We are extremely excited to launch the new Wetpixel.com, which has been redesigned to more beautifully celebrate underwater photography and videography. We have a new section of the site called Full Frame, where we will publish photo essays featuring a string of beautiful, large pictures from contributors. The forums have been updated to the latest version of the software and supports the Tapatalk iOS app…
The short film, Baja, was recently awarded the 2013 Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography, a part of the Beneath the Sea (BTS) imaging contest. The filmmaker describes his project as being:
“Finally completed after a year of hard work and dedication, it was made to show and share with you the amazing and beautiful creatures that inhabit its waters. These beauties are still there, but most threatened. Many fish stocks have been depleted due to uncontrolled illegal fishing worldwide, especially in breeding and marine protected areas.”
Ikelite has released its housing for the Nikon D5200 SLR. As is normally the case, the company are the first to announce a housing for the camera, has TTL exposure control as a standard feature (when used with current Ikelite DS Substrobes) and is supplied with lens zoom rings. The housing is made of heavy-duty polycarbonate and has a glass viewfinder.
The Ikelite housing for the Nikon D5200 will be available in Mid March at a US retail price of $1,500.00.
Inon has announced the release of the UCL-100M67 and UCL-100LD close-up lenses. These can deliver super macro imaging capabilities with optical glass lenses in 3 elements of 3 groups and an anti-reflection coating on all four inner surfaces. They also feature a larger lens apertures to minimize vignetting even when using a camera with a 28mm lens at the wide end of its zoom range. It is available in 67mm threaded ( UCL-100M67) or Inon bayonet (UCL-100LD) versions. Inon M67 series close-up lens can be stacked on either version.
The new lenses are available now.
Nauticam has announced the imminent release of their housing for the Canon PowerShot G15 compact camera. The NA-G15 is made of aluminum and gives access to the programmable front and rear command dials as well as the mode and exposure dials. It also has a 67mm thread for attaching wet lenses and, as their press release points out, this gives the option of attaching Inon’s UWL-S100 ZM80 wide conversion lens and/or its additional dome lens unit. Lastly, the housing has fiber optic ports for strobe triggering.
The NA-G15 will be available from 1 March at a US retail price of $1050.
Retra has recently released a new, more economical version of their Light Shaping Device (LSD). Wetpixel’s a href=”http://www.amustard.com>Alex Mustard was able to take one of their early production models on several of his recent trips, and has posted his field review of it here. In addition, he provides a great deal of information about using snoots and how Retra’s units differ from most others that are available. He finds that the LSD allowed him to “subtly light a subject and not the background” and that it is a useful addition not only for competition shooting, but also for “everyday photography”
The results of the 2013 Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Our World Underwater contest have been announced. The contest attracted over 1500 entries from around the world, and the celebrity panel of judges which included Alex Mustard, Berkley White, Vincent Laforet, Keri Wilk, Mary Lynn Price, Steve Douglas and Eric Hanauer commented on how high the standard was this year. The overall winner and winner of the wide-angle unrestricted category was Sam Cahir with his portrait of a mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), entitled “Paris the mako shark”. The winner of the video category was “The Giants of Cenderawasih Bay” by John Boyle and Fionn Crow Howieson. Many congratulations to all the winners.
You can view all the winning images on UnderwaterCompetition.com. Winning videos will also be broadcast as episodes on DiveFilm HD.
Over the next few days, Wetpixel will be undergoing a major facelift. We are really excited to be rolling out a major new and updated design that will not only feature a modern and up-to-date appearance, but also incorporate a number of improvements in the ways that you will be able to interact with and browse the site.
The work on the site will mean that we will have to limit access for a while. We do not plan to shut it down, but you may not be able to post for a while. Please accept our profound apologies for this, but rest assured that we will try to get things back to normal as swiftly as we can. Once the new design is up and running, we will be asking for the community’s help and support in finding bugs and quirks. I will start a new forum thread for this purpose once we are ready to get your feedback. Once again, apologies in advance for any inconvenience, and we hope that you will find the changes as exciting as we anticipate they will be.
The results of the 2013 Beneath the Sea (BTS) imaging contest have been announced. The three major awards were awarded as follows: The David Doubilet Award for Excellence in Underwater Photography to Peter G Allinson for his hunting sailfish image, the Jim Church Award for Excellence in Underwater Creative Imaging to Filip Staes for his creation of a winged model underwater and the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography to Erick Higuera for his film entitled Baja.
Congratulations to all the winners, so many are active members of the Wetpixel community that it feels like a real celebration! The full results of the contest and the winning images are posted on the BTS website and will be available to view on March 22, 23, and 24, 2013 at The Meadowlands Exposition Center, Secaucus, New Jersey.
Retra has announced a new version of their light shaping device (lsd). Called the prime, it uses the same lens technology that is used on the existing LSD pro, but is simpler. It is supplied with 13 standard light projection shapes and is compatible with a wide variety of strobes.
The LSD prime is available now and retails at €349.00.