Update: According to Olympus's PMA announcement, the Pro88 actually IS the new Olympus 8080! A website not affiliated with Olympus has just released some photos of the new Oly 8 megapixel 8080 as well as the camera that looks like the E20 replacement apparently called the Pro88. I'm sure we'll hear more once the official Olympus PMA announcement comes out later this week.

Craig Jones, one of our fearless co-admins, has finished migrating all of the features over from the old Wetpixel design. They are likely to still be rather buggy (e.g. links leading back into old sections of Wetpixel will probably not work), but we'll fix them as soon as possible. If you find broken links, please let us know.

Let's all give Craig -- and the rest of the Wetpixel staff -- our thanks. I am certainly very grateful for all the volunteer help we've been receiving here!

Wetpixel member Alex Mustard reports on the new feature film about the ocean "Deep Blue". Deep Blue is the cinematic version the BBC series "Blue Planet", and is sure to be on most divers "must see" list during 2004. The film is directed by Alastair Fothergill and Andy Byatt and will be distributed in North America by Miramax.

CONTEST SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

Underwater photographers -- novice or professionals: this is your chance to enter one of the most prestigious underwater digital imagery competitions in the world. Held in association with the Antibes Festival Mondial de I'lmage Sous Marine, Wetpixel.com, and the Celebrate the Sea Imagery Festival Kuala Lumpur 2004, the cash, equipment and holiday prizes are valued to over USD $60,000 in total. Winning entries may also be selected as front cover photo for Scuba Diver Australasia. The results will be announced at a gala award ceremony on 31 July 2004 in Kuala Lumpur.

Entry is easy: just 3 images of your choice. Pictures may be captured any where in the world and will be judged both as a portfolio and individually. To enter, e-mail digital@oneocean.com for more information, or download an entry form now!

We've added Seacam user Mark Mintz's D100 housing field journal to our equipment reviews section. Mark says, "Without a doubt, this is the finest housing I ever owned. The construction and quality are superb. The balance and underwater ergonomics are almost perfect. The Seacam housings are truly for those who demand the very best..."

A field journal by Mark Mintz: "Without a doubt, this is the finest housing I ever owned. The construction and quality are superb. The balance and underwater ergonomics are almost perfect. The Seacam housings are truly for those who demand the very best..."

Nexus will soon be announcing a Nikon D70 digital SLR housing, with a special dome port for the Nikon 10.5 mm lens.  Also avaliable is a port for the Sigma 15mm -- a specialized lens/dome match.  This port and lens combination works with the F100 and other full-frame film Nikons in Nexus housings, as well as with the D100 and D70 housings. The Nexus D70 will be introduced in Japan o­n March 19th, when the D70 is scheduled to be released o­n the Japanese market. Nexus will release the D70 to the US market by the end of March, and the 10.5 fisheye dome will be released by the end of February (it will work o­n both the D100  and D70 housings).

The Nexus D70 housing features all of the camera controls and has dual sync ports. It will accept all of the Nexus dome ports and macro ports, including the 70-180 zoom super macro lens.

*UPDATE* Feb 10: Fish-eye dome port photo added to full story.

Pre-orders are being taken for the D70, as the demand will exceed supply very quickly.  Contact our sponsors, Marine Camera Distributors, for more information!

Seacam USA distributor Stephen Frink has completed his field journal and owner's manual for the Seacam Canon EOS 1D/1Ds housing:

"This trip to Thailand is my first real immersion with this camera system, coming from 25 years of shooting with housed Nikon cameras. Allow me to share my insights and observations from this trip, in the hopes you may get up to speed quicker with your own EOS1Ds system..."

Stephen is hopeful that the existing Seacam 1D/1Ds housing will also fit the upcoming Canon EOS 1D Mk II dSLR, but we won't know until he gets his hands on one.

Seacam USA distributor Stephen Frink has prepared a field journal about his Seacam-housed Canon EOS 1Ds digital SLR: "This trip to Thailand is my first real immersion with this camera system, coming from 25 years of shooting with housed Nikon cameras. Allow me to share my insights and observations from this trip, in the hopes you may get up to speed quicker with your own EOS1Ds system..."

Standard ULCS handles mount too close to Seacam housings to allow the housing to open. However, trimming the quick disconnect handle solves this problem.