Lenses for the epm1 housing

[rab1412000]

Is there a list of lenses that will work with the standard Olympus housing for the epm1? I heard, for example, the 60mm macro lens from Olympus needs no special dome /port to work with the housing. Are there are others?

 

[Divealpha]

The 14-42,60 and 9-18mm fits, but the last will not give the full 9mm angle without thenZen wa-100 dome. Yiu will also need the zoom ring and preferrably the focus ring for manual focusing with the 60..

 

[John Gulliver]

The 14-42,60 and 9-18mm fits, but the last will not give the full 9mm angle without thenZen wa-100 dome. Yiu will also need the zoom ring and preferrably the focus ring for manual focusing with the 60..

The 14-42mm II lens works fine in the standard port but you will need the zoom ring (which is cheap). Why would you need the focus ring for the 60mm macro lens? Autofocus works fine with this lens. A cheaper alternative for macro work, though, is to use the 14-42mm zoom lens with the macro adapter and a 5 or 10+ diopter. Using the 9-18mm wide angle lens with the oly housing with the standard port is not a practical option, in my opinion. It is a relatively expensive lens and the results do not warrant the outlay.

 

[Furnari]

I use the 9-18 in the standard port with my E-PL2, and the results aren't too bad- you can do some distortion correcting in Lightroom if you need to. The dog pic was shot at 9mm, and the still life at 14mm. Granted, I'd like to eventually get the dome but it's certainly a better wide angle option in the flat port than the kit zoom, and you'll benefit from the 9-18 topside while you save up for the Zen. To answer the OP, I believe you can also use the Oly 45, 75 and maybe even the 12-50 and the Panasonic 45. All of those are probably even worse off in the flat port than the 9-18.

 

[JackConnick]

I would buy the 60mm macro lens first. It fits perfectly in the housing, is fast and has great AF. Macro is a fairly easy thing to learn and you'll get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Then add the Zen dome and 9-18mm.

 

[rab1412000]

I would buy the 60mm macro lens first. It fits perfectly in the housing, is fast and has great AF. Macro is a fairly easy thing to learn and you'll get a lot of enjoyment from it.

Then add the Zen dome and 9-18mm.

would the 60mm and 9-18 be as good for video as they are for photo? i mean in terms of quality and versatility.

 

[John Gulliver]

Re video
I have found the 60mm lens not to be optimal for video. You have to hold the camera absolutely still or the film will be very "jumpy". With a wider angle lens, minor jumps will be less noticeable/irritating. I'm sure the 9-18mm would work fine for video (I haven't tried it yet but will do so in a couple of weeks when I go to the Red Sea). I found the 14-42mm very useful for video. It gives pleasing results and is very flexible. You can use it for quite small animals to moderately wide-angle scenes and biggish fish, turtles, morays etc. Others may disagree but that's my experience.

 

[rab1412000]

can anyone aside from furnani confirm whether the oly 45mm can work with the standard pt-ep06 dome? has anyone used it underwater? for photos and videos? how does it compare to the stock 14-42?

 

[EskilJ]

The oly 45 is useless under water. The minimum focus distance is very long. Adding a +6 diopter doesn't make it anyhing like macro.
A great lens for portraits over water, but you can't get close enough under water to get clear pictures.

 

[rab1412000]

what about the oly 25/1.8 ? fast focusing, great at low light and has msc. will this fit and will it make a good u/w lens for both photos and vids?