4040 Thoughts

[lundysd]

What does everyone think of the Olympue 4040 as a beginner setup? I'd be using it with an external strobe, but I'm on a budget and want a basic setup to learn on. FWIW, I've been a SLR land photographer for some time, but can't afford that money pit right now

Specific Questions

TTL with an Ikelite housing?
Manual White Balance?
Any other concerns?

Thanks

 

[Gilligan]

The camera is a good one but long discontinued. Do you already have one?
The Oly PT-010 housing for it is near impossible to find.
Buying an Ikelite housing for it is not a good move IMO. You are buying an expensive housing for a camera that is also near impossible to find should you have to replace it.
Manual White Balance is the way to go for non-strobe shots as the 4040 does not have RAW capability.

If you don't already have the camera or housing I think you are better off looking at a more modern product such as the Oly SP350 and its respective housing or the Canon S80 and its respective housing.

I am using the Oly 4000 with the PT-010 and have two of each so I won't be upgrading for some time.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I have a PT-010 and C4000 and like it except that the strobe options are much more limited than with newer but generally similar models. For example I cannot use it with my TTL Nikonos SB-105 strobe as the C4000/PT-010 combo does not have a port capability and the two do not speak well to each other. In retrospect waiting for the 5060 would have been much mor opportune and if you have the option of picking up one of these I'd suggest it instead.

I have a Nikon D50 that I would love to house, but the prices seem to start around $1300 so I'll continue using my C4000 and correcting color balance on the images produced with Photoshop. For close up stuff, the on board strobe does surprisingly well, and with photoshop to adjust the balance on longer ranged images, the real limitation is depth and available light.

Olympus housings are very reasonable as housings go and work quite well. But they are not intended to be in production longer than the camera and are regarded by Olympus to be a more or less disposable item for a digital camera produced in a rapid changing industry where digital cameras of that class are not expected to remain in service more than maybe 2-3 years before their owners upgrade. The fly in the ointment is that the cameras in question are well made, seem to last a lot longer than planned and are capable enough that their owners continue to like them and find them useful long after the marketing folks said they should not.

If I had to buy a new housing like an Ikelite, I'd spend the not (comparatively) too much more money on a housing for my DSLR rather than my C4000.

 

[Dee]

I think the 4040 is an excellent camera to get started with. It's simple to use, the settings can be changed with one hand and the results can be outstanding. I sometime wish I'd never 'upgraded' to the 5050. So if you already have the camera or know where to get one, go for it!

If you don't have one, consider the cameras Gilligan mentioned.

 

[divinman]

I disagree with all comments here that would cause you to NOT buy my camera!

 

[Reefwalker]

Hi Lundysd
If you haven't already got the Oly4040, then consider the Oly4000 (same housings as C4040). This camera has 4 'My Modes' to chose from. These can be pre-programmed by the user to call-up frequently used settings (for u/w) with a press of one button, this is a huge advantage underwater as it saves precious time changing between settings. It also helps by getting people new to u/w photography started very quickly. We rent a couple of these cameras and find that divers come back with instant results worth taking home.
BTW - The c4040 is almost the same camera, it has a slightly better lens, but doesn't have the my mode's.

 

[padiscubapro]

What does everyone think of the Olympue 4040 as a beginner setup? I'd be using it with an external strobe, but I'm on a budget and want a basic setup to learn on. FWIW, I've been a SLR land photographer for some time, but can't afford that money pit right now

Specific Questions

TTL with an Ikelite housing?
Manual White Balance?
Any other concerns?

Thanks

I will be getting my housing for my e-500 shortly so I will have a tetra housing for th 3xxx 4xxx available shortly WITH a TTL adapter for nikonos compatible strobes.. PM me if you are interested..

My housing is rated to 90m (300fsw) and have had it to 125m (400fsw) without leaking, most tetra housings are only rated to 60m without mods..

 

[Aggie Diver]

The c4040 is almost the same camera, it has a slightly better lens, but doesn't have the my mode's.

It doesn't have my modes, but you can set up your options as you like them as a custom configuration, and have those settings load when you turn on the camera. So you get a 'My Mode', just not more than one

 

[rickydazla]

I am enjoying learning on mine. I have been pleasantly surprised with what I can do with it and I am as yet to get a strobe.

 

[normblitch]

If it were me, I would look for a good used 5060...wider angle lens than my 5050 which CONTINUES to prove itself as a wonderful beginner to intermediate work-horse, housed in the Ike housing...I use a DS-125 strobe with the TTL slave, and NEVER looked back...I leave white balance on Auto, and depending on the situation, use either Shutter OR Apeture priority, and usually a plus 1 EV to the strobe...in OW, I now confirm available light/strobe balance with an off-board meter. I continue to be VERY happy with my kill ratio both in OW and Overhead/Night

IMHO, all to many intro UW photogs fail to really learn their Software, which, again IMHO, is the REAL solution to raising the slope of the hobbiest Learning Curve...

Norm

What does everyone think of the Olympue 4040 as a beginner setup? I'd be using it with an external strobe, but I'm on a budget and want a basic setup to learn on. FWIW, I've been a SLR land photographer for some time, but can't afford that money pit right now

Specific Questions

TTL with an Ikelite housing?
Manual White Balance?
Any other concerns?

Thanks