Olympus E-410 and fiber optics

As a result of the attached review of the Olympus E-410 and PT-E03 housing I have been ask to test the housing using fiber optics to control the strobes. I had to barrow two Inon D-2000's from ReefPhoto.com for the test, (thanks to Ryan) as my Z-220's will not work with the system. My first dive was yesterday with the setup and I was able to shoot 230 raw images in a two and a half hour dive.

First let me say that I don't use live view, second I used the 50 mm macro with the 1.4X teleconverter. This lens combo and focal length use the most power to focus, of the lenses I would use underwater. My concern was that the cameras pop up flash would be slow to recycle as the small E-410 battery began to drain. This was not the case, it fired about as fast as I could obtain focus. It did appear however that AF began to slow a little towards the end of the dive. I used the same battery to download the images and the battery symbol on the display still shows a full charge. I intend to change batteries in the strobes and do the same dive location with the 50 macro without recharging the camera battery to see how long it will continue to fire the pop up flash and focus the lens.

As a side bar, this is the first time in my fourty years of shooting underwater that I have used a strobe that was not wired to the camera. The sbrobes were set for TTL and I centered the Exposure compensation

on the strobes and on the camera to "O" to see how well the internal metering system would handle exposures. I was blown away by how accurate my exposures were using the fiber optic cables. This may well be the wave of the future as many of the "pro" level cameras are now being made with the pop up flash, including the coming Olympus pro offering.

Images are the 50 mm macro and 1.4X teleconverter extended manualy to closest focus, then moved in and to obtain focus. Second image is the same arrangement with the Inon UCL 165 C/U lens.

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/olympus-e-4...rwater-housing/

Phil Rudin

I did another two and a half hour dive on Monday with the same battery in the camera and was able to shoot another 200 raw images with the 50 mm macro lens before the Olympus E-410s small battery gave me the red low battery warning.

So a total of 430 raw images without live view using auto focus before the camera was about to die. Bottom line is that you won't find many strobes in the Digitaldiver strobe finder that will out last the power of the small Olympus battery.

In wide angle I shoot manual most of the time and can set the popup strobe on the camera to 1/16th power and still fire the external strobes at any power, which means even greater numbers of shots on a single charge.

Phil Rudin

As a result of the attached review of the Olympus E-410 and PT-E03 housing I have been ask to test the housing using fiber optics to control the strobes. I had to barrow two Inon D-2000's from ReefPhoto.com for the test, (thanks to Ryan) as my Z-220's will not work with the system. My first dive was yesterday with the setup and I was able to shoot 230 raw images in a two and a half hour dive.

 

First let me say that I don't use live view, second I used the 50 mm macro with the 1.4X teleconverter. This lens combo and focal length use the most power to focus, of the lenses I would use underwater. My concern was that the cameras pop up flash would be slow to recycle as the small E-410 battery began to drain. This was not the case, it fired about as fast as I could obtain focus. It did appear however that AF began to slow a little towards the end of the dive. I used the same battery to download the images and the battery symbol on the display still shows a full charge. I intend to change batteries in the strobes and do the same dive location with the 50 macro without recharging the camera battery to see how long it will continue to fire the pop up flash and focus the lens.

 

As a side bar, this is the first time in my fourty years of shooting underwater that I have used a strobe that was not wired to the camera. The sbrobes were set for TTL and I centered the Exposure compensation

on the strobes and on the camera to "O" to see how well the internal metering system would handle exposures. I was blown away by how accurate my exposures were using the fiber optic cables. This may well be the wave of the future as many of the "pro" level cameras are now being made with the pop up flash, including the coming Olympus pro offering.

 

Images are the 50 mm macro and 1.4X teleconverter extended manualy to closest focus, then moved in and to obtain focus. Second image is the same arrangement with the Inon UCL 165 C/U lens.

 

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/olympus-e-4...rwater-housing/

 

Phil Rudin

Hey Phil

I read a lot on wetpixel but don't send replies very much. But I have to say THANKS for the Oly system reviews. That said. I would like your opinion of the ergonomics between the E330 and E410 housings. I already have the 330 but I am open to buying the 410 for underwater and using the 330 top side. Up side to the 330 is I can get a spare body at a great price now. Second question is do you shoot only in manual or do you sometimes use another mode. Current using an aging C5050 and Ike case.

Hi Manta,

I like the E-410 with the Olympus housing because it is designed to work with fiber optic cables in TTL.

The image quality is higher than E-330 and the camera/housing combo is small and light.

I do almost everything underwater in manual.

Phil

Hi Phil

i also agree with Manta thanks very much for all the info you have put up about Oly cameras

i am going to use a similar setup to what you have used in this posting E410 and D2000

i have a few questions for you

when u say you set the strobe in TTL do you mean STTL on the D2000 and centre the strobes do you mean set the strobe to 'B' ?

also i have read the manual i take it you do not put the magnet into the strobe for the cancelling circuitry

now regarding the camera set ups

white balance do you set for auto , cloudy or do you ever use a white card and set yourself ?

i realise this is probably a setting that ppl use differently and depending on water colour or viz

with regards to metering would you use Digital ESP set to ESP+AF or another method

or would you use different metering modes dependent on WA or Macro

perhaps centre weighted for WA and spot for macro ?

do you turn off the AF illuminator ?

also when you say you shoot 1/16th power in WA could you also do the same for Macro ?

regarding general camera settings i have read on a few reviews to turn off or down the noise filter

and also turn the sharpening down a couple of clicks for better pictures , have you tried this ?

thanks in advance for any help

vinny

Hi Vinny,

#1 STTL and I started with the strobe set to "B", I have since moved one click to the right - or C to reduce

the output by about 1/3rd stop. I like a little under exposure. Also "O" exposure compensation on the

camera and its popup strobe.

#2 Magnet is out.

#3 Camera is on auto white balance, zero exposure compensation, no white card.

#4 Metering was set to center weighted for both macro and W/A because that was what I was using with

wired TTL and I wanted an equitable comparison. I will try other metering options next.

#5 Did not turn off the AF liluminator but will for the next dive.

#6 Regarding 1/16th power, what I said was that if you chose to shoot manual in W/A rather than TTL which

I and others do (I.E. make manual changes to strobe power) it makes no diffrence if the popup flash is

set to full power or to 1/16th power the fiber optics are going to fire the strobe at the power you have

chosen. Since the strobe has about twelve power settings in manual any one could be used by firing the

popup flash at 1/16th and your camera battery power would last far beyond the strobe battries power.

So 1/16th as a way to conserve battery power for live view and/or multi dives. Same goes for macro if

you use a strobe in manual, which I do with my Athena ring flash which has no TTL and can also be fired

by fiber optics.

#7 I shoot RAW with the noise filter off and the sharpening set as far to the minus as I can get it, I also use

Adobe Lightroom to process. This is how I set all my cameras from day one and I have not tried

anything else.

This will give you a starting point Vinny and you can make changes to suit your needs.

I just got a pair of Inon Z-240s to use full time with fiber optics so we will see how it goes,

any used Inon Z-220 buyers out there?

Phil Rudin

Kind of a dumb question but if you use the Inon's in TTL do they squelch the internal flash? I've heard that they send out a signal that fools the camera's internal strobe into not firing...which would be ideal.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the PM.

You mentioned that you origionally got a lend of a couple of D2000's from Ryan and that you were rapt

with the results that you obtained using them, THEN you went and purchased two of the Z-240's?

Any reason for the upgrade?

Bruce

Gary,

The idea of the fiber optics in TTL is that the camera flash turns on turning on the external strobes and then turns off when exposure is obtained turning off the external strobes. This all takes place in 1/1000 of a second or so while the shutter is open for 1/160th or whetever it is set for.

If the camera popup flash is not fired then the external strobes will not fire.

Bruce,

I have used the Inon Z-220 strobes for over ten years and did not want to go backwards in power since I use the same strobes for macro and wide angle. The D-2000s are very nice but I wanted the extra power of the Z-240.

Phil