Thursday, January 5th, 2012

RED Epic M and Gates Deep Epic in the house

Wetpixel member David Cheung (CheungyDiver) has posted in the forum about his new camera and housing: A RED EPIC M in a Gates Deep Epic housing. It has a choice of RED PL or Canon EF lenses and is exactly the same size as the Scarlet so “double happiness” as far as the housing goes. The actual housing is a prototype Deep Epic as the ordered one is getting final assembly and fine tuning still at Gates. David has commented on the easiness of installing the camera and its zoom and focus gears for the EF mount lenses.

The set-up is now away at Truk Lagoon for a shoot, but on its return David has promised to write us a review. Please stay posted for more details.

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Atlantis Light Systems releases the MKI video light

Atlantis Light Systems has announced the release of the MKI self-contained LED video lighting system. The lights feature an output over 4,000 lumens, a burn time of over an hour at full power and oversized control dials and status indicators on the rear of the lights.

The MKI is available now at a retail price of $1,850 including a charger and neoprene floatation tube.

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Liveaboard Mandarin Siren sinks

The liveaboard Mandarin Siren, part of the Worldwide Dive and Sail group, has caught fire and subsequently sunk. The vessel was based around Raja Ampat, Indonesia, and it si suspected that an electrical fault caused the fire. The guests were diving at the time of the incident and no one was hurt with the group being picked up by the S/Y Indo Siren and subsequently repatriated.

Worldwide Dive and Sail have endeavoured to contact all those who had been booked on the vessel for trips in the future, but if anyone has any queries, they ask that you email them, or contact your agent.

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

New study shows inter-species hybridization in sharks

A new study published in the journal “Conservation Genetics” has shown that two species of black-tip whaler shark (Australian, Carcharhinus tilstoni; Common, C. limbatus) have been breeding to create a third hybrid species. This was shown to have occurred by studying the mitochondrial DNA sequences and the hybrids were found at five locations on the eastern Australian coastline, a distance of some 2000km.

The practical significance of this is that if hybrids are less healthy but are common, then fishery studies may be overestimated and the numbers of black-tip sharks may be well below that needed to support commercial exploitation.

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Video review of RED Scarlet X

Cinema 5D has presented a two-part video review of RED Scarlet X. Part one deals with the camera and RED accessories, whilst part two looks at basic accessories for 15mm and 19mm support, switching to PL mount and Atomos Samurai disk recorders.

Elsewhere on their site, they have comparison low-light footage from Scarlet and the Canon C300 cams. RED Scarlet produces 4096 x 2160-pixel 4K footage and is now shipping at a basic US retail price of $9,750.

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

The Dark Room

Wetpixel Moderator Shawn Heinrichs has written an eloquent personal account of his feelings when confronting those who carry on the shark finning trade on his blog. Entitled “The Dark Room”, it is accompanied by some graphic and distressing images. He starts:

“My soul was blackened. Where once I had seen light at the end of the tunnel, now there was only darkness engulfing me. How had mankind gone so far off the track, engaging in such barbaric acts, willful cruelty and reckless destruction? Nature has given us so many incredible gifts, but rather than cherish and protect them, we have set out to systematically eradicate them.”

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Cal Ripfin great white shark on YouTube

Joe Romeiro of 333 productions has posted a stylized video featuring “Cal Ripfin” (aka Shredder) onto YouTube. Cal Ripfin is a notable great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), distinguished by his ripped fin, that is often seen by groups at Isla Guadeloupe, Mexico. The video is entitled “Battle Scars”.

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

Issue 64 of Underwater Photography Magazine available

The January/February 2012 issue of Underwater Photography Magazine (UwP) is now available to download. Issue 64 features articles about diving in Cape Town, Ascension Island and Madeira as well as a review of prime wide-angle lenses for EVIL cameras, the Inon X-2 housing, GoPro HERO housing options and external monitors for SLR cameras. It also features information about many of the new product releases announced at DEMA and lots of news and updates.

UwP is a free bimonthly publication available to download as a pdf document.

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

Happy New Year wishes

Wishing the Wetpixel community a very Happy (Gregorian) New Year. If you have already celebrated, we hope you saw in 2012 in style, and if you have yet to do so, may your festivities be joyful. We wish you all the very best for 2012, and hope that it will include fantastic opportunities for capturing imagery underwater.

On a reflective note, 2011 has been a great year for sharks but we need to maintain the momentum achieved in 2012. Let’s try and keep the pressure on governments and individuals to end the fin trade.

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

Late availability: PNG Eastern Fields expedition

Free from 10-20 January? If so, there is an amazing opportunity to join the Wetpixel Eastern Fields expedition that will visit several of the best sites around the Eastern Fields. Depending on how the weather and water look it may also visit another reef system called the Ashmore’s. The trip will be based aboard the MV Golden Dawn.

The late availability is due to a last minute scheduling change. If you are free and fancy kicking off 2012 with some of the best warm water diving on the planet, now is your chance. Please get in contact with Dan Baldocci very soon for more information and details.

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