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Ten year marine census publishes highlights
The first census of marine life has taken ten years to complete, 2,700 researchers from 80 nations and has spent a total of 9,000 days at sea during at least 540 expeditions, reports the BBC. The publication of “First Census of Marine Life 2010: Highlights of a Decade of Discovery” due later today, brings to a close the first phase of the project, but also highlights how much more work there is to do to completely catalog the oceans diversity. Professor Boris Worm, leader of Census Studies of the Future said:
“The rapidly changing ocean that we are now uncovering helps us to understand ourselves,” and “it compels us both to continue with journeys of discovery and to make wise choices in the future.”
African Diver issue 13 available
Issue 13 of the online magazine African Diver is now available. This issue also celebrates the second birthday of the publication by offering articles on the lost spider crab species of southern Africa, a photographic essay on the beauty of the Eastern Cape and Transkei coasts and a feature on diving the Brothers in the Red Sea. In addition, the magazine has articles on the massive challenges facing marine conservation in Tanzania and this issues featured photographer is Mike Fraser.
As always, it is available as a free pdf download.
Eric Cheng: Talk at Stanford University and print display
Eric Cheng is to deliver a talk at Stanford University Photography Club at 7:30pm on Tuesday, October 5, 2010. Exact venue is yet to be determined, but it will be somewhere in the History Corner (building 200). Eric will announce the venue via his twitter account.
He plans to open the talk with a summary of how we do underwater photography, followed by a talk on sharks, and finally, his 20-minute TEDx talk on flashlight fish and sperm whales.
In addition, Eric’s aluminum underwater photography prints will be on display at RedStart Design (375 Alabama St., Suite 100) over the weekend on 9/10 October.
Henry Kaiser to talk at Orinda
Henry Kaiser, well-known musician and underwater videographer, will present a program about diving in Antarctica at this Monday’s (4 October) Alacosta Divers meeting at the Orinda Public Library, starting at 7.30. Henry has travelled to Antarctica every year since 2001, where he’s been diving as a research diver under fast ice; that is, ice held fast in place and is typically 20 to 30 feet deep. He has over 300 dives under fast ice, and has fascinating footage of gin-clear waters and the unearthly marine life that inhabits it, the sea floor, and the bottom of the ice shelf.
Henry’s Antarctic video footage that inspired Herzog to film “Encounters at the End of the World,” a documentary about the people who live and work in Antarctica. Henry provided underwater footage for that movie, and has also provided footage for Herzog’s “The Wild Blue Yonder” and BBC productions.
RED Scarlet repositions in the market
In a discussion, it seems that Jim Jannard of RED has decided not to bring a prosumer camera model to market and that RED will focus on the high-end professional market:
“We recently came to the conclusion that, indeed, we cater to the professional market. That’s it. A pro camera company. We want to build the best tools possible for those that want to “man up”. There are plenty of companies dedicated to selling prosumer (short for “almost right”) cameras. We aren’t going to be one of them.”
The price of Scarlet is to go up $1000 as new sensors are introduced. These HDRx models will give 18 stops of dynamic range as well as other new features, and will inevitably result in a further delayed release. In the forum, the suggestion seems to be that that RED’s change in direction is exactly that, not a failure and that if RED manage to release a sub-$10000 camera with the features they want to, it will still be a great product especially of interest to underwater filmmakers.
Underwater Festival 2011 details released
Details and a promotional video has been released about the Underwater Festival 2011. Taking place between 2-11 September 2011, the Festival plans to incorporate 100 events during the 10 days, as well as a still and video shootout that will happen over all of Australasia during the Festival dates.
The top 100 images will be showcased at the new Australian Dive & Travel Expo ODEX in Brisbane on the first weekend in October 2011 and there are many prizes available.
Petition to update Nikon D7000 firmware
Nikon’s new mid-range model, the D7000, is already the subject of a petition asking for upgraded video firmware. The camera was released at Photokina last month and is not yet shipping. The petition asks for Nikon to consider the addition of more frame rate options, a 720 60p/50p option for slow-motion and a higher bit rate option. This, the petition sponsors feel, will even the D7000’s performance with that of its Canon rivals.
This is somewhat ironic as the majority of US customers will only receive their cameras between 17-22 October!
Ig Nobel Award for whale sample collection
The BBC has reported that Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse’s technique for collecting samples from whale blowholes has earned her an Ig Nobel award. Dr Acevedo-Whitehouse, of the Zoological Society of London, uses a remote-control helicopter with a petri dish hanging below it to catch samples as the whales evacuate their blowholes. The exhaled gases and mucus blast the dishes which are then taken back to the lab to study the disease-causing micro-organisms carried by the animals. Dr Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse says:
“We certainly have had fun doing our whale-snot research”.
The tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel awards are given annually for “improbable research”.