Articles
Last call for entries: Beneath the Sea 2011
The deadline for submitting entries for the 2011 Beneath the Sea International Imaging Competition is 31 December 2010. The three entry categories are: Underwater photography, underwater videography and creative photography underwater.
The winners will be announced at the Film Festival during the weekend of Beneath the Sea’s Oceans, Dive and Travel Exposition held from 25-27 March at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Shark Conservation Bill sent to Obama for ratification
The Washington Post has reported that the Shark Conservation Bill has passed through the US House of Representatives today, having been passed through Congress on Monday. All that now remains is the President’s signature to ratify it into law. The Bill proposes to force any vessel to land sharks with their fins attached and would prevent non-fishing vessels from transporting shark fins without their carcasses. In addition, the Shark Conservation Bill will improve on the existing law originally intended to prevent shark finning, and it also allows the U.S. to take action against countries whose shark finning restrictions are not as strenuous.
It seems that 2010 may have been a better year for sharks than 2009.
Review: UnderWater Camera Stuff Housing Sentry
Damian Siviero has reviewed the UnderWater Camera Stuff Housing Sentry:
“You’ve just sealed up housing with camera inside – what next? Conventional wisdom would suggest that you either rely on a dunk test in fresh water or simply hope that no seal has been compromised. The dunk test - a procedure that uses water entering a confined space filled with expensive electronics as an alert mechanism, not my idea of common sense. Then there is the hopeful approach, whereby you assume everything is okay either because you’re flawless or your housing was engineered by god and can never fail.”
Larike Village Eels
Tony Wu has added an article and video of a fascinating visit to the village of Larike, Ambon, Indonesia. He managed to get to the village at the end of the Wetpixel Ambon Night safari, and Tony had some very close encounters with the eels which live in a river near the village. He was alerted to the presence of the eels by Hafes Mansur Lausepa, one of the team at Maluku Divers, who also happens to be Raja of Larike village. Hafes describes the eels:
“They are completely harmless and quite curious”.
Mini review: Lightroom SoftProof plug-in
A mini review of Lightroom Plugins SoftProof plug-in. Soft proofing is a process that allows you to view images on your computer screen, with the same profile applied to them that will be used during printing. The idea is that in a color-managed workflow, this should give the user a pretty clear idea of how the image will eventually look printed on paper using an ICC profile. This plug-in allows the soft proofing of images from within Adobe Lightroom.
ULCS releases GoPro mounting options
Ultralight Control Systems (ULCS) has released two new mounting options for the GoPro HD camera housing. Initially debuted at DEMA, the GoPro HD Ball mount cage, fits over the GoPro HD camera housing. It serves to prevent loss of the camera if the housings plastic mounting tab breaks. The ball attachment allows for the housing to be attached to a still camera housing, for example, giving the option of recording on video what you are shooting.
The other new attachment option is the AD-GO, which allows the GoPro housing to attach to a tripod or other mounting with a ball fitting. However, It does not offer the protection that the mount cage does.
Hugyfot D7000 housing renderings released
Hugyfot has released some early CAD renderings of their new housing for the Nikon D7000 camera. In common with all other Hugyfot housings, it will be equipped with the HugyCheck leak detection system. New features on this housing will include a sled camera mounting system, fiber optic connections for TTL strobe control, a dovetails handle mounting system and a built-in HDMI in/out connection. The latter will allow for the use of a large external monitor.
The company plans to have working prototypes in early January, and have committed to providing a housing for the forthcoming Wetpixel D7000 housing review.
Apple releases RAW update 3.5
Apple has released RAW update 3.5, which adds support for several new cameras. Included in these are the Nikon D7000 SLR, COOLPIX P7000, Canon PowerShot G12 and Panasonic LUMIX GF2 and GH2. Apple has also published a full list of RAW formats supported by OSX v10.6.
The RAW update is available via software update or by direct download.