Our final instalment from the show floor at DEMA in Orlando, Florida. Abi, Alex and Adam spent the day rushing around speaking to the few exhibitors we hadn’t chatted to yet.

Aquapazza.

We met with Toshiki Yamamoto and his translator Miki Bultman on the Aquapazza stand for an early appointment.

Toshiki showed us a prototype of his new housing for the Sony NEX-5N. The housing has numerous ports available with compatibility with 16mm, 18-55mm and 30mm macro. It also has compatibility with Sony Alpha lenses, including the 50 and 100mm macro and the 55-210 zoom. It also has an angled LCD window, which allows the user to hold and view the camera at a more natural angle.

Uniquely, the housing has a zoom/focus knob, and Acquapazza can supply zoom/focus gears to suit.

Acquapazza also have a magnetic zoom/focus ring port available, which can can be supplied with either both zoom and focus rings, or a single ring.

The change of port ring to Inon is a new feature, but they can also supply bodies with the old style attachment if preferred by the user. In addition, the ring can be changed by the user, although it is recommended that this be carried out by the factory.

Retail price will be in the region of $2000.

BS Kinetics.

This German company has carried on its work with enhanced electronics. They have developed a circuit board that can be used to adapt smartphone type LCD screen for use as monitors. This means that they have a 3.5” 800 x 480 resolution that will sell for around $180. The coatings on these screens mean that they are anti-reflective and have a wide viewing angle.

A similar screen with an HDMI cable and hence HD input, in a housing will sell for around $1000.

BS Kinetics has continued to expand its accessory line, and are offering a 67mm macro adaptor. This is currently only sized to fit their own BS port but plan to have other port sizes available soon and it will retail for $250.

In terms of housings, they were showing a prototype of their new one for the Panasonic LUMIX GF3 featuring a much smaller form-factor than previous generations. This will be sold with a port and zoom gear, and is expected to retail for $1300. It will be available from January.

On the video housing front, BS Kinetics have further developed their ability to “hack” the camera’s firmware to allow access to camera controls. New Sony models now have a bug that limits development, so they have turned their attention to Canon camcorders.

They have released a housing (Takla Makan) for the Canon XF105 video camera that has manual control of all camera functions including iris, shutter and white balance. Plans are in place to replicate this for the Canon XF305 AND XF100 camcorders.

Lastly they had a housing for the Canon EOS 600D (T3i). This is supplied with a port, leak alarm and a single bulkhead for $2,188.

BS Kinetics had some great 3D footage showing on their stand

DivePhotoGuide.

Matt Weiss, Joe Tepper and Cal Mero were at the show representing DivePhotoGuide. They, in conjunction with Scuba Diver Australasia and Dietmar Fuchs, have launched a new underwater photography focused magazine called “Scuba Diver-Through the lens”.

This will publish quarterly and will be available worldwide via subscription and retailers. Joe Tepper described it as:

“All things underwater photography.”

A years subscription will cost $30 in the US and despite a pre-launch at DEMA, issue 1 will be available in January. Issue 2 may come out a little early in the first year, but will normally be released in March.

Keldan.

Daniel Keldan showed us his developments with his lights. He has developed a 50˚ reflector to replace the standard 90˚ version on the LUNA 8 models in response to a demand for a tighter reflector for filming big animals.

Both LUNA 8 models have been upgraded for power, the CRI model to 4500K and the FLUX to 6000K.

Keldan has released a brand new model called the LUNA 4V. This has an output of 4000 lumen, is considerably smaller than the LUNA 8s and has an exchangeable battery pack which can be changed on the boat. It has a 45 minute burn time and retails at $1490.

Recsea/Seatool.

This Japanese manufacturer presented a very comprehensive range of video and still housings. AJ Saito talked us through.

They have compact video housings for the Sony TD10 (3D) and CX700V. Both are available in PRO and SD versions, the PRO versions being equipped with and external SD monitor, while the SD versions have a side mirror and image reversing circuitry for viewing.

In addition, the company has a small compact housing for Sony models CX180/170/370V. This has an Inon bayonet mount and a range of dome and flat ports available.

POV camcorders are also catered for, with a housing for the Midland XTC 100 SD POV cam, and the XTC 200 720p POV cam. A housing is planned for the XTC300 full 1080p HD cam soon. These are all 200m waterproof and feature a simple design and a dovetail for use with the Midland supplied mounting brackets and straps.

In terms of still cameras, Recsea/Seatool was showing a housing for the NEX-5n. This has interchangeable ports and the housing controls aim to mimic the controls on the camera, with a rear dial. It has an external lens release lever, and it can be equipped with two fiber optic ports with the addition of an optional strobe mask assembly.

Other housings available include the GF2, which has selector buttons to access the rear controls, and the S95, which has a rear dial.

The company produces a large range of compact camera housings, and a budget range constructed of polycarbonate. They plan to release a housing for the Canon S100 shortly.

Inon.

Inon did not have a booth at DEMA, although their products were well represented on the Reef Photo and Backscatter booths. Alex and Adam went along with Ryan Canon, Takuya Tori and Yoshiro Ichikawa to a quiet corner of the hall to discuss their new products.

The principle new product shown to us is a prototype of a new wide conversion lens for compact cameras with superzoom lenses featuring a minimum focal length of 28mm or wider. The lens offers 100˚ of view underwater by zooming until no vignetting is observed, and a planned additional dome to go with the lens increases this to 130˚. The lens is equipped with a 67mm thread, and can be adjusted so that it lies as close as is possible to the housing’s lens. In use, it produces a vignette that can be removed by zooming the camera’s lens in.

Takuya went on to say that the company plans to integrate its products more widely with other manufacturers housings, to give greater overall compatibility.

He then produced several new strobe arm parts that increase the range of possible mounting positions available. These allow the mounting of two strobes side-by-side for example. They are available now in several lengths up to 40cm long.

Lastly, they showed us the new housing for the Canon 60D.

Ryan was showing us how the rear dial could be used by the heel of the hand, and how the clever use of external gearing helped save space inside the housing.

These gears are designed with play in them deliberately, to ensure that they do not jam up with sand or debris.

Tuesday 1 November: Pre-show set-up.
Wednesday 2 November: Booth visits.
Thursday 3 November:Booth visits.
Special report: Shawn Heinrichs receives the Sea Hero of the Year Award.
Slideshow of images from the Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Pool party.
Friday 4 November: Booth visits Slideshow about the “people of DEMA”
DEMA 2011:Final thoughts and conclusions.