By Jorge E. Gonzalez
August 2010
They were right. This housing is very light and it is waterproof up to a water pressure equivalent to a depth of 40 meters (130ft). The advantage of the live view screen is that it is very useful when shooting underwater wide angle photos. You can also attach an electronic view finder which can be very useful when you shoot underwater macro photography.
Another advantage of this housing is that most of the camera controls can be used through the housing with the exception of the flash-UP button. This button must be previously set-up when the camera is ready to be inserted into the housing, otherwise the flash will not fire up. (Once the housing is closed there is no way to activate the flash-UP button).
The use of an underwater zoom ring helps when using a zoom lens. For example, I connected a 14-42mm ED lens which can be changed from 12mm to 42mm or something in between, by rotating the knob in front of the housing. (It is important to know that your lens must be unlocked with the zoom gear in position before inserting the camera in to the housing).
For an external flash, you can attach two underwater strobes via optical wire by which you can control the amount of light to be fired through the camera flash control system. Don’t forget to set your strobes to TTL.
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WIDE ANGLE
Here are some samples settings of wide angle mode using the following equipment: the 14-42mm lens that came with the Olympus Pen E-PL1, two Sea & Sea 110YS Strobes, focus gear, and a fantasia focus LED light.
Manual Mode
1/60, F 3.5, ISO 100,
WB Auto, sRGB i-ENHANCE, 14mm lens, S-AF ESP, 4:3 LF (12mpx)
1/125, F 8.3, ISO 100,
WB Auto, sRGB i-ENHANCE, 15mm lens, S-AF ESP, 4:3 LF (12mpx)
MACRO
Here are some samples settings of macro mode using the following equipment: the 14-42mm lens that came with the Olympus Pen E-PL1, two Sea & Sea 110YS Strobes, focus gear, and a fantasia focus LED light.
Manual Mode
1/125, F6.3, ISO 100, WB Auto, sRGB i-ENHANCE, 42mm lens, S-AF CTER-WAGT, 4:3 LF (12mpx)
The color sRGB i-Enhance from Olympus give to the image a warm vivid colors. “I LOVE IT”
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