10 Bar XZ-1 Housing - PUBLISHED - Sport Diving Magazine

Dive into a professional review of the 10Bar XZ-1 underwater housing, a game-changer for Olympus XZ-1 camera users. Discover the unique features that set this aluminum housing apart, including its revolutionary ability to bypass the camera's frustrating Super Macro flash limitation—a first in the market.

Learn how its robust, corrosion-resistant alloy construction, double o-ring seals, and 90-meter factory testing provide unparalleled peace of mind against the dreaded 'F' word: flooding. This review, written by an award-winning photographer who shoots exclusively with compacts, explains why the built-in 67mm threaded port for wet lenses makes this setup more versatile than many bulkier SLR systems.

Find out how this mid-range priced housing can triple your photo opportunities on a single dive, allowing you to capture everything from tiny super-macro subjects to wide-angle whale sharks without ever changing a lens.

1. 80 sportdi vingmagazine december/ja nuary 2012-13 divetheblue.net
What' stheF?
Undoubted ly,thebiggestconcer nforall
underwater photogr aphersisthedreaded
‘F’word–floooodi ng!However, Ifound
the10Bar XZ-1housing'sdoubleo-ring
systemontheacrylicbackplategaveme
pleasan treassuranceofbuilt-ininsurance.
Ionlywishthatmoremanufacturers
wouldmakethisacommitted featureof
theirhousings.Addedtothis,theirsimple
‘air-locksystem’withtrademarkdouble
locking latchescreates pressureonthe
backacrylicplateandprovidesbetter
waterproofingwhich translates topeace
ofmind!
Themainbodyismachined outofa
singleblockof6061 aluminum alloy
containingmagnesium andsilicon mix.
Thisalloystrainiswhatmostscubatanks,
boatsandairplanesaremade from
owingtoitscorrosion resistant properties;
allatamidrange(MSRP) priceofaround
US$650. Theanodized andepoxy
coatedmetalbodygives thishousing a
verysolidfeel.Itisratedto60metres
eventhoughevery10Bar housing is
actuallyfactorytested to90metres.Iput
minethrough thepaces ofwhatIwould
expectanyprofessional housing to
endure;backrolling andgiant stridingmy
entrieswiththecamerainhand without a
problem...something Iwouldnever do
thiswithanyOEM(OriginalEquipment
Manu facturer)clearplastic housing!
Incidentally,90metres underwa teristhe
equivalentto‘10bars’ofpressure–ring
anybells?–another commitment thatthe
manufacturerstrivestomaintainalong
withdoubleo-ringsontheirhousings.
ITSNOTTHEFIRSTSEXZHOUSINGDESIGNED FOROUR OCEANADVENTURES BUTTHE10BARXZ-1
HOUSING DOES GUINNESSSEVERALRECORDS FORBEING THEFIRSTTOADDSOMENEW
FEATU RESFORANOLYMPUSXZ-1CAMERA HOUSING. SPORTING SUPER MACRO MODEWITH
FLASHTRIGGERI NG,DOUBLEO-RINGS FORTHEMAIN HOUSI NGOPENINGAND UNIQUE FEATURE
ACTIONS,THISISONEOFTHEFIRST ALUMI NUM UNDERW ATER HOUSINGS FORTHEOLYMPUS XZ-1
CAMERAATAMID-RA NGEPRICE.
PHOTOS &TEXTBYLAWRENC EALEX WU©2012
>
gear update |imaging
10Bar’s XZ-1 HOUSING
Thesecond concern formanyexistingXZ-1
users(landandunderwater)isOlympus'
decisiontodisabletheflashaltogether in
SuperMacromodeforthecamera...what
the??!Withaminimu mfocusdistance(on
land)ofonecentimetr einfrontofthelens,
Icanseethattheflashwouldnotprovide
much coverageeventhough photodivers
generallyrelyontheirstrobes.However,
isn'tthatthewhole pointofaprosumer
rangecamera..."Toletthephotogr apher
decide"?Todate,thisistheonly10Bar
housingIhaveseenbypassthislimitation
byALLOWING theflashtobetriggered in
SuperMacromode.Itusestheirhot-shoe
adaptorinsidethehousingwithawired
synccordtothestrobes.Soatlastwecan
utilizethecamera'sSupermode
underwaterwithourstrobesforthosewee,
weeanimals!
Wet,WildandWideWeGo
Whichever wayyouchoos etohookup
yourstrobes–ornot–the67mm
threadedportonthishousingsavesthe
hasslesandextracostsofadaptors.The
builtinthreading allows flexible usage of
WETLENSES–betheywide, macro or
super-dupermacro! Being oneofthefew
underwaterprofessional photographers
whoshootonlywithcompacts, it'sthis
screwylittlefeature thatkeeps mefrom
switching tousing anSLRunderwater. In
fact,ALLmyunderwater commercial and
awardedphotos areonlyfromcompact
camerasandsince thewetlenses just
screwontothe‘front’ ofthehousing port
underwater,thisallows metocapture
imagesthatother SLRphoto divers often
missbecausetheyhavetheWRONG
lens.Wetlenses letmeshoot thefull
range,fromsuper macro subjects justa
fewmillimetres longtoclose-focus-wide-
angleshotsallthewaytothatonceina
lifetime wideangle whale shark
encounter. ..allonthesame dive!Thusa
setuplikethiseasily triples myphoto
chancescompared tototing anSLR
camerawhich isabonus assome things
weseeunderwater justmight nothappen
asecond timearound!

2. 00 sportdi vingmagazine december/ja nuary 2012-13 divetheblue.net
Mostcompactphotodiversdon'trealize
theimpor tanceofawideanglelensover
allotherpiecesofunderwa terphoto
equipmen tbecausetheyhavenever used
one!However, addingthisfirsttoyour
underwater photogr aphyupgradelistwill
easilyquadrupleyourunderwater photo
opportunities!Imagine composing a
framefromwithin afewsquare inches
andcomparethepossibiliti estocapturing
acompositionofeverything youcansee
aroundyou.Sowhatdothese weary
lensaccessories,butanythirdparty
67mm threadedlensfitsconveniently too.
Thehousingisnicelybalancedasitisjust
slightlynegatively buoyantinsaltwater.
However, fortheflashsyncport,this
housingusesaproprietarythreadedport
insteadofmorestandardconnector s
whichalsoletsoutverylimitedflashto
lightupyourunderwatershots.Packaged
witheachhousing though, isawell
thought outsetofmaintenance
accessoriessuchas:spare tools, cleaners
andspareo-rings which saved meallthe
headachesofthegear-intensive
underwaterphoto dive.
AndTheFinal10Bars
Withverysharp Zuiko optics andoneof
thebrightest lenses intheprosumer
arena,theOlympus XZ-1yields great
macrodetailandisoneofthemost
excep tional lowlightcapable compact
digitalsonthemarket.
Toutingafullrange offeatures inamid-
rangepricedrobust metal housing isa
greatfeatwhich 10Bar has
accomp lished.Thebestpartthough, was
thehasslefreeaccessories, camera
optionsandworriless double o-ring seals
sothatIcouldconcentrate lessonmy
equipmentandmore oncapturing that
perfectphoto.
>LINK www.10bar.com
‘wideless’photodiversdo?Well,you
mighthavenoticed thatmostdiversfallin
lovewithmacroandnotwideangle
photogr aphy.That'sbecause allflatglass
portedhousingsnaturallyhaveTERRIBLE
wideanglecapabilities. Soforachange,
it'snotactuallythephotogr apher'sfault
fortakingpoorwideangle shots,instead
it'stheirequipment's limitations .
Here'sasimpletestforyournextdiveof
howbadyourcameraisforwideangle:
takeapictureofyourbuddy standing
fromheadtotoeonlandandnotethe
distancefromyourcamer aandhousing
tothem. Thenunderwater, withthesame
cameraandhousingtakethesamephoto
oftheminastandingposeandyouwill
findthatthedistancewillproba blyhave
tripledormore.Atthese distances andin
typicaldivingvisibility inthe10-20 metre
range,NOwideangle picture(withou ta
widelens)willphotograph sharplyor
clearly.Thisresultsinonlymediocr eto
poorwideangleshots.Definitel y,this
goesagainstoneofthegolden rulesof
underwa terphotogr aphy: getclosethen
getcloser!Simplyexplained, thisis
owingtothedifferencebetween the
refractionoflightfromyourbuddyinto
thecameralensinwater versusair.The
simplesolution istoaddawidelensthat
correctsthisinherent problem andwitha
goodqualitylens,yourbuddycanpose
foryouagainjustametreorsoaway.
JustafewmoreNotes
Thirdly,aseemingly trivialbutunique
additiontothishousing isalevertoclose
thecamera'sflash,which isusedfor
triggeringstrobesviatheflashinsteadof
thehotshoeconnector. Iactuallyfound
thisfeaturesurprisinglyuseful.
Usuallyswitching between
shooting withstrobesandshooting
ambientlightrequires4buttonpushesto
turntheflashfromtheOFFsetting tothe
1/64 intensitysetting -Iuse1/64 flash
intensitytoconservebatterypower when
shooting withstrobes.However, withthe
flashlever, thiswasreducedtoonequick
‘closetheflash’actioninstead...andof
coursethere'saflash-onlevertoo.
However, continual/sequentia lstrobe
shotstriggeredbyflashcaptures10
imagesinseven second sversusthe14
imagesinseven second swhen thestrobes
aretriggeredviathehotshoeconnector...
justwhatthedoctor orderedforthosefast
moving macrosandfishtocapturethat
Kodakmoment!
Sowiththetwoflashcontrollevers,thisis
thefirsthousingthatcantrulyaccessALL
thecamera'sfunctions asonland.Allthe
buttons workedsmoothly andforthe
newly redesigned versionofthishousing
thebackcontroldialwasmoved tothe
centreofthe4-way-button-clustermaking
iteasierevenforgloved diversto
operate.
Thevariousrotatingdialsmostlyneeded
afinger andthumbtooperate,butwitha
littlebitofpractice, Imanagedtocontrol
someofthemwithjustonefinger or
thumb .Thismeansthattheoveralltimeto
setupthecamerasettings foranewshot
wasallveryquickunderwater,avery
importantfactorwhen youareracing
againstyourdivetimetocaptureallthat's
submergedwithyou.
Thefrontportofthe10BarXZ-1canalso
beremoved toallowforadditional10bar