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Dive 2009 Intro

Dive Show 2009

Dive 2009 is an annual two-day show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK and this year more than 320 exhibitors were due to show their products. Of specific interest to underwater photographers are the stands operated by Cameras Underwater, Ocean Optics,Ocean Visions, Fantasea Line, the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSOUP), Horvarth & Partner and The Underwater Channel. Seminars of interest to photographers will be Paul Duxfield’s (from Cameras Underwater) and Seed Rashid’s ‘Digital Clinic’, Maria Munn’s (Ocean Visions) ‘Fabulous Photography with your Compact Camera’, Cameras Underwater’s ‘Simple Solutions for Stunning Results’ and Mark Addison’s talk ‘High Definition Sharks’.

Tim Moran attended for Wetpixel and reports on these and any other subjects which catch his eye.

Blue Planet Aquarium

The Blue Planet Aquarium will be hosting underwater photo shoots in their shark tank. Sand tiger, lemon, nurse, blacktip, zebra, and bamboo sharks will make impressive subjects. Blue Planet have a strict no strobe policy as previous use of strobes was the cause of some stress to the sharks. Ambient lighting is, apparently, good enough for available light shooting.

Blue Planet also offer the PADI Digital Underwater Photography Specialty as well as one-day Shark Awareness courses covering conservation, biology and diving techniques.

Cameras Underwater

Sharing a stand with Gates, the Cameras Underwater stand was always packed with divers drooling over offerings from the mainstream DSLR housing manufacturers and new compact camera systems.

John Ellerbrock from Gates was always in high demand, showing off their high-end recreational video housings ahead of DEMA. Built for Sony’s and Canon’s flagship consumer videocams; the Sony XR520 and the Canon HF-S10,11 and 100, these housings featured viewable camera LCD’s which make for a very compact traveling video camera solution and are supported with macro, wide angle and super wide angle ports. John was extremely proud to talk of their record housing development for the broadcast quality Panasonic Varicam AJ-HPX 3700 and 2700 which was delivered in September having only been conceived in April. John will be attending DEMA.

The London and Midland Diving Chambers

Publishers of the excellent free magazines ‘London Diver’ and ‘Midland Diver’ these superb hyperbaric and recompression facilities run a regular photo competition to win a print of your choice on canvas donated by Ocean Visions. Entrant’s photos are usually showcased in the quarterly magazines.

Bite-Back

Shark and marine conservation campaigners and lobbyists Bite-Back had their gorgeous 2010 calendar for sale. Wetpixel’s own Mr Cheng is Mr December with a lovely image of a humpback and calf taken in the waters of Tonga. Nice one Eric! Alex Mustard features as Mr February with his Egyptian Hawkbill. Superb contributions from Amos Nachoum, Brian Skerry, Chris Fallows, David Doublet, David Fleetham, Doug Perrine, Jason Isley, Jeff Rotman, Michael Aw and Roger Munns make this calendar a must have addition to your kitchen or office wall.

The Bite-Back Stand