Advice on Olympus Camera?

[Ishie]

Hi all,
As I've said elsewhere, I'm new to underwater photography, but would love to get into it more. Right now, Jim and I are sharing a cheapie 50 dollar camera.

We were initially looking at the SeaLife digital series, but after some research, I really don't think that's the way I want to go.

I've been looking heavily at the Olympus C-5000 with the PT-019 housing. Money IS definitely an object. I'm looking at the features on the camera but would like some advice because I am not a good land photographer (point and shoot only) but would like to expand my skills with both land and sea, while avoiding making the mistake of having to upgrade to a better system after laying out considerable money on the first (like the SeaLife).

Our main diving is the Monterey area. Good place for macro photography and visibility makes backscatter an issue, though through suggestions (many from SB), our pictures are already getting better and better. I'm interested in a camera that has an automatic "point and click" CAPABILITY for the learning process, but one that has a number of manual features for once I know what the heck I'm doing. I'd like a system that can be added to with features as money (and skill) becomes available, namely lenses and strobes.

The C-5000, to the best interpretation of my admittedly photo-ignorant mind seems to fit these categories while remaining within the realm of possibility for my budget. I've also been reading quite a bit on the 5050 and 5060, but they're considerably more money.

Any suggestions on what would be the best fit for my specific needs?

Thanks!!!!

Ishie

 

[alcina]

Olympus makes good cameras. I do not have any first hand knowledge of the 5000 so can't help you there.

I have seen that several people are going with the new Canon A95 - I think they said it's about $250. Housings are around $150. Personally, I love Canon cameras & their housings. I have two and they are fabulous.

I used mine for the longest time without external strobes and had some great results.

This is a link where you can compare camera features side by side.

This is a link where you can see which housings are available for your choices. Both sites have reviews, too. You can also do a search here for your model number and that will bring up any posts with information on it.

Hope this helps!

 

[Dee]

Ishie....the C-5000 should fit your requirements very well. Although I use a C-5050 and am not exactly sure of the difference in the two models, I'm supposing they are minor. It's a good point and shoot, especially for topside, yet you can go all the way to manual if you wish.

If the water you dive in usually has alot of particulate matter in it, any camera using only the internal flash will produce backscatter. The light goes straight out to the subject and straight back to the camera so everything in in between is well lit. And external strobe will vastly improve the backscatter in your photos. As alcina mentioned, you can get some great results with no external stobe, especially with macro shots. I still don't use either the internal flash or my strobe on alot of the shallow macro shots.

 

[Alan Wiggs]

I have a C5000z and am very impressed with it - with 5 meg it is a very sharp camera and the colour balance is superb. I have it with the Inon d180 strobe and have had no problems at all with about 50 dives since I bought it in May. It also has some affordable wide angle lens options - I recently bought an Epoque wIDE angle lens and again the results have been sharp. It is a compact housing - with absolutley no signs of leakage (down to 40 metres) so I have been very impressed indeed.

Cheers!

A. Wiggs.

 

[flounderboy]

I must recomend the Olympus housings
I had a 4040 and a pt-010
until it had a small colision with a deco bottle inside of a wreck
the moving parts in the lens fell apart ,,BUT the housing
never let a drop of water in
this was at 130 FSW

I was able to get a new c 4000 for 219.00 new
and the same old housing works fine

Dive Safe

mark s

 

[aquaoren]

Have an Olympus C5050 and a PT-015 housing.
Just started playing with UW photography but very pleased with results even without external strobes.

 

[Moogyboy]

Just thought I'd chime in and mention that we have a C-5000 here at work. It seems to me to be a step up from the classic point & shoot format, but it's definitely not in the same class as something like a C-5050 which is a step or two down from an SLR. It's not a bad camera at all, at least for topside. Pretty easy to use, lots of exposure modes (I personally always like to have manual mode available), and good picure quality. Never used any of these things underwater, however.

One thing I'd check into, and I'm kinda curious myself, is whether you can attach a wide-angle lens, a dome port, whatever, when it's in Olympus's housing for the C-5000. The capability to do wide-angle is pretty important, and I think the housings for the C-5050 and C-5060 have provisions for it.

Myself, since I am an intermediate level topside photographer and used to SLRs, manual everything, etc, if I were to get a digital camera setup I'd probably base it on a C-5060 or a good used C-5050. Be nice, especially since I'm using a somewhat flaky Sea & Sea Motormarine II now. rrrrrr

cheers

Billy S.

 

[Ishie]

Thank you all for the feedback!
I'm saving up some cash right now, but I'm probably going to go with the 5050 and Olympus PT015 housing. It seems like just the kind of camera that I'm looking for and I've heard of a few too many problems with leaky housings on the 5060.

Thanks!

 

[Alan Wiggs]

Just thought I'd chime in and mention that we have a C-5000 here at work. It seems to me to be a step up from the classic point & shoot format, but it's definitely not in the same class as something like a C-5050 which is a step or two down from an SLR. It's not a bad camera at all, at least for topside. Pretty easy to use, lots of exposure modes (I personally always like to have manual mode available), and good picure quality. Never used any of these things underwater, however.

One thing I'd check into, and I'm kinda curious myself, is whether you can attach a wide-angle lens, a dome port, whatever, when it's in Olympus's housing for the C-5000. The capability to do wide-angle is pretty important, and I think the housings for the C-5050 and C-5060 have provisions for it.

Myself, since I am an intermediate level topside photographer and used to SLRs, manual everything, etc, if I were to get a digital camera setup I'd probably base it on a C-5060 or a good used C-5050. Be nice, especially since I'm using a somewhat flaky Sea & Sea Motormarine II now. rrrrrr

cheers

Billy S.

G'day

I haved the c5000 and find it very good indeed. It is easy to attach a WAL - I have the Epoque 20 mm WAL which screws directly to the OLY PT019 housing's 46 mm (I think) lens thread. Check out the gallery from the stats box on the left. The reason I went for the c5000 was that I was unable to source a C5050 here in Australia, and I didn;t like the WAL setup for the c5060.

Cheers Wiggsy.