Liveview?

Greetings,

I've been using an Olympus SP350 in the PT-030 housing and I recently added a wide angle lens and an external strobe. A recent dedicated photgraphic liveaboard trip has stimulated me to think about getting an SLR. I like using the LCD screen as a viewfinder and I was wondering if anyone has experience of a housing that permits the use of Liveview for any SLR. If so, would you share your thoughts with me.

Thanks in advance.

Greetings,

I've been using an Olympus SP350 in the PT-030 housing and I recently added a wide angle lens and an external strobe. A recent dedicated photgraphic liveaboard trip has stimulated me to think about getting an SLR. I like using the LCD screen as a viewfinder and I was wondering if anyone has experience of a housing that permits the use of Liveview for any SLR. If so, would you share your thoughts with me.

Thanks in advance.

I asked this exact question a few months ago. Do a search with "Live View" and you will find some good stuff. Basically the only DSLR that has usable live view for UW photos is the Sony 350, Sony has just come out with some upgraded versions of this camera so they may have it as well. I think that the next big thing for SLRs (behind HD video) will be LV which doesnt sacrifice focus speed, however in the meantime unless you want the same focus speed as your P&S you may as well get the Sony or forget about LV. Personally I ended up getting the Canon 500D and am over the moon with it, yes jamming my face into the camera to look through the view finder took some getting used to but you do get used to it quickly and may end up preferring it.

Hope that helps.

Fontaine

Seriously!?

Blimey! With my eye sight I could never go DSLR then...

Seriously!?

Blimey! With my eye sight I could never go DSLR then...

you can get the inon viewfinders which are fantastic but cost about $1000

Greetings,

I've been using an Olympus SP350 in the PT-030 housing and I recently added a wide angle lens and an external strobe. A recent dedicated photgraphic liveaboard trip has stimulated me to think about getting an SLR. I like using the LCD screen as a viewfinder and I was wondering if anyone has experience of a housing that permits the use of Liveview for any SLR. If so, would you share your thoughts with me.

Thanks in advance.

You should be able to find a used Olympus E-330 & housing. The E-330 has LV that works just like your point & shoot, but without shutter lag.

Depending on your eyesight issues you may actually find a DSLR better, because it has a built in diopter adjustment that you can tune to your eye.

I had an operation where I cant see closer than a foot or so but I can see absolutely fine through the viewfinder once its dialled in.

Otara

Hi SplashDoc,

I upgraded to an SLR from an Oly-8080 about 8 months ago. I picked the Sony-A350 mainly due to the fast LiveView and have not been disappointed.

I do still sometimes miss the flexibility of a fixed lens point & shoot, but when I look at the picture quality and the extension of range you get into Macro and Wide with the SLR lenses the feeling goes away.

The Olympus E-330 has a separate sensor for the live view. That means zero shutter lag which, IMHO, is the best reason to move to a DSLR.

Olympus also makes a case for the camera that is about as small as you can get. It cost about $1000. TTL exposure control of the strobes is a problem. Athena makes a TTL converter that works quite well but we have found that the connections are flakey. WE have flodded two.

If you house a 14/54 lens in an Olympus flat port you wind up with a lens that takes quite good macro shots (not as good as a 60mm or 105mm on my Nikon) and quite good wide shots (again not as good as my 12/24 in a dome). The result is a dSLR that is not much bigger than a point-and-shoot that has the lens flexibility of a typical P&S, working live view and no shutter lag.

We know that this setup works because we have used it for many dives.

I have just upgraded from compact to a Canon 500D SLR with a Sea & Sea Housing. The camera has live view but to auto focus you need to push a focus button not the shutter button. This takes a bit to get used.

I was also worried about seeing through the viewfinder but it is not a problem and quite easy to use.