digidiver.net

Laurent Ballesta may not be as well known to the average underwater photographer in comparison to photographers more present to the US and worlwide audience, however he is far from new to the scene. Laurent Ballesta won the most prestigious underwater photography competition, Festival Mondial de l'Image Sous-Marine in Antibes in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and placed 2nd in 2007. He is a marine biologist, professional diver and photographer and was technical advisor for the highly popular french documentaries Ushuaia Nature. Some suggest that Laurent Ballesta is currently the world's best underwater photographer and looking at his pictures it is hard to not support this opinion.

While this article refers to the book Planete Mers which was published in 2005 and also won a prestigious prize in Antibes, the book seems to have been published in english under the title Planet Ocean by National Geographic in 2007.

Fuji's new DSLR the S5 Pro promised a leap forwards in digital imaging, but would it live up to expectations as a top class underwater camera. Fuji sent one to me to examine its worth underwater on a trip to Raja Ampat at the beginning of March 2007.

My ideal digital camera would be one that I can make quality pictures without the need to spend time correcting its shortcomings with editing software. I'd been using a Nikon D2x and a D200 for fourteen months prior to receiving the S5 in early February, so I was already used to the rugged construction and ergonomics of this particular body. It was great news (and an industry-first) that it was to be based around an already proven body with numerous underwater housings ready for it to slip straight into... Specifically my Ikelite D200 housing with iTTL. Whilst I'll leave the technical reviews to dpreview.com, my review is based on user experience with the S5. The conclusions are my own, and the pictures - well, they speak for themselves.