The Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS) next July 14 will host a seminar with award-winning underwater photographers and NCUPS members, Brad and Susan Brown of MontereyDiving.com.  Brad and Susan have won many First Place Awards in international photography contests including the Malaysian Underwater Photo Festival, the Asian Diver Shootout, the Monterey Shootout and the Monterey Beach Dive Photo Competition and have had their above and below water shots published in Sunset, Skin Diver and Asian Diver Magazines.  Avid underwater photographers and videographers, they have extensively traveled the world to exotic destinations including Honduras, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji, Hawaii, Mexico, and countless California coastal destinations in order to hone their craft.

iView Multimedia, who developed MediaPro, has announced that it has been acquired by Microsoft. MediaPro is a fairly well known digital imaging workflow and management application which was originally created for Mac and later evolved to Windows. Here is what iView’s founder has to say about the acquisition:

With Microsoft’s purchase of iView, we are in a position to enhance our industry-leading product, whilst strengthening our customer service and support.

Sea and Sea Japan has announced a new compact digital strobe called the YS27DX.  We haven’t received an English language translation, but according to Babelfish, this strobe will have an air guide number of 20 (assuming meters), 9 power settings, a preflash cancellation mode, and some type of wireless digital TTL.  At first glance, it looks like a digital replacement for the popular YS30 Duo.

Adobe Systems announced it has acquired the technology assets of Pixmantec, makers of Rawshooter Premium and Rawshooter Essentials digital imaging software that provides advanced workflow management and processing capabilities for digital camera raw files.  Pixmantec’s intellectual property will be integrated into Adobe Lightroom and other products (Ed: I’m assuming ACR). RawShooter Premium will be discontinued although the Essential edition will continue to be available and support for existing RawShooter customers will be available from Adobe.  Continue reading for the full press release from Adobe.

Panasonic has announced their entry into the 4/3rds DSLR arena with a 7.5 megapixel camera and Zeiss lens.  This camera is very similar to the Olympus E-330 and uses the same sensor, which we have come to learn is actually manufactured by Panasonic.  The Lumix offers a live preview on the rear LCD in a similar fashion to the E-330’s “B” mode.  The kit lens is a 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 zoom which looks excellent, and according to Phil Askey, will also work on the E-330.  The kit price is $1,999 - and it will be interesting to see how this camera is received by underwater photographers and housing manufacturers.

The Wetpixel Picture of the Week competition is back online after some minor technical difficulties last week.  At the moment, we have two POTW competitions open (with themes “Cold Water” and “Creepy Crawly").  Be sure to enter!  Winners receive an Ikelite underwater flashlight.

Sea Challengers will be producing an international 2007 Nudibranch Calendar and is seeking your nudibranch photo submissions for the calendar.  The calendar will display thirteen full-size images and many smaller (spot) images, taken from your submissions.  No more than one full- size image will be used from any one photographer, and each photographer with a full-size image in the calendar will receive one free calendar.  Continue reading for full details.

The White House has announced that President Bush is expected to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands the United States’ 75th national monument later today.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday is expected to announce the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area — a group of remote Hawaiian islands that cover 84 million acres and are home to 7,000 species of birds, fish and marine mammals, at least a quarter of which are unique to Hawaii.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands comprise 139,000 square miles of largely uninhabited islands, atolls, pristine coral reefs and underwater seamounts. 

The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum have just published an online interview with Wetpixel Co-Admin Alex Mustard. The interview covers his approach to photography, the influences on his work, publishing images and the environment. Alex is the second Wetpixel staff member to featured in their “Artist Showcase” interview series, after Eric Cheng was profiled last year. Other interviewees in this series include Thom Hogan, Bjorn Rorslett, Michael Reichmann and Ron Reznick. Photo: Alex and Eric on the Shearwater by James Wiseman.

Scuba Diving Magazine and the Cayman Islands department of Tourism are proud to announce the innaugral Digital Madness, which runs from the 16-23 September 2006. The event takes place simulatenously at 4 of the Islands’ best known dive centres, under the experienced eye of celebrity host, (Wetpixel member!) and Scuba Diving Magazine’s Photography Director, Stephen Frink. The photo-pros based at each resort are Cathy Church, Courtney Platt, Mike Nelson and Wetpixel’s own Alex Mustard. Digital Madness should appeal to all levels of digital photographer who want the chance to dive, party, learn and shoot, and get the chance to win from an impressive $30,000 US in prizes.