First look: New Olympus PT-045 & PT-047 Housings

[JackConnick]

Disclaimer: I am an authorized Olympus dealer and some links are to my site.

Olympus Imaging has recently reved it's 2009 Stylus lineup with new rebranded "Tough" cameras and now the new PT-045 and PT-047 housings.

The T-8000 now sports 12MP, with the T-6000 at 10MP. Both cameras are practically indestructible and feature a shock, crush, freeze and water-proof design. The T-6000 is depth-rated to 10' and the T-8000 to 33'. Both have a great 3.6x lens with a 35mm equivalent of 28-102mm and dual image stabilization for blur-free photos, first seen on the 1030sw. Built-in macro can shoot down to .8 of an inch. New is a "Tap" control where you can access certain camera features simply by tapping the side of the camera case, even with gloves on.

Besides their durability and depth rating, what makes these cameras ideal for underwater photographers is their four built-in underwater settings to adjust the camera for different types of shots. These include Underwater Snapshot, Wideangle 1 & 2, and Macro. This is great for new users to capture different shots right out of the box. More advanced users will enjoy Programmed Auto and other modes. Much more information is available from Olympus.

As nice as these upgraded cameras are, what makes their release for underwater photographers even better are the sexy new black housings the PT-045 (T-8000) and PT-47 (T-6000). Olympus has copied features from their run-away best-selling PT-EO5 housing for the Olympus E-520 DSLR camera and brought them to point and shoot simplicity.

Features of both the PT-045 and PT-047 housings are nearly identical.

New is a locked twist cam closure, that along with simple drop-in alignment, makes this a plug and play housing, no trays, screws or other internal mounting is necessary.

But the black isn't just there for looks, divers that use an external strobe have for years blocked off all the light coming from the camera's flash, except for a small area where a fiber optic sync cord is mounted to fire an external strobe. The trend today is for manufacturers to include a plug-in port for an optical sync cord on many DSLRs. Olympus now extends that idea with a black slide-in plug mount that replaces the strobe diffuser. The plug fits the standard Olympus, Sea & Sea, Fantasea and other plug-in cords.

Other intelligent features of the Olympus housings (that are on the last generation as well) include a "hotshoe" style mount for a small strobe or focus light and ranked, labeled, camera controls that are separated both by position and height, so that use with gloves is much easier. Ports have 55mm screw-in threads and accept external wide and macro angle lenses from Fantasea and others.

The cameras and housings are available separately or in bundles together.

Besides the above cameras, Olympus also released the value-priced PT-046 housing for the new FE-3010.

More photos here.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Jack,

I would like to second your enthusiasm for these new housings. I had a chance to handle them at Texas Dive Show and was quite impressed. We should have access to a complete unit for Dive Chronicles next Digital Jam and I hope to have a full test at that time.

Phil Rudin

 

[CheddarChick]

does it shoot raw???

 

[JackConnick]

No, jpeg only. But as I said the camera has a lot of built-in modes to process the photos without a lot of post processing.

The cameras are fairly automatic in usage, if you want a lot of manual control they may not be for you.

Jack

 

[ce4jesus]

So many cool features for such a little case. A fiber optic connection..wow! Throw in that nifty black front and you have no light escaping the internal flash to cause backscatter.

 

[Nemrod]

As long as it accepts a fisheye lens, otherwise I will pass. The Inon "Clear View system blocks visible light, all it is a piece of developed slide film.

Oly 770SW with Inon 165 degree fisheye lens:

N, Go wide young man, go wide.

 

[JackConnick]

And you have to tape it onto the flash and take it off, etc. I used it and it's a PITA.

I don't know why the Inon lenses wouldn't fit, and I saw that Fantasea will soon have a more affordable fisheye lens with excellent optics out.

Jack

 

[Nemrod]

And you have to tape it onto the flash and take it off, etc. I used it and it's a PITA.

I don't know why the Inon lenses wouldn't fit, and I saw that Fantasea will soon have a more affordable fisheye lens with excellent optics out.

Jack

They would fit if the housing were designed to accept the Inon 28AD mount. Wide angle native lenses require the 28ADF series.

From Oly site:

"High-precision 3.6x wide optical zoom (28-102mm*) to capture great scenes through to stunning close-ups even in extreme conditions"

The 770SW I have has a 35 MM equivalent lens so not as wide angle and thus no vignetting with the AD series lenses. The wider view of the new camera would require the 28AD series or zooming in.


A 28MM lens through flat port---about 50 degree FOV

Typical wet mount wide angle lens is 0.56X resulting in a field of view of about 90 degrees in the water.

Inon 100WAL (.56X) with dome port has a max FOV of 130 degrees or about .46X

Inon 165AD fish eye lens has a FOV of 165 degrees max, or about .40X. Even zoomed in it is still wider than any native lens through a flat port and still wider than the typical 0.56X wet mount wide angles from Ikelite/Epoque/Inon/whoever.

Zooming may not always solve vignetting however because softness may be introduced, fuzzy focus, just depends upon the camera and lens. The best cameras out there now in the lower end P&S, IMO, for UW use is the Fuji F60d and Canon 590IS. If the housing geometry allows they can accept wet lenses, at least from an optical standpoint and they have manual or limited manual override controls, sharp lenses and lower noise chips. I bet the new Oly, like my 770SW is noisy and does not like to focus in dimly lighted conditions, slow shutter also.

N, go wide young man, go wide

 

[JackConnick]

Your 770 is about 3 generations or more back. The T-8000 has a lot of improvements, speed, noise, higher rez and built-in uw functions among them. There are Inon lenses that work with the 28s as well as others.

These cameras aren't meant to be the be-all do all for uw photography. They are an excellent starter camera, much better than any thing else for the money, IMHO, and unquestionable the most durable.

Jack

 

[Nemrod]

I agree it is a better camera. I am suspect of high pixel count at the expense of noise. The black housing is an advantage but the older housings had the metal spring clips instead of the plastic wheel.

I don't know if a wide angle solution will be provided for this camera, once upon a time it was easy to see by going to Inon America, now I have to visit a Japanese website with weird scripts that my Kaspersky blocks.

The 770SW does have underwater modes BTW, and shoots pretty good for a pocket camera, mine has been to 60ish feet without a housing, great outdoor fun cameras, still, underwater, a true wide angle is needed and no cigar just yet. It makes a huge difference, the wide angle lens gathers so much more light, you can get much closer to the subject, without the Inon wide angles all of the pics turn out the typical washed out blue/green. Adding the dome port lens and changing nothing else, instantly the photographs have better color, contrast, no washout blue and the reason is that I am now 3 feet from the subject instead of 12 feet. it is all the difference, nothing becomes something.

Cannot help the floaties when a whole "dive team" had rototilled the bottom practicing duck kicks or frog kicks or something:

N