Good news for those looking for a small boat companion, Olympus has introduced two new point and shoot cameras waterproof to 5m and 10m depths.

The TOUGH-8010 comes with 2gb of internal memory and is shockproof to 2m, waterproof to 10m, and crushproof to 100kg.The TOUGH-6020 contains 1gb of internal memory, is shockproof to 1.5m and waterproof to 5m. Both new cameras have 14 megapixel sensors, are capable of HD movie recording, have an HDMI interface, and are compatible with SD cards. List prices for the TOUGH-8010 and TOUGH-6020 are $399 and $299 respectively.

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Canon has announced their most recent addition to the popular Rebel series of consumer SLRs, the EOS 550D/Rebel T2i. The T2i represents a significant update to the line, featuring 18 Megapixel stills at 3.7fps, and significantly improved video capability.

The physical changes to the camera body itself are not many, but there is an important one with respect to underwater housings: the addition of a Live View button on the right side of the back of the camera. It remains to be seen if the T2i will fit into existing housings, but it looks promising for those willing to compromise with not having full access to Live View and video functions.

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Most divers continue to dive because they love the underwater world. For most it is not an adrenaline sport. Rather, it is a time to take everything in an enjoy the surroundings. There are obviously some things that can happen to get that adrenalin pumping, however. You may see groups of sperm whales or schools of sailfish attacking baitballs of sardines, all of which is very exciting stuff and not your everyday dive experience. On the other hand though you may be forced to witness a most heinous act of coral mutilation. I know that if I saw something like this it would makes my blood boil. Are acts like these carried out through ignorance, a need to show off or perhaps just plain stupidity?

Have your say over in our forums.

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Canon’s EOS E1 video plug-in for Apple’s Final Cut Pro was announced on February 5, and was supposed to be available by end of day last Friday. This new plug-in, when it actually shows up on Apple’s download page, will allow simple and easy transfer of video content from Canon’s EOS DSLR cameras directly into Final Cut Pro.

The EOS E1 video plug-in takes advantage of Final Cut Pro’s powerful Log and Transfer feature, which allows users to select and mark the video directly while it is still on the camera, add custom metadata and ingest the clips in the background so the editing can begin immediately.

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Nature’s Best Photography and Diver’s Alert Network (DAN) host the 3rd annual Ocean Views photography competition. As one of the largest and most prestigious underwater photography competitions, you won’t want to miss this one!

A selection of winning images will be published in Alert Diver and Nature’s Best Photography magazines as well as several online galleries. Prizes include $2,010 cash and a 9-night trip to Papua New Guinea with Peter Hughes Diving. Entries are accepted from now until March 1, 2010. Entry forms and more information are available at the Ocean Views Photo Contest website.

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