The first census of marine life has taken ten years to complete, 2,700 researchers from 80 nations and has spent a total of 9,000 days at sea during at least 540 expeditions, reports the BBC. The publication of “First Census of Marine Life 2010: Highlights of a Decade of Discovery” due later today, brings to a close the first phase of the project, but also highlights how much more work there is to do to completely catalog the oceans diversity. Professor Boris Worm, leader of Census Studies of the Future said:

“The rapidly changing ocean that we are now uncovering helps us to understand ourselves,” and “it compels us both to continue with journeys of discovery and to make wise choices in the future.”

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Eric Cheng is to deliver a talk at Stanford University Photography Club at 7:30pm on Tuesday, October 5, 2010. Exact venue is yet to be determined, but it will be somewhere in the History Corner (building 200). Eric will announce the venue via his twitter account.

He plans to open the talk with a summary of how we do underwater photography, followed by a talk on sharks, and finally, his 20-minute TEDx talk on flashlight fish and sperm whales.

In addition, Eric’s aluminum underwater photography prints will be on display at RedStart Design (375 Alabama St., Suite 100) over the weekend on 9/10 October.

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In a discussion, it seems that Jim Jannard of RED has decided not to bring a prosumer camera model to market and that RED will focus on the high-end professional market:

“We recently came to the conclusion that, indeed, we cater to the professional market. That’s it. A pro camera company. We want to build the best tools possible for those that want to “man up”. There are plenty of companies dedicated to selling prosumer (short for “almost right”) cameras. We aren’t going to be one of them.”

The price of Scarlet is to go up $1000 as new sensors are introduced. These HDRx models will give 18 stops of dynamic range as well as other new features, and will inevitably result in a further delayed release. In the forum, the suggestion seems to be that that RED’s change in direction is exactly that, not a failure and that if RED manage to release a sub-$10000 camera with the features they want to, it will still be a great product especially of interest to underwater filmmakers.

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Nikon’s new mid-range model, the D7000, is already the subject of a petition asking for upgraded video firmware. The camera was released at Photokina last month and is not yet shipping. The petition asks for Nikon to consider the addition of more frame rate options, a 720 60p/50p option for slow-motion and a higher bit rate option. This, the petition sponsors feel, will even the D7000’s performance with that of its Canon rivals.

This is somewhat ironic as the majority of US customers will only receive their cameras between 17-22 October!

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Eric Cheng’s experimental film using a GoPro HD camera “Shark Bite Go Pro” is now available as an HD or iPod podcast via DiveFilm HD on iTunes. The film has additional footage from Sterling Zumbrunn and Jim Abernethy, and shows plenty of shark teeth!

DiveFilm HD is currently the number 1 Sports & Recreation Video Podcast at iTunes and showcases some of the best high-definition underwater short films being produced today from all over the world. Featuring beautiful images of the underwater world, marine life large and small, interviews with interesting people, and updates on underwater imaging. Produced in association with Wetpixel and available via iTunes.

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