Olympus E-M5 off to Mexico

[mjh]

Don't forget Oly does have a good history of making housings for larger cameras. Best bet is the housing for the EM5 will be a cross between the old E-System Olympus PT-E05 Housing - Olympus E-System Camera & Housing Systems - Optical Ocean Sales Underwater Photo - 800-359-1295! housings and the newer E-P series. Hopefully closer in size to the newer housings.

But as mentioned it may be a while, there are rumors that Nauticam may make a housing for it.

 

[ggibson]

How's the 14-42 X zoom on the E-M5? Have you tested it out at the 42mm end for the double-image problem in the 1/120-1/200s shutter range? Do you think it will be a good lens for UW use?

Also, any news on the E-M5 housing release/US prices?

 

[RonFrank]

The Olympus E-M5 has been reviewed by users on DPReview and previewed by the staff. Seems like a very well built camera but there is not a housing out for it. Oly may make one, and 10bar may as well but nothing yet.

I've read nothing but good things about the E-XXX Oly 4/3's housing. It is also cheaper than the 10bar. For about $1100 bucks your set with an Oly E-PM1 and housing. Add a strobe and that maybe my next setup.

 

[jd950]

The Olympus E-M5 has been reviewed by users on DPReview and previewed by the staff. Seems like a very well built camera but there is not a housing out for it. Oly may make one, and 10bar may as well but nothing yet.

I've read nothing but good things about the E-XXX Oly 4/3's housing. It is also cheaper than the 10bar. For about $1100 bucks your set with an Oly E-PM1 and housing. Add a strobe and that maybe my next setup.

Ron: There is a housing for it: ACCESSORIES | OLYMPUS OM-D | Olympus Imaging

The housing is not yet available and I don't think there is a release date for the housing, but Oly has committed to producing one. I am guessing that will keep some other housing manufacturers out of the market.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Which 14-42 zoom, Pana or Oly GG? I am shooting with the Pana and have had no problems shooting out of the water. The lens however has power zoom and power manual focus which means a port with a way to control one or both would need to be made because it only AF's from the body, no in-body zoom.

I would be guessing at a price for the housing which has been long announced and will be coming.

The E-M5 is at or above the quality level of the Sony NEX-7 so to compare to E-PL is unrealistic in my view, apples to oranges.

 

[RonFrank]

The E-M5 is at or above the quality level of the Sony NEX-7 so to compare to E-PL is unrealistic in my view, apples to oranges.

The quality of the E-M5 is not equal to the APS sensor in the NEX7. Where does this info come from?

The 16MP 4/3 sensor is closer to the 12MP 4/3 sensor than it is the 24MP APS-C sized sensor, which has 33% more pixels and is 25% larger. I'm not a huge pixel peeper, but this OLY worship is not justified. Panasonic had the 16MP sensor out two years ago, in fact the OLY sensor is made by Panasonic. Oly is behind, not in front of the curve. The EM5 is a good camera, but hardly class leading or revolutionary.

The good news is that there are many excellent choices out in the compact arena.

 

[RonFrank]

The lens however has power zoom and power manual focus which means a port with a way to control one or both would need to be made because it only AF's from the body, no in-body zoom.

You may need a standard 14-42 zoom. With the footprint of the power zoom being small there may be vignetting using the standard port. The standard zoom is cheap, likely cheaper than a port. I am not sure they make a power zoom port? Maybe a dealer can answer this question. The standard 14-42 works as does the 9-18 with the included port, nice!

 

[nudibranco]

Well I have yet to get the EM5 but reading through many reviews and websites the NEX7 is an excellent body that does not quite match its lenses and the sensor.
The NEX5 is in fact preferred by many who has both cameras and a better match to the lenses which frankly are not interesting at all for UW.
The 16mm one is mediocre, the macro is only a 30mm (45mm equivalent) and I am not sure of anything else exciting.

And while the lenses do not help to make the NEX7 shine... the image pipeline seems to be behind OLY which instead seems to get the best out of old sensors. Interestingly, though, the one on the EM5 does not seem to be the Panasonic sensor at all as it seems better performing than the PANA GH2, GX1 cameras.

What is revolutionary about the EM5 is the 5 axis image stabilization (which is probably quite compelling underwater) together with a good set of useful quality and small lenses, weatherproof body, wireless flash sync systems, and a reasonably good set of UW cases that make it a great price performance tool UW. Frankly a much better overall package than NEX so far.

 

[ggibson]

Which 14-42 zoom, Pana or Oly GG? I am shooting with the Pana and have had no problems shooting out of the water. The lens however has power zoom and power manual focus which means a port with a way to control one or both would need to be made because it only AF's from the body, no in-body zoom.

Thanks, I was wondering about Panasonic's pancake 14-42 "X" lens, which it sounds like you have. I saw the GX1 Nauticam housing comes with this lens port. There has been quite a bit of discussion about the 42mm end of this lens giving a "double-image" effect at certain shutter speeds (1/120-1/200s, right where the the you'd probably want to use it with flash sync).

 

[Jak Crow]

What is revolutionary about the EM5 is the 5 axis image stabilization (which is probably quite compelling underwater) together with a good set of useful quality and small lenses, weatherproof body, wireless flash sync systems, and a reasonably good set of UW cases that make it a great price performance tool UW. Frankly a much better overall package than NEX so far.

It would definitely be good for video. The Pens use of digital IS screws up the image quality