BOOT 2007 Show Report

By Gerard Wijnsma

With our club we visited BOOT Düsseldorf. The general aim was to pick up any fantastic deals, but it was mostly oriented on getting fist-time wetsuits for our novices and look for any interesting tidbits, gadgets or spare parts. I also had a play with my new Sigma 15mm FE, so there is a bit a surplus of picture with that style.

BOOT is quite a massive event, where the diving kit fits a big hall (number 3), and the rest of the dozen or so more halls are filled with everything else watersport.

Regarding to underwater photography, there were a few main contenders (like Sealux, Hugyphot, Seacam, Subal, UK Germany, Subtronic etc) along with a combined PADI/Olympus underwater digital photography stand and Ewa Marine. If I missed someone, sorry, but the hall is a maze. You will bump into the same large stands all the time, and really have to look hard to find back a small one you liked.

All of these manufacturers had housings on display. I dont think there were any real shockers, that have not been mentioned in Wetpixel already. BOOT is more aimed at displaying what you got (and possibly selling) rather then presenting something new.

I also came across some brands i didn’t know, and might be more exclusively German based, although they obviously will sell abroad if asked:
Gun-Lux (which look a bit like Nimar/Fantasea housings)
BS Kinetics (housings from carbon-fiber)
Silverfish (alloy housings for video)

A BS Kinetics carbon-fiber housing

And no BOOT visit will be complete without some staring over big yachts some (or most) of us will never afford.

You can see more pictures from the visit at my BOOT 2007 photo set on Flickr.

-Gerard Wijnsma (Cerianthus)