Olympus 5050 vs 5060 vs 8080

[calypsonick]

My two cents - I really have enjoyed using my 5050 and now the 8080 with only the internal strobe. Given my limited budget, the fact that the more affordable Oly housings let you use the internal flash has allowed me to get some good shots especially of macro subjects. The 5050 housing has lasted me over 100 dives and I haven't done anything but periodically clean the original O rings.

 

[f3nikon]

The pic below was shot from inside a tiny wheelhouse, the wide angle adapter makes it seem much larger, the companionway leading up to it is certainly no piece of cake with the camera set-up and doubles.

Darlene

edit: Resizing it down lost a great deal of clarity, the original in jpg is close to 4 megs.

Thanks Darlene

Your point is well taken; I’ll most likely place an aluminum bracket that will connect the red aluminum ring on the port to the bottom tray of the housing. Like I said before this 8080 will be for macro use only, so I can even glue the port to the housing for a more permanent fix since I will not be exchanging ports.

Thanks for sharing your picture of the wheelhouse; this is a good example of why I don’t use wide-angle adapters. If you will notice the corners and edges are out of focus. The cause could be that the curvature of the dome port lens does not match the wide-angle adapter.

You may want to check this out on land shots without the dome port, with the wide adapter attached, take some pictures look closely at the edges. Check for sharpness in focus, if it were sharp on land then I would be on the phone to Ikelite to see if there is a fix for this problem. Maybe changing the lens to dome port distance, or another type of dome port lenses is the fix. I am surprise that this problem got through.

Dive Safe

Al

 

[f3nikon]

My two cents - I really have enjoyed using my 5050 and now the 8080 with only the internal strobe. Given my limited budget, the fact that the more affordable Oly housings let you use the internal flash has allowed me to get some good shots especially of macro subjects. The 5050 housing has lasted me over 100 dives and I haven't done anything but periodically clean the original O rings.

Thats correct, and in the meantime you continue to take some very nice shots.

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

Thanks Darlene

Your point is well taken; I’ll most likely place an aluminum bracket that will connect the red aluminum ring on the port to the bottom tray of the housing. Like I said before this 8080 will be for macro use only, so I can even glue the port to the housing for a more permanent fix since I will not be exchanging ports.

Thanks for sharing your picture of the wheelhouse; this is a good example of why I don’t use wide-angle adapters. If you will notice the corners and edges are out of focus. The cause could be that the curvature of the dome port lens does not match the wide-angle adapter.

You may want to check this out on land shots without the dome port, with the wide adapter attached, take some pictures look closely at the edges. Check for sharpness in focus, if it were sharp on land then I would be on the phone to Ikelite to see if there is a fix for this problem. Maybe changing the lens to dome port distance, or another type of dome port lenses is the fix. I am surprise that this problem got through.

Dive Safe

Al

I see what you mean, and it seems (from looking at some of the other pics) that having the main portion, (central area) of the pic at a significantly different distance than the perimeter area tends to exacerbate that phenomenon. As you suggest, it's probably a characteristic of wide angle adapter lenses and maybe auto focusing limitations.

To be able to get an all encompassing view of a confined area within a wreck, It's a compromise I can live with.

It's the Ike dome port, which is designed for the Oly lense here.

Here's another pic from the same trip. Everything is closer to being the same distance away. In the original pic, you can read the ser.number and al3000 stamp on the tank shoulder, read the time on her watch, and clearly see each leg on the tiny crab on the back of her glove by her watch.

Seems that downsizing very large pics makes them look worse than if they were taken at the lower res in the first place.

Thanks for the input,

Darlene

 

[deputydan1]

Ahhh~~

a wealth of info here.....priceless...

and thanks for all that, guys.

for me, though...i think the pt-23 may be all i need.....esp since i can use it right out of the box without a need for strobes, etc.

now...THEE question....where to get a pt23 for cheap???????????

thanks,

-dan

 

[deputydan1]

was wondering, does your flash fire with supermacro mode????

thanks

-dan

My two cents - I really have enjoyed using my 5050 and now the 8080 with only the internal strobe. Given my limited budget, the fact that the more affordable Oly housings let you use the internal flash has allowed me to get some good shots especially of macro subjects. The 5050 housing has lasted me over 100 dives and I haven't done anything but periodically clean the original O rings.

 

[f3nikon]

It sure does, the internal flash fires at supermac, manual mode, f8.0, 1/125. This is via the softbox diffuser on the PT-23. Notice how soft the light is? The other one is without the softbox.

Darlene still has some valid points on the Ikelite. I just happen to have all the connectors, cords, strobes and access to a machine shop. If I were starting off cold and external flash, I may just go with the Ikelite.

On the flipside this softbox rocks! I can even use the internal and external strobe at the same time! Just think, the internal flash, soft light on that sea slug and the external strobe lights up the background for that 3D look!

Now if I could only get this rig 6000 miles across the Pacific!

 

[f3nikon]

Olympus really kicked it up a few notches with the 8mp 8080, this camera picks up where the 5050/5060 left off. I am still wondering why they even built the 7070 at 7mp and a smaller lens???

 

[deputydan1]

niiiiiiiice...thanks....

i think i'll go with the pt-23....since the ike doesn't allow the internal flash to go on....is that right??

thanks

-dan

 

[f3nikon]

Thats correct.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50506&item=7511840047&rd=1

Also the 23 has a glass flat port, I believe Ikelites are plastic. See Nick's latest East Timor shots for razor sharp macros and coop85 for some great light balancing normal angles.