Thursday, March 25th, 2004

BBSR Course on Scientific Photography

The Bermuda Biological Station for Research, a US registered nonprofit organization, is for the first time offering a course on Scientific Photography (using both digital and film).

Scientific Photography is an intensive introduction comprised of lectures, required reading, laboratory exercises, demonstrations and field assignments. This two-week course exposes students to the use of photography as a scientific tool. Photography is frequently used to communicate scientific data and concepts at meetings, on posters and in presentations. It is also frequently used as a measuring and data recording tool for studies such as growth, percent coverage and camouflage. Photographs are increasingly used in taxonomy.

The format and content of the course is geared to upper level undergraduates and graduate students. Amateur photographers with a strong background in biology are welcome.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004

Selecting Lenses for Your New Digital SLR

James presents what he considers a good “stable” of beginner lenses and explains why he recommends them. These lenses were selected with an entry-level perspective in mind, so none of them exceed $350 in cost. Then he goes on to talk about using these lenses underwater inside an underwater housing and behind a port, illustrating this with sample underwater images for each lens.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004

Selecting Lenses for Your New Digital SLR

James presents what he considers a good

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004

INON Announces D-100 Optical Converter

On 3/16/2004, INON announced the release of an optical converter that allows Nikon D-100 shooters with housings that have standard 5-pin strobe connectors to use the popular D-180 and D-180S strobes. More information (in Japanese) is available on INON's Japanese site (related link, below).

[Note from Eric: This is the same optical converter we saw at DEMA briefly before it was yanked due to patent issues with another company (unresolved). It looks like it may never hit the market in the States, so if you want one you may have to source it from a Japanese vendor.]

Sunday, March 21st, 2004

Wetpixel Announces Bi-Monthly Photo Contest

Hello, readers. I'm excited to announce a new photo contest here at Wetpixel.com. If you have time, please forward the entire press release on to anyone you think might be interested (friends, local underwater photography societies, mailing lists, etc.)!

San Francisco, March 22, 2004 - Wetpixel.com, a website dedicated to the sharing of information about digital underwater photography, has announced a new bi-monthly underwater photography contest for both digital and scanned film images, which will compete on even footing for significant prizes donated by sponsors Aquatica, Pictopia, Ikelite, Gates Housings, Ultralight Control Systems, Marine Camera Distributors, and INON America. Contests will run every two months, and at the end of the calendar year, grand prize winners will be chosen and awarded prizes valued at more than $5,000 USD! Entering the contest is completely free.

Saturday, March 20th, 2004

Ikelite Control Enhancement

An interesting observation from Wetpixel user David Haas:

"Since spring loaded buttons are the norm now on most digicam housings, Ikelite has implemented a feature to keep these buttons functioning over the course of a housing's lifetime. When I received my new Ikelite EOS 300D housing I noticed an extra little "flushing hole" alongside each spring loaded control. This larger diameter hole doesn't go as deep as the actual control hole, but allows you to pump more fresh water down into the tight area these little controls inhabit during a post-salt water dive rinse. A seemingly simple idea, I think shows they're constantly refining features on their products."

Saturday, March 20th, 2004

MCD INON Z-220 Filter Holder

Wetpixel sponsor Marine Camera Distributors has started selling filter holders for the INON Z-220 series strobe. MCD's filter holder is compatible with Cokin P series filters, and costs $14.95. By putting a cyan or green filter over your INON Z-220 strobe, you can now easily use fill-flash when shooting with magenta/red filters over your lens! For more information on ambient light shooting, check out Craig Jones' feature article. Craig has also posted some photos shot with a CC30M gel over the lens and a CC30G gel over his strobes.

Thursday, March 18th, 2004

Kodak accounces DCS Pro SLR/c

Kodak has announced the DCS Pro SLR/c, a Canon-mount, 14MP full-frame digital SLR. Kodak dSLRs are currently the only full-frame alternatives to the Canon 1Ds, which retails at more than $3,000 USD more.

HANNOVER, Germany, March 18 - Providing professional photographers with a choice of lens mounts on its new digital SLR cameras, Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro SLR/c - a digital camera compatible with the popular CANON EOS lens mount. It offers the same superior resolution, broad ISO performance and extended burst depth found in the acclaimed KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro SLR/n digital camera built on a NIKON F-mount and introduced in February, 2004.

Monday, March 15th, 2004

More photos with Nikon 10.5mm fisheye

Jean Bruneau's Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens test report has been updated with a few photos beneath the ice!

Monday, March 15th, 2004

Aquatica D70 Housing Prototype

Our friends over at Aquatica have sent us an exclusive photo of a prototype Nikon D70 digital SLR housing. We at Wetpixel are very excited for more entry-level digital SLR housings to hit the market. Digital underwater photography with SLRs is getting more affordable almost literally by the month!

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