New scuba diving equipment
Dust Aid DSLR cleaning tools (SRP: From £4.95)
Any photographer using a Digital SLR soon learns what a nuisance dust on the sensor can be. As the sensor is the most expensive component within the camera, it must be cleaned extremely carefully to avoid damage. Many photographers regularly send their cameras back to the manufacturer for cleaning – a costly exercise that also results in the loss of the camera for a few days – or more. Now, building on the success of the original Dust-Aid™ system, Just is pleased to introduce a new range of cleaning tools from Dust-Aid™. These tools are designed to lower the cost of sensor cleaning, while providing the photographer with a set of tools to safely clean away both loose dust spots and more persistent ‘stuck-on’ marks.
Ewa Marine U-B/U-BZ housings (SRP: £219.95)
Ewa Marine flexible housings enable photographers to take pretty much any sort of camera into harms way, any wet or humid condition, including underwater.
The two newcomers are the U-B and the U-BZ both designed to fit large professional SLRs like Canon's EOS1 range and Nikon's D2X/D200/300. The U-B housing is manufactured from double laminated PVC and has an integrated, optically neutral flat glass port. With this housing, a whole new world of applications opens up for your professional digital SLR camera: Inside the housing you can now take the camera safely canoeing, snorkelling or diving, up to a depth of 20m. The flip-up internal flash that can be found on some models will fit into the specially designed section on the top of the housing, allowing its use above and under water.
The U-BZ is essentially the same as the U-B except it will accept a longer lens, up to 300mm. This makes it very useful for sports or wildlife photography in or at the waters edge.
Fourth Element neoprene gloves (SRP: £23.95-26.95)
Fourth Element garnered great acclaimed for its Proteus 5mm wetsuit, and now it is offering 3mm and 5mm gloves to go alongside it, or you can use the gloves with your drysuit.
The gloves feature sealed seams to minimise water ingress, and a Thermoflex lining for additional warmth.
Halcyon backplate (SRP: £99)
Halcyon has introduced a smaller version of the popular backplate for the wing system.
Constructed with the same ergonomic design and high quality materials as standard size plates, this is a good option for divers who are slightly built, or shorter than 5’4”, to consider. Unlike standard sized backplates that may dig into shorter divers’ hips, this one rests comfortably just on the waist. Key features: 4cm shorter in length; 2cm shorter in width; available in stainless steel and aluminum; small stainless steel backplate and harness weighs 2.4kg (standard is 2.9kg); small aluminium backplate and harness weighs 1.3kg (standard is 1.6kg). For details of authorised Halcyon retailers see: Silent Planet
Marine Art
Joanne Tarrant is a professional graphic designer with a passion for capturing the exotic world of marine wildlife on canvas. Subjects depicted in Joanne’s work are taken from her keen interest in protecting and conserving the world’s wildlife. The example pictured is called ‘Correlation’ and is painted in oils. Joanne is an active member of a number of art societies such as the MIWAS and TWASI, who work towards this aim.
For more details, email Joanne at contact@joannetarrant.com or visit her website.
ScubaText (SRP: £FREE)
What happens when you turn up to a dive, only to find out that it has been cancelled? What happens when you are on the road and need to contact everyone in an instant? What happens when you are the only one not to pick up your email telling you the change of plans? It is certainly not easy organising a group of friends and when this is combined with last minute change of plans, one would be forgiven if they expected all hell to break loose! Well, it’s about time for change…don’t you think?
ScubaText is a quick and easy to use group SMS alert service for scuba clubs. Furthermore it is free to set up, free to send and more importantly free for everyone to receive! This incredible exercise is supported by sponsors, so while your mates can expect a few additional characters tagged onto each distributed message, you can be safe in the knowledge that they won’t be bombarded with anything else!
Seadoo DPVs (SRP: From £349)
Seadoo is probably best known for its range of jetbikes, but it also produces a range of diver propulsion vehicles, and two in particular will catch the eye of recreational and technical divers.
The GTi (SRP: £349.99) is perfect for recreational divers who want to look like James Bond. It is depth-rated to 30m, the battery will last one-and-a-half hours, and it can carry a diver along at speeds up to 2mph.
Technical divers will be more interested in the new Explorer (SRP: £549.99), which is depth-rated to 50m, can run at speeds up to 3.3mph, and the battery will last for up to 120 minutes.
Toughprint waterproof paper (SRP: £14.95)
Waterproof paper has, in the past, not been the most-durable of product, but Toughprint changes all that.
It feels and looks like normal paper, and it is printable using standard inkjet or laser printers (specific inkjet or laser versions are available), but it is completely water-resistant and tear-resistant.
The printed colours will not run, bleed or smudge, making Toughprint ideal for dive-site maps, fish ID charts, navigation aids and various other underwater and surface applications.
The Toughprint paper comes in packs of 25 sheets, laser or inkjet.
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