do you adapt to the menu driven system, shooting M mode, with no dedicated SS and fstop dial?

Thanks for your guidance here.
Don

 

[Thiad]

Very nice, Phil. How do you like this against the NEX5? I friend and I were discussing the merits of both.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Don,

AF is a non issue with this F/2 lens, the auto focuses is very fast. Most of the mirrorless cameras have one control wheel other than the coming Sony NEX-7 with tri-navi. I set ISO before the dive and change shutter speed very little, so that leaves F-stops. I don't find making the SS or f-stop change to all that big a problem, but it is not as easy as with a high end DSLR with dual wheels. Several of the entry level DSLR's only have one control wheel.

I have no experience with 10-bar so would have no idea how they work.
EP-3 has an extra control but will not be that popular for U/W photography. Athena also has an EP-3 housing.

No plans for a review on the latest Olympus Pen housing at this time. I am not impressed by the new quad light port and feel the $200.00 price increase is a waist since many will replace the port with a ZEN Underwater port.

I think the Sony NEX-5n is the best mirrorless camera to date and that the NEX-7 will be even better.

The best lens set is still with the M43 cameras, both the Olympus and Panasonic lenses like the 12mm, 8mm fisheye, 7-14 and 9-18 zooms and the 45 macro. So the issue is do you want the best camera or the best lenses.

Phil Rudin

 

[derway]

Hmm, all the panasonic mirrorless cameras have the 2 thumb wheels, except that silly gf3.

To me the ep3 with the extra thumb wheel is way better as a land camera. Assuming one wants to have a good land camera, and a housing for it, the 10bar housing for the ep3 really sounds like an affordable route.

Though the ep3 with the EVF is $1150, which is almost the same price as a GH2, or nex7 and more than a canon t3i. I really like the image color and exposure controls on the PEN cameras, but they are not up to the g3 or gh2, for IQ, especially as ISO goes up.

Wow, I wonder if any one will house the ricoh APS-C 24-85mm unit for the GXR?!?!

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Not sure what you are calling a thumb wheel on the Panasonic mirrorless cameras. If you stick to the mirrorless cameras (body only) under $600.00 new street price one thumb wheel is the norm. The differences between the GH-2 and Olympus EVF's compared to the NEX-7 OLED finder are reported to be like night and day. In the over $1000.00 body only range a case will be made that an DSLR like the Canon t3i could be a better choice in part because of the large lens range.

The image quality of the NEX-7 seems to be in a league of its own as well, way better than every mirrorless camera and also better than almost all APS-C DSLR cameras.

Phil Rudin

 

[deeper thoughts]

thnx for posting

 

[Prop Joe]

Not sure what you are calling a thumb wheel on the Panasonic mirrorless cameras. If you stick to the mirrorless cameras (body only) under $600.00 new street price one thumb wheel is the norm. The differences between the GH-2 and Olympus EVF's compared to the NEX-7 OLED finder are reported to be like night and day. In the over $1000.00 body only range a case will be made that an DSLR like the Canon t3i could be a better choice in part because of the large lens range. The image quality of the NEX-7 seems to be in a league of its own as well, way better than every mirrorless camera and also better than almost all APS-C DSLR cameras. Phil Rudin

I guess I should have waited longer... Is Nauticam to house the NEX-7? I just bought the E-PL3 and Nauticam housing rig and its on the way here. I have some rather expensive Tele glass to attach to my new E-PL3 from my old E-510 via an adapter for land use. Seems I'm always playing catch-up with technology. I bet I'm not the only one though!

 

[derway]

Yes, the nex7 appears to have precisely as good SNR and DR as the nikon d7000, with more resolution!

If only there were some lenses!

Phil the pan gf1, gf2, have a real thumb wheel, on the upper rear right side, above the 4 way rocker controls.

Not the fiddly little dial wheel AROUND the 4 way rocker controls.

They all have the same 12 mpix sensor as all the oly pens. It is not competitive, DR or SNR wise, even with the nikon series 1.

The panasonic g3 and gh2 have much better sensors than any of the oly PENs, and also have the dedicated thumb wheel on the back.

Wow, that nex7 is incredible! I wonder if the new panasonic gx1 EVF will be up to the challenge?

Comparing these and looking at the graphs of SNR and DR is very instructive!

DxOMark - Sony NEX-7 comparisons and review

We are blessed with a plethora of choices.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hello Joe,

As a result of the floods in thailand that the NEX-7 will not hit the US. until late January or February 2012 with another two or three month wait for a housing. Camera and housing will be in the entry DSLR price range not the average mirrorless camera range and yes I think Nauticam will have an NEX-7 housing.

Regarding Derway's comments,

First when Olympus released the first DSLR the E-1 only four lenses were released. The progression of M43 lenses from Olympus and Panasonic has has gone the same way as the 43 lenses. So it will be from Sony and any after market lens manufacturers with new lenses coming every year.

The fact that the thumb wheel is located at the top of the Pana cameras and not as part of the four way control does not change the fact that it is still one wheel and requires a menu call-up every time you want to change shutter speed or F/stop. With the NEX-7 in manual mode you have a control wheel for F/stop, Shutter speed and ISO and those three wheels can be configured in different ways for different modes including the video modes.

To say that the Olympus 12 MP sensor is not competitive is just wrong, if you are looking at nothing but the DXO mark reviews you are not getting the total picture. If you look at the DXO reviews the E-PL1 camera rates higher than the E-PL3. If you go to DPReview and compare the E-PL3 to the E-PL1 the 3 gets higher marks for raw and jpag image quality. The 3 also gets sightly higher raw image quality marks over all of the Panasonic cameras you listed including the GH-2. In addition image quality is not the only factor that makes a good camera. While none of these cameras are "pro" quality cameras they are all able to take "pro" quality images and the Olympus 12mm lens that started this post is one of those pro level lenses image quality wise.

Last the "fiddly little dial wheel" on the Olympus E-PL3 works extremely well in the NAUTICAM NA-EPL3 housing which was also the topic of this post. The main command wheel on the NA-ELP3 housing is as smooth as glass and sits directly below the right thumb on the rear of the housing where it can be located without having to take your eye off the subject. It is separated from the five push buttons on the four way arrow pad which also works quite well. I have attached a photo of the rear of the housing where you can see the well thought out control layout. Note the moisture alarm at the top right of the housing.

If you are an Olympus PEN fan and have an investment in Olympus and Panasonic M43 lenses or you plan to go with the M43 system any of the Nauticam housings for the Olympus or Panasonic line of M43 cameras would be a wise choice.

Phil Rudin