What's in Store for 2019: DEMA Highlights

This year the DEMA tradeshow came back to Las Vegas, NV, and featured dive industry (and underwater imaging companies) presenting their latest and greatest products. 

We covered the DEMA news along with Bluewater Photo to give you an inside look at new lights, housing, and other awesome underwater gear coming out this next year!

The Essentials from DEMA 2018

Nikon Z7 Housings

Nikon entered the mirrorless market with their announcement of the new Z-series in Autumn, 2018. It was certainly a long time coming, but it looks like Nikon has delivered with a full-frame sensor, built in 5-axis image stabilization, and a new lens mount supporting apertures as wide as f/0.95! The Nikon Z7 features 45.7 MP and the Nikon Z6 features 25.4 MP and a significantly lower price tag. Although lens options seem a little limited in the early development stages of Z mount lenses, underwater housing manufacturers were especially quick to introduce their products! So far, all housings seem to be compatible with both the Z7 and Z6.

Sea & Sea Nikon Z7 Housing - $3599.95

Known for high-quality housings that can spend a little time in the development stages before release, Sea & Sea was particularly quick to come out with their Z7 housing! The housing features trim colors, luminescent buttons, a smaller size than other Nikon full-fram housings, and a dual lens gear system – one for Nikon Z lenses and another for Nikon F mount lenses with an FTZ adapter. This opens up a wide range of lens options at a time where Z-series lenses are still developing! 

The Sea & Sea Z7 Housing is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Nauticam Nikon Z7 Housing - $3,450

Nauticam, the Ferrari of the Underwater Housing business, has also released its Nikon Z7 housing. The The Nauticam NA-Z7 housing offers full control of the camera and full support with both native Z lenses and F lenses with the FTZ adapter. As with all Nauticam housings, all the camera’s essential controls are within easy reach of the rubberized handles. 

The Nauticam Z7 Housing is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Ikelite Nikon Z7 Housing - $1,695

Ikelite is the king of budget housings. As usual, Ikelite’s Z7 housing is polycarbonate, easy to use, and offers full control of the camera. Two cool features on the Z7 housing include an M16 port for external monitors, and a trim rail to help with buoyancy. 

The Ikelite Z7 Housing is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Aquatica Nikon Z7 Underwater Housing

Aquatica is known for their quality housings machined from a block of aluminum, then anodized and powder coated. Although they have not yet announced their Aquatica Z7 housing, their Sony A7R III and Nikon D850 housings looked excellent! 

The Aquatica A7R III Housing and Aquatica Nikon D850 Housing are available now at Bluewater Photo!

Everything Else Cool, New, and Quirky at DEMA

Paralenz

Although GoPro put on the biggest presence at DEMA of almost any other business, save PADI, Paralenz seems to be the next new thing in portable underwater videography. Paralenz, a small company based in Denmark, has perfected the Parlanez Dive Camera through multiple trial runs with groups of divers to feel for their interests. With a small cylindrical shape, the camera is made to be used almost like a flashlight. A snap record mode allows you to take photos with the press of a button or push and hold to record video – no need to switch between modes and worry that you’ve stopped recording. But perhaps the coolest thing about the Paralenz is that it will correct for white balance in-camera based on the depth that it senses. No more filters!

The Parlanez Dive Camera is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Sea & Sea – Sony A7R III Housing Buoyancy Pocket

Sea & Sea added space for a buoyancy pocket which increases underwater buoyancy, making the housing lighter and easy to use. It can also be used as space for an additional battery pack! This is welcome for the Sony A7R III – a camera with limited battery life.

The Sea & Sea A7R III Housing is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Sealife

DC2000 firmware update – Sealife introduced a free new firmware update for the DC2000 available on their website! Click here

Sea Dragon 3000F video light ($499.95) – Sealife announced its Sea Dragon 3000F photo-video light! We can expect 3000 lumens throughout its 1 hour burn life, 120 degrees of illumination, flash detect, auto brightness, two red LEDs, and a flex connect system.

Kraken

New Kraken Wide Angle Dome for Smart Housing – Kraken is announcing an amazing new wide-angle dome port for its universal smart phone housing! It will be officially announced February 2019 and should be available for under $300. 

Snoot Light – Kraken announced a new snoot light with multiple filters. It can be used as a focus light when the tip is removed!

The Kraken Snoot Light is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Light & Motion

This year at DEMA, Light & Motion announced their new push to transition their lights to hybrid underwater/above water usage. This is certainly an exciting development in underwater lighting, especially to underwater photographers who also like to take the occasional photo above water. They’re also offering a new guarantee that lights will not flood for the first 2 years.

Light & Motion are offering two new hybrid lights – the Stella 1000 and the Sola Video Pro 9600. 

Stella 1000 – The Stella 1000 features 1000 lumens of illumination above water with 2-3 minutes burst of 2500 lumens. Underwater the Stella 1000 can perform at 2500 lumens for an hour. 

Sola Video Pro 9600 – Above water, the Video Pro 9600 can produce 5000-8000 lumens and 9600 lumens underwater. 

SolaDome Port Optic – Light & Motion is also introducing a dome port accessory that screws on to the front of your Sola light to increase your degree of illumination from 90 degrees to 110 degrees! 

The SolaDome Port Optic is available now at Bluewater Photo!

Fantasea 

Sony RX100 VI Housing – Fantasea is featuring their new Sony RX100 VI housing. 

The Fantasea Sony RX100 VI Housing is available now at Bluewater Photo!

And the coolest, newest, and quirkiest award goes to….Natuicam!

Nauticam introduced their new bugeye macro lens this year at DEMA. It’s a behemoth as you can see in the photo below. However, the lens’s sheer size is necessary to produce amazing macro, fisheye photos that resemble how an image might look to a bug. Basically, close-focus wide angle can now be done on a macro scale! 

Nauticam MWL-1 – Another exciting development was the release of the macro to wide angle wet conversion lens. This lens is designed to allow DSLR and other interchangeable lens shooters the freedom to shoot both macro and wide-angle photos in the same dives. It converts a full frame 60mm macro lens into an ultra-wide 150-degree wide-angle lens! 

The Nauticam MWL-1 is available now at Bluewater Photo!

See You Again Next Year!

We'd like to thank all of our partners for coming out to Las Vegas and speaking with our editors at UWPG. We had a great time and look forward to seeing everyone next year at DEMA 2019!