Thursday, January 20th, 2011

X-Ray Magazine issue 40 available

The January/February 2011 issue of X-Ray magazine is now available for download. The magazine features articles about diving around the island of Gozo, the Kamchatka peninsula, Californian Channel Islands and Nassua, Bahamas. In addition, Joseph C. Dovala writes about “Shooting below decks”; combining wreck penetration with photography and the featured photographer is Alex Vanzetti.

X-Ray magazine issue 40 is available as a free download in pdf or iBook for iPad versions.

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

David Doubilet: Relics to Reefs

National Geographic has published an article about the sinking of structures to serve as artificial reefs which features David Doubilet’s underwater photography. Concentrating on the sinking of the General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, off Key West, Florida, the article also talks about other recent sinkings, like the Spiegel Grove and the USS Oriskany.It concludes with a description of a dive on the somewhat eccentric Neptune Memorial reef, which is a 16 acre underwater memorial garden.

David Doubilet’s photographs illustrate the article, featuring everything from M60 tanks deliberately sunk off Alabama, to actual pictures of the General Hoyt S. Vandenberg going down. (Image by David Doubilet).

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Online magazine Anima Mundi launched

Andrea and Antonella Ferrari have launched a quarterly online magazine called Anima Mundi, “Adventures in Wildlife Photography”. The new publication will feature trip reports, equipment reviews, technique tips and interactive video. Although it is focused on topside photography, each issue will have at least one article on marine life or underwater photography.

Anima Mundi is available as a free full-screen pdf download.

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Underwater Journal issue 19 available

Issue 19 of the Underwater Journal is now available for download. Articles in the first issue of 2011 include: A review of the Aquatica AN-5 housing for the Sony NEX-5 EVIL camera, Scott Gietler reviews the basics of wide-angle composition and the Parting Shot is a spectacular shot of a Harlequin Shrimp by Shaun Tierney. Destinations featured in the magazine include the Russian White Sea, Gran Canaria, and the diving around Hawaii whilst on board the Kona Aggressor II.

The Underwater Journal is free to download as a pdf document.

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Study suggests that sharks are color blind

The BBC has reported the results of a study carried out by Nathan Scott Hart and colleagues from the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland, Australia which suggests that sharks are color blind. The scientists, who examined retinas of 17 different species of shark, discovered that the creatures had only one type of colour-sensitive cell, known as a cone cell, in their eyes whereas human eyes have three cone cell types, with each type dedicated to receiving either blue, green or red light.

The study was published in the journal Naturwissenschaften and may be used to help to avoid the by-catch of sharks by fishermen. Unfortunately, it also seems to suggest that sharks being attracted to “yum-yum yellow” is an urban myth!

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

2011 Wildphotos dates announced

Wildphotos 2011 will take place in London, UK, from Friday 21 to Saturday 22 October. The conference aims to explore the power of wildlife and environmental photography, and the impact that iconic and emotive imagery can have on conservation. It often draws the big names in wildlife photography and is a two-day program of events.

Details of the event’s program, speakers and events are to be announced.

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Hdvunderwater: A new site for sharing underwater videos

Wetpixel moderator, Paul Waghorn, has created hdvunderwater: A new site for people to submit and embed direct Youtube or Vimeo links to their underwater videos. Membership is free and and easy to set up, the idea is to be able to start posting your underwater videos within minutes. Paul says:

“After seeing underwater videos all over the place on the internet, I wanted to create a single place where people can share and view underwater videos. Instead of having users upload their underwater video files to the site, users can create an account and post their direct Youtube or Vimeo underwater video links along with information about the video and even link back to their own website. It even comes with optional Google maps to mark the videos location.

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Sony announces HDR-T10 3D HD camcorder

At CES, Sony announced their entry in 3D with the HDR TD10, a dual lens, dual backlit CMOS sensor 3D HD camcorder which records 3D 1080i in a new format called MVC. The TD10 has dual Sony G lenses, feeding dual Exmor R sensors and processed by dual BIONZ processors. The result is recorded as 1080i in a new 28mbps format called MVC. The camcorder is due to ship in April 2011 at a MSRP of $1499.99,

Monday, January 17th, 2011

JVC announces GZ-TD1 full HD 3D consumer camcorder

At CES, JVC showed off the GZ-TD1, the world’s first full HD (1920x1080) capturing 3D camera. The camera has a Twin GT HD T1.2 lenses, recorded onto dual backlit CMOS sensors. All this is processed by the new Falconbrid processor, which is twice as powerful as the older processors. Features like a glassless 3D preview on the 3.5” LCD, 3D timelapse and still image capability as well as 5x optical zoom in 3D(10x in 2D) and 3D sound capture, the TD1 specs are impressive. It will be available in March, with a MSRP of US$1999.95.

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Celebrate the Sea Festival 2011

The Sintesa Peninsula Hotel, Manado, is playing host to the tenth Celebrate the Sea Festival from 23 to 25 September 2011. During the Festival, two competition will be held: Firstly there is a call for entries for the International Underwater Imaging Competition and secondly a Shoot out Competition which will run from 19 to 23 September.

Other events during the festival include many speakers namely: Howard and Michelle Hall, Neville Coleman, Dr Carden Wallace, Dr Mark Erhmann, Leandro Blanco, Eric Bettens, Amanda Cotton, Steve Jones, Michael AW, Mathieu Meur, William Macdonald and Indonesia’s very own award-winning underwater photographer Ronny Renkung.

The deadline for entries for stills and videos in the International Underwater Imaging Competition is 1 August.