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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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...
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!