Northwest Dive Club

Adorama is again selling the Olympus EPL-1 with housing for $399! The EPL-1 is an "old" micro 4/3rds camera (the latest version is the EPL-5) but it is still a good one (I have 3!).

If I didn't already have three bodies, two 14-42 mm lenses and two housings, I would buy this as a spare!

http://www.adorama.com/IOMEPL1B14BS.htm ... urce=brate

If you know someone who has been thinking about upgrading from a point-n-shoot OR who has been thinking about getting into underwater photography, this is a great value.

that is a really hot deal for a large sensor camera. and really nice case. For someone looking to get into underwater photos you won't find a better unit to grow with you.

Really tempted....

WITH FREE SHIPPING AND NO SALES TAX! I've bought a lot of stuff from Adorama over the years and have always been happy with their service.

This is the camera and housing that finally convinced me that taking pictures underwater could be fun. It's an astonishing deal.

This is less expensive than my original Casio and housing...
K

We paid $400 for my previous, crummy camera (Olympus Stylus 720). Without the housing.

Thanks for posting this! My husband's camera flooded back in October. This made the decision on what to do about replacing it really easy. Purchased!!

Peter Guy wrote:Adorama is again selling the Olympus EPL-1 with housing for $399! The EPL-1 is an "old" micro 4/3rds camera (the latest version is the EPL-5) but it is still a good one (I have 3!).

If I didn't already have three bodies, two 14-42 mm lenses and two housings, I would buy this as a spare!

http://www.adorama.com/IOMEPL1B14BS.htm ... urce=brate

If you know someone who has been thinking about upgrading from a point-n-shoot OR who has been thinking about getting into underwater photography, this is a great value.

Done.

It would be hard to find a standalone camera for this price, let alone the underwater case.

Olympus makes good cameras - my first underwater camera was an Olympus... Although I am sad to see that Casio seems to have gotten out of the P&S market.

I hate impulse buys, but my camera is 5 years old and this will give me an intermediate set up to play with. Perhaps in 3 or 4 years I can drop the several grand on a DSLR that I have dreamed about. I am pretty much getting all that I can get out the camera that I have... I know folks with great rigs that are lousy photographers and vice versa. Hopefully I can continue to progress in my skills a bit more.

Thanks Peter, and look forward to getting more advice....

My wife use to have a NiconosV with strobes. Is this camera on par with something like that? I know little about camera systems. Does she need a strobe with this setup? Is this a really good deal? What did this setup cost when it first came out? Thanks!

The camera alone was around $400 new so yes it is a fantastic deal just about half price. Yes you will need a strobe. The camera has one but as with most underwater rigs the case tends to block the flash.

Thanks! How much and who has the strobe? Will the Strobe need a cord?

Correction--just ordered another one for ME!! ME!! ME!!

What's interesting is that if you piece out the body, lens, and housing on Adorama's site, it still adds up to almost a grand.

Yea this is definitely a wicked deal -- good find Peter

You can put various strobes on it. Peter and I are using the Inon D2000 strobe, which does have a sync cord. You can find them used -- that's how we bought mine.

I should sell my Sealife DC1400 with video light and wide angle fisheye lens and get this camera.

FlyinV wrote:I should sell my Sealife DC1400 with video light and wide angle fisheye lens and get this camera.

That would indeed be a wise decision!

enchantmentdivi wrote:Correction--just ordered another one for ME!! ME!! ME!!

Ha! the guilt finally got to you and you had to admit the truth! One of the benefits of having a spouse is you can always buy something you really want and give it to them!

Dusty2 wrote:

enchantmentdivi wrote:Correction--just ordered another one for ME!! ME!! ME!!

Ha! the guilt finally got to you and you had to admit the truth! One of the benefits of having a spouse is you can always buy something you really want and give it to them!

Well, but in this case, I bought TWO. One for me, and one for him! It's just such a stinkin' good deal, and like Tom said, it's a great next step up from my current Casio that I've had for 5 years.

I'm going to be excited to hear the reactions of the people who have bought this -- we should start an EPL-1 club!

Jenn -- great decision to buy a second one!

A few comments about this system:

a. Video is 720p, not 1080 but I, for one, can't tell the difference.

b. The standard kits lens which comes with the camera isn't the greatest for video because it is a little noisy and isn't the greatest at following a subject on focus -- but it CAN be done -- watch the videos that Olympus filmed with the camera (but maybe it's just that I'm not a very good videographer!)

c. IF you don't have strobes already, seriously look at getting the Olympus strobe (or strobes) which sync electronically (rather than optically) and permit a much higher shutter speed than the 1/160th which is the max for optically synced strobes

d. If you have a spare $1000, get the Zen dome port and the Olympus 9 - 18 mm lens which will then give you REAL wide angle.

e. The kit lens, at full zoom, is a pretty decent macro lens with a 1 to 0.5 magnification -- not the 1 to 1 of a real macro lens, but, in fact, not bad at all.

f. Due to the sensor size, the "35 mm equiv" is times 2 -- thus the kit lens of 14 - 42 mm is the 35 mm equiv of a 28 - 84 mm lens.

g. Olympus has a nice telephoto lens for the micro 4/3 cameras -- 40 - 150 mm -- which, with the kit lens, makes for a very nice land system (especially if you also get the view finder OR if you are used to taking pictures from the back of the camera)

I think Lynne's suggestion of an E-PL1 NWDive Club group is a great idea!

Would this camera be able to take landscape photos that could potentially be printed very large... say, something like 20"x30" panoramic? I was thinking I'd have to get an SLR for that, which would be sometime down the very long road...

rjarnold wrote:Would this camera be able to take landscape photos that could potentially be printed very large... say, something like 20"x30" panoramic? I was thinking I'd have to get an SLR for that, which would be sometime down the very long road...

From the specs I'd say yes to that especially if you do RAW format. At 4032(H)x3042(V) (approx. 1/1.5 lossless compressed) Approx. 13.9MB you should have no problem

enchantmentdivi wrote:

Dusty2 wrote:

enchantmentdivi wrote:Correction--just ordered another one for ME!! ME!! ME!!

Ha! the guilt finally got to you and you had to admit the truth! One of the benefits of having a spouse is you can always buy something you really want and give it to them!

Well, but in this case, I bought TWO. One for me, and one for him! It's just such a stinkin' good deal, and like Tom said, it's a great next step up from my current Casio that I've had for 5 years.

Good going, You are a far better person than me!

Of course I could never get away with it anyway. Since the wife thinks I'm going to be eaten by jaws at any moment and has zip patients for anything tech. it kind of kills that idea.

Damnit! There's always something else to buy, isn't there?

Guess I need to jump on this too!

On a related note, if anyone picked one of these up and wants a few points on how to use it, our very own lundysd does photo classes from time to time. I've taken Lundy's class, and it's perfect for this type of new user.

Thanks for posting this, Peter (I think)