Underwater Photography Magazine’s 25th Anniversary issue is now available, free to download from the UWPmag.com website. To mark the anniversary, this special issue includes an impressive list of photographers, including many Wetpixel members, who have contributed to the previous issues of this magazine, as well as all the usual content.
On Saturday 9th July, Wetpixel Co-Admin Alex Mustard is running a FREE digital photography day at Ocean Optics in London. From noon, Alex will be on hand to offer one to one advice on how to improve your underwater images. Then as a special evening event Alex will make a presentation to reveal the intricacies of the techniques that he has used to produce his best underwater digital photographs.
The event is free, but with limited space, the talk is by ticket only - contact Ocean Optics to reserve yours. This is a wonderful and rare opportunity to learn simple skills that will greatly help you to make better underwater photographs, regardless of the digital camera that you own. And did I mention it is FREE!
As most of you know, Disney planned to serve shark fin soup at its Hong Kong location, provoking an outcry from conservation groups and much of the general public. In a press release Friday, Disney said it has decided to remove shark’s fin soup from the menu, altogether.
“After careful consideration and a thorough review process, we were not able to identify an environmental sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove shark’s fin soup from our wedding banquet menu,’’ the press release said.
Prizes have been announced for the upcoming Bonaire Digital Shootout, which will take place from July 23-30, 2005. Top prizes include a 7-day liveaboard trip to Komodo aboard the Kararu, Light & Motion Tetra housings, dive gear, Adobe software, and more! With around 20 prizes and only 40 participants, your chances of winning something are very good. :)
There are last-minute spots available. To book, please call Dan Baldocchi at 773-308-5673, or e-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Wetpixel user Laz Ruda reports that Matthias Heinric has completed his eTTL2 converter and is in the final development stage of a firmware upgrade that will support 2nd curtain sync on the Rebel, D60, 10D and 20D at all shutterspeeds. The digital adapter is a solid state circuit that goes between your camera’s hotshoe and the camera’s internal bulkhead wiring. Currently, 2nd curtain sync with a Canon body can only be obtained when using a Canon speedlite, so this is a major feature addition for Canon shooters.
Who are the photographers you admire the most, and why? Please join us in the forums area and let us know your thoughts.
There’s a great discussion going on in the Wetpixel forums about using still cameras on the end of poles (often called “polecamming”).
Topics so far include hardware used to connect a pole to your camera, manual vs. electronic shutter release, getting “pole swiped” when standing behind a polecammer, and more.
Remember to check out the Best of Wetpixel forum area for must-read topics!
Sea & Sea Japan has announced the 8.2-megapixel 8000G digital camera and DX-8000G underwater housing (sold in a set). The DX-8000G housing works with both the 8000G camera and its 5-megapixel predecessor, the 5000G.
The 8000G features a brisk, 0.10-second shutter lag (including autofocus—quite good for a point & shoot), movie mode, 26MB of built-in memory (expandable, using SD media), manual exposure control, and a “Color Depth” setting that “allows adjustments to chroma and contrast to match the demanding conditions of underwater lighting.”
The 8000G itself looks to be a re-branded Ricoh GX8. I haven’t heard anything about whether the Sea & Sea has any additional features over Ricoh’s version.
At this month’s Seaspace convention, James Watt showed some photos during his Digital Workshop that he took in Indonesia using a new filtering technique that results in dramatic improvement in the appearance of the sun in the frame. The photos were taken using a system under development by Berkley white of Backscatter.com. I had a discussion with Berkley today about his use of neutral density filters to aid underwater photography. He has developed a system where this type of filter can be mounted on a fisheye lens and the camera housing’s zoom control can be used to position the dark part of the filter to help control the sunburst effect.
Berkley White has posted a gallery of photos from his recent trip to Socorro Island. He used a Subal ND2 Housing and the FE2 dome with the 12-24DX lens. There was a recent discussion here at Wetpixel about this lens’ performance and these photos provide an example of putting this lens to its ideal use.