Thursday, January 10th, 2013

Issue 52 of X-Ray Magazine available

The January 2013 issue of X-Ray Magazine is available to download. Featured articles about dive sites include: Diving Spain’s Costa Brava; Honduras’ Roatan; Micronesia’s Kosrae & Pohnpei; diving Gulen, Norwegian fjord and diving the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Photographically, the magazine has an article about mirrorless cameras lenses and Amanda Richardson’s portfolio is featured.

X-Ray Magazine issue 52 is free to download in high and low res pdf formats.

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

Canon announces two new EF lenses

Canon has released details of two new cinema prime lenses, a 14mm T3.1 and a 135mm T2.2. Both feature Canon’s EF mount, odd-numbered 11-blade aperture diaphragms and are designed for use with large-format cameras with 35mm single sensors. The lenses are suited for use with 4K video production.

The CN-E14mm T3.1 L F is expected to be available in April 2013 for an estimated retail price of $5,500. The CN-E135mm T2.2 L F single-focal-length lens is expected to be available in May 2013 for an estimated retail price of $5,200.

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Milder weather is good news for manatees

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has recorded fewer Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) deaths in 2012 than in the preceding two years, which they attribute largely to milder winter temperatures. The FWC logged 392 deaths last year, compared with 453 in 2011. Collisions with watercraft caused 81 fatalities in 2012, compared to 88 in 2011.

The FWC works to enhance access to warm water sites for the manatees. Recent projects include the restoration of Fanning Springs, which give the animals access to a natural warm-water habitat off the Suwannee River.

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Sony embraces 4K at CES

At Sony’s press conference at the CES show in Las Vegas, the company was all about delivering and creating 4K footage, Engadget reports. On display was a prototype 4K consumer camcorder which appeared to have a fairly standard prosumer form factor and features and displayed a Handycam logo. Also announced was the HXR-IFR5 Interface Unit, which upscales existing HD footage to 4K. The RAW video files produced by the unit are in 4096 x 2160 resolution. These new devices join Sony’s announcement earlier in the week that it will release two new affordable 4K TVs this summer.

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

Nikon announces new mirrorless products

Nikon has announced the release of two new mirrorless cameras and two new 1 series lenses. The 1 J3 and S1 both have phase-detection and contrast-detect AF. The J3 has a 14.2-million pixels CMOS sensor which supports an ISO range from ISO 160-6400. The S1 has 10.1-million pixels and a native ISO range ISO 100–6400.

Nikon has also released details of two new lenses for the 1 series, a 6.7-13mm f/3.5-5.6, and a 10-100mm f/4-5.6. The former gives a 100° field of view equivalent to a 16-35mm lens on a full frame camera.

Lastly, the company has announced an underwater housing for the J3.

Monday, January 7th, 2013

Reviews: CrumplePop plug-ins for GoPro POV cams

Steve Douglas presents reviews of CrumplePop’s correction filters for GoPro POV camcorders. CrumplePop has released an HDR plug-in that helps restore color balance within footage, and a plug-in that corrects the fisheye effect that is created by the GoPro’s lens.

Steve summarises that both apps are very useful for those who use GoPro footage within their productions.

Monday, January 7th, 2013

Giant squid filmed at 2,950ft

The Telegraph reports that a team from the Discovery Channel, Japan’s National Science Museum and NHK Japan have filmed a 10ft (3m) giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) at a depth of 2,067ft (630m) using a submersible last July at a site some nine miles east of Chichi island in the north Pacific Ocean. They then followed the squid down to a depth of 2,950ft (885m)

The squid had apparently lost its two longest arms, so the team extrapolated that the length of the animal if it had its arms attached would be 28ft (8m). I’m sure that there is good science in predicting this. The film is apparently the first of a giant squid in its natural habitat. The footage will be going to air soon.

Monday, January 7th, 2013

Call for entries: Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The 2013 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year is now open and accepting entries. Categories include Animal Portraits, Behavior: Mammals, Behavior: Cold-Blooded animals, Animals is their Environment and Underwater Worlds.

The deadline for entries is 25 February 2013. Full entry details and rules can be found on the Natural History Museum’s website. There are also comprehensive guidelines on what is acceptable in terms of image editing.