Olympus Underwater Camera Settings

Great underwater settings built right into camera..had to unlock them but the instructions that came with the housing explained it all.

Having bought a Olympus TG-6 for underwater shooting in USVI, I needed something to back up the camera strap when I was snorkeling. Worked like a charm and floated the camera. BTW the OM TG-6 shoots incredible videos!

I bought this to use with an Olympus underwater camera- and this is great. I especially love the carabiner attachment to clip to clothes/bag while out on the water. No worries about getting this wet or losing a camera when not in use.

It's taking some time to get used to this camera but the more I use it and educate myself on the settings which work for me the better results I'm getting. I've been a long time user of another brand of cameras and I wanted a zoom to take on a trip in a few weeks. I did get the zoom from the other brand and took photos as a test. It failed and exhibited too much chromatic aberration to consider keeping. I got the Olympus SP-800UZ with a similar zoom and went back to the same spots and took the same photos and inspected them. The results were much better. It's keeper. I like the zoom and I'm playing with the various settings on the camera which are fun. I use Magic and then the Pop setting. It knocks the color out of the park. The auto panorama is really cool. I take the first photo and then line up the dot and the camera fires automatically for two more shots and puts them together in the camera. I never liked panoramas because they were too much trouble to do in graphic programs. The camera is not a DSLR and the results probably can't compete but the photos are excellent and the color is too. It is interesting to me that when the shots are enlarged to the extreme in iPhoto the results look more like film than what I'm used to seeing with the other brand. I've been busy taking photos and so far I'm very pleased with what I'm getting from this Olympus.

Here is the most important thing you will need to know... IT WORKS! Putting your 5D Mark III into a body of water with a $2500 dollar lens and a flash does not feel natural in any way the first time you ease it into the water. But life is life and if it was going to leak I was going to find out the hard way, It did not leak. Humidity packets that came with it got rid of fog. The only tricky thing is that you really need to dial in your settings before getting in there, or use it on full auto. I shoot in Pools in Manual and it worked fine with a bit of going back and adjusting settings again. Direct flash looks terrible underwater as it does above water, so I am still not sure I will use flash again for my underwater needs. Great thing is I can turn flash on and off through the housing anyways so, not a big deal to have there just in case. The plastic does warp your lcd image and makes it look cloudy, the first time I thought everything looked terrible until I took it out of the thick plastic housing. Bottom line, this works, and the company that makes it guarantees your gear in case of manufacturing failure. KEEP YOUR RECEIPT!

I went diving for the first time and bought this housing to take my Canon T3i underwater with me. I only dove 7 meters/21 feet, but it worked perfectly fine for me. No leaks or moisture inside at all and it fit my Canon 10-22mm EF-S lens perfectly. There was plenty of room for the flash too. I couldn't really change settings underwater while diving, although I could in the housing above water. I was hoping to switch to movie mode at some point, but wasn't able to. In reality, I don't think I would have been able to hold it straight in front of me steady enough while diving in order to do video anyway. That's probably just because I have no diving experience though. I set it to A+ (scene intelligent auto) mode for the underwater shots so I wouldn't have to change any manual settings. I had to let almost all of the air out in order to get it below the surface of the water, even with the lead weight in the case. Since it wasn't a deep dive, I didn't have any problems with the housing shrinking around the camera at all.I was able to take some photos that I'm really happy with underwater and even above water. The glass doesn't seem to blur the image at all EXCEPT for when you're above water and have water drops on the glass. I also used this case while kayaking in the rain and those shots are blurry.

I do underwater photography for a hobby, I was using an Olympus 8mm pro, which is a nice lens. But this is even nicer, and gives me more range. Super sharp clarity.

I snorkel extensively and this lens is a fantastic combo with my Olympus TG6 in the Olympus watertight housing. Without changing any camera settings the photo clarity is excellent whether I shoot close up or an underwater landscape. It shows no curved fish eye effect. The lens size and weight makes it very easy to burp after first entering the water. I absolutely recommend this lens for any underwater enthusiast.

I tried to save a few bucks by getting a non-Olympus back up battery for our Olympus PhotoStylus (great bang-around, can't get damaged by anything, underwater photo camera). The generic battery died with in a year. So I went back to the tried and true Olympus. Came in 2 days and charged up in 2 hours. Back to business

This lens is absolutelly marvellous. It is razor sharp from f2.8 to f7.1 (the sweet spot is f4-5.6), very usable to f16-18 and, if you need super sharp images you should avoid f20-22. Comparing to Olympus 60mm, that I also own, this lens is significantly sharper and holds it's sharpness better for a wider apperture range. The Olympus is also a very good lens and produces fantastic images, but there is something about this Panasonic that gives that extra wow factor, specially in super macro images. Both Panasonic and Olympus macro lenses are better than the highly appreciated and award winnig Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro, which I also own. I've been using the Panasonic (and Olympus) for underwater photography, and I strongly recomend it. The difference in focus distance to 1:1 when compared to Olympus is 2cm and could be a down side when shooting supermacro with wetdiopters. My experience says that this is not significant even with +15 diopters (the focus difference between the two at maximum amplitude is about 5mm). There is a slight advantage in the Olympus if you need more distance, and the same magnification to make the photo, on the other hand the hyperfocal distance of the Panasonic is smaller which is an advantage for underwater pics. The focus hunt that some complain about does not differ significantly from other macro lenses. Manual focus, although by wire, is really nice to use and far better than the one from Olympus. On the other hand the 1:1 lens button from Olympus is fantastic for land macro photography (not usable underwater). My veredicto is that the Panasonic is a fantastic investment.