Cameras Underwater

G Winstanley wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 10:58:20 GMT, the cup of Nick Bruton
> <nick.bruton@bristol.ac.uk> overfloweth with the following:
>
>
>>Hi,
>>
>Just want to give a quick plug for www.camerasunderwater.co.uk
>>
>>I have been trying to buy a housing for my Olympus C5050Z, when I
>>contacted them they told me that there was a problem with a large
>>percentage of the housings and would not sell any more until the problem
>>had been fixed. They've now fixed the problem and I have ordered one.
>>
>>It makes a refreshing change to deal with a company who aren't just
>>interested in taking your money, over the last 2 or 3 weeks they have
>>been incredibly helpful and always upfront about what was happening.
>>
>>Nick
>>P.S
>>I have no connections with www.camerasunderwater.co.uk apart from being
>>a satisfied customer
>
>
> Did they happen to mention what the problem with the housing was? I have one
> myself which I bought from tehm about 8 months ago, and it's worked OK for
> me, but if it has a known problem then I would like to know about it!
>
> Stan

Hi Stan,

Yep the problem was on a large percentage of housings sourced from the
UK a few drops of water were passing one of the 'O' rings.
Nick

Jason <jason.usenet.nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 17:27:23 +0900, Jerome Meekings wrote:
>
> > The C5060 is not an upgraded C5050. It in fact has several points that
> > for many make it a downgraded version
>
> I think Olympus think it is.

Could be, or may be not, we will have to wait and see.

> I've read the comments on dpreview.com. The
> wider angle lens can only be better for UW photography surely?

Yes wider is better but for me the difference is not enough to make me
want to change. and a good external WA lens is better.

> The proprietary battery is a pain,

Too much of a pain for me. The following is from the Oly mail list


>>> You can add wide angle lense to get wide angle but you can never
>>> increase aperture if your camera don't have. And yes, AA cells are
>>> a lot better than proprietary battery. Capacity of AA cells are
>>> continuously improving and you can have a lot of brands to choose
>>> from.


>but I couldn't care less about Smart Media.
> It's obsolete. I don't own any and the camera takes Compact Flash.

YMMV I have both. it is also not clear if you can use more than 1 card
at one time.

>
> But the main advantage is that it's supposed to be a lot quicker than the
> 5050.

True and better. I have lots of fishes tails

> The forums are full of people complaining about how slow the 5050
> is, particularly underwater.

But no slower than the C-4040

>
> And besides, no-one has actually seen one yet.

True, also there is no UW case yet. It is about 12% heaver 430 => 380,
& the lens has fewer elements

The result of all these means I want sombody to review it before I would
even think about it

>
> Jason


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On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 23:40:51 +0900, Jerome Meekings wrote:

>> But the main advantage is that it's supposed to be a lot quicker than the
>> 5050.
>
> True and better. I have lots of fishes tails

So do I with film. They're not very cooperative, are they?

> True, also there is no UW case yet. It is about 12% heaver 430 => 380,
> & the lens has fewer elements

It doesn't look that different from the 5050 physically. Does anyone
actually know that the 5050 housing won't fit?

> The result of all these means I want sombody to review it before I would
> even think about it

Couldn't agree more. I wasn't looking to get something until about April
next year anyway. What I really want is a Powershot G5, but I don't want
to pay $600 for a housing, hence my interest in Olympus.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
Coral Bay, Rottnest Island, Dunsborough and Darwin

Jason <jason.usenet.nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> So do I with film. They're not very cooperative, are they?
Moast, no, some yes
http://meekings.net/diving/selected%...s/Image57.html
Lacy scorpion fish

>
> > True, also there is no UW case yet. It is about 12% heaver 430 => 380,
> > & the lens has fewer elements
>
> It doesn't look that different from the 5050 physically. Does anyone
> actually know that the 5050 housing won't fit?

If you look at the two together, the Oly site has both, you will see
that the buttom placement is much too different and the boddy shape is
different qed new housing.

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>replace spamblock with my family name to e-mail me

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 06:28:06 +0900, Jerome Meekings wrote:

> If you look at the two together, the Oly site has both, you will see
> that the buttom placement is much too different and the boddy shape is
> different qed new housing.

Been having a search around. Olympus have announced that the housing will
be available on the same day as the camera is launched. There's also some
interesting accessories including a housing for a flash gun.

The discussion is on http://www.wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3433
Most of the info on the websites is in Japanese at the moment. Not
convinced by the looks of the flashgun housing, but presumably we'll see
3rd party compatible flash guns.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including
the wrecks of the SS Yongala, Lady Bowen and the HMAS Swan

Jason <jason.usenet.nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Been having a search around. Olympus have announced that the housing will
> be available on the same day as the camera is launched. There's also some
> interesting accessories including a housing for a flash gun.
>
> The discussion is on http://www.wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3433
> Most of the info on the websites is in Japanese at the moment. Not
> convinced by the looks of the flashgun housing, but presumably we'll see
> 3rd party compatible flash guns.

It looks as if I will need to take a walk down to the Olympus Tokyo
centre and see if they have them on display.

The flash looks as if it will be too close to the camera to be of much
use. The W/A adapter may be interesting. If I get the time I will take
some pics as well.

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>replace spamblock with my family name to e-mail me

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:59:41 +0900, Jerome Meekings wrote:

> The flash looks as if it will be too close to the camera to be of much
> use. The W/A adapter may be interesting. If I get the time I will take
> some pics as well.

Yes, but if they can do TTL with their flash, it's surely just a matter of
time before the cables become available for makes like Sea & Sea. I guess
other people could also do an extension cable to mount it further from the
camera, but it looks a bit bulky to me.

Be interested in what you find out about them.

Jason

--
http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for the UK viz database and trip reports
about Australia, the Caribbean, Spain, the Maldives, Bali and the UK

Jason <jason.usenet.nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:59:41 +0900, Jerome Meekings wrote:
>
> > The flash looks as if it will be too close to the camera to be of much
> > use. The W/A adapter may be interesting. If I get the time I will take
> > some pics as well.
>
> Yes, but if they can do TTL with their flash, it's surely just a matter of
> time before the cables become available for makes like Sea & Sea. I guess
> other people could also do an extension cable to mount it further from the
> camera, but it looks a bit bulky to me.
>
> Be interested in what you find out about them.
>
> Jason

I took a walk down to Olympus and chatted to them.

There will be no cameras or cases on view untill the begining of
November however I did see the flash and it is tiny so the case for it
will not be too big. Being so small does raise the question of wheather
it will have the power or coverage to be of much use. The cable between
it and the camera is seperate ft both ends.

The wide angle adapter is designed to replace the front of the housing
and proctect a land use WA lens, the quality of image remains to be
seen.

I will go again in a couple of weeks and report on the unit when Olympus
have them.


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