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Day 1 booth visits.

Day 2 booth visits. More visits with suppliers and discussions about new products.

Day 2 Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Cocktail Party. Let’s get this party started.

Day 2 Special Report on the KISS GEM Rebreather

Day 3 booth visits and anti-shark finning protest

Day 4 booth visits

Slideshow of people and places at DEMA

DEMA 2010 Wrap-up

Day one: Hitting the booths.

The first day of the DEMA show has passed in a whirlwind of frenetic activity. Sterling Zumbrunn and Adam Hanlon have spent the day visiting the exhibitors booths and digging out the exciting new items to report on to you. The Image Resource Center is an enclave within the show with stands from suppliers and retailers of imaging equipment and regular seminars. Sterling and Adam spent much of the day meeting and talking to people at theses stands.

Keri and Chris Wilk were on hand on their booth with a sample of their new fiber optic snoot. Scheduled for production later this year, the current version is designed for Ikelite strobes, although plans are in place to expand this to other strobes.

Another new product on their stand was a unique plate to stabilize a tripod. Designed in a triangle, the idea is that this will help keep larger housings from moving or vibrating. The picture shows a prototype, the finished design will probably be anodised and have recessed attachments for the leg arms.

ULCS were displaying their new tripod.

They have also added balls to the legs of the tripod to create an adjustable length strobe arm.

Originally designed to stand up to the rigors of jet-skiing, ULCS has come up with a prototype mounting bracket for the GoPro Hero POV camera. They were displaying it attached to a still camera housing, which might well present good options for shooting stills and video at the same time.

Watershot were displaying their new lighting systems. Available in a few configurations both as dive lights and imaging products, the lights consist of 700 lumen light units with a variety of battery packs and configuration options.

The STRYKER video head gives a 70° coverage, with three power levels available. There are three external umbilical battery packs available, giving a variety of burn times and configuration options.

The STRYKER torch video utilises a similar head configuration and LED’s with a 75° reflector, but adds a battery pack. An interesting feature is the ability to add additional longevity to the torch by plugging an umbilical external battery pack into the charging port, which will also serves to charge the internal battery.

The folks at Equinox were keen to point out that their major new product launches tend to occur as the camera manufacturers release new models. Their range includes the 6 series to fit any consumer camera, the 8 range to fit prosumer cameras, the 10 range for pro cameras and the HD Pro range for RED and Sony EX3.

The 6,8 and 10 housings offer a ballast release system which, when actioned, will make the housing float. They also offer an upgrade path for customers seeking to upgrade their consumer cameras in which they will pay a proportion of the cost of a new housing rather than pay the full price.

Equinox also has released a range of video lights, with the UL1300, a 30W LED offering 3 brightness settings. They are also going to be selling the Keldan range of video lights in the near future.

An exciting plan for the future is a housing for the Pansonic SD750 3D camera, which is expected to debut by the end of December.

Subal is showcasing their complete line of recent housings including models for the Nikon D300s and the Canon 7D, which features their new port locking mechanism. New products for DEMA include their brand new 9 inch dome, which features anti-reflective and anti-scratch coatings on both the interior and exterior of the glass, and will retail at around $1900.

Subal also had on display an early prototype housing for the Sony NEX5. The housing will feature a new spring latch mechanism, fibre optic sync as well as an integrated shade for the LCD, and they plan to have a final version by January 2011. Subal also plans to have a housing for the D7000 ready by late January. Lastly Subal are planning to offer an external video monitor for video DSLRs.