Review of the Oly XZ-1

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The Olympus PTWC-01 apparently does not vignette on this housing, according to Yuzo.
UWdigitalcamera.com :: Compact camera housing :: OLYMPUS :: OLYMPUS PT-050 for XZ-1
"You can attach 67mm wet type lenses, but wide conversion lens, you see vignetting with INON UWL-100 or some other lenses, Only OLYMPUS PTWC-01 works without vignetting."

ah ha!
could this be Olympus way of trying to get people to buy their own wet lens??
by making other wet lens useless on the housing...
Smart way,bad for customers.
not to mention it is expensive!

lucky for me my interest is on underwater macro.
even before i bought the xz1+pt50 i plan to buy a close-up lens.
pheew~
 
ah ha!
could this be Olympus way of trying to get people to buy their own wet lens??
by making other wet lens useless on the housing...
Smart way,bad for customers.
not to mention it is expensive!

lucky for me my interest is on underwater macro.
even before i bought the xz1+pt50 i plan to buy a close-up lens.
pheew~

The PTWC-01 was introduced long ago (in about 2002?) for use on their housings of that era. I have had one since about then. It mounts directly on the M67 ports of many housings, including the Olympus PT-010, PT-015, PT-018, PT-020, PT-022, PT-027, and PT-050 housings, and others with step rings.

At that time most wide lenses were supporting only 35mm or wider camera lenses, but the PTWC-01 was apparently designed for wider lenses. The PTWC-01 is bigger, heavier and more complex optically than the other comparable wet lenses and more expensive too. In short, it was overdesigned. No conspiracy, just lucky for us.

It turns out that a better solution was made by Athena at the time. They made a replacement glass dome port for the C5060 and C7070 which allowed the used of another excellent Olympus wide converter, the Olympus WCON-07c, inside the housing. This was much more practical than trying to add a heavy wet lens to the front of the housing, because of more secure mounting of the port to the PT-027 housing body. It was also much lighter and optically superior as most well designed dome ports are.

Perhaps someone will make a replacement dome port for the PT-050 along similar lines. This locks you into making the whole dive with the wide converter lens, but its performance should be optically superior. It avoids the design problems of a wet mount wide converter, namely having to strengthen the outer glass and have pressure seals.
 
The PTWC-01 was introduced long ago (in about 2002?) for use on their housings of that era. I have had one since about then. It mounts directly on the M67 ports of many housings, including the Olympus PT-010, PT-015, PT-018, PT-020, PT-022, PT-027, and PT-050 housings, and others with step rings.

At that time most wide lenses were supporting only 35mm or wider camera lenses, but the PTWC-01 was apparently designed for wider lenses. The PTWC-01 is bigger, heavier and more complex optically than the other comparable wet lenses and more expensive too. In short, it was overdesigned. No conspiracy, just lucky for us.

It turns out that a better solution was made by Athena at the time. They made a replacement glass dome port for the C5060 and C7070 which allowed the used of another excellent Olympus wide converter, the Olympus WCON-07c, inside the housing. This was much more practical than trying to add a heavy wet lens to the front of the housing, because of more secure mounting of the port to the PT-027 housing body. It was also much lighter and optically superior as most well designed dome ports are.

Perhaps someone will make a replacement dome port for the PT-050 along similar lines. This locks you into making the whole dive with the wide converter lens, but its performance should be optically superior. It avoids the design problems of a wet mount wide converter, namely having to strengthen the outer glass and have pressure seals.

If that is the case then with some really close macro focus function and the wide angle lens it may be possible to cover a wide range of shooting without switching lenses (like on larger sensor cameras) or adding wet lenses. For quick compact traveling it would be nice but I have doubts it will arrive soon.

I have used with great results the SEA&SEA DX1G which is a great combo with its bayonet mount wide angle lens. Super easy to attach UW and great macro focusing all the way down to 1cm. I wish I could upgrade that package for my UW long distance and rough trips but I have not seen anything vastly superior yet. Maybe The G12 or S95 Canon are slightly better in image quality but ergonomically not as nice. I was (AM) having high hopes on the Olympus XZ1 but this bit of news is not good. For now I am stuck with the heavier but very nice EPL1.
 
The E-PL1 is heavy??? :)

Most people consider it a very light setup. You need to try holding a dSLR underwater setup.
 
The E-PL1 is heavy??? :)

Most people consider it a very light setup. You need to try holding a dSLR underwater setup.

OK OK I will take the pun... I am just commenting relative to the XZ1.
:D
I just hope one day I may be able to be as light as possible and get inside every little hole... and yes !! give me a gill!
:blinking:
 
Odd, I would say that it is somewhat cheaper than most wet lens... roughly the same price as the Ike W20...

Don't know if it will actually work... but might be worth getting and trying.

Oly does not say it will work with their PT-050...

I did find this:

UWdigitalcamera.com :: Conversion lens :: Others :: OLYMPUS PTWC-01 Wide Conversion

So it would seem it will work... wonder if the Ike W20 (which I have one of) would also work...

2.2 lbs...wow, there must be a lot of glass there.

Well, it seems there is at least one reasonable wide angle solution out there.

The PTWC-01 was introduced long ago (in about 2002?) for use on their housings of that era. I have had one since about then. It mounts directly on the M67 ports of many housings, including the Olympus PT-010, PT-015, PT-018, PT-020, PT-022, PT-027, and PT-050 housings, and others with step rings.

At that time most wide lenses were supporting only 35mm or wider camera lenses, but the PTWC-01 was apparently designed for wider lenses. The PTWC-01 is bigger, heavier and more complex optically than the other comparable wet lenses and more expensive too. In short, it was overdesigned. No conspiracy, just lucky for us.

It turns out that a better solution was made by Athena at the time. They made a replacement glass dome port for the C5060 and C7070 which allowed the used of another excellent Olympus wide converter, the Olympus WCON-07c, inside the housing. This was much more practical than trying to add a heavy wet lens to the front of the housing, because of more secure mounting of the port to the PT-027 housing body. It was also much lighter and optically superior as most well designed dome ports are.

Perhaps someone will make a replacement dome port for the PT-050 along similar lines. This locks you into making the whole dive with the wide converter lens, but its performance should be optically superior. It avoids the design problems of a wet mount wide converter, namely having to strengthen the outer glass and have pressure seals.
 
The Ikelite W20 is more like the Inon WAL100-67mm in terms of size especially in regards the rear lens and the basic set up, very similar. If the Inon does not work I would doubt the very similar Ikelite W20 would work.

N
 
Maybe the Dyron 15mm would work?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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