I agree, it's hard to beat an RS ... when it's working...:-)
As for the wideangle, I guess I have been made cynical from my Nikon days. I believe there is a BIG difference between announcing a product and a release date and then actually MEETING that date. So I don't count my chickens before they hatch - I prefer to make decisions based on what's available now and that's how I advise Wetpixel members. I've also been burned waiting for a housing/port/gear only to have a new camera come out and the housing companies just don't care about the one I have anymore...
If Olympus ever releases a glass dome port for their housing, I'm sure it will be great. I don't however think it will be a better performing dome than the Aquatica 8" acrylic dome which is excellent. Best yet, it only costs $350.
Cheers
James
Does the Ikelite/Aquatica dome have provision for adding extension rings? That's major consideration if think you may ever want to use more than one WA lens.
... but I still own my Nikonos RS and 18 mm lens. I haven't seen any system film or digital that beats this combination for over all quality.
One of the RS strength is without any doubt the true underwater optics. But the 18mm RS lens is actually a Nikon land lens housed by a simple dome (http://www.uw-fotoservice.de/verkauf.php?id=42). Same way you could use a Nikon prime with a housed camera rig.
I've never used this RS lens. I just know one guy who did and was more happy when using the Seacam Superdome with a wide prime in terms of image quality (corners).
Julian
I used the RS with the 13mm (although never owned it) and 20-35mm - both true UW Nikkors.
I was more than happy with the optical quality when I switched to the F100 and 16mm and 17-35mm. My gut feeling was that the 13mm UW Nikkor was slightly better than the dome and 16mm, but that the I always felt that the sharpness and colour was better on the AFS 17-35mm (with a dioptre) than on the 20-35mm, although I think that 20-35mm UW Nikkor was slightly better in the corners.
Although I must admit that never did any back to back tests.
To get back on topic, I am hoping to get the chance to test the Olympus housing sometime soon.
