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DEMA 2009: Underwater Photography Products, Compact Cameras and Beyond

By Matt J. Weiss, November 11, 2009 @ 11:39 PM (EST)

DEMA 2009: Underwater Photography Products-Compact Cameras and Beyond

Compact cameras are improving all the time and since last year's DEMA Show we have seen some great new releases - from the Canon G11 to an expanded range of micro four-thirds camera and lens options. It's nice to see some of the newer housing manufacturers, like 10 Bar and Fisheye, really responding with quality housings. Additionally, there were some underwater photography products that were went beyond traditional point and shoot or dSLR categories. Once again, Ultima Digital had a booth showcasing their line for Hassellblad medium format cameras and then there was the Backscatter booth with the Scootercam...read on for complete coverage.

10 Bar

I really like the product line that 10 Bar offers. They seem to find holes in the market and fill these gaps with unique products.

One of these products was a new housing for the Fuji 3d W1 camera, which is capable of shooting both 3D movies and stills from its two lenses that don’t require special glasses to view. I am very curious to see some of images from this set-up.

Another interesting product was a housing for the Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera. Housing manufactures are finally starting to make housings for the micro-four thirds format cameras, which are somewhat of a hybrid between compact cameras and SLR's. Since this new format uses interchangable lenses, the housings require different ports for different lenses. This affords the optical quality and diversity of a DSLR with the compact size of a point and shoot.

10 Bar housing for Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera front view

10 bar also had a ton of accessories sprawled out along their booth, including a wide angle wet lens that can be attached to multiple thread sizes. Additionally they have a n 8’" dome port that can also attach to the wet lens adapter. 10 bar must have recognized the trend photographers working with speedlights, as they are now making housings for popular topside flashes inlcluding the Canon 270ex and the Panasonic FL-220.

Fisheye

Fisheye was at the Reef Photo booth and Kenji shared some of the product highlights with us. For underwater still photography, Fisheye was showcasing their new Canon G11 housing. The Canon G11 is easily the most popular point and shoot on the market right now and the Fisheye housing will undoubtedly become one of the most popular third party housings available for it right now. I imagine you will be seeing these on your next dive trips.

Backscatter

The Backscatter booth featured all kinds of photo and video gadgets to drool over. By far, the products that received the most attention were the Bluewater Camera systems.

The big draw was the Bluewater Scootercam. The Scootercam is basically part scooter, part underwater housing - brilliant! It allows you to house various DSLR's and video cameras inside a comparetment on the scooter, which is powered by a Dive-X Sierra scooter tail. On the front of the scooter is a port mount for Aquatica ports and comes standard with a 6” Aquatic glass dome port. You can mount lights onto the Scootercam, and the show model had Light and Motion Sunray lights attatched. With the Scootercam you have remote accessibility to camera controls, while cruising around the ocean shooting stills and video, which sounds like an unbelievable amount of fun! Berkley White was showcasing some some amazing footage that he captured while scootering with dolphins while testing and demoing the unit.

The Scootercam comes with a 3 button Remora remote than can customized and configured based on the model of camera you have, and the features you want to access. The Remora comes standard with SLR focus and fire. You can also control the camera with a separate external monitor remote that features a 3 inch 16:9 LCD monitor ,in addition to the 3-button remote control. Like the Remora, it comes standard with SLR focus and fire controls and is fully customizable. The external monitor has a run time of 6 hours.

Also part of the Bluewater line was the Dropcam. The Dropcam is essentially the same as the Scootercam but without the scooter capabilities. The Dropcam in turn features a huge battery supply that can last weeks. With the time-lapse upgrade you can set your SLR or video camera to shoot still or motion images at certain intervals while it's deployed underwater and you are dry on land. This makes the Dropcam an interesting option for scientific applications.

The Scootercam was a huge hit at DEMA 2009 and drew lots of crowds. Best of all, the pricing for these models are very reasonable. The Dropcam retails for $5500 and the Scootercam is priced at $6500. Both come with the Remora remote and you can upgrade to the Monitor Remote for $1299.

DEMA 2009 Main Page
DEMA 2009: Entry Level Products
DEMA 2009: DSLR Housings
DEMA 2009: Compact Housings and Beyond
DEMA 2009: Photo Accessories
DEMA 2009: Video Lights and Unique Video Systems
DEMA 2009: Video Housings
DEMA 2009: The DPG Booth and the Showfloor
DEMA 2009: Award Party and DPG / Wetpixel Cocktail Party
DEMA 2009: Closing Remarks

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