Lenses for Oly4040/PT-010 Setup

Hi all!

I'm interested in getting a Oly4040 and PT-010 setup. Presently, I am looking at possible macro lenses and wide angle lenses for this setup.

I have been to the underwaterdigital website and seen that they are offering the INON and Oly macro lenses. The Oly lenses specifications states that it has a 6 times magnification. How does this compare with the 2T or 3T sea and sea macro lenses? One reason I am looking at these lenses is that it appears that they are designed for the PT-010 lenses and that other lenses like those of sea and sea requires zooming in of the camera to prevent the ringing effect for the macro lenses.

Do you have any recommendations for lenses with the Oly4040/PT-010 setup?

Thanks in advance and happy diving/snapping!

I think that they all pretty much require zooming in. Think about it, the optics are pretty much the same.

You realize the 2T and 3T lenses are really for a different camera and require an adapter. Sea and Sea does have PT-010 lenses as well.

From my research, the INON lenses are the best, and the most expensive. They are all too expensive for me right now.

Dude, are you Indo? I am in Indo at the moment and been thinking of how to get my hands on Oly 4040, any idea??

JP

Hi there, I'm not indo but lives in SE Asia. Have been thinking about getting these lenses and appears that as they are new products, they are presently not widely available. One way is to order online from underwaterdigital. If you have friends in Hong Kong, you can get these lenses much much cheaper than what you will have to pay online. Good Luck!

oops!

I thought you were talking abt the lenses?

For the camera, I not too sure about indonesia, but you can get these online as well as from singapore...if you make a trip to the island.

Singapore, huh..oh well...just have to wait 'til October... actually I have two choices for the dig camera, either purchasing the more famous and yet hard to find Oly 4040 or succumb my self to buy the more widely available Kodak dx 4900..and the time shall telll....

JP

i would hold out for the Oly cos it has good reviews from most of the owners and therefore is a tried and tested product...just my 2 cents

I think that more people on this forum own the Inon lenses over the Olympus ones, and you will not find a consensus on which ones are better.

YMMV,

UN (Oly) macro lens example

The following picture is partly overexposed (too strong strobe) and you can see that i had focusing problems. The Pygmee Seahorse was ~ 1 cm long and moving, which made it very hard to focus on it's eye.

I'll need more excercise and use manual focus next time, but these photos should give you an idea of what is possible ....

Sabine

Pygmee Seahorse

(color balanced, sharpened, resized and compressed)

Pygmee Seahorse Head in original size

(color balanced, cropped, sharpened and compressed)

Hi Sabine,

Welcome back! So, what do you think of the Olympus PWC-01 wide angle lens? Care to share your thoughts

Regards,

Allan

Hi Allan,

the lens is fantastic but i still have a lot to learn B)

Unfortunately i ruined my back after the first dive (without camera) and was on medical treatment for the next 5 days by a Balinese village doctor. He worked wonders and i was able to make a few dives afterwards but couldn't take many macro pictures. I tried to get familiar with my new strobe first and tried the macro on the last 4 dives only.

Assuming that the diameter of the pygmee seahorse's eye is less than 1 mm, the magnification of the lens is great (see picture in previous post).

I had some problems with focusing and the depth of field when photographing very small things.

Using the macro lens, the camera needs to be on full zoom and then it is very hard to find such a small animal on the lcd screen. You have to center your motive and then zoom in, hoping that it does not move.

I tried auto and manual focus with mixed results here. You have to move the camera forward and backward until the picture is focused anyway. Sometimes the distance was less than 5 cm. Manual focus works better for fixed targets while autofocus seemed to work a little bit better with moving targets.

Depth of field is another problem i still have to work on. In most pictures taken with the macro lens foreground and background are blurred while the main target is focused. I don't mind a blurred background but i still have to figure out the correct aperture/strobe setting to omit a blurred foreground (or partly blurred seahorses)

Sabine

Hi Bine,

Thank you for sharing your input about the Olympus PWC-01 WAL lens. I'm sorry to hear about back and I hope you recover soon.

Regards,

Allan

Another example for the UN macro lens (and no more discussions about my mistakes):

The nudibranch (Halgerda batangas) was ~ 3,5 cm long.

EXIF: M-Mode, F11, 1/250, Macro+Spot, Strobe set to full power

I'm very happy with this one,

Sabine

Whole nudibranch

(color balanced, cropped, resized, sharpened, compressed)

Rhinophore and part of the head in full size

(color balanced, cropped, sharpened, compressed)

Hi Bine,

You know I just realized you have the Olympus PCU-01 macro lens. All along I thought you have the Oly PWC-01. I feel so silly

Anyways, the pictures looks really good. Keep em coming Bine

Regards,

Allan C.