Olympus OM-D E-M5

[Elainew 1]

I have now joined this club and have the camera with 12-50 kit lens, Nauticam housing, port and zoom gear plus 2 inon 240s. I used it for the first time yesterday and was impressed by the ease of use of the housing and the smooth transition between macro and e-zoom settings. I only did a shallow shore dive so didn't have much opportunity for wide angle but macro setting was pretty impressive. I need more dives with the rig before I decide whether to dispense with my canon 7d in ikelite housing but the size and usability of the oly in the Nauticam was really good. Special praise must go to Alex Tattersall who patiently out of hours answered some of my dumb queries about putting the zoom/macro gear.

[Eismann113 1]

Dear wetpixel-community,

 

a big hello from a newby in the system-camera world. As Im thinking about getting an OMD in a Nauticam housing. I have tried to gather as much as information about this system over the past weeks i could get. My aim is actually more on macro, but in the near future I would like to expand the system with a wide-angle lens, like the Oly 7-18.

 

For economical reasons, I will start taking pictures with the 1250 kit-lens. Therefore Im searching the best port-solution to get the maximum of versability and performance out of the system. So far I have figured out two options:

 

1. Take the 12-50 Port and Zoom-gear. which would enable to use the macro-function underwater. As I have seen the gear needs to be time-consumin installed. As I want to use the lens above the water, I would like to ask if it can be used with the gear installed.

 

alternatively I could use the 65 makro-port with the austrian zoom-gear. I realize that the macro-modus is not available. Does manually zooming involve rotating the motor of the zoom passively?

 

2. Take the 4 inch semi-domeport combined with a flip diopter an a macro-lens. My concern is that the macro-capabilitys suffer from this combination. Can anyone comment on this and maybe show some pictures taken with that system?

 

Thanx a lot in advance for you help,

 

Greetings from Germany

 

Eismann

[troporobo 251]

I can answer the first set of questions. It is not all that time consuming to install and remove the Nauticam gear. Once you have done it a couple of times, it takes less than 10 minutes, and after you are really familiar, maybe less then 5 minutes. Although it is not a simple procedure, it is also not difficult as long as you have practiced and take your time to do it carefully under good conditions. And yes, you can use the lens top side with the gear installed. But be aware that it is heavy, limits you to e-zoom (manual zoom is not available), and affects handling compared to a naked lens.

[Deep6 7]

I can answer the first set of questions. It is not all that time consuming to install and remove the Nauticam gear. Once you have done it a couple of times, it takes less than 10 minutes, and after you are really familiar, maybe less then 5 minutes. Although it is not a simple procedure, it is also not difficult as long as you have practiced and take your time to do it carefully under good conditions. And yes, you can use the lens top side with the gear installed. But be aware that it is heavy, limits you to e-zoom (manual zoom is not available), and affects handling compared to a naked lens.

I agree with troporobo. You can use the 12-50 with the gears installed for top side photography. I really like the versatility of the zoom range and can go to the 43 mm macro mode with a turn of the knob on the port. I wasn't a big fan of the servo zoom, but I am OK with it. I suggest you do not uninstall/install the gears while on a dive trip because there are several tiny screws that could be misplaced.

 

Bob

[pompeygreg 1]

I agree with troporobo. You can use the 12-50 with the gears installed for top side photography. I really like the versatility of the zoom range and can go to the 43 mm macro mode with a turn of the knob on the port. I wasn't a big fan of the servo zoom, but I am OK with it. I suggest you do not uninstall/install the gears while on a dive trip because there are several tiny screws that could be misplaced.

 

Bob

Having had my 12-50mm lens fail on day 1 of a trip I have now purchased a second from eBay. Redundancy in case of another failure and no need to take the gears on and off if I want to use it on land. Best £150 I've spent as insurance :-)

 

Greg

[Eismann113 1]

Hello guys,

 

thanx for sharing your experience. So the 12-50 port with zoom gear is still a good opportunity.

 

Can someone comment on the 4-inch domeport for macro-pictures and maybe provide pictures?

 

Greetings,

 

Eismann

[markw 1]

Hello all,

 

I have read that it is feasible to use the 12-50 lens above water with the nauticam gears fitted. Having just purchased this system, I am trying to find a way to use the zoom option. Does anyone have a suggestion or reference that will enable this?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[jlyle 8]

Hello all,

 

I have read that it is feasible to use the 12-50 lens above water with the nauticam gears fitted. Having just purchased this system, I am trying to find a way to use the zoom option. Does anyone have a suggestion or reference that will enable this?

 

Thanks,

Mark

You just apply a slight right or left twist to the zoom gear...

[markw 1]

Thanks - maybe I'm not twisting hard enough... It works in the housing but so far I haven't managed to get a response out of the housing - I will check the fitting etc.

[Deep6 7]

Thanks - maybe I'm not twisting hard enough... It works in the housing but so far I haven't managed to get a response out of the housing - I will check the fitting etc.

Push forward or back, I forget which and then servo zoom.

Bob

[jlyle 8]

Make sure you aren't in "macro" before twisting the zoom gear.

[markw 1]

Thanks for the suggestions, I now have zooming - I wasn't turning hard enough.

[guyharrisonphoto 21]

After using the heavy and bulky 12-50 with zoom gear on land, I looked on ebay and found a like-new 12-50 for $200.00. I use that for travel and the lens with gear stays dedicated to underwater. I find it too much of a pain to take the zoom gear on and off on a daily basis when I travel. The 12-50 is so tiny it fits in my pocket easily so it is no extra burden to travel with it.

[Deep6 7]

After using the heavy and bulky 12-50 with zoom gear on land, I looked on ebay and found a like-new 12-50 for $200.00. I use that for travel and the lens with gear stays dedicated to underwater. I find it too much of a pain to take the zoom gear on and off on a daily basis when I travel. The 12-50 is so tiny it fits in my pocket easily so it is no extra burden to travel with it.

I leave the zoom gear on the 12-50 and use the pany 14-140. If the price drops on the 12-40 f/2.8, I might consider buying it.

[carolinepower70808 0]

Hi Everyone,

I would love some advice. I currently have a G12 and am looking to upgrade. I have narrowed it down to the OM-D and either the NEX 6 or 7. Which is better? I have read every comparison I have found and poured through this forum. But I am still undecided. I will be going with a Nauticam housing either way.

 

The NEX 6 has a 60% bigger sensor than the OM-D which should mean better image quality. And it is cheaper. So why is the OM-D so much more popular among underwater photographers? Are the lens for the NEX series really that bad? The reviews I have read are not good, especially for the 16 mm wide angle. I have not found any underwater reviews for that lens with the fisheye conversion.And while we are comparing things, is the NEX 6 better than the NEX 7?

 

I live in Roatan and dive a lot so this will be more than a part-time hobby. I will be using it equally for wide-angle and macro. We have had an influx of whale sharks lately but I am also a Blenny/Nudi fan so versatility is very important to me.

 

Thanks for the help,

Caroline

 

 

[Jock 14]

Hi Caroline,

 

if after all your reading you are still undecided, maybe you should throw a coin??? Seriously! You cannot go "wrong".

 

And if you read carefully you will find out that the lens CHOICE of Sony is "bad", not the lenses. I have met two photo pros in Raja Ampat who had the 16mm Sony lens plus fisheye adapter. Believe me, THEY were taking phantastic photos with it!

 

Image quality? Just do not ever think about it again.Good enough. Proof? Google for professional photographers who use the OM-D EM5.

 

MAYBE you should consider how complicated it will be to have either of these cameras repaired in or out of Honduras. Just my 2 cents.

 

Regards

Jock

Hi Everyone,

I would love some advice. I currently have a G12 and am looking to upgrade. I have narrowed it down to the OM-D and either the NEX 6 or 7. Which is better? I have read every comparison I have found and poured through this forum. But I am still undecided.

 

 

[carolinepower70808 0]

Thanks for the advice

[kraft2000 0]

Hello,

 

I already have the EM5 with both the olympus 12-50 mm , and the olympus 12mm f2.0 .

 

would you recommend :

- buying the port for the 12-50, and using only this lense which seem to be quite versatile and unique for UW for its zoom, WA and macro capability

- buying the dome port 4.33 for the 12mm, and shooting only in WA, with a faster and better lense at 12mm, which would produce more much detailed images and shallow depth of field.

 

When I bought the EM5 last year, I started shooting using the 12-50 lense but was a little bit disappointed by the results for non UW images. Since I'm more a WA guy, I decided to buy the prime 12mm and it hasn't left my em5 since.

[troporobo 251]

I really value the versatility of the 12-50 lens, but I am more of a macro guy and take few WA shots. I believe you can put the 12-50 in a 4.33 port for better WA and still have the zoom range, but you would lose access to the macro function, although perhaps there is a way to put a wet diopter on that port.

[kraft2000 0]

Thanks !

[coroander 16]

The 12-50mm is versatile, but i almost never use this lens even though i have the macro port & gear for it. Shooting at 12mm through a flat port produces images with very soft corners and massive chromatic aberration. Macro is OK with the 12-50mm, but working distance is very short, in the end i just use the 60mm for shooting macro and the 12mm f/2 or 8mm fisheye behind the 4.33" dome. The 12-50mm will not fit behind the 4.33" dome. The 12-50mm apparently does fit behind the 4" semi-dome port but i haven't tried this -- it should give much better results at 12mm than shooting through a flat port, but of course you won't be able to switch to macro mode.

 

With all lenses we have to stop them down much more than on land to gain good image quality. Dome ports produce virtual images where the edges are closer to the sensor than the centre -- so stopping down is necessary to improve depth of field to reduce corner softness. For flat ports and wide angle lenses the chromatic & spherical aberrations are so bad that even stopping down significantly doesn't help enough. Macro isn't so affected, but we stop down in most cases just to get some reasonable depth of field.

[kraft2000 0]

Thanks for your responses,

I really enjoy my 12mm f2.0, I think I'll buy the dome port for it and stick with it.

[oskar 6]

A question, what do you find is the maximum ok aperture for the 12mm 2.0 and the 8mm fisheye with that 4.33" dome?

 

Cheers

/O

 

The 12-50mm is versatile, but i almost never use this lens even though i have the macro port & gear for it. Shooting at 12mm through a flat port produces images with very soft corners and massive chromatic aberration. Macro is OK with the 12-50mm, but working distance is very short, in the end i just use the 60mm for shooting macro and the 12mm f/2 or 8mm fisheye behind the 4.33" dome. The 12-50mm will not fit behind the 4.33" dome. The 12-50mm apparently does fit behind the 4" semi-dome port but i haven't tried this -- it should give much better results at 12mm than shooting through a flat port, but of course you won't be able to switch to macro mode.

 

With all lenses we have to stop them down much more than on land to gain good image quality. Dome ports produce virtual images where the edges are closer to the sensor than the centre -- so stopping down is necessary to improve depth of field to reduce corner softness. For flat ports and wide angle lenses the chromatic & spherical aberrations are so bad that even stopping down significantly doesn't help enough. Macro isn't so affected, but we stop down in most cases just to get some reasonable depth of field.

[troporobo 251]

Shooting at 12mm through a flat port produces images with very soft corners and massive chromatic aberration.

For flat ports and wide angle lenses the chromatic & spherical aberrations are so bad that even stopping down significantly doesn't help enough.

 

I will agree with you that there are compromises when shooting at the 12mm end through the flat port. However I do not completely agree with your assertions about the negative aspects.

 

Below I post three examples from my last couple of outings, straight out of the camera as JPGs, shot at 12mm through the flat port. These are not fantastic photos but they were the quickest to hand that illustrated the question. The pair of anemone fish was shot at f8, the single anemone fish at f16, and the sunburst at f11. Even zooming in on the raw files I do not see unacceptably soft corners nor do I see "massive" CA.

 

I recognize the compromises but I also value the versatility.

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2013 by troporobo

[Conny3479 5]

Hi,

it took some time, but now i made my own zoom gear 12-50 / focus gear 60mm makro, a new cap for the Nauticam port (12-50 + 60mm). Additionaly a snoot, filter holders for fluo-dives and cavemarker. These tools are build on my 3D printer.

 

The tools were tested on my Komodo-trip: http://marine-snapshots.com/galleries/2013%20-%20New%20Photos/Komodo/

 

So if someone is interested just send me a message :-).

 

cheers,

Conny