Wetpixel DEMA 2012 show coverage.
Booth visits: Ikelite, Watershot, i-Divesite, Ultralite Control Systems, Dive and See, BS Kinetics, Light and Motion, Keldan, Nocturnal Lights, Snake River Prototyping.

Ikelite.

The first meeting of the day was with Ikelite. We met up with Mike Rabideau and Daniel Polonsky, who is a new engineer on the Ikelite team.

Our attention was first drawn to the Ikelite housing for the Nikon D600, which is already shipping.

The housing has all the familiar controls and aesthetics that we have come to know from Ikelite.

The most impressive part of all is to be able to get into an FX camera and housing for under $4,000 (the housing retails for $1,600).

We then wandered down to the new lights, the first of which is the Gamma, a 220 lumen small flashlight that employs a new sleek design that has really impressed us. Next is the Vega. The 2000 lumen light can be used as a focus light, dive light or video light and has a 70-degree beam angle.

The next light we checked out that was introduced at the show is the Manta. This fiber optic strobe uses Ikelite’s proprietary pre-flash recognition technology to automatically adjust to any camera. The strobe retails for $500 and has a January 1st ship date.

We chatted to Jean Brigham on the stand too, and she mentioned that Ikelite is planning to revisit supporting EVIL cameras. The first model will be the Canon EOS M.

Watershot

When we walked into the Watershot booth we felt like we were cruising through a kelp forest. And the best part was their plastic kelp displays crawling with Watershot housings for iPhones 4 and 4s.

At just $99, these housings have some great attention to detail like a glass lens, baffle to keep out reflective light, tripod mount, 46mm thread to accept lenses, and suspension of the phone inside the housing.

If you are wondering how one would operate the phone through a housing, Watershot has developed an app for that. The app is available in the App store and is free. It has features such as a compass, video mode, camera, sleep and playback as well as easy uploads to Twitter and Facebook. Dive How is the online dive community for users of this housing.

In addition to the housing itself is the Dive Modular. This accessory fits on the front of the housing and communicates to the phone through Blue Tooth. The Dive Modular acts as a log book and can record GPS locations where photos were taken along the dive route, pretty nifty. It also logs things such as temperature, depth and time.

At the other end of the scale, Watershot also had their housings for the Arri Alexa and Arri 235 cameras.

i-Divesite.

i-Divesite has partnered with Watershot with their iPhone housing. Whilst Watershot will be responsible for US distribution, i-Divesite will be responsible for worldwide sales. We met with Kelvin Lee of i-Divesite and Doug Taleska of iTorch to view other parts of their range.

They have a range of new video and focus lights:

The Venusian II offers 750 lumens and an 80° beam angle. It will burn at 80% of its full power for an hour, and a further hour at 60%. It is priced at $325.

The Focus II has 600 lumens 2 levels of white and 2 levels of red light. Its beam is 100° with 70% power after 2 hours. It is run on AA batteries.

The Carbonic I is a very compact torch with a carbon fiber battery compartment. It has $750 lumens and will run at 100% for one hour and then another hour to 60%.

The Video Pro 5 is a dedicated video light, offering 1600 lumens with a 110° beam. Burn time is one hour at full power.

Offering 2,000 lumens and a completely watertight head that can be immersed even with the battery compartment removed, is the Gen 1.3. This also has an 110° beam and 4 levels of white and 4 levels of red light. It will run for 40 minutes at 120%.

i-Divesite also offer a range of arms and trays. This includes an adjustable tripod leg/arm and a “cage” style tray that offers attachment points for up to 5 ball mounts.

It is adjustable for length to accommodate different housings, but is best suited for medium to large compact and EVIL camera housings.

There is also an M67 lens caddy option.

Lastly, the company has a range of wet lens diopters. New for this year is a +16. Kelvin was at pains to point out that the magnification measurement was taken in air and is more like a +8 in water.

Ultralite Control Systems.

I visited Terry Schuller on their Ultralite Control Systems (ULCS) stand. ULCS has added a new hotshoe ball adaptor that is easier to attach and adjust.

Terry showed me their GoPro polecam, which has a variety of mounting options, including either a ball mount or a mount that attached directly to the GoPro housing.

She also shows me what she calls the GoPro pistol grip that combines a UK Aqualite eLED torch, a handgrip and a GoPro.

Ultralite had asked ULCS to produce a mounting bar for attaching their light to a ball mount, and the company has taken this a stage further using existing components.

Lastly, she expects to have a new cage for the GoPro HERO3 ready within the next few weeks.

Dive and See.

I revisited Olga and Alexandre Iachkov to see their housing for the Atomos Ninja 2 recorder/monitor. This device allows the recording of uncompressed video whilst still providing a monitoring solution. Many companies have been searching for an underwater solutions, but it has presented problems trying to control the device, as it uses a touch screen and LANC support has been disabled.

Dive and See’s solution is to use a movable lever to access and use most of its functions. It attaches to the camera via HDMI. The housing and controls are produced in house.

BS Kinetics/H20 Photo Tools.

Bodo Sutterer, Herbert Schmitz and Stefan Horvath were on the H20 Photo tools stand. They have now started producing their Inon extension knobs and a red filter for the GoPro HERO2 which retails at $75.

They plan to release a version for the GoPro HERO3 within the next 3 weeks.

BS Kinetics had their housing for the Nikon D800 on the stand. Bodo mentioned that he is currently working on a housing for the Panasonic GH3. Future support will be offered for the 5D Mark III and Olympus OM-D EM5.

Light and Motion.

We spent some time with Daniel Emerson on the Light and Motion stand. The company has released a new family of products under the Nightsea. These have been designed in conduction with Charlie Mazel for fluorescence photography.

The SOLA Nightsea is a SOLA dive light with blue LEDs and a special coating on the lens that reduces any stray light that falls out of the 450-480 nanometer wavelength. Daniel explained that testing suggests that this is the wavelength least likely to cause reactions in marine life. The light is also supplied with a phosphor filter that restores the blue light back to while light in order to use the torch conventionally. The torch retails at $749.

For those that need more output, the company also have produced a new “Nightsea X front plate” that is used in place of the normal white light front plate. It also has an integrated phosphor filter integrated that can be revolved into position. The front plate is $649

Fluorescence photography also requires a mask filter and camera filter in order for the camera or user to see the effects of the light. Light and motion also supply complete mask and camera lens kits, priced at $49 and $59 respectively.

Light and Motion have added a YS mount option for their video and photo lights. In future, lights and mounts will be supplied separately, allowing the user to choose which version they prefer. They have also changed the reflectors in the SOLA 2000’s LEDs in order to minimise any minor hot spots that could occur.

Staying with the 2000 for a minute, they also offer a spot/flood version which offers 625 and 2000 lumens at spot and flood settings respectively. This is priced at $899.

On the dive light front, they have produced the SOLA Tech 600, a 600 lumen dive light with an 8° beam that can be mounted on the back of a divers hand.

Keldan.

We headed over to Keldan where we met up with Daniel Keller to check out his cool purple lights.

The first light he went over with us was the Luna 8, both CRI (colour rendering index) and Flux. They have 50 degree reflectors.

You can change out the bulbs, of which there are four, as well as reflectors, there are two. Basically this system is modular. The Luna 8 CRI retails for $2190, while the Flux retails for $2090.

The cyan bulb is made to be used with available light and a red filter, to fill in the shadows and match the available light. The CYAN LED module retails for $660, while the UV Module, that features more fluorescence and less blue, retails for $760.

Nocturnal Lights

One of our last stops of the day was at Nocturnal Lights with Tim Lau. We checked out the M700t, the technical light, and the M700i, the video light.

Each of these lights outputs 700 lumens but differ in the angle of light. M700t is a 15-degree spot light, while the M700i is 80-degrees for video.

At a retail price point of $170, these are great consumer level lights.

The lights use CR123 lithium ion batteries but Nocturnal also offers an upgrade pack of two rechargeable batteries and a charger retailing at $55.

In addition to lights, Nocturnal Lights have many different trays and set-ups as well as connectors and adapters.

Nocturnal Lights is now also the US distributer for BS Kinetics distinctive carbon fiber housings.

Snake River Prototyping.

Bill Fuger of Snake River Prototyping (SRP) took us through their range of filters for GoPro POV cams. He also described how the company started making the filters due to a friend who was disappointed with the results from his camera while on holiday.

Their first product was the Blurfix, which added a flat port onto the HERO1/2 housing to allow it to focus underwater. It also had a threaded ring for the attachment of UR Pro colour correct filters, which SRP also supply. Interestingly, they also have a Circular Polarizing filter and HD filters that can be attached for surface use.

With the launch of the GoPro Dive housing, the company then produced The Dome, a curved blue water correction filter that snaps over the front of the housing. It is also using a URPro colour, but the moulding and fabrication is being done by SRP. The HERO3 is also being supported with a new slip on blue water filter which is available now.

Page 1: Pre-show set up.
Page 2: Booth visits: Aquatica, Nauticam, GoPro, Polar Pro, Solmar V/DivEncounters Alliance, Dive and See, Reefnet, Fisheye.
Page 3: Booth visits: Subal, Blue Vision, Acquapazza, Sea & Sea, Nauticam, Quikpod, XIT404 and Gates Underwater Products.
Page 4: The Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Party
Page 5: Booth Visits: Ikelite, Watershot, i-Divesite, Ultralite Control Systems, Dive and See, BS Kinetics, Light and Motion, Keldan, Nocturnal Lights, Snake River Prototyping.
Page 6: Booth visits: Equinox, Inon, Backscatter, Mangrove, Seacam and around the show.