Olympus PT-EP06 Underwater Housing for E-PM1 Digital Camera

The product is great but is useless if you plan on using the camera's inbuilt flash and want to zoom in and out as it does not come with the flash diffusor or zoom extender. You need to buy these accessories separately. This should be noted on the product as it is very disappointing buying the housing for a dive trip only to discover you cannot take good photos as the flash is cut off half way without a diffusor. You end up with photos half lit up and half dark. I would have given it a 5 rating if it had been clearly stated you need the accessories.

This is the cheapest housing available for the PM1, with decent quality. Some reviewer pointed out that the internal flash is blocked by the port, and are right. But, these housings, and most other housings for system cameras requires an external strobe to get the most out of your photos....and, a shade for the internal flash is included in the box.(internal flash is required for syncing the strobe via TTL).The port is mainly for the 14-42mm kit lens, but will also accomodate the 60mm Macro, and the 9-18mm. To get the same angle as above water for the 9-18, you will need a dome port from ZEN, the WA-100 PEN. The housing is excellent as a "cheap" solution for getting into underwater photography(The Nauticam is another class, more expensive, but with more options and made of aluminium).It is absolutely possible to get good pic's without a strobe, in clear water, and not too deep. I own one, and my wife one(she does not have a strobe yet..) I'm using an Inon S2000 strobe. And, for better focusing, add a focus light, or buy the D2000/Z240 from Inon!

This is a great housing for the money - I can understand the frustration of the people who gave it poor reviews because they can't use the internal flash, but that's more a consequence of the poor advice they received than a problem with this housing. The reality is that using built in flash for underwater photography is just a recipe for disappointment as it generates so much backscatter. If you're serious about good underwater images you need a decent external strobe and arm. If you buy this housing, you're saving about 50% of the cost of that strobe with very little loss of functionality compared with a housing that costs 2-3x as much. If you don't want to be messing about with tons of expensive strobes and things, buy a go pro and accept the limitations of shooting with ambient light and a pink filter. If you want to start taking really good pictures this housing is a great route in but expect to pay more for accessory bits and pieces.

Lens shadow covers about 50% of the picture using the built in flash. Would have been nice if some review or Olympus had pointed this out prior to purchase