Furnari
Contributor
About a year ago, I posted on Wetpixel about my early experience with the Olympus 12-45 and Inon EP01 dome meant for the Oly 8mm:
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Since then, I have used the combination on several dives and it has now become my go-to for pretty much any diving I do, replacing my beloved 12-40 and Inon 170mm dome that I used for many years. That thread devolved into a bit of a pissing contest about whether or not I should be using a port “off label” instead of one dedicated to the lens. As far as I know, there is no dedicated port for the 12-45, but AOI’s port chart calls for the mini dome that’s also intended for the 14-42 and 9-18. Part of being a reasonable adult is a willingness to be proven wrong, and in the interest of bestest for cheapest I recently acquired a used Zen dome also intended for the 14-42 / 9-18: WA-100-EP Pen Dome for Olympus 9-18, 14-42 in PT-EPxx Housings
True, it’s not the AOI port but I can’t imagine the optics are any different. I tested both ports head to head in my AOI OM-1 housing dunked into a tote in my backyard. First up was the Zen, and I was able to repeat the one negative about the lens- close focus distance at 45 is worse than at other focal lengths. That test was with an OM-1 mk I, so just in case the body’s focus characteristics had anything to do with that, I switched to my OM-1 mkII but had the exact same results. I just continued the test from there with the mkII (btw, I used to have the AOI housing for the E-M1mkIII, but sold the combo since I already had the OM-1 mkI and liked the idea of having redundancy as far as cameras if something happened while traveling). Here’s what I experienced:
To summarize today’s thesis…the 12-45 is a great mid-range zoom option with a small form factor, saving drag and just about a pound of weight compared to my 12-40 set up. You can find used copies of this lens all day long for $350, and the Zen dome I bought was about $170 shipped from an ebay seller; not too shabby for the level of performance.
Sign In - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums
Since then, I have used the combination on several dives and it has now become my go-to for pretty much any diving I do, replacing my beloved 12-40 and Inon 170mm dome that I used for many years. That thread devolved into a bit of a pissing contest about whether or not I should be using a port “off label” instead of one dedicated to the lens. As far as I know, there is no dedicated port for the 12-45, but AOI’s port chart calls for the mini dome that’s also intended for the 14-42 and 9-18. Part of being a reasonable adult is a willingness to be proven wrong, and in the interest of bestest for cheapest I recently acquired a used Zen dome also intended for the 14-42 / 9-18: WA-100-EP Pen Dome for Olympus 9-18, 14-42 in PT-EPxx Housings
True, it’s not the AOI port but I can’t imagine the optics are any different. I tested both ports head to head in my AOI OM-1 housing dunked into a tote in my backyard. First up was the Zen, and I was able to repeat the one negative about the lens- close focus distance at 45 is worse than at other focal lengths. That test was with an OM-1 mk I, so just in case the body’s focus characteristics had anything to do with that, I switched to my OM-1 mkII but had the exact same results. I just continued the test from there with the mkII (btw, I used to have the AOI housing for the E-M1mkIII, but sold the combo since I already had the OM-1 mkI and liked the idea of having redundancy as far as cameras if something happened while traveling). Here’s what I experienced:
- The Inon was wider at all focal lengths from a fixed distance (I used the focus light set on the bottom of the tote to keep the distances from the sensor the same- see comparison photos for how I set it up).
- Interestingly, the Inon also has a closer minimum focus distance at 45, so you get slightly more magnification.
- I didn’t try with the Zen, but throughout much of the zoom range you can rest the Inon face down on something with text and still crisply focus on the text- at 12mm the size of the subject was 4-7/8” by 3-1/4. At 24mm, subject size was 2-1/2 by 2-1/8. At 45mm closest focusing distance, it was 4” by about 3-7/8. So, max magnification happens pretty early in the focal range. Works great as a wide (pseudo) macro lens.
- Image quality and corner performance were both better with the Inon, though neither have significant distortion at f5.6. I would happily use the Zen, but prefer the Inon.
- The Inon sticks out about an inch further, and it weighs more. Note that using the Inon dome with this lens requires a 34mm extension ring.
- The AOI focus gear works great, but for some reason it was much harder to turn in the Zen with both camera bodies, which I thought was weird.
To summarize today’s thesis…the 12-45 is a great mid-range zoom option with a small form factor, saving drag and just about a pound of weight compared to my 12-40 set up. You can find used copies of this lens all day long for $350, and the Zen dome I bought was about $170 shipped from an ebay seller; not too shabby for the level of performance.