Olympus PT-EP10 with Panasonic 8mm fisheye

[Hibaku]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone tried the Panasonic 8mm fisheye with the Olympus PT-EP10 housing?
I have read that in order to use both the Zen (glass) and Precision (acrylic) dome ports we need a "small modification" to the housing.

As I am a bit nervous about modifying the housing due to it becoming leak prone, I searched for different ports and ended up finding the following:

- Athena OPD-F100-EP05: glass dome port that doesn't need any housing modification (has anyone actually tried it?)
- Saga 1120 - glass 4" dome for Olympus PT housings: has anyone every tried these? I cannot find the information if this requires any modification to the housing or not.

Any feedback or suggestion is more than welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help.


Cheers
Nuno

 

[Reefwalker]

Hi Nuno
I shoot with the 8mm Panasonic on the PT-EP10 housing. To fit any dome suited to this 8mm fish eye lens it is necessary to grind/sand off the small button protector that sticks outward from the front of the housing. This protrusion is not used for any function on this housing, it is a left-over feature from the PT-EP05L housing, this was the button pressed to actuate the built-in LED lights an that housing. I figure that Olympus used the same mould for the PT-EP05L and the PT-EP10 front section of the housing?
The dome ports designed for the Pansonic 8mm fish eye are very short in barrel length, so the dome rear will touch this protrusion if it is not removed, this would not allow the port to seal on the housing, as the port would be on an angle.
The easiest way to remove the protrusion is to use an angle grinder fitted with a sanding disc (NOT a grinding/cutting disc). I used what we in Australia call a "flap sanding disc" to sand my own two housings (see this link for photo). First remove the port and fill the inside of the housing with tissue/toilet paper (preferably new not used!) to stop dust getting in the housing. Then just sand gently and the disc will sand the protrusion off until the protrusion is lower than the port barrel, so the domes cam be fitted without touching the protrusion.
Photo's and details of removing the protrusion are following:

 

[Hibaku]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your reply.
Actually I just contacted one shop selling the Saga dome and they sent me a picture of the PT-EP10 housing with the dome: it seems it does not require any modification.
As for the Athena one I also found a photo online with the dome fitting the housing properly (no modifications needed).
Either way, if for some reason I do end up needing to sand it, I will follow your instructions.

Thanks a lot.