TomH

bversteegh, What's a focus light? Rest of topic: After using my 7070 for about a month both above and below the surface, I've got to say I think the 5060 auto focus was better. Sometimes takes a couple-three tries to get the 7070 to focus on the object or place I want it to focus on.

I've experienced the same thing with my 7070 and ds125. The funny thing is that it seems to happen most when I am in shadows or darker areas. Chased a white tip into a wreck and he turned back and passed 2 feet away from me. I was shooting (well trying to, mostly shoot, cuss, switch aperture or speed and shoot again ) the whole time and getting black. If I had switched to video and just shot with nothing I would have gotten the whole sequence. It would have been a little dark but still quite visible and useable. I have switched to the manual method in some, more static, situations and it works just fine. Came here to ask what I'm doing wrong but apparently I'm doing nothing wrong. (Man, that's a surprize )

Thank-you very much. I set the camera to slave and it works just fine. (But, of course, you knew it would) It was a dumb operator problem and I was the dumb operator. You have resolved a couple months of frustration. I am now ready to roll when I go back to Hawaii next week. Thanks again.

This thread may be dead but I'll post anyway. I experience similar problems with a DS125 and Olympus (first 5060 and now 7070). My problem however is that I cannot get a full (or any it seems) dump out of the DS125 at full manual setting. The picture is darker at full (sometimes even black) than it is at 1/8 power manual. On ttl it is usually fine. Like you, these shots are in my house, just checking stuff out. I sent it to Ikelite. Just got the whole setup back from ikelite and they say it tested fine. I talked with them on the phone a couple times while it was there so I am sure they really looked hard. The ony problem is that the setup came back "unable to duplicate the problem". I duplicated it right out of the box, first time. I think it has something to do with what Ike said above combined with a dumb operator problem. I just wish they had found it and said that, or told me how to operate it correctly.

Olympus sent me a 7070 to replace a bad 5060. Have not had it U/W yet. Like it dry, mostly for the user interface. It's menus are much easier to navigate and much more logical. It also has two underwater modes built in. Don't know how they work. Haven't noticed much difference in autofocus or quality of pics other than that inherent to the additional megapixels. Tom C7070 with Ikelite housing DS-125

Got my camera back. Only feedback was the packing slip. It said "replace mode dial". I think these guys have hit on what caused my problem. http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...y;threadid=7388 A quote from the thread: "At first, we thought this was an adherent problem with the camera. As it turns out, if the Mode Dial wheel on the PT-020 isn't pulled up when either closing or opening the PT-020 it bends the Mode Dial mechanism on the camera and puts the C-5060 into a multi mode situation and makes it inoperatable. If this happens, invasive surgery is the only solution." Moral of the story: Pull up the mode dial before opeing or closing the PT020.

Sent both camera and housing to OLy. They adjusted the spring. Inspected and cleaned the camera and all was fine. Then I went to Hawaii for a month. Got 1 dive with the setup and the camera failed. Check my posts under "I'm new..." jor "PT020 issues" and "flooded PT020" for details. Tom PADI MSDT including Photo specialty Oly 5060wz and PT020 Reefmaster film with strobe $15 cheapo for a month in Hawaii :^( but at least it worked

Kinda long winded, sorry. Very interesting that Olympus would discontinue the PT020. Not surprizing since mine has been troublesome at best. (see my posts under "I'm new! What..." and "PT020 issues". First problem with my PT020, right out of the box, was a zoom adjustment. I had to send BOTH the housing and camera in for repair. They adjusted the housing and cleaned and inspected the camera. The second problem was a camera problem that came about the second time I tried to bring the setup in the water. I was floating on the surface and turned the camera on. It came on in view mode and when I switched to P mode it lost focus. The camera remained in this state despsite innumerable attempts (fiddling with the buttons) to make it work. I ended up buying a $15 disposible and using it with film for the rest of my month in Hawaii. After bringing the camera home and letting it sit for a month at 7,000 feet (mostly procrastination - the explanatory letter was 4 pages) I was fiddling again to make sure I was describing the situation right for the Olympus repair rep and miraculously it started working again (an hour or so before boxing it to send in). This made me think maybe there is a part vacuum sealed to the atmosphere that had a leak or something and with time for the air to move out again it started working...I don't know...I am both an artist and an engineer (former) so I have an inborn need to solve problems and can get pretty creative with my theories...;^) I'm sure Olympus isn't going to tell me what caused the break. So I am wondering... Do you think some misfit in the PT020 could have caused this? Also, how reliable is your source? And...Do you think there is a possibility that Olympus might issue a recall?... Or if one complains enough Olympus might refund some cash so we could go buy Ikelites? (I know this is pretty much wishful thinking but I can dream can't I) Hope these questions are not out of line for this forum. This whole thing is very disapointing. I LOVED that camera until all this started happening. Now I have serious reservations about the whole setup. I teach PADI's Underwater Photography specialty and don't thnk I can recommend this to my students until I get some good explanations. Regards to all and sorry again for the long winded post, Tom

Shutter is a bit slow. The golden was free swimming and I had to give it a pretty big lead to get it. You could get the hang of it but then again you might miss some of those targets of opportunity that are there and gone forever. Also, I have sent my C5060 back to Olympus twice. See my posts under "what camera...should I buy" and PT020 issues. Don't know anything about the DX5000 Tom

I have an Olympus C5060 and PT020 and must say I am disappointed. I have sent the camera back to Olympus twice and the PT020 housing once. Right out of the box the PT020 was bad. Putting the camera in the housing resulted in the camera zooming out without me touching the zoom lever plus some other related probs. Returned it to Smile Photo for a replacement and they sent me the same PT020 back. (Serial numbers don't lie I know where I won't buy from again) Talked to Olympus and they wanted BOTH the camera and the housing. Sent them both back. Olympus adjusted the zoom lever on the housing and did the standard clean and inspect. Spent a month in Hawaii and was only able to use the camera and housing on 1 dive. The second time out, in 1 ft of water, the camera went nuts. When I turned it on it was in display mode and when I switched to P mode it lost focus and would not work under any conditions or modes either in or out of the housing. The lens would slide out and stick. And when I tried to turn the camera off the lens would stay out and I never got a shutdown sound. If I went through the modes eventually I could get the lens to retract so I could put a lens cover on it. I talked to Oly tech support 2X. First they said "install the firmware upgrade. That'll fix it." The second time they talked me through a super secret reset button sequence. When that didn't work they said "send it in." When I got home, I procrastinated for a month before I wrote the detailed (4 page) letter describing the problem. And when I was writing the letter I brought the camera out to double check what I was telling them and the camera spontaneously started working again. I don't know what caused the problem, but a wild idea is saying altitude (camera broke at sea level, after a month at 7K feet it starts working again) After reading another post I am wondering if the problem was PT020 related. Or at least created by the PT020. But anyway, its a real shame because I had more fun with the 5060 on dry land than any other camera ever, except maybe my first Yashica SLR back in the '70s. And on the one dive I did make with it, I loved it! I must have taken 200 shots. I just wish it was reliable. Sorry Tom

:oops: clicked submit twice

I got a PT020 and right out of the box it was bad. Putting camera in housing resulted in camera zooming out without me touching the zoom plus some other related probs. Returned it to Smile Photo for a replacement and they sent me back the same PT020 (serial numbers don't lie...I know who I won't buy from again) Talked to Olympus and they wanted BOTH the camera and the housing. Sent them back. They adjusted the zoom lever on the housing and did the standard cleaning on the camera. Then, the second time I took it underwater; no, wait, I didn't even get it underwater and the camera went nuts. It turned on in display mode and when I switched to P mode it lost focus and would not work under any conditions either in or out of the housing. The lens would slide out and stick. And when I tried to turn the camera off the lens would stay out and I never got a shutdown sound. Plus alot of other stuff. I talked to Oly tech support 2X. First they said "install the firmware upgrade. That'll fix it." The second time they talked me through a super secret reset button sequence. When that didn't work they said "send it in." When I got home, I procrastinated for a month before I wrote the detailed (4 page) letter describing the problem. And when I was writing the letter I brought the camera out to double check what I was writing and the camera spontaneously started working again. I don't know what caused the problem, but a wild idea is saying altitude (camera broke at sea level, after a month at 7K feet it starts working again) After reading this I am wondering if the problem was PT020 related. Or at least started by the PT020. I am wishing for an IKELITE or light and motion housing. Ikelite even has circuitry that will allow the C5060 TTL to sync with DS-50 and DS-125 strobes. That would solve the underpowered strobe problem I read about in another thread.

Thanks for the input. Talked with a specific rep at Oly that had been extremely helpful when I was doing the 5050/5060 tradeoff analysis. He thinks that the housing is at one end of the allowable tolerances and the camera is at the other end...resulting in a misfit malfunction. So he wants me to send BOTH the camera and the housing to Oly so the tech can see whats happening exactly. We went on vacation (non-diving and I love the camera so much that I couldn't go without it) so now that we are back I will send both off and get it resolved (I hope). Will keep you posted. Thanks again. Tom

I'm a newbie and boy, do I have a question. I bought the 5060 and the PT020. But I've got a problem. When zooming in on something, with the camera in the PT020, the zoom lever does not return completely to neutral resulting in two things. First, there is one zoom-in setting - Maximum. This problem can be mitigated by manually returning the zoom lever to neutral and catching the zoom at the point you want it. Secondly, if you want maximum zoom and just let it go you cannot take a picture because the zoom is partially activated and the "shutter" release is deactivated. Again, manually returning the lever will fix this. The owners manual has a couple of warnings to make sure the camera is properly inserted or the zoom will not function but there is only one position to insert it and it seems pretty idiot-proof. I called Olympus to see if this was a "feature" as opposed to a fault and got a man on tech support that ended the call as soon as I said PT020. He let me explain what was happening, took my number, and said he would call back after researching the problem. He never called. Second call got me to someone who tried to help. He put me on hold and went to one of his gurus. When he came back he said to adjust the screw on the inside of the zoom lever. And then pressure test before using it with a camera. With him on the phone I tried and could not budge the screw. He said to either send the housing in to Olympus or send it back to where I bought it and get a new one. I sent it back for a new one. New one arrived today. :x SAME PROBLEM :x I also suspect, because of the numerous cautions in the instructions to make sure the zoom is lined up properly, that this may be a weak spot in the overall design of the housing and you have to be sure (lucky if you buy across the internet) to get one that is tweaked to fit just right. Has any one else had this problem? Or any ideas on what I am doing wrong? I'm wondering if the zoom lever on the camera itself is positioned wrong or something? I am also not ruling out that I could have actually defeated the idiot-proof insertion of the camera into the housing. (Thereby proving the old maxim that idiot-proof isn't). In which case how do I insert it in the case correctly? Thanks. BTW even though I haven't had it underwater yet, I LOVE the camera. Massive leap forward from my Sony Mavica FD80. And I bet light years beyond my Reefmaster film camera :oops: if I can ever get the housing right. Tom