31 replies to this topic

[Alex_Mustard]

Another Wide Angle Digicam - C-7070

Do people think that this might be another UW hit for Olympus?

http://www.dpreview....oly_c7070wz.asp

From the press release:
With the new PT-027 Underwater Housing a digital photographer can take the C-7070 Wide Zoom 130 feet below the surface for capturing vivid wide-angle images of the underwater landscape. The stylish and durable housing is for anyone looking to pursue underwater digital photography when diving, snorkeling or surfing, or for other activities that require ultimate protection from the elements such as skiing, fishing, sailing, as well as certain industrial situations. Underwater housings for the accessory lenses and flashes are also available.

[james]

I like the way they call 27mm behind a flat port "wide." I'm sure it will be a good update to the 5060 though. It would be great it it goes right into Ike's 5060 housing.

The sony 7 megapixel sensor is said to be a lot less noisy than the 8.

Cheers
James

[herbko]

Another Wide Angle Digicam - C-7070

Do people think that this might be another UW hit for Olympus?

http://www.dpreview....oly_c7070wz.asp

I suspect not. This looks like the 5060 with more pixels on the same size chip. The reason the 5060 is less well suited for underwater use vs. the 5050 is that the front element of the lens moves when zoomed so that it does not work as well with wet lenses like ones from Inon. The description at dpreview does not cover this issue, so I may be wrong about that.

IMHO, for underwater use, Olympus consumer cameras have been going down hill since the 5050.

[Giles]

The reason the 5060 is less well suited for underwater use vs. the 5050 is that the front element of the lens moves when zoomed so that it does not work as well with wet lenses like ones from Inon. The description at dpreview does not cover this issue, so I may be wrong about that.

It was explained to me by some guys from light in motion that the wet lenses are generally of lesser quality anyway and fixed ports will give you guarenteed quality.
Thats why i chose the l&m dry ports for my tetra housing, the wet lenses seem tempting .. as in you won't miss a shot cause you have every lense but i kinda grew up getting in my mind what shots i want to take and being happy with just taking that. I have been caught out by very friendly turtles stingrays and eagle rays every once in a while with my macro, but then given them a shot with the macro anyways, sometimes worked sometimes didn't but fun trying.

Anyway my point being .. there is probably some purpose made fixed dry ports for all the tetra housings .. and they all probably work fine .. i haven't ever read of any compaints anyway. L&m have been very good at keeping up designs for this range of oly's, they havent missed manyout have they. the tetra 3000 covered most of them .. as long as you got new ports for the newer camera.

[DesertEagle]

Sorry- a little computer problem. See next post.

[DesertEagle]

For what the 7070 costs, I would just assume spend a little more and get an Evolt E300. That couple hundred dollars will get you a much larger sensor. I don't see the point of putting all that dome port glass over a 1/1.8" sensor.

The 5060 never caught because it had all the disadvantages of a digicam but none of the advantages. Maybe the 7070 will have a faster shutter lag but you won't be able to go between macro and wide on the same dive.

[Giles]

The 5060 never caught because it had all the disadvantages of a digicam but none of the advantages. Maybe the 7070 will have a faster shutter lag but you won't be able to go between macro and wide on the same dive.

That makes no sense to me at all ... but trying to grasp what you were saying.

How can a digital camera not have any of the andvatages of a digital camera ?
And as for going between macro and wide angle on a dive ... with any camera and housing that doesn't have the ability to use wet lenses you won't be able to .. so the most expensive dSLR and and Housing won't change between real macro and real wide angle ...

so by that manner if you consider the 7070 to be a prosumer camera .. a step between pro dSLR and compact digicam, then you are getting extra quality and abilities .. but with that you loose some features that loose you those qualities in a compact camera.

hmm maybe that doesn't make too much sense, basically .. you can have a cmarea that fits in your pocket .. or you can have a camera that takes a proffesional photo. Then there are a few that are inbetween ... each have a market both on land and underwater .. its a choice as to what you want and need from a camera .. and what you can afford. At the end of the day it is te Prosumer angle that has done so very well for Olympus and their underwater use IMHO

[DesertEagle]

I'm comparing point n' shoot digital cameras to DSLR cameras. There are some BIG differences. Here are some advantages of each:

Digicams
Lower Cost
Allow you to change lenses underwater
Smaller sizie

Digital SLR
Larger sensor, better dynamic range
Faster shutter lag
Faster write times
Better image processing

My point was that the 5060 doesn't give you any of these. But you do get all the disadvantages- one can't change lenses underwater and the sensor is smaller, etc.

The line between compact digicam and "prosumer" has really blurred this year. For $375 you can buy a Fuji Finepix F810 which has far better resolution than the 5060. I looked at sample photos and found that image quality was closer the 8MP models.

[pmooney]

I just compared the dimensions 5060/7070 and they seem to be the same.

What a bonus for people who already have an investment in housings for their 5060's.

I sure bet the manufacturers are happy to have housings ( and lense's ) that can carry over to a new model.

Peter

[james]

Hi Peter, just because the cameras are the same size doesn't mean they will work in the same housing. The controls will need to be the same too, right?

Cheers
James

[pmooney]

Hello James - you are absolutely correct.

I have compared the 5060 in front of me with the 7070 pictures from the review and am reasonably confident.


I will slip down to Yodabashi camera in the morning to see if they have any stock - they usually have new model's straight up.

On the Digicam vs SLR comparison ther was one valuable difference left out.

Kit size.

It is possible for example to fit a Tetra Housing , 2 YS90 strobes , control arms, lense's , batteries etc in a Pelican 1520 case and possibly carry it on the plane as hand luggage. Certainly not something you can do with a SLR kit.

I

[jander4454]

And Olympus are bringing out a new housing for the 7070.

[MikeO]

My point was that the 5060 doesn't give you any of these. But you do get all the disadvantages- one can't change lenses underwater and the sensor is smaller, etc.

Well said. That's why I've held on to my C5050 as long as I have. Then, of course, there's the fact that after a point, with the current technology, you don't get any more real resolution by adding more pixels to a smaller chip.

As for the quality of wetmate lenses, I can safely say that when using the INON UWL-100, especially with the dome port, I was more than happy with the image quality out of my C5050z, especially given the value the setup afforded. It's a tradeoff, and not worth getting too emotional about. I've now housed my (ancient) EOS 10D and I like the absence of shutter lag and other things about it. But man, every time I drop in to do a wide angle dive and the viz goes to crap or find a really cool little animal, I sure miss being able to put on the macro lens and go critter hunting. Even with 6.3 million pixels, it's hard to pick the new, unidentified species of nudibranch out in the frame :wink:

More to the point, the bottom line is that Olympus had a cult following built up around the C-xxxx series underwater. But due to some design changes, they've lost a bit of that following due to the fact that the 5060 et al. don't measure up to the 5050 as far as being flexible underwater . . .

Mike

[apete]

I currently use a 5060 in a 020 housing.

My main complaint about the 5060 is the AF system. The 7070 has a different/new AF system. Hopefully it is faster and performs better in low light conditions.

The PT-020 was discontinueed some time ago. (Some people think that was because it had design faults.) The 5060 and 7070 seem physically identical - they'll fit in the same housings. The 027 can't be much more than a 020 with some of the problems fixed.

I'd like to know more about this new AF system and the new housing.

/Anders

[beivied]

i would agree on the point that in order to avoid the problem that c7070 seems to have in common with c5060 on the movement of the front elements of the lens, you actually have to buy a tetra housing does not sound too logical. not only you need to use fixed lens and dun get a dslr quality pic, the amount of money that you spend is not too rational as well, in my opinion ...

[mikedive]

Hi all ,

last weekend i was in Düsseldorf at the Boot 2005 and I put the C7070 into my PT20 it fitts but they changed the dial weel and the power lug so the parts of the Pt20 will not fix at the C7070 . I also tested the Oly TTL conveter it seems to work as well as at the 5060 but at the prototyp it was imposible to cancle the internal strobe but with both internal + external ( YS60 and YS30 ) it works perfekt.

Michael

[holloways]

I'm looking for current, hands-on experience with the Olympus 7070. Will it really fit in the Olympus 5060 housing? If so, which one (the IKE housing, the Olympus housing or both)??

Thanks so much, I'm about to take the plunge and would appreciate your seasoned input and words of wisdom.

[UWPhotoTech]

I can't confirm the Olympus case but the 7070 will fit in the Light & Motion Tetra 5060 Housing (now called the Tetra 5060/7070) without modification.

L&M's 95 Degree Wide Angle Lens while not a "wet lens" works fantastic with the 5060 and I'm sure will be great with the 7070 as well. A super CUWA setup!

[Ryan]

I can't confirm the Olympus case but the 7070 will fit in the Light & Motion Tetra 5060 Housing (now called the Tetra 5060/7070) without modification.

I've heard different information, even though Light & Motion had said this in the past Due to a larger hand grip they are having to modify the housing hull.

They should be shipping a Tetra 7070 in 3-4 weeks, which is quite fast...

[UWPhotoTech]

Thanks Ryan!

I just spoke with L&M, they are still looking into this and will confirm with me in the morning.