jwood1

Yes, E-M5, not the Mark II.

Hello fellow divers. I currently have an Oly OMD Em5 and a OMD EM1 Mkii and several lenses. I have used them both only for terrestrial photography. I also have a Cannon S90 compact and Ikelite housing that I have used for underwater, with reasonably good success. I have a sailboat and do mostly snorkeling/free diving in the tropics, and an occasional dive trip. Would like to take my underwater shooting to the next level with one of my 4/3 cameras, and am conflicted on whether to get a housing/port for the EM5 or the EM1 Mkii. I am well aware of the increased capability of the EM1, but I can get into underwater housing for the EM5 a lot cheaper. An EM5 housing would also be a bit more compact for the type of snorkeling I will be doing. Specifically, I'm looking at the PT EP08 housing for the EM5 for $290 (new). In contrast, the housing for the EM1 mark II is about $1300 ($2200 for the Nauticam). It looks like both housing can accept the same ports, so that cost would be the same. I'd like to hear opinions on whether it is worth the extra $1000 to use the Em1 underwater vs the Em5? If I go with the EM1 housing, is the Nauticam housing that much better than the Oly?

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I was lucky that this octopus decided to pose for me. He sat on a rock, and I was able to dive down and take several pictures of him. Shooting in raw made it easy to fix the color balance in ACR. I learned a lot from reading this forum. Thanks.

I have been an amateur above-water photographer all my life, and finally took the plunge, so to speak, on a sailing trip to the BVIs. I had a Canon S90 and bought an Ikelite housing for it. I decided to go simple at first and shot available light while free-diving. Here are my two favorites: an octopus was nice enough to pose for me. BVI sailing 2011_1343_octopus1 by blues_sailor53, on Flickr BVI sailing 2011_1344_octopus2 by blues_sailor53, on Flickr Canon Powershot S90, Ikelite housing, 28mm, no wet lens. Image shot while free diving in the BVIs, 15 ft depth, available light, 1/160, F4.0, ISO 200. Shot in RAW, post processed in ACR.

Great shots. Very shallow depth of field with that lens. Did you find focusing difficult? There is a shot of the whole crown of thorns, and then an extreme close up of the thorns. Were these both done with the Inon "insect eye" lens? If so, this lens seems to be pretty versatile.

Wow, great pictures! I have an S90 and will be buying a housing and WA lens. I have been looking at the ikelite + UWL-04 lens, and seeing your pictures tells me that this would be the right combination for me. Reef photo told me that the UWL-04 will work well in the Ike housing using the supplied 67-52mm conversion ring. What do you think?

I too am a newbie with respect to underwater photography, but not land. I have an S90 and am also looking for housing and assorted accessories to give me a good setup on a budget. I absolutely love my S90. Have taken it on two sailing trips and it takes fantastic pictures and video. The main difference between it and the S95 is that the S95 has HD video. If I were on a budget, I would go for the S90 and save some bucks there. The video on the S90 is outstanding, even when shown on a 50 inch flat screen TV. If I had the S95, I probably wouldn't shoot much in HD just because of the enormous file size. You will also save some bucks with an S90 housing. The ikelite for the S90 is about $75 less than for the S95. Also missing in this thread is that the Canon WPC DC35 housing has an adaptor made by Inon for the 28AD mount lenses (about $80). So, with this, you have the capability of adding Inon AD (bayonette mount) lenses, both wide angle and macro. Here is an example of such a set-up, including a strobe and WA lens, sold on ebay for $500.00 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-S90-WP-DC35-...e-/260856836350

Outstanding! I have an S90 and will be getting a housing to do some available light photos while snorkeling. I have been looking for someone who used an LED torch to augment their shooting without a strobe. Can you provide some more details: Type of torch, number of lumens that work well, how you mount it? Thanks Jerry

I'm interested. Sent you a PM

No, to finwiz, I'm also interested in this.

Sent you a PM

It appears that the more experienced members don't read this thread. Thirty-two questions and maybe 3 or 4 "answers".

Wanted: An S90 housing and the corresponding fisheye lens combination. Either Fix, Ikelite or WPC DC35.

I have a Canon S90 and would like to get into underwater photography, mostly while snorkeling. My current thought is to get a DC35 housing ($175) and the Inon 28AD mount base ($89). This is still less than the Ikelite housing and I can get Inon AD lenses. Now, the most popular WA/Fisheye lens seems to be the Inon UWL 165AD ($459), but the recommended lens for the 28AD mount is the Inon UWL-100 28AD ($399). But this lens is only wide angle, and you would need the dome adaptor ($420) to make this a fisheye equivalent to the 165 AD lens. So, the UWL 165 AD is a much more econimical option. I have read a few posts that the UWL 165 AD will work with the S90-DC35-28AD adaptor combination and that all you need to do is to back off on the zoom to 35mm. Can anyone confirm this? Another way of asking this, is what is the most economical fisheye/WA wet lens for the Canon S90 using either the Ikelite or Canon DC35 housing?

Hi, Jerry here from Lexington, KY. I'm a long time amateur photographer looking to get into underwater photography. This is a great forum and I'm expecting to learn a lot.