Question OMD10 focus won’t lock in when in Nauticam housing

[bobmaggi]

The last couple of times I attempted to use my OMD10 camera in its Nauticam housing I found the focus continually ‘hunts’ back and forth and will not lock in, resulting in blurry photos. Above water the focus ’snaps‘ into place quickly as expected, even with the camera still inside the housing, this focusing issue only occurs when underwater. I haven’t been able to find any explanation on-line. I have used the camera/housing successfully for several years without issue, this just started occurring recently. Above water the focus works great. My thoughts are that I have inadvertently changed some setting but haven’t figured out which one it might be…. Any thoughts?

 

[Akimbo]

Does partially depressing the shutter release have any effect? I have never had the hunting issue on my older OMD but partially depressing the shutter release forces a focus when composing the shot, topside and underwater. It shouldn't hunt like that but this might give you a clue to resolving it.

 

[tursiops]

The last couple of times I attempted to use my OMD10 camera in its Nauticam housing I found the focus continually ‘hunts’ back and forth and will not lock in, resulting in blurry photos. Above water the focus ’snaps‘ into place quickly as expected, even with the camera still inside the housing, this focusing issue only occurs when underwater. I haven’t been able to find any explanation on-line. I have used the camera/housing successfully for several years without issue, this just started occurring recently. Above water the focus works great. My thoughts are that I have inadvertently changed some setting but haven’t figured out which one it might be…. Any thoughts?

Which lens and port?

 

[bobmaggi]

Pressing the shutter down half way is what starts the focus hunting. It just moves in and out of focus like it can’t figure out what to lock onto. Even if the camera is in or out of the housing above water it works great. It used to work very well, normally I only use that camera for underwater photos but I wanted to do photos of something out of the water and it was after that when I experienced this issue. I think I changed some setting that impacts the underwater focus ability. Thinking about it, when I first got the camera and housing I found an article on this camera/housing setup that had all the recommended menu settings and used that to get rolling. I need to find that article again and reset everything again.
I have the Olympus Zuiko digital 14-42mm lense. The Nauticam has the flat port only.

 

[tursiops]

Pressing the shutter down half way is what starts the focus hunting. It just moves in and out of focus like it can’t figure out what to lock onto. Even if the camera is in or out of the housing above water it works great. It used to work very well, normally I only use that camera for underwater photos but I wanted to do photos of something out of the water and it was after that when I experienced this issue. I think I changed some setting that impacts the underwater focus ability. Thinking about it, when I first got the camera and housing I found an article on this camera/housing setup that had all the recommended menu settings and used that to get rolling. I need to find that article again and reset everything again.
I have the Olympus Zuiko digital 14-42mm lense. The Nauticam has the flat port only.

I've had that focus-seek problem when the camera is trying to focus on a speck on the port. Another issue might be the focusing area....is it the full image or just a little tiny rectangle in the image?
I've attached a nice guide for setting up the M10 for underwater.

 

[Nemrod]

Go to center focus option and set up the back button focus option to decouple focus from the shutter button. Also set for single frame and focus only on command, deselect pre-focus and continuous focus.

James

 

[BoltSnap]

What lens are you using? Does it have a focus limiter that may be set to a range that doesn't correspond to the distance you are shooting now?

 

[bobmaggi]

Thanks for the suggestions and the guide. I’ll try them out next time I get in the water.

 

[BoltSnap]

Thanks for the suggestions and the guide. I’ll try them out next time I get in the water.

Please do report back and let us know what the issue was and how you solved it. Good luck to you!!

 

[bobmaggi]

Turns out the attachment PDF posted by Tursiops is the same one I used when I originally got the camera! I did a full settings reset on the camera and am going through that document and setting all the operations back to their recommendations. I still have to get into the water and check it out which might be another week (its cold up here in Michigan!)