Where is Olympus going U/W and above?

[Chris Ross]

Nice call Germie and I can see why that works.
On another thing, I am enjoying the 30mm macro lens and wondering what size diopter + flip adapter would suit that lens? I find it useful for close up 1/2 and fish stuff which is 90% of what I am doing atm..Following on from Chris' post I think I will leave WACF for another lifetime!!!

I think the issue with the 30mm lens is it's too short to use diopters, as working distance is way too short, I've seen that mentioned a few times.

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Chris, saved me an embarrasing dive with little reward.

 

[Ardy]

Just read the DP review on Oly E1X, not very pleasant reading but oly stated that they plan to offer a 500+ Zoom that can be hand held at 1000+ with 7.5 stops IBIS for bird shots and sports. As I prefer both of the hardest photo challenges U/W and birds (not that great at either!). This interests me but nothing about it seems particularly useful for U/W work.
Olympus OM-D E-M1X review

 

[casts_by_fly]

I’m in the same place as Chris, in part from his and others’ reccos on wet pixel. I am using the em5 mk1 in the olympus housing. I used to use the 9-18 and 60mm behind the 4” zen dome and it was good, but not perfect (mostly corner issues that bothered me). Before this latest trip I moved to the full pro set (8mm, 7-14, 12-40) behind the inon 170 and extensions. The first dive I put the 8mm on (my first experience with a fisheye) and I rarely took it off. Corners are perfect, sharpness is phenomenal at all useful underwater apertures (I mostly shot around f8 and up). I also love the 180 degree field of view much more than I thought I would.

The 12-40 is a great all purpose lens. 12 is pretty wide for most things, 40 is a good fish portrait length and with a different port would be pretty good for semi macro. Behind the big dome there was just too much in the way to get properly close, though I managed on things bigger than a half inch or so and cropped a little here or there.

I shot the 7-14 a couple dives, mostly because I had put the extensions on to shoot the 12-40 and either didn’t want to take them off or couldn’t because we were doing back to back dives and I wanted different lenses. It is a good lens and if you need rectilinear or don’t want full fisheye wide then it is an option. The focus is very fast (all of the pro lenses are) and center sharpness is great. Corner sharpness might be a tossup with the 9-18 but I didn’t do an exhaustive comparison. I’ve also not shot the 9-18 in the inon dome. I will probably sell both the 9-18 and 7-14 as I like the 8 so much.

I didn’t shoot the 60 at all (didn’t take it) so can’t comment.

Next trip? 8 and 12-40, plus take a small macro port and the 60.

Forgot. Sample pictures

Maldives 2019 kandolhu - rkoontz

Rick

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I think the Olympus or Panasonic 30mm macro lenses should be in every M43 shooters bag. They are inexpensive, they work with the Nauticam 45 port which many already own and they are both very sharp for the price. The upside to these lenses is a wider range of targets than with the 60mm which is great as a macro/super macro and allows closeup lenses to be added but does not do well on larger subjects like the Gurnard photo. The 30 works very well in close and is the gold standard for black water using M43's. With M43 I carry the Nauticam 45 port and a 20mm mini extension, this allows me to shoot both 30mm macros, the Panasonic 45mm macro and the Olympus 60mm macro with the 20mm extension.

Regarding the original post about "where Olympus is going" it does not appear at this time that the new EM1-X is going underwater anytime soon because I know of no housings manufacture that has announced for the camera.

Instagram #philrudinphotography

 

[Ardy]

I think the Olympus or Panasonic 30mm macro lenses should be in every M43 shooters bag. They are inexpensive, they work with the Nauticam 45 port which many already own and they are both very sharp for the price. The upside to these lenses is a wider range of targets than with the 60mm which is great as a macro/super macro and allows closeup lenses to be added but does not do well on larger subjects like the Gurnard photo. The 30 works very well in close and is the gold standard for black water using M43's. With M43 I carry the Nauticam 45 port and a 20mm mini extension, this allows me to shoot both 30mm macros, the Panasonic 45mm macro and the Olympus 60mm macro with the 20mm extension.

Regarding the original post about "where Olympus is going" it does not appear at this time that the new EM1-X is going underwater anytime soon because I know of no housings manufacture that has announced for the camera.

Instagram #philrudinphotography

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Hi Phil, good to see you often published around the place. Read several of your excellent articles on Underwater Photography web magazine.

Most cameras over the last 3+ years have pretty good image quality and I am happy with my EM5 mk1 plus my lenses. What do you see as the next step in u/w photography? What does FF bring to the game? The image quality of many photographers out there is exceptional and with professional guides you can get shots (note shots not great shots!) of a lot of life u/w.

Just wondering if there is another horizon out there or just getting better at what is being done now.

regards
Ardy

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

This is my take, most cameras have excellent image quality these days so the things I am looking for are fast and accurate auto focus, lens selection and support for those lenses underwater, battery life, displays and the list goes on.

Excellent guides are great but if you don't know how to use your equipment you will still get average photos. Time in the water and photo workshops with experienced instructors is the best way to improve your images.

Large sensor cameras are more difficult to master than smaller sensor cameras like your M43 camera a format that I highly recommend if not moving to so called full frame cameras. The large sensor cameras offer the ability to make super large prints and the ability to crop more without loosing image quality.

Regarding underwater equipment advances the next frontier which has already arrived in the area of what Nauticam calls Water Contact Optics like the SMC and CMC line of closeup lenses and WWL-1, MWL-1 and Wide Angle Conversion Port which fist directly to the housing and over the lens rather than being mounted to a flat glass port with 67mm threads.

Also in the coming years DSLR's will be fading into the sunset and mirrorless will become the norm. Brand loyalty will be challanged as DSLR holdouts begin to make the switch. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this as Canon and Nikon are now moving into the FF mirrorless market.

Some of my coming workshops.

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Phil, I was amazed at the Nauticam CMC etc. I didn't know these were available. Unfortunately I have an Oly housing so I guess this is all academic without changing housings!
Maybe they will become more widely available, would love to have one...
regards

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Ardy CMC 1 & 2 work very well with the Olympus 60mm and the Panasonic 45mm macro lenses in an Olympus housing. They work on ANY macro port that has the 67mm thread.