Decided on a new micro 4/3 setup now need help deciding on which camera?

I think the PEN-F would be a good choice now (barring the reviews coming through) along side the GX8, EM1, EM5 etc..

The A6300 looks impressive for the price - but where is the IBIS?, what a failure not to include it! I'm not sure I would buy a camera these days without it.

Did I read right its got Phase Detection AF? If so, thats gonna be nice for video.

I'm not sure on the range of lenses for there APS-C mount. The new lenses released yesterday, are huge and by the looks of it won't fit the Nauticam N80 port system - so unless there are good lenses already, it seems quite a restricted system.

Although you said you would be happy to wait till Apr - the housing manufacturers do take a bit of time to get housings out, after the initial camera release, I think the A6300 will be pretty quickly after, considering its very similar to the A6000, but the PEN could be a while....so that could influence you choices.

From what I understand the Sony 90mm Macro lens has IS built in so IBIS in the A6300 is not really needed, my only concern about the A6300 90mm setup is the physical size. The PEN-F with either the 12-50mm (43mm macro) or 60mm macro would offer a much more compact setup, with a pixel advantage over the EM5 mk2.

Just have to wait and see if there is a decent housing available for it at the end of April.

The PEN-F has the same sensor as the Panasonic GX8 but does not do 4K. Even Nikon and Canon are finally doing 4K now but Olympus refuse to include it. The PEN-F is more than the GX8 including a lens also. I would look at the OMD cameras or the GX8 or GH4 if you need 4K.

Thanks Griff, I'm not really to bothered about video I hardly ever shoot any at the moment, however that may change with a new camera. From what I've read is seems the PEN-F and GX8 may use the same Sony 20mp sensor but I've yet to see that confirmed.

The GX8 is very tempting and is definitely on my short-list!

Hi there, I'm shooting an OM-D Em-5 II in a nauitcam housing, using the 12-40mm lens in a Zen Dome. You need to fit the dome over the lens as it is to big to fit through the port extension when inserted from the back. I found you can fit camera and lens through the port opening without the port attached, but not with the port in place. It is a very tight fit. You also won't fit it through any separate extensions as they have the port locking mechanism inside, you need a port with built in extension. This shot was taken with the 12-40:

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~chrisx2/images/GreenMoray.jpg

specs are 1/50 @ f6.3 ISO800. Natural light about 10m down. Shows the value of the in body stabilisation.

BTW if the the Pen F had a 20MP sensor (is that confirmed?) it is not going to give you any advantage for cropping over a 16MP sensor as the a 20 MP sensor goes into diffraction limit between f4 and f5.6 and most UW shots seem to be stopped down more than that like f8 plus. This is a physical limit meaning the lens can't provide finer detail unless it is wider open. Doesn't mean it is worse just there is no more resolution available for cropping even if there are pixels there.

Don't know how you plan to use the 60mm macro, AF or MF, but the OM-D series have lots of advantages. the EM-5 II has 4 programmable buttons (5 if you cont the video button) and customisable control dials and a switch to go between 2 modes on the dials so I have the following setup:

the video record button which is a lever at your thumb on the Nauticam housing is set to AEL/AFL so it does the focus and the shutter only takes the photo.

Front dial is exp compensation, rear dial is aperture. With the tray layout the rear dial is easier to get to than the front.

In position two rear dial is ISO and front dial white balance.

If you were to use MF for macro as AF can hunt a little I have heard with the 60mm you can set either Fn1 or video record to show focus peaking. These buttons are either side of the thumb grip.

I am buying the accessory trigger release which places the shutter release right at my index finger, allowing overall better control access.

I don't know if the Pen-F has all these features or not, the previous Pen models the AF was not up to the standard of theOM-D models as I recall.

Please explain what you mean by "sensor goes into diffraction limit". AFAIK, lenses diffract, sensors do not.

Also, I don't mean to be unkind, but what on earth did you do to that photo in post? I am quite sure I have never seen saturation or contrast like that near a moray, and the background looks more like motion blur than bokeh even for f6.3. I'm a huge fan of Olympus IBIS (and have shot hand held at 300mm successfully using it) but I don't think it worked for you this time. FWIW this is what a moray looks like to me using ambient light (thought this was about 5m on a very bright sunny day):

So after a lot of thought and research here is my current choice still a couple of months to change my mind of course, what do you think?

- EM5 mkII + internal strobe

- Sea & Sea housing + Handles, shutter trigger, and leak sensor

- 2 x Sea & Sea YS-D2 Strobes + Arms, optical cables, etc.

- Olympus MSC ED M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (for macro and portrait use)

- Sea & Sea port for 60mm macro lens

- CMC-1 macro converter with flip mount (for super macro)

- Olympus M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO Lens (for wide angle and general use)

- Sea & Sea Port for 7-14mm lens ??????????

- Sea and Sea 1.2x 45 Degree Viewfinder

- Batteries and chargers for strobes

- Housing Lanyard

- anything else I need ?????????

Not sue what port I will need for the 7-14mm f/2.8 lens does anyone know, also unsure as to whether to go with the Sea & Sea or Nauticam housing?

I was unaware that Sea & Sea even made a housing for the E-M5II. I don't think I have ever seen anyone discussing it. I would be a little concerned about buying into their system, since it appears they do not offer housings for the E-M5 or E-M1, and have very limited port offerings.

If it were me, I would go with a Nauticam housing and ports and Inon strobes.

So after a lot of thought and research here is my current choice still a couple of months to change my mind of course, what do you think?

 

- EM5 mkII + internal strobe

- Sea & Sea housing + Handles, shutter trigger, and leak sensor

- 2 x Sea & Sea YS-D2 Strobes + Arms, optical cables, etc.

- Olympus MSC ED M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens (for macro and portrait use)

- Sea & Sea port for 60mm macro lens

- CMC-1 macro converter with flip mount (for super macro)

- Olympus M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO Lens (for wide angle and general use)

- Sea & Sea Port for 7-14mm lens ??????????

- Sea and Sea 1.2x 45 Degree Viewfinder

- Batteries and chargers for strobes

- Housing Lanyard

- anything else I need ?????????

 

Not sue what port I will need for the 7-14mm f/2.8 lens does anyone know, also unsure as to whether to go with the Sea & Sea or Nauticam housing?

Not supported. http://www.seaandsea.jp/products/system_chart/mdx_olympus.html

Seriously for M43 ports nothing beats Nauticam; http://www.nauticam.com/images/catalog/catalog_24.pdf

Bear in mind that the Olympus 7-14 PRO needs a expensive and cumbersome solution. The Panasonic 7-14 might be a better option. Or a regular lens with the new WWL-1 wet dome (semi-fisheye).

Please explain what you mean by "sensor goes into diffraction limit". AFAIK, lenses diffract, sensors do not.

Pixel pitch affects diffraction effects.

Really interesting thread as I too am looking at a new 4/3 set up. The look and feel of the Nauticam housings have me sold - now what to fill it with?

Is there really much of a difference from an u/w photographers point of view between the Oly M5 mk 2 and the M10 mk 2?

I am aware of the difference in weatherproofing but any opinions on pluses and minuses for each?

Or a regular lens with the new WWL-1 wet dome (semi-fisheye).

I would whole heartily also suggest (and agree with EspenB) you look at a 14-42mm lens and the WWL-1 Wet lens.

Nothing comes close behind a dome on m43, that has the same corner sharpness as the WWL.

 

I would whole heartily also suggest (and agree with EspenB) you look at a 14-42mm lens and the WWL-1 Wet lens.

 

Nothing comes close behind a dome on m43, that has the same corner sharpness as the WWL.

On the other hand for split images nothing comes close to the 180 mm glass dome with either Oly or Pana 7-14 ;-)

Thanks for all the quick feedback.

So it seems for wide angle the 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO Lens is probably not the best choice. Currently I use a fisheye wet lens with a 130 degree angle of view which I actually find too wide, before that I used a Epoque DCL-20 which I believe had a 110 degree coverage which I found much more suitable for the type of pictures I like taking.

Bearing this in mind perhaps the Olympus 9-18mm (supposedly 100 degree coverage) behind a 4 inch wide angle port would be my best option for general/wide angle use, does anyone have any experience with this combination?

Also the Nauticam housing may be a better option due to the better port support, so my revised list now reads as follows:

Bearing this in mind perhaps the Olympus 9-18mm (supposedly 100 degree coverage) behind a 4 inch wide angle port would be my best option for general/wide angle use, does anyone have any experience with this combination?

 

What do you think?

I had (a few years ago mind) the 9-18mm behind a Zen dome on a EP05L housing with a EPL3.

It was as soft as a soft thing in soft land, even at f7. Definitely cross the 9-18mm off your list.

The Oly or Pana 12mm zooms are 84' AoV at their widest (behind a dome) Would that be wide enough for your general lens?

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As a side note, that's a super impressive shopping list. Quite a lot of gear all I one go...You sure the 7-14mm fits behind the 4.33" dome (that's normally for the 8mm? )

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I can't speak personally to whether the 7-14 Olympus or WWL-1 will provide better corner sharpness. I have heard those who should know advocate both ideas. On the other hand, the 14-42 is not considered a particularly stellar lens in general and I can't imagine it gets better with the WWL-1 attached. The 7-14 has a modest speed advantage over a 14-42 and is lighter weight under water due to the large dome. The WWL-1 is heavy both in air and water.

The WWL-1 and a port for a 14-42 will run about $1300.00. The Nauticam 180mm port and N120 adapter run $1470. Both are two piece sets so I don't one is significantly more awkward or significantly different in price. The 180 port is certainly larger in diameter, though. The big selling point for the WWL-1 for some people is that it can be removed and replaced underwater. Although that is nice in theory, in actual use that doesn't appeal to me.

Of course the 7-14 lens itself is quite expensive.

There is 3 variants of the Panasonic 14-42mm, all with varying image quality.

The one I'm using is the 14-42mm ASPH f3.5-5.6 Mk II (and for additional confusion there is two sub variants, one metal mounted, one plastic)

For sure its not a 'super' or Pro level lens, but provides nice contrasty images which aren't far off my 12-35mm f2.8 - can't tell them apart. As I've found recently the build quality isn't top notch, but image is fine.

Compared to my Panasonic 7-14mm behind a zen 170mm dome. The 14-42mm and WWL offer to me, a massive difference in corner sharpness. Not to mention the addition of OIS. But as the OP is looking at the EM5ii that's a mute point.

As Espen points out thou, you won't be getting any spilt shots with the 14-42 combo. :-)

Yeah the WWL is heavy in the water. Make sure you got a bit of bungee on it when you detach! Hehe

Another option would be to go for the higher end Olympus f2.8 12-40mm ?? (Or 12-50mm. Confused) in a flat port. And just live with the fact it won't work with the WWL until you zoom to 14mm

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Again great feedback, I seem to have a lot of the gear nailed down, now I only need to sort out the wide angle/general purpose setup. I really don't want to go with the WWL, what I'm looking for is a compact widish (100 degree) zoom for general/widish use that fits behind a small dome (4 inch) or flat port.

Anyone got any ideas?

You can use the 9-18 in a 4" semi dome (curved) port. Someone had good success adding a +2 diopter (dry) to the front of the lens to improve performance. I believe you can also use the 12mm lens in the 3.5 wide angle port with an extension or in the 4.33 port.

One other option would be the Panasonic 12-32 in either a flat port or the 3.5 wide angle.