Mirrorless suggestions - I welcome your advice

[Ricardo V. 2]

I've been shooting a Canon 7D for almost 9 years now, first 2 years housed in Ikelite, and the balance in Nauticam.

 

I enjoy this equipment tremendously, and shoot macro 80% of the time, and the rest wide angle.

 

I have been luggin this gear through airports across the Caribbean, and still enjoy diving with it.

 

Technology has made great progress and I'm considering moving into a complete different set-up. Something lighter, with excellent focus and that can give me better performance; however, nothing less than could reasonably be expected from something like a Canon 7DMark2, or decent SLR rig.

 

Those of you that have experience with these new mirrorless cameras and that are familiar with the classic Canon 7D, please share your insights and recommendations.

 

I want to continue shooting fiber optic, and want to have full manual access to aperture, shutter speed and ISO like I have today. I can adjust these things while looking at a subject through the view finder. No need to pull the camera away for any reason.

 

I do need help with autofocus and would expect the camera to allow rapid focus point selections... to have a reliable way to quickly select focusing points without having to pull camera away and look at the screen. Today, I can select focus points, and work the focus while looking through the view finder.

 

I would like to be able to use a magnified view finder, instead of the typical LCD display behind cameras.

 

Am also interested in exploring super macro and maybe some video; however, my interest is mainly sharp focus stills, full manual control, nice bokeh when possible, good battery life, magnified viewfinder (separate accessory of course), travel friendly, fiber optic and all manual settings with ease.

 

I understand lens selection is very important too, and welcome your recommendations.

 

Thank you,

 

Ricardo

PS: My current system is:

Canon 7D Classic.

Nauticam housing

Zen compact dome port for Tokina 10-17

Nauticam flat port for Canon 60mm macro

Sola500 focus lights

Inon Z240's -fiber optic

Magnified 45 viewfinder

Edited August 16, 2017 by Ricardo V.

[troporobo 252]

Everything you described is pretty much the complete business case for m4/3. I am not familiar with the 7D but I can tell you that all your requirements are met with Olympus OM-D series, and most likely the Panasonic series as well. You don't even need to go to the flagship E-M1 mark II for full manual, fiber optic, full control focus and everything else through the viewfinder, etc - this is exactly how I use my E-M5. Although the autofocus system and battery life are vastly improved on the latest model. Nauticam has a 45 viewfinder for their m4/3 housing too. And the system can be much more travel friendly - my entire system fits in an ordinary sized DSLR backpack.

 

As for super macro and bokeh, this is where the m4/3 format brings real advantages due to the 2x crop factor. I use the Olympus 60mm f2.8 lens with Subsee +5 and +10 diopters and get up to a 2.5:1 magnification ratio. Here's a decent example:

 

Edited August 16, 2017 by troporobo

[bvanant 195]

Well I mostly agree with two caveats. Like the OP I moved from 7D to EM-1 and now EM-1 mark II. There are a few differences. Firstly IQ is fine, I can make 16x20 prints with no issues and for macro the u4/3 macro lenses are awesome. Autofocus though is not quite as good as a 7DII with Canon lenses. A bit more hunting and a bit more time to get to focus, not terrible but not quite as fast either. The other issue is that in a DSLR the viewfinder is always on, with the u4/3 the electronic VF goes off then needs to be turned back on. a few other niggling issues with the Nauticam housing for the EM-1 ii, you have to take the tray off the camera to replace the battery (the battery life is better but still not as good as the 7DII). All that being said, I could shoot anything I really want and am shooting the em-1 ii; as a tool it allows me to shoot almost anything I want.

BIll

[eyu 27]

I bought my wife an EM1 and Nauticam housing as an upgrade from her Olympus E410.

We then took a 3 wk Anilao trip and found that there were two issues, one was the hunting and two was lack of feel of half shutter with the shutter lever.

I reconfigured the focus to AEL/AFL to get around the lack of half shutter feel, but the hunting was still troublesome. Used a L&M Sola 1200 and it helped the hunting some. We used the 8 mm, 12-50 mm, 60 mm lens, still hunted but less with the 8 mm vs the 60 mm.

I have since replaced the EM1, Nauticam housing with a D7200 with Subal housing. The hunting and half shutter issues are now resolved.

I have learned that if your bride is troubled by her equipment, you pay very high price for her frustrations in a monetary and an emotional way.

 

Elmer

[Ricardo V. 2]

Troporobo, Bill and Elmer,

Thank you for giving me some great pointers. I see you all have the Olympus. I understand that it has an assortment of features and customizable button functions that help manage focus, as well as user adjustments to control, set and restrict focus hunting ranges.

 

I'm looking to upgrade and will go take a look at the Olympus M1 Mark-II this weekend.

 

My old Canon 7D hunts too; however, with a red Sola focusing light, I've been able to achieve focus and have essentially resolved that challenge. In any case, I'm assuming focus capabilities and low light performance of the M1 Mark-II, must be far superior than the classic 7D, which is considerably older technology too.

 

I like Nauticam and will likely stay with the brand; however, I understand other great housings are available in the market, such as Aquatica, Subal and Olympus too.

 

Thank you,

Ricardo

[troporobo 252]

I'll add three more thoughts. First, I don't have the experience with the EVF turning off, mine stays on full time unless I switch it. Second, when I am shooting with the 60mm macro lens, I switch the focus limiter to the shortest range and this eliminates most of the hunting problem, even without the focus light. I agree with the other guys that this lens does hunt a lot if you set the focus limiter to full range, though a focus light helps a lot of course. Third, having had first an Olympus housing then a Nauticam housing, I would not even consider going back, they are in completely different leagues!

[eyu 27]

Ricardo,

 

I would suggest you contact underwater camera dealers like Reef Photo, Backscatter and discuss the pros and cons of going from a DSLR to mirrorless. My experience and others that I have dove with is that mirrorless tend to hunt and do not focus lock quickly like a DSLR. So for subjects like moving pelagic fish getting the shot is difficult due to the focus hunting, for stationary macro subjects the hunting is not as bad. Mirrorless advantage is that they are smaller and easier to travel with.

 

Elmer

Edited August 18, 2017 by eyu

[Vondo 28]

Does anyone have experience with the EOS-M5 underwater?

 

Like the OP, I have Canon above water. But below water, I'm using the Olympus E-PL5. And, of course, since every dive trip includes a bit of top-side activities, I have a lens or two for the Olympus system specifically for that too. So I now have a Canon system with 7-8 lenses and an Olympus system with 5 lenses.

 

So I'd love to move to a single manufacturer where I have an extra backup body (mirrorless) and can easily grab a (admittedly larger) lens off the shelf to round out a dive travel system.

 

I know the original EOS-M was horrible underwater and that Canon is still not producing dedicated EOS-M lenses suitable for underwater use.