Show report: DEMA 2017

by adamhanlon Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

Andy and Alison Sallmon team up to present a talk on images using circular fisheye

iTorch

The first meeting of day 3 was with Doug Taleski Jr. of iTorch.

We checked out the Snoot for Symbiosis – which now allows the focus light and strobe to line up in the same spot. There are different tips that will change the size and focus of the light. Retail will be approximately $225 and will ship in April.

The next thing we looked at was the SS-2 pro strobe with video light. The strobe has a guide number of 32 and is 2,000 lumens, with an option to upgrade to 4,000 lumens. The color temperature is 5600K. Triggering is done via fiber optic.

Then we looked at the adjustable buoyancy arm. The buoyancy is adjustable as the operator can add air to the compartment via an air hose for more buoyancy, or flood the compartment to make it less buoyant. Additionally the user can add more collars to increase the buoyancy. The buoyancy arm retails for $300 and is shipping in early 2018.

It has the option of adding a battery pack. There are the two connectors that can be use to power umbilical lights.

The V Color was the next thing we looked at. The color outputs are red, blue, green, and purple, as well as a mixture. A snoot can be added to this light. It retails for $199 (which includes battery and snoot) and will be available in early 2018.

Another new light is the Venom 40 RGB. This also outputs in red, green or blue along with a dimmable white and red. In white mode, the output is 4000 lumen.

Kelvin Lee explained that the coloured lighting was being used by macro photographer to create a background lighting effect.

The last thing we checked out was the Universal Control Unit. The remote allows photographers to change the settings of SS2 strobes without physically moving ones body away from the subject.

The control unit mounts directly above the camera. The unit is programmable via Wifi. The unit will be shipping in early 2018.

VRTUL

Casey Sapp and Matt DeJohn welcomed us on their booth. VRTUL offer an end to end production facility for high quality underwater immersive video experiences.

The VRTUL camera is a VR solution capable of recording in native stereoscopic 3D, ProRes, 12-bit DNG RAW, or for special events 360° live streaming to Facebook.

It consists of 13 Blackmagic Micro Cinema cameras with a custom lens configurations. This allows for 4k stitched resolution at 60 fps with 13 stops of dynamic range.

Erin Quigley talks about Lightroom on the Backscatter booth

Solmar V

The owners of Solmar, Pelagic, announced that they have purchased a new vessel.

The Socorro Vortex is an 140 foot former Canadian Coat Guard cutter that will deliver 14 divers out to Socorro at high speed.

Wetpixel will be running a trip to Guadalupe aboard Solmar V next August. If you are interested, please contact us.

Abi dived with the Great White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) earlier this year in Guadalupe and while she was on Solmar, Jannicke Mikklesen was filming a VR film about he vessel and the sharks.

Roy Kimhi has now produced a short immersive film about the trip which Adam and Abi were able to view on the booth.

Cinebags

Actually a picture from Wednesday, but the team from Cinebags dressed as character from The Life Aquatic to mark Halloween. We met up with Gregory Sweeney and Markus David of CineBags. They had no new products to show at the show although their CB25B Revolution backpack has had a few tweaks, including waterproof zips.

Markus told us that they have several new products under development, and promised to let Wetpixel know as soon as they are available.

Ken and Kimber Kiefer were on the Ikelite stand

SAGA

We joined Spanish company SAGA on their booth to have a look at their range of optical and lighting accessories.

The team from SAGA along with Underwater Visions Alex Tattersall

They were showing a new viewfinder system that detaches easily from the housing for travel or to switch between types.

It consists of an adaptor that is attached to the housings (with a circlip), a 45° and 180° optical magnifying viewfinders. Both viewfinders are compact and lightweight.

The viewfinders attach to the adaptor and lock in place. They can be swapped underwater if required.

SAGA will produce a variety of adaptors allowing the system to be used on most housing models. They expect to be shipping the new viewfinder system in early 2018.