Our sponsors over at Marine Camera Distributors have sent us 17 images of the Nexus D2X housing from just about every angle you might want to see. The housings are just reaching dealers, domestically. Contact Marine Camera for more information.
Blue Sphere Pubs is running an interesting poll. Would you rather dive (scuba dive) with Brian Skerry, a National Geographic Photographer, or two nubile nymphs? Skerry tells me he’s never lost an election, but I suspect that this one will be close, depending on how many people he managed to bribe.
To vote, go to the site and left-click on your choice. If it makes any difference, Brian has just gone digital, and will be shooting his next assignment with a couple of Nikon D2X digital SLRs.
Wetpixel has been down intermittently for the past two days, and has fallen prey to the “dst cache overflow” problem. It may have been related to a DoS attack (or so the messages I’ve been reading say) and the repeated hack attempts I’m seeing in the logs. We’re working on a fix, so please bear with us!
*UPDATE, MAY 12* I’ve updated the kernel, which supposedly fixes the problem. Thanks to our hosts at Austin Web Development for their fantastic support!
Inon America is now supporting the Canon WP-DC40 housing with a new AD Bayonet Mount Base and fiber optic kit. The Mount Base securely attaches to the PT-026 housing, providing stable attachment points for various accessories. The new accessories will be available from about May 15. Continue reading for more information and photos.
Inon America is now supporting the Olympus PT-026 housing with a new AD Bayonet Mount Base and fiber optic kit. The Mount Base securely attaches to the PT-026 housing, providing stable attachment points for various accessories. The new accessories will be available from late April. Continue reading for more information.
In addition to previously released –0.5 and –3 diffusers, Inon Japan has developed a –1.5 system, for greater ability to widen and soften strobe light, and control flash output. Each diffuser includes a “Light Filter Set” consisting of red and blue filter inserts. The filters snap into the diffuser to correct strobe’s focus light color temperature, useful in some conditions. These new diffusers will be available from Inon America in late April.
Adobe has released Adobe DNG Converter and Camera Raw 3.1 Update. Camera Raw 3.1 adds support for the following cameras: Canon EOS Rebel XT (EOS 350D/EOS Kiss Digital N), Nikon D2X, Olympus EVOLT E-300, and Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom. As discussed in earlier posts, their support for the D2X may be rudimentary until the encrypted white balance issue is resolved. DNG Converter enables you to convert more than 75 RAW file types to Adobe’s “universal” Digital Negative (DNG) format (to safeguard against old RAW formats becoming obsolete).
We have received some information from Aquatica about their 8” dome port for Ikelite housings. The port uses the standard 8” Aquatica acrylic dome, with an aluminum back plate and integral ikelite port adapter (meaning it’s all one piece). Aquatica has dunk tested the port and confirms that it works well with the Nikon D70 housing and 10.5mm fisheye lens. According to Blake Stoughton, a principal at Aquatica, they intend to release a series of extension rings so that this port can be used with a variety of Canon and Nikon lenses. The cost should be competitive with other offerings.
Noted Author and Speaker Thom Hogan has posted his comprehensive review of Nikon’s flagship camera - the D2x. Thom notes that: “Nikon has arguably delivered the best camera ever made, but it has one flaw that I’ve been struggling to come to grips with and which keeps me from ran outright recommendation as I’ve done with previous cameras. The problem? Encryption of white balance information…You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the encryption is an issue or not. To do that, read the last part of the Handling section of the review.”
This is old news, but is probably worth writing about. On April 22, 2005 Nikon issued an advisory about their NEF raw format, which basically says that the only legal way to convert a NEF file to an image is through their SDK because “NEF and Capture software are a tightly knit system, and they are all developed through the cooperative efforts of Nikon’s design teams, and this collaboration results in achieving the highest image quality.”
Adobe has stated that they may not be able to fully support RAW files from the Nikon D2X and D2H in their Camera Raw plugin…