Upgrade path from XZ-1

I'm looking for an upgrade for my old and trusty Olympus XZ-1 and I'd like to keep my rig small and travel friendly as I have it now.

My rig is the XZ-1, Olympus PT-050 housing, Olympus PTWC-01 wide angle converter, Subsee +10d macro lens, 2x Inon S2000 strobe setup, X-Adventurer focus light and a basic 14" flex arm set which works well enough with this lightweight setup.

What I love about the Olympus XZ-1

- Manual flash with 1/64 power setting and sync with any shutter speed down to 1/2000 (immediate shutter response, no recycle time)

- Small sensor is forgiving for Macro (large DOF)

- Great, sharp and contrasty lens

What I like less

- Ancient 10mpix sensor with no dynamic range reserve. No recovery from blown highlights, max. 1EV recovery from shadows. Only ISO100 useful.

- 2 dive battery life

- sketchy TTL with strobes

I see three possible upgrade paths but none seems perfect

1. Compact camera setup - my current pick of the bunch would be the Panasonic Lumix LX10/15 or perhaps the Canon G7X mk2

- I get to keep fast flash sync, but no Manual flash setting with either of the two and possibly lots of added shutter lag

- Only reasonable housing choice for the Panasonic is from Nauticam (expensive). Ikelite housing has no cold shoe which is a pity, as this is where I like to have my focus light attached. Canon path has more housing choices including ones with M67 thread and cold shoe

2. Olympus PEN Light + wet lens

- Olympus EPL-7 with it's dedicated housing would be my choice in this group. Low cost and no additional investment necessary in my rig

- Can it do 1/64 flash?

- Can it sync faster than 1/250s with manual flash?

- What's the performance of the 14-42mm kit with wet wide/macro lenses? Possibly inferior to compact cam setup?

3. Olympus PEN/OM with 9-18mm and 60mm macro + ports/dome

- Most investment needed

- Least versatile. Impossible to re-build the set between macro and wide angle between subsequent dives.

- Clear winner in quality and performance including widest-wide and closest macro possible.

I'm leaning towards the compact setup however I'm afraid of the consequences of not having a manual flash setting (lag, faster battery drain). How is that in practice?

did you choose a setup already?i'm leaning towards the lx-10...but can't find much image samples nor underwater macro pics and can't decide yet.

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If you want to stay with a compact camera, then look the Sony RX-100 older models. I have the Mark II in an Ikelite housing and it works fine. With that housing having a 67mm port, there are several wet lenses which can be added.

The Oly PEN systems have come down in price, but UNLESS the camera offers flash TTL, I would steer away. Goto to Cathy Church's website for her comments (she is an Oly fan). Also see what Phil Rudin says.

I am selling my complete old Oly PEN E-PL2 rig since I just bought a OMD E-M10 Mark II in a Nauticam housing. Beware the Nauticam prices are higher for all components, the systems are more complicated and they weight!

P.S. my original plan was to buy the Oly XZ-2 and get a housing for it. Bought the camera can NOT find a housing anywhere~

Well I think I'll stick to compact, want to minimize the luggage as much as possible. I looked at the sony rx100ii but compared to the Panasonic lx15 I think the image quality is better on the Panasonic. And it also has a number of other advantages. Unfortunately not many people have this setup so I can't find any macro shots, as this will be of interest to me also.

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sbonev, yes Panasonics are known for good lenses, but IS there a housing for it and how much does that cost?

BTW I just saw the RX100 Mark III in Classified offered by Kcalder223

sbonev, yes Panasonics are known for good lenses, but IS there a housing for it and how much does that cost?

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BTW I just saw the RX100 Mark III in Classified offered by Kcalder223

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