e-pl7+PT-EP12+UWLH100

[Esk]

Last week I posted this at the general uw photography forum but did not get any reply. Maybe people who read the Olympus forum have some experiance with this set up and can tell me if it delivers good image quality? My alternative is the RX100 II. Hopefully this forum generate more input. Thanks.

Last trip I flooded my olympus XZ-1 because of a mistake with the o-ring. So I'm looking for a new camara. The xz-1 is not available new anymore so I decided to go for an upgrade. I like to keep things compact and flexible (possibility to do macro and wide angle in one dive) and not to expensive. Oh, and I use it for just photography, not interested in video.

First I thought the only good option was still the sony RX100 mark2. But then I did some research and find out that there is also the olympus E-PL7 with the 14-42 EZ. With this lens and the olympus housing its also posible to use my wet lenses (inon uwl H100 + dome and ucl 165) and its not much bigger than my xz-1 housing and actualy cheaper than the rx100 mk2. E-PL7+housing+lens+zoomgear is about between €1.100 to €1.200 and RX100 is with the nauticam or sea&sea housing (the available cheaper houings are not interesting because of bad ergonomics in full manual) about between €1.400 to €1.500.

At the moment I'm leaning more to the olympus because the camara itself is more advanced, a better total price and seems to offer the same flexibilty as the RX100. The thing I'm not sure about is the lens (its a kit lens and not a premium lens) and the image quality with the wetlenses in the olympus housing compare to RX100+wetlenses. I read a lot of good things of the RX100+nauticam combo with the inon uwlH100 but not much about the olympus. So I hope some people around here have experiance with this set up (and preferably both the set ups) and can tell me wich one produces the better image quality. And maybe there are some other things I overlooked in my research. I'm looking forward to have some good input for my decision. Thanks.

Esk, Saturday at 5:26 PM Report

 

[chris196]

I have the epl7 in the Olympus housing and I like it, however I'm shooting with a Zen dome in which I use the 9-18, 14-42ii & 60mm.
I also have a dome for the 8mm FE.
I don't even have the 14-42EZ as I bought the camera body only. BTW, the epl7 is out of production now and the ones available are not what I'd call cheap. Olympus never released a housing for the epl8. I have looked at the specs and wondered if it will fit in the epl7 housing.

Sorry, I can't comment on your wet lenses.

BTW, my epl7 is broken at the moment. It appears to be some kind of circuitry issue. It's never been abused or flooded.
It's on the way to olympus for repair now. That will cost me $200, but I haven't seen one for less than $400, so I figure the right way to go.

 

[Esk]

I finaly did chose the EPL7 with 14-42 EZ lens. The lens is realy sharp (sharper than the RX100 lens) and in my opinion does not deserve the not so good reviews wich I read at some websites. Also the camea is way better than the RX100. A lot less noice and the focus feels faster. I have not yet the housing so I don't know yet how well it performs with the inon uwl H100. When I Have the housing I will let know how that works.

 

[chris196]

Did you pick up the epl7 during the olympus refurb sale? They had some good prices then.

I sent in my epl7 for repair just before that sale was announced. It's back and happy. I actually think they just pulled a refurbed off the shelf and sent that to me. In the end it saved me a little so I'm happy.