Underwater photographer Andre Crone has published a review of the Seacam 250TTL strobe on his website.:

"I wanted to see if the TTL from the Seacam was comparable with the SB800 strobe from Nikon. I also wanted to show the wide angle performance of the Strobe."

His results are very interesting! Click through to see them…

The FAA has recently passed a new rule that limits what you can do with lithium batteries while traveling on airplanes in the US. This only applies to Lithium batteries, not to other types of batteries like NICad or NiMH. 

Moderator Cor Bosman has summarized the effect this new rule will have on divers and underwater photographers.  “Almost all batteries and devices that we as divers and photographers carry will not be impacted by this rule. This means you can still travel with them, but you must carry any spare batteries in carry on. “

He has also posted a formula you can use to determine the lithium content of your batteries.

[Diving Pioneers and Innovators] consists of 19 in-depth interviews with some of the pioneers, movers, and shakers of diving...They range in time from the 1950s Zale Parry to present day icons like John Chatterton and Wes Skiles. The careers of some of these still-active divers span nearly the entire history of scuba diving: Stan Waterman, Bev Morgan, Ron and Valerie Taylor, and Chuck Nicklin.  Michele Hall rates her own chapter, as does Howard.

The book fills 489 pages and weighs 4 ½ pounds, so it hardly qualifies as airplane reading.  Instead it’s something to take into a comfortable chair in the living room and read a chapter or two each night.  It’s almost like having a diving legend sitting in the chair next to you, and carrying on a conversation with an old friend…

16:9, known for their tests and reviews of lenses by a variety of manufacturers, has introduced an adapter that allows Nikon G-type lenses to fit Canon EF-lens compatible cameras. 16:9 states the motivation was to enable the use of Nikon’s “new 14-24mm f2.8, which provides the sweetest ultrawide solution for the 22MP 1Ds Mark III.”

The adapter includes an AF-confirmation chip and maintains infinity focus, but disables VR, auto-focus, and auto-aperture functions. At £79, only the lever-free version (where the lens is stopped open or stopped down by rotating the lens in the mount) is currently available with a 35-day turnaround, but a lever-operated version is also planned.

During last year’s DEMA, I’d spoken with John Ellerbrock at Gates about the Sony HVR-V1 housing and the possibility of testing the housing when it was available. It just so happened that I had two trips, a 17-day Banda Sea voyage and another 11-day Wakatobi reef monitoring trip planned for October, so John graciously sent his latest offering to me for testing, the Gates FX7/V1 underwater video housing.

Continue reading for Drew Wong’s full review of the Gates FX7/V1 housing…

There is a thought-provoking discussion in the forums about “manipulation” of marine life, and how much of it (if any) is acceptable.  Although I suspect it is a debate that will never be won by either side (opinions can be quite extreme and judgmental), the discussion is fascinating and provides insight into the trade-offs and decisions we have to make each time we frame a shot of a difficult subject.

It’s a must-read for anyone who has ever thought about poking a fish to move it into position for a better shot.

Happy holidays, from the Wetpixel staff!  Over the past calendar year, we saw hundreds of amazing images flow through the forums, the Picture of the Week contest, and the annual Wetpixel / DivePhotoGuide photo / video contests (OWU and DEEP).  At the DEMA show, we hosted the largest happy hour yet, packing nearly 100 people into a roped-off section of the host hotel’s lobby.

In the forums, we’re hosting a thread called “Your Favourite Shot of 2007,” where our members are showing off their best work of the year.  Numerous members were also featured in all sorts of media, including well-known magazines, books, and television shows.

And finally, in September, Wetpixel launched Wetpixel Quarterly, a new print magazine featuring the best in underwater photography. We’ve just finished the 2nd issue of the magazine, which should ship out any day now.  To celebrate the new year, we’re giving away a free magazine subscription to the best comment we get in this post!  We want to know how you found Wetpixel.com, how you use our resources, and what you get out of it.  Also, please introduce yourself! Leave a single comment here for your chance to win a free subscription.

To “re-live the memories of yesteryear” and commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sea Hunt, a popular American television series that ran from 1958 to 1961, Underwater Videographer Podcast decided to interview those close to the show and actor Lloyd Bridges.

Show #9: Sea Hunt’s 50th Anniversary is a forty-minute podcast featuring conversations with Eric Hanauer, a Wetpixel member and professional writer and underwater photographer who was the last to interview Lloyd Bridges before his passing, actress Susan Silo, a guest star on the show, and even Jeff Bridges, who shares anecdotal memories of his father and the show. Sea Hunt was said to inspire a generation to begin diving, and interviewer Marshall Karp shares more of the backstory behind the podcast in the forums…

After considerable pressure and the threat of a formal protest by the Australian government (with support from the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand), Japanese officials have announced that plans to hunt humpback whales have been postponed. Japan sets a hunting quota of more than 1,000 whales yearly despite international agreements protecting the various species, and while humpbacks are safe for now, the Japanese whaling fleet remains in the Antarctic.

Iceland and Norway have also continued to lead the push to hunt whales for “scientific purposes.” Drew Wong asks in the forums if this latest move by Japan is a “token gesture or another stepping stone [towards expanded whale conservation]?”

iTunes announced its “Best of 2007 Podcasts,” and DiveFilm High Definition Podcast Video has been named in the Best of 2007 Podcasts, “Classic Video” list.  The only diving-related podcast to make the iTunes “Best of 2007” list, DiveFilm Podcasts have been featured at iTunes since their launch in December of 2005, shortly after the first video-capable iPods were introduced.  The podcasts are now available in two versions, the original DiveFilm Podcast Video and DiveFilm High Definition Podcast Video for computers and HDTV…