2001
Key events
A watershed year: Wetpixel.com is founded by Eric Cheng, and Nikon discontinues the Nikonos V, ending the dedicated underwater film camera era. The film-to-digital transition accelerates. BBC’s The Blue Planet airs, renewing public interest in the ocean. Light & Motion debuts its Tetra housing line.
January
- 2001-01-14: DEMA 2001 in New Orleans — Light & Motion debuts Tetra housing line (award-winning booth), Ikelite shows Digital Strobe 125 prototype and housings for Canon G1/Nikon CP880/CP990/Canon S100 Elph, Seacam shows Nikon D1 prototype housing, Sea & Sea introduces YS-90DX digital strobe with pre-flash compatibility, Epoque and 10bar also exhibit. The digital UW market is expanding rapidly. ([1])
October
- 2001-10: Nikon Nikonos V production ends, closing the dedicated underwater film camera era.
November
- 2001-11-09: Wetpixel and Deep Blue Travel organize the Kona Aggressor II Digital Shootout in Kona, Hawaii. Eric Cheng produces a live webcast via Iridium satellite phone — one of the earliest live web coverage events from a liveaboard. Jim Watt participates as professional photographer, covering for Skindiver Magazine. Equipment from Ikelite, Light & Motion, Marine Camera, Sea & Sea, Marscuba, and ULCS provided. ([2])
Also this year
- Eric Cheng discovers underwater photography at age 25; buys Ikelite housing for Nikon Coolpix 990 for trip to Palau
- Wetpixel.com founded — becomes the premier online community for underwater photography
- Nikon Coolpix 995 announced (April) — continuation of the popular compact camera line
- BBC’s The Blue Planet airs
References
Note: Only 2 Wetpixel articles survive from 2001. This page combines web research (Batch 0) with raw source ingestion (Batch 1).