chris_l

For those of you suggesting getting a second smaller and lighter system have you seen this:

http://www.opticaloc...gear-combo.html

pretty cheap and gives you a double backup, housing and camera.

My bro-in-law flooded a nikon on a live aboard recently.  Even if he would have had a spare, the electronics in the housing were toast and thus the second body would have done no good.

It depends on your system obviously.

And what if you couldn't determine the cause of the original flood, would you bring down the next body and lens?

I have an olympus epl2 in the oly plastic housing.  If I flooded and had a spare body I could be back in business quickly.  It only seems practical to me if you have optical strobes.  Of course, I'd lose a lens, but I have 3 with me that I can use underwater.  I actually could get a second body cheap now, but I'm more interested in spending that money upgrading.

If you're a pro on assignment, that's obviously a different situation and you need to be prepared.

I have an epl2 and use an Inon D2000 type 3 which works great.

Since you have an epl1, you'll obviously want an optical strobe.  If looking used, I'd look for any of the inons: D2000, S2000, Z240.

The Sttl of these strobe is known to work well with olympus PEN cameras.  The older sea&sea optical strobes seemed to be hit and miss with their version of optical sttl (forget what they called it).  From what I've read, they kind of finally got it right with the YS-110A.

but, if you can't find any used strobes, the newer sea&seas are supposed to be much better and essentially on par with the inons now.

I was recently on a trip with folks who had YS01 and YSD1.  They were using them with canon S95 and sony RX100 and were quite happy with them.

If buying new, I wouldn't hesitate on getting any of the inons or the newer sea&sea strobes.  Just a matter of budget vs features.

Phil, thanks for the heads up on the possible oly lens.

My point with regard to the color filter on the 7-14 vs the 9-18 was that if you have to rig it up on the 7-14 then you stand a good chance of smudging something or not lining it up straight.  Where as on the 9-18 it's a simple screw on filter so less chance for error in application.

Yes, filter will have same effect on each lens, assuming it's installed without any problems.

But, if you absolutely need the 7mm view, then that's what you go with.

Ahhh, ok.  I haven't really looked at that lens.  It's quite expensive for a m43 lens.

Has anyone posted experiences or examples with that lens yet?

If you plan on doing any macro work, the 9-18 can be used in the same port as the excellent olympus 60mm macro.

Have you considered the olympus 9-18 if that is a major concern for you?  The olympus accepts filters.

While, in general the 7-14 is considered better than the 9-18, the difference isn't huge.  Also, the 9-18 allows use of a port which accommodates other lens as well.

I would imagine rigging a filter on the 7-14 could easily degrade any advantage it has over the 9-18 to the point of making the 9-18 optically better.