Olympus C-3000z + PT-010

Configuration

This set is made up of the following components:

• Olympus C-3000z (3.3 Mpix)
• Olympus PT-010 Underwater Housing
• Sea&Sea YS-90DX Slave Strobe
• Fish-eye tray
• Olympus/UN PCU-01 Macro Lens

Review

My experience with this combination is very good. The C3000z provides excellent pictures, but most important: it allows full manual control, which is required when shooting with a slave strobe. The power-consumption (4 AA NiMH batteries) is really low: I can make 3 dives a day (and shoot around 80 photos) and reuse the same set of batteries multiple days with only one or two hours in the charger each night.

The PT-010 housing provides easy access to all camera buttons. As these are fairly large, so I can even use it wearing thick diving gloves. The housing itself is also quite large and provides a good grip, although it may be too large for some divers that only want to use it for "snapshots".

The Sea&Sea YS-90DX Slave Strobe was a great addition for this rig. It brings out the colors of everything at a greater distance, reduces the backscatter and, in combination with the flexible arm of the Fisheye tray, allows for variable lighting directions. It may take a while to get the hang of selecting the right setting on 12-step intensity control for a certain type of picture, but after some practising this becomes more or less natural.

The fisheye tray is specifically designed for the PT-010 and becomes a permanent part of the housing. The flexible arm gives a certain amount of strobe positions, but in some cases it may turn out to be too limited. That is why I've recently expanded the arm with the Sea&Sea extension set (4 additional segments).

Major advantages of this set:

• Good quality lense, excellent photo results.
• Size makes it easy to operate.
• Full manual control and elaborate range of settings make it ideal for artistic use.
• Excellent power consumption.
• The strobe is the best of it's kind.

Some drawbacks:

• Slow LCD display when (re)viewing photo's.
• Officially rated to a depth of 30 meters.
• The optical sensor of the YS90-DX slavestrobe is somewhat fragilly attached to the housing. The velcro patch may detach if touched.

Review by: Michael

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