I made this offer to another this evening. So far he has not responded:
Fair Question-
1-Olympus E330. Only used underwater. f you research this camera you'll find that it is the ONLY Olympus with a separate sensor for the live view. The result is that the mirror does not need to flip like it does on Canon, Nikon and newer Olympus cameras and that there is zero focus/shutter lag. For macro you need a viewfinder if you are looking to get exact focus on a particular shot-the critter's eye for example. The viewfinder is rather small compared to a later model.
2-Olympus housing for the E-330 plus extra o rings etc (I don't know how many). With this camera the internal strobe DOES NOT pop up meaning that you CANNOT use a fiberoptic connection to an external strobe.
3-Athena TTL converter. This device sits on the external strobe shoe on the housing and concerts the electrical impulses from the camera to external strobes. The strobes are electrically connected to the athena. WE have used both INON Z-240 and Ikelite strobes with this setup
$750 for the above lot. Used working.
What you need to make a complete unit.
1-Port for the housing. Olympus ports are standard so a new port will fit. Alternatively a used port could be available. At one time we had a port for the Olympus 50mm macro lens which is terrific. My wife preferred the more flexible zoom lens. There are the 14/42, 14/45, 14/54 and 12/60. The 14/54 and the 12/60 are first class lenses. However the 12/60 cannot be easily housed. My wife used the 14/54. The lessor lens are cheaper and of less quality. I purchased a backup 14/54 lens use on ebay for about $300. It is also available new.
2-A tray and arms for your strobe(s). These are available both new and used. However, to use a UCLS straight dual tray you need a special adaptor block that I had made. I believe that we still have the block but no guarantees. If we do we'll send it to you. A single UCLS arm works great.
3-The electrical cables from the Athena to your strobe. I may still have one or two (no guarantees). These are pretty standard Nikonos-to-whatever cables that are available new or used.
I am recommending this in lieu of a P&S. It will NOT take pictures at the level of a modern dSLR although with comparible lenses (the Olympus 50mm or 7/14 fisheye) they will be roughly equivilent. What you give up is the better autofocus, focus points and higher sensor resolution of you Canon. However, the sensor is much larger than any P&S, the lenses much better and their is instant write in RAW, (RAW is CRITICAL underwater, do you use it?) and no shutter lag in live view due to the mirror flip.
Regards,
tomreynolds_ilan@yahoo.com
