The third quarter issue of DAN’s Alert Diver magazine should ship to US DAN members this week. For non-US divers, the online version will be available shortly. The magazine features the results of a photo contest, run in collaboration with Nature’s Best magazine and the cover image, a shot of sailfish by Howard Hall, is a frame grab from a RED video. It is believed that this is the first time that a screen grab has been used on the front cover of a dive publication. Howard has also written an article in the Photo Techniques section about the opportunities for converging still and video technologies.

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Lazaro Ruda has posted an account of his encounter with a fresh water alligator at sixty feet on Breaker’s reef, Palm Beach, FL on his blog. Despite being ready for unusual sightings he writes:

“Of all the amazing and rare encounters it was perhaps a humpback whale inshore of Breaker’s reef in 40 feet of water that held the title for the unexpected. But Breaker’s reef was to up the ante once again.”

The alligator was alive and allowed the divers to take images and video of it before moving off. (via DivePhotoGuide.)

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The folks over at Zacuto have put together the ultimate DSLR vs film shootout. Three 35-min webisodes compare the Canon 5D Mark II, 7D, Rebel T2i, and 1D Mark IV with the Nikon D3s and Fuji/Kodak film. They show examples of exposure latitude differences, sensitivity, color tests, resolution, and green screen tests. It’s definitely worth a look, if you’re using DSLRs for video (via Howard Hall).

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Inon has announced the release of an aluminum housing system for the popular Panasonic LUMIX GF1 micro four thirds camera. The system consists of the X-2 housing, dome and flat ports that support the following lenses: 8mm/F3.5 Fisheye, 20mm/F1.7 Pancake, 45mm/F2.8 Macro, 14-45mm/F3.5–F5.6 Zoom and 7–14mm/F4 Zoom and the M1 grip base tray. The housing will support S-TTL and all the ports use optical coated lenses.

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Axel Sproul has posted a powerful tribute to the late Wes Skiles on Vimeo. It includes film shot of Wes during cave diving projects, as well as interviews with him. Wes Skiles died on July 21, 2010 while diving off Boynton Beach, FL. His career included many credits in broadcast television and film for PBS and National Geographic.

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