Olympus TG-5 housing, arms, strobes

Hi

I've recently bought an Olympus TG-5 and took it diving (It's been great so far). However, without a housing it is only depth rated to 15m. I want to buy a housing however there are two choices. I could get the official Olympus housing or an Ikelite housing. I was wondering which people thought would be better to get.

I also want to get an arms and strobes. I was wondering what people thought would be the best to go with this setup?

Thanks!!!

Do get a housing before you flood the camera.
I know people who use the Olympus housing with continuous lights. Some of the get great results. The water is a bit dark here.
I use Ikelite housings and flashes. They work well but do remember that they are part of a system and to switch systems can get expensive.

Do get a housing before you flood the camera.

I know people who use the Olympus housing with continuous lights. Some of the get great results. The water is a bit dark here.

I use Ikelite housings and flashes. They work well but do remember that they are part of a system and to switch systems can get expensive.

Thanks for the reply Roger! Which ikelite strobe would you recommend (that I could buy relatively cheap second hand)?

Thanks

Owen

Several retailers offer a compact and inexpensive package that includes an Olympus housing, YS-03 strobe, fibre optic cable, tray and locline arm. My wife uses this setup with the TG-4 and has been very happy with it. If you plan to upgrade to a mirrorless or DSLR setup in the future, you may wish to invest in a higher quality strobe now to avoid rebuying.

I have tried both the Ikelite and the Olympus PT-056 and PT-058 housings, and the Olympus is clearly the better housing.

A tray is most useful, with a handle and flexible arm for a lamp. I would not dive with a bare camera, the risk of flooding

is too great.

I have dove with both the TG-2 & the TG-4. The TG-2 I've done both with & without the housing, however the TG-4 has always been in the housing. I used the Olympus housings for both cameras & haven't had any unexplained issues with them. I like that the Olympus housing is clear, so I can easily see if the housing has a leak before I get too deep.

My setup is the housing attached to a double handled tray, with both handles having loc-line with Gobe 850 Wide lights attached, & also a cold shoe mount on the housing with a Gobe red filter light attached. I have used that same setup for both cameras & have loved the ease of use & the flexibility the Gobe lights give me. I enjoy fluorescent night diving, so the Gobe lights allow me to quickly switch out to the Nightsea heads & then I throw a yellow filter on the front of the camera housing.

After my mother killed her TG-1, I handed her down my TG-2 & housing & upgraded to the TG-4. Currently in the process of upgrading to Sola lights. I don't think you can go wrong with either housing, but I recommend the Olympus housing.

Attached is what my setup looks like & a pic I took in the Turks & Caicos last year.

I've used the TG cameras for years. On my TG-4 I use the Ikelite housing. I just got back from the Galapagos and shot this spotted eagle ray

I also recently used this camera on a trip to Bonaire with the Olympus housing. All worked well as a system and since I am new to this package, it was quite nice having the housing buttons quite clearly marked as to their function.

Hey OwensLyonDiver, did you ever finish setting up your rig? I'm kind of on the same boat, I have a TG-5 with PT-058 housing and I love it. I am reading up on what strobes to take a closer look at and in all likelihood will end up picking up some used Z240's I think. I'd be curious what you end up getting!

I'm kind of curious myself. I just got my TG5 and Oly housing moving up from a GoPro. I'm bring my RGBlue Series 2 PC video light with me and I just purchases an INON z330 strobe. I liked the look of the YS-D2, but there are so many reports of issues and I'm only going to have one for a while. I'm getting a MIC21 tray and arms setup (local brand) which looks solid.

i debated some on getting a second video light, but it just wouldn't compare with a strobe. I have some friends who are doing quite well with one, and with the upgraded power and wide angle it should work well for me and I can add another if/when I ever decide I need one. Reading some of the posts on people downsizing I'm glad I didn't go with my E-M1 for now and put the money toward lighting.

I ended up getting a used YS-D2 and it has been great, took it diving several times and fired hundreds of times (300+). Compact and powerful, though I think the Z330 has the same footprint, if not smaller. I ended up getting a double armed tray (off amazon, really basic) with 1" ball mounts on either side for two video lights while the strobe is mounted on the cold shoe on the PT-058 housing and couldn't be happier!

I'm kind of curious myself. I just got my TG5 and Oly housing moving up from a GoPro. I'm bring my RGBlue Series 2 PC video light with me and I just purchases an INON z330 strobe. I liked the look of the YS-D2, but there are so many reports of issues and I'm only going to have one for a while. I'm getting a MIC21 tray and arms setup (local brand) which looks solid.

i debated some on getting a second video light, but it just wouldn't compare with a strobe. I have some friends who are doing quite well with one, and with the upgraded power and wide angle it should work well for me and I can add another if/when I ever decide I need one. Reading some of the posts on people downsizing I'm glad I didn't go with my E-M1 for now and put the money toward lighting.

Giants90, do you have a pic of the setup

With the small camera and housing you will probably find the rig better balanced with smaller strobes, the outputs required to use these strobes is generally less for a compact like the TG5 as for wide shots you can get quite good results at f2.8. If you use f8 for close in macro the strobes are very close so again power requirements are down.

Look at the INON S2000 strobes, very compact and will balance better with your lightweight compact rig. An alternative is the YS-01. I would suggest going with a strobe with manual capability for more flexibility if you upgrade down the track - there have been a few threads on here with people not able to get a YS-3 TTL only strobe to work for them. You should be able to get a locline tray package at a reasonable price and I know one retailer offered the same tray/arm that comes with the YS-03 at a very reasonable price.

Sure, see attached! These are some pics I took with that setup (I didn't have the video lights attached) during a freediving trip two weeks ago off Lone Point in Santa Catalina island. I am still very new to photography in general, so I'm sure there could have been things I could have done better.

Giants90, do you have a pic of the setup

Uploader won't let me upload any files larger than 1000kb so sample pics were cut out

Sure, see attached! These are some pics I took with that setup (I didn't have the video lights attached) during a freediving trip two weeks ago off Lone Point in Santa Catalina island. I am still very new to photography in general, so I'm sure there could have been things I could have done better.

 

Sure, see attached! These are some pics I took with that setup (I didn't have the video lights attached) during a freediving trip two weeks ago off Lone Point in Santa Catalina island. I am still very new to photography in general, so I'm sure there could have been things I could have done better.

 

Uploader won't let me upload any files larger than 1000kb so sample pics were cut out

 

I use a Sola 1200 video light with my TG-5/PT-058 housing-tray-locline 7" arm. Admittedly I have not tried a strobe yet but the compact rig is very nice, stowes neatly in my backpack not needing an extra suitcase. The buttons on the Olympus housing are very easy to get used to. I am pleased with the results from my camera even though I am still learning how to improve the macro & supermacro shots I capture. One interesting point; if I get my video light too close to the lens port the heat causes the port to fog for the rest of the dive. Once I realized the cause of the problem I kept the light spaced at least 4" from the port with no further problem. On one dive in particular the port fogged early in the dive. I surfaced, took the camera out of the housing & resumed the dive with bare camera keeping above 16 meters, no problems. Previously, on the 2nd day using same rig the case flooded (pinched o-ring?). As I watched the case slowly fill the screen showed a warning of depth exceeding camera limit so I decreased my depth & kept shooting. On the plus side, the water inside the case rinsed the fog from the lens port so I got the best photos yet from my efforts (just the 2nd day with the rig remember). The moral is that the camera was fine, no damage. I cleaned, greased & reset the o-ring, had no problem since. The dive guides at Raja Ampat & Bunaken Sulawesi were awesome at finding macro critter subjects that pushed my photography skills to higher levels with the new camera. I'm debating trying a strobe and I would like some feedback on adding a Macromate 55 +15 lens if anyone has experience or insights. Looking forward to returning to Indonesia soon