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Olympus E-330
10bar Olympus E-330
posted by on 10/17/2006
Olympus Evolt E-330 SLR & 10Bar Housing Review
Housing Build & Functions
10Bar produced my port and housing in a couple of weeks and I was ready to get the camera wet (not) by the time it arrived. Manufactured from clear polycarbonate, the overall appearance of the housing was sturdy and well engineered. Two decent sized handles place the users hands in the correct position for easy use of most controls.
Rear of 10Bar Housing fitted with Olympus E-330 SLR camera.
Controls are all double ‘O’ ring sealed and the rear access cover of the housing is easily removed using a small tool supplied with the housing. The sealing method of the rear cover is quite unique, with no latches to hold it in place. 10Bar have developed an air lock system that utilises a single ‘O’ ring and a vent valve that is released when assembling and dismantling the housing. It works very simply and is easy to check the ‘O’ ring is sealing visually before entering the water. I really like the system and its simplicity.
The controls buttons are large and easy to press using gloved hands, there are controls to access all features of the camera except the optical viewfinder closing lever. Some controls are shared for two or more functions, this is achieved by twisting the control to reach a near neighbor. At first I found this a bit cumbersome, particularly after using the Olympus PT-015 for the C-5050z as this had a button for each camera control. But it didn’t take long for me to adjust to the new way of accessing controls. If individual push buttons were fitted for each control, the manufacturer would need to reduce the overall size of each button control as they would be crowded close together – this would detract from the build quality and strength of those currently fitted.
There are two strobe mounting shoes, one on the top of each handle. An anodised alloy base-plate comes standard with the housing with nice sturdy stainless steel fittings. Various strobe mounts are available from 10Bar to suit different strobe arms, plus they also have their own flexible strobe arms and brackets. I chose to use my existing Inon Z220 strobes fitted with Locline arms as I was comfortable with them and understood the strobes capabilities. 10Bar provided a pair of adaptors that my arms bolted directly too for a very reasonable price. I fitted a Sea & Sea sync cord with a Nikonos ‘T’ connector, that plugs directly into the 10Bar housing’s bulkhead.
I don’t use TTL flash underwater, but from what I understand Olympus cameras have their own TTL circuitry that only works with Olympus flashes so I don’t think this camera/housing combination will provide TTL functions to the popular brands of underwater strobes. But for my purposes I am happy to control my exposures manually. (Incidentally 10Bar do manufacture a housing for the FL-50 flash that offers full TTL functions underwater, these are available as a kit with the housing).
The standard anodised aluminium port excepts the 14-45mm standard zoom lens, but a little extra gets a port capable of fitting the 35mm macro & 50mm macro lenses along with the 14-45mm zoom lens. I opted for this port as I want to use the 35mm and 50mm macro lenses most of the time. 10Bar also manufacture an extension to allow use of the Olympus extension tube for greater magnification. They also supply (as an option) a slip-on port shade for use with the 50mm &35mm macro lens, to prevent internal reflections between the port and lens. I ordered this part but so far haven’t needed it, as I think this would only be a problem in bright shallow, back-lit scenes (not a normal macro situation).
One negative on the housing exterior was a mould-release mark on the rear cover. This mark is significant and is located over the top right-hand side of the LCD when the camera is installed in the housing. Admittedly underwater I didn’t notice it, but if it was located somewhere else on the rear cover it would be much better. 10Bar have indicated that they will be moving the position of the mould release, but this will not be an immediate change.
Rear of 10Bar Housing fitted with Olympus E-330 SLR camera.
The controls buttons are large and easy to press using gloved hands, there are controls to access all features of the camera except the optical viewfinder closing lever. Some controls are shared for two or more functions, this is achieved by twisting the control to reach a near neighbor. At first I found this a bit cumbersome, particularly after using the Olympus PT-015 for the C-5050z as this had a button for each camera control. But it didn’t take long for me to adjust to the new way of accessing controls. If individual push buttons were fitted for each control, the manufacturer would need to reduce the overall size of each button control as they would be crowded close together – this would detract from the build quality and strength of those currently fitted.
There are two strobe mounting shoes, one on the top of each handle. An anodised alloy base-plate comes standard with the housing with nice sturdy stainless steel fittings. Various strobe mounts are available from 10Bar to suit different strobe arms, plus they also have their own flexible strobe arms and brackets. I chose to use my existing Inon Z220 strobes fitted with Locline arms as I was comfortable with them and understood the strobes capabilities. 10Bar provided a pair of adaptors that my arms bolted directly too for a very reasonable price. I fitted a Sea & Sea sync cord with a Nikonos ‘T’ connector, that plugs directly into the 10Bar housing’s bulkhead.
I don’t use TTL flash underwater, but from what I understand Olympus cameras have their own TTL circuitry that only works with Olympus flashes so I don’t think this camera/housing combination will provide TTL functions to the popular brands of underwater strobes. But for my purposes I am happy to control my exposures manually. (Incidentally 10Bar do manufacture a housing for the FL-50 flash that offers full TTL functions underwater, these are available as a kit with the housing).
The standard anodised aluminium port excepts the 14-45mm standard zoom lens, but a little extra gets a port capable of fitting the 35mm macro & 50mm macro lenses along with the 14-45mm zoom lens. I opted for this port as I want to use the 35mm and 50mm macro lenses most of the time. 10Bar also manufacture an extension to allow use of the Olympus extension tube for greater magnification. They also supply (as an option) a slip-on port shade for use with the 50mm &35mm macro lens, to prevent internal reflections between the port and lens. I ordered this part but so far haven’t needed it, as I think this would only be a problem in bright shallow, back-lit scenes (not a normal macro situation).
One negative on the housing exterior was a mould-release mark on the rear cover. This mark is significant and is located over the top right-hand side of the LCD when the camera is installed in the housing. Admittedly underwater I didn’t notice it, but if it was located somewhere else on the rear cover it would be much better. 10Bar have indicated that they will be moving the position of the mould release, but this will not be an immediate change.
Assembling Camera/Housing
10Bar Housing fitted with Olympus E-330 SLR camera, Locline arms, 10Bar arm bases, 2 x Inon Z220 strobes, Sea & Sea Nikonos ‘T’ sync cord
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