GoPro Strengthens Entire New realease of GoPro CineForm Studio

GoPro's CineForm Studio line of editing tools makes it easy to create professional quality clips from your GoPro®  ontent or prep for more advanced editing with Adobe Premier, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, etc. 

From simple adjustments like slow motion control and clip trimming to more advanced color correction and 3D editing, CineForm Studio is a powerful tool for all GoPro® content creators.

CineForm Studio features:

• Keep your GoPro® cameras and BacPacs current with the latest software updates
• Easy playback and trimming of your GoPro® video clips
• Frame rate adjustment for slow motion
• Quickly create videos from your timelapse photos
• Convert GoPro® H.264 MP4s into editor friendly CineForm AVI or MOV files
• Apply real-time, non-destructive image adjustments that don't require re-rendering as changes are applied.
• Adjust video white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation and framing
• Support for ProTune and push-button color presets
• Process and adjust videos captured with the GoPro's 3D HERO System
• Export MP4/MOV for web sharing, including pre-formatted 3D content for YouTube and 3D TVs
• Preview 3D content on supported 3D monitors and TVs
• Support for other H.264 MOV/MP4 sources such as Canon and Nikon DSLRs

GoPro has a new version of its CineForm Studio lineup that it hopes will help build a bridge between professional video pros and the enthusiasts who use its rugged US$300 HD cameras. 

With the newest revisions, the free version of CineForm Studio adds features like support for H.264 footage from non-GoPro cameras using an MOV or MP4 wrapper (this works in 2D only; 3D is only enabled for GoPro  ameras in the free version) and automatic recognition of 3D formats for YouTube uploads.

The US$299 "Premium" version adds all of the functionality from CineForm's First Light color-correction application plus support for a much wider range of video cameras, including 3D modes, and the $999 "Professional" version expands support for pro stereo rigs by adding independent eye control to the mix.

Cinematographers might remember CineForm as a key player in early HD acquisition, as cheaper HDV cameras that recorded to MiniDV tapes were commonly used by shooters as a bridge from SD to HD work, totally frustrating editors whose gear wasn't able to handle the new, highly compressed video format. Plenty has happened since then.

CineForm developed a robust lineup that included color-correction and 3D image-manipulation tools before being snatched up by GoPro, which got to know the company when it used Neo3D to cut together a stereoscopic demo shot with HD HERO cameras for NAB 2010. But CineForm's David Newman, now GoPro's  senior director of software engineering, told StudioDaily that what CineForm does really hasn't changed that much.

"In the early days of HD, we at CineForm were trying to solve what was not being currently serviced by Avid, Adobe and Apple, providing a solution that would allow independent filmmakers to produce content with the cameras they had, even though they had to wait some time for their NLE to add native support," Newman said. "The funny thing is, we continue to deal with next-generation cameras. For the new single-body cameras that shoot MVC [Multiview Video Coding] 3D, we can transform that into CineForm 3D, which works in any NLE. You have an editor, you have a new camera, and you need a way to marry those together. That's where CineForm comes in."

Full article here

NEW GoPro Wi-Fi Combo Kit is Live!

NEW GoPro® Wi-Fi Combo Kit is Live!
Be one of the first to have the NEW GoPro® Wi-Fi Combo Kit which includes Wi-Fi Bac Pac and Wi-Fi Remote.


This new GoPro® accessory offers the ability to control up to 50 cameras at a time, live streaming and ransfers videos to your smartphone or tablets directly from your GoPro®.

The GoPro® Wi-Fi Combo Kit enables remote control, live preview and playback on smartphones and tablets*, live streaming* to the web, and more. 

The GoPro® Wi-Fi Combo Kit is compatible with GoPro® HD HERO2 and Original GoPro® HD HERO cameras.

Wi-Fi Remote:

• Control up to 50 GoPro® cameras a time, 600’ / 180m range

• Full camera control: On/Off, Mode, Shutter, and Settings

• Attachment strap, key ring, and charging cable included

• Wearable & Waterproof to 10’/3m

GoPro® HD Cameras

GoPro® HD Cameras

Under the Sea Website Now LIVE

Under the Sea Website Now LIVE

Get ready to take a one-of-a-kind tropical plunge and come face-to-face with some of the most colorful and intriguing creatures of our oceans in stunning IMAX 3D! Under the Sea 3D will transport you to the exotic locations of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia's Coral Sea to explore these animals in their native habitat, and witness the impact of global warming.

• Check out the Webisodes that take you behind the scenes on this far-flung film shoot • Read director Howard Hall's Travel Log for insight into the making of his newest IMAX 3D underwater film • Learn more about these intriguing South Pacific destinations through the Location Profile • View stunning imagery both above and below the surface in the photo Gallery • Submit your OWN underwater photos on our Community page

Jacques Cousteau in a box

The pioneering work of undersea explorer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau, newly available on DVD, is as fascinating as ever to modern viewers, says Simon Reeve

Jacques Cousteau was the towering figure of marine exploration, a man whose adventures - circling the globe at least 15 times - make my own trips, most recently travelling around the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator, feel positively mundane by comparison.

	Jacques of all trades: Cousteau

More than anyone else in history, he introduced us to the beautiful and mysterious world beneath the surface of our oceans, co-inventing the Aqualung during the Second World War and then making award-winning films and scores of underwater documentaries for American and global television.

During his long career Cousteau, who died in 1997, was rightly recognised as a pioneer. After his friend and patron Thomas Loel Guinness gave him a former Royal Navy minesweeper in 1951, Cousteau spent nearly five decades sailing the oceans, making Calypso the most famous small boat in the world.

Cousteau turned Calypso into a floating laboratory, complete with a film-editing suite, and aboard it made the first full-length underwater film, the 1956 Oscar-winning epic The Silent World. He published more than 40 books, including a 20-volume encyclopaedia called The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau, and became one of the first global environmental stars, warning that humans were poisoning the planet.

So it is a fascinating treat, and a professional education, to watch the great man's later adventures on a new DVD box set featuring his documentaries on New Zealand, Tahiti, Haiti, Cuba and Cape Horn. He easily holds his own among the best television travellers, but even against the modern brilliance of Planet Earth the films stand up well.

Inevitably there are wobbly shots and dodgy angles. Cousteau had to make do without the full enhancing and grading capabilities of modern editing suites, and as a result much of the underwater footage appears visually dull and lacking in colour. Nevertheless, many of the images are still breathtaking, and rank alongside the finest modern natural history camerawork. The films feel real, genuine, like polished vinyl next to the CD-quality of recent wildlife films.

It is hard to imagine a major US network commissioning these programmes today - and more's the pity. The films have only the briefest of nods to dramatic tension, ponderous scripts, and a small, stooped Frenchman with bad teeth as the central presenter. Cousteau is also old and wise, both traits considered unattractive in our youth-obsessed world.

But Cousteau understood his medium and recognised the need for gimmickry. He used all manner of gadgets in his films, kept a red woollen hat on his head at a jaunty angle, and forced his crew to wear eye-catching silvery diving outfits underwater. They look like a cross between Flash Gordon and Woody Allen in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.

Since Cousteau's death in 1997, his legacy has taken a few knocks. Allegations of anti-Semitism and mistreatment of wildlife during his early films have dented his reputation. But claims by bitter relatives that he was overly ambitious and arrogant, repeated in endless press profiles, cannot obscure the man's extraordinary achievements or the value of his timeless films.

As a documentary-maker, I particularly admire the fact that Cousteau does not commit the grave sin of focusing exclusively on glossy wildlife footage without giving the surrounding context.

For decades, even the finest natural history filmmakers have made wonderful films about concentrated groups of creatures living in small patches of wilderness, while ignoring surrounding deforestation and framing their shots to exclude the tourist coach party on safari. So we have watched in awe, but without learning of threats to the creature or the reality of their sanctuary.

Cousteau was approaching the end of his career when he made the films featured in this box set, and his formula had evolved. Less than half of the episode about Haiti is set underwater; the rest of the programme is an exploration of Haiti and an explanation of how precious land and marine resources have been systematically devastated.

In Cuba, Cousteau chats with Fidel Castro in various locations, and the footage is woven through the film. The US base at Guantanamo Bay even makes an appearance, with Cousteau questioning the base commander about whether a US presence on the island "whoo-milliates Cuba".

Viewers young and old who would never normally watch anything on Caribbean politics are gently introduced to issues that still resonate today, more than 20 years later.

In some small way, this is what the BBC and I have tried to do with our series Tropic of Capricorn. My latest adventure, following the southern border of the tropics, is an attempt to introduce television viewers to the delights and tragedies of obscure parts of the world.

Cousteau remains the master of the craft. His enthusiasm is contagious. I have long been happy on the ocean surface, sinking no further than the limitations of snorkelling allow. But after several hours watching Cousteau and his crew exploring the great blue depths, I will now be swapping my snorkel for a scuba tank, and learning how to dive.

• Simon Reeve presents Tropic of Capricorn on BBC2, Sunday nights at 8pm, repeated on Thursday nights at 11.20pm. His accompanying book, Tropic of Capricorn, is published by BBC Books. Jacques Cousteau: New Zealand, Tahiti, Cuba & Cape Horn, the DVD box set, is released on March 10

Gates announces release of EM43 high resolution color monitor

Compatibility with global high definition standards amongst many new features.

San Diego, CA – April 9th, 2007 – Gates Underwater Products, the global leader in reliable underwater housings, is pleased to announce initial deliveries of the new EM43 external color monitor. The EM43 is a ground breaking product for Gates and packed with features:

• Bright widescreen LCD for accurate image perspective even in sunlight;

• Auto sensing of standard definition and all common high definition formats;

• SD version: NTSC / PAL
• HD version: 720p/60 ● 720p/50 ● 1080i/60 ● 1080i/50

• Sharp, detailed high resolution display suitable for both image framing and critical focus;

• Low battery indicator for ~30-60 minutes warning to change batteries;

• Self powered with 8 AA batteries that can be alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable;

• Long battery life – 10 hrs in SD and 14 hrs in HD modes with Alkaline cells;

• Auto-sensing power on/off means an end to unexpected battery depletion;

• Neutral buoyancy for easy add-on to any system without affecting trim and balance.

The EM43 is also classically Gates: ‘bulletproof’ construction backed by a 2-year warranty. Further, the EM43 was designed in two versions:

• SD version will support Gates current customers around the globe. Unplug a previous model Gates monitor and plug in the EM43. Sharpness, clarity and resolution are significantly enhanced with the EM43 LCD.

• HD version for new Gates housings. Accepts an HD input from the camera for the sharpest image display on the EM43 monitor. Some Gates housings may be retrofit with an HD version of the EM43 (contact Gates for more information).

The Gates EM43 is now available. Contact your Gates dealer for more information.

About Gates: For over 38 years Gates Underwater Products has produced the world’s most reliable underwater housings. Using ‘bulletproof” machined aluminum, 100% mechanical controls, time-proven design methods, and state of the art manufacturing, Gates housings are built to satisfy the most demanding recreational divers, imaging professionals, marine researchers, salvage operators and military personnel.