Fantasea Line adds a new underwater housing for Nikon Coolpix 4100, Coolpix 3200 and Coolpix 2200 Digital Cameras.   The CP-3N joins the popular Fantasea CP-4 and housings for the Coolpix 4300 and Coolpix 885 and the CP-3 for Coolpix 2100 and 3100 cameras, expanding the current line to accommodate a variety of Nikon digital products.

Light & Motion is proud to announce the all new Classic Focus Light as an addition to their Digital Still Photography line. The Classic Focus Light is the perfect accessory to aid with the auto focus o­n your underwater digital still camera.

Light & Motion continues their innovation in underwater digital photography with the introduction of the Tetra 5060 Underwater Housing for the 5 megapixel Olympus 5060 digital camera. The Olympus C-5060 was chosen "Best Buy" in its class by PC World; with 5 megapixels and excellent storage capabilities it is a great choice for topside and underwater photography. (7/1/03 Update: "read more" section updated with large image)

For those that are interested in the newest full frame digital SLR for Canon mount lenses, check out Phil Askey's extensive review and samples.  From the review conclusion:

"Get it right, shoot RAW, good light, low to medium ISO's and be careful about the development of your RAW images and you really can get some mind-blowing good resolution with rewarding image quality attributes (good dynamic range, good color). That's just where the SLR/c fits in, it's certainly not a camera for everyone, it's not a point and shoot digital SLR, it's a camera for enthusiasts who are ready to work around its quirks and utilize it as a photographic tool."

To me, the most important quality for a memory card is the write speed – how fast does the camera write a shot or shots to the card before we can take more. Based o­n the write speed data that Rob Galbraith produced, I've put together some tables which we can use when making flash card purchasing decisions. You'll also find the given retail price for each card, as listed o­n the B&H website.

In this short article, I've addressed some of the common questions about digital media and I've provided some useful data about card compatibility, speed, and price. The other factors, battery consumption and reliability will vary widely depending o­n your shooting style and how you treat your equipment, so I'll leave judgement about these factors to the reader.

Fujifilm today announced a secure underwater case to house the FinePix F710 Zoom, the first widescreen digital camera with the SuperCCD SR Sensor. Fujifilm's Super CCD SR provides a truer representation of the actual subject being photographed, revealing highlight detail and offering a four-fold increase in dynamic range. By using the innovative layout of paired photodiodes, the technology enables confident shooting in both bright and cloudy conditions, combats the bleached-out effect created by flash photography and increases exposure latitude - a great advantage in difficult lighting conditions.

To me, the most important quality for a memory card is the write speed – how fast does the camera write a shot or shots to the card before we can take more. Based o­n the write speed data that Rob Galbraith produced, I've put together some tables which we can use when making flash card purchasing decisions. You'll also find the given retail price for each card, as listed o­n the B&H website.

In this short article, I've addressed some of the common questions about digital media and I've provided some useful data about card compatibility, speed, and price. The other factors, battery consumption and reliability will vary widely depending o­n your shooting style and how you treat your equipment, so I'll leave judgement about these factors to the reader.

Congratulations to the winners of our first Wetpixel official photo contest! All of us were very impressed with the caliber of the submissions, and chosing the winners was not an easy task! See the winning entries here.

1st Place: "Loving Leafies" by Dave Harasti (Dave H)
2nd Place: "WWII Corsair Airplane" by (lidde)
3rd Place: "The thing" by Dany Weinberg (BIKO)
Hon Mention: "Free climbing" by Francesco Visintin (france_vis)

Winners are chosen by our world-renowned jury of photographers and will receive prizes from our contest sponsors: Aquatica, Pictopia, Ikelite, Gates Housings, Ultralight Control Systems, Marine Camera Distributors, INON America, and Fathoms.

Be sure to enter our official May/June 2004 photo contest, which will be accepting entries until the end of this month.

Remember to get your entries in to the Celebrate the Sea/Wetpixel Digital Portfolio 2004 contest! The deadline for entry form submission is July 1, and competition portfolios must be submitted by July 4, 2004. Winners will be announced at a gala award ceremony at the Celebrate the Sea festival on July 31, 2004 in Kuala Lumpur.

Things continue to be exciting in the film-to-digital transition in industry. I always tell people that they don't have to switch to digital imaging right now, but they should be aware of what is happening so when they are forced to switch, they will be ready.

Excerpt from "Nikon Boosts Digital Cameras, Eyes Exit from Film":
"Canon and Nikon control nearly all of the nascent digital SLR market. They are also the leading makers of film SLRs, but demand is declining due to a rapid switch to digital models.

"Kimura said Nikon had no plans to stop producing film SLRs, but that it may next year start considering pulling out of the film compact camera business due to a sharp plunge in demand.

"'There is still the matter of timing, but eventually we will have to dissolve [the film] business," Kimura said. 'There really is no region in the world where you can do good business in compact film cameras anymore.'"