I will be going on my honeymoon to the Virigin Islands in the fall. I have a C-5050, and was hoping to find a PT-015 housing clearance somewhere, but haven’t had any luck. Apparently, new Olympus PT-015 housings were going for ~$50 on eBay about a half year ago. I missed the boat. So, I just picked up a new PT-019 housing on eBay for $30, and am trying to find a used C-5000 in good shape.

So my big question is...Should I buy a used C-5000, or spring some extra money for an Ikelite housing or a PT-015 (if I can find one) for my C-5050? After forking out a good bit of money for our honeymoon, I am looking to spend as little as possible on an underwater rig, and still come away with some decent pictures.

What route should I take?

Thanks in advance for any help

Welcome to digideep and Congrats on the wedding

Not sure if you are going to be able to find the housings for the 5050 (Ikelite or Oly) that easily anymore, the 5050 is rather old in digital cameras/housing terms though it is a nice camera. Depending on the price of a 5050 housing if you find it, the cost may be worth it.

But since you have the C-5000 housing you can try to pick up a C-5000.  amazon U.S. had some used ones for sale when I just looked for about $180, so since you have the housing that is probably the least expensive way to go at this point. 

If you were going to add others things, a strobe or The Magic Filter are some things to consider. 

You can also consider getting a more up to date camera annd set up that will not break the bank.  Some of the Canon A Series cameras are $150-$200 and you can probably get a Canon housing for under $200.  The changes in cameras since the 5050 was made would probably be worth it - in other words if it is a choice between the C-5000 for $180 or the Canon set-up, for instance, I would recommend the Canon or something else in the range.  SHutter lag and other things have been greatly improved.

Drew,

There is a reserve auction on eBay for the C-5050 Ikelite housing. I actually bid on this item the first time around, but did not meet the reserve. It’s supposed to be good as new, as it was never used in the water.

I’ve heard it is a great housing for the C-5050. How much would you pay for it?

McKev25 - 23 May 2008 06:02 PM

Drew,

There is a reserve auction on eBay for the C-5050 Ikelite housing. I actually bid on this item the first time around, but did not meet the reserve. It’s supposed to be good as new, as it was never used in the water.

Reminds me of the Nikonos I purchased about 6 years ago which was only used a couple of times in fresh water and was just fully serviced.  It flooded badly and when I took it to someone later that day they all the 0-rings were shot, covered with salt and I was sold a bill of goods.  LOL.  Live and learn.  Fortunately the shop that sold it took it back, they were selling for someone else.  Sometimes I get a bit cynical about things, so take it with a grain of salt

Took a quick look at eBay and the housing is an Olympus, not Ikelite (the only auction I found for a 5050 housing, though I may have missed it.) I had an Olympus housing for my 3040.  In fact I still have it.  Worked great for years and nice in size.  My wife used it until recently when she started shooting my 8080 when I moved onto an Aquatica.  As to the seller they have 3 positives, but who knows.  Right now the first/last bid is at $170.  (A bit curious that the first one is that high.) I would also guess you could also send somewhere to have it looked at just to be sure everything is okay and service as needed.

As to what to pay, I am not sure.  There is a point where the cost of the housing will start approaching the newer camera rigs I mentioned earlier.  So let’s say you get the housing for $180, for $150 more (give or take) you can put together something with a newer camera (an example below.) Remember if something happens (i.e., flood) with the older cameras it is going to be more difficult to find a replacement while you will have a better chance with a newer camera. Just checked eBay and there is a couple of 5050s out there, one looks like it is totally trashed the others may work.

Also, again, technology has moved on - the 5050 was rated as .91 seconds for full AF, .72 for manual focus and .14 for prefocus. (half click.) The Canon PowerShot A570 IS, for example, goes for $130 to $155 and has .54 AF (at WA), .28 for MF and .075 for prefocus. The Canon case runs $190. So the Canon camera and housing is going to be around $330 while the Oly housing you are looking will be at least $180 if you win.  So for about $150 or so..well you get the idea. 

Of course there are differences in the housing, the Olympus I think is more felxible in terms of adding WA such as the Inon, but it is also a function of what you want to do and how serious you think you are going to get with UW photography. And the $150 difference can be used for other things, such as going to a strobe. So I am not trying to be dismissive of the cost, just putting the information and thoughts out there.

As an aside I would highly recommend grabbing some other P&S;for the honeymoon if you do go with the 5050 housing.  On the off chance something happens to the 5050 UW, at least you can get shots still above water.  I am speaking from experience on this one If you really llke the 5050 (I really like my Olympus cameras alot ) you may then just want to play it safe so another camera goes UW.  Not saying grab the Canon now, but more to think about, you still have time before you go.

Drew,

It all seems like great advice. I appreciate you putting the time into your reply.

As for the housing that I was looking at on eBay, it is an Ikelite. I meant to post this link before…

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330236987892&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014

I’ve heard the Ikelite housing is awesome for TTL flash. It is probably going for over $300 with the reserve...I don’t know. That would be my max bid. So I may try to bid in that auction.

I have an Olympus E-510. So that will be my land camera. I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks so much again

Drew,

Unforutunately, somebody outbid me at the last second for the Ikelite housing. It went for $255! That would have been perfect. Oh well. I’ll just need to keep my eyes open for other options.

McKev25 - 24 May 2008 03:22 PM

Drew,

Unforutunately, somebody outbid me at the last second for the Ikelite housing. It went for $255! That would have been perfect. Oh well. I’ll just need to keep my eyes open for other options.

Sorry about that. : ( On the off chance I run across a housing on eBay or otherweise, I will let you know.  You can try calling a couple of thye underwater photography shops such as Backscatter, they will get used equipment in from time to time.

Drew,

I can’t remember if I told you or not, but I picked up a new Olympus PT-019 housing and a barely used C-5000 on eBay. The total for both items with shipping came to about $150. I think I made out pretty good.

Kevin

McKev25 - 21 June 2008 02:54 PM

Drew,

I can’t remember if I told you or not, but I picked up a new Olympus PT-019 housing and a barely used C-5000 on eBay. The total for both items with shipping came to about $150. I think I made out pretty good.

Kevin

Not sure if you mentioned it or not, but that sounds like a real good deal. 

Try to get into a pool and play with it a bit if you can and get used to the controls (particularly switching to manual focus and getting used to f/stops and distance that stays in focus, the manual focus will help with shutter lag.  For things like reefs and non-movement not as much of an issue in AF and you wil also get the hang of timing the shutter.  But for some things knowing that, for instance, setting a f/stop of 5.6 with a focus length of two feet will cover a certain range, is a good thing to get under your belt.  Ditto for the half press of the shutter [prefocus] ) Also continuous AF will also help with shutter lag (not sure if that camera has it?) On last thing to consider is a focus light for darker areas, if you use AF that can help.

I really liked my 3040 in an Oly housing (took many shots with it) and it spec’d out around the same generally, though less megapixels than the C-5000.

Drew,

I consider myself an advanced amateur photographer on land, but underwater may be a different story. All of the tips you have mentioned are things I have thought about too. I am going to try to figure out the hyperfocal distance for a few focal lengths on the C-5000, and hopefully I can save them as presets. At first glance, it looks like I can only save 1 “MyMode” on the C-5000, but I need to look at the manual a little bit more.

Shutter lag on the compact digicams isn’t bad, but the focusing can be quite slow if the lighting isn’t “right”. So pre-focusing and using manual focus definitely help in that area. Every camera has its strengths and weaknesses. So I’ll definitely take the C-5000 in the pool (in the housing, of course...hopefully I never forget that ) to get more comfortable with it, and figure out the best settings.

I saw in one of your older posts that your C-3040 flooded. Do you know what caused that? That’s the thing that scares me the most, but that’s also the reason I bought a used camera to take underwater. I won’t care all that much if it floods, as long as it’s after the Honeymoon, and not before. Honestly, if I can make it through my honeymoon without flooding and can capture some keepers, I don’t really care what happens to the camera later. I have an E-510 DSLR and the C-5050. So it’s Olympus all the way for me.

Thanks,
Kevin

McKev25 - 21 June 2008 03:39 PM

So I’ll definitely take the C-5000 in the pool (in the housing, of course...hopefully I never forget that )

Sorry, forgot to mention the camera in the housing part

McKev25 - 21 June 2008 03:39 PM

I saw in one of your older posts that your C-3040 flooded. Do you know what caused that?

99.9% sure.  The housing both before, and after, that incident was solid andd no problem whatsoever.  I was on a balcony and looked down where I saw Eagle Rays in a bay after we were done diving for the day.  Put the camera in the housing, checked to see it was sealed, but a bit quicker than my normal routine of checking things a few times.  Got to the water and it was fine, in fact I have a couple of test shots from the water.  Things were good and I snorkled over, but the waves were starting to kick up, but then I got caught in one and slammed rather hard.  Was in about 4-5 feet of water and hit the sand/rocks on the bottom and it was afterwards the housing was full of water, massive flood.  So either I had not set the housing properly or the latch got slammed and opened (or perhaps I did not have the latch secure.) In other words potential too quick set-up and/or combined with just plain bad luck.

So the bottom line is that make sure you give yourself plenty of time to set things up.  The vast majority of the time I have my gear ready to go the night before and if I find myself setting up gear in the AM I leave 1 to 1-1/2 hours.  If you think you do not have enough time or feel pressure to get to a boat or dive - leave the camera and trust your instinct.  And also if conditions look like they may be something where you may be subject to being pounded, leave the camera I was crushed when my 3040 drowned :( Though I did find a replacement body which has been used on many dives

Drew,

I am sorry you lost the C-3040 (that was one of my first cameras), but I’m glad that it was more likely user error than equipment error. So does that mean that you’ve never had a flood because of a leak around the O-ring? I’ve heard that some people use a magnifying glass to make sure there is no debris on the O-ring before closing the case. Do you go to those lengths?

Kevin

McKev25 - 22 June 2008 04:21 PM

Drew,

I am sorry you lost the C-3040 (that was one of my first cameras), but I’m glad that it was more likely user error than equipment error. So does that mean that you’ve never had a flood because of a leak around the O-ring? I’ve heard that some people use a magnifying glass to make sure there is no debris on the O-ring before closing the case. Do you go to those lengths?

Kevin

That one flood, as you mentioned, was probably user error/bad luck.  I have a few other leaks/floods. One, way back when, was from a bad (non-User servicable) O-rings on a Nikonos which was was just “serviced” - it wasn’t at all because when I had it checked right after the technician (an expert) said the O-rings could not have been touched recently due to the fact they were shot and it would have takeen a long time for them to be in the condition they were (I had it checked within hours after the dive.)

Another housing developed a slow leak after about 1 dozen dives.  I did a dive and everything worked okay though for some reason the camera seemed not to be “behaving” properly the first dive.  Seemed not to be firing right.  The second dive that day I went down to depth.  Everything looked fine, took some shots.  Then I noticed that water was in the bottom of the housing.  So I kept it horizontal and nothing else happened.  Camera was fine.  Went through the housing very carefully when I returned to my hotel.  O-ring was fine and clean.  Nothing in the grooves or on the ring.  So I figured I must have done something wrong.  Put it carefully back together and took it out the next day.  Did the pool test and also had a few people double check the O-ring area to see if they saw dirt or a pinch.  No one saw a thing and the DM also pit it in the rinse tank (I was the only one diving with a camera) before we left the dock to see if anything happened.  Nothing.  Removed it from the rinse tank (I do not leave equipment in the rinse tank) and set off for the dive site.  Had it handed to me and went down.  I kept my eye on it carefully.  30 feet.  All good.  60 feet.  All good. 90 feet.  All good.  Then I started shooting.  No good, water again.  I stopped shooting because I was sure it had to be related to a control, in all likelihood the shutter.

I sent the housing in (with a letter describing the events in detail) and it was returned to me since “it passed pressure testing and nothing was wrong.” As I was about to go on my next trip, I still felt uncomfortable with that answer because I knew without a doubt that I was careful.  Called again, stepped through everything I had written in my initial letter again and sent it back.  They had someone dive with it and then found out the problem was like I described - bad/defective gland in the shutter release. 

I had one flood that is a mystery and not related to O-rings, the best I can guess is that someone touched the housing/played with it/the housing got banged.  Long story short I might was well not have put the front port on.  And one other leak I do not know about either but not related to the main O-Ring.  I have a pretty good idea what happened with that one.

That being said never had an issue with any of my strobes

But I do make sure to check things in a well lit area hours beforehand.  I pay very close attention to the O-ring condition, how it is seated and also any build up that may be in the O-Ring grooves.  I then also have my wife double check to make sure I have not missed anything.  A magnifying glass is not a bad idea either, may bring one next time (though I did have a set of magnifying glasses that I have used.)