DEMA 2005 Show Report

by Christa Loustalot Thursday, October 20th, 2005

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10-Bar

10 Bar Underwater Housings were showing two new digital still housings and a new dome port. New for this year is the Canon 350D housing, the Nikon D70S housing, and a new 125mm dome port for the 350D. The new dome port houses the Sigma 10-20mm fisheye lens. LC Ng also showed me their housings for the Sony F828 and the Nikon SB800 strobe that they showcased last year. There were a lot of good things packed into this little booth!

10 Bar Canon 350D housing

Dome port for Sigma 10-20mm fisheye

10 Bar Nikon D70S housing

10 Bar Sony F828 housing

10 Bar DTTL Strobe Nikon SB800 housing

LC Ng of 10 Bar Underwater Housings

Advanced Design Engineering

ADE’s mantra “We Design Stuff” oughta be changed to “We Design Really Cool Stuff” in my humble opinion. Merlin Phillips showed me the rendering of a custom modified Nexus housing for a pole cam that he designed for photographer Paul Sutherland. Pretty Cool. If it’s good enough for Paul, it’s good enough for me. I have him looking into designing a housing for my ancient Samsung camcorder. Merlin was delightful – check out their website for other underwater “Cool Stuff” – if your noggin’ can conceive it, they can (probably) build it.

A computer rendering of a modified Nexxus housing for a pole cam..made for photographer Paul Sutherland

Merlin Phillips and the rest of the gang at Advanced Design Engineering...."We Design Really Cool Stuff"!!

Amphibico

Robert Ruffolo was my guide to Amphibico splendor – and it was hard not to get starry eyed over the “Rolls-Royce” of underwater housings. He showed me the new PHENOM FXZ1 housing for the new Sony HDR-FX1 & HVR-Z1U camcorders, and the new Dive Buddy EVO HD for the Sony HDR-HC1 and HVR-A1 HDV camcorders. Also featured was the super-cool new prism unit that fits on the top of the housings over the viewing window, allowing the shooter to view the screen without tilting the housing. There are a couple of optional cases available as well for the new housings….gotta protect your (very expensive) baby!

Robert Ruffolo - Asst. Director of Research & Development at Amphibico

Amphibico PHENOM FXZ1 housing for the Sony HDR-FX1 and HVR-Z1U

Close up of the new Amphibico Prism Unit that fits over the viewing window on the top of the housings

Amphibico optional hard case for the PHENOM

Amphibico Dive Buddy EVO HD housing for the Sony HDR-HC1 and HVR-A1 HDV

Amphibico optional soft case for the EVO

Amphibico Dive Buddy EVO HD housing for the Sony HDR-HC1 and HVR-A1 HDV

Aquatica

Aquatica’s beautiful booth was showcasing their new flagship D2X housing for the Nikon D2X digital camera. Different from their usual silver and gold goodness, this housing is a sleek and shiny black, and Mauricio (I just love that name) Handler was proud to show it off in all its gleaming glory. This housing looks so good I’m considering dumping Olympus for Nikon. Sorry Oly baby, it’s not you, it’s me. Oh, and the answer to the 5D question is …YES! YES! YES! Look for it in Jan. 2006, at the oh-so-attractive 20D price.

The Aquatica Booth

Aquatica D2X housing for the Nikon D2X

Mauricio Handler with the D2X housing

Aquatica D2X housing for the Nikon D2X

Backscatter

Backscatter Underwater Video and Photo was showing much of what they showed last year. Sy Harris gave me an education on the TopDawg Mini and Standard housings (which will work with at least 150 different camcorders), the three MacroMate macro diopters (Pocket, Flip-Up, and Video – that will work with many different housings), and the Super-Sexy German Hartenberger strobes…heck, even the batteries in these strobes are sexy. (And Sy is pretty cute too).

The Video MacroMate and the Pocket SLR MacroMate

The Hartenberger MINI Electronic Focus Light (mounted on a Subal C20 housing)

The Hartenberger MINI Electronic Focus Light and MINI Compact Hand Light

Battery pack for the MINI Electronic Focus Light

Battery pack for the MINI Compact Hand Light

Sy Harris of Backscatter holds the TopDawg Mini housing

TopDawg Mini housing

TopDawg Standard housing

TopDawg Mini sitting quietly by TopDawg Standard like a good little brother...

Sy demonstrates the Flip-Up SLR MacroMate lens

The Flip-Up MacroMate lens up close

Great report Christa
Posted by Mike Veitch on 2005-10-22 05:17:45 That's Not bluriness! That's "swirlies" ! Please not center and other points of faces are IN focus! As stated, a "special" technique honed over muchos anos :) Plus cerveza..... dhaas
Posted by dhaas on 2005-10-21 17:19:31 You can relate the amount of bluriness to the amount of David's content of margarita :), it was a definite pleasure and a must do again event. Girl you have been busy and have done a great job on reporting.My tip of the hat to you. Beneath the Sea is coming up this spring, let's do that again.
Posted by Viz'art on 2005-10-21 15:00:43 Christa, It's ok, there were alot of people and it was loud. You did great! Love the picture of the NCUPS booth too. Thanks for including us. Best, Kathy
Posted by kathymm on 2005-10-21 13:18:27 Psyschadelic photos are a Haas Photography technique, only possible after 1-3 beers :) Wish they were bigger so you see the real effects !!!!!!!!! It was great fun and chatter, plus meeting many people from the Wetpixel community. Dave Haas
Posted by dhaas on 2005-10-21 12:46:27 Sorry Kathy about the name mix-up. It was really loud in there and I could not hear names very well...most of them I didn't even get. I apologize to Randy over the error. Christa
Posted by cloustalot on 2005-10-21 11:08:13 Great write-up and photos Christa! DEMA this year was really fun. It was nice to meet you all at the Wetpixel cocktail hour. Thank you to Eric, Bonnie, and Jean! Interesting how the photos got more psychadelic with each round of drinks. Best, Kathy Mendes BTW...Ryan is known as Randy when not at DEMA cocktail parties. :-)
Posted by kathymm on 2005-10-21 10:48:57 Well done Christa....lots of good information and photos for all of us who couldn't make it Karl
Posted by kdietz on 2005-10-21 08:11:56