News

The wait is over. Finally, the PEN series of cameras gets a dedicated underwater housing. Olympus announced the PT-EP01 underwater housing for the E-PL1 camera, both to be released at the same time.  Read about the E-PL1 here, and check out the specs in the Equipment Section.

The housing looks similar to new Olympus SLR housings, but it is much smaller. In fact, according to Olympus, the housing is over half as light as their conventional SLR housings.  Of course, with E-PL1 inside of it, you still get a DSLR sized sensor.

The housing is 179mm x 156mm x 166mm and weighs in at 1100g. That's pretty light, especially when you consider the housing for the E-620, which has the same sized sensor, weights 2079g.

The housing is depth rated up to 40 meters and can utilize fiber optics to use up to two Olympus UFL-2 Underwater Flash units.

One of the big questions surrounding housings for Micro-Four Thirds cameras is whether they will have a replaceable port system, and Olympus decided to instead opt for a fixed lens port. The port can accommodate an OLYMPUS PEN E-PL1 camera fitted with an M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14–42mm f3.5–5.6L or M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9–18mm f4.0–5.6 lens.

The lenses compatible with the PT-EP01 are the two middle ones

The 9-18mm sounds great for underwater use, but the lack of a dome port means its use as a super wide angle lens is limited, especially with the crop factor of 2x making it equivalent to 18-32mm on a 35 mm. The 14-42mm lens, the kit lens, is not usually a focal length used underwater.  Keeping the Four-Thirds sensor in mind, the 14-42mm is equivalent to a 28-82mm. The specs say that both lenses can focus up to about 10 inches, and with the optional macro wet lens, this could be a nice macro option.

Zoom gears and focus rings will also be made available as optional accessories for the lenses, as well as the macro adapter for the PTMC-01 Macro Lens.

The limitations of this fixed port could be a major concern for underwater photographers. It's possible a third party comes out with a wet-lens that makes the field of view wider for the 9-18mm.

 I will find out more about the housing and port system at the Our World Underwater, where I have confirmed a demo model will be available at the Olympus booth

The retail price for the housing is $599.99, the same price as the camera. That means for $1,200 you can take an SLR sized sensor underwater and it is less than half the weight and size of your SLR rig.  While the port system may be a limitation, this is very exciting news for underwater photographers!