Sunday, February 5th, 2012

Filmmakers Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight die in helicopter crash

The underwater community suffered from a huge loss yesterday. Underwater filmmakers Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight died in a helicopter crash yesterday near Nowra, 80 miles south of Sydney. deGruy, 60, and Wight, 52, were reportedly scouting locations for an upcoming project.

I didn’t know Andrew Wight personally, but Mike deGruy’s bottomless excitement and enthusiasm were a huge source of inspiration for me (and for many others, no doubt). We will miss Mike tremendously, and our hearts go out to his family and friends.

For more in-depth information, please check Google News, which links to many articles about the incident.

We leave you with a TED talk that Mike gave in April of 2010. Let’s let his enthusiasm and love for the oceans carry us onward in exploration and discovery (click through).

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Dan Rather reports on shark finning in “All for a Bowl of Soup”

Wetpixel conservation moderator Shawn Heinrichs is heavily featured in a recent Dan Rather Reports episode about shark finning, which aired Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 on HDNet. “All for a Bowl of Soup” is the most no-nonsense piece I’ve seen about the global shark finning problem. It combines facts with awe-inspiring footage of thousands of shark fins being pulled into a single fisheries facility in a single day.

If you have half an hour to spare, please download and watch “All for a Bowl of Soup” from iTunes. If you are moved by the piece, please donate to your shark conservation organization of choice!

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Maurine Shimlock joins Women Divers Hall of Fame

The Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) has announced that underwater photographer, Maurine Shimlock, has been selected for its 2012 intake. Other recipients this year are: Amelia Behrens-Furniss, Nancy Easterbrook, Nancy Guarascio and Robin MacFadden Parish.

Maurine is perhaps best known for the guidebooks and publications she has co-produced for Raja Ampat and surrounding areas. In addition, she has been actively involved in attempts to create no-take zones in the area. Many congratulations to her and all the 2012 recipients.

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Trip report for Wetpixel Eastern Fields trip posted

Wetpixel publisher, Eric Cheng, has started a thread in the forums for people to post about their experiences on the recent Wetpixel PNG Eastern Fields Expedition. The trip was run in two halves, trip 1 from 10 to 20 January, had perfect conditions: flat seas and almost no wind. Trip 2, from 22 January to 2 February had only 6 days of diving in the Eastern Fields due to the arrival of two large storm systems, which forced an early return to Port Moresby. Dive conditions in the Eastern Fields were very good as the high currents produced great fish activity, but diving closer to the coast proved to be not very productive.

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Maryland aims to ban shark fin

The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland’s lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban trade in shark fin. Bills introduced into both House and Senate would outlaw sale, trade, distribution or even possession of raw, dried or processed shark fins. Violations would be punishable by fines ranging from $5,000 for the first offense up to $50,000 for repeat infractions. One animal-welfare group has a list of 10 Asian eateries in Howard County and the Washington suburbs that serve shark fin and while U.S. Customs data show exports of shark products, mainly dogfish, from Washington and Norfolk, the broader mid-Atlantic region is a net importer of shark products, with 6155 kilos imported last year, valued at nearly $700,000. Some 800 kilos valued at $70,000 were exported over the same period.

HB 393 is set for hearing on 22 Feb. in House Environmental Matters Committee. Its cross-filed companion bill, SB465, has not been given a hearing date yet.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Apple adds additional RAW support

Apple has released a global update for its OS X Lion operating system that incorporates additional RAW support. Version 10.7.3 adds native support for RAW files from: Canon PowerShot S100, Nikon 1 J1, Nikon 1 V1, Nikon COOLPIX P7100. Olympus PEN E-PL1s, Olympus PEN E-PL3, Olympus PEN E-PM1, Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ150, Sony Alpha NEX-5N, Sony Alpha SLT-A65 and Sony Alpha SLT-A77.

The update is available from the Apple support site or via software update. There is also a full list of supported RAW formats available on the support site.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Review: Drift HD POV cam

Steve Douglas presents a review of the Drift HD POV camcorder. The camera itself appears robust and with acceptable image quality. In fact Steve finds that the “imaging is considerably better than almost any of the SD cams of the 1990’s and are equal to many of the HDV cams that came out in the last decade”. However, the unit’s underwater housing seems somewhat limited and Steve discovered that getting support from the US importer seemed to be an issue.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Wetpixel Vancouver Island Expedition

Bookings are now being taken for the Wetpixel Vancouver Island Expedition. The trip will run from 27 August until 4 September, 2012 and is based at God’s Pocket Resort near the North end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This remote location holds some of the worlds best cold water diving. The venue lends itself to swimming with giant pacific octopus, stellar sea lions, the rich colorful walls at the famous Browning Pass and more.

Spaces are very limited and demand is very high, so please contact trip leader Jason Bradley soon for more information or to book.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Issue 21 of African Diver available

The February/March edition of African Diver magazine is now available to download. This issue is a tribute to the diving destination of Aliwal Shoal, situated off the eastern coast of South Africa and it offers detailed advice on dive sites, dive operators and when to visit the Shoal. It also features articles about saving the African Penguin, the Maldives and the featured photographer is Fiona Ayerst.

African Diver Issue 21 is available as a free pdf download.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Apple upgrades Final Cut Pro X

Apple has announced an upgrade for its Final Cut Pro X video editing app. Version 10.0.3 introduces multicam editing, broadcast monitoring (as a beta), advanced chroma keying, media relink, the ability to work with layered files and an improvement to the way the program uses XML, allowing extended use of third-party software like DaVinci Resolve. These improvements go some way towards answering the criticism about the software’s features when it was launched last year.

Apple has simultaneously announced updates to Compressor and Motion. All the updates are available from the Mac App store.

Lastly, as Wetpixel Moderator Drew Wong has posted in the forums, a third-party utility called 7toX has been launched which allows the transfer of projects from Final Cut Pro 7 to version X has been launched in the Mac App store.

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