I spent a lot of time researching and contemplating my OM-1 setup. I was an early adopter of the 90mm lens, and as a supermacro shooter, it has truly been life-changing. In fact, I have now adopted an affinity for Land Macro, fallen in love with invertebrates both on land and in the sea, and I keep multiple jumping spiders and shoot all arachnids in the wild despite having been a severe arachnophobe just two years ago. I’ve also gotten very involved in Citizen Science with both arachnids and sea slugs, now. Sea slugs were my first love, and that has expanded greatly now. As I like to call them: my Nudis and “Spoodies.”
I cannot say enough good things about my OM-1 and 90mm lens. My only complaint is that I have lost significant dive time due to frequent issues with the AOI housing. Additionally, the 90mm port (which I pre-ordered and may have literally been the first person to purchase in the US) has lost the ability to switch from supermacro to the infinity option, greatly limiting my range. As a supermacro lover, this isn’t the worst thing in the world, but on a Lembeh trip, I found it immensely frustrating. To add insult to injury, the rubber piece on the focus gear fell off while in Lembeh, so I also couldn’t use manual focus, which I almost exclusively use to fine tune my focus. Turns out it was simply glued on. The plus side: I had to force myself to adapt rather quickly to the limitations the housing presented. I became much more proficient with using focus peaking + back button autofocus, but due to the lack of manual gear, I really had a hard time shooting at the minimum and maximum focal distances. (When it works, I’ll often use BB Autofocus to move out if I’m at Minimum, then the manual gear to fully get to Maximum, and vice versa.) I ended up with lots of shots with just a sliver of suckers on a Blue Ring octopus missing because I *just so* couldn’t get it in the frame. Immensely frustrating.
Previous issues have included: replacing the multi-control unit after a water leak. A three month process after I waited two full months for the water sensor strips that were back ordered, hoping that would resolve the alarming issues.
Replacing the vacuum after another leak. (Thankfully this one was caught early and didn’t damage any components.) Blessedly, the camera itself remained unaffected.
One other thing to note: the AOI 90mm port is NOT machined aluminum, which is what it states on the backscatter site. That was actually a consideration for me in selecting the AOI, so I found that disappointing.
Here’s some shots with my setup.
I am about to pull the trigger on the Nauticam.
I cannot say enough good things about my OM-1 and 90mm lens. My only complaint is that I have lost significant dive time due to frequent issues with the AOI housing. Additionally, the 90mm port (which I pre-ordered and may have literally been the first person to purchase in the US) has lost the ability to switch from supermacro to the infinity option, greatly limiting my range. As a supermacro lover, this isn’t the worst thing in the world, but on a Lembeh trip, I found it immensely frustrating. To add insult to injury, the rubber piece on the focus gear fell off while in Lembeh, so I also couldn’t use manual focus, which I almost exclusively use to fine tune my focus. Turns out it was simply glued on. The plus side: I had to force myself to adapt rather quickly to the limitations the housing presented. I became much more proficient with using focus peaking + back button autofocus, but due to the lack of manual gear, I really had a hard time shooting at the minimum and maximum focal distances. (When it works, I’ll often use BB Autofocus to move out if I’m at Minimum, then the manual gear to fully get to Maximum, and vice versa.) I ended up with lots of shots with just a sliver of suckers on a Blue Ring octopus missing because I *just so* couldn’t get it in the frame. Immensely frustrating.
Previous issues have included: replacing the multi-control unit after a water leak. A three month process after I waited two full months for the water sensor strips that were back ordered, hoping that would resolve the alarming issues.
Replacing the vacuum after another leak. (Thankfully this one was caught early and didn’t damage any components.) Blessedly, the camera itself remained unaffected.
One other thing to note: the AOI 90mm port is NOT machined aluminum, which is what it states on the backscatter site. That was actually a consideration for me in selecting the AOI, so I found that disappointing.
Here’s some shots with my setup.
I am about to pull the trigger on the Nauticam.
