Flash for an Olympus 5060

I recently purchased an Olympus 5060 with a PT-020 housing for my wife. I'm looking for recommendations for an external flash. I am thinking about the Ikelite DS-125 like I have for my Coolpix 5000 in the Ikelite 6190 housing. I'm very happy with the DS-125 but I think it may be a little bulky for my wife. I want to know if anyone has used the Olympus UW flash unit and how it works or any other recommendations you may have.

Thanks

Hi corcort! Well, I had the same doubt about the Olympus strobe fot PT-20, and many people I asked for opinions advised me against taht flash. I don't know by my own experience if this is a good or a bad stobe, but the opinions against it were unanimous. Everybody told me: dont' purchase that strobe. Here in Spain that Olympus strobe hasn't a good reputation among UW photographers.

In the other hand, I have a friend that ussually comes for diving & taking photos with us, he has the Olympus flash and the results are not wholly bad, he gets good colour and lightning in short distances, macro, small and medium-size fishes. But is not good for wide angle or from larger distances. My friend notices an important lack of light when he tries to shoot medium distance or far objects.

So, do what you think is good for your wife's camera, maybe she doesn't mind this limitations, but sure she will take more advantege from a camera like Olympus 5060 with a better or more versatile strobe.

I have the same camera and housing, and I've just purchased an Ikelite DS 125. But if you think it's too bulky, maybe DS-50 could be smaller? The EV manual controller is good for the Olympus housing (I mean, if you don't have the Iklite housing with TTL), I use that manual controller and is perfect for me. I think thas INON has less bulky strobes.

I hope all this could be of help for you. Regards!

At the Long Beach dive show, I talked to a guy who had the Olympus flash. He liked it, but it was only good for short distances. Maybe macro to two or three feet. It seems kind of expensive for the strobe and the housing, but you do get TTL and you can use it on land. I haven't checked the prices in a while. Perhaps a DS-50 might be a smaller alternative than the DS-125.

David

The Inon D-2000 is an ideal little flash for this camera. I use 2 with my 5050.

See my review of the Inon D2000 with the Olympus 5060 in the Reviews section here at Wetpixel. Go to the homepage, and look to the upper right - click on Reviews.

HTH

James

I have the Oly flash for my 5060 and have been reasonably happy with it. It does fine for short distance work and has the advantage of being small, light, and useful out of the water too.

Why don't you consider the Inon Z220? I think it's a capable strobe, at least comparable to the Ike, and you have the same problem/solution when connecting them to the PT-020. You may use them manually or TTL with Matthias adapter.

The Inon is much smaller than the Ike, it also has focus light (which can be operated through the adapter) and uses AA cells (that may be NiMH rechageable cells, of course). Has good recylce time, coverage, power...

Oh! I think it may even be cheaper if bought in Japan!