Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom Digital Camera, PT-020 Underwater Housing and a ruler for Scale. Note how many control buttons and knobs are situated on the back and top of the unit. Still, it can be set to work like a point-and-shoot camera, if you want.

Olympus Underwater Camera – Land Photography – Quality, Capability, Adaptability and Ease of Use, All for a Low Price.

Zen Diving is all about relaxed, gentle diving that causes minimal stress for the diver. Underwater Photography however, is a very equipment and cost intensive dive specialty. Still my creative side demanded that I get involved with underwater photography – especially for this Weblog. My problem was, “How could I get involved in quality photography without spending an arm and a leg (stressful) and having to lug around tons of equipment on every trip (stressful).

I did some research and quickly realized that I needed to use a good camera for underwater photography so that I could eventually grow into manual composition and advanced photography – IF I wanted to – WITHOUT having to buy a new camera. I also wanted a camera that I could use on land to take pictures of the wild life on the islands that I visit, which I absolutely love to do. I did not want to lug around two cameras, however.

I started researching on the web and found out very quickly that the Olympus was branding their own underwater housings for their C-5060 Wide Zoom camera, which was a Consumer Reports best buy camera that I was able to get for less than $500 at Walmart. I was surprised because I had thought a good land camera that put out enough megapixels for my purposes (which I had set at 5 megapixels), was going to cost me at least $700.

The real shock came when I found out the Olympus housing for the camera, good to 130 feet of sea water, only cost $200. Custom made underwater camera housings can cost well over $1000 and usually start in price around $500. I was blown away.

I did a final check with an underwater photo pro friend of mine – Dr. Alex Mustard - who said that this is the best value in underwater photography that he knows of, and that he has a lot of photos published that he took with a housed C-5060 Wide Zoom.

In the end, I purchased the Olympus and the housing. I have had it in the water several times since. The photos are excellent and it’s very easy to operate. Many of the underwater and surface shots that you see on this blog are from that camera.

A summary of the Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom and housing:

It is very compact – easy to travel with. (reduces stress)
It has more controls for more specialized photo features than I could ever use, but it’s easy to use and produces great photos in the easy, automatic mode, which allows you to concentrate on enjoying the dive.
It is a great land camera as well as underwater camera so you don’t have to travel with two cameras.
You can take underwater video with it, as well.
The price makes it the only near-professional quality underwater camera that you can get, fully functional, with housing for $700. Saving money is good for the soul.

Have you noticed? I love this camera.