sp-350

[donblume]

I hope you or someone can answer my questions.
My SP-350 arrived today and I am confused. It came with a double molded together CR-V3 battery which says "Do not recharge, disassemble..etc" Is this a throw away after one use? I have a set of 4 Olympus Ni-MH-2100 batteries, which are rechargable, but when I put in camera fully charged, they show "Low Battery".
If they (Ni-MH2100) are not compatible with my SP-350, then what rechargable battery is and cost, and will they recharge with my Olympus Ni-MH Quick charge BU-400 charger? Also, do I assume there is no lens cap standard with the camera?

 

[Larry C]

The CRV-3 that comes with the camera is a one use battery. They run about $6.95 and are good for about 3 gigs or so of pictures according to someone who used his. (I kept mine as a spare and immediately bought a Rechargeable CRV-3 and charger). The low battery light issue is well known. The AA type rechargeables have a lower voltage (2.4 compared to 3.0-3.4 for the CRV-3) and the low battery light comes on even at close to full charge. See the earlier thread, or just go to OlympusAmerica.com and download the firmware fix using the supplied wire. They don't need a lenscap on the camera because when you turn it off, the lens retracts and a cover slides over. The UW Housing has a lens cap, but no dock for it, so it annoyingly hangs down in front of the lens while doing macros! I'm thinking about undoing the thread and removing mine, I've lost about 10 shots to a big red circle halfway in front of the lens. On the battery thing, make sure they're truly fully charged. The first time I used my r-CRV-3, it read full charge but wasn't yet and after about 5 minutes, the camera turned off with the lens out and wouldn't close. I had to remove and recharge the battery and reinstall it to get the lens to shut down. They also seem to acclimate to the battery you use. My battery life improved substantially after 2-3 full charges and I never had any charge issues again. There are whole 50 page threads on this issue elsewhere, but with the firmware fix and experience it seems fully resolved.

 

[Larry C]

Sorry for the two posts in a row. I just got my Oly flash in today's UPS. The housing hasn't shown yet, so I stuffed a couple of AA's in there and stuck it on the hot shoe. The retail $199's a little steep, but the $111 I paid online with shipping was way worth it just for topside pics. They're everywhere at $149-129. With the built in flash, I couldn't get decent supermacro focus and it locks out the flash in SM except for slave mode. Even with that, you get a half shadow if you're really close because the lens is in the way of the flash. Also, if you set the drive for multiple shots, there's no flash on the second because the built it can't recharge fast enough.
I put the strobe on, set it for autoTTL and set the camera for remote flash and multiple shot. Held my finger down and shot my keyboard keys from 1/2 inch with perfect focus and lighting, two shots in about 1/2 second. The strobe recharged before the camera. I took shots in the dark all over the room. Every one was perfectly lit, where with the built in, they usually washed out from over flash. I'm sold. Can't wait to try it under water.

 

[Bottle Diver]

I recently bought the SP-350 and tried it out in the OW this week. I have to say that so far I love it. I shot about 200 images over two days and was quite pleased with the results, lots more keepers than I'd imagined I'd have. I especially love the small size, which means it's not a big deal if I don't take many images as it's not too cumbersome to carry.

-Valerie

 

[Bottle Diver]

The previous pix I took while holding the camera into an octo hole and shooting blindly. You can see her eggs in the background.

This one was at depth of 20 feet.

 

[Bottle Diver]

A striped nudibranch (armina californica) at approx 75 fsw.

 

[Bottle Diver]

This is a sunflower star at approx 50 fsw. First is my "UW Macro" setting shot, the second is the same shot cropped and enlarged.

 

[Bottle Diver]

Same shot, cropped and enlarged.

(last one)

 

[Larry C]

I really like your octopus shot. That's a pretty good sized mom. The compact size of the factory housing is one reason I like the camera as well. I'm a little worried about putting my strobes on because I'll lose that, but it seems worthwhile in terms of getting better pictures. Maybe I'll pull the tray off for some dives, we'll see.

 

[Bottle Diver]

I shoot mostly UW video, so for me having a small camera/housing is a real treat. I'm not in a big hurry for strobes, even if I had the $$ available, because for right now I'm really enjoying the up-close-and-personal shots.

Has anyone tried the green water filter? Any comments either way?

-Valerie