David Haas reviews the HydroOptix mask, a panoramic mask for underwater use.

Eric Cheng attends the Festival Mondial de L'Image Sous-Marine 2003, a festival in Antibes Juan- Les-Pins, France.

We've just put up a short report about Eric's time at Visions in the Sea 2003, a London-based conference about underwater photography. Speakers this year included Amos Nachoun, Espen Rekdal, Pete Atkinson, Tony White, David Doubilet, Leigh Bishop, Alex Mustard, and many more! [read the report] [visions website]

Eric Cheng attends Visions in the Sea 2003, a festival in London put on by Ocean Optics.

David Haas takes a first look at Ikelite's preproduction Canon EOS Digital Rebel housing.

David Haas takes Wetpixel readers through a first look at Ikelite's new Canon EOS Digital Rebel housing.

Excerpt:The Canon Digital Rebel was fairly easy to learn with the manual in hand. Even this Nikon D100 user (but a previous EOS film SLR user) was able to figure out which buttons did what. The body is light without feeling cheap. The camera features good ergonomics, both the settings display and review LCD screen are located right below the eyepiece for easy viewing. The settings display can be illuminated underwater with the press of a button, which is very nice for night dives [read the review]

The Tetra S400 is a rugged machined aluminum housing designed specifically for the palm size 4.0 Megapixel Canon PowerShot S400. The housing is small enough to be stowed in a BC pocket, but also able to capture great digital images. The simple design is a snap to set up and provides digital TTL, point and shoot automatic exposure. Designed for the casual photographer, the Tetra S400 is an easy to travel size and delivers 4 megapixel digital photo quality. Increase your field of view with the optional bayonet mount wetmate wide or macro lens.

The Tetra S400 features Digital TTL exposure control to make capturing that perfect shot as easy as point and shoot. The Tetra housing provides communication with the camera and the strobe allowing for accurate exposure of your subject. Further improving the process is the ability to access the camera's exposure compensation controls. Use the review button o­n the Tetra housing to access the camera and have a look to see how Digital TTL exposed the shot. Not quite right? You can use the housing controls to access the cameras exposure compensation setting and change the exposure plus or minus 2 full f-stops.

Tetra S400 incorporates a unique exposure system that will allow you to get the images you want, and still enjoy your dive. The new Tetra is available as a pocket size solo housing or can be purchased as a complete single strobe Travel Package including arm, bulkhead, sync cord and custom travel case. [more info]

Andre Smith reviews the UK Germany Canon 10D Housing.

Excerpt: I have returned with hundreds of keepers and overall I am extremely pleased with the system. The image quality with this camera is extremely high. I did shoot o­ne roll of Fuji Provia with my Canon Rebel 2000 and have scanned a few of the best slides with my Polaroid film scanner at 4000 dpi. When comparing 17 X 11 inch prints from this method with those produced from the 10D, the 10D seems to have the edge in quality, and it is a whole lot simpler of course. This, and the advantages of digital media over slide film in cost and number of possible exposures, will make me a primarily digital shooter in future. [read the review]

We just received a press release about a new o­nline underwater photography website offering o­nline courses for photo enthusiasts:

TheUnderwaterPhotographer.com Comes to Life!

October 21, 2003. Tavernier, Florida. Underwater photo and video enthusiasts now have an exciting new resource available to learn the latest techniques and skills to capture compelling underwater images.

Just launched, theUnderwaterPhotographer.com is a new o­nline underwater photography school and information platform providing individuals the opportunity to enroll in market leading courses dedicated to underwater photography.

Andre Smith reviews the UK Germany Canon EOS 10D housing.