EPL-5 released

[terson]

Hi Guys,
Woohoo, am I a happy little camper, the new EPL-5 has just been released and as per the rumors, it has inherited all the good stuff from the EM-5. I'm on board and happily awaiting its arrival in late October/November.
Did I say that I was happy?

Bruce

 

[PhilW]

Don't hold back Bruce, tell us what you really think. Are you happy or what???

I suppose it is too much to hope that it fits in the same housing as the E-PL3?

 

[nikitich]

Don't hold back Bruce, tell us what you really think. Are you happy or what???

I suppose it is too much to hope that it fits in the same housing as the E-PL3?

It will have its own housing PT-EP10. Here is a system chart http://www.olympusimage.com.my/products/dslr/accessories/underwater/pdf/systemchart_ptep10.pdf

Just released 60mm macro is compatible with a stock flat port of pen housings, so now there is finally a use for it
Another interesting fact- 12-50 weathersealed zoom also fits behind a flat port AND "Automatically when the camera mode is set to UW wide mode, the zoom position moves to WIDE, and when the camera mode is set to UW macro mode, the zoom position moves to TELE. It is effective when the zoom switch is set to E-zoom."
So with this lens we will be able to shoot both macro and wide, am I right?
Wonder if this feature will work in previous PENs

The housing also comes with a diffuser so I guess you can use it with just a built in flash

There is a new antireflective ring for 14-42 II lens. Which one do you think will work better in a Zen dome?

 

[terson]

Thanks for the link Nikitich.
Have alook at the size of the focus sleeve for the Olympus 60mm macro, i bet that costs an arm and a leg?
Not sure that i will be buying one of the color-coded hand-bags for mine though. . .
I think from memory that Phil (Rudin)said that the 12-50 zoom vignettes at the 12mm end behind the flat port?
Bruce



QUOTE=nikitich;6488585]It will have its own housing PT-EP10. Here is a system chart http://www.olympusimage.com.my/products/dslr/accessories/underwater/pdf/systemchart_ptep10.pdf

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I would not say that the E-PL5 has all the good stuff from the E-M5, it lacks the excellent EVF which I use over 90% of the time, it is not weather sealed the way the E-M5 is but it still has a lot of very interesting upgrades. What I like best and I hope OLYMPUS is reading this is that it has ISO 100 and a NEW high sync speed of 1/250th. The E-M5 has the 1/250th but no ISO 100. Come on OLYMPUS the E-M5 needs ISO 100 or even ISO 50, Olympus may not know why we need this but many of use sure do.

I also like that the new Olympus housing for the E-PL5 has gone back to the stock port without the headlights, what a piece of s--- that was. I also hope that they were not as dumb as you were with the E-M5 housing and that the existing
ZEN Underwater ports will work going forward. On the E-M5 housing Olympus has one M43 port for the kit 14-42 lens which buy the way is not included with the housing. They expect buyers to add the adapters for the 43 DSLR lenses and use the old DSLR ports for lenses like the 50mm macro and 8mm fisheye. These are the Athena, Inon and Olympus ports.

Regarding the 12-50 kit lens, while it will work in the stock port without a gear by switching between W/A and macro in the underwater modes this is what you will get. 12mm and 50mm. The lens will not shift into the macro mode, this can only be done with the Nauticam gear and port which allow you to zoom across the entire range and shift into macro. I have not tested the 12-50 underwater and what I said is that lenses wider than about 28mm or 14mm in M43 will ALL vignette to some degree behind a flat port.

Regarding the 60mm macro, the price has been set in the US at $499.00, to me this is a real bargain if you are a hard core macro shooter. It is less than the Panasonic 45 macro and I think it will be a much better lens for the PEN cameras and the E-M5 V. the 45 macro which I own. I would rather spend the money on the 60 macro lens and a wide lens than on the 12-50. My 12-50 remains my out of the water travel lens and is well suited for that perpose. If you are a video guy this may not be the case and the 12-50 may just be your lens.

Phil Rudin

 

[Nemrod]

I had/have the cash and was about to buy the entire rig with Nauticam, dome and 8mm until I learned, no ISO 100? WTH Olympus? Love the weather sealing but no ISO 100! While at it, ISO 50 would be nice.


N

 

[terson]

Yeah, well back to the EPL-5.
Thanks for filling in the gaps with the new specs Phil, I'm really looking forward to the release date.
I understand what you're saying about the EM-5 with EVF but i moved to the larger screen shooting because of failing eye sight and the lack of funds to get a fully functional DSLR sytem with external viewfinders.
The PEN system suits my needs perfectly, even more so with the new EPL-5.
Did I say that I'm happy with the new release?
Bruce

I had/have the cash and was about to buy the entire rig with Nauticam, dome and 8mm until I learned, no ISO 100? WTH Olympus? Love the weather sealing but no ISO 100! While at it, ISO 50 would be nice.


N

 

[PhilW]

Does anyone know about 3rd-party housings in the works? I assume the usual suspects might have a crack at one (= Nauticam & 10Bar).

 

[unclebob]

Come on OLYMPUS the E-M5 needs ISO 100 or even ISO 50, Olympus may not know why we need this but many of use sure do.

Lowering the base ISO comes at the expense of high-ISO performance, so it's not necessarily the right answer for Olympus. Some cameras fake the lower ISO by simply overexposing the RAW image by 1 stop and then pulling the JPEG output (or RAW PP) back 1 stop. Not very useful unless you are a JPEG shooter (and not in direct sunlight).

Given that Auto ISO on the new PENs doesn't drop down to ISO 100 (it starts at ISO 200), i'm quite certain they are using the overexpose by 1 stop solution. It's not what anyone really wants.

ND filters are the solution. I understand the Panasonic 7-14mm causes a problem because you can't throw gels into the back of the lens like you can with the 8mm fisheye (or on the front with any other lens.)

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Bob, while I respect what you have said about Olympus it seems to me that the ISO 25600 of the E-M5 is much less useful To most users in or out of the water than a quality ISO 100 or even 50 would be. While I understand that high ISO seems to be a benchmark for camera makers I still see a lower ISO as being more useful to most photographers over adding more glass by using ND filters.

Phil Rudin