Oly EPL 1, Panasonic GF1, Canon S90 ??

[jd950]

I would like to upgrade my camera and want something offering:

More compact than traditional DSLR & housing
Good live view
Ability to shoot wide angle and macro/fish portraits on a single dive
Low shutter lag and fast autofocus to cut down on my collection of fish butt photos
Max depth 130 ft

Contenders are:

1. Canon S90 in Fix housing with Fix 2 element flip lenses and a Inon ufl165
2. Panasonic GF1 in a 10bar housing, probably with 14-45 lens or ????
3. Oly E-PL1 with a 9-18mm lens (which may not work for macro?)
4. None of the above, stay with Canon G10 and OEM housing and see what turns up over the next year.

[FONT=&quot]I am trying to weigh the benefits/downsides of each option. My G10 isn't bad, but I would like to have a wider angle and I wonder if focus speed and shutter lag can't be improved a bit.

What do you folks think?[/FONT]

 

[Nemrod]

The question you ask is almost impossible to answer. The Panasonic and Oly ELP-1 are not even out yet hardly and it is unknown what housings may come along. The Oly housing does not have a removable port and does not look good for wet mount lens utilization for wide angle. Since the port is not removable there is no way to use the 8mm fisheye to any effective conclusion. The 10Bar housing Jack Conick is your resource there at Camera Housings, Strobes, Arms, Trays & More! - Optical Ocean Sales Underwater Photo - 800-359-1295!. It is very hard to get much info in the States on 10Bar, I looked at them for the GF-1 and decided to wait.

Ikelite is working on housings they indicate for the Oly Micros and Nikon and Canon are both poised to announce EVILS soon, my guess.

The S90/FIX, as P&S go, it is a fast and responsive camera and certainly small and the image quality is outstanding, for a small sensor camera. It can shoot wide angle and macro on the same dive. No dry port camera will ever really satisfy you there but wet lenses do place more glass and water between the sensor and subject so you have to consider---if you think or dream to be a pro and sell pictures for a living, none of the listed cameras will do. If you want a fun, capable travel camera that can take great pics, the S90/FIX can be had now.

On the S90, I would get the 67mm port kit, Inon UCL165AD macro and Inon 165AD fisheye lens and the 10Bar adapter from optical ocean for both. Realize this, the Inon 165 fisheye lens may require a 95% crop or less--sometimes--with the setup I listed here, resulting FOV when a crop is needed is still in excess of 150 degrees diagonal. I know this as fact, I have posted pics to show the results.

Another plan, get the FIX G10 housing and their dry port wide angle, but, you cannot do both macro and wide angle on the same dive.

But, how practical is it to do both wide angle and macro on the same dive, well, with the Inon UCL165AD macro lens and the Inon 165AD fisheye lens both lenses are small and bayonet mount (to the 67mm port kit with the 10Bar adapter) so it is possible but with the larger Inon domed lenses and the big Fisheye brand lens, not so much.

N

 

[Jax]

My personal experience with Oly customer support is pretty poor. I'd scratch them. FWIW.

 

[shoturtle]

If you want better Image quality I would opt for one of the m4/3 options. Either the olympus epl-1 or the panny GF-1. Both will be better then the canon do to the much larger sensor.

I just got an EPL-1 and have been very happy with it. I did find a problem with the new Ib and master 2 software not being able to sync to the camera for firmware update. Contacted Oly, and had excellent technical support. Their first level tech could not solve the issue and referred it to the tier II and said they will call in 48 hours. And I got the call when promise. They were able to get me a stand alone updater, so I did not need to load the whole editing software just to do updates as I use Aperture to do PP work.

With the question between the oly and panny. Both have 3200iso, but you do not want to go pass 1600. That is about the limit of acceptable photo in low light.

Oly has the better jpeg engine if you shoot mostly in jpeg, giving the oly the edge. Oly also has in body IS. So no matter what m4/3 or 4/3 lens you put on, it will have IS. With 4/3 lenses you will need either the oly mmf or the panny dwm adapter. With the IS you have 3 options, IS on both axis, on just vertical or just horizontal. Also I added a panny zoom lens with lens IS. So I will also have lens IS when using that lens. I will most likely add the panny 20mm 1.7 prime later on. This lens is a non IS lens form panny, but I will have IS with the oly. So this will give me a great m4/3 low light set up.

With the Panny, you have the faster kit lens, the 14-45mm kit lens is faster then the oly 14-42mm kit lens in AF. But the panny does not have IS in all their lenses.

Both shot RAW fine. Both have the optional EVF, the oly one has a higher resolution and larger viewing area.

 

[jd950]

Thank you all for the input. I realize a couple of the cameras/housings I mentioned are not available or very new. I was just looking for some opinions and thoughts.

I like the S90 but wish it had better video capability for when I want play with that, but otherwise that seems to be the best current choice considering size and wet lenses.

The EPL1 may work well, but it is hard to know if and how much they have improved autofocus speed and unless a third party comes out with something, it wold be hard to accomplish that whole wide and macro on the same dive idea.

I may wait, though and see what develops over the next year. Just not sure.

 

[shoturtle]

I pick, up a 4/3 to m4/3 adapter, and matched that with the oly 35mm 3.5 macro. It is a very nice setup. And still very compact. You get true 1:1 if you want with this setup.

If you want to see some test shot of the EPL-1 top side. I have been trying to put it through it's paces. At this link.

EPL-1 test around NYC - Steve's Digicams Forums

 

[rab1412000]

imo the s90 is just a class below the micro 4:3's, im not sure about its pricing though.
i would say stick with the gf-1 since you will be getting good pictures with good video too.
however the s90 would probably be the first to come out with an oem u/w among the three and i think that could be a consideration for you.

 

[mybobo]

Ya your request quite difficult to answer. I can suggest either the Canon G10/G11, Nikon P6000 or Panny LX-3/TZ10 (new got manual exposure). But this is pro compact that having a smaller sensor than DSLR.

I'm a GF-1 user at the moment. I used to have and shoot underwater with Nikon D100, Nikon P5100, Olympus SP350 and Panasonic LX-3.

As for my preference, would say GF-1 is the way to go and ease to use.

I tried E-PL1 on land but not underwater and would not know whats the performance.

But E-PL1 got their own Oly underwater housing and for GF-1, as for now only Nautilus (from japan), Inon (Japan) and 10Bar (China) selling.

I'm using Nautilus with Inon ports and Inon strobes.

from my experience for DSLR and to get a very good results, you need to dive either with wide angle or macro only. If u still want to dive in one shoot, than go with the compacts.

I'm using 7-14mm for wide and 45mm for macro.

view the results here Flickr: bobo-divetenggara's Photostream

 

[Ryan]

14mm on m4/3 isn't wide, either. The GF-1 and 14-45 are a good fish portrait combo. I'd shop around for housings, the 10 Bar system is pretty crude. Seatool is also available, but twice the price.

I shot the GF-1 in a Seatool housing in Lembeh and had a good time with it. It feels like a three toed sloth when compared to a 7d, and feels like a Cheetah when compared to an S90, so it really is all relative.

 

[shoturtle]

If you get the setting right with the NR, the epl-1 can go to 2000iso. And can give you a workable photo at 3200iso. I have been playing around with mine for a month now top side shooting. And it is a pretty impressive camera.