Lens Vs. Port Vs. Body

[nagatyh]

I have an Olympus E-PM1 with the 14-42 ii-r kit lens and the Olympus PT-EP06 housing (flat port) that I use for underwater photography, and an Olympus E-M10 for topside photography.

I want to upgrade, but I am limited in budget, so which of the following would be a better upgrade:

1) Get an Olympus 9-18 lens and use it with the E-PM1 behind the flat port.
(will be a bonus for me as it could be used for topside photography too)

2) Get an AOI dome port for the E-PM1 and 14-42 lens.
AOI DLP-04 Underwater 4 inch Acrylic Semi-Dome Port for Olympus PEN Housings
AOI DLP-03P Underwater 4 inch Glass Semi-Dome Port for Olympus PEN Housings

3) Get a cheap Chinese housing for the E-M10 and 14-42 lens.
(The E-M10 camera body is much better than the E-PM1 in terms of speed and image quality, but I'm afraid of the no-name housing, and the port is not changeable, so I will be stuck with the 14-42 behind a flat port with no room for future upgrades)
https://www.amazon.com/Polaroid-Wat...&qid=1495787321&sr=8-1&keywords=e-m10+housing

Ideas please.

 

[Hoag]

I don't have any of the gear that your have or that you are looking at, so I will not speak to it specifically, but in general terms, I have found that I would rather spend money on a good lens than cut corners on one.

 

[watboy]

I would look into getting a used EM10 Nauticam housing. The investments you make in lenses and the ports needed can then be used with future upgrades. I started with the Oly housing, the 9-18 behind a flat port isn't going to give you much wider view than the 14-42. Later I bought the Zen dome for the 9-18, It worked well but changing ports was a real pain. Finally I just went and got a Nauticam housing and gradually added fisheye and macro. Had I known all this before, I could have saved myself money. I really like the Nauticam 4.33 acrylic dome. Its not obscenely expensive and you can use the Oly 12mm and Pana fisheye with it.

 

[stuartv]

This is very late, I suppose, but I just saw it.

I'm shooting an E-M10 with the kit (14-42) lens in a Meikon (i.e. cheap) housing with the Meikon wet wide angle lens (also relatively cheap). These are some shots I got a couple of weeks ago down in NC.

I've had the housing down to about 120', so far, with no issues.

 

[stuartv]

ps. That Polaroid housing looks the same as the Meikon one I have.

 

[merxlin]

If you keep your eyes open, you can get ports and lenses for the E-PM1/EP-PT06 on here or other sites. I got a Zen WA-100, M.Zuiko 60mm and 9-18mm all on here at great prices. The WA-100 works with all 3 lenses (a must for the 9-18). I think all in all I spent less than $600 for the 3.