Aquatica displayed some of the housings we've announced in the past few weeks, including the A70 Nikon D70 housing and some prototype Kodak Pro SLR/n housings. New for all housings from Aquatica are redesigned metal handles, more labels on command dials, and sacrificial zincs on the bottom of the housing (which "sacrifice" themselves as a target for electrolysis, which has potentially corrosive effects).

Underwater photographer Mauricio Handler was at the booth, as was photographer Todd Essick, who did daily book and poster signings.

Bonica showcased their SEAPIX-6 5.25 megapixel digital camera and housing package, which comes standard with access to basic camera controls ($649 retail), which can be expanded to access to all 15 controls for an additional fee. Also shown was the NEON LIT-3 slave strobe, which features an adjustable power dial.

In 3 months, Bonica will be releasing a generic mold with custom controls that will support just about any camera that will fit into the housing.

EwaMarine showed their waterproof video bags, which will fit virtually any camera you might want to put into one. EwaMarine is now also selling Marin Solar underwater video lights, which have a warm color temperature of 3400° K.

Fantasea showed a prototype Nikon D70 housing with a Nikonos connector and space for the flash to pop up for slave i-TTL with housed Nikon SB600 and SB800 land strobes (also offered by Fantasea). The SLR housing complete with port should be available for less than $1,000 USD.

Fantasea was also showing its inexpensive line of Nikon Coolpix 4300 and 5200 housings, red filters of different sizes, and underwater LED lights.

Fisheye is a company out of Japan that was showing some very interesting products, including the $419 (retail) Fix Light HG20DX modeling light, which was designed to address the space left behind by the discontinued Light & Motion Mod Light. The light uses a 20 watt halogen bulb with a continuously adjustable power setting, and comes with a removable battery, external charger, and optional blue and red filters. The strobe can be locked in an off position that physically disconnects the internal circuit so there is no chance of it turning on automatically.

Fisheye also showed the DSP-120 digital slave strobe (the smallest on the market), a 1.2x magnifier and hood for Olympus polycarbonate housings, the Athena 120° optical glass dome port for Olympus PT-20 C-5060 housings, Sony T1 and Nikon Coolpix 3100 housings for shallow (10' max) snorkeling, and the Oceantop Housing for Panasonic NV-GS5 digital miniDV cameras.

Gates Underwater Products had more than seven new products on display, including:

1. a housing for the Sony PC350 miniDV camera
2. GP25 and GP35 wide angle lenses with field-replaceable polycarbonate domes
3. very sturdy HID Green Force video lights
4. a super macro Fathom Imaging aspherical port that functions as a +1 to +10 effective diopter, with a 3-4" focus range and constant magnification through that range
5. a new 4" color video monitor
6. a housing for the Canon GL 2 miniDV camera
7. a new water leak detector with blinking lights and shell-vibrating multi-frequency audio alarm
8. 100% compatible Sony HD camera housing good to 350' (collaboration between Howard Hall, Bob Cranston, and Gates)
9. a prototype Canon 1Ds housing

INON showed off their brand new D-2000 strobe ($509 retail), which replaces the D-180. It has a guide number of 20 instead of 18 (same power 1 meter further away), and external auto sensor, and "S-TTL", which uses the camera's metering system to meter flash exposure ("Slave" TTL).

Also shown were strobe filters (like the diffuser, but a slightly different color) for Canon point & shoot cameras to correct the blue/green cast in recorded images. Blue and red modeling light filters can also be inserted into diffusers or the Canon strobe filter. The red filter reduces the chance that the modeling light will affect S-TTL exposure, and reduces the potential impact on critters. The blue filter is for cameras without preflash, in slave mode. Because the modeling light stays on during the exposure in this case, the blue filter cools down the modeling light color to match the strobe color to prevent color contamination.

Finally, INON showed a 165° fisheye lens for point & shoot housings compatible with the INON AD mount.

Light & Motion's booth (beautiful, as always) featured an army of Tetra 5060 housings for the Olympus C-5060. The new Tetra signals a return to L&M's signature machined aluminum housings (instead of cast aluminum), and features the L&M ROC strobe controller, an on/off switch (!), flat port, and wet-mate macro lens.

L&M has also developed a modified video light for modeling light use, with a bracket to hold the battery under any L&M housing.

Also showcased were Mako Sony PC350 housings, Stingray III Sony HC20/30/40 and HD1000 housings, and an improved Bluefin Sony VX2100 housing featuring a new electronic backplate (with full camera control, including menu access) and new remote monitor with extension cable for remote placement.

Sea & Sea/TUSA showed their new YS-55TTL/E E-TTL compatible strobe for use with Canon digital SLRs. It has a guide number of 18, adjustable in levels from GN 3 to 18 (full power), and fiber optic and S&S 6-pin bulkheads.

Also on display were the DX-3000G and DX-5000G digital underwater camera systems (3.24 and 5.13 megapixels, respectively, with a low 0.12 second shutter lag), and housings for the Nikon D70 and Canon Digital Rebel.

Seacam showed the new Canon 1D Mk II/1Ds Mk II housing, which accounts for the minor changes introduced with the Mk II bodies. The * button is now easily accessible via a thumb lever, and an optional remote bulkhead can be installed (with a remote release coming soon).

Older 1D/1Ds housings can be retrofitted easily to support Mk II bodies, with all controls except three at the bottom available for use.

The new Nikon D70 housing is also available, which follows the Seacam tradition in housing design (which is to say that it was beautiful).

Since last year, Sealife's DC250 (2.1MP), DC 300 (3.3MP), and DC310 (3.3MP, with "advanced" features) digital underwater cameras (actually, housed digital cameras) have become some of the most sold in the industry. This year, Sealife introduces a new digital slave flash (will ship in Jan 2005), Flash Link optical sync cord, and Lens Dock for WA lens stowage on the bottom of the new universal tray. The new tray can be used with nearly any digital camera, which means that Sealife's digital slave strobe can be used with other cameras.

Sealife is also offering a turnkey rental kit which is targeted at the Caribbean.

Snap Sights offers the very inexpensive ($249 MSRP) Pixstreme 5 megapixel effective (3.1 megapixel actual. 5 megapixel image produced through software interpolation.) housed digital camera. It uses 2 AA batteries and can be used down to 125'. Accessories are available as well: closeup & wideangle lenses, red filters, slave flash with fiber optic sync, and arm & tray.

A 5 megapixel (actual) version with more controls is coming soon.

Snap Sights won the DIMA 2004 Innovations Award at PMA this year.

Subal showed their entire line of digital SLR housings. New was a housing prototype for the upcoming Nikon D2X/D2H digital SLR, and the Subal CD1D housing compatible with both the 1D/1Ds and 1D Mk II/1Ds Mk II (with control support for all buttons) A Canon 20D housing will be available by the end of the year.

Also new was the ViewFinder Optic GS180 that we reported on not long ago, which actually makes some of the smaller viewfinder cameras a pleasure to look through.

Some media & magazine exhibitors:

• DiveNewsWire
• Shark Diver Magazine
• DivePhotoGuide.com
• Dive Chronicles
• ScubaCore DVD Magazine
• Underwater Photography Magazine
• Scuba Diving Magazine