PHIL RUDIN
Contributor
All Nauticam MINI ports will work with the Nauticam NA-EM1 housing, as well as the ZEN Underwater ports.
OLY E-M1 New Camera
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Man, that new housing looks pretty sweet. Love the new shutter release and same size (basically) as the EM-5 housing.
PHIL RUDIN
Contributor
Hi Guy,
If you have not handled the camera and checked out the excellent features, the new much larger & sharper viewfinder and the 12-40mm zoom you should. I have used underwater photography systems for over 45 years now without any vacuum system and I can see how old-timers would not give it much notice. Now that I have had a chance to check it out I can see the wisdom of the vacuum system and I think it will be one of those things like the cell phone where you did not know you needed it until you have it.
I like that the grips direct mount to the housing with no need for a tray and the way the function buttons are more spread out even with more controls.
Phil
If you have not handled the camera and checked out the excellent features, the new much larger & sharper viewfinder and the 12-40mm zoom you should. I have used underwater photography systems for over 45 years now without any vacuum system and I can see how old-timers would not give it much notice. Now that I have had a chance to check it out I can see the wisdom of the vacuum system and I think it will be one of those things like the cell phone where you did not know you needed it until you have it.
I like that the grips direct mount to the housing with no need for a tray and the way the function buttons are more spread out even with more controls.
Phil
OP
Does the Vacuum system connection replace the bulkhead connection for the electronic synch cord or is it in addition to?
PHIL RUDIN
Contributor
One is made that can be used with the bulkhead connection and one is made that fills the single port opening.
It "looks" like there is one bulkhead port in the housing, which comes with an M16 vacuum valve installed. The vacuum valve can be replaced with an offset vacuum valve so you can use a sync cable like a Nikonos. Scroll down to the Nauticam section and you can see images of the housing and a video on the vacuum system.
Wetpixel DEMA reports 2013 :: Wetpixel.com
Wetpixel DEMA reports 2013 :: Wetpixel.com
I'm quite torn about upgrading. The two things I wish my EM5 had was shutter I could reach while griping the handle, and mounting brackets on the top of the handles to for a more solid link. The EM1 looks to have both. But i've only used my EM5 for 14 months and 150 dives, I was hoping to get another 3 years of use out of it. What do you think the used market value for an EM5 housing with camera? No ports or lenses.
Hennyb
Registered
The offset vacuum valve will allow both the vacuum valve and sync cable to be used at the same time.
Phil, I looked around on the web about the EM1 and will check out the camera, but from what I have seen, I am content with the EM-5 for a few more years. For me the EM1 is not an upgrade path. The ergonomics of the EM-5 are excellent and the EM1 takes ergonomics up to the outstanding level, but there is no corresponding increase in image quality. The EM-5 is still plenty good enough ergonomically and the image quality is just as good as the EM-1 both for stills and video.
The cost of upgrading is $1400 for the EM1 body and, I am going to guess after selling the EM-5 housing, still another $1K for the new housing.
$2400 for no improvement in still or video image quality is not a viable upgrade path for me. That would buy me a trip to Soccoro where I could get the same unforgettable images with my EM5 as I could with the EM1.
If I were new to an UW photo system, the EM1 would be in the running, but you now have the D7100 out there with much higher still and video quality, costing significantly less for the body and maybe even less overall for the body, housing and ports. Same could be said for the new Canon 70D or even the old 7D. There is a lot of competition out there and the EM1 is very, very expensive for what it is. Less image quality for more money. As nice as it is, this is going to be a tough sell for Olympus.
The big advantage of the EM5 was reasonable price for excellent image quality, plus the home-run low price for the Nauti housing. If Oly is going to price its camera higher that better-quality APSC DSLRs, and the housings are going to reach near-DSLR price levels, the m43 price advantage disappears pretty quicklym it loses out on image quality, and the advantage boils down to size only.
For an upgrade, I will wait for the next Oly iteration with improved video frame rate selection/higher bit rates, and hopefully 24mp sensor. In other words, a jump in image quality in addition to the considerable improvement in ergomonics.
The lens looks more interesting to me for land use. Just can't see it as a replacement for the 12-50 for all-around under use underwater though. I never shoot underwater at 2.8 and usually am at f8 or f11, maybe 5.6 at the 12mm end. So, the extra speed is not an advantage. Also, stopping the lenses down decreases the difference in image quality and the new lens seems better but not with major, decisive advantages at those apertures. The new lens has excellent close focus from what I have seen, but not on the same level as the 12-50 macro mode. To get there with the new lens you have to go back to the clumsy diopter system that I was so glad to get away from with the 12-50 Nauti set-up. Also, with the weird hyper-extension during zooming, it is not even clear that the lens would work in any flat port (probably only a big dome) so that macro would become useless and diopter use impossiblely clumsy.
Olympus hit a real sweet spot in quality, price and ergonomics with the EM5, and Nauti hit the same sweet spot with its housing and port system especially the 12-50 port. This new one is not in the cards, for me.
The cost of upgrading is $1400 for the EM1 body and, I am going to guess after selling the EM-5 housing, still another $1K for the new housing.
$2400 for no improvement in still or video image quality is not a viable upgrade path for me. That would buy me a trip to Soccoro where I could get the same unforgettable images with my EM5 as I could with the EM1.
If I were new to an UW photo system, the EM1 would be in the running, but you now have the D7100 out there with much higher still and video quality, costing significantly less for the body and maybe even less overall for the body, housing and ports. Same could be said for the new Canon 70D or even the old 7D. There is a lot of competition out there and the EM1 is very, very expensive for what it is. Less image quality for more money. As nice as it is, this is going to be a tough sell for Olympus.
The big advantage of the EM5 was reasonable price for excellent image quality, plus the home-run low price for the Nauti housing. If Oly is going to price its camera higher that better-quality APSC DSLRs, and the housings are going to reach near-DSLR price levels, the m43 price advantage disappears pretty quicklym it loses out on image quality, and the advantage boils down to size only.
For an upgrade, I will wait for the next Oly iteration with improved video frame rate selection/higher bit rates, and hopefully 24mp sensor. In other words, a jump in image quality in addition to the considerable improvement in ergomonics.
The lens looks more interesting to me for land use. Just can't see it as a replacement for the 12-50 for all-around under use underwater though. I never shoot underwater at 2.8 and usually am at f8 or f11, maybe 5.6 at the 12mm end. So, the extra speed is not an advantage. Also, stopping the lenses down decreases the difference in image quality and the new lens seems better but not with major, decisive advantages at those apertures. The new lens has excellent close focus from what I have seen, but not on the same level as the 12-50 macro mode. To get there with the new lens you have to go back to the clumsy diopter system that I was so glad to get away from with the 12-50 Nauti set-up. Also, with the weird hyper-extension during zooming, it is not even clear that the lens would work in any flat port (probably only a big dome) so that macro would become useless and diopter use impossiblely clumsy.
Olympus hit a real sweet spot in quality, price and ergonomics with the EM5, and Nauti hit the same sweet spot with its housing and port system especially the 12-50 port. This new one is not in the cards, for me.
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