NAUTICAM NA-ELP3 with Olympus 12 mm lens

[slowhands]

Right now, I just don't see the lenses I want from Sony NEX. I was looking at picking up a 5n just to play with, but It seemed like there was a so-so 16mm, and a so-so 18-55, a nice 30mm macro lens and not much else for wide angle or close up underwater. I do believe Sony could develop such things, but they don't seem to have them on the roadmap right now. I also looked at using existing A-mount lenses on the LA-EA2, and that seemed a better bet today, but the A-mount lenses are rather large and the resultant system would be large. I'm curious how my 11-18mm lens would do, but not sure what the housing/port options are. If Tokina came along with an e-mount 10-17 fisheye, that would be a killer lens. I don't know whether that is in the works, just saying that lens would be a game changer.

Anyway, until there is a family of good lenses of rational size, I will wait and let others pioneer. I'll keep an open mind, because there is a lot to be said for the larger APS sensor size in terms of ultimate image quality. But I have a modest investment in lenses for M43 and they do the job for now.

There could be other forks in the road ahead too. I would expect Canon to release a new line of mirrorless cameras in the next year, and that too bears watching. Poor Nikon, they will crash and burn with the Nikon 1, but they can afford it I guess. It should be an interesting new year.

 

[derway]

Right! Even the macro lens is really to short for underwater. 45mm. Too short to photograph anything with eyes, that can get away!

 

[Patrick_J]

Thanks Phil! I read your comment regarding the 12mm and the 4.33 Nauticam dome in another thread, and was hoping you would give some more information about this setup.

I’m a Pentaxian who just recently sold my entire gear to switch to either m43 or Nex (oddly enough I will still consider myself a Pentaxian – I guess some things don’t change). The Oly 12mm is one of the lenses I’m looking at as a possible companion to the 8mm fisheye to cover all sorts of WA, and being able to use the same dome is great news! Was the corner sharpness useless when using larger apertures, 2.0-5.6?

Regarding the Nex system, there is no doubt that these are great little cameras. While on a diving trip to the Philippines earlier this year I kept bumping into this one very nice American couple, and the guy was using a Nex-5 /Nauticam setup. During one dive I got the opportunity to try it out, and I was impressed with the whole setup. The one thing I did not like was how you switch between apertures and shutter, I remember it as quite tedious and definitely much more complicated than my s90. The m43 don’t have separate aperture/shutter controls either, but at least on the GH2 you can press the thumb wheel to switch between the two – I think that is a solution I can live with.

Patrick

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hello Patrick,

Just slight corner softness at F/2, I shoot most of the time in the F/7.1 range +/- a stop or two. I agree that the 12mm and 8mm fisheye would be a great combo for your wide angle needs.

All of the mirrorless cameras in this price range and above still only have ONE command dial and the GH2 is included. This means that no matter how you cut it a button press will be required to switch between F/stop and shutter speed.
The NEX-7 will be the exception with a dial for F/stop, Shutter speed and ISO without going into the menu or what ever else you want to set it up for.

I am working on a review for publication in January on the Inon X-2 housing for the Canon EOS 60D camera.

I intend to do a review for March on the Pextax K-5 and housing. The K-5 is one of the best, if not the best APS-C sensor cameras out in the last year. I wish I could get my hands on the steller 200 macro for that review.

Phil Rudin

 

[derway]

Hi Phil.

The problem with oly's UI, is that it requires one to push the e/v button every single time, to adjust fstop or shutter speed. Every single time you take a photograph, it forgets what you were adjusting last time.

Every other camera I've ever used or held, including panasonic, sony, nikon, and canon, all remember what you were doing last, and let you continue doing that same adjustment without the extra button push.

It is so annoying. Well, that and the unusable burst mode.

BTW, the oly ep3 has 2 wheels, and now there is a cost effective housing for it from 10bar.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Derway,

I am not sure I understand your Olympus problem. I shoot the Olympus PEN cameras in manual mode and once I set ISO, Shutter speed and F/stop they stay where I have set them until I make a change which does not need to be done after every photo. I agree that a camera with two command dials speed the process but at what cost. The E-P3 "kit" released at $899.00 the same as the Canon T2i and T3i "kit". The Canon camera's are small, have a wide range of interchangable lens from a number of makers, many housing options and better image quality as well as an optical viewfinder. The Olympus E-P3 has no better image quality than the E-PL3, this is why few E-P3 housings will be released. Athena also makes a housing for the E-P3 with much better quality ports but at a higher cost.

Phil Rudin

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

The DXO review for the Olympus M43 12mm F/2 lens has now been posted and it is in fact the stand alone W/A lens in the prime and zoom range. While it is a bit expensive it is a great W/A choice.

Phil Rudin

DxOMark - Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0

 

[nikitich]

Dear Phil! Do you know if a 12mm lens will work in Oly housing with a 9-18 zen port?

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

The 12mm is a very small lens and it would sit so far back in the 9-18 dome port that I think it would vignette.

Phil Rudin

 

[tripntx]

Will the Oly 12mm lens work with ZEN dome port for the Panny 8mm fisheye? I own ZEN dome for 8mm fisheye and ZEN dome for 7-14mm len. Have both those Panny lenes and the Oly 12mm lens.