Mario -- I bought the E-PL1 last April with the Olympus Housing. I am still using the kit lens and the Oly Housing with its flat port. So far, I have just not been able to convince myself to spend the money for the 9-18 WA lens and the Zen port. Although the Oly housing is only "rated" to 130 feet (40 meters?), I've had it down to 160+ without any issues.
I tend to shoot Macro more than WA which is one reason I haven't upgraded the system. The kits lens has turned out to be a pretty reasonable Macro lens (I also have the external Macro add-on but I didn't find it to be worth the hassle of carrying it).
As far as I can tell, the Oly Micro 4/3's cameras have the same software/sensor as the Oly dSLRs -- with the only difference being in the focusing/viewing system. Because the Micro 4/3's don't use a mirror, they must use a contrast based focusing system which is slower (but I understand the new kit lens has significantly lessened the gap between it and the Oly dSLR focusing speed). Again, as far as I can tell, the Evils (such as the E-PLx) ARE dSLRs where it counts the most.
You can take a look at some pictures at:
Monterey - Labor Day 2010
which I believe will give you some good examples of the capabilities of the camera system at both WA and Macro using the simple kit lens, Oly housing with flat port (strobe used is an Inon D2000).
BTW, I love my Canon dSLR with the f4 70-200 L lens for shooting topside. But the housing for it cost as much as the E-PL1 with housing!
I tend to shoot Macro more than WA which is one reason I haven't upgraded the system. The kits lens has turned out to be a pretty reasonable Macro lens (I also have the external Macro add-on but I didn't find it to be worth the hassle of carrying it).
As far as I can tell, the Oly Micro 4/3's cameras have the same software/sensor as the Oly dSLRs -- with the only difference being in the focusing/viewing system. Because the Micro 4/3's don't use a mirror, they must use a contrast based focusing system which is slower (but I understand the new kit lens has significantly lessened the gap between it and the Oly dSLR focusing speed). Again, as far as I can tell, the Evils (such as the E-PLx) ARE dSLRs where it counts the most.
You can take a look at some pictures at:
Monterey - Labor Day 2010
which I believe will give you some good examples of the capabilities of the camera system at both WA and Macro using the simple kit lens, Oly housing with flat port (strobe used is an Inon D2000).
BTW, I love my Canon dSLR with the f4 70-200 L lens for shooting topside. But the housing for it cost as much as the E-PL1 with housing!