February 2011_1

New ports from Isotecnic for reflex housings

Isotecnic annouces its new ports for reflex cameras from Isotta. Constructed in anodized anticorodal aluminum, the ports show the typical features that come from attention to details, safety, and functionality. They are currently available in two types: spherical (4"1/4, 6"5/16.8") and flat, with the possibility of adding extension rings for various lenses. The ports in production can be adapted to various lenses (to find out about your own lenses you should ask the manufacturer). They are provided with a slot for a safety lock, located on the housing, preventing accidental opening.

Nat Geo’s goofs

Sometimes the urge to dazzle the reader at any cost may end up in inaccuracies even from celebrated magazines. Now it’s National Gegraphic’s turn: in the preview published on the website of Rebubblica of an article entitled Mediterranean at its pure state, a few goofs were made. The article is about a survey by the marine biologist Enric Sala, and by Pierre-Yves Cousteau, son of the great Jacques, on marine reserves, on board the historical oceanographic ship Alcyone, to launch a (deserving) initiative to protect increasingly wide areas of the “Mare Nostrum”. Unfortunately, Enric Sala, author of the pictures, had to use a trick from the sixties of last century: cracking a sea urchin to attract the wrasses, and the urchin is well visible in the picture. Again, to stupefy the reader, a picture shows the diver immersed in a cloud of filamentous algae, that he himself has obviously whipped up to please the photographer. In addition, some inaccuracies not appropriate to National Geographic: one caption mentions a stingray, a fish, but what you see is a slipper lobster, i.e., a crustaceous. Another picture is supposed to show giltheads, but in fact most fishes are white breams, and a single gilthead is far away in the background. One image shows a desertified seabed in Turkey, with a quick explanation: it’s because of rabbitfish from the Red Sea; but things are not so simple. Also, the identification of a mediterranean triton is incorrect. In short, sloppy captions, great emphasis on images, some of which, however, we must admit, are very beautiful.

How to choose camera and housing

We continue our series of tutoring articles for beginner u/w photographers, authored by Claudio Grazioli. This time you will find suggestions on how to orientate yourselves in the choice of the camera and the housing, an important step, not only because your money is at stake, but also because choosing a camera not appropriate to underwater usage may imply big disappointments. Enjoy!

Claudio Grazioli, shipwrecks and nature: a new portfolio

Claudio Grazioli, already known to our readers, ha recently published a beautiful limited edition book, the result of a long research underwater and in archives: Revealed the last mistery of the Sestri Levante fleet. His pictures, plus historical images, and Giovanni Paulli’s reconstructions, embellish the book, which is read like a novel, a must for shipwreck fans. It can be purchsed directly from the author, emailing him at claudiograzioli@duwphoto.com. To complete Claudio’s portrait, we publish a new portfolio, while more about him can be found at the INFO page of this website.

New housings for Canon

Recsea offers a housing for the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS, a prosumer compact in direct competition with the Panasonic TZ8; in fact, in addition to a complete manual control, it features a 28-392 equivalent zoom. It focuses from 5 cm and mounts a 14.1 Mp sensor. From March, the new PowerShot SX220 HS and 230 HS will be marketed, for which Canon has already launched the housing WP-DC42, amphibian up to 40 m, an with on-board diffuser. The two cameras differ only by the on-camera GPS on the 230. The sensor is reduced to 12 Mp, same zoom, and new HS System image processing. Three great opportunities for those who need a travel camera, to shoot with a wide lens even on land.

2011