Olympus XZ-1 and EPL-2 bodies with PT-050 and PT-EP03 housings

Rob Spray · Issue 59, Mar/Apr 2011 · pp. 36–38

Products mentioned: Olympus XZ-1, Olympus E-PL2, Olympus E-PL1, PT-050, PT-EP03, EVF-2 electronic viewfinder, 14-42mm kit lens, 7-14mm lens, 8mm Fisheye, 9-18mm lens, 45mm macro lens, Dramatic Tone art filter

Like teenagers camera companies spend lots of time worrying about what’s on the surface. Divers, like parents, have to pick up the pieces and for a long while as electronic technology was the focus compact divers didn’t get the rub of the green. I go all misty eyed thinking back to when capable compacts were the weapons of choice for amateur photographers. You could jump in with one in an OEM case with a couple of wet lenses and the world was your mollusc. Then cheap SLRs killed off the bridge camera and box ported cases and fiddly bodies spoiled the fun. Now I feel I have an friend back, the PT-050 for the XZ-1 carries that most obvious and useful feature – a big threaded port. They seem to have been absent from capable compacts for ages. Those who weren’t ready stretch to third party housings have had to make do with a strange selection of clip on cookware. At the same time mirrorless …