Hi all. I've been diving for about 4 years and shooting underwater for probably 3. I use a TG-7 but have an OM-1 for topside photography that I'm looking to get a housing for.

Here's an album of some of my favorites I've taken with the TG-7

Welcome aboard!

We hope you will enjoy the community.

Ciao

gnarliest_gnome! Love the username. Welcome!

(Just got my (Nauticam) OM-1 housing)

7 hours ago, TimG said:

gnarliest_gnome! Love the username. Welcome!

(Just got my (Nauticam) OM-1 housing)

Thanks Tim! I'd like to hear your thoughts on choosing Nauticam over AOI and what lenses you've been enjoying shooting underwater. The only lens I have right now that is appropriate for underwater is the 60 mm macro.

Welcome on board, good to see another OM-1 user on here. I'm also using Nauticam, but you could also consider Isotta and Marelux has recently released a housing, though details are thin on the ground, seems like it has a smaller port system and only lists a 140mm dome.

I'm shooting with either the 60mm macro plus MFO3 (a great accessory as the 60mm macro is a bit long) and for wide angle the Canon 8-15 adapted with metabones and the Nauticam 140mm dome. If you were interested in this option the Isotta setup will be significantly cheaper.

Previously I used the the Olympus 12-40 and still do occasionally when temperate water diving around home and also had the Panasonic fisheye with the tiny Zen 100mm dome.

The big advantage of the Aluminium housing is they have an optical viewfinder and importantly for macro you can use a 45°viewfinder in them. The AOI housing only uses a window where you can partially see the viewfinder and you rely on the rear screen.

5 hours ago, gnarliest_gnome said:

Thanks Tim! I'd like to hear your thoughts on choosing Nauticam over AOI and what lenses you've been enjoying shooting underwater. The only lens I have right now that is appropriate for underwater is the 60 mm macro.

I’m moving to the OM system having lost all my gear in a fire on a liveaboard in the Maldives. See my article A Word To The Wise.

I’d being using Subal housings for 25 years always with a 45-degree viewfinder which I loved. I lost a Nikon D500-based system which I saw little point in trying to replace given the camera’s age. I settled on the OM as the replacement given its reputation and size for travelling.

Having had Subals, I really wanted a housing of that quality and 45-degree viewfinder capable. Given the increasing rarity, sadly, of Subals and the popularity of Nauticam (easy access to parts, service, resale value etc), I decided to go with that. I only started playing with the housing yesterday. Have to say, early days, I’m impressed. It’s a quality product with very good integration of things like a vacuum alarm and USB charging. So much to learn though with both a new camera and housing!

Based on advice from folks here, including Chris, I’ve bought the Olympus 60mm macro and 8mm Panasonic lenses and will see how that goes. These replicate close to what I used on the D500. (Either Nikkor 60 or 105 and the much-loved Tokina 10-17)

Another OM-1 / Nauticam user here. I can’t compare to other housing brands but I do really like mine (and the one I had before for an OM-5).

As for lenses I have also settled on the Olympus 60 sometimes with a SubSee +5 diopter for macro and the Panasonic 8 fisheye behind the 4.33” minidome for wide angle. Both deliver great image quality. My previous experience is with the 12-50 zoom plus macro (OK at everything, better at macro, excellent at none), Panasonic 7-14 rectilinear with a 6” dome (I really want a zoom of this range but this combo was not very good at anything) and the Olympus 14-42 behind the flat port of an Olympus housing (the less said the better!).

Happy diving!

It took me a while to get over the lack of a 45 finder but I find (except for Blackwater) the AOI 90 degree finder is fine for macro.

Bill

1 hour ago, bvanant said:

It took me a while to get over the lack of a 45 finder but I find (except for Blackwater) the AOI 90 degree finder is fine for macro.

Bill

Bill,

Did you try the "180" (actually more like 160 as it tilts slightly up)? I got one and used it some for macro in Monterey and it seemed like a big improvement. Wondering how it will be in Lembeh on muck macro and blackwater?

Thanks,

Evan

Thank you everyone for your input on OM-1 setups. I do already have the 60mm macro and will definitely get a port for that. Currently trying to decide if I want to go straight for the 8mm FE or use the 12-42 and a wet wide lens.

There is an Isotta for sale on scubaboard and although I hate how it looks it's an attractive option.

@TimG I read your post about the liveaboard fire. I'm so sorry you experienced that but glad that everyone made it out safely. Thank you for sharing though, your words are an important warning to many of us.

Aloha and welcome @gnarliest_gnome You're going to like the interchangeable lens OM cameras. Nice photos with the TG!

In the meantime we have a specific thread with some clever DIY ideas...

19 hours ago, ACHiPo said:

Bill,

Did you try the "180" (actually more like 160 as it tilts slightly up)? I got one and used it some for macro in Monterey and it seemed like a big improvement. Wondering how it will be in Lembeh on muck macro and blackwater?

Thanks,

Evan

I have one, but I much prefer the 90 finder. The 180 at least for what I shoot is a bit hard for me to find things with.

Bill

@Chris Ross I've been looking into fisheye options more and the Canon 8-15 is quite intriguing, as well as the Tokina 10-17. Did you also consider the latter and what was your reason for going with the Canon? Thanks!

6 hours ago, gnarliest_gnome said:

@Chris Ross I've been looking into fisheye options more and the Canon 8-15 is quite intriguing, as well as the Tokina 10-17. Did you also consider the latter and what was your reason for going with the Canon? Thanks!

The Canon is known for being a very sharp lens plus I had a chance to buy the $$$ N85-N120 adapter and the 8-15 lens locally second hand and also picked up the Metabones second hand. Plus I wasn't that keen on using the Metabones speed booster that is used with the 10-17 due to the optics involved though it is reported to work well.

I would suggest it is much more straight forward to implement this with Isotta housings. Mainly because they use a larger B102 port compared to the small Nauticam N85 port. I haven't tried but I think you could mount the camera/lens from the back rather than needing to remove the port and lens to remove the camera, particularly if you remove the hood. It's quite the assembly task and I bought the USB-C bulkhead to charge the battery and download images when on a trip so I didn’t need to disassemble it all every day.

It's also considerably cheaper (approx $2500 less based on Backscatter pricing) Also the 34.7mm N85-N120 adapter I use is discontinued, you could probably use a N85 - N120 50 or 47mm adapter with a 20mm extension, but I suspect the zoom knob would not mate up correctly and you would need to print the zoom gear I use, the design is listed on the forum.

This post outlines the parts list for an 8-15 in Isotta:

@Chris Ross Thanks for all of the detailed information and the links. I may have an opportunity to buy a Nauticam rig from a user that already has done the hard work of getting the 8-15 set up. If that falls through I may look into Isotta more. I didn't realize how large their port is.