Daniel Botelho: Sharks of Cat Island
__medium.jpg)
Articles
The Secret World of Mantas and Mobulas
Sharksavers has posted a video on YouTube about manta and mobula rays. The film, entitled “The Secret World of Mantas and Mobulas”, was produced as a part of the Manta Ray of Hope campaign. It focuses on sharing the unique biology and captivating behavior of manta and mobula rays and underlines their vulnerability to overfishing. Sharksavers hope that by educating people to mantas’ plight, this will encourage them to support the proposal to protect manta and mobula rays at the meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to be held in March, 2013.
Ikelite announces a housing for the EOS 6D
Ikelite has announced a mid-January release date of their housing for the Canon EOS 6D SLR camera. It joins housings for the Canon EOS 60D and Nikon D600 that are available now. Common features include wired TTL flash control, with push-button strobe output controls on the back of the housing itself, access to the bulk of camera controls, externally visible o rings and a glass optical viewfinder as standard.
The Ikelite housing for the Canon EOS 6D will retail in the USA at $1,600.
Nauticam ships the NA-S110 housing for the Canon S110
Nauticam has announced the release of a housing for the Canon Powershot S110 compact camera. The NA-S110 has the new rear o ring sealing system debuted on the NA-NEX5R, allows access to both front and rear command dials for manual exposure control, and features an M67 thread on its lens port for attachment of wet wide-angle or macro lenses. It also has ports for fiber optic strobe triggering.
The NA-S110 is shipping now.
New marine parks open in California
As of today, California has created a series of 19 underwater parks or Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along its coast. These include marine habitats found at Point Reyes, Big Sur, and in the north Point St. George Reef which is home to the second largest nesting seabird colony south of Alaska as well as estuarine waters at the mouth of waterways like Ten Mile River that are critical for salmon and steelhead populations. The MPAs are all close inshore, leaving coastal waters open for fishing.
DiveFilm HD included in iTunes Best of 2012
DiveFilm HD Video Podcasts have been selected for inclusion in the “iTunes Podcasts Best of 2012” list. The most recent podcast is “Raja” by Howard Hall. DiveFilm video podcasts are produced in association with Wetpixel. DiveFilm podcast curator Mary Lynn Price said:
“These short video podcasts have been made possible by the all of the contributing underwater filmmakers over the years, including numerous Wetpixel members. This has been a wonderful way to share the beauty of the underwater world with a very diverse audience.”
Sea and Sea announces housing for Nikon D600
Sea & Sea has announced the release of a housing for the Nikon D600 SLR camera. The MSX-D600 is a compact, lightweight design with access to all the camera’s essential controls. It has two fiber optic ports, as well as two additional bulkheads for the possible installation of electronic flash triggering, HDMI or other bulkheads. It is supplied with a leak detector as standard and is compatible with Sea $ Sea’s NX series lens ports.
The MDX-D600 will be shipping from mid-January at an US retail price of $3,399.00 or $3,499.00 with a 2 pin wiring harness (for electronic strobe triggering).
Instagram updates its terms of service
Instagram has recently updated its terms of service for its photo sharing site. The new terms of service allow it to: “To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.” This gives the company the right to sell a user’s images, without them receiving any of the monies generated. Many commentators, including the Guardian, surmise that this is as a result of social media giant Facebook’s purchase of Instagram, and a need to monetize the business. Practically, it means that if you want any of your images to generate any revenue for you, you need to remove them from Instagram at present.
Retra announces the eZoom
Retra, in conjunction with Italian photographer Michele Davino, has created an underwater motorized zoom system. The eZoom is an aluminum structure that contains an electric motor and power supply which meshes with a lens’ zoom ring. The motor can be controlled with push buttons on the device. This can create images wherein zoom lenses are zoomed out while the shutter is open, creating a motion blur around the outside of the frame, but typically leaving the center in focus, similar to what can be achieved with Fresnel lenses. This technique has been used for some time, but the practicalities of zooming whilst maintaining camera focus and steadiness with one hand has limited its use.
Price and availability of the eZoom are still to be announced.
Recent News
-
Lost Antarctic penguin found in NZ (via BBC)
-
Protection of the wreck of the SAS Pietermaritzburg (via African Diver)
-
-
-
Video: Ikelite Spring Product Preview (via DivePhotoGuide)
-
-
-
-
-