DivePhotoGuide is hosting a digital Nikonos industry design challenge:

“Produce an adapter or modify a camera to work with existing Nikons lenses, particularly the 15mm or Nikonos RS wide angle lenses, or build a digital back for existing Nikonos bodies.”

As a prize for any manufacturer who develops a working prototype, DPG will offer free advertising and help marketing the product, should the prototype become a real product. The deadline for the contest is December 31, 2009.

Digital Photography Review has posted an article comparing 5 waterproof digital cameras: Canon PowerShot D10, Fuji FinPix Z33WP, Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 / 6000, and Pentax Optio W60. The five cameras range in price from $185 to $330, and are waterproof up to 33ft in depth. Tests include outdoor tests, low light / high ISO tests, flash tests, and underwater performance.

The article concludes that “the [PowerShot] D10 produced the sharpest, most detailed images of all the cameras in this group test at low ISO settings, both in and out of the water. This, combined with responsive performance and a straightforward user interface that has been proven on other cameras in the PowerShot series, means that if you were shopping for a waterproof camera mainly to use in the water, then you can stop reading right now and go order the D10.”

Wetpixel is proud to announce the immediate availability of issue #6 of Wetpixel Quarterly magazine. In its trademark landscape-oriented, high-resolution format, issue #6 celebrates the underwater photography of marine photojournalists Stephen Wong and Takako Uno, as well as the quirky, humorous artwork of Ray Troll.

In addition, WPQ6 features images from Wetpixel expeditions to the Pacific northwest coast of North America and a conservation article about Pacific leatherback turtles. Continue reading for full press release.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals is hosting a website to help automate writing emails and printed letters to your Senator in support of the Shark Conservation Act of 2009, a bill designed to help end shark-finning in U.S. waters. The Act has already passed the House of Representatives and is awaiting action in the Senate. If you life in the USA, head over to the WSPA website now and write a letter to your Senator!

There is an interesting discussion in the forums about what happens if you send an image to a friend and they publish it commercially.

“Could the sending of that email give the dive operator implicit permission or any other right to publish the photograph on their site (hosted in the USA) to promote one of their courses? ... The DMCA counter-claim effectively says that they assume a right to publish because conditions weren’t expressed in the original email.”

A Wetpixel member is in the process of trying to get a photo removed from a dive operator’s website. The dive operator says that they have permission to use it because there were no conditions attached to the email.

Wetpixel was honored to be one of this year’s sponsors for the Bonaire Digital Shootout.

Karen Doody, Ron Lagerloff, and Richard Younger won 1-year subscriptions to Wetpixel Quarterly Magazine. In addition, Terence Fails won a free copy of MarineLife Keywords. Congratulations to Karen, Ron, Richard, Terence, and all the competition winners and participants of this year’s Shootout!

This is a call for entries for the 10th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, scheduled for Friday and Saturday evenings, September 11th & 12th, 2009 at the Qualcomm Hall located at 5775 Morehouse Dr, San Diego, Ca. 92121.

Here is your chance to see your work projected in Standard or High Definition formats in a state of the art venue on a giant screen. There is no entry fee! Continue reading for full details.

Wetpixel member Matt Potenski is in Bimini, Bahamas, is on location covering this year’s Bimini Biological Field Station juvenile lemon shark census. I’ve been out to Bimini to spend time with the enthusiastic volunteers, whose job it is to catch, measure, weigh, and tag every juvenile lemon shark in the mangrove forests around Bimini. Each night, volunteers walk up and down gill nets every 15 minutes, braving “PIT rot” (use your imagination) and swarms of mosquitoes and sand flies. It sounds terrible, but it is a lot of fun!

Check out Matt’s coverage at the BBFS blog.

Attention all underwater videographers: we’re extending the Sensational Seas Two DVD video contest by two weeks. Get your entries in for a chance to be featured next to some of the best underwater cinematographers and filmmakers in the world! Entry into the contest is absolutely free.

Scheduled for release in March 2010, the DVD is an exciting collaboration between filmmakers, photographers and multi-media artists who have donated their work for the benefit of ocean-related non-profit organizations. Enter the contest before June 29, 2009!

Wetpixel user Marjo has created a home-made ringflash using see-through plastic kitchenware, a reflective car window solar protector, and one large roll of duct tape.

I think the contraption did end up looking more like a gas mask than a ringflash, so I am sure it will come to some strange adn wonderful use even if it might fail in it original purpose.

Perhaps the refective intertior could serve as a barracuda attractant. Well see, but if I use it for actually photographing fish, I will surely post the images here.

We look forward to the underwater images! In the meantime, click through to see photos of the project.