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Equipment Review: Scubalamp OSD Snoot

The innovative new Scubalamp OSD Snoot was officially released in late 2021. Underwater photographer Kate Jonker took it through its paces and shares her review of the product as well as her stunning photos taken with it.

Words:
Kate Jonker
Images:
Kate Jonker
➥ Download the full article as pdf ⬅︎

When I first started taking photos underwater, I was immediately drawn to macro shots showing beautifully vibrant and detailed subjects with black backgrounds. I wanted to take photos like that!

With careful strobe positioning, I was able to achieve black backgrounds, but I discovered that there was more to these images than just strobe positioning. To isolate the subject from its busy surroundings, a snoot was needed.

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A New Approach: Shooting Common Subjects in Different Ways

If you have been diving the same area with your camera for a long time, shooting the same animals and scenes again and again, sooner or later the question “What more is there?” might arise in your creative mind. It starts as a mild breeze and can end up a storm.

Words:
Rico Besserdich
Images:
Rico Besserdich
Surgeonfish, Red Sea, photo by Rico Besserdich
➥ Download the full article as pdf ⬅︎
Photo & Video

Let’s assume for now that you have divable waters nearby or within easy reach. This is your home turf for underwater photography and might be the place where you, after a time, have made photographs of everything that grows, crawls or swims there. Your image archive is huge, but perhaps a lot of the images look a bit similar. If you are a photographer, you want more. You want to create something different, right? Then keep reading!

Nauticam WWL-1b wide-angle optic

The WWL-1B wide-angle converter by Nauticam features the same optics as the WWL-1, but it now includes an integrated aluminum buoyancy collar to make it nearly neutral in the water.

Nauticam WWL1b
Nauticam

The wet-changeable underwater wide-angle conversion optics supports full zoom range, allowing flexibility for various underwater shooting situations. It is compatible with various lenses from Sony, Sigma, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Canon, and FujiFilm. It is recommended for zoom lenses that start at a 28mm focal range (for instance the Sony 28-60mm). When using a 28mm lens, the maximum field of view is 130°.

Lacie Introduces New Portable SSD Drives

LaCie Mobile SSD Secure and LaCie Portable SSD Deliver High Performance for a Seamless Workflow

LaCie

LaCie today announced the new LaCie Mobile SSD Secure and LaCie Portable SSD. The drives provide up to 2TB of portable capacity and deliver a new standard of performance with enhanced features, so content-creators and tech trailblazers can keep files, movies, and photos secure in one place, wherever they go.

Isotta housing for Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Italian manufacturer Isotta has launched its new housing for the popular Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III mirrorless camera.

Isotta housing for Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III
Isotta

Made of anodized aluminum sporting Isotta’s unique red color, the housing features double O-ring seals on all buttons and removable parts, a patented single-handed open/close system, a large rear window with an optical viewfinder, and a built-in moisture sensor with an LED indicator.

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Underwater Photography on a $500 Budget

Scuba diving is not really an inexpensive hobby, considering the costs of training, equipment and travelling. Furthermore, many divers love to capture images and videos of all the things they have seen underwater. So, underwater photography then adds an additional burden onto one’s piggy bank.

Words:
Rico Besserdich
Images:
Courtesy of the manufacturers
UW photography gear under $500
➥ Download the full article as pdf ⬅︎
Photo & Video

Powerful cameras, lenses, solid and reliable underwater housings, plus all the other extras such as ports, underwater strobes, etc, can make a “professional” underwater photography system an investment that can easily exceed US$10,000. This kind of expensive system will, of course, if configured correctly, produce technically sound images.

Pixelmator PRO 2

The image-editing software Pixelmator Pro 2.0 (code name: “Junipero”) is designed as a universal app that supports the new Apple M1 processor. Intel CPU systems are supported as well.

It is integrated with Metal, Apple’s hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and compute framework, standard library, and GPU shading language, thus providing increased speed in various image-editing processing steps, by a factor of 15x. The user interface has been completely overhauled, and now matches the macOS 11 (Big Sur) design. A new Effects Browser, interface customization, and workspaces for photography, design, painting and illustration are included.

Nauticam NA-EM10IV underwater housing

The NA-EM10IV is a new underwater housing designed for the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV mirrorless camera. It includes Nauticam’s ergonomic layout of controls, dual fiber-optic ports for optical TTL strobe triggering from the camera’s pop-up flash, and vacuum check and leak detection system installed as standard features.

Nauticam

Tray and handles are available as optional accessories. The housing is compatible with Nauticam’s range of underwater optics, including the WWL-1 and new WWL-C wide-angle attachments, and the CMC series macro wet lenses. Its dimensions are 184 x 138 x 100mm, and it weighs 1.08kg topside and 0.1kg underwater (including the camera and battery). It is depth-rated to 100m and has a Nauticam N85 port mount.

Haweel underwater case for iPhone

Chinese manufacturer Haweel has extended its range of underwater housings for Apple iPhones with a new model that supports iPhone 11, XR, XS, X, 8 and 7 (including 8+ and 7+).

Haweel underwater case for iPhone
Haweel

The housing is made of transparent polycarbonate, allowing one to easily view the iPhone’s LCD screen. It is depth-rated to 40m. The case converts the iPhone into an action camera. Underwater use is limited to photo and video functionalities only. Its dimensions are 19 x 10 x 3.5cm and it weighs 369g. O-ring, lanyard and cleaning cloth are included.

Insta360 ONE X2

The ONE X2 action camera by Insta360 is a major update to its previous model, the One X, including a new (circular) full-color OLED touchscreen display.

Insta360

While the ONE X2 is waterproof to 10m, a dive depth of 45m can be reached by using an option-al dive case. It features stabilized 5.7K
360-degree video recording, updated FlowState image stabilization technology, and a special underwater shooting mode called “AquaVision,” which automatically balances color. The camera supports both HDR photo and video. It is able to capture and merge multiple images to increase
dynamic range, as well as reduce noise and maintain detail when shooting in low-light situations.

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