Vacuum Port Available for OMD E-M1 Mk II & Underwater Housing ?

Questions:

1) Does any know if there are back fits for the Olympus UW Housing for the OMD E-M1 MK II? I like the housing for quick port changes but would like to have a vacuum system installed.

2) For those who have a OMD E-M1 MK II what strobes are you using and are you using optical or electrical TTL with your housing? Any problems?

3) For those who have an OMD E-M1 MK II what are arms and float systems are you using for getting your system neutrally buoyant?

The Meltdownman

Vacuum systems are nice, they don't replace maintenance.

If you really want it on the Olympus housing the way to do it is make a hole on the housing and use some third party valve (Nautical, Backscatter, Ikelite, Aquatica) and this obviously is not covered by any kind of guarantee.

Let me make this crystal clear, I would not do it, making holes on underwater housing is not recommended.

Pedro

I have no personal experience (have a Nauticam housing with vacuum), but I know that our local dealer is able to add vacuum valves to Olympus housings (don't know about warranty): https://www.unterwasserkamera.at/shop/catalog/en/

A pity for you he is in Europe...

Wolfgang

I use sea&sea ysd2 with optical fiber. I read lots of things about those strobes, no problem for mine

I have been using an EM-5 MkII and just purchased EM-1 MkII in Nauticam housings. Been happy with my INON strobes (2 x Z-240), triggered by fibre optic, set the on camera flash to 1/64 power when using manual.

Your required float arms will vary with the port you use, generally less needed with a dome port due to the volume of air contained. I'm using Inon float arms with my setup. I expect the Olympus will need less flotation being a plastic housing. From the spec page on BH photo:

Approx. 10.2 oz / 290 g (in fresh water with PPO-EP02 lens port, camera, on-camera flash, M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm f/1.8 Fisheye PRO lens, focus gear, shade ring, battery, and memory card)

Approx. 5.6 oz / 160 g (in fresh water with PPO-EP03 lens port, camera, on-camera flash, M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, focus gear, shade ring, battery, and memory card)

You can do calculations to work out UW weights of other port/lens combos.

Based on the fisheye I'd suggest two INON float arms M with 135g buoyancy each. Just how much you need will depend on what else you hang off the rig, The INON Z-240 are 77g each underwater. INON publish underwater weights for most of their products. The Z-240 has been discontinued though and the replacement not yet released.