Advice on system starting out

if the 5050 has a TTL hotshoe, why not co-opt one of the control ports?

The hotshoe only does TTL with the Oly FL-40 flash. However, there is a hotshoe to PC adapter. Ike's site says his housing for the 5050 will have a strobe synch cable connection. I presume it will use this interface. Manual control only . . .

It's cool that you can disable the preflash if you want -- that would make it compatible with all of Ike's old slave sensors (again, manual only). Thanks for the info Herb!

Yes, One strobe will be good enough on its own - If Olympus do a dedicated system flash opt for this in a strobe housing. This should give you everything inc. program TTL

Try the all new S & S YS 25DX. I use this with my D cam. It operates with a very simple fibre optic connection. Just set the camera to forced flash, run through a simple flash timing procedure and you're in. Its a very neat small package, compatible to digital set up. It also allows you section 'add ons' should you need to extend arm further.

Mark H

For the 5050 + PT-015 ( BTW I think this is rated to 40m, so I don't think depth is an issue )

James' article downplays the difference between the housings listed for each camera, but there definitely is a difference. Even if I were to go with the 5050 instead of the 5000, I'd still get the Ikelite housing and not the PT, in which case the difference in cost is basically $60.

The rated depth of the PT-015 might be 40m, but personally, I like the idea of having a little factor of safety on my housing rating. Many people have exceeded the depth rating of their housing and had no problems, but why push it? Most people don't do a whole lot of diving that exceeds the recreational limits, and maybe shouldn't have a camera on the occassions they do, but are you likely to want to do that?

Also, since the Ikelite housing is a little bit bigger, there's more room around the camera in the event you do have some leakage or fogging (space for dessicant packs).

This is certainly not to say that the PT series of housings isn't good, they seem to be very popular, and people have great luck with them. I just lean towards the "bigger is better" theory when dealing with factors of safety...

Tom

Tom,

I believe the PT is 70m rating!

Good point about the extra room. Just had problems with fogging on mine and the dessicant packs ARE needed.

Mark H

I based the 40m comment on an earlier post, as well as info at underwaterdigital.net, but I could be wrong. I'd be REALLY surprised if it was 70m, because it seems the most common max depth on housings is around 60m, and the PT series has always had a much lower limit than say Ikelite or Sea and Sea.

Regardless, if it is 70 and not 40, then the depth comment really isn't very relevant for most people. That does bring up an interesting thought though, which I'll post in another thread...

Tom

Guys,

Go to the source (Olympus's Japanese site) and you'll see that the depth rating for the PT-015 is 40m. Using BabelFish (or a similar translation engine might be useful).

If Olympus do a dedicated system flash opt for this in a strobe housing

Wouldn't that be handy. Maybe now that the C-5050z has a hotshoe someone will make a housing for the FL-40. I wouldn't hold my breath, though

Guys,

My aplologies. I was confusing this with the Samsung 410 housing which IS 70m rating.

Mark H

What do you think about the systems that Ocean Brite is offering here:

Olympus Housings at Ocean Brite

The details from the site:

Our EXCLUSIVE "Digital Light Adjustment" (similar to TTL) Packages not only accommodate the Pre-Flash from the Olympus Digicams, but "ADJUST THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT TO THE SUBJECT". In order to accomplish this, we install a waterproof plug in the Housing that is wired to one of the ES 150 Strobes. The Digicam's external flash socket is wired into this plug allowing the Digicam to dictate the exposure. The ES 150 Strobe utilizes it's internal sensor to duplicate the exposure and automatically quench the Strobe at the proper time. These packages are designed with the sophisticated user in mind and are the only AFFORDABLE systems available that produce true flash automation for the Olympus Digital Cameras.

What does everyone think of this?

Here's a hotlinked photo from oceanbrite website:

It looks to me like they might have installed a strobe bulkhead in the Olympus PT housing. I was wondering when someone would do this. I wonder what kind ob bulkhead it is and if it only works w/ Epoque flashes?

Cheers

James

However, there is a hotshoe to PC adapter.

how is the adapter used? who is making it?

Fezziwig,

The 5050 with the PT housing is a great idea...but what exactly are you planning on doing with 5 mega-pixels images? Are you planning on printing images at 16 X 20 (I'd like to see the printer for that one) or cropping small sections and printing them at 8 X 10? If not, then maybe the 5050 my be overkill unless you just have lots of money to spend. Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible piece of equipment. I have a friend that just purchased one. It has a lot of user interface enhancements over the 3040 and the 4040 and is all metal now, but that's about it.

The fact of the matter still is that my 3040 that I just bought refurbished (you wouldn't know it wasn't new) for $350 compared to my buddies $650-700 5050 will yield the exact same quality up to about 11 X 14 prints. The 3040 and the 4040 have the exact same super bright lense and macro capability which is that line's strongest point...especially underwater. Bottom line, if my camera get's wet, I can buy another one and still cost me no more than the 5050. You flood that thing and you are out a lot of money.

Save yourself some money and go with the 4040 or 3040 with the PT-010 housing. Take that extra money and buy a full set of Tiffen adapter lenses and filters from www.dcprodirect.com for the difference in cost. You will get more use out of that than the extra mega-pixel. And don't be fooled by the lower quality lense/filter packages going on eBay. You won't beat the Tiffen for digital cameras.