Saturday, October 25th, 2008

DEMA 2008: Light & Motion (with video interview)

Light & Motion had a few new products at their booth, including the new Bluefin2 underwater housing for Sony SR11 and SR12 cameras, Fathom Optics 90° and 110° lenses, and what they are calling a “GAS” adapter, which is a L&M battery pod mounting plate for Gates, Amphibico and Seatool housings.

The Bluefin2 underwater housing brings features from the higher-end Bluefin HD housing down into the compact camcorder housing line. It will be sold alongside the original Bluefin housing, and features a few improvements…

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

DEMA 2008: Keldan Lights

Keldan is a swiss video and dive light manufacturing company. Daniel Keller was at the booth, and took me on a tour of two interesting video lights.

The Luna 4 BS-V video light is a self-contained 30-watt HID light that produces 1400 lumens @ 5500°K. It features 5 power levels, and weights 0.89Kg on land an 0.211Kg in water. The Luna 4 uses Brightstar bulbs (CRI: 70), and runs for 55 minutes on full power…

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

DEMA 2008: Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo

The Backscatter booth was located prominently along one side of the Imagine Resource Center’s seminar area. Berkley, Jim, Dave, John, Russ, and Susan manned the booth, showing off a wide range of underwater imaging products (both still and video).

John Zeiss of 4th Generation Designs took me on a tour of his Stix float arms, which are becoming more and more popular in the field. Aside from the standard array of underwater still and video housings, Backscatter also showed off Macromate diopters, Fisheye and Seatool products, and much more.

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide cocktail party @ DEMA, Thurs, Oct 23

Please join Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide at this year’s DEMA cocktail party! UPDATE: location below!

Time: 7pm, Thurs, Oct 23
Place: The Las Vegas Hilton, North Tower 8th Floor, Rooms 121 and 123

Come find us at Wetpixel’s booth in the imaging pavilion (#3049) and ask for an invitation, or print one out before you arrive!

~~Invitations will be required; if you don’t bring one, the hotel may not tell you where the party is~~

. The party is located at the Las Vegas Hilton, North Tower, 8th Floor, Rooms 121 and 123. Note that we will have to cap attendance of the party to 40 or so people at a time, so come early. :)

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

DEMA 2008: Olympus

I had a 2pm appointment with Jeff Hluchyi and Andrew Bausk of Olympus, who represent PR and marketing for underwater products, respectively. Andrew is a diver himself, which gives him good insight into what photographers want out of an underwater housing.

Olympus was showing a few new products. First, was the FE-360 compact camera, which is 8 megapixels and has digital image stabilization, a 3x optical zoom, and three underwater scene modes (UW WIDE1 for flash, UW WIDE2 for ambient action, and MACRO). It fits inside the PT-044 underwater housing, which has full access to the FE-360’s buttons. The combination runs for $279 retail, which is impressive because it is within reach of a great number of divers. We applaud Olympus for coming out with a quality, mass-market underwater camera for casual divers…

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

DEMA 2008: Art Innovation Center

The Art Innovation Center features works by Wyland and by the Ocean Artists Society. When I arrived to check out the exhibit, Wyland was there painting a shot of a breaching whale, which he told me was the very last frame in a series 50 breaches (!).

As you have already read, the Ocean Artists Society currently includes 71 members; the Art Innovation Center features a sampling of OAS’ permanent collection. I met tattoo artist and photographer Deano Cook over at the display, and we each posed in front of our own contributions to the collection.

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

DEMA 2008: Aquatica

Aquatica has always listened to its users, and have moved from a casting their housings to milling housings from a solid block of aluminum, which results in a lighter, prettier housing. They had on display brand-new underwater housings for the Nikon D700 and D3, and for the Canon 1D/1Ds Mk III. Older, cast housings (like the Nikon D300 housing) were on display as well.

I picked up the D700 housing, which had good ergonomics, down to angled buttons on the left-hand side of the LCD display on the back for easier access while gripping the handles.

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

DEMA 2008: Imaging Resource Center

For the first time ever, DEMA has an imaging resource pavilion! Underwater photography and videography equipment manufacturers have banded together around a seminar presentation area to provide attendees with a one-stop shop to find underwater imaging equipment.

The seminar area features six seminars per day, given by representatives from the companies whose booths line the imaging center.

Special thanks to Berkley White of Backscatter for working with DEMA and all of the photography and videography companies to make this happen!

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

DEMA 2008: DivePhotoGuide

DivePhotoGuide has been one of our partners here at Wetpixel for quite some time. Together, we run the OWU and DEEP Indonesia annual photo competitions, and have had a really great synergy between our two readerships.

Jason Heller hung out at his booth for awhile in the morning before running off for a day full of meetings and show coverage.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

DEMA 2008: Ocean Artists Society

The Ocean Artists Society was started by Wyland a few years ago and includes (so far) 71 ocean artists from all over the world. Wyland hosted a breakfast at the Riviera Hotel this morning to give us a chance to get to know each other and to chat about the future of the organization. OAS plans to use its collective power to produce exhibitions, books, DVDs, and other media, and to champion environmental and social causes.

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