E-PL1 Users Group

[cardiver]

This is certainly a learning curve with this camera. I think that in the long term, I will love it. I just need to use it and dive with it.
Right now I am trying to figure out how to get the TTL to work with my Sea&Sea YS-01 and the Oly. It says it will work, I just can't figure out how/settings...
Kirsten

It works fine. Set the flash to "fill" and your YS 01 to ttl and shoot away. When the light on the strobe flashes green you are shooting sTTL.

[Scubak]

Thanks Ron!!!
K

[Jay H]

E-PL1 Users Group!!!!
Oh yeah! I'm in! Thanks!

.......Are you taking Canucks?

I was shopping around for a replacement housing for my cracked Pany ZS3 housing when I found the deal at Adorama on the EPL1 + Housing.

With the Pany P&S I didn't have RAW, only limited manual control, no way to play around with Aperture and DOF.
Macro was quite good but I had to get in very close and risked scaring off the critters and the macro zoom was a horrible digital blur. The video (720p)was very good however.

I couldn't pass on that Adorama deal.

I'm loving this new setup. It's so much more camera. I have so much to learn and am having a blast with it.
I find that with the 14-42 I can stay 2 - 3 ft away from the subject, zoom in and get great macro without disturbing skittish critters and get some really nice blurry bokeh effects. I usually set ISO at 100, Shutter no slower than 60, compose with the zoom and try different strobe settings. I only shoot in RAW and do post production with Light Room 4. With the larger sensor I can crop away (to an extent) without degrading quality. It's amazing when I look at an "as shot" image that doesn't really do much for me and then with some adjustments can wind up with a winner.

Is anyone shooting video? What settings?

I've tried a few videos with varying results. I'm getting a lot of focus hunting in and out. This camera/lens needs lots of light and a steady hand to shoot smooth focused video in our dark green water. I'm using an iTorch video pro5 (1600 lumen). Settings I've been using are P mode with continuous focus, auto iso, auto wb. Works best shooting close up to macro video.

Adorama sent me the wrong zoom gear then sent me the right one at no charge and told me to keep the other one. Nice customer service or what? So I've got a spare ppzr-ep01 for the first gen 14-42 lens. It's way loose on the 2R. Not sure if it would match up to any other lenses or maybe someone needs this gear for the older 14-42.

Cheers from Vancouver Island

[Peter Guy]

Yes, Canucks are welcome!

Glad you found the deal before it ended and then found this thread. We really need to have an E-PL1 U.G. Dive one of these days.

Anyway, I've tried to use the video both above water and under and haven't had a lot of success. What success I've had (with the first gen kit lens) indicates that WA is better than Telephoto/Macro due to focus hunting issues and that it needs a LOT of light. If everything works, the quality of the video is quite good (in my untrained opinion).

I just think this is a very nice combination and should be my camera for quite some time.

[Jay H]

Thanks for the welcome!
An E-PL1 U.G. Dive, I'll second that!

I think that light placement is critical to good video results as well. With the volume of backscatter we get it helps to position the light away from the camera as far as possible. Seems like my camera was picking out individual bits of scatter and jumping focus on them as they passed by in front of the subject.
Most of the good video clips I've seen from the E-PL1 are shot in clear, blue water with lots of ambient light. I agree, When it's all working it's pretty good.
Here's a short clip with ambient light in shallow water shot at the wide end of the 14-42. Trying to track some fast moving Sea Lions. Suggest 480 or 720p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpCy3JNvRQc

[fmerkel]

I could swear I charged my battery last weekend after diving. The camera was not used at all except a couple test shots after loading in the housing. It died after my 3rd shot UW.
I know this is an old stock camera. I know lithium has a finite life.
Have people found the stock battery coming with these to be funky?
If so what did you do to replace it?

I do have equipment to test capacity but that does not test 'everything', like how long a charge is held, which is supposed to be a long time with lithium. But charge hold and performance are the first things that go in old lithium.

The stock battery is supposed to be 1150mA. I tested it at 970mA. No great surprise there.
I bought a pair of cheapies off eBay claiming to be 1300mA and they tested out at 860mA. This kind of BS is pretty typical. All these things come from China and they learned awhile ago that if they ramp up the claims that sells products and they don't have to be responsible for it.
The stock battery is almost $40 which I find excessive, and it comes from China anyway. Amazon is selling this unit for $10
[ But it claims to be 1800mA which is even a more outrageous claim, but most of the Amazon reviews seem positive. No one does an actual test that I could see. Most of the reviews are subjective.

I'll retest the stock battery after it simply sits a week and see if it holds up.
I'll also test one of the cheap replacements kept in the camera to see if there is some kind of a drain while in the camera.

[Tom Nic]

Just ordered a spare battery. A couple of weeks ago my camera died on the third dive. Good rule of thumb apparently will be two dives then change battery.

[LCF]

I can usually get two dives off mine, and then I charge the battery. They seem not to like the cold -- if you use the camera just on land, you get a lot more shots.

[enchantmentdivi]

I've been getting two solid dives out of a battery charge with it still showing a full charge afterwards. I haven't yet wanted to push it to see if I could get a third or fourth dive.

On the other hand, my Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe seems to be using significantly more battery juice in TTL than it did before in a non-TTL setting. Is that normal? Before, I could get 10-12 dives off a charge. Now, I can only get 3-4 dives off a charge. Then, instead of dying slowly (taking longer and longer to recycle), they just die. Boom. Done. I have tried several different sets of rechargables, so I know it's not the batteries.

[fmerkel]

Out of curiosity, how are you charging the strobe batteries?
Alkaline cells have a relatively linear discharge curve.
Rechargeable have a stretched 'S' on it's back. When they hit the low end of their capacity they simply die as they fall off the edge.

Are you charging the camera just before a dive?
With a decent lithium you should be able to charge it a month before and it would do OK with minimal loss. I'm trying to figure out what's the deal with mine.

[Scubak]

Jenn,
My original strobe just up and quit! I had been having a couple of issues with it before it went kaput!
Talk to Jack.
Kirsten

[Tom Nic]

OK - I am heading out Thursday and "getting back on the horse again". If I don't take a decent picture soon I am going to loose what little mind I have left.

I need to have some general success taking pictures that turn out reasonably well. Suggestions for general settings, 1+2' away, single strobe, (not that powerful) not macro?

I will use Ron's advice - anyone else?

[enchantmentdivi]

Out of curiosity, how are you charging the strobe batteries?

Um, in the charger. Am I missing something?

Are you charging the camera just before a dive?

After dive 2, I charge the battery. It may be a day or two or even a week before the next dive.

[enchantmentdivi]

Jenn,
My original strobe just up and quit! I had been having a couple of issues with it before it went kaput!
Talk to Jack.
Kirsten

Uh oh, what happened? Details please!

[Peter Guy]

Tom, I've been using my setup for almost three years now (I got my system from Jack in April (?) 2010) using it with an Inon D2000 strobe.

For a long time I opted to shoot in Ap Priority Mode with sTTL on the strobe and shooting High Quality Jpeg. I was, and am, pleased with the results. My keys:

a. F stop -- generally around f11
b. ISO -- 200
c. Most of my shots were macro(ish)

When I had a wide angle, "scenic" shot, I generally switched from "A" mode to "P" (Program) mode and, again, would be generally pleased with the shot.

I now shoot pretty much solely in "M" (manual) mode, 1/160th, f11, sTTL (still) and am generally doing fairly close in shots. IF I do take a "wide scenic" shot, I still tend to switch to P mode. (BTW, I've been very happy with some of my stitched W.A. shots done this way.)

I have several dive trips displayed here: http://www.belowandbeyond.biz/dive_trip_pictures.htm

One of my favorite stitched images:

[enchantmentdivi]

I need to have some general success taking pictures that turn out reasonably well. Suggestions for general settings, 1+2' away, single strobe, (not that powerful) not macro?

With or without the macro lens, I've been having success using apeture priority mode (can't remember if it's A or AV on this camera). You set the f-stop and ISO, and the camera will pick the shutter speed. I've been using ISO 200. For wider angle shots, I open the apeture all the way up (f3.5 at WA, f5.6 zoomed out) to let in the most light. Depth of field is very shallow though, so keep that in mind when composing your subject. For example, if shooting straight on at a wolfeel, the head will be in focus but you will lose the neck/body. I like that for some shots; for others in can be annoying. Instead, shoot a side view of the wolfeel's head. For more close-up shots, I've been using f7.1 up to f11 to get more detail and more DOF. I get the camera as close to the subject as the the lens will allow for focusing (I think the minimum focusing distance is ~9 inches). It won't take a pic if you are too close. I would also suggest changing the auto focus point to the one in the middle. Then, you are focusing on what you want it to focus on, not something in the foreground or background. Shoot in RAW.

[cardiver]

If you're still having issues after Thursday I will loan you a YS 01 and you can see if it makes a difference.
I suspect that it will.......

[Tom Nic]

If you're still having issues after Thursday I will loan you a YS 01 and you can see if it makes a difference.
I suspect that it will.......

Thanks Ron.

[Furnari]

This thread and the one Peter Guy posted about the Adorama deal convinced me to stick a crowbar in my wallet; I ended up buying an E-PL2 from another user on this forum. I'm loving it already, and I can't wait to get better. Here's a couple of my favorite shots so far...

[Peter Guy]

Lynne was wondering if an E-PL2 user should be allowed to post in this thread! I told her it was OK -- so Thank You for posting your pics.

Here is one from yesterday which, I think, shows just how well the kits lens (ver. 1) on the E-PL1 can do macro:



OK -- where and when might people be interested in an E-PL1 UG Dive/Get Together?

[Scubak]

Great Photos!
I am loving this setup!
K

[Jay H]

Trying out Flickr here
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjEvjB6S
Some E-PL1 shots from around the Nanoose Bay area on Vancouver Island.
Nano strobe with i-Torch video pro5 for fill/focus light. Lightroom 4.

[enchantmentdivi]

Nice shots, Jay!!

[Scubak]

Heres some with my new strobe in B.C.
K

[LCF]

Love the lighting on that crinoid shot, Kirsten!