Olympus Pen EP1 underwater settings

[PHIL RUDIN]

Auto and tweak the RAW files in Lightroom. Olympus has very good auto WB.

Phil Rudin

 

[deeper thoughts]

Auto and tweak the RAW files in Lightroom. Olympus has very good auto WB.

Phil Rudin

Thnx.

 

[mantmich]

A side question, I now have a the E-PL1, PT-EP01 and S&S YS-110a. From anyone's experience will I need some addtional weight to stable this package underwater?

 

[under water]

A side question, I now have a the E-PL1, PT-EP01 and S&S YS-110a. From anyone's experience will I need some addtional weight to stable this package underwater?

I have different strobes (s-2000s) and the bouyancy is a bit different but I don't think you will need any additional weight. My rig sinks a bit. Your tray and handles will help.
Weight (u/w)
s-2000 69 g (0.15 lb.)
YS-110a -10 g (-0.02 lb.)

 

[mantmich]

Thanks Frank

 

[Christopher_B]

If you use the standard flat port with the 14-42 lens you can add inon wet moiunt +8 diopters for macro. I have recently started using 2 diopters screwed together and the results are great.

 

[sentlon]

I am just getting started shooting the ZEN WA100 port with the M-9 to 18 zoom and I have not yet tried the Pany 7 to 14 or the 14 to 42 zoom. I would think the 14 to 42 would work very well, keep in mind that the dome will make both the wide and narrow ends of the lens wider. So far the dome is rendering sharp corners and it is very well made. I have used the Olympus 170 mm dome with the 4/3 9 to18 zoom on the Olympus E-3 DSLR and find the results from both domes to be equal.

The housing, camera, 9 to 18 zoom and gear with the Zen 100 dome are just slightly buoyant. With twin Inon Z-240 strobes, twin tray and eight inch arm sections the balance in salt water was as good as it gets. I could set the unit on the bottom without it drifting off in the current and still use it with one hand and have total control without fatigue to my wrist and forearm.

I have used the 9 to 18 and the 7 to 14 zooms underwater and have found the auto focus speed to be as good as with a DSLR. This is not the case with the Panasonic 45 macro which seems slow at best. The images are very high quality however and I am hoping the Olympus 50 macro when it arrives will be faster.

I am also using the Athena port adapter for the Olympus housing which allows the use of the Olympus, Athena and Inon ports for the Olympus, Seatool and Nexus DSLR housings. So far I have shot the 7 to 14 zoom with the 170 mm port and the 14 to 42 with the Athena port for the 35 mm macro DSLR lens.

The port adapter is well designed and has the same duel O-ring seals as the ZEN port and installes the same way. The ports then threat into the adapter and reduce the effort of making a port change. The adapter will retail for around $255.00 and may appeal to Olympus DSLR housing users who already own the 170 mm dome.

The ZEN WA100 port is by far the better choice if you don't already own the Olympus DSLR dome ports.

This Athena link, ƒŠƒ“ƒOƒtƒ‰ƒbƒVƒ… has additional details.

Phil Rudin

i have a epl-2 and with the Olympus housing with a 9-18mm and Zen Wa-100. i found out most of my pics have very soft corner using this setup.
these is one of the sample u can see.



do u have this kind of issues as well ? is it normal to this setup?

 

[PhilW]

I find the same thing at 9mm. You can see it here for example: Uralba | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Zooming out a little resolves it.

(this is with EPL-3 + Oly housing + Zen WA100 dome).

 

[sentlon]

I find the same thing at 9mm. You can see it here for example: Uralba | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Zooming out a little resolves it.

(this is with EPL-3 + Oly housing + Zen WA100 dome).

what actually drive this issue of it ?
is the lens or the dome cause it?
after spending many budget on it, cant believe it cause so much degrade of pics.

 

[nudibranco]

I remember that you have to close the diaphragm a bit. I do not have soft corners when I use it at F8 or even f5.6. I never go below. I think it has to do with the way the virtual image focuses in front of the dome. At F4 it seems to be non optimal or the design had to compromise a bit (but this is only a conjecture and I certainly cannot prove it).
Sometimes I also do a bit of post SW correction of the distortion and it helps outline the details quite a bit. The lens and the dome are great. The dome you can use it with the 45mm macro, 14-42mm kit lens and and the 9-18mm. I also read the 12mm works with it (but i do not have it so I would not swear for it).