What's more valuable, Autofocus vs resolving power?

That's just wrong. Plan a stopover in SIN or HKG on your next holiday. It will pay for itself.

 

Possibly. It's not as cheap as it might seem though, because I do get taxed on the items if bringing them home with me. But I will think about this if I want to upgrade around a known holiday period

I shoot a Sony A6300 in a SeaFrogs housing, with 10-18mm and 90mm lenses and ST-100 strobes. I don't feel like 1/160s sync speed is a significant limitation; sunballs are possible even with my crappy TTL-only strobes; this was the first time I tried one:

Macro is good too:

Medium-sized fish portraits are also possible.

Hi Therion,

here are my two cents...

I started 2016 and decided for MFT, like Chris, Interceptor, Nudibranco and Troporobo (now I am with EM1MII, but not much difference to EM5II except AF). There is a lot in favour of MFT and I am very excited about it - but I am not shure yet if this will remain my last system:

i.: relatively low weight and size

ii.: plenty of good lens available for UW (including adapted ones with metabones adapter)

iii.: lower price compared to APS-C and (mostly) FF - although I must say the real gap in price and size/weight is between compact and MFT. MFT systems with a lot of options (lenses and dome ports) are nor so far away from FF regarding price and size/weigth.

iv.: I think that image quality is very good - but I must say I have no own experience in comparing MFT to larger sensor formats (although the Internet is jam-packed with "comparisons" and "bench marks" I could not find so far a real comparison that does give me a real impression what I loose when using MFT instead of FF): I can only directly compare IQ to my wife's previous UW photos with compact (Lumix TZ5) and say IQ is substantially better - I guess in comparison to TG-5 it is similar. My subjective impression from viewing UW photos in the internet is that there is a gradual increase in IQ from compact (small sensor) => compact (1" sensor) => MFT => FF, the increments in IQ improvements roughly the identical as these steps are listed (and APS-C inbetween MFT and FF). I myself judge IQ mostly by sharpness, dynamic range (important upon prost-processing) and colour brilliance - but all of these criteria are mostly influenced by photograpgic skills, so no guarantee that more expensive system gives better quality...

So anyhow the IQ improvement will be substantial when upgrading from TG-5 to MFT (or even larger sensor)...

Here some example images from my last dive trip to Egypt, from (approx.) 1:1 macro to WW plus 2* S&S YS-D2 flashes to WW ambient light to circular FE with EM1II in Nauticam housing with appropriate lenses and ports:

Wolfgang

Yes, it's an expensive business, but NZ seems to be still in the we can charge more just because we can mode, the Australian prices for Nauiticam housings and Oly cameras and even strobes are about equal to prices in the US converted to AUD$ plus GST. Olympus lenses however are way cheap in Australia, the Oly 12-40 is $US999 at BHPhoto but $A748 at Digi Direct. Google around to see what you can find, use all the tools, shopbot in Aus, Priceme in NZ. Could even be worth a flight across the ditch to pick it all up?

On housings, I have the Nauticam and it's been great, the Olympus housing has limited ports availability. You could go Ikelite, but ..They really are just a waterproof box.. The Fantasea housings are good by all reports,. I would definitely include a vacuum system in your plans!

Yes, it's an expensive business, but NZ seems to be still in the we can charge more just because we can mode, the Australian prices for Nauiticam housings and Oly cameras and even strobes are about equal to prices in the US converted to AUD$ plus GST. Olympus lenses however are way cheap in Australia, the Oly 12-40 is $US999 at BHPhoto but $A748 at Digi Direct. Google around to see what you can find, use all the tools, shopbot in Aus, Priceme in NZ. Could even be worth a flight across the ditch to pick it all up?

 

On housings, I have the Nauticam and it's been great, the Olympus housing has limited ports availability. You could go Ikelite, but ..They really are just a waterproof box.. The Fantasea housings are good by all reports,. I would definitely include a vacuum system in your plans!

 

The one retailer here specifically selling strobes and other underwater gear would have charged me an extra 550 for the two strobes vs importing from Japan and paying gst and biosecurity levies. Sometimes living here sucks, bur I have also not seen many people diving here with more than just a compact camera and housing. So perhaps it's a very low volume market.

I will check Aus for nauticam products. I very much wanting a housing that is comfortable to use underwater above all else. I don't understand why horizontal shutter levers aren't more common on housings! Of I can get the Olympus for cheaper than the Sony I will definitely go that route as it does seem like a very capable camera and 20mp is about where I want it for printing.

Thanks!

Might try contacting Down Under Aquatic Imaging, I bought my housing from him, he's a Nauticam dealer but does need to order stock in. He also sells Isotta housings which are a little cheaper than Nauticam but still seem nice housings, I haven't done the research to confirm the availability of ports and accesories for that range.

I do have some sympathy with a small market on pricing as having service presence in the country is important, but I'm wondering if it's a chicken and egg thing. Prices are so high so people buy compacts.

On strobes and INON stuff, I've used this guy: https://www.uwdigitalcamera.com/store/home.php

found him very responsive and once you have ordered it arrives in a few days. I think once he was away on a trip when I emailed so it took a while, I think he's just one guy. I bought an INON torch, float arms and fibre optic cables etc off him.

As far as costs go, Sony APS-C seems less expensive than Olympus M4/3 no matter how you slice it. Going by USA prices on B&H, Sony A6400 body (better than A6500 unless you must have IBIS) is $898, 10-18mm is $798, 90mm macro is $998, total $2694. E-M1 II body is $1699, 7-14mm is $1299, 60mm macro is $349, total $3347. If you want a shorter macro lens, Zeiss Touit 50mm is $999, Panasonic 45mm is $798, Sony 30mm is $253, Olympus 30mm is $199. As far as housings go, you can Sony has a much wider choice - you can spend $1650 + ports on a Nauticam, but you can also go with Fantasea or SeaFrogs, the latter costing $492 with a 6" port, plus another $130 for macro port and $120 for a vacuum system. For E-M1 II, there are no 'budget' choices - even a bare PT-EP14 costs $1299; double the cost of a SeaFrogs housing with ports and a vacuum system.

Yes there's multiple ways to slice it up, depends on what you want to use if you want a fisheye, the total is much closer with a $797 Pany 8mm ($2845 total) or 897 for a panasonic 8-18mm at $898 ($2945 total). (All $US prices) Or if you are shooting reefs in temperate waters the olympus 12-40mm might be a better choice for wide angle and it's significantly cheaper in Oz. That's one thing Sony can't match is choice of lenses, between olympus and Panasonic you have a great choice of lenses at many price/quality points and Sony doesn't have a native fisheye option. Of course NZ prices are different and different manufacturers may win on price alone with different combos.

On the 12-40, this is my lens of choice at ocean reef dive sites off of Sydney, many may complain it's not wide enough but does a nice job accommodating everything from a 40-50mm long nudi (with a little cropping) up to 1m long blue groper or a school of old wives like this one:

It's an extremely sharp lens!

Chris, thats a great shot! Nice saturation and even strobe coverage too.

What port are you using for the 12-40 lens? I love it on land but havent taken it underwater yet.

I used to have the Olympus 12-50 lens but got rid of it as it wasnt wide or sharp enough behind the flat port. I never tried it behind a dome, maybe I should have done.

Chris, thats a great shot! Nice saturation and even strobe coverage too.

 

What port are you using for the 12-40 lens? I love it on land but havent taken it underwater yet.

 

I used to have the Olympus 12-50 lens but got rid of it as it wasnt wide or sharp enough behind the flat port. I never tried it behind a dome, maybe I should have done.

Thanks! I have the Zen 170mm dome, you can use the type II or the N120 with an n85-N120 adapter. I have the type II but the N120 is more flexible as you can use it with other lenses such as the Oly 7-14 or Pany 8-18 which you can't do with the type II. just change the adapter, you can even use it with the Oly 8mm fisheye if you source a custom 30mm adapter, though the smaller fisheye domes have advantages. The 12-50 lens is OK, but even on land it's regarded as a little soft, it would be at it's worst wide in a flat port, I've seem some nice enough images with it at the macro end.

Ouch. The last thing I need is another $1000 solution. Maybe I will try it behind the 150mm dome and report back . .. .

Nauticam doesn't list the 6" dome port (they have the 7") but the 12-40 and Pany 7-14mm both take the same port/extension and the 6" dome is listed for the 7-14, so the extension should be OK

You could get a used a7Rii for about $1300 and the present Meikon case for $259 or the new version with more features to come out shortly for maybe $600. My a7Rii/Meikon setup has worked fine for two trips and about 50 dives. I find that most of my wide angle shots on mostly drift dives are of the "grab" variety where cropping and reframing in post helps a lot. I print big: 16x20 smallest, 2x3 ft largest ($12 through Sam's club).