New 10Bar Olympus E-PL1 Housing

I've been working with LC Ng of 10Bar to come up with a housing for the Olympus new micro 4/3rds camera the E-PL1. Although Olympus has a housing out, it has several limitations; worst of which is a non-interchangeable port.

Since 10bar already has popular housing out for the similar Panasonic GF-1, I asked LC if he could develop something. I've also been asking for better, dedicated controls, and larger knobs to make operation easier, which is incorporated in the new design. The housings are cast aluminum, 200' depth rated and have both optical and electrical strobe connections. The internal flash can be raised and lowered.

Here's the new housing and it is shipping. Ports are available for the Oly 17mm (with a 67mm screw thread), 14-42 and 9-18mm lenses. These support the similar Panasonic lenses as well, and an extension tube for the 17mm port will allow the Panasonic 45mm macro to be used. He is working on an 8mm FE port. So ports and lenses are interchangeable between the two systems. Pricing is the same as the GF-1 housing.

These will be on display at my booth (#805) at the NW Dive and Travel Show and are available to order from the store.

Jack

I've been working with LC Ng of 10Bar to come up with a housing for the Olympus new micro 4/3rds camera the E-PL1. Although Olympus has a housing out, it has several limitations; worst of which is a non-interchangeable port.

 

 

Jack

Sweet! Looks very compact.

I would love to see some sort of port adapters that would allow my old lenses (manual Canon and Nikonos lenses) to be used with this type of compact set up.

What is the pricing on this housing?

Bo

MSRP is $900, but price may vary depending on parts included and shipping to dealer.

Here's some shots taken at the Seattle Aquarium, where I dive, with the 9-18mm lens, set at 9mm as I don't have gearing for it yet. This is a really nice lens - extremely fast focusing and very sharp. I could focus to about 6" with it at f/8(ish).

More photos here.

Jack

MSRP is $900, but price may vary depending on parts included and shipping to dealer.

 

Here's some shots taken at the Seattle Aquarium, where I dive, with the 9-18mm lens, set at 9mm as I don't have gearing for it yet. This is a really nice lens - extremely fast focusing and very sharp. I could focus to about 6" with it at f/8(ish).

 

Jack

Great pics Jack!

1. Have you had a chance to play with the cameras menu Fn options yet? Anything usable for underwater use?

2. Which strobe(s) did you use? Optical or hardwire?

3. Do the control knobs on the port allow use of manual focus and aperture control? (thinking of manual lenses with adapter)

4. What signifies a semi-dome category? Dome curvature? Dome diameter? Lens angle coverage?

5. How small in size is this in comparison to a modern dSLR housing? (I wasn't able to make it to any of the recent SCUBA shows)

Thanks for keeping us posted on this exciting set up .

Bo

Great pics Jack!

 

1. Have you had a chance to play with the cameras menu Fn options yet? Anything usable for underwater use?

2. Which strobe(s) did you use? Optical or hardwire?

3. Do the control knobs on the port allow use of manual focus and aperture control? (thinking of manual lenses with adapter)

4. What signifies a semi-dome category? Dome curvature? Dome diameter? Lens angle coverage?

5. How small in size is this in comparison to a modern dSLR housing? (I wasn't able to make it to any of the recent SCUBA shows)

 

Thanks for keeping us posted on this exciting set up .

 

Bo

Ignore original question #1, but please answer instead: Does it have a bayonet style of port or is it screw in?

Thank you for any information you can share here.

Cheers,

Bo

I just re-read your original post where it says 67mm thread. I'm assuming this is the port thread? (I was hoping it was a bayonet mount to allow sealed port adapter for nikonos lenses?)

Well, let's see:

Not in any order...

Ports use screw thread, I'd have to measure, but not 67mm. The 67mm refers to the front of the 17mm port for diopters or filters.

I used 2x S&S YS-110a strobes in TTL for the shots.

Control knobs on ports adjust zoom and manual focus. Aperture is by push button.

Semi dome is the amount of diameter; I guess less than 180? I don't really know, but they are a little less of a round, flatter in some respects.

The housing is pretty small about &x5" roughly.

---

Ok an update:

After I shot with it, I discussed some changes with LC, and he's already made some of them;

The optical strobe connection is going to be screw-on will use the same connector as Nauticam.

The menu button will be taller

Shutter release spring stiffer

Gears for the 9-18 are forthcoming.

There will be a new flip down macro lens holder for a 67mm diopter that will work with the semit dome port

The housing will be sold in a two port package along with the small 17mm flat port. I haven't had a chance to test this configuration quite yet though. I do like the 17mm as it is a fast f2.8 and quite sharp.

We might just pull the electrical bulkhead out of them, plug it and have it as an option - I may just order them that way. Most people are using f/o.

Jack

Dear Jack,

Thanks for the update on the E-PL1 housing. Will 10 BAR be putting the same modifications to the GF1 housing as well?

I was able to play around with one of their first edition GF1 housings and I found it difficult to use. Having one control for 2 or 3 buttons was quite a challenge, especially with gloves on. It would be nice if they can have direct controls for each button. It was also difficult to use the push/turn control on the rear thumb wheel. Sometimes it would not engage positively so I end up "pushing" and not "turning" and vice-versa. Do you think this will be addressed as well?

Am I correct to assume that the changes for the ports on the E-PL1 can be used on the GF-1 as well? Will they change the controls for the zoom/focus on the ports? I found that they did not grip positively all the time. Or, is this because I was using an earlier model?

I hope 10 BAR can roll out this changes soon. Have been waiting 6 months to get a good housing for my GF1.

Thanks again for all you help.

Best regards,

Mike

Yes, he will do some of the mods for the GF-1 in the furture. It is now shipping with the same combo semi dome with gearing.

Some of the buttons can be changed, but I doubt that the rear thumb wheel can be helped much.

The Oly is much, much easier to house.

Jack

Dear Jack,

Thanks again for the update. Will have to wait for the improvements before deciding on what housing to finally get for the GF1.

Best regards,

Mike