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Japanese island seeks to protect dolphins Photo

Japanese island seeks to protect dolphins

As a poignant counterpoint to the ongoing slaughter of dolphins and whales at Taji, an island in Japan has taken an entirely different approach to its interaction with cetaceans. Bluevoice.org has published a film about the remarkable relationship between the inhabitants of Toshima, a small island off Tokyo, and a pod of wild dolphins. A female dolphin, who, along with her baby was registered in the island’s ledger as an official citizen in 1998, presently leads a pod of Toshima dolphins and the island is seeking to both protect its dolphin population and to promote eco tourism in order to get people to visit and interact with them.

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RED announces mount for Nikon lenses Photo

RED announces mount for Nikon lenses

RED has announced the release of a Nikon lens mount for the EPIC and SCARLET cameras. The mount, available in aluminum or titanium, allows for full electronic autofocus and iris control from the camera body. Both electronic lens mounts also feature a positive lock to ensure even the heaviest lenses are secure. The titanium mount is stronger and will not be affected by temperature changes. RED now offers four different mounts with their DSMC cameras: PL, Canon, Nikon, and Leica M.

Both versions are available now with the aluminum mount at $800 and the titanium one at $2,200.

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Call for entries: I Edición Premio Naturforo 2012 Photo

Call for entries: I Edición Premio Naturforo 2012

I Edición Premio Naturforo 2012 (First Edition Award Naturforo 2012) will be calling for entries from 1 October for its competition. The subject of the contest is anything in relation with nature or wildlife. There is a specific category for Underwater Photography.

Full rules and entry details (in English) are available on the Naturfoto website. Entries will be accepted from 1 October until 31 November, 2012.

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Dyron adds new products Photo

Dyron adds new products

Dyron has added a series of new lenses and lens adapters to its range. The company has a new 8mm fisheye lens for the RecSea G1X housing, M67 and M52 adapters for the RecSea RX100 housing and a 15mm wide-angle lens adapter with a 67mm thread. All the above will be available from the beginning of October. Dyron has also announced that they plan to release an ultra wide-angle hemispherical double coated glass wet lens with an M67 thread mounting in January 2013. Prices are all still to be confirmed.

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Loner dolphin becomes a problem in the Caymans Photo

Loner dolphin becomes a problem in the Caymans

Michael Maes has posted a video of an encounter with a sexually confused young male dolphin on YouTube. “Stinky” as he is known, has been frequenting dive sites around the Cayman Islands for the last four or so years, and is well known for fairly aggressive attempts to mate with divers. The behavior is likely to be due to the fact that as a “loner” dolphin he is seeking a mate, and in the absence of any female dolphins to court, is seeking alternatives. It can be quite dangerous, as he is a big powerful animal, and if he is observed in the area, the best alternative is not to enter the water. If he is encountered whilst diving, end the dive and exit.

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Final Call: Antibes/Marseille International contest Photo

Final Call: Antibes/Marseille International contest

The Festival Mondial de l’image Sous-Marine, known colloquially as the Antibes festival (despite the fact that it is now held in Marseille) has announced a final call for registration of entries for the 2012 festival. All entrants must have been registered by 15 September to be considered. The event will be held this year from 1 to 4 November at the Congres Center, Chanot Park, Marseille, France.

Full entry and registration details are available on the contest’s website.

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Call for entries: LAUPS 2012 2012 Photo and Video Competition Photo

Call for entries: LAUPS 2012 2012 Photo and Video Competition

The Los Angeles Underwater Photo Society (LAUPS) is calling for entries for their 2012 International Photo and Video Competition. Now in its fiftieth year, it has 7 categories for amateur photographers: Macro, Wide Angle, Behavior, Cold Water, Compact Macro, Compact Wide Angle and Compact Cold Water. In addition, there are two categories for amateur videographers: Video Raw Footage and Video Edited Footage.

Full details of the contest are available on the LAUPS website and the deadline for entries is 28 September.

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Voting ends soon for Wetpixel Raja Tag contest Photo

Voting ends soon for Wetpixel Raja Tag contest

The voting for the 2013 Wetpixel Raja Ampat Entrance tag contest is nearly at an end. There are 61 fantastic entries to vote for, one of which will be worn by every visiting diver to Raja Ampat in 2013. The results are looking very close, so your vote will make a difference.

If you haven’t done so yet, please make your way over to the contest’s voting page and pick your favorites. Voting will end at midnight on 15 September, so you only have a few more days to do so.

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Nikon provides details of the D600 SLR Photo

Nikon provides details of the D600 SLR

After numerous rumors and leaks, Nikon has finally officially announced the D600 FX format SLR. The lightweight and compact camera has a 24.3 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with a native ISO range of 100 to 6400 combined with Nikon’s EXPEED 3 processor. It also features Nikon’s Scene Recognition System for AF, combined with a 39 point MultiCAM 4800FX AF module and has 100% overage through the viewfinder. Video functions include 1080p video at 24p, 25 or 30, 720p at 60, 50 and 30 and the video image can be displayed on the LCD screen while simultaneously shown on another monitor through the HDMI, with or without shooting data. In addition, uncompressed video can be recorded through the camera’s HDMI connection.

The Nikon D600 will be available on September 18, 2012 for the suggested retail price (SRP) of $2,099.95.

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Wetpixel Sony NEX-5n housing review Photo

Wetpixel Sony NEX-5n housing review

The advent of cameras featuring SLR sized sensors, but with electronic viewfinders and interchangeable lenses has got many people considering these as alternatives to SLRs for underwater photography. The idea of a compact sized camera with SLR image quality is an attractive one, especially in a world where airlines are being increasingly difficult about weight limits. Sales of such cameras have apparently outstripped sales of SLRs in the Far East in 2011, which would suggest that manufacturers may put more effort into developing new and sophisticated models in future.

With this in mind, Wetpixel has set out to review the available housing for one such camera, the Sony NEX-5n. We plan to be diving and using all the major housing choices over the next few months, so please check back as we report back on how we find them.

Reviews: 10 Bar, Nauticam NA-NEX5N, Aquatica AN-5N housing.

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