WaterPixels has always been about community—sharing work, comparing notes on gear, and celebrating images that stop you mid-scroll. We’ve refreshed the home page to put those images, conversations, and shared knowledge at the centre.

A home page built around the community

We’ve made more room for what makes WaterPixels yours:

• Featured photographs from the monthly Showcase, with photographer credits and a full-image viewer

• Our partners and affiliates

• Latest articles, community conversations, and the Showcase mosaic

• Clear paths into the forums, gallery, marketplace, and ways to support the community

We’ve also refreshed About, bringing together our story and the people who keep WaterPixels going: the team, partners, and supporting members.

It’s the same WaterPixels, with more of the community on show.

Members Showcase: how the monthly cycle works

At the heart of home is something the community already does well: enjoy each other’s photographs and choose which ones deserve the spotlight.

Here’s how to take part:

Upload to Showcase

Each calendar month, you can add up to five images to Showcase. Member albums stay personal and unlimited; Showcase is the shared monthly pool.

Review Showcase

Open Member Showcase Review, browse the photographs, and like those you’d love to see featured. You can also pass and move on to the next image. Your likes determine the results.

See the monthly placements

On the 1st of each month, we tally the previous month’s Showcase likes to determine first, second, and third place. First place earns Members Choice and leads the home-page hero. Second and third place rotate through the same space, each with full photographer credit.

The results come directly from members’ likes. A quieter month may have fewer placements, but every month is an opportunity to discover someone’s work and help it reach more people.

Upload a few favorites, spend a little time browsing, and give the photographs you admire a like. Together, you decide which images welcome everyone to WaterPixels.

Start here: Review Showcase

Partners, affiliates, and community support

We’re pleased to welcome OM System as our first affiliate partner, and we’re working to bring more affiliates and partners on board.

The refreshed site also introduces more advertising opportunities for brands that want to reach and support the underwater imaging community. If you’re interested in a partnership or advertising placement, please get in touch.

That support helps keep WaterPixels a free, worldwide home for underwater photography, video, gear discussions, travel, and the marketplace, with member images and conversations at its centre.

What we’d love from you

• Upload a few Showcase images this month.

• Review and like photographs you’d love to see featured.

• Explore About and tell us what feels right—and what still needs polish.

• Support the community however you can: shop, donate, share your knowledge, or simply join a conversation.

One passion. One community. Endless inspiration.

Members Choice is live — and we have our first podium.

Each month, Showcase likes decide 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. First place is Members Choice. Counts lock on the 1st of the next month, so the race stays fair.

Here are the winners for August 2026:

1st — Members Choice: bvanant · 6 Showcase likes
2nd: ACHiPo · 4 Showcase likes
3rd: Dave_Hicks · 4 Showcase likes

Congratulations to all three. These placements came from Showcase likes that month — so if you were out there liking photos you enjoy, you helped pick the podium.

See Members Choice Results — the full podium archive, including August and every month ahead.

How it works

• Browse and like photos on Member Showcase Review.

• On the 1st, we count likes from the month before and place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

• Winners appear on the home page, Showcase, and the Members Choice Results archive.

• Ties are handled by the date & time of the like.

Like what you love this month — the next Members Choice is already underway.

Curious about the new Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G?

One of our community members, @Simon Pierce had early access to the newly announced Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G

Visit the forum to explore a detailed pre-release breakdown covering underwater housing setups, size comparisons, and downloadable sample shots.

Image Credit: Simon Pierce

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/142

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/142

Sorry little late.

Panasonic achieved a result that Apple, Sony and Nikon did not.

The Japanese Intellectual Property High Court invalidated a major RED patent concerning raw video files. RED had historically used this patent to demand licensing fees and stop competitors. Nikon initially challenged the patent in court but purchased RED before a ruling and dropped the case. When Panasonic recently challenged the same patent in Japan, Nikon defended the claims it had previously opposed. The court ultimately rejected the patent and ruled it invalid.

DPReview

Not sure if this truly a landmark or not, but thanks to all the activities of members, the 23,000th Waterpixels post was recorded today.

On a recent dive trip I met someone who is writing a dissertation on people who are 50+ and diving.

If you are interested in contributing, the following is a link to a simple questionnaire which takes about 5 minutes to complete. I've become paranoid about online scams, phishing etc. But this looks fine and I know the author - and the information gathered is pretty innocuous.

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=e3VPRDDLUkaTvMqNbR74E5Cna1DJ6d1KvM2oRz5_gAdUM0Y3UEpYTkZERDJON09aNENVSEs2V1ZOMS4u

This article in the UK's The Independent newspaper caught my eye......

The Independent

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/135

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/135

The latest edition of the excellent online Underwater Photography Magazine (UWP), edition 146, is now available. And it's free of course......

Link is here: https://www.uwpmag.com

We are proud to announce that the winner of the 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, Overall category, is our fellow member Ross Gudgeon for his photograph titled "Fractal Forest".

From the 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year announcement:

The overall winning shot, Fractal Forest, skews perception and leaves us questioning reality with an inside-out view of a cauliflower soft coral, captured by Western Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon in the Lembeh Strait of North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Our judges remarked that the photograph gives us a unique perspective on coral, with the photographer taking us out of the marine habitat into a whole new world. There’s nothing fake here, but still we ponder, is this nature or a painting?

Technical details:

Inside-out view of a cauliflower soft coral. Named for its characteristic appearance that resembles a cauliflower, with numerous small, rounded, bump-like polyps that give it a puffy texture. This unique perspective was made possible by the Nauticam EMWL, an underwater version of the probe or insect eye lens.

Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS with Nauticam EMWL wet lens, 1/100, f/9, ISO 400, Sony A7RIV, handheld, 2 x Retra Pro flashes.

Here the competition winners announcement:

I came across the following article by By David Clapp, published on 31 July 2025 in Digital Camera World. Worth a read, I thought!

"It’s getting near that time again - as September means a new iPhone. Then there’s a new Android. Then it’s the turn Fujifilm / Canon / Nikon / Sony / Panasonic etc - all of them use tried and tested strategies stretching back as far as the 1930s to make you, the consumer, feel dissatisfied with the equipment you own.

Let’s be frank, you are a subliminal and anonymous target for consumer capitalism and those at the top do this for one simple reason - they stay in business by selling you new products. Simple. 

Most media-based products like cameras, computers, musical equipment and many others, have a central strategy, to put you into a constant state of dissatisfaction.

The subject-focused camera you yearn for will never be released, so they include firmware / software / shiny updates to keep you on board. You learn and adapt your championed model, but it only gives around 75% of what you need it to do. Slowly, we become desensitized, used to dissatisfaction and slowly the wheel turns.   

The industry fuel is acquisition and consumption. The beauty of this strategy is that we the consumer believe it is a direct path to creative happiness and that in monetary terms it is. The areas where this is most prevalent is in two places in our modern age  — advertising in all its forms (YouTube / influencers / social media) and text-based discussion forums - which cultivates and accelerates our desire to purchase. We consume, reflect, and then complete the financial circle of moving our money back into the machine.

What creates the anxiety to purchase can be covered in a number of fundamentals. Does the item look attractive to us? Look at any high-end digital cameras and the form factor is enough to pull us into their tractor beam. Then there is functionality. People are obsessed with technical specs, the online media in particular thriving with clickbait controversy.

Then there is photo-social class - does the product elevate us to a level of satisfactory peer acceptance? Do we then feel connected to a new economic group, or a sense that we could finally achieve creative altitude like never before? It’s all a grand illusion. 

After the initial wonder, hard research, handling, contemplation, and purchase phases subside, the brain returns to a base level (look up Look at any high-end digital cameras and the form factor is enough to pull us into their tractor beam. Then there is functionality. People are obsessed with technical specs, the online media in particular thriving with clickbait controversy.

Then there is photo-social class - does the product elevate us to a level of satisfactory peer acceptance? Do we then feel connected to a new economic group, or a sense that we could finally achieve creative altitude like never before? It’s all a grand illusion. 

After the initial wonder, hard research, handling, contemplation, and purchase phases subside, the brain returns to a base level (look up ‘hedonic adaptation’) and it is here where the forums like Canon Rumors start the cycle once more. The idle mind starts to speculate about imaginary cameras, features and from here the tribalism leads to threads full of conflict and antagonism, that could potentially be extinguished with a gear purchase.

My rule is simple - upgrade when features arrive you cannot live without. In the last 20 years this has been Live View, weather sealing, GPS, WiFi, and recently (for me) 4K video. "

Since 1994 the Monterey Shootout has been the annual gathering of underwater photographers in the stunning kelp beds of Monterey Bay.  This three day weekend features seminars, a fabulous social mixer, and a friendly photo and video contest that makes us dive a little harder and push our creativity alongside new and old friends just a bit longer.  Join us for the greatest dive weekend of the year.

The Monterey Shootout - a 36 hou...

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/134

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/134

Maria , our very own Compact Camera Specialist, will be hosting an online “Getting Started in Underwater Photography” event with the Royal Photographic Society on Wednesday 16 July from 1800 hrs to 2000 hrs.

Maria will be sharing her experience over the past three years of shooting exclusively with smartphones, compact cameras, Insta 360s and Go Pros and promises to help inspire beginners capture their own vision to create award-winning content.  Her presentation will delve into the many different options of accessory lenses and lights from various manufacturers with the aim of helping people choose the best system for their needs.

Tickets are £35 for Non-Members or £26 for RPS Members which includes a free copy of Maria’s eBook “Getting Started in Underwater Photography” and free online ongoing support via Zoom or at her studio in Swanage.

Details are on the Royal Photographic Society’s website at

https://events.rps.org/en/4LrdQ66/rps-getting-started-in-underwater-photography-with-maria-munn-jul-2025-5a2NN29HgnF/overview

The latest edition of the excellent Underwater Photography Magazine (UWP) is now available - edition 145.

A link to it is here:

https://www.uwpmag.com/

A member who is a physician (thanks @DocTock ) has passed on a warning from the Federal Drug Administration about the effect of Scopolamine motion sickness patches used under certain conditions.

If you’re a user, you might like to read this link

https://waterpixels.net/index.php?app=core&module=system&controller=redirect&url=https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-adds-warning-about-serious-risk-heat-related-complications-antinausea-patch-transderm-scop&key=a8758139d8c7b733e9cdd78fc4f7f8b7f2f61bcebf7f6faac9903308d718186b&email=1&type=notification_new_private_message

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/133

UwP144 · May/Jun 2025 RELEASED - Click here

UwP144 · May/Jun 2025 RELEASED - Click here

Waterpixels is delighted to announce that Maria Munn has joined the team as our Compact Systems Specialist.

For many years Maria has taught and specialised in producing amazing images using compact systems especially the Canon G series. She’s been looking too at action cameras and housed smartphone systems and has posted some really helpful guides and reviews.

A more detailed resume for Maria is on our About page. We’re sure members will welcome warmly her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm. Great to have you with us, Maria.

When Nikon acquired a controlling stake in RED Digital Cinema in early 2023, the industry took notice. For photographers and filmmakers alike, this wasn't just another corporate merger—it signaled Nikon's serious commitment to professional cinema production and a strategic evolution beyond still photography.

Strategic Integration and Immediate Benefits

The integration has moved quickly. RED has already released cinema cameras featuring Nikon's Z-mount, creating a native pathway for Nikon glass to reach professional cinema environments without adapters. This compatibility breakthrough offers significant workflow advantages for creators invested in both ecosystems.

The technical advantages of the Z-mount make this integration particularly powerful. With its 55mm diameter and minimal 16mm flange distance, the Z-mount delivers exceptional optical flexibility, supporting everything from ultra-fast apertures to edge-to-edge sharpness across varying sensor sizes. For RED's cinema application, this mount architecture provides future-proofed optical performance while simplifying lens choices for filmmakers.

Image credit: Nikon.com

Nikon's Video Evolution

Z9 vs Z8 - image credits: cined.com

Concurrent with the RED acquisition, Nikon has dramatically expanded the video capabilities in its flagship cameras. The Z8 and Z9 now incorporate features previously exclusive to dedicated cinema cameras:

• Internal 12-bit RAW recording
• ProRes and N-RAW codec support
• Advanced log profiles
• Professional monitoring tools (waveforms, vectors)
• Timecode synchronization

N-RAW and R3D: Complementary Codecs

Since the acquisition of Red, Nikon has two Raw codecs in house. Rather than competing internally, Nikon's N-RAW and RED's REDCODE (R3D) formats serve distinct purposes within the expanded ecosystem:

N-RAW targets hybrid creators and solo operators with its efficiency-focused design. The 12-bit compressed RAW format balances high-quality acquisition with manageable file sizes, making it ideal for documentary filmmakers and content creators who need cinema-quality results without complex external recording setups.

REDCODE RAW (R3D) maintains its position as the industry-standard cinema codec, optimized for controlled production environments and post-heavy workflows. Its established integration with DaVinci Resolve and REDCINE-X makes it the preferred choice for high-end production houses REDCINE-X is a free, professional-grade software application provided by RED Digital Cinema. In addition, Adobe has announced that it will support the N-Raw codec within its video editing software Premiere Pro.

The Future Landscape

This strategic alliance is redefining Nikon's identity in the visual content creation space. By bridging the gap between hybrid creators and cinema professionals, Nikon is positioning itself as a comprehensive imaging solutions provider. The RED acquisition doesn't represent a casual expansion into video—it's a fundamental repositioning that leverages RED's cinema expertise alongside Nikon's optical and sensor technology.

For working professionals, this integration promises future innovations that blend RED's cinema heritage with Nikon's technological prowess, potentially creating entirely new categories of imaging tools designed for modern visual storytelling across all formats.

Nikon announced the Z5 II mirrorless camera last night, but in addition to that announcement was another exciting update for Nikon videographers. The company revealed that Adobe will finally offer support for Nikon's N-Raw video format in Premiere Pro. N-Raw is Nikon's proprietary 12-bit Raw video format. It supports Rec2020 color gamut and allows users to adjust white balance in post-production, much like what's possible with Raw photo files. As a result, it provides more flexibility during the editing process. Despite that extra data for editing purposes, it also produces smaller file sizes compared to Apple ProRes Raw. It's ideal for those who need editing flexibility while saving space on memory cards and hard drives. The only other options for editing N-Raw files are DaVinci Resolve and RedCine-X Pro, so it is great to see Adobe getting on board. While support for N-Raw in Premiere Pro is certainly welcome news, users will have to wait until "the end of 2025." Nikon didn't provide more specifics than that, simply saying it will come with an updated version of Premiere Pro coming later this year.

Here the Nikon full press release:

https://www.nikon-asia.com/articles/nikon-n-raw-video-format-will-be-supported-in-adobe-video-editing-software-premiere-pro

Waterpixels is delighted to report that Emperor Divers have joined our growing lists of industry supporters.

Since 1992 Emperor Divers have shared their experience of scuba diving in the Red Sea, Maldives and Indonesia and have  looked after thousands of happy divers – a great many of whom keeping coming back to us year after year.

Emperor's focus has always been on providing safe and sustainable diving holidays for everyone. Liveaboards, Resort Diving and PADI Courses are what they do. They cite ‘Must-do’ dive itineraries to include ‘Best of Maldives’ , ‘Red Sea Reefs & Wrecks’ and Indonesia’s ‘Komodo’, ‘Banda Sea’ and ‘Raja Ampat’.

Having dived with Emperor many times over several decades, I can heartily recommend them.

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/132

https://xray-mag.com/magazines/132

The team at Waterpixels are delighted to announce that our 1000th member, @Grega  joined the Waterpixels community on 15 March.  An especially warm welcome to Grega!

Thanks to all those who have signed up since we started in Dec 2023.  We reached our 500th member in February 2024 and have seen a continuous stream of people signing up since then. 

We'd like to thank members for continuing to engage so positively and in a great spirit of willingness to share and be helpful.  We're especially delighted that unpleasant exchanges continue to be few and far between, sadly a rarity on an online forum.  It's the contributions to the forum from members and their willingness to share experiences, ideas and advice that has allowed the site to continue growing so positively.   We look forward to everyone's ongoing contributions and to many new members coming onboard.

Great to have you all with us!