Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

SanDisk launches Memory Vault and Extreme Pro SDXC cards

SanDisk has announced the release of several new products, amongst which is the Memory Vault. Available in 8GB and 16GB capacities, these solid state drives aim to preserve digital images for at least 100 years and will retail at $49.99 and $89.99 respectively.

The company has also announced the release of a series of Extreme Pro SDXC™ UHS-I cards. These claim to double the performance and capacity of SanDisk’s existing cards and are based on the latest SD 3.0 specification’s Ultra High Speed (UHS) bus architecture. Practically, this means that it can write at up to 90 megabyte per second (MB/sec) and its UHS Speed Class 1 rating can record Full HD videos. Read speeds are up to 95MB/sec. They will be available next month in capacities from 8GB at $109.99 to 64GB at $499.99. SanDisk will produce a USB 3 version of its ImageMate card reader to match the new cards’ performance.

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

DEMA 2011: Image Resource Center schedule announced

The annual DEMA trade show is to be held from 2 to 5 November at the Orange County Convention center in Orlando, Florida. As always, Wetpixel will be on-hand to cover the entire show, and plans are already underway for the by now famous Wetpixel cocktail party. Please stay tuned for announcements about dates and venues for the imaging party of the year.

Each DEMA show plays host to a series of seminars in the Image Resource Center on the show floor. The schedule of speakers has now been announced and among the speakers are Wetpixel’s Associate Editor Alex Mustard, and Senior Moderator Shawn Heinrichs.

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

Nauticam announces light mounting system

Nauticam has announced the release of an arm and clamp system to complement their housing range. It currently comprises a pair of housing trays for use with compact housings, or housings supplied without handles/strobe attachment points, double and single 1” (25mm) ball arms in various lengths and a number of different clamps.

The clamps include a version that allows for the attachment of a lanyard, and a version that has provision for mounting a focus light. The new products are available now.

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Panasonic announces firmware updates for LX5 and LUMIX lenses

Panasonic has released firmware updates for the LUMIX LX5 camera and for a variety of LUMIX lenses. Software version 2.0 for the LX5 will: Speed up auto focus, add high ISO to the record menu, improve auto white balance, improve AE/AF lock and the position and size of the AF area previously set are now stored.

Firmware update version 1.1 gives the following lenses “HD” status: LUMIX G 14mm / F2.5 ASPH, LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S., LUMIX G FISHEYE 8mm / F3.5, LUMIX G VARIO 100-300mm / F4.0-5.6 / MEGA O.I.S., LUMIX G VARIO 7-14mm / F4.0 ASPH., LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. and LUMIX G VARIO 45-200mm / F4.0-5.6 / MEGA O.I.S. The new software aims to improve the image stabilization performance and reduce the focusing noise during video capture.

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Nikon announces that it has not announced anything

In a stunning press release, Nikon has announced today that it hasn’t announced anything! Entitled “Comments on Media Reports about Nikon’s imaging product”, the full text of the press release is as follows:

“Nikon understands that some article appeared in the media regarding Nikon’s imaging product. Please note that Nikon has made no announcement in this regards.”

There has been widespread, and thus far erroneous, speculation about the imminent release of new SLR and mirrorless cameras by the company, and it would seem that these have provoked a unique response.

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Eric Cheng presents his top 10 underwater photography tips

Wetpixel Publisher Eric Cheng presented a 90 minute seminar at the Monterey Shootout last weekend entitled “Top 10 Underwater Photography Tips”. He has added the slide set that he used to a player on Google+. He says:

“I always create slides without many words, preferring to talk through the points spontaneously, but it may be useful to some folks out there.”

The Monterey County Weekly has published a report of the event entitled “The Monterey Underwater Shoot-out & Film Festival Awed Audiences” and it sounds as if you weren’t there you missed out!

Monday, September 12th, 2011

Florida bans killing of tiger and hammerhead sharks

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Florida state wildlife commission has approved a ban on the killing of tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead. The four shark species won protection at a meeting in Naples of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which voted to prohibit the killing of tiger sharks, great hammerheads, scalloped hammerheads and smooth hammerheads. Catch and release fishing will still be permitted.

The legislation is in response to the decline in shark numbers due to over fishing by the shark fin industry.

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

PNUWPS announces Pacific Northwest Diver magazine

The Pacific Northwest Underwater Photographic Society (PNWUPS) has announced the release of the first issue of Pacific Northwest magazine. Released bi-monthly, each issue will highlight a dive operator in the three state/province area, photographers/videographers from clubs in BC, Washington, and Oregon, along with information on travel, current happenings, technical issues, and safety.

The September issue highlights the Rendezvous Dive Resort in Barkley Sound, BC, BC’s Underwater Archaeological Society, Salish Sea Explorers in Everett, and Eugene Dive Club. Featured photographers/videographers include Marli Wakeling, Jim Boon, Steve Billings, Peter Mieras & Kathy Johnson of Rendezvous, Dirk De Keersmaecker, Aaron Moser, Chad & Adam Kent, and Jake Andreason. The technical section discusses an easy method for downloading images and video from cameras to computers without removing the camera from its housing.

Pacific Northwest Diver is available as a free pdf download from the PNWUPS website.

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

Review: Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI 5” SLR Monitor

Steve Douglas presents a review of the Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI 5” SLR Monitor. Designed specifically for use with video SLRs, several manufacturers have mooted plans to manufacture housings to allow the use of this and similar monitors underwater.

Larger monitors allow for better framing and focusing, both areas in which SLR LCD screens are not of sufficient size to be effective.

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Ikelite releases TTL compatible housing for Olympus XZ-1

Ikelite has announced the release of a housing for the Olympus XZ-1 compact camera which features built-in electronic TTL flash control. A conversion circuit allows two-way communication between the camera and strobe and Ikelite claims that this provides accurate automatic exposure control, a faster recycling time and longer camera battery life as compared to that of fiber optic TTL systems. Currently, the circuit will only work with Ikelite branded strobes. In addition the housing features access to all camera controls except the Flash Open Switch.

The Ikelite housing for the XZ-1 is available now at a suggested retail price of $550.

Articles