Hi, I'm considering an Oly E1. I know it's an old camera, but I love the lenses and weatherproofing, it'll do until the E3 comes out.

So, some questions regarding the Oly E1 and Ike housings/domes...

What's the best dome for the 7-14 lens, the 6 or 8"? does it work well at both 7 and 14, with no softness or aberration in the corners?

anyone hear any gossip on the E3 having the same layout (same housing)?

Do you ever use the 14-54 underwater, with or without the converter or extension tube? Seems like a nice range for sharks to portraits. I assume it needs a dome, and same question, good at both 14 and 54, any softness?

I'm thinking this takes a flat port for the 50, and a 6" or 8" dome for the 7-14, then not sure what for the 14-54, if it even goes in the water.

is the 6 or 8" dome better for the 7-14? Ike's site lists both, but I guess the 8 is hard to come by.

Hi Roger,

If you can get your hands on an 8" port, I'd always recommend the bigger port over the smaller one. This is especially important with wideangle zoom lenses where the nodal point moves around when zooming. The extra diameter on the port gives you a little more flexibility.

RE the other questions, I can't help as I haven't used this system.

Cheers
James

I would agree with James except when using such a lens, why would you want to zoom - as u/w photogs, we are constantly trying to get as wide as we can since that is the typical situation with most bodies not utilizing a full frame chip.

Leave the lens at 7mm and enjoy the view..

sharks never get as close as I'd like. Believe me, I always go in optomistically with the wide lens, I do wide in water that has everone else doing macro, but I'm sometimes glad to be able to zoom.

Regarding the E-1 replacement, its is unlikely to be intorduced prior to PMA at the end of Feb 06. Then it may be months before you can get your hands on one and even longer before a housing is released. No way it is going to have the same layout and fit in an existing housing if only for the fact that it will have a larger monitor. Like the D-200 the new E-? will be worth the wait but will have fewer housings being made for it.
Regarding the Ike dome, the issue I would be interested in is if the extension tube can be removed so that the dome can be used with the 8 mm fisheye. With the extension tube the dome should be able to accommodate the 11 to 22, as well as the 7 to 14 mm lenses and perhaps the 14 to 54 if you don't mind the extra size over its listed dome port.
The 50 macro port should also extend to accommodate the 1.4 teleconverter and the extension tube.
When the new E-1 replacement comes all the Ike ports should transfer to that new Ike housing.

Phil Rudin