My first underwater camera was a Go-Pro. This worked great for wide-angle shots, especially for wrecks and scenery. On a dive trip to Grand Cayman, we met two couples that were using TG-4 cameras for close-ups and macrophotography. When they shared their pictures of shrimps, snails, and creatures as small as 1mm using the built-in microscope mode, I was amazed. The Olympus TG-5 had just come out with a new underwater housing and I had to go for it. No regrets!
I didn’t want to give up those wide-angle shots, so I also purchased a wide-angle wet lens that screws onto the housing and would help me capture those ‘Go-Pro like’ wreck and reef shots. This lens can easily be unscrewed allowing me to focus in on the small stuff with micro mode.
I absolutely love the camera, and it’s been a wonder to work with. There is an underwater mode which you can select as well as a microscope mode for getting up close and personal (within millimeters of subjects).
I also purchased a Sea & Sea YS-03 strobe which has been great. It is driven by the camera flash with an optical cable that wraps around a mounting arm. I’ve now added other mounts for video lights, but more about those in a different write-up.
The PT-058 Housing
The camera fits easily into the underwater housing and there are mechanical levers which are incorporated to drive the buttons on the camera. All features of the camera are available, and the layout is similar to the on-camera buttons.
You do have to be careful to turn the GPS mode off and there is also a separate lens adaptor, or antireflective ring incorporating a rubber seal that must be used.
When using the flash, I set it to fill mode which works well with the strobe. I use the monitor hood on the view finder to avoid glare, but it can be removed. I’ve also seen that there is a new magnification version which can be optionally added to provide a magnified view (which would be good for micro photography). Underwater photography can be a bottomless pit!
The housing itself is like a clamshell and seals with a rubber O-ring and silicon grease. You can also add packets of silica gel to absorb moisture in the housing and avoid fogging. It comes with a hand strap lanyard which is handy, just make sure the strap doesn’t show up in your photos.
Pre-configured modes on TG-5
You can choose from four different underwater modes: wide, macro, HDR, and snapshot (great for shallow dives). The microscope mode is also handy to capture shots of tiny critters.
Aside from the underwater and microscope modes there are pre-set modes for motion, people, indoors, scenery, and nightscapes. You can also shoot 4k videos and hi-speed 1080 videos with the TG-5.
You can also pre-set two custom modes on your camera. I have set one up for underwater wide-angle photos and the other for macro. There is also an A mode where you can select the aperture, a P mode where the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed, and of course there is an automatic mode.
While the camera does not shoot raw, it was not a showstopper for me. I have not been deep into postprocessing, and while I have used lightroom, I am far from a master and typically just use the photo editor on my Mac to clean up my pictures.
Conclusion
For anyone that wants to get into macrophotography for a reasonable price, I’d say that the TG series of cameras is a good choice. They now have a TG-6 out with additional capabilities (such as making videos in micro mode) but I’m still very happy with my TG-5.
The Olympus TG-5 also takes good pictures above the surface and the micro mode is perfect to capture the tiny details of flowers and insects. Small enough to fit nicely in your pocket or purse making it a convenient little travel camera. Since it can be submerged up to 50ft of water without a housing it’s my camera of choice for waterfalls. However, I do wish that it had a view finder for land photography.
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- Protecting Expensive and Fragile Equipment While Traveling
- SeaLife SportDiver Underwater Housing for iPhone (SL400)
*Please note that we are not paid for this write-up, we simply want to share our findings in the fast-moving field of scuba gear.