Please join me in welcoming Shawn Heinrichs to the Wetpixel moderating team! Shawn will help to promote and lead discussions related to conservation and environmental issues.

About Shawn: Shawn Heinrichs is an independent videographer and filmmaker who specializes in underwater and adventure travel.  His passion and work have taken him to the corners of the planet in pursuit of wild encounters with some of the oceans’ most impressive creatures. Shawn is dedicated to marine conservation and is active in a number of conservation initiatives. His video offers a perfect medium to capture the majesty of the underwater realm and communicate it to the world, in hopes of creating increased public appreciation, understanding, and action.  Shawn shoots in high-definition with a Sony HDV-FX1 in a Light and Motion housing.

Remember, we have other moderators, too!  If you’re interested in seeing the team behind Wetpixel.com, please check out the About Wetpixel page.

At CES, a few manufacturers announced new HD camcorders. Sony produced two new camcorders to replace the HDR-HC3, the HDR-HC5 and HDR-HC7. Both have a higher resolution CMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss Vario lens and rated at 2 lux minimum, recording in HDV.

JVC showcased their HDD Everio GZ-HD7. The 3CCD camcorder uses the AVCHD codec, writing to a 60GB hard disk for up to 5 hours of HD recording and more at lower resolutions. Fujinon supplies the 10X optical lens and also the mounting system for the 3 1/5” CCDs.

Sanyo presented the successor for the Xacti VPC-HD1, the Xacti VPC-HD2. Boasting to be the smallest HD camcorder, the little camcorder shoots 720P Mpeg4 onto SDHC memory cards. And it can shoot 7 megapixel still pictures as well.

Stay tuned on the Wetpixel Video Gear and Technique forum as 2007 promises to be the year of HD camcorders. Discussions on the new releases, by manufacturer: [Sony] [JVC] [Sanyo] 

Diving and watersports photo accessories manufacturer Fantasea Line has provided Wetpixel with first-release images and information about the upcoming FD-40 housing for the Nikon D-40 digital SLR.

Due out in mid-February, the FD-40 will retail for around $1099, and will come standard with a full-range zoom port and one year of flood insurance. The housing will have a 5-pin standard Nikonos-type sync port and will work in iTTL with Fantasea’s FSB-800 strobe housing.

Look inside for additional details and to view the photos…

MediaMax, the service we use to collect entries from those of you who have decided to use web upload to submit entries, decided to perform maintenance on their systems tonight, so we’re extending the deadline of the contest to 12PM NOON, January 8, 2007.

The January 7, 2007 deadline for the 2nd Annual Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide International Photo & Video Competition and DEEP Indonesia 2007 Underwater Photography Competition is Jan 8 at 12PM NOON, Pacific Time!

We can’t imagine anyone would pass up a chance to win a part of over USD $55,000 in prizes, ranging from 21 different dive trips around the world to an extensive selection of dive and photography gear.

Winning images in the Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide competition will be announced and presented at the Our World Underwater festival in Chicago between Feb 9-11, 2007, and winners of both competitions will have their images printed in some of the most popular dive magazines in the world (see contest site for publishing partners).

Submit your entries before it’s too late! For more details, visit UnderwaterCompetition.com.

On a trip to Egypt last May, Wetpixel member Claude Ruff (Claude) decided that a panorama would be a unique way to capture the well-known wreck of le Rubis submarine. Claude took the time to write about how it all came together:

It’s about 200 feet long and 30 feet high! There was just one problem: there are generally a lot of people there…knees in the sand, moving forward slowly, I took a bit more than 80 shots during about 20 minutes...

Keep reading to see the impressive final product, a composite of 30 images painstakingly blended together. The panorama was first posted in the ”Your favorite shot of 2006” discussion - be sure to contribute your own favorite photograph!
 

Sea & Sea is planning to announce their “newest and most technically advanced digital SLR housing,” the DX-400D for Canon’s Digital Rebel XTi.

The housing will feature a built-in leak-sensor and eTTL/eTTL2 circuitry, compatible with Sea & Sea’s new YS-110 DS-TTL strobe and other YS-series strobes.

Read on for the full press release from Sea & Sea…

Wetpixel member JP Trenque (frogmansub) is currently featured on BBC News In Pictures with a gallery of twelve images from his recent trip to Borneo. JP narrates each photo in the set, and discusses the experience...

Watching the sun rise over the Malaysian island of Kapalai gave me the best inspiration to go and capture the beauty of Borneo’s aquatic wonders...diving off the nearby island of Sipadan is a privilege for underwater photographers.

JP’s achievement was first reported in Wetpixel’s Members in Media forum, an area for members to post news about published images, videos, or contest wins. Congratulate JP for his second BBC gallery in the continuing discussion...
 

Our good friend Tony Wu will be aboard the Archipelago Adventurer I liveaboard dive vessel in the Lembeh Strait this coming March 24-28, 2007, and has offered to give free advice to anyone who happens to be onboard at the same time.  It is not a paid workshop, but Tony will be happy to provide hands-on help and suggestions.

If you sign up for the trip, be sure to bring your copy of Silent Symphony for Tony to sign.  Or, you could ask him to sign your chest for a more “personal” touch.

It seems that Amazon.com is carrying shark fin soup and other products through third-party vendors Roland, Pacific Rim Gourmet, VitaminLife, and Seagate.  With all the controversy surrounding shark fins and the horrible practices used to harvest fins, Amazon should be ashamed to be carrying shark fin soup and should rectify the problem immediately by pulling all shark fin products from their catalog.

What you can do:

1. Leave feedback at Amazon’s product page for Roland Shark Fin Soup, Dragonfly Shark Fin Soup, VitaminLife, and Seagate.
2. Participate in the discussion over at Amazon about the product and why it’s bad for them to carry it
3. Send e-mail to Roland Food at Phyllis.Goldberg@rolandfood.com, Pacific Rim Gourmet at customerservice@pacificrim-gourmet.com, VitaminLife at customerservice@vitaminlife.com, Seagate Products at their contact form, and write letters of protest to:
   
   Pacific Rim Gourmet
   75-5660 Kopiko Street, Suite C7-210
   Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
   
   VitaminLife
   15940 Redmond Way
   Redmond, WA 98052
   
   Seagate Products/First Fishery
   9484 Chesapeake Dr. Suite 802
   San Diego, CA 92123
   
   
4. Write to Amazon.com at Advantage Customer Service (advantage@amazon.com) and
   Investor Relations (ir@amazon.com)
5. Spread the word through your webpage, blog, etc. (code available here)
6. Boycott Amazon.com until they comply
7. Join our discussion in the forums

*UPDATE* 12:03AM Jan 6, 2007 - Amazon has pulled all 35+ negative reviews for the Dragonfly product. They have introduced a new product, Shark Fin Cartilage Powder sold through VitaminLife.

*UPDATE* 06:55PM Jan 3, 2007 - Dragonfly Shark Fin Soup now shows “not available.” Hopefully, our campaign is working.

Continue reading for Amazon’s response and more.