Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

X-Ray Magazine #12 is available for download

X-Ray, a fantastic, free, online magazine, has just announced the availability of issue #12:

From cool blue wilderness of the Canadian high Arctic to the red hot deserts of Jordan - from Beluga whales close to magnificent wrecks. Also in this issue lots of Ocean Art including Chihulys Seaforms. Vi have a talk with photographer Kurt Amsler and AP Valves Martin Parker. Dives: 200m on CCR in Thailand and explore caves in Bosnia. Technique: Leigh Cunningham tells why we should watch our partial pressure and Jason Heller and Dan Beecham explains how we can rig your photogear.
Lots of other news and new gear too - as always.

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

Canon announces HV10 HDV camcorder

Canon has announced the HV10, its first consumer-oriented HDV camcorder. It features optical image stabilization, a 10x optical zoom, a CMOS sensor, manual exposure, custom white balance, simultaneous stills (2MP) and video, and a vertical grip orientation. It looks *very* small, and should compete will with the Sony HC3. MSRP is estimated to be USD $1299.

All of Canon’s newly-announced HDV camcorders use “Instant AF,” which incorporates external sensors as a first step toward fast autofocus. It remains to be seen whether these sensors will even work underwater, and whether manufacturers will take them into account when designing underwater housings.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

10th International Underwater Film Festival in Belgrade

The 10th International Underwater Film Festival in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro will be held at the end of this year from December 8-11, 2006. The festival is accepting film submissions, which must have been produced sometime during 2005 or 2006 with at least 30% of the footage underwater. Acceptable formats are BETA SP, DV Cam or MiniDV (PAL). Competition admission is free.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Looking for images: Sardine Run Photo Gallery, 2006

Hello, photographers! Wetpixel is looking for your top 5 images from this year’s Sardine Run off of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. We’re accepting uploaded photos until August 31, 2006. The winner will receive local fame and glory as his or her sardine run gallery is published as a feature here on Wetpixel.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Wags’ HDV Demo Video

One of our video moderators, Paul Waghorn (“Wags”), has posted a wonderful, 8-minute demo video of his underwater work with HDV camcorders. It’s well worth the download, if you have the bandwidth to pull down a 35mb (wmv) or 115mb (qt h.264) file. You can see more of his work at his website, HDV Underwater.

Monday, July 31st, 2006

LA Times, Altered Oceans

The Los Angeles Times is on day 2 of publishing Altered Oceans, a five-part series on the crisis in the seas, by Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling, with photography and video by Rick Loomis. It features some fantastic (and effective) conservation photography, and is definitely worth taking a look at. Unfortunately, the site is 100% Flash, and those of you on slow connections will have to wait for long load times.

Monday, July 31st, 2006

Canon announces XH G1 and XH A1 HDV Camcorders

Canon has announced its XH G1 ($6800) and XH A1 ($4700) HDV Camcorders, both equipped with fixed, image-stabilized, 20x optical zoom lenses, 2.8-inch LCD viewscreens, and three 1/3-inch CCD imagers. Shipping date is October 2. Our video guy Drew Wong writes:

... they look very good, although actual specs (lux rating etc) are skimpy. I checked the japanese website and found a lot more specs than the US one (which is usually the case).

Canon historically have had a slightly different look to their, more saturated and less sharpened/contrasty compared to Sony. These cameras look like direct competitors to the FX/Z1 from Sony. With direct HD SDI out, slightly higher res VF and LCD plus even more picture adjustments, Canon is taking aim at the FX1. The Z1 still has dual NTSC/PAL advantage. But 20X zoom, HD SDI, Genlock etc are going to be big sells for many shooters.

HOWEVER, the problem for the u/w shooter is the availability of housings. Even with Lanc controls, housings for Canon have been a very short list, esp on the electronic housing segment. Canons tend to have a lot more buttons on the outside for controls which may make housing manufacturers cringe but helluva more useable to the shooter. I guess we’ll see in Oct.

Sunday, July 30th, 2006

Divester’s first photo contest

Our friends at Divester are sponsoring their first-ever underwater photo contest. The rules are simple:

* The photo has to be your photo.
* The photo has to have been taken underwater.

If you are one of the ten winners, you will get a free copy of Shaun and Beth Tierney’s dive guide called Diving the World. Good luck, everyone!

Sunday, July 30th, 2006

OzTEK ‘07 Speaker Update

Widely hailed as one of the world’s leading forums for divers, the OZTeK’07 Diving Technologies Conference & Exhibition will feature one of the most distinguished gatherings of international diving authorities ever seen in Australia.

To be staged at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney, Australia over the weekend of the 17th and 18th March 2007, the speakers and presenters will represent every field of diving expertise. Confirmed speakers include John Chatterton, Leigh Bishop, Peter Buzzacott, Kevin Gurr, Jarrod Jablonski, Dr. Simon Mitchell, Cedrec Verdier, and more. Full details at the FiNS Blog...

Saturday, July 29th, 2006

Expodisc used for underwater white balance

Daniel Deck (videodan) has modified his Light & Motion Bluefin HD housing to take an internal Expodisc for use during underwater white balancing. It appears to work quite well, and I am going to try to fit my Expodisc into my L&M housing as soon as possible!

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