Olympus OM-D E-M5

I have both of these ports for my GH2, however i have not tried the 8mm in the smaller dome port

The smaller dome port (3.5") also allows use of the 14 mm lens with the dry wide angle convertor lens. This changes the 14mm lens to 11mm.

Alex,

this is a most valuable info - technically and literally, because the 3.5" dome is 100 EUR cheaper than the 4.33" dome!

From your first impressions, do you feel the port shade is large enough to prevent scattered light / straylight when used with the fisheye lens?

Jock

Yes, I am happy with my photos. Alex

I also had the chance to test the Oly 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens in the pool today. I bought this as a stealth lens for fish markets etc to make the camera seem as small and touristy as possible. But since looking at it behind the 4.3" fisheye Nauti-porty I had a feeling it would work well underwater

My OM-D turned up today, I don't think it will make the Xmas wrapping stage.

I had also picked up the 17mm pancake for daily use, I got it from a closing down Comet store for a reasonable discount so happy with that.

Now I just need to fund the housing :-)

I finally bought the Nauticam housing and 3 ports. I am liking it so far after 2 dives for macro shots. It feels right, and performance is great underwater. I joined the club!

Here are a couple more shots with the 17mm pancake with the Nauticam 4.3" FE port:

And here is some more examples of using the small dome 3.5" with the 8mm fisheye:

CFWA

WA

WAM

And here is a comparison of the domes (1. Nauti 3.5", 2. Nauti 4.3" and 3. Zen 9", the 3.5" actually fits into the 9"):

Alex

Alex,

Which strobes are you using? Z240 or S2000?

Both. The rays, above, were without strobes. The sponge and turtle were with Z240s and the conch (snail) was with S2000.

I've also just got the warming filters for the S2000s which I am going to try on my next dive with the OM-D.

Alex

Here are a couple more shots with the 17mm pancake with the Nauticam 4.3" FE port:

 

And here is some more examples of using the small dome 3.5" with the 8mm fisheye:

 

And here is a comparison of the domes (1. Nauti 3.5", 2. Nauti 4.3" and 3. Zen 9", the 3.5" actually fits into the 9"):

 

Alex

Wow fantastic writeup, so it seems the 3.5" is a better choice for the 8mm lens providing more compact size and closer focusing flexibility !? Any reason to use the 4.33" dome then?

Andrea

I'm not sure I'd want to be that definitive, Andrea. The 4.3" is certainly going to be always equal and sometimes better than the 3.5" with the 8mm. I've not shot them both enough to really be sure of the differences for classic wide angle shooting.

But certainly the 3.5" does give a noticeable advantage for very close focus shooting with the fisheye (both in terms of getting the lens closer to the subject, therefore getting more magnification, and for being able to light the subject right on the dome. These are the tests I did with it in the pool:

The first shot is with my 9" dome on my Nikon SLR, showing how close I can get (or now) with a big dome:

Now a shot with the 4.3" dome on the Olympus, still with a fisheye lens, but the smaller dome lets me get much, much closer:

And then finally with the newer 3.5" dome on the Olympus, which makes a small, but useful gain:

In all cases I was getting as close to the subject as the dome would allow.

Andrea, you are welcome to try it - if we're diving together soon.

Alex

planning a dive this sunday !!! ... but water here is now down to 14 deg. so maybe you are in better waters than I am

With all the little critters we see here the 3.5" does seem like a good choice. The 12mm f2.0 from Olympus seems also a good quality lens and semi wide choice with the 3.5" ... interesting options!

Andrea

After waiting for 3 weeks, finally I recived my camera + housing and 12-50 port. I am probably the first one who has it in Venezuela. Any recommendations before using it for the first time ?

Alex, what do you use in the 9" dome? Thanks.

After waiting for 3 weeks, finally I recived my camera + housing and 12-50 port. I am probably the first one who has it in Venezuela. Any recommendations before using it for the first time ?

Don't flood it!!

Any recommendations before using it for the first time ?

Yes, three:

1. If you are using the 12-50 zoom gear, install it at home, taking plenty of time in good lighting, as the first time is a bit fiddly and requires care and patience. Once you've done it a couple of times it is not too bad at all

2. Read and understand the excellent setup instructions posted here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48625

3. Attach some fiber optic cables ;-)

Enjoy yoursef , it's top camera and housing !!

I have a Sola 600 (and many have the Sola focus light) and I have been using the red setup sometimes. But I am not so convinced it is of great help in preventing critters from running away.

Instead I see that at F11 and 1/250 (my typical setting for MACRO shooting on the OM-D) some red light does indeed tint of red at medium and max Sola setting the picture.

You will not see much of this with the strobe(s) on but indeed some red channel seems to be further saturated by this light. If you use WB auto it may overcome this somewhat so this would be a good setting to use I think.

It will not be much of an effect in most situation but since I see my macro shots I bit too reddish I am not using the red light anymore (and it did not seem to keep critters more relaxed anyway...). Just my thoughts and experience I decided to pass through and to hear some comments and suggestions... So from now on I am using the regular 5500K white setting ...

Thanks to all of you, I won’t float it!!! Hopefully and I will attach some fiber optic cables.

I hate the Sola Photo's red focus light. It's way too red in many cases.

Olympus today released a firmware update (v.1.2) for the E-M5 when used in underwater mode with the 12-50 power zoom lens. In the U/W wide angle mode the lens will auto zoom to 12mm and when placed in the U/W macro mode the lens zooms to 50mm. This will allow those using the lens without a gear to get to both ends of the zoom range.

(I haven't found any answer to my question in the thread, so I'm taking the chance to quote an old post)

Since I haven't taken the leap yet, but still considering options and in which order I'm going to buy what equipment, I'd like to know if the OM-D can take raw format in scene mode, or if the scene modes only give JPEGs. Using the UW scene modes would give me the option of starting with the 4" WA port and upgrading to the dedicated 12-50 port&gear when my budget allows for it.

Being used to taking only raw format, limiting myself to JPEGs is out of the question, so this would be rather important for me.