Olympus OM-D E-M5

Just thought I would share my home made fibre optic snoot I have made for my set up - fits my Sea & Sea YS110A strobes.

Have dry tested them and they work well - hoping to wet test them before I head off to Tulamben Bali next week.

Karl

I have just bought the OMD and will be getting the Nauticam housing also. From reading all these posts my intention to help spread the cash outlays is to:

1. get the 60mm #36163 port first and use it with the 12-50 lens and use the Fn to toggle between 12mm and 50mm.

2. get a flip diopter like the Sub Sea +5 to use at the 50mm setting. If need be I could then get the Austrian zoom gear if just having the two focal lengths is too frustrating

3. get the 60mm macro lens and use it in the #36163 port with the flip diopter

4. finally get the 8mm Panasonic fisheye lens and Nauticam 4.33inch dome port (big single capital outlay)

I will then predominately dive with either the 8mm fisheye or the 60mm macro and the 12-50mm will be either a topside lens or when I need to travel very lightly.

Would appreciate comment on whether this is a reasonable plan or would it be better to get the 12-50 port and then use the 60mm in it when I get that lens?

At the end of the day I am trying to use two ports for three lenses. I'm coming from a background of a Canon S95 in a Recsea housing with Inon fisheye and macro wet lenses.

My thinking is get the 36162 port and gear set for the 12-50 , then add the 60mm lens and then finally add the 8mm and Fisheye port.

This achieves you goal of 2 ports for 3 lens and lets you fully utilise all the features of all lenses.

Once you have the ports sorted then add the diopter to improve macro options. You can do this with or without the flip option.

I agree with pmooney - get the 12-50 port and gears - I have them and (in my opinion) it is worth it. I already had a subsee +5 that I use sometimes. But I was very pleasantly surprised with the macro shots even without diopter. I am just in the process of buying the 4.33 port and Panasonic lens. I found both lightly used so I saved almost 300 dollars on both. I will eventually add the 60mm lens but the 12-50 does take some nice macro shots and I'm ok with giving a little on the macro in order to have the flexibility of the 12-50.

If you don't mind used - watch the classified here and scubaboard as I have seen the 12-50 lens, gears and ports for sale there.

ENJOY!

you can use 1 port - the 4" semi dome port for 3 lenses, ie: 12-50mm, 60mm and 9-18mm. For 12-50m, add the flip diopter and wet lens, so you can use for macro at 50mm and reasonably wide at 12mm.

Thanks Peter, audsred and Mamel for your suggestions. The 60mm in the 12-50 port or vice versa was presenting me with a major mental challenge as I have no hands on experience with either option.

I guess coming from a compact background with all options available on the same dive is still etched in my thinking processes, however I also wanted fast AF, minimal shutter lag, good optics and the smallest/lightest rig to travel with.

Karl,

I found your set-up innovative and interesting. Although I have a Seahorn snoot, I've been messing around with something more portable. I have a number of questions for you.

1) What is the white thing that you are using to connect your fiber optic fibers?

2) What are your fiber optic fibers (manufacturer and model)?

3) What (yellow) connectors are you using to connect your white thing to the arms containing the fiber optic fibers?

4) What are the yellow end pieces?

Karl,

 

I found your set-up innovative and interesting. Although I have a Seahorn snoot, I've been messing around with something more portable. I have a number of questions for you.

 

1) What is the white thing that you are using to connect your fiber optic fibers?

2) What are your fiber optic fibers (manufacturer and model)?

3) What (yellow) connectors are you using to connect your white thing to the arms containing the fiber optic fibers?

4) What are the yellow end pieces?

 

 

1. The white pieces are PVC plumbing fittings. The large piece is a 90 - 75mm drain water fitting and the inside piece is a cap for another size pipe - they are glued together. The YS 110A has a diameter of 78mm so I have lined the inside edge of the pipe with 6mm rubber strip which reduces the size and snuggly fits the strobe.

2. The fibre is 10.7mm solid core fibre - unfortunately I am unsure of manufacturer as a mate did a bulk buy.

3. The base connecters are 1/2" Loc-line Part No 51804 3/8" NPT Connectors

4. The end pieces are 1/2" Loc-line Part No 51802 1/2" Nozzle

5. The blue pieces are 1/2" Loc-line segments Part No 51801 (2 sets per arm).

All up total cost to me in AUD is about $100 but I have enough pieces leftover to make / try something else.

Karl

 

Since my camera has the infamous small cracking on the LCD, I'm sending my camera to the Olympus service to change the LCD and to test the mode dial too.

 

I think you are correct, perhaps my camera is the problem and not the Nauticam housing!

 

Thanks, I'll post here the outcome of this strange problem.

Just to let you know that Olympus has repaired successfully my OMD and now, the camera works properly inside the fantastic Nauticam housing. They replaced the cracked LCD, glued properly the mode dial and fixed the internal problem and everything is ok now.

Thank you all for your help!!

Good news.

I have now joined this club and have the camera with 12-50 kit lens, Nauticam housing, port and zoom gear plus 2 inon 240s. I used it for the first time yesterday and was impressed by the ease of use of the housing and the smooth transition between macro and e-zoom settings. I only did a shallow shore dive so didn't have much opportunity for wide angle but macro setting was pretty impressive. I need more dives with the rig before I decide whether to dispense with my canon 7d in ikelite housing but the size and usability of the oly in the Nauticam was really good. Special praise must go to Alex Tattersall who patiently out of hours answered some of my dumb queries about putting the zoom/macro gear.

Dear wetpixel-community,

a big hello from a newby in the system-camera world. As Im thinking about getting an OMD in a Nauticam housing. I have tried to gather as much as information about this system over the past weeks i could get. My aim is actually more on macro, but in the near future I would like to expand the system with a wide-angle lens, like the Oly 7-18.

For economical reasons, I will start taking pictures with the 1250 kit-lens. Therefore Im searching the best port-solution to get the maximum of versability and performance out of the system. So far I have figured out two options:

1. Take the 12-50 Port and Zoom-gear. which would enable to use the macro-function underwater. As I have seen the gear needs to be time-consumin installed. As I want to use the lens above the water, I would like to ask if it can be used with the gear installed.

alternatively I could use the 65 makro-port with the austrian zoom-gear. I realize that the macro-modus is not available. Does manually zooming involve rotating the motor of the zoom passively?

2. Take the 4 inch semi-domeport combined with a flip diopter an a macro-lens. My concern is that the macro-capabilitys suffer from this combination. Can anyone comment on this and maybe show some pictures taken with that system?

Thanx a lot in advance for you help,

Greetings from Germany

Eismann

I can answer the first set of questions. It is not all that time consuming to install and remove the Nauticam gear. Once you have done it a couple of times, it takes less than 10 minutes, and after you are really familiar, maybe less then 5 minutes. Although it is not a simple procedure, it is also not difficult as long as you have practiced and take your time to do it carefully under good conditions. And yes, you can use the lens top side with the gear installed. But be aware that it is heavy, limits you to e-zoom (manual zoom is not available), and affects handling compared to a naked lens.

I can answer the first set of questions. It is not all that time consuming to install and remove the Nauticam gear. Once you have done it a couple of times, it takes less than 10 minutes, and after you are really familiar, maybe less then 5 minutes. Although it is not a simple procedure, it is also not difficult as long as you have practiced and take your time to do it carefully under good conditions. And yes, you can use the lens top side with the gear installed. But be aware that it is heavy, limits you to e-zoom (manual zoom is not available), and affects handling compared to a naked lens.

I agree with troporobo. You can use the 12-50 with the gears installed for top side photography. I really like the versatility of the zoom range and can go to the 43 mm macro mode with a turn of the knob on the port. I wasn't a big fan of the servo zoom, but I am OK with it. I suggest you do not uninstall/install the gears while on a dive trip because there are several tiny screws that could be misplaced.

Bob

I agree with troporobo. You can use the 12-50 with the gears installed for top side photography. I really like the versatility of the zoom range and can go to the 43 mm macro mode with a turn of the knob on the port. I wasn't a big fan of the servo zoom, but I am OK with it. I suggest you do not uninstall/install the gears while on a dive trip because there are several tiny screws that could be misplaced.

 

Bob

Having had my 12-50mm lens fail on day 1 of a trip I have now purchased a second from eBay. Redundancy in case of another failure and no need to take the gears on and off if I want to use it on land. Best £150 I've spent as insurance :-)

Greg

Hello guys,

thanx for sharing your experience. So the 12-50 port with zoom gear is still a good opportunity.

Can someone comment on the 4-inch domeport for macro-pictures and maybe provide pictures?

Greetings,

Eismann

Hello all,

I have read that it is feasible to use the 12-50 lens above water with the nauticam gears fitted. Having just purchased this system, I am trying to find a way to use the zoom option. Does anyone have a suggestion or reference that will enable this?

Thanks,

Mark

Hello all,

 

I have read that it is feasible to use the 12-50 lens above water with the nauticam gears fitted. Having just purchased this system, I am trying to find a way to use the zoom option. Does anyone have a suggestion or reference that will enable this?

 

Thanks,

Mark

You just apply a slight right or left twist to the zoom gear...

Thanks - maybe I'm not twisting hard enough... It works in the housing but so far I haven't managed to get a response out of the housing - I will check the fitting etc.

Thanks - maybe I'm not twisting hard enough... It works in the housing but so far I haven't managed to get a response out of the housing - I will check the fitting etc.

Push forward or back, I forget which and then servo zoom.

Bob