Following some great advice from Gary and others on this site I was getting my pennies together to buy a E-520 with E05 and 50mm macro and a dome. My primary driver is to get a lighter setup thats easier to carry.
Then being a mean bastard something in the back of my head said why dump all your Nikon glass and move to Olympus. So I have hung around for the last week on the hook of a decision to stay Nikon with a D80 and Ikelite housing.
I have budgetted myself to $2500 for the setup, I was hoping $2000 would do it, but it won't. I therefore cant afford (correction won't pay) for a D-90 and housing.
Is there any advantages in staying with Nikon before I dump my cash on B&H and Olympus?
Funny, I have been asking myself some of these questions as a new Olympus dealer and D80 shooter.
I really like the Nikon's viewfinder, it's a trade off to use the 520's live view, with a slight delay in shooting. It's viewfinder is pretty small. Other advantages are much better strobe connectivity on the D80. Not so big an issue UW, but I shoot a lot on land with an SB800 and I can't imagine not having such an intelligent lighting system. More choices for glass and cheaper lenses as well, although more and more choices are coming out.
I think the E520 may have the edge uw, but I really like the D80 above. Choices, choices.
Jack
Hi Ardy,
I had a chance to use the Olympus PT-E05 housing with the E-520 camera and 50 macro lens last month in Cozumel. The housing is greatly improved over the E-410 housing and is a very worth while investment to stay within your price range.
If you plan to shoot macro in auto focus I recommend the Inon 50 macro port without the manual focusing ring, $259.00. I also recommend strobes that work with fiber optic cables as the housing is already setup for them. At around $2300.00 for the entire package it is one of the best values you will find.
Phil Rudin
Hi Ardy,
I had a chance to use the Olympus PT-E05 housing with the E-520 camera and 50 macro lens last month in Cozumel. The housing is greatly improved over the E-410 housing and is a very worth while investment to stay within your price range.
If you plan to shoot macro in auto focus I recommend the Inon 50 macro port without the manual focusing ring, $259.00. I also recommend strobes that work with fiber optic cables as the housing is already setup for them. At around $2300.00 for the entire package it is one of the best values you will find.
Phil Rudin
Hi Phil thanks for this my main game is macro so this makes sense.
In fact you were one of the key guys who pointed me in the Olympus direction about 4 months ago. It seems like the most sensible decision, just stumbled on the thought of selling my SnS flashes plus 7-8 old Nikon Lenses and buying an additional long zoom lens for above water work on the Olympus.
In a perfect world I would just close my eyes and do it.
