olympus pt e-03 housing

Does anybody know how good the olympus range of housings is compared to say, Ikelite or the RDX range from sea and sea ( I know they don't fit olympus cameras), and more specifically can you use opticaly fired flash with the pt e-03 housing for the olympus 410

Yes you can use the optically fired flash because there is room for the internal strobe to pop up. I think Ikelite does make housings for Olympus but only for the electrical connection to their strobe system. Finally, the depth of the housing is rated to 45M compared to 60 for the Ikelite. I think you would do well to do your research on this housing though. I owned one and had issues with the design. The housing was very fickle to flooding due to the lack of pressure near the top of the housing. I would suggest going with the PT-E05 or PT-E06 if you're looking at Olympus. If you have the camera, I'd check into Ikelite and just go with the electrical connection to the Ike strobes or buy an optical converter.

I've been told on the Ike housings you can fish a toothpick in or something and hit your strobe release to get the flash to pop - it won't extend all the way, but will be open enough for optical coupling. I have not tried this myself on the E330 Ike housing, as I do use Ikelite strobes with an electrical sync cord to the hotshoe (DS-50s).