Panasonic GF-1 in Seatool Housing

[anferney]

I see that Inon has info about their housing on their website now. It looks huge and still no info on pricing or available date...

INON?X-2 for GF1??????????

 

[jd950]

[FONT=&quot]It looks like a very nice housing, although not tiny.

W180 x H162 x D95mm (7.0 x 6.4 x 3.8). [/FONT]Substantially higher and deeper than the Seatool W170 x 126 x 75 (6.7 x 5 x 2.9)

Compared to the Seatool it appears to be substantially heavier in air (1335gr vs. 850 gr), and slightly less negative in the water (280gr vs. 340gr)

I think I prefer the body-mounted zoom/focus control on the Seatool to the magnetic ring on the Inon, especially with the added depth of the Inon housing. I think the Seatool knob would be much easier to access.

On the other hand, I like the looks of the Inon shutter release and optical cable ports.

I am not sure how I feel about their concept of splitting the lens port into three separate parts. I suppose it could reduce the price of housing multiple lenses, but does that mean there are multiple O rings on the port?

 

[cavefish]

Inon's housing looks pretty cool indeed... and about the same size it seems as the Olympus PT-EP01 housing for the E-PL1. The price though won't be similar I'm afraid.

 

[anferney]

jd950,

Can you do me a favour please - can you confirm if the Seatool housing has a place where I can connect electrical TTL?

According to INON's website their X-2 housing does not have a port for it and I really would like to have the option of eTTL.

Thanks

 

[jd950]

I am pretty sure there is no option for anything but optical on the Seatool.

FWIW, I prefer optical connection (lower cost, no risk of leakage) and your S2000 strobes should work well in S-TTL mode using optical cables.

But, if you are set on an electrical connection, I don't know if any housing for the GF-1 will work.:sad:

 

[eagleray sg]

Hi
thanks for sharing .. I am considering the same setup ... was thinking of starting off with the 14-45 port. Would you happen to know if it is possible to fit the 45mm macro lens into this port ?

it seems possible with the 10bar housing

 

[jd950]

I don't know, as I haven't tried it. They do make a port for the 45mm, so I would doubt that it would work "properly," in the 14-45 port, but it might fit. I haven't compared the length of the two lenses. If the 45 is longer, that could be a problem. If much shorter it would make it difficult to use a close-up lens properly on the front of the port, if you were so inclined.

 

[ggibson]

Any thoughts on how the Olympus 9-18mm (m4/3 version) might fit into the 7-14mm's dome port on the Seatool? The extended length of the 9-18mm is 77mm vs 83mm for the 7-14mm, so length-wise it looks OK. Making the zoom-ring work could be another story, but they look similar as well.

I ask because I'm considering moving down to the Olympus, but I might like to get an underwater case at some point as well... decisions, decisions...

 

[jd950]

I am guessing "no," but if you want to send me the lens, I'll try it out in my port. I might even send it back to you afterwards

You could send an email to Seatool, but who knows if they would respond. I doubt you can find anyone who is in possession of the 7-14 port and the 9-18 lens.

FWIW, I hear that Zen Ports (related to Reef Photo) is planning on making a dome port for the 9-18 lens for the Oly EPL-1 OEM housing and 10bar offrs a port for that lens for their EPL-1 housing.

What would be great from my point of view is if Seatool would also make an Oly housing and then have ports for both lens brands that could interchange between the Panasonic and Oly housings, but I would not hold my breath.

 

[marsbuild]

This housing looks really interesting, how do you find the controls for the camera, when in the housing?
Will you be using it in the water soon? it will be great to hear how it performs.