Wetpixel/Under The Jungle Cenote Workshop 2021
Articles
Red One video camera hearsay
There has been some recent forum activity about the Red One (Oakley founder Jim Jannard’s futuristic new video camera). Many posts are of the “I heard from a friend whose sister told me xxx” variety, but the topic is worth reading simply because the camera looks so cool. If it ends up delivering video accurate to its specifications, RED Digital Cinema is really going to really shake up the professional HD video market.
Although, if someone pointed a housed Red One at me underwater, I’d sort of expect to be blasted out of existence.
Sea & Sea announces new products
Sea & Sea officially announced the release of the YS-110 strobe, a Nikon D80 housing, and a Sony HDR-HC3/DCR-DVD505/HDR-UX1 video housing.
The YS-110 features a land guide number of 22, a 105° x 105° beam angle, Sea & Sea’s DS-TTL, and as much as 320 flashes from NiMH AA batteries, while the new housings feature a depth rating of 200ft (60m) and a built-in leak sensor.
To learn more, check out the Sea & Sea press releases:
PBS Special Tonight - National Marine Sanctuaries
On September 20th and 27th, PBS is airing a feature about National Marine Sanctuaries. Please tune in to your local PBS station at 8 p.m. (check your local listings) to see “America’s Underwater Treasures”. During the two evenings, all 14 sites will be featured. In addition, KQED has officially launched the sanctuary guide portion of their website to coincide with the airing of the program. On the website, you’ll find information on all of the sites in the National Marine Sanctuary System as well as information on the many issues facing these marine protected areas.
Adobe Photoshop CS2’s Bridge and Camera Raw Defaults
Adobe Photoshop CS2 is a staple application in pretty much every modern photographer’s arsenal. Unfortunately, it ships with a crippling RAW conversion default whose fix should be the first thing you do upon its installation.
I frequently see underwater photographers load up Bridge and look at their images with disappointment in their eyes. “Why is the water so ... light? I could have sworn I had underexposed for The Blue!” The fix is simple…
Photography: Is it art or is it reality?
Two weeks ago, Wetpixel member John Bantin started an interesting topic in our forums. “Is it art or is it reality?”:
We learned about Photoshop and started to retouch away all those annoying grolleys that were in the water. Then mooring lines and divers inconveniently placed magically disappeared. With the skills so practised, I am now able to go back to the 500,000 snaps (no exaggeration) I have in filing cabinets and resurrect any that I care to….
However, this does mean that all my pictures are getting stylized (just like everyone else’s). I fear that they no longer represent the truth. I am not talking about exhibition or competition pictures. I am talking about the pictures that go into Diving magazines. Are they misleading in their new-found perfection?
What do you think? Is this new digital art misrepresenting reality? The camera never used to lie!
The thread has since attracted over 80 replies, and is well worth reading, if you are struggling with balancing photography as art and photography as reality.
Canon 5D Conversion Kit for Subal C10 (10D)
As I posted here on Wetpixel a few weeks (or perhaps months?) back, my friend and master machinist Bill Reed created a conversion kit for the Subal C10 (Canon 10D Housing) to accept the Canon 5D. Well, it is finally done. I will be taking the rig underwater in about a week and a half to test out both the housing and the dome port adapter. The beauty of the kit is that it allows you to retain use of the 10D as a backup body on trips!...
Save The Dolphins Campaign
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 is Japan Dolphin Day, an “international day of protest…to urge the Japanese authorities to ban the slaughter of dolphins.”
Every year, Japanese fisherman round up dolphins by the thousands and brutally slaughter them - with permission from Tokyo. The Save Taiji Dolphins Campaign is calling for peaceful protests in front of Japanese embassies around the world in an effort to stop the killing.
To learn more about what you can do to help, or to find out where the nearest embassy is located, visit SaveTaijiDolphins.org...
Dozens of new species discovered off Papua New Guinea
A team from Conservation International has discovered dozens of new species of marine life in an area called Bird’s Head Seascape off the coast of Papua, including 24 new species of fish, 20 species of coral and eight species of shrimp. There is a little video clip from Gerry Allen of a new epaulette shark that walks on its fins.