BOOT 2012. Wetpixel show coverage.

The annual BOOT show, held in the Messe Dussedlorf in Dusseldorf, Germany is the world's largest consumer watersports show. The show draws exhibitors from many different watersports disciplines, with 30m (100ft) yachts being placed into some of the show halls. Diving occupies one and a half halls, and with in this, the show boasts a dedicated imaging area called the Underwater Pixel World, with stands for suppliers of imaging equipment and a program of talks and lectures.

The entry hall featured an authentic brass band:

As mentioned above, the show has 17 vast halls, all full of watersports equipment. Amongst these was some lovely wooden cruisers:

And something to go a little faster with:

Page 1: Day 1 coverage (below)
Page 2: Around the show(UPDATED-01-22-2012.)
Page 3: Around the show.

Day 1 coverage.

Olympus.

Several camera manufacturers had presences at BOOT, and the first stand I cam to was that of Olympus. They were showing the full range of cameras, including the PEN EVIL ones. Despite mentioning the rumors circulating on the internet about a new model, the guys on the stand refused to be drawn and suggested that any new products would be released at Photokina later in the year.

Seacam.

Whilst trying to get my bearings in the show, I stumbled across the Seacam stand. For some reason, they, along with several others, were not included into the Pixel World area. Harald Hordosch was on the stand, together with Gunter Ruprechter and iconic photographer, Kurt Amsler. I had seen the evolved Seacam D7000 housing at DEMA, but Harald showed me another refinement that they have incorporated into it recently. The housing was previously equipped with electrical strobe triggering circuits only, but now they have designed a plug made of a special optical transmission material that will fit onto the port.

This then takes a type L fiber optic cable, with a special end-piece made by Seacam to engage it. This fiber optic adaptor seems a simple and elegant solution for those wishing to trigger their strobes optically, and will be available for the whole Prelude range.

Harald also showed me the S10 viewfinder. I had seen it at DEMA but had not had the chance to view it closely. I was impressed with the ease of fitting into the back of the housing. It is lighter and less expensive than the existing Seacam 45° and 180° viewfinders, mostly because it consists of housed components, rather than a complete unit within a waterproof housing. According to Harald, the 10° cut-away on it seems to suit macro photography.

Moving on to strobes, Seacam has developed a frosted diffuser, complete with a red or frosted filter for the pilot light.

Lastly, in terms of new products, Harald showed me a neat snoot set for the S100 strobe, consisting of three different sized aperture pieces, which neatly fold into each other and with an opaque "grid" element. Price is around €345.

In terms of newer products on display, Seacam also had a small dome for using with the Canon 8-15mm on full frame cameras, giving a 180° field of view.

Seacam has confirmed that they will be supporting both the Canon 1DX and Nikon D4, with expected release dates for housings for both within the first half of 2012.

Stefan Weismeyer.

Stefan Weismeyer showing the curved tray.

GoPro are on just about every imaging stand. Stefan had an interesting and novel take on providing lighting with the POV cams. He has incorporated an LED array into a base. The light has a two step output control with 1600 or 2400 lumens available, with a color temp of 5000°K. It has a burn time of 90 minutes at full power and recharges in 60. The base is gently curved, and this, in conjunction with the a 120° beam spread of the LEDs, gives a horizontal spread of 170° and a vertical one of 150°.

The unit retails, complete with camera and LCD Bacpac, at €1019.

BS Kinetics.

Bodo with the BS Kinetics prototype NEX housing.

Bodo Sutter took us through the German companies new housings. A major response to customer feedback is a big and very solid looking handle on the larger video housings. This should make topside handling much easier.

BS Kinetics are offering the Tanan housing for the Panasonic HDC Z1000 6 chip 3D camera. On the housing, full manual control is available for convergence, iris (on each eye) and AF/MF selection. Manual white balance is still available via the menu.

The Negev housing offers full controls for the Sony FS100.

BS Kinetics plan to offer a housing for both the Sony NEX-5N and NEX-7. As yet though these are still in a prototype stage. Bodo mentioned though that the BS Kinetics housing for the Panasonic G2/3 and GH2 is their top selling housing at present.

Hartenburger.

Reiner Hartenberger with the maxi blue LED torch.

Hartenberger are offering a blue LED version of their torches for fluorescence photography. Featuring ahead with either 7 3.5W or 21 3W LEDs outputting at 450 nanometers, the torches also feature an LED read out dispelling battery percentage and burn time remaining.

Reiner Hartenburger explained that the company also offers a "red corrected" white light head. This has a red LED/s amongst the array, which helps to warm the color temperature of the lights. All the lights are available in either a diffuse or spot beam, and the larger lights also have the option of a larger neutral buoyancy outer casing to help underwater handling.

Atomic Aquatics.

My reviews of shows tend to concentrate on imaging equipment, rather than diving gear, but some products need a mention. Atomic have offered masks for some time, with the ARC coated lenses offering a fantastic non-reflective option for underwater imaging. They have now released the Schott Superwhite Ultraclear mask. Featuring a one piece design made with Schott glass and the widest field of view in both vertical and horizontal axes, this design is sure to feature on many a photographers wish list. Retail price is $199/€139.

Subtronic.

Markus Moll was on the Subtronic stand, with the ISR cable which incorporates Heinrichs Weikamp TTL circuitry into a strobe cable allowing for Nikon or Canon TTL (two different versions). The cable also features a port, from which you can slave a second strobe.

He also had the Fusion strobe/video light that offers a 2800 lumen video light via a 2 stage dimmable 28W LED and a 160f/s strobe in one package.

Markus Moll with the Fusion video light/strobe.

He also had the company's video lights. The Video is a 3600 lumen light, while the Video NG is available in 5000°K 5600 lumen and 3000°K 4100 lumen versions. All the lights feature a very smooth even wide beam. The Video is self-contained, while the Video NG runs from an external 7.2 Ah battery pack.

UK-Germany did not have a stand at the show, but Sutronic were displaying their Canon 5DMkII and GoPro housings.

Markus was telling me that the UK-Germany GoPro housing has survived a 500 meter pressure test!

Keldan.

Daniel Keller of Keldan lights.

Daniel Keller was at the show although he didn't have any new products on display. He released the Luna 4V at DEMA and the response to it has been very strong. One design he has been working on is a Cyan LED array that will work in conjunction with a red (magic) filter to provide illumination to shadow areas.

Subal.

Subal were displaying prototypes of their housings for the Panasonic GF3 EVIL and Sony NEX-5n EVIL cameras. These appeared nearly finished and Rolf Sempert and Arnold Stepanek said that they expect them to be shipping by the ends of February and March respectively. Retail prices will be €1400 for NEX-5n and €1319 for the GF3.

Both have fiber optic strobe triggering and, on the NEX-5n the option of using an electronic cable as well. THE NEX has an optional hot shoe attachment that will allow this.

Another innovative feature on the NEX-5n housing is the viewfinder, which is set at a 45° angle, making underwater viewing much easier.

Ports for the new models will be from the existing Panasonic GF2 EVIL housing, with appropriate extensions for different lenses.

Subal also had a further refined prototype of their MC-2 monitor. This is an SD monitor, but uniquely has a remote shutter release built in to it. Ideal for garden eels or commensal gobies! Retail price for the monitor and housing is expected to be in the region of €800.

Arnold and Rolf with the MC-2 monitor prototype.

Rolf and Arnold said that Subal will be producing a housing for the Sony NEX-7, as well as the Nikon D4, D800 and Canon 1DX once these models are available.

BOOT 2012. Wetpixel show coverage.

Page 1: Day 1 coverage.
Page 2: Around the show (below).
Page 3: Around the show.

Around the show:

The band gets a bounce on!

DivePhotoGuide Editor Matt Weiss on the Edition 50 Fathoms stand.

GoPro are everywhere.

Many retailers attend the show.

Andi Voeltz of DigiDeep is late for his lecture!

Sea Shepherd Germany.

Danny and Hergen of Critters @ Lembeh/Lembeh Resort.

Jose Luiz Sanchez of Solmar V and Allison Seymour of Galapagos Sky on the Dive Encounters Alliance stand.

The Underwater Pixel World talks carried on into Sunday.

Linda Pitkin was speaking on composing images.

Linda and Brian Pitkin with Linda's images displayed in the Topshot gallery in the show.

Edition 50 Fathoms display.

Jim Standing of Fourth Element.

BOOT 2012. Wetpixel show coverage.

Page 1: Day 1 coverage.
Page 2: [Around the show] (http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/wetpixel-coverage-of-the-boot-show-2012/P1/).
Page 3:Around the show (below).

Day 2.

Sealux.

Day 2 kicked off with an early meeting with Sealux. Arno Thiel and Jürgen Ostertag were on hand to show me through the Sealux range. They are offering their new Matrix video light set up, giving a possible total of 4 light heads with a choice of 1600 or 2200 lumen outputs. The lights are adjustable in two steps, and have burn times of 90 or 70 minutes respectively 9for two heads). Color temperature is 5600°K and retail prices vary, with the 2200 lumen adjustable version retailing at €598, while the 1600 lumen non-adjustable one sells at €472. Battery packs can be single or doubled up at €899 and €1150 respectively.

Arno then showed me renderings of their universal video housing. Although not in production yet, this will be available for all small camcorders and weighs in at 2.5kg. Retail price will be in the region of €1399. Sealux has also released a housing for the Panasonic AG 3DAI camera that has been used to produce footage used on German Television in a program called "Die Azoren 3D". With this in mind, the company has also released a housing for the consumer Sony TD-10 and its pro version sibling, the HXR-NX3D1.

Lastly, Sealux has produced two compact camera trays with locline arms. The bigger version with dual arms retails at €88.

While the smaller with a single arm retails at €65.

Arno admitted that Sealux has always had a bias towards Nikon still cameras, and with this in mind, he plans to support the D4 and D800 as they become available.

Rollei.

Rollei, as new company using the venerable name, has launched a series of POV camcorders. The Bullet HD is only waterproof to 10 meters, so is of limited functionality to an underwater videographer, despite the very attractive €199 price point.

The Action cam, which has a waterproof rating to 30m and provides full 1080p HD output is certainly a contender in the field of POV cams. Featuring an 170° field of view and with a wireless remote control (which isn't waterproof), LCD screen and a 4Gb SD card included in the package, the retail price of €299 seems very competitive.

Tobias Güttler of Rollei.

Tobias Güttler of Rollei let slip that the company will have a new version of the Action Cam released in May/June that will be waterproof to 60m, with a remote that will also be waterproof to 10 meters.

Mangrove/HGTV.

Helmut Goerlitz of HGTV and Juan Sentis Panés of Mangrove.

Helmut Goerlitz of HGTV and Juan Sentis Panés of Mangrove were sharing a stand at the show this year. Helmut had mentioned that the current series of Sony camcorders have a firmware bug that means that the camera can either have video out or LANC control, but not both at the same time. For housed cameras, this presents some serious problems, as you can either view the camera's output or access its controls, but not both.

Sony CX700 in Mangrove MVHS-L housing

Helmut has fashioned an elegant solution for the Sony CX700, by using the LANC to swithch the camera on, but then using the infra red remote control function to access the camera's controls. This has been incorporated into Mangrove housings. He has even written an infra red script for manual white balance:

As the camera will not deliver any information via its video out, Mangrove have added a recording status light as well, so the user knows whether the camera is recording or not.

The Mangrove family of housings are all universal fitting, with different sized bodies available for bigger/smaller cams. There is also a choice of front end, the Pro version that accepts third-party optic ports, like those from Fathom Imaging, or one with a flat port to which wet lenses can be attached.

The housings controls can be adapted to work with Sony, Canon, Panasonic and JVC cameras, and this includes the Canon HF G10.

Jose then spent some time introducing a new video light family. The VC4L6 offers an even spread 4380 lumen beam via a two step adjustment. Burn time is about 65 minutes on full and 130 on 60% power. In addition, the company is offering a 2280 lumen version entitled the VC2L6. Both torches have a 5000°K color temperature, and they retail at €675 and €565 respectively.

In addition, both lights are available as umbilical versions, either with switching on the light head, or on the battery pack. All light heads are completely interchangeable and have a wide variety of mounting options.

Before leaving the stand, Helmut and Juan showed me an exciting development that they have made with the Sony NEX FS100 pro camcorder. Helmut has designed a wired LANC remote that allows full control of the numerous camera functions. It does this by assigning "levels" so that rather then needing 36 buttons to access all camera controls, it needs 6 buttons via 6 levels. The camera and its remote will fit into the existing Mangrove housings, so it is likely that they will be offering this soon.

At DEMA in 2011, Helmut showed some miniature LCD screens, some of which have HDMI (HD) inputs. Once these are housed, they will be great monitors. Bodo Sutter had an early prototype of the housings for them on the BS Kinetics stand, although the hunt is still on for a reliable solution to running a 12 core HDMI cable through a housing.

Marlin

Ingo Vollmer on the Marlin stand.

Underwater imaging equipment supplier Marlin has samples of its products from Aquatica, Gates and Easydive amongst others.

Daniel Merkelbach with the Easydive Leo.

The Leo 1 universal SLR housing was on display, and offers compatibility with over 31 different Nikon and Canon SLR cameras. This is achieved by swapping the camera tray, and returning a management circuit to Easydive for reprogramming.

Other options include the optional addition of video controls (onto the housing's left side), additional lighting trigger ports, customized control options, mechanical shutter release and "drive" mode control, and a housing back with an integrated LCD monitor.

There is also a 200 meter depth rated version available. Retail for the photo version is €2,149 and €2,499 for the video version.

Green Force.

Matthias Koch of Green Force Germany was showing their new Squid 1850 video light. Featuring a much warmer color temperature of 4100°K, the new head ups the output to 1850 lumens. Crucially as well, the circuitry driving the LEDs is voltage tolerant and will run on voltages from 6 to 18V. This opens up many different power options. The lights have a two stage power control.

Green Force's Hybrid 8 set up for compact cameras will give one hour of burn at full power. The head itself is €365 for those who wish to upgrade, and the Hybrid 8 is €799 (reduced to €699 for a limited period).

Kurt Amsler on Seacam stand.

Renown underwater photographer Kurt Amlser gave a short talk on the Seacam stand during the afternoon.