Every year a Nudibranch Safari is held at the popular diving site Gulen in Norway.

The event is known to everyone with an interest in nudibranchs, but also by many underwater photographers, because even though Gulen is a cold-water diving destination, it is also a hot spot when it comes to underwater photography. In addition to being an ordinary diving resort, due to its good logistics, it has been used over the years for workshops, TV recordings, training and other events by underwater photographers from all over the world. I started doing workshops here myself almost 15 years ago, where I had Alex Mustard as a co-teacher.

Gulen is a really nice diving site, which has some of Norway’s best wreck dives in the immediate area, and at the same time it has a very easily accessible and usable house reef right in front of the center, which is known to house an extraordinary number of nudibranchs. Because the house reef offers exciting diving from a few meters deep to a good 40 meters without having to move much and because the fjord is over 100 meters deep just around the corner, the variety of wildlife is high.

Nudi for nerds

The nudibranch event at Gulen has existed since 2008 and was started by the well-known macro photographer Christian Skauge because there was a dive trip with bad weather, where you couldn’t sail out to the wrecks. It quickly became a success and after a few years they invited 2 associate professors from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Torkild Bakken and Jussi Evertsen. Both worked with nudibranch taxonomy and distribution for Norwegian waters since 1997, which brought the event to a completely different professional level.

The week is usually built around scientific collection, documentation and education about nudibranchs, giving participants the opportunity to learn where the animals are found, what they eat, the variation in the species and how to handle them when they are subsequently studied under a microscope. Every day there are lectures by some really talented guest lecturers on topics related to the biology of nudibranchs and between dives there is study in the field lab, where everything is recorded and documented.

Gulen is the place in Norway where the most different nudibranchs have been spotted and over the years 3 completely new species have also been found, all of which have been officially registered and named: Gulenia orjani, Gulenia monicae and Fjordia chriskaugei.

Photo and nudibranch?

This year, Ørjan Sandnes and Monica Bakkeli, who are the owners of the center, had the idea to shake things up and make the event a little different. Since the event and the participants all spend a lot of time photographing the nudies, there is always a good amount of talk about photography, but because the event has always been of a scientific nature and not a photography course, the photography part has been left alone. The couple had been aware of this for a long time and had decided to do something about it. They therefore contacted me and asked me to handle that part.

Not nudi-nerd

I have to be honest, I have previously had a very strained relationship with nudibranchs. Whether it is because in my younger days I was a wreck enthusiast and tech diver and therefore did not have an eye for these small biological wonders, I cannot quite agree with myself. I have always seen a lot of pictures of beautiful nudibranchs and that is precisely what I mean, beautiful nudibranchs. Because nudibranchs are incredibly beautiful in their nature, I have seen far too many bad pictures of beautiful nudibranchs, and since I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I see sloppy photography, it has resulted in many heated discussions. But that was back then. Now I love photographing nudibranchs. Maybe because I have been to so many nudibranch events that I have now learned to find them, which is an important part of getting a good picture.

Admittedly, I still don’t have much interest in the biology, but as a photographic object they are top.

Nudibranchs as a motif

I have a background as an advertising photographer, and for part of my apprenticeship I was at a studio that had a portrait department. It was during that time that we made black and white copies in the darkroom in the basement and then pressed them and edited them with a razor blade before we framed them. During that period I learned a lot about the composition of a face. For example, it means a lot to a good portrait image whether the eye is sharp, the corner of the mouth is relaxed in a smile, whether the lips are dry or shiny, whether the angle of the neck and head matches the turn of the face, as well as the focal length, shadows, exposure, backlight and background. Yes, photographing portraits is incredibly similar to doing macro photography underwater.

Phototechnical or scientific feedback

I had bought into Ørjan and Monica’s idea that it was possible for me to direct the evening’s photo review of the day’s finds. I can usually do that in the routine, because that’s exactly what I do when I hold photo events and workshops. Whether it would work at an event whose primary function was to study nudibranchs, I had no idea. Everything I know about photography falls to the ground if a photo has lost its scientific or documentary value. Was it a challenge that could be solved, so that the participants felt that my feedback was relevant or would I just be in the way?

The daily news

Each day, one or more photos were collected from the participants which I then reviewed in the evening. There was a lot of natural talk about nudibranchs and their findings, but the new element was that we also looked at the photographic technical aspect of the images. It basically worked well and it was clear that all the participants were equally interested in talking about the photographic technical aspect as the biological aspect. Since my biological knowledge of nudibranchs is not great and since many of the participants had a biology background or were just big nudibranch enthusiasts, there was quite a lot of feedback from the participants every evening. Often there was scientific input on a picture that changed both my and the photographer’s view on the choice of a photo angle or lighting. And sometimes there was a discussion about the technical value of the picture versus its scientific value, but it all happened on a both cheerful and a scientifically high level.

Who is right?

One evening there was a picture that really divided the waters. There were people who thought it was one of the best pictures taken of a nudibranch all week, and others couldn’t see the interesting thing in it. This is not an unfamiliar situation for me, because images depend on the eyes that see, and we all put a combination of our diving, life and photography experience into the evaluation of an image. My role was largely to illuminate the different ways in which one can see an image, as well as try to understand the photographer’s thoughts when he/she pressed the button. When I understand this myself, I have to try to convey it to the other participants, which can be both a difficult but also a very fun process.

I always start a photo session by reminding the participants that if the photographer can find joy in a given image, then it has a justification regardless of what the majority of the participants may otherwise think. And that is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Big vs. small?

Another fun discussion arose from a question from a young participant, who exclusively photographed with an Olympus TG-7 compact camera without a tray, but with a small video light in her hand. Her question was for all of us “established underwater photographers”. She asked: “Why do you choose to swim around and photograph with such a large camera equipment as you have, when the subject is so small… and why do you choose to limit your lighting to lights that are attached to an arm system?”

I LOVED that question. And she was absolutely right in her assumption. It is sometimes incredibly stupid and impractical with the large equipment we have, because it goes without saying that small subjects are easiest to photograph with a small camera setup, where it is easy to position yourself in relation to the composition and where it is easy to get a small lamp both close to the subject and placed at the right angle.

The fact that many people choose a large camera is mostly about the fact that you can use a camera with a large CMOS and thereby achieve a lot of detail in the final file, which in turn allows for a lot of post-processing options. And of course there is a big difference between photographing with two fast flashes or a small LED lamp – and she understood all of that very well. However, she was still not entirely convinced that the result was up to the equipment and I understand why. In reality, we all want the best possible quality and the best light, but in the smallest possible package. And it is often a combination that is full of compromises.

All that equipment

Since I make a living selling UV photo equipment, I have many different underwater housings myself. Fortunately, during the week of the safari, I also had the opportunity to play with them. I am always behind in testing new equipment from suppliers, so it is good to be away for several days. Changing equipment during a photo trip is not really something I recommend, because good photos are very much about being comfortable with your equipment and having all the buttons and functions completely under your skin. If you change equipment, you often get set back and have to rethink logitics and buoyancy. I am typically in Norway 2-3 times a year to dive and test, and one of these times is typically at Gulen, so this year I was able to combine business and pleasure. As always when I am out giving lectures or teaching, I had brought a lot of photo equipment with me for the participants to try, and it was popular. Many of the lamps and optics I had with me changed hands many times during the week.

Participant toys and testing

Most people know that creative macro photography is related to lighting, and many use a snoot to bring the subject into focus and exclude the background from the image. I love snoot photography and a nudibranch safari was the perfect place to play with snoots.

One of the most well-known snoots on the market is of course the Backscatters MF-2, which was developed for this purpose, but most flash manufacturers have made an optical or manual snoot unit for their flash. I myself use Marelux’ SOFT which has a built-in focus light and a built-in iris, but on Gulen’s house reef, I and the participants had plenty of time to play with one of my current favorite gadgets; Smart Torch from Weefine, which is an LED lamp with a small lens and a snoot. We put it together with an Olympus TG-7 camera and a small lamp. This allowed us to play with snooting, both with and without backlighting. The small compact cameras are very prone to overexposing, so sometimes it helps to soften the light a little and reduce the contrast in the image. Several of the participants made dives where they held the snoot lamp in their hands to be flexible.

Another light gadget that I brought was the new Ringlight from Weefine. The good thing about photographing nudibranchs with a ring light is that you are typically very close to the subject. And this is precisely where ring lights have their strength. Unfortunately, they work just as badly when you are a little further away from the subject, because they give a lot of backscatter. At Gulen we played around with the lamp for nudibranch photography a lot and it works well as a documentation light, which was the goal for many of the participants. Of course, you have to remember that you remove most shadows in the image and thus reduce the contrast in the subject.

If you want a little highlight or shadow in the image, you can advantageously combine the ring light with another lamp. It can either function as a side light or an effect backlight, there are many fun options.

The participants who used it found that it provided good and even light, which was very useful for identifying nudibranchs, but that it was necessary to give the images some contrast later in the editing.

The process was successful

The week progressed and many nudibranchs were documented. In fact, a record was set with no fewer than 61 different nudibranchs, which is a good thing since a total of 87 different species have been found on Gulen over the years. So there was great satisfaction among the research team with the effort. On the photo front, things also went well, because there were a lot of good photos taken and nice photo talks. The participants seemed satisfied with the feedback they received in the evening. As they got used to us reviewing images, they also remembered to put them on the memory chip for me during the day and to be on time so that we could start the presentation. The most important thing for me was that Ørjan and Monica were happy with their decision to invite me and asked if I would consider coming again next year.

The annual Nudibranch Safari takes place every year in March.
See more info: www.gulendiveresort.com

The post New article in UWP magazine appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

Set a reminder and put a beer cold, because the next Fotografit LIVE Session is probably just around the corner!

If you want to find out more about the next date and see our previous live sessions and interviews, check out this link: https://fotografit.eu/live-with-lars/

Our sessions will usually be streamed live on our Facebook page. So make sure to follow us and hit the like button so you’ll get notified: https://www.facebook.com/FOTOGRAFIT

We would love to hear from you if you have interesting subjects that you´d like us to talk about.

Regularly we will do a Q&A-LIVE SESSION. The session will be around 60 minutes long and typically consists of:

– product news
– review of pictures
– picture techniques
– news from the business
– questions from the LIVE audience
– pre-sent questions
…and we will typically have one or two short talks to some of our ambassadors.

So don´t hesitate to send us a picture for review, a question with something that puzzles you or similar.

>> SEND US A QUESTION or PICTURE

The post WE DO LIVE SESSIONS! appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

Some of you might already have noticed: IKELITE products have recently been added to our shop!

We are proud and very happy to announce that FOTOGRAFIT took over the sale and distribution of Ikelite products at the end of last year.

At the same time, we would like to thank Ole Skjærbæk (Danish Divers) for the great cooperation over the years. He also was an amazing support in commissioning the products.

A large variety of products awaits you!

The Ikelite product portfolio currently includes more than 600 product numbers. That means that it will take a while until we have entered and processed everything in our shop. There will also be sets and various product combinations that we can gradually offer. You will soon find them on our website!

Of course, we do everything we can to ensure that you can find all Ikelite products in our Fotografit shop as quickly as possible.

We know the products very well!

We are happy to work with Ikelite and, of course, the products are very well known to us. Over the years we have had several Ikelite housings and we know most of the products very well. In terms of quality and handling, Ikelite is a very reliable brand.

We are looking forward to helping old as well as new customers with questions about Ikelite!

The post Welcome, Ikelite! appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

The Croatian Adriatic coast stretches over 1.700 km from north to south and also has a lot to offer underwater. Rock formations, wrecks, colorful reefs, and caves are just some of the many underwater sights you’ll see when diving in Croatia.

Diving on Rab Island

Our diving trip took us to the beautiful island of Rab in northern Croatia. Rab is located, next to Krk and Cres and many other islands, in the Kvarner Bay – one of the sunniest regions in Europe.

In the charming coastal village of Kampor in the north-west of the island is the diving center Kron Diving, which we chose as the starting point for our dives on the coast of Rab and some associated underwater model photoshoots.

The dive center has existed here for over 20 years and of course, knows the best spots for diving. Divers get to most dive sites within 5-15 minutes with one of the two speedboats of Kron Diving. The more distant spots can be reached in a maximum of 30 minutes.

In total, the base offers a choice of over 30 dive sites. So there are many different options for both beginners and advanced divers. Kron Diving also offers good facilities for cleaning the dive and underwater photo equipment and the dive guides handle the cameras and the gear very carefully.

Conditions at the dive sites

During our dives the water temperature was between 18 ° (from thermocline) and 25 ° (on the surface). Depending on the current, dive site, and depth. The thermocline is between 5 and 10 m deep.

In addition to schools of fish, we met octopuses, seahorses, and nudibranchs. And the underwater landscape off Rab’s coast also had a lot in store for us… During our dives, we saw both canyons and grottos, colorful reefs, fields of gorgonians, and steep walls.

This beautiful underwater world, the fantastic visibility, and the low current provided the perfect setting for our underwater model photoshoots. As part of a workshop planned by underwater photographer Christian Zink and co-organized by Broken Light Photography, we photographed the two divers and models Julia and Michelle. These photoshoots resulted in aesthetic underwater photos in front of canyons, reefs, and rock formations.

Diving in Croatia: Our underwater photo equipment

Our underwater photo equipment included a Canon 5D Mark IV as well the Sony A7RIII in a Nauticam A7RIII underwater housing, the Nauticam wet wide lens WWL-1, CMC Macro Converter, Symbioses SS-2R, and Sea&Sea strobes. The Fotografit shock line, which is longer and more flexible than similar products, secured our equipment.

Overall, diving in Croatia can be recommended. You have to do without big fish, but there is a lot to discover in the landscape!

Photos by: Jakob Stampe Nielsen

The post Diving in Croatia – Rab Island Diving Experience appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

JOIN THIS SEASONS CHRISTMAS FESTIVITAS @ FOTOGRAFIT

This year it will be a LIVE event since we can not meet in person.

But fear not… it will still be worth participating, despite that you´ll have to make the Glühwine yourself! 🙂

The event will take place on Facebook.

The following Facebook pages will feature this event:

Facebook: “FOTOGRAFIT.eu” (LINK)
Facebook: “Danske Undervandsfotografier” (LINK)
Youtube: “Fotografit-Nordic” (LINK)
Facebook: “Undervannsfoto” (LINK)

INTERVIEWS:

We have summoned a handful of our great friends and ambassadors to entertain.

It is a fantastic team!

1) Lars Korvald (Norway) – “Norwegian Coastline”
Adventurer and underwater photographer.

2) Helene-Julie Zofia Paamand (Denmark) – Split Photos
Traveller and underwater photographer.

3) Nicolai Deutsch  (Germany) – “Shooting 8K with the Canon R5”
Canon Expert and underwater film photographer

4) Steve Jones (England) – “Deep Wreck Photography”
Underwater photographer & writer

The post CHRISTMAS LIVE 2020 appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

From September 24th to 27th a part of the diving industry met at the 8th InterDive fair in Friedrichshafen / Germany. Of course, the FOTOGRAFIT team was also there! In the following blog post, you’ll find out what it was like…

For quite some time it was uncertain whether InterDive could take place this year or not. Many events and especially fairs were canceled due to Corona restrictions in the last few months. So we were very happy that the InterDive could be held in 2020.

So for the eighth time, the German and international diving industry met in Friedrichshafen – right next to beautiful Lake Constance. This year around 60 dealers, organizations and diving centers presented themselves in hall B5. That was less than in previous years, but the mood was consistently positive and many interested visitors came to the show. The FOTOGRAFIT team was of course in the midst and met many interested visitors and longterm customers.

Auctions and amazing exhibitions at InterDive

In addition to exciting presentations and auctions, InterDive Friedrichshafen had something very special in store this year: well-known underwater photographers presented their works at three different photo exhibitions. You could hardly get enough of the breathtaking landscapes and photographs of whales, sharks, dolphins, turtles, and coral reefs.

The exhibition “Below the Surface – Leben im Ozean” by Tobias Friedrich was particularly beautiful. Who doesn’t know him yet: Tobias works for numerous magazines and productions and has already received several awards. And, by the way, you can find his Lightroom presets for underwater wide-angle photos and underwater macro photos in our online shop 😉

Webinar with Tobias Friedrich this fall

Together with Tobias we will set up a webinar for you this fall. You will receive more information about this soon. Stay tuned!

Until then, you can take a look at our short interview with Tobias at the InterDive:

https://www.facebook.com/FOTOGRAFIT/videos/426456138326254/

Overall, we are very satisfied with the organization of the entire fair, as well as the good atmosphere on-site and many open-minded visitors. Meeting our colleagues from the diving industry was also great. Optimism was in the air – both among exhibitors and visitors. There will be better times again!

We are already looking forward to the next InterDive 2021 in Friedrichshafen.

The post FOTOGRAFIT AT THE INTERDIVE 2020 IN FRIEDRICHSHAFEN appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

By guest writers Lisa Svensen and Mikkel Noe-Nygaard, both Danish national champions in underwater photo.

The 17th World Championship of underwater photography took place on Tenerife, Spain from the 17th of September to 22th of September 2019.

20 nations and 34 photographers where participating in the championship where Denmark was represented by two photographer Lisa Svensen and Mikkel Noe-Nygaard and their two assistants and models Jan Carstensen and Rune Boesgaard Platz.

Team Denmark, from the left Jan Carstensen (assistant-model), Mikkel Noe-Nygaard (photographer), Kerim Sabuncuoglu (president of CMAS Visual comitee), Luciano Cedres (president of Fedecas), Lisa Svensen (photographer) and Rune Boesgaard Platz (assistant-model). Notice the beautiful color coordinated uniforms sponsored by Fotografit.

The championship is divided in five categories where each photographer can hand in one picture:

• Fish
• Close-up
• Wide angle without diver
• Wide angle with diver
• Theme

The theme changes from competition to competition and this year the theme was Cartilaginous fish (Rays and sharks).

Competing in underwater photography is a very special discipline in photography.  The pictures are taken during four dives on four different dive sites over two days. It is not allowed to edit the pictures; they are handed in to the officials straight from the camera immediately after each day’s dives. There is a limit of 250 pictures per day and its not allowed to delete any pictures on the card.

This means that every shot must count and great care must be taken to reduce backscatter and ensure spot on exposure as nothing can be saved in post processing.

Drama in the harbour

On the second day of the competition the Spanish team was disqualified. The disqualification was decided by the CMAS organization as it was discovered that the Spanish team had a start pressure of 260 bar in their tanks as opposed to the 190ish bar everybody else had. Because of the handing of the disqualification, the process of handing in pictures was delayed up to 4 hours. The Danish team finally handed in their pictures around 4 am in the morning on the 21th.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden were patiently waiting to handle in their pictures for the competition

The pictures are judged by a jury of seven. This year the jury consisted of Kay Burn Lim (President, Australia), Danny van Belle (Belgium), Adam Hanlon (Ireland), Magnus Lundgren (Sweden), Viktor Lyagushkin – (Russian Federaion), Michael Aw (Australia) and Nicholas Samaras (Greece).

Gold, silver and bronze are awarded in each of the five categories.

The winners are…

Lisa Svensen and Mikkel Noe-Nygaard both made good results. Lisa and her assistant Jan got a bronze medal in the theme category, and Mikkel and his assistant Rune got fourth place in the same category. Because of some challenges with the jury at the competition site, both photographers went back to Denmark in the belief that they had gotten a 6th and 7th place respectively. A couple of weeks after their return it was announced that they actually won a 3rd and 4th place – The best danish placements ever. Lisa and Jan are still waiting to receive their medal.

Their pictures can be seen below:

Photo by Lisa Svensen, Bronze medal CMAS World Championship 2019 – Theme category. Canon 5d Mark IV, Nauticam Housing

Photo by Mikkel Noe-Nygaard, fourth place CMAS World Championship 2019 – Theme category. Canon 5d Mark IV, Hugyfot Housing

All winning pictures can be seen here: https://www.cmas.org/visual/15-20.10.2019-underwater-photo-world-championship-tenerife-canarias-spain 

The post World Championship of underwater photography Tenerife 2019 appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

The post Fantastic pictures from the Underwater Photo Liveaboard 2018 appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

Not many people have had so many underwater pictures and articles published as John… so here is a chance of getting advice from the best on how to get your own pictures published.

See the webinar – and hear the stories behind Johns pictures that have had the largest awareness with the readers.

Also hear John’s view on the development of underwater photography, the dive business, and how he made two best selling dive books.

> DIRECT LINK TO THE WEBINAR

Your presenter

LARS STENHOLT KIRKEGAARD

Lars is one of Scandinavia’s very experienced photo/videographers with many years of working as both an active member of the Scandinavian Underwater Community, an underwater photographer, studio photographer, TV-videographer and as a Graphic Arts specialist. 

The post John Bantin – interview with a dive legend appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

…get comfortable with a nice cup of coffee – and listen to the exciting conversation about underwater photography, the art of traveling with an underwater camera and how to preserve both the artistic freedom and at the same time making a living.

During the webinar we will look through a lot of Nanna´s underwater shots, talk about her techniques and how she works with the post processing – you will get tips & trick – and learn got to do great imaging even with a single breath of air. The session will end with a Q&A.

It will be fun, instructive and exciting.
See you

The post SEA OF IMAGES by Nanna Kreutzmann appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

But one of my personal goals for 2014 is to increase the amount of videos, blog posts and newsletters. (Yes, I know – I should not promise too much 😉 )
But I have to say, the year has started with a blast… besides a bunch of GoPro courses in the Nordic Region, a funny ice-diving film project in Finland for a German TV-station and attending dive shows – my little business has been really busy… And that is great!

The down side of being busy is, that I sometimes am a little late on replying to emails. So I would also like to apologize to the people that had to wait for too long, for getting feedback and offers. I try to respond within the same day, and get orders out instantly they are being released by Customs – but occasionally the piles just stack too fast! I guess I soon need to start looking for some more help in the office for handling response. But for now, thanks for your patience, my dear photo-friends and customers!

Busy spring

March is around the corner, and 2 dive shows are ahead. The first one is the new “Dykmässan” in Stockholm, that I will not only attend, but also be doing photo talks at – and judge both the photo & video contest. I love dive shows, as it get me close to the people that actually use the equipment we sell and I always get a lot of good feedback. See more about the Swedish show here: http://www.dykmassan.se

The following weekend I will attend the Danish show: “Divers-Event” (www.divers-event.dk). It is a one-day-only show and here I make my presence even more visible, as I am hosting a large imaging-area within the show. Besides a large FOTOGRAFIT stand manned with nerds and experts, 6 keen underwater imaging people will have their own little stand, and showing what they like the best. I normally have a bi-annually event called UW PHOTO/VIDEO EVENT, but this year, I have cancelled it, due to this event – which I think is a good trade-in.
Read more about the show and the imaging part, and the good imaging guys standing up for me – right here: http://divers-event.dk/?page_id=138

The night before Divers-Event we will be hosting a Pub-night, called DykPub.
It is not too common in Denmark, that a “cosy night out” is held along with shows. I think it is time to change that, and have asked the Danish Sportdiving Federation, if they wanted to Co-Host the event. They were pleased to do that!
The Federation is all about getting people together – and this is certainly one good way to do it… it will be fun.

Last weekend I attended an annual event called Nudibranch weekend, at Lillebælt in Denmark. A good bunch of keen macro photographers turned up, and we spent lots of hours under water (and later, lots of hours watching pictures). Jørn Ari, that is a Danish Nudibranch enthusiast, organized the event. He runs the website:  www.nudibranchia.dk. Right now, a national Danish underwater photo contest is in process on this site, and among 3 Nordic judges, I am one of them. I look forward to seeing the results. The contest runs until May 30^th this year.

New test-series

Very shortly I will start to post some equipment tests, done by “Friends of the House”…
The idea is, that I have too little time to do everything myself, and by asking others to do it, we can all benefit from their feedback. I will start with a small series done by Jørn, about using Ultraviolet light. Something he has become quite pleased with.

And as always.

I am happy about all feedback and comments I get. Please keep it coming.
I post product news on www.facebook.com/FOTOGRAFIT several times a week – so if you want to keep updated, and to ask questions, this is a good forum to use. More that 2000 people are now part of the group, which is great.

Stay tuned…!

/ Lars Kirkegaard

The post Underwater Winter Imaging 2014 appeared first on The FOTOGRAFIT Blog.

Despite having been working in the dive industry for almost 15 years, I only started attending DEMA 5 years ago. For me it is now one of the highlights of the year. Someone once told me that it is the only place where the Scandinavian Dive business gets together, and I agree.

DEMA is the largest dive trade show in the world, and this year it was in Orlando. (it changes between Vegas and Orlando). I shared a room with my old friend John Bantin, that is the former technical editor of DIVER Magazine, and hence that a quite knowledgeable guy when it comes to equipment and people. John has been at DEMA for more than 20 years and we always had great fun together when we met at shows. He knows just about everybody, which is handy at a large show like this. We once told a manufacturer that John was my father, which he believed for a long time… so the joke has come up again from time to time, in new variations.
We also shared the room with Freediver Stig Severinsen, that has been a good friend for many years now. Stig invited me to Greenland as an underwater videographer this April, to document his Guinness Record world attempts that he did under ice. A fantastic trip it was. So in total we have now spent 3 weeks on the road this year alone – which has been good. Stig is a fun guy to be around, as he has absolutely no boundaries when it comes to meeting and talking to new people. His life’s philosophy seems to be, that the more people you meet and talk to, the more options you get, to make fun and have business with and Stig has a lot of options at hand!

DEMA is a rather large dive show, but I mainly spend my time in the Imaging section. Here I get plenty of time to talk with all the owners and manufacturers of the different brands I sell, and it gives me time to understand some of the thinking behind it all. Something I use when I mix my own product line, in order to get the right products out to my customers. It is also important when it comes to service issues and technical problems, as most things can be solved easily, once you know the persons at the other end. Skype is good, but not that good.

Following is some images that shows the products I focussed on this year:

Ultraviolet lights.
Last year was pretty much the “opening year” for ultraviolet imaging lights. They have always been around, but now a lot of new ones have seen the “day of light”. i-Divesite have has a few out, but the new ‘iTorch Gen 1.3 Ultaviolet’  will make an impact. At almost half the price of the SOLA Nightsea, and as a combination of UV and video light, this will be the Best Buy in that category!

MOLi
The MOLi lights were by far the most interesting piece of news on the light front this year. Last year I thought Light & Motion would have had more competition, but this year you could count new videolights by the dozens… However… not many could match the quality of the SOLA. Several things need to be taken into consideration when you measure quality of light. And not many people remember to look at the big picture. But the MOLi is darn smart… lighter, brighter, wider and smarter… hopefully it will be finished soon!

Video light
And about video light… i-Divesite will soon release the Pro-7… a 5000 lumen video light. And very very compact!
That will be a seller too!

And here is 3500 lumen in the palm of your hand!
This is what i-Divesite promises us during spring.
This little Fish-Lite will have 6 white settings and 2 red, and be able to give you 3500 lumen light.
Those LED just keep getting smaller and more and more powerful!

GoPro
There is always a new GoPro on the marked… nothing new there.
But the new i-Divesite GoPro alu-housing is new… in fact, it is not even ready yet!
It will be pressure tight to several hundred meters and have the option of adding an alternative power source. Several hours of filming with the LCD turned on… not bad!

FLIP FILTERS
The FLIPs are not new either, but they released an adaptor for the filter series, so the new HERO Black 3+ can use the filters as well.
The adaptor is used here on the picture… do you see it?

Boyancy arms
Buoyancy arms are not new… but at least Nauticam finally got theirs in production.
Buoyancy arms are in general more expencive than the cheaper buoyancy blocks, which you add to regular arms… so why use them? Well… these new arms from Hugyfot are adjustable. And that gives you the advantage that you can balance them to the existing water level and trim your system good enough to hold it with just one finger!
And now a new set of shorter arms came out, great for macro kits…

GoPro accessories
Lots and lots around… but this new GoPro mount is quite clever. It is i-Divesite that made a multi function handle and tripod mount in one… So, have it mounted on your tray, and take it off easy and hold it in your hand to do those special shots.
(and unlike GoPros own Tripod Mount, your can´t loose the knob, as the thread is carved into the mount)

Hugyfot Stabilizer.
If you use very long arms with heavy video lights, many housings have a tendency to wobble a bit. Which is not cool during a video shoot. (I know this, I have tried this many times  🙁
The stabilizer keeps it all under control and add a new extra options to mount armballs for accessories.

Nauticam goes close!
Nauticam never stop inventing and improving stuff. They had a range of new housings ready but also a new macro lens.
This macro lens had a lot of attention, as they have spent a very long time getting the glass cut right!
This is supposed to be the “sharpest” underwater lens on the marked and totally free of chromatic aberrations and completely anti-reflective!
Yes… it is very expensive, but it will magnify up to 2,3x and still have more than 50mm working distance….!
We like Ultra Macro here in the North! 🙂

Meikon
Not many new Chinese companies get a huge impact on their first year on DEMA.
But as I had already partnered up with them and become Nordic Distributor a while ago, I was looking forward to meet them in person. In a very short time they have produced a number of nice looking and cheap housings that will aim for the acrylic compact marked. The same marked that Canon already produce their popular housing to. The only thing is, that these housings are smarter, and more prepared for adding wetlenses and traysystems to them. I am looking forward to introducing these to the marked!

Subal Video housing
The Sony FS series is fantastic.
And Amphibico has had the FS 700 model for a while. But now Subal is re-inventing the wheel and entering this space ship to the marked!
It is both manual and electronic at the same time! (in case you run out of battery?)

Acquapazza
What you might think is Italian – is Japanese…
Acquapazza makes housings in vivid colours that will ensure that you find it if you ever loose it 😉
All of the most recent models are catered for.

Party Party
DEMA is a lot about meeting people, and making business and getting ideas for improving your business. And where else do you go to meet and talk to people but by attending one of the many parties…?
Every year a bunch of the large imaging companies join forces and make an imaging party. Which of course is worth attending if you have an interest in the imaging world. And also a great opportunity to meet old-friends… Particularly the ones that like far away, I only get to see here.

Jean is not only General Manager, but also one of the family members of the family owned company: Ikelite. I have had many Ikelite housings in my early years, and I don´t sell them, so in that sense I do not know much about the company. But Jean is certainly a bright woman, so I am sure it goes well. We spoke for a long time and agreed on… well… a fair amount of things!

DEMA AWARDS

And speaking of parties…The main DEMA party every year is the awards party, where selected people get recognition for their work in the dive industry. Many people have been awarded over the years, but this year it was Stuart Cove & Dr. Lee Somers.
Lee has not only been one of the pioneers of diving and dive training, but also been one of the many driving forces behind the OWUSS scholarship for a number of years. And as being the Scandinavian representative for OWUSS, I found it both extremely interesting and touching to see that old fellow get his award. He had such important words to say, and people were just astonished about the strength behind his words!
One of the other very important people in the diving industry is Glenn Egstrom, which is just as known and an equal active part of the scholarship. It turned out, that Stig had visited and lived with him in his home for a few days last year, and even brought one of his books with him to Greenland. So it was a happy reunion of the two.

Summary
This DEMA was probably one of the best I have attended. And it has been good to take all the new equipment into stock and slowly start distributing it to the Nordic dive business… Let´s get some Spring time…!

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