Set Up with One Lens and One Port

HI All

I have been carrying an SLR in a housing with 3 lenses and 2 ports for 20 years and I am sick of it. Change the port and lens and all I see is macro, change it back and there is nothing but Nudi's as far as the eye can see!

I want a Digital set up that is straight forward. I mean one camera, one lens and one port with 2 flashes TTL. All I want is an excellent fish lens 28-100mm (35mm equiv.) with 1:1 macro or better ability and the basic wide angle a 28 lens will give you, as I don't do a lot of WA due to flash coverage and frankly I dont see a lot of things that interest me.

Reading many of these posts over the last 3 months has depressed me. 'Inon is good providing you do 'X', 'This port is good for this but not for that', 'this flash is wire compatible and this is not'. Frankly this whole market is a minefield, far more complex than buying a film set up.

Do any of you extremely adroit posters here have a simple solution to a simple U/W set up question.

1. RAW

2. Sharp as a tack lens

3. Limited shutter lag

4. Easy to View through

5. Macro 1:1 prefer better

6. No wet lenses or port changes

7. Smaller the better

Unfortunately I dont have $5k to spend on this set up and I am hoping to get something for less than $2k excluding the flashes.

regards but with no expectations of success.

Ardy

Lol...sounds like you want a P&S like the G9.....full manual controls, the kind of lens you need, the ability to shoot ANYTHING Macro or WA on the same dive, small, TTL capable...

I have a DX1G. No TTL though. I am going DSLR for better pic quality but I will keep my P&S for sure in case at times I get "sick of it" like you...

Hi Ardy,

Once again you can buy the Olympus E-410 with the Oly PT-E03 housing and this Athena dome port staying within your $2000.00 or so price range. The flip up diopter can be added to get past 35 mm life size.

Reefphoto a site sponsor now has this port in stock and I will be testing one soon with the 12 to 60 mm zoom as well as the 14 to 42 zoom.

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

http://underwaterjournal.com/pdf/archive/UWJ-issue5.pdf

Phil Rudin

Hi Ardy,

 

Once again you can buy the Olympus E-410 with the Oly PT-E03 housing and this Athena dome port staying within your $2000.00 or so price range. The flip up diopter can be added to get past 35 mm life size.

 

Reefphoto a site sponsor now has this port in stock and I will be testing one soon with the 12 to 60 mm zoom as well as the 14 to 42 zoom.

 

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

 

http://underwaterjournal.com/pdf/archive/UWJ-issue5.pdf

 

Phil Rudin

Hi Phil

I have read your report (It's printed beside my desk as I write) it is great and the E-410/PTE03 looks like the best option.

I was very impressed with the quality of your photo's from the 14-42 lens do you know what the equivalent in macro would be with this lens? It looks from your photo's to be about 1:2. Is this correct?

If you had to buy just one lens and use it all the time what would you do?

I look forward to your report about the 12-60 lens v 14-42.

Lol...sounds like you want a P&S like the G9.....full manual controls, the kind of lens you need, the ability to shoot ANYTHING Macro or WA on the same dive, small, TTL capable...

 

I have a DX1G. No TTL though. I am going DSLR for better pic quality but I will keep my P&S for sure in case at times I get "sick of it" like you...

Yeah TTL isn't everything but its bloody handy on mobile fish shots. I shot everything on manual up until 18 months ago and using TTL helps a lot but I still do a fair bit on manual exposure.

I looked very closely at the G9 because so many were buying them and dropped it after not seeing any photo's as sharp as what I get out of the film set up I have now. I found that a compact Panasonic TZ3 produced sharper underwater photo's than the G9 and was about 1/3rd of the price for a camera and housing. My partner is going to buy one of these as she snorkles mainly and I will use it if we are away somewhere and I dont want to take my camera. Have a look at this report.

http://www.letsgodigital.org/html/review/u...er-gallery.html

No RAW and its a bit limited but for the money it seems hard to beat.

[Phil Rudin

Hi Phil just found your reply to Gary (ce4jesus) on macro lenses and I will digest that as well. It seems that the 50mm lens is pretty good. This is very strange as the first Housed SLR I bought in the 80's was housing an OM1 with a 50mm 1:2 macro lens. Back to the future?

Me with an Olympus and 50mm macro in late 80's or early 90's. Didn't believe in controlling my snorkel in those days!

Ardy

In 35 mm terms it is a 84 mm on the long end and is about 1:2.

The one lens I like best for above water is the 12 to 60 mm zoom but it is a $900.00 lens and should be good at that price.

Underwater I would take the 50 mm it I was prone to doing mostly macro and the 7 to 14 zoom if I was a wide angle junky.

If I was short on cash and wanted to cover the widest range for the least cost I would go with the 14 to 42 zoom.

Remember that the 50 F/2 macro on the Olympus camera is equal to a 100 mm macro on a 35 mm camera and would equal 1:1 in that format.

Phil Rudin

If I was short on cash and wanted to cover the widest range for the least cost I would go with the 14 to 42 zoom.

Remember that the 50 F/2 macro on the Olympus camera is equal to a 100 mm macro on a 35 mm camera and would equal 1:1 in that format.

Phil Rudin

Thanks Phil

My favourite lens on my current set up is the Nikon 105 macro which is 1:1 and a good piece of glass, I use that about 80% of the time as I love my muck/macro diving. So I guess that would be good. I was hoping to get a set up that gave me some basic wide (ish) angle as well. The 12-60 sounds great but at $900 it is a bit beyond my budget.