new micro 4/3 camera and goes underwater

[Nemrod]

I hope they keep the shoulder strap clips on these, I don't want a pocket sized camera, I want a modern "rangefinder" size that I can sling back over my shoulder like my once upon a time Leica. Big enough to hold, smaller and sleeker than the smallest SLR chunks.

N

 

[shoturtle]

Nemrod,

Check out the oly site. It shows the epl-1, and you see that the there is strap loops on it.

E-PL1

 

[gballard]

The site is in spanish, but it shows the camera in the housing. There is a 45 second underwater video done with the camera!

Foto Actualidad: Olympus PT-EP01, Carcasa Subacuática para la E-PL1, la primera para el sistema m43

 

[muttznutz]

There's a Panasonic 45mm macro lens for the Micro Four Thirds mount, which is good but a little pricey. There's also the Olympus 50mm macro for the four-thirds mount, which is a truly spectacular piece of optics that can fit on this camera with the FT-MFT adapter.

My main question about these lenses is whether they'll fit in the Oly housing - which is a fixed port design. If I'm reading the specs pages correctly, both are longer than the lenses supported for the housing, and the lovely Oly 50mm has a bigger diameter.

I think the m4/3 range is really promising for underwater (although, obviously, the lens range has a long way to develop), and it's great to see such a wide range of camera body formats. I'd also be delighted if the nice, bright C5050Z lens was turned into a "stand-alone" m4/3 lens (even if it doesn't go very wide).

One thing which I've not seen yet is the price of the housing. Housings for (Oly) compacts cost less than 20% of their DSLR housings (and that's before ports are added). If the housing for the E-PL1 is somewhere in the middle, then a lot more divers could be interested in ... umm ... taking the plunge into this format.

One other thought for discussion. If fixed port housings are cheaper to produce and sell, then could we end up with different housing models (e.g. "macro" and "wide angle") for the same camera ?

 

[davelew]

My main question about these lenses is whether they'll fit in the Oly housing - which is a fixed port design.

I'm excited about the E-PL1, especially with the Olympus micro four thirds lens roadmap: 9-18mm WA zoom in May of 2010, 8mm fisheye and 50mm macro in early 2011.

I'm not excited about the underwater housing. This camera needs a dome port with two different extensions (one for the 9-18, one for the 8mm FE), and a flat port for the 50mm macro lens. The Olympus housing combines the worst parts of P&S and dSLR housings. It has the cost of a dSLR housing, the inconvenience of zoom gears and rings, as well as the inconvenience of a fixed flat port.

 

[under water]

http://www.youtube.com/user/OlympusPen#p/u/5/nHV27dU8QHI

short underwater video done with Pen
YouTube - under WATER shooted by Jun Shimizu (OLYMPUS PEN ????????????)

 

[phillybob]

YouTube - OlympusPen's Channel

short underwater video done with Pen
YouTube - under WATER shooted by Jun Shimizu (OLYMPUS PEN ????????????)

Very nice !!! The colors pop.

 

[JackConnick]

Camera & housing each are street priced at $599 a piece! I will be taking pre-orders it should ship early in March.

I'm just in the process of updating the website.

Jack

 

[shoturtle]

that is he msrp price for the camera

 

[JackConnick]

No - Body and 14-42 MSRP is $749.99, MAP is $599.99

Jack