Anyone shooting the C5060 in the field?

Hi,

Is anyone out there shooting the C5060? I was dithering between the 5050 and 5060 before Christmas. In the end I decided WA was probably a good thing, and as if by magic Father Christmas brought me a C5060.

Now I'm getting a little jumpy though. I've seen the sample pool shots from camerasunderwater.co.uk of the C5060 and the PT-20 and I'm not that impressed. The distortion at WA looks terrible. The Olympus WA lens and port looked good (accepting you can't switch underwater!), only to discover the WA port is flat. Further to this I've heard the INON wet lenses so popular on the 5050 don't perform that well on the 5060.

Not sure if the Ike housing will fare any better, but in any case if I can't wait I may just go with the PT-20. (Or offload the camera and get a 5050 before I commit to a housing)

I know pool shots are not the best judge, so does anyone out there have any experience underwater? Or what are the opinions of our group experts? Am I being too nervy?

Yours nervously,

C5060 owner.

I highly suggest you wait two to three weeks for the PMA camera announcements. Look for a new 8 megapixel Oly - I'll wager there will be one.

How good it will be remains to be seen though.

Cheers

James

It's a bit late for that. I'm already sat holding a C-5060 and I haven't decided yet if it's a turkey or a swan. Even if there were a new 8MP beast it will be out of my price range, and again unproven...

Well, you'll certainly be happy with the 5060. Ikelite and Oly both make nice housings for it.

Cheers

James

By all means go for it.

The ike housing will give you full TTL with their strobes, and the oly TTL has always been very good, among the consumer cams.

Yeah, I'm pinning my hopes on the Ike housing. What bugs me is the pincushion distortion and CA at wide angle in the PT-20 shown in these tests at Cameras Underwater.

Maybe I'm being too picky, and I know pool shots of a test card will show the slightest problems. Is this to be accepted of a 28mm lens? I really would love to see some pics from anyone out there with the C5060 & PT-20. Does anyone know if the Ike housing is likely to have changeable ports like the Olympus one (but I'm thinking dome here.....), wouldn't this solve some of the problems?

c5060 images may be viewed here:

http://www.digitaldiver.info/yabbse/index....d=4661;start=60

Thanks a lot for the link Bob. Promising photos. Feel a lot better about that now. I knew pool shots of test cards would be dodgy..

Decisions decisions. The PT-20 is available now and cheap, but my past experience of Ike housings has been solid with good service... Do we know if Ikelite are planning anything radical with their housing such as dome ports to house the Oly WCON? This cameras burning a hole in my pocket - I may just get the PT-20, strap on my Ike tray (after a little drilling!) and DS-50 and go get wet.... If the Ikelite release date slips again I won't be up to speed with my new gear before my trip to South Africa in Spring?!?!?