why is the c 5060 no good?

[neo 0]

Hi, i been doing some research on the net and in magazines and found that the oly c5060 was highly recomended for underwater use......until i found this wonderful site. It seems that the 5050 was the cam of choice for the beginer and that the 5060 aint as good. please tell me why! because I already ordered it! should i send it back and get the 5050 for less money?

 

I was using the stylus 400 with pt016 housing and i found that auto cams dont really cut it underwater. i want to be in control of shutter speed especially, hence the 5060.

 

any comments/advice would be appreciated.

 

All the best,

Simon

[Detonate 0]

The difference between the 2 isn't huge. I'd say the 5060 is probably the better land camera, and the 5050 the better underwater camera.

 

So depending on the purpose you bought it for, the 5060 may be a better fit for you...

 

I've only shot with the 5050, but I really really liked it.

[james 0]

Hi Simon,

 

It's not that the 5060 is "no-good" it's just that due to a few changes that Olympus made, it's not as versatile for underwater use.

 

With the 5050, the design of the lens meant that you could screw a wide-angle adapter onto the Olympus PT-015 and get GREAT shots. The design of the 5060's lens and PT-020 is not the same, so the WA adapter doesn't work with that setup.

 

That's the only important difference, but people feel it's a major negative.

 

Cheers

James

[neo 0]

Thanks for the quick replies!

So its just the wet lenses that people are complaining about. Ikelite housing with dome port and oly wide lens should be better than pto2o set up due to flat port. I think ill go for the ikelite housing then purely for the ttl. not too worried about add on lenses anyway. well not yet!

 

Do you know if there are optical issues with the camera using either housing without wa lenses?

 

Dont understand why olympus dont just make a dome port for the pt 020 since this is clearly a known issue

 

anyway, I feel a lot better having read your coments

 

All the best

 

Simon

U.K.

[Starbuck 0]

hi neo -

 

the inon wide angle lens that can be attached underwater is a nice option to have. you can switch between the camera lens and wide angle in a matter of seconds. i shot w/o the wide angle for awhile but have been much happier carrying the wide angle lens along. I have some pictures at www.scubadiving.com of bonaire that show wide angle and close up on the same dive.

 

just a thought

 

Michael Palasz

[Goondoo 0]

Hi Simon,

 

It's not that the 5060 is "no-good" it's just that due to a few changes that Olympus made, it's not as versatile for underwater use.

 

With the 5050, the design of the lens meant that you could screw a wide-angle adapter onto the Olympus PT-015 and get GREAT shots. The design of the 5060's lens and PT-020 is not the same, so the WA adapter doesn't work with that setup.

 

That's the only important difference, but people feel it's a major negative.

 

Cheers

James

 

Hi James,

Why not? its still 67mm threaded.... and I had been using a Inon macro lense with it. Can't afford a WAL yet thou...

[james 0]

The add-on wideangle lens will vignette horribly unless you zoom in a lot.

 

But if you're going to have to zoom in a lot, what's the point of putting on a wide angle lens, right?

 

Cheers

James

[pmooney 6]

Excuse if I seem pedantic.

 

In my experience with compact digital housings and screw on ( wetmate ) type lens ALL lens of this type have vignetting issues when used fully wide.

 

I know this to be the case with PT010 / 5050 , Aquataica 5005 / Coolpix 5000 , Aquatech CG5 / Canon G5 , Tetra 5050 and now PT020 / 5060.

 

It would seem that the question is really not if they vignette - but how badly do they, and how far do you need to zoom in to avoid it at acquisition or do you just fix it in post.

 

just my 2cents on this issue

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[Goondoo 0]

The add-on wideangle lens will vignette horribly unless you zoom in a lot.

 

But if you're going to have to zoom in a lot, what's the point of putting on a wide angle lens, right?

 

Cheers

James

 

Using my Inon macro lense, there is also some vignette if I wide all the way. just need a little zoom in to remove it, definitely not alot. Unless the WAL will give more vignetteness than my current lense, I dun really see it as a problem.

[james 0]

Well...you WANT to zoom in when you are shooting macro, right? Because then you'll get more magnification.

 

But it's the opposite when shooting a wideangle lens. you want to zoom OUT as far as possible.

 

Looking at it by the numbers. If the 5060 has a 28mm field of view lens, then what's the point of putting on a wideangle lens, then having to zoom in until you are back at 28mm field of view? It kind of defeats the point, eh?

 

Cheers

James

[ikelite 0]

The 5060 has been wrongly maligned. Its 28mm lens is better than the 5050, and Inon can be added with considerably increased coverage obtained. The optional Olympus wide angle lens with our optional dome port provides coverage that matches a 15mm Nikonos, with incredible range that is similar to that provided by the Coolpix 5000 with its optional wide angle lens. The Ikelite housing provides superb Olympus TTL with Ikelite DS series digital strobes. Listening to the continued recommending of obsolete 5050 cameras seems ridiculous............?

[TxAgs92 1]

The one reason I chose the 5050 over the 5060 is the ability to use AA batteries in the 5050. The 5060 requires a proprietary Oly battery pack. I know they make smart chargers and all that, but I could just picture getting to some dream destination a thousand miles from anywhere in the south pacific and finding out that my charger didn't work. It would obviously be expensive at such a far flung location, but EVERYBODY sells AA batteries. So even if I can't use my rechargeable AAs, at least I can buy a bunch of packages and not lose an entire dive trip worh of photo opportunities.

 

TxAgs92

[scorpio_fish 5]

Listening to the continued recommending of obsolete 5050 cameras seems ridiculous............?

 

The 5050 recommendations started before the anouncement of your yet to be shipped dome port. You've made it ridiculous by solving the problem.

 

Will this new dome port work with an 8080 housing?

[herbko 0]

The 5060 has been wrongly maligned. Its 28mm lens is better than the 5050, and Inon can be added with considerably increased coverage obtained. The optional Olympus wide angle lens with our optional dome port provides coverage that matches a 15mm Nikonos, with incredible range that is similar to that provided by the Coolpix 5000 with its optional wide angle lens. The Ikelite housing provides superb Olympus TTL with Ikelite DS series digital strobes. Listening to the continued recommending of obsolete 5050 cameras seems ridiculous............?

 

I'll continue to malign it for the following reasons:

 

The best wide angle you can get for the 5060 is around ~100 degrees ( nikonos 15mm is 96 degrees). For the 5050, the Inon dome lens without the dome will get you ~100 and with the dome 130 degrees.

 

To get even that wideangle performance you loose the flexibility of switching lenses underwater.

 

Definitely a step DOWN from the 5050.

[ikelite 0]

But that same Inon lens does operate on a 5060 zoomed out to about the same 35mm setting of a 5050 camera. Dome for the 5060 is available and a similar dome for the 8080 will be.

[herbko 0]

But that same Inon lens does operate on a 5060 zoomed out to about the same 35mm setting of a 5050 camera. Dome for the 5060 is available and a similar dome for the 8080 will be.

 

Does the moving front element of the 5060 cause the seperation between it and the Inon lens to be too far apart when zoomed to 35mm? I don't have this camera so I can't do the test.

 

Does somebody have a good 130 degree image with the 5060 and the Inon Dome lens?

[doctorbob 0]

Both are 5 meg cameras the 5050 is better in low light with it's 1.8 lens the 5060 only has a 2.8 lens. Shooting with a strobe or strobes I usually want a higher F stop so the 1.8 is not a big deal underwater. I have a Pt-15 and a 5050. After some minor water damage on my last trip I was forced to pick up a 5060 and the PT-20 housing.

With the PT-15 housing I had a hard time adjusting F stops. You have to push a button in on one side of the camera housing and turn a knob on the top of the camera housing very hard to do underwater at least for me it was. When I was forced into the PT-20 housing I found Olympus had made a few changes. You still had to push a button in on the left but now you had a wheel on the back of the housing you could turn with your thumb. VERY easy. I had a heck of a time with the PT-15 housing the PT-20 housing alone is why I would take the 5060 over the 5050.

Here is a sample done with the 5060 with dual YS90DX strobes

[herbko 0]

Both are 5 meg cameras the 5050 is better in low light with it's 1.8 lens the 5060 only has a 2.8 lens. Shooting with a strobe or strobes I usually want a higher F stop so the 1.8 is not a big deal underwater. I have a Pt-15 and a 5050. After some minor water damage on my last trip I was forced to pick up a 5060 and the PT-20 housing.

With the PT-15 housing I had a hard time adjusting F stops. You have to push a button in on one side of the camera housing and turn a knob on the top of the camera housing very hard to do underwater at least for me it was. When I was forced into the PT-20 housing I found Olympus had made a few changes. You still had to push a button in on the left but now you had a wheel on the back of the housing you could turn with your thumb. VERY easy. I had a heck of a time with the PT-15 housing the PT-20 housing alone is why I would take the 5060 over the 5050.

Here is a sample done with the 5060 with dual YS90DX strobes

 

 

I'm glad to hear that Olympus did something that made using the $#(@ thumb wheel easier. That was my least favorite part about that setup.

 

Do you have shots taken with a wide angle wet lens?

[neo 0]

Hi all, Thanks for all the replys and comments.

I went ahead and kept the 5060 and although i havnt got a housing yet, i love the camera on land! S macro is fantastic! insects are keeping me real busy right now and i got some great ones of bees....bla bla bla!

 

anyways, ill post this question again seperately cos i bet no one reads it on this old thread but, does anyone know of a good US web trader that could sell me the Ikelite housing for less than what i can get it for here in the UK (£400) Ive been looking but after tax and shipping i dont really save alot. $400 sounds about right to my wallet! cheers all and happy diving!

 

by the way, that photograph above is fantastic! strobes are next on my list definately!

[mannydib 0]

ok, this is from the Inon site:

 

PT-020 Housing: Wider 28mm equivalent C-5060 lens with moving front element will cause vignetting when camera zoom at widest setting. Type 2 lens can be physically attached and used, but it will be necessary to zoom forwards a little to the equivalent 35mm setting (like the C-5050 lens at widest setting) thus negating benefits of C-5060 28mm equivalent native lens.

 

 

so from what i gather the wider angle of the c5060 causes vignetting used with the Inon WAL but that can be compensated by zooming it in to where the c5050 would be.

 

So using the c5060 w/Inon WAL you will get the same 100 degrees that you would with the c5050, you just have to zoom in alittle. correct? is this hard to do?

 

is the c5060 as good as the c5050 in low light?

 

thanks, im trying to put together a setup soon!!!

[herbko 0]

ok, this is from the Inon site:

 

PT-020 Housing: Wider 28mm equivalent C-5060 lens with moving front element will cause vignetting when camera zoom at widest setting. Type 2 lens can be physically attached and used, but it will be necessary to zoom forwards a little to the equivalent 35mm setting (like the C-5050 lens at widest setting) thus negating benefits of C-5060 28mm equivalent native lens.  

 

 

so from what i gather the wider angle of the c5060 causes vignetting used with the Inon WAL but that can be compensated by zooming it in to where the c5050 would be.  

 

So using the c5060 w/Inon WAL you will get the same 100 degrees that you would with the c5050, you just have to zoom in alittle. correct? is this hard to do?

 

is the c5060 as good as the c5050 in low light?

 

thanks, im trying to put together a setup soon!!!

 

There was an issue brought up at a discussion ealier: the front of element of the 5060 lens moves. That may set it back from port and increase the distance to the Inon lens and degrade the image. I have not seen a test so I don't know if that's the case.

[mannydib 0]

to guinea pig or not to guinea pig, hmm

[mannydib 0]

how wide an angle can you get with the c5060's 28mm lens?

[james 0]

When shooting through the flat port on the PT-020, the image quality is pretty poor (this is based on samples I have seen) at 28mm. This is because of the chromatic aberration caused by shooting through a flat port.

 

Cheers

James Wiseman

[CeeDave 0]

It takes a talented photographer to consistently fill anything much over 90 deg FOV (about 20 mm in 35 mm equivalent), in my opinion. "Beginners" such as myself are probably better off with moderate wide angle as we learn to compose, and go to >100 degrees as our composition and strobe use improve. In my opinion...