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Sharks on a collision course Photo

Sharks on a collision course

PEW Environmental group has published a report entitled ““Navigating Global Shark Conservation: Current Measures and Gaps” ahead of the gathering of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the FAO Committee on Fisheries meeting in Rome this month. The report notes that “although 55 percent of sharks that have enough data available to assess them (150 species) are threatened or near threatened with extinction, current shark management is woefully inadequate.” It goes on to list and quantify the demand and supply chain for shark fin, emphasises the lack of protection for sharks, and underlines the shark’s important role in the marine ecosystem.

The full report is available to download as a pdf.

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X-Ray Magazine 49 available for download Photo

X-Ray Magazine 49 available for download

X-Ray Magazine has released its July 2012 issue. Contained with issue 49 are location articles about diving in Malpelo Island: Columbia’s Pacific coast, Israel: Journey beyond the three seas and Hornby Island: British Columbia. Matthew Meier documents a squid orgy in Southern California, Bartosz Stróżyński visits the Falkland’s South Georgia Island and there is full coverage of the Rebreather Forum 3 report by Michael Menduno. Lastly, point-and-shoot underwater photography is discussed by Larry Cohen.

X-Ray Magazine issue 49 is free to download in medium and low rez pdf versions, and in iBook format for iPad.

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Sea & Sea announces housing for 5D Mark III Photo

Sea & Sea announces housing for 5D Mark III

Sea & Sea USA has also announced the release of the MDX-5D Mark III housing for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Like the new housing announced for the D800, this one also featuring enhanced ergonomics, with control of both main and sub command dials with the hands on the housing grips, the housing also offers a user customizable shutter release lever spring tension. It has ports for fiber optic triggering of strobes, as well as two additional ports for optional Nikonos and HDMI bulkheads.

The housing will be available in August and prices are still to be announced.

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Sea & Sea announces housing for the Nikon D800 Photo

Sea & Sea announces housing for the Nikon D800

Sea & Sea USA has announced the release of the MDX-D800 housing for the Nikon D800 SLR. This aluminum housing features what Sea & Sea describe as enhanced ergonomics, giving access to both command and sub command dials with both hands on the grips. It features fiber-optic triggering of strobes but has an additional port that can take an optional Nikonos (or other) bulkhead. There is an additional port for an HDMI out. All camera functions except the fn button can be accessed, and the pop-up flash can be raised and lowered via housing controls.

The MDX-D800 will be available in July 2012. Prices are still to be announced.

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POTW is up and running Photo

POTW is up and running

Many of you will have gathered already the great news that the Wetpixel Picture of the Week (POTW) competition is back up and accepting entries and votes. The current contest’s theme is “Crustaceans”, for which the voting will end on Sunday 8 July. The next contest is themed “Fresh-water” and is accepting entries, for which the cut-off will be Sunday 8 July and voting will end on 15 July.

POTW has had over 400 individual weekly contests, dating back to December 2005. For a full list of upcoming contest subjects, please see this post in the forum. Entries are free, and the winner will receive a PC lite courtesy of Ikelite. Before entering, please make sure that your profile contains your delivery address and other required information. Without this, you will not receive your prize.

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Canon trails EOS 7D firmware update Photo

Canon trails EOS 7D firmware update

Canon USA has trailed the features of a forthcoming firmware update for the EOS 7D SLR. Firmware version 2.0.X will feature a higher maximum burst rate for continuous shooting (25 RAW images versus the original 15), definable maximum limit for ISO Auto, compatibility with the Canon GPS Receiver GP-E2, and manual audio level adjustment during video shooting and during review. in cam,era viewing and processing options that will be added include faster scrolling of magnified images, quick control during playback, in-camera RAW image processing, JPEG image resizing and ratings and customization of file names and time zone settings.

The update will be released in August.

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Gates introduces DEEP SCARLET Photo

Gates introduces DEEP SCARLET

Gates Underwater Products has announced the release of its DEEP Scarlet housing for the RED SCARLET 4K camera. The housing offer support for a wide range of SLR and Cine lenses, any of which are controlled from the same position on the housing. Also supplied with the housing is a pivoting RED PRO external monitor case for the RED PRO 5.0” LCD screen and the housing is equipped as standard with the Gates Seal Check system.

The housing, with an SP80 port and extension, is priced at “under $15,000” and will be available from the end of July.

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Japan scuppers South Atlantic whale sanctuary plan Photo

Japan scuppers South Atlantic whale sanctuary plan

The Japan Times reports that the Japanese delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Panama has effectively destroyed a proposal put forward by Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Uruguay to declare the Southern Atlantic a no-kill zone for whales. The plan is a largely symbolic measure as no whaling takes place there currently. The voting was 38 countries for the sanctuary versus 21 voted against but under IWC rules proposals need to have 75 percent support for ratification. The paper quotes Jose Truda Palazzo, previously Brazil’s representative to the IWC, as blaming nations that receive Japanese aid for scuttling the proposal:

You can’t really believe that Nauru or Tuvalu has an interest or has studied the sanctuary. They are voting because Japan tells them to.

The meeting continues until 7 July.

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Nikon releases firmware update for D4 SLR Photo

Nikon releases firmware update for D4 SLR

Nikon Europe has announced the release of a firmware update for the Nikon D4. Firmware version 1.02 adds some display, formatting and network stability improvements. Specifically, these include: Format memory card can now be added to My Menu, gamut for Adobe RGB images displayed in the camera’s monitor has now been changed which enables a more vivid display of images and the stability of network connections when the FTP upload option is selected has been increased.

The update also addresses some bugs including an issue with aperture setting when used in conjunction with specific movie settings, a camera freeze-up when formatting cards in http server mode and one that affects still images that have been captured during video recording. It is available from the Nikon Europe support site

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Wetpixel forums are back up Photo

Wetpixel forums are back up

The Wetpixel forums are back online! They have been updated and patched, and as a side benefit, also now have a great mobile skin for browsing on iPhones and other mobile devices.

As yet, the Picture of the Week is still not working. Please bear with us, and once we get it going again, we will let you all know.

As you start using Wetpixel again, please let us know if you see any strange behavior. We’ll be monitoring things carefully to make sure that the malware redirect has, indeed, been fully squashed. Thank you for your patience!

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