Olympus Stylus 400 w PT-016

[BIGSAGE136]

I am going to invest in a digital system. I am leaning towards the Olympus so I can have a camera for both diving and biking wet
trails. Since the Stylus is supposed to be weather proof it seems to fit the picture.

B4 I make the investment, does anyone have any tips, pointers or
reviews of this package. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Dee]

How is the Stylus model waterproof? It will be in the housing. I don't know the specifics of the 400 except that the Stylus models are small.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Its advertised as weather proof. Some of my friends in seattle acknowledge that they have put it through a rainy ride with no problems. This would be great for me due to this benefit alone.

I have never been thru the motions of an underwater housing
though. Is it practicle to disassemble the housing once setup for
trail biking?

 

[Dee]

Sorry...I read weather proof as waterproof! I would still be leary of having any camera out in the 'weather' without a housing.

There's nothing hard or confusing about a housing. And if you aren't taking it underwater you don't have the worry of specific o-ring maintainence. In other words if a hair or speck of sand gets on the o-ring, your housing won't flood the way you're using. You'd just need to open it and clean it real good every night.

 

[clive francis]

is it me or did no one else pick up on the huge (chalk and cheese) difference between weather proof and water proof (for diving)?

weather proof will flood before you get down 12"!

they are not designed to be imersed

just my 1p's worth

doh! just re read the others, what sort of housing?

never seen that model, i would stick to tried and tested ones

 

[BIGSAGE136]

The olympus stylus 400 is a weather proof digital camera. The PT-016 is the underwater housing that enables a diver to use the camera to a depth of 140'.

The Sea & Sea DX3000 uses the same setup, only a Ricoh Caprio
digital camera.

Chalk & Cheese?

 

[divad]

can get the housing for $129.00.

 

[HammerNoMore]

clive francis once bubbled...
is it me or did no one else pick up on the huge (chalk and cheese) difference between weather proof and water proof (for diving)?

weather proof will flood before you get down 12"!

As I understood BIGSAGE136's message, the initent was to get the Stylus 400 to use with the housing for diving, but to rely on the weather proof design of the camera to proctect it above the surface in less than ideal conditions.

Nobody ever claimed that you could take the camera underwater without a housing. The point is not having to deal with a bulky housing for trail biking.

BIGSAGE136:

I have the stylus. It's a great camera if you're like me and just want to snap some decent pictures, without having to worry about all the gory details on light/exposure/etc/etc/etc/etc/etc.

I've never done any underwater photography, but I do have the housing on order. When I get around to trying it maybe I'll post some pictures, but that may be a while. From what I understand, and I'm sure the photography buffs will correct me if I'm wrong, is that if you want to go beyond snapping simple pictures this camera will not be for you.

There is no way to hook up an external strobe to this camera, so you have to use one that basicly detects the internal flash as a signal to strobe. The problem is that there is no way to let the camera know you are going to do this or to manually adust the exposure to compensate so this will likely cause unspactacular results.

Not a problem for me. As for the weather proof nature of the camera itself, I've never really tested it. $500 is still a pretty good chunk of change for me so I'm not willing to take the risk.

James

P.S. I'm a scuba geek, tri geek and computer geek, I'm not a photograpy geek, so please be kind if I didn't explain that quite right .

 

[BIGSAGE136]

I got a lot of help on this. James, you are correct in that I want a simple camera for those fooling around shots by the camp fire or
canoe. If it rains, oh well. I dont want to test it but at aprrox $4-5c I dont want to lose an investment if it gets caught in the rain.

UKMIDLANDS shared some u/w shots on a pm. I hope he shares them because they are great and exactly what I wanted to see.

Looks like I'm going to take the plunge with the stylus 400. If I ever figure out the software (definitely not a geek) I will share
them. UKMIDLANDS...hope I can hold up to your stature.

Again thanks loads.

Safe diving

 

[saf_25]

James,
Your info was extremely helpful! After reading the review in the CA Diving News (I think that's what the free publication put out is called) I was actually going to sign on today and ask if anyone had used this camera and had info on it. I'm looking to buy my first digital camera (to use as both a land camera and get the housing for underwater). My problem is that I want to get the best that I can now (since I don't plan on replacing it anytime in the near future, I don't want it to be immediately outdated), but since I'm not a camera buff, and have never used either a digital nor any camera underwater, I don't want to be so intimidated by the one I get that I never figure out how to get good snapshots with it. And, since i'm just looking for snapshots, not quality pics, then I don't think I need something like the 5050, but I haven't heard of anything else that people recommend as much as that.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, let us know when you get the housing, what you think of it. Especially if you use it without a strobe (which it sounds like you'll need to), how do the pics come out? In the relatively low vis here in CA where I do all of my diving, I'm not sure if it wouldn't pay to get a camera that can more easily use a strobe and be adjusted... Perhaps I should start this as a new thread (SAF's camera suggestions?), but does anyone have any thoughts / recommendations?
Thanks!