Nick Martorano over at Ocean Wonders Productions has 3 spots left for his underwater video workshop in Palau this coming April 5-11, 2010. Nick is offering a $400 discount to anyone who signs up for one of the final spots.

The workshop is being hosted by Sam’s Tours in Palau, and is a great opportunity to learn underwater video techniques while getting in some fantastic diving. Nick is the resident video pro at Sam’s Tours, and is an internationally-known and multi-awarded High Definition cameraman, filmmaker and digital media producer, whose credits include National Geographic, “Survivor”, GEO, and others.

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Beneath the Sea is pleased to announce and congratulate the winners of the BTS 2010 International Imaging Competition. The Best in Show-Underwater Photography receives the David Doubilet award for excellence in underwater photography. This year’s grand prize winner is Yeang H Chng of West New York, New Jersey for “Salt Water Crocodile.” Winning photos and videos can be found at the BTS competition website.

The 34th Annual Beneath The Sea Dive Exposition will take place March 26, 27 and 28, 2010 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, Secaucus, New Jersey, 10 minutes from Manhattan. Further information can be found on at beneaththesea.org.

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Howard and Michele Hall (of IMAX / IMAX 3-D fame) recently returned from an 18-day liveaboard trip to the Maldives aboard the M/V Manthiri. Howard chronicled his trips in great detail and has posted excerpts from his journal, along with frame grabs from his 4K RED camera housed by Gates Underwater Cameras.

After reading the report, I sincerely hope Howard has some extra limbs to gnaw off. I’d hate to miss his report of their next trip (to Cocos). During their expeditions, you can follow Howard and Michele on Twitter.

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Congratulations to Randall Benton (bentoni) for winning Wetpixel’s Picture of the Year 2009 with his image of photographer Doug Perrine below a large manta ray at the famous Kona night manta dive. Benton’s image beat out 43 other fantastic images during 30 days of public voting.

For his winning image, Benton scores a one-week trip aboard the M/V Solmar V, a liveaboard dive vessel that runs dive trips to Socorro, the Sea of Cortez, and to Guadalupe for great white sharks. Jose Luis of Solmar V writes:

“Congratulations from the Solmar V on a fantastic image! We are especially partial to giant manta shots. We truly look forward to introducing you to the gianta mantas of socorro where you will have great photo ops - up close and personal - with these amazing creatures.”

Be sure to enter our Picture of the Week contest. At the end of 2010, you’ll all have a shot at winning the next picture of the year. Special thanks to our POTW sponsors, Ikelite and Solmar V.

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Panasonic have announced the new LUMIX DMC-TS2, an even more rugged version of its predecessor DMC-TS1 geared for active outdoor use.  The new tougher body is now rated to 10m, shockproof to 2m, freezeproof to -10 degrees C and dustproof.

Featuring AVCHD Lite HD movie recording capability, the new 14.1-megapixel TS2 has a high-quality LEICA DC VARIO ELMAR 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4.6x optical zoom, and is ready for extreme use.  Perfect for knocking around on a dive trip or while snorkeling, or when coupled with the optional housing (DMW-MCFT2), for diving to max depths of 40m.

I’ve personally shot with the TS1 on a number of snorkeling trips, and have seen them in action whilst in the Panasonic made housings, and have been more than impressed with what these little gems can achieve!

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