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DEMA 2009, Day 2: Page 2 of 5 (page controls at bottom of this post)

Bigblue Dive Lights #1077

Bigblue were showing a variety of dive and video lights, including a 1000-lumen light available in both canister and stand-alone configurations (85 degree beam, 1-1.4 hours on a charge, single-chip LED). The stand-alone light is nearly neutral in the water and is available in all sorts of fancy colors. It uses a Nalgene-like material. Matt was really excited about the colors, and made comments about it several times (someone get him one!).

They also were showing the CF250 dive light, which is 250 lumens and has adjustable focus (from spot to tighter spot).

Dyron #983

Dyron is a new attendee to DEMA this year, providing “made in France” underwater photography and lighting accessories. Representative Christel Delmas had on display their 45-degree, swiveling viewfinder which can be fitted onto Ikelite housings and is completely wet-removable. New to the product lineup this year are the Fisheye Pro HD lens, which utilizes fully coated, low dispersion glass optical elements and is compatible with Ikelite housings, a stackable (male/female) 67mm macro lens, and the new smaller diameter “Luxe” line of carbon-fiber strobe arms

Epoque World #727

Frank Fennell at the Epoque booth walked us through a new housing for the Canon Rebel dSLR series (versions available for XSi, XS, and XTi). The housing has a 6-pin Canon TTL connector, sufficient internal spacing to allow the internal flash to be extended, and integrated diffuser (which also accepts accessory attachments for fiberoptics syncing). The housing has six available ports (three each dome and flat) for a range of lenses.

Fantasea Line #1075

Fantasea was showing off their Remora strobe, which was recently selected by Fujifilm to be used as their underwater strobe package.

They were also showing a wide-angle air lens ("air lenses" seem to be all the rage at DEMA this year), which is a wide-angle adapter with good optics. Fantasea's version mates with a Fuji housing, and with the Canon G10/G11 and G7/G9.

Also new is a 9-watt LED light. Like other Fantasea lights, this one turns off when it sees a flash. This a great feature, but it could be frustrating at night if you're traveling with other photographers!

Gates Underwater Products #960

This year Gates is featuring housings that support some of biggest -- and smallest -- camcorders in use in underwater video. In the pint size category, Gates has housings for the Sony's flagship consumer cam, the XR520. Likewise a new housing is ready for the Canon HF-S11. A unique feature of the Canon housing the clever placement of the remote control in the housing ceiling, with external buttons providing access to important camera features.

In the "big" category, the Red housing is back, but this year as a tested full production model. The housing supports numerous lens configurations and provides great access to all camera features. Internal and external weight tracks enable customers to perfectly trim and balance their housing. In addition, internal machined cooling ridges have significantly reduced the heating issues associated with the Red video capture drive.

Also featured in "big" category is the new housing for the Panasonic Varicam 3700. Port extenders and adjustable lens gears again support a variety of lens options. A dome option with "corrective optic" is available to enable certain lenses to perform to spec underwater. Finally, an 8 inch external monitor housing offers camera operators incredible composition and refinement capabilities underwater.

INON

INON's products were being displayed at both the Backscatter booth and the Reef Photo and Video booth. They were nice enough to send in high-resolution product shots, so we're including them here.