August 2010

Beginners Guide to Video Lights
We just wrapped up our beginners video light guide, which defines lingo, explains techniques and common errors and highlights some popular video lights. Check it out at Shinning Light on Video Lights. -- Posted Sunday, August 29, 2010 by jroualdes

Underwater Video Tips & Tricks From a Pro
Becky Kagan, Owner of Liquid Productions, LLC, recently posted a super-helpful video on underwatervideography.com that highlights video techniques -- plan your shots before getting into the water. [...more] -- Posted Friday, August 27, 2010 by chb

Review: Flip Ultra HD with Ikelight housing and PRO-V8 light
Flip has sold millions of their little vidcams, and the latest ones record 720P HD video. Add an Ikelite housing and light and you have a very handy underwater video setup that is very affordable and lets you shoot very good video without weighing you down. We tested the setup on dives at the California Channel Islands and on Roatan. [See review of the Flip Ultra HD with Ikelite housing and PRO-V8 LED light] -- Posted Thursday, August 19, 2010 by chb

Great Lakes Shipwreck Alley slideshow
OurAmazingPlanet.com just published a very nice slide show of Great Lakes maritime history with a number of great wreck pictures. See Shipwreck Alley's Sunken Treasures' -- Posted Wednesday, August 11, 2010 by chb

Full review: SeaLife DC1200 -- best SeaLife yet
ScuabDiverInfo.com tested the 12-megapixel SeaLife 1200 camera on location in Roatan and came away impressed. The new "piano key" controls make using the camera much easier, even with gloves. Shutter and zoom controls are large, too, as is the 3-inch display. The camera was fast, forgiving, and very well matched with the external strobe. Our DC1200 Elite package (list US$899) included the camera, underwater case (200 feet), external flash, wide angle pop-on lens, bag, cables, and represents an excellent buy. [See full review of the SeaLife DC1200] -- Posted Thursday, August 5, 2010 by chb

Rugged HD vidcam with G-sensor and GPS contest!
Oregon Scientific has long been known for supercool, yet affordable electronic gadgets. They're doing it again with a rugged, all-terrain, waterproof (to 65 feet), shock-resistant HD video camera that can record 1080P video onto microSD cards up to 32GB. The Oregon Scientific ATC9K camera comes with numerous mounting options and can be attached to a helmet, handlebars, surfboard, snowboard, etc., can measure G-force during acceleration, deceleration and hang time, and there's even an optional GPS module to record location, speed and distance using Google Maps or Google Earth. You can even share video of your outdoor adventures on the ATC9K’s Facebook page for a chance to win a grand prize package worth $750! [See Oregon Scientific ATC9K camera Facebook contest] -- Posted Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by chb

Report: Back to Roatan
Armed with six cameras and vidcams to review, scubadiverinfo.com returned to Roatan and spent ten days at one of our all-time favorite dive resorts, CoCo View. With a couple of exceptions, we found the dive sites unaffected by the May '09 quake, a good number of lionfish (in December of 2008, there weren't any), and the kind of terrific diving Roatan is famous for. 28 dives later we returned waterloggged and with over 2,500 pictures on our cards. [Read our detailed illustrated report "Back to Roatan"] -- Posted Monday, August 2, 2010 by chb

Book review: Dragon Sea, by Frank Pope
Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam is an exceedingly well-written book chronicling the uneasy cooperation between a profit-oriented businessman and a science-oriented marine archeologist on the salvage of a mysterious 15th century junk carrying a huge load of Vietnamese ceramics. It's an interesting study of treasure hunt vs. underwater archeology and great reading on saturated diving, South China Sea salvaging and the tools of the trade. [See review of "Dragon Sea] -- Posted Sunday, August 1, 2010 by chb