| New From Ikelite—a cordless TTL
slave! This is actually quite a surpassing accomplishment
and should be a real boon to underwater photographers. The
slave module, which can be coupled with any Ikelite TTL strobe
from the compact MV to the midsize Ai to the mighty 150 and
225 wide-angle models, will convert any of these flashes into
a slave unit which turns on when the sync flash turns on and
shuts off when the camera turns off the primary sync flash.
You have total and accurate "through the lens" (TTL)
flash control of both strobes, and there is no physical connection
between the camera and the strobe. The implications are immense.
You can now position your second, or even third strobe without
restrictions of camera-connected cables, switch the second
unit from camera to camera, loan your second strobe to a buddy
or hand-hold assist each other in lighting. You can use the
"slave" with any TTL strobe of any manufacture without
concern about cord compatibility. The unit retails at $199.95.
Contact Ikelite Underwater Systems, 50 W 33rd St., Indianapolis,
Ind. 46208.
Aquavision Systems of Canada, manufacturer of the legendary
Aquatica underwater camera housings, has announced the addition
to their line of a new "video back" for their Aquatica
80 housing which is designed for the Nikon 8008 and 8008S
model still cameras. This new back will allow owners of Aquatica
80 housings the option of using any one of as many as eighty-six
different Sony Handicam model video camcorders. Simply remove
the still camera on its saddle from the front section of its
housing, mount your Sony TR model Handicam into the video
back, snap your new video housing together, and you’re
ready for action.
Also announced for release at about the time this issue reaches
the subscribers is the exciting new Aquatica 90. Although
at first glance the reassuring classic lines of the housing
most often chosen by professional underwater photographers
will have a comfortable and familiar look—look out!
This isn’t your dad’s Aquatica. This housing for
Nikon’s most technologically advanced camera, the N90,
is actually the most technologically advanced still camera
housing offered to the general diving community to date. There
are only three mechanical controls: focus or zoom, aperture,
an autofocus selector. How then does this housing, as advertised,
offer greater control of the camera inside than any existing
housing? The Nikon N90 was designed to operate with the Sharp
Wizard hand-held computer, an Aquavision’s engineers
have exploited the ability of the camera’s onboard computer
to receive electronic command. The housing has its own onboard
computer which allows literally dozens of functions to be
accessed via a control pad located on the right side of the
housing. The pad uses scroll and select buttons to control
exposure compensation, metering patters, shutter speeds, exposure
modes, automatic bracketing, as well as a long list of functions
in varying degrees of importance to the underwater photographer.
There is a separate button control to activate the autofocus—no
more "Oops, premature shutter release!" The Aquavision
engineering team has also most thoughtfully provided a shutter
release button to take pictures with.
Aquavision has not yet formally announced the release of
a new, substantially lighter and more compact housing for
the Nikon F4 professional camera. I guess this must still
be a semi-secret. Oops again!
For more information, please contact Aquavision Systems,
7730 Trans Canada Hwy., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4T 1A5.
The Victor Hasselblad Company, makers of one of the most
prestigious lines of medium format cameras in the world, has
announced a brand new housing for their superb 903SWC wide-angle
camera. The housing can also be ordered for the older SWC/M.
The SWC’s Carl Zeiss-manufactured, fixed-mounted, 38mm
Biogon lens produces a distortion-free image with a ninety-degree
diagonal angle of view on a two-an-a-quarter-inch-square piece
of film, providing more than three times the image area of
a 35mm frame. The housing, manufactured by Elwin Gates in
California, features a large shaded dome port, controls for
focus, film advance, aperture, shutter speed, and shutter
release, a sync port accepting any strobe cable compatible
with Nikonos III or later cameras, and a water alarm. The
all-metal housing, sporting a parallax adjustable optical
finder on top, has a depth rating to 250 feet. It weighs nineteen
pounds out of the water without the camera, and just nine
ounces in the water with the camera and the twelve-exposure
back installed. The housing also accommodates the twenty-four
and seventy-exposure backs. The housing kit, which includes
a carrying case, Proxar close-up lens, tool kit, and cleaning
and maintenance supplies, retails at $4750. Contact Victor
Hasselblad Inc., 10 Madison Road, Fairfield, NJ 07004.
Two new video housings have been introduced by Amphibico
of Canada, one for the Sony TR200 8mm Hi Band palmcorder and
another for the new Sony three-chip camcorder. Each housing
constitutes a major advance in its own right. The TR200 Sports
Capsule is constructed of molded Lexan. This system is aimed
at the general watersport enthusiast and is almost certainly
the smallest and lightest housing available today. Rated to
a depth of more than 300 feet, the basic housing is positively
buoyant and is fitted with a flat port. Although a diver could
certainly use the camera in this configuration, it is more
suited to a kayaker, surfer, or participant in other water
surface activities. Most shooting will be over water at distances
of considerably more than the usual few feet divers most often
shoot at, although the camera can focus as close as right
on the lens port. A dive kit, which includes a wide-angle
lens, a second handle for the left side, and a weight to shift
the buoyancy to slightly negative, is available for the Sports
Capsule. This set-up should satisfy most sport divers and
is far and away the handiest, most portable system around.
The manufacturer claims that, with the accessory lens in place,
widest angle exceeds ninety degrees with sharpness at the
edges. Controls include zoom, record, autofocus, and white
balance are operated via electronic push button switches located
in the right handle grip. An external microphone is provided.
The housing will also accommodate an updated version of the
TR200 featuring a color view-finder. These cameras are already
released in Japan and are expected to be available in the
US later this year. The Sports Capsule retails at $725 and
the dive kit is priced at $405.
Amphibico’s new housing for Sony’s latest VX3
Pro Camcorder is already creating a tremendous amount of excitement
among professional videographers. The camera, in separating
an image into its three primary colors and processing each
color separately, all but eliminates :blooming" which
has been a problem with video in the past—especially
when using artificial light and most especially in the reds
and other warm colors. This, in conjunction with an impressive
550 line of resolution, puts this camera at the level of the
best broadcast cameras of just a few years ago. To top this
kind of quality, you’d have to make about a $25,000
jump in cost and a more than considerable jump in size and
weight to an underwater version of a Betacam or equivalent
camera system. In short, sport divers now have within their
grasp the practical ability to be out there using the same
equipment as the pros are using. True enough, plenty of tapes
on VHS and regular 8mm film formats have been broadcast—true
too, Hi8 is commonly broadcast, and there are people out there
shooting Betacam. It will, nonetheless, be more common to
see pros happily using the same camera system as the most
discriminating hobbyist is using.
The aluminum housing is delivered with a flat port, a dome
port, an extension for the some to be used with the factory-supplied
wide-angle lens, and a slip-on external filter. Focus and
record controls are located on the right grip, zoom controls
are all on the left grip, and white balance, select mode,
iris, gain, screen display, and power off buttons are located
on a control pad on the back of the housing. The complete
housing kit lists at $2475. Please contact Amphibico Inc.,
9563 Cote de Liesse, Dorval Quebec, Canada H9P 1A3.
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