A paper in the journal PLoS ONE entitled “The Digital Fish Library: Using MRI to Digitize, Database, and Document the Morphological Diversity of Fish” describes how researchers are using MRI scanners to obtain non-invasive 3D scans of the soft tissue anatomy of an array of fishes preserved in the Marine Vertebrate Collection of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The need for this has been identified as obtaining access to specimens for research is not always practical and frequently conflicts with the need to maintain the physical integrity of specimens.

The images of the high-resolution, high-contrast scans of the soft tissue anatomy of over 300 marine and freshwater species, can be viewed and accessed for research purposes on the Digital Fish Library.

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Think Tank photo has released 4 new products aimed at simplifying the organization of all the gear we need to carry, especially whilst travelling. They have released two versions of pouches designed for carrying SLR batteries, one which has a capacity for 2 batteries, and one for 4 batteries. Both will compress flat when not in use, and have hook and loop closures. The company has released a version of their popular Pixel Pocket Rocket memory card holder that has slots specifically sized to take 9 SD cards. The SD Pixel Pocket Rocket will also fold flat, has see-through panels to allow for the identification of cards, and has an attached tether for security. Lastly, and more of interest for land based photographers, the Strobe Gel Wallet stores Rosco Strobist gels in a neat and organized manner, keeping them protected.

All 4 products will be available soon and are priced from $9.50 to $16.50.

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Panasonic has announced the release of the LUMIX GF5 EVIL camera. It features a new 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor and redesigned Venus Engine, which the company claims produces exceptional resolution, image rendering and color reproduction. It has a maximum of 12800 ISO sensitivity and a combination of 3DNR (3D Noise Reduction) and MNR (Multi-process Noise Reduction) . In common with other LUMIX G series camera, it has Contrast AF, with the addition for the GF5 of full-area focusing. Lastly, it can record 1920x1080 60i HD video in AVCHD format.

The GF5 will be available “later this year” at a price of $599.

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The LUX Maldives resort on South Ari Atoll will host the first “Underwater Festival” in the Maldives from 14 - 20 May 2012. Amongst other activities, this will feature underwater photography sessions with award-winning photographers including Pascal Kobeh and Junji Takasago, free-diving courses and night diving using equipment that will capture fluorescence. In addition local expert and marine biologist, Chiara Fumagalli, will present workshops and forums during the festival.

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After much speculation, Sony has announced the NEX-FS700U (700E in Europe). It is a bigger sister to the popular FS-100 which shares the same E-lens system and a similar form factor. By default the camera will shoot 1080P at 24/25/30/50 and 60 fps to cards using AVCHD 2.0. The camera will have also super slow motion capabilities at 1080P at 240fps, or up to 40x slow motion at lower (as yet unspecified) resolutions. Most interesting perhaps is a commitment from Sony to provide a firmware update to allow the NEX-FS700U to output 4K bitstream data over 3G HD-SDI when used with an optional Sony 4K recorder.

The camera will be available in June at a quoted price of “less than $10,000”.

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