Ijen Plateau

To the west of Banyuwangi, bordering the Baluran National Park is the the Ijen Plateau. It is situated in the centre of the Ijen - Merapi - Maelang Reserve and at the far eastern end of the plateau is a luminous blue/green crater lake. Kawah IJen is 2,300 metres above sea-level. The enormous lake, which is 200 metres deep, contains approximately 36,000,000 cubic metres of steaming, acid water. To walk around the crater leave allow yourself a leisurely full day. It is an incredible sight and one of Indonesia’s natural wonders.

Getting to the lake is quite easy and can be approached from both east and west. Most people choose the latter as it is the more popular approach. The hike up the mountainside takes just an hour and a half. However, if you approach from Banyuwangi it will take you up to six or seven hours and that’s from the Licin.

Interestingly, Sulphur is mined at the lake’s edge and the strong odour of this is not for those with a tender stomach. The people who work in these sulphur mines are well-versed in their job. They carry the sulphur up to the top of the crater and afterwards walk the 19 km down the mountain to Banyuwangi where at a factory the sulphur is treated. These guys can carry as much as 80 kilos of the foul smelling material!.

Bunaken Photo gallery

Bunaken Island

Diving Bunaken means diving North Sulawesi, one of the most pristine nature areas in the world. Relax and unwind on our tropical island beach while you enjoy a refreshing drink and soak up an amazing orange sunset, or experience the fine seafood cuisine an friendly nature of the Bunaken Island villagers.

Every Bunaken dive is a great experience. For sheer exhilaration, join us for some blue-water drift dives down with the really BIG critters, as you drift effortlessly along the world-renowned vertical walls of the Bunaken Island and Manado Tua Marine Park. A time you will never forget, diving in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Swim with dolphins, sharks, giant turtles and other colorful coral-reef fishes as our Bunaken diving team guides you over vivid, unspoiled coral gardens, all less than a five-minute boat ride from the resort. It's all about discovering an underwater-paradise at the Bastianos Diving Resort. We're on the west coast of Bunaken Island, a short trip from Manado in North Sulawesi.

Phoenix mission

For its next trick, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will dig a trench in the Martian surface three times deeper than any it has dug so far, as it completes its original three month-mission and embarks upon its extended mission.

Today marked the last day of the 90-sol (1 sol is one Martian day) primary mission since the spacecraft landed on Mars on May 25. Phoenix will continue its mission through the end of September, as NASA announced in July.

"As we near what we originally expected to be the full length of the mission, we are all thrilled with how well the mission is going," said Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Phoenix's main task for Sol 90 is to scoop up a sample of dirt from the bottom of a trench called Stone Soup, which is about 7 inches (18 centimeters) deep. This may not seem all that deep, but it is the furthest into the Martian surface that Phoenix has penetrated so far. On a later day, Phoenix's robotic arm will sprinkle some of the dirt from the sample into the third of four cells in the lander's wet chemistry lab.

"In the first two cells we analyzed samples from the surface and the ice interface, and the results look similar. Our objective for Cell 3 is to use it as an exploratory cell to look at something that might be different," said JPL's Michael Hecht, lead scientist for Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), which houses the wet chemistry lab. "The appeal of Stone Soup is that this deep area may collect and concentrate different kinds of materials."

MECA's wet chemistry lab dissolves samples in water brought from Earth and looks for soluble minerals that might be in the Martian dirt.

Stone Soup lies in a trough between two of the polygonal hummocks (or mounds) that characterize the plains of the Martian arctic where Phoenix landed. While Phoenix hit the subsurface layer of rock-hard water ice just 2 inches (5 centimeters) beneath the ground in the center of one of the hummocks, it has yet to hit the icy layer in the trough.

"The trough between polygons is sort of a trap where things can accumulate," Hecht said. "Over a long timescale, there may even be circulation of material sinking at the margins and rising at the center."

The Stone Soup sample was one of two sites scientists were considered for the wet chemistry lab's third sample.

"We had a shootout between Stone Soup and white stuff in a trench called Upper Cupboard," Hecht said. "If we had been able to confirm that the white material was a salt-rich deposit, we would have analyzed that, but we were unable to confirm that with various methods."

Salt would be an indicator of whether or not liquid water had been present in the past, something that Phoenix is looking for signs of to characterize Mars' potential past habitability. Salt would concentrate in places that may have been wet. The Stone Soup sample will also offer scientists a chance to analyze salt distribution.

The Picture of Perfection

Exceptional Digital SLR Performance
•	Ultra high-resolution 21.1-megapixel to record high resolution images
•	Full-frame CMOS sensor developed and manufactured by Canon, with noise reduction technology to capture images with greater clarity and colour fidelity
•	Dual “DIGIC III” Imaging Processors for improved colour reproduction for razor sharp images at accelerated processing speed
•	14-bit A/D conversion method also gives images a richer and smoother tonal expression.
•	3-layer Optical Low Pass Filter for reducing red fringing and colour casts
•	Wide ISO speed range of ISO 100-3200 (1/3-stop increments, extendable – L: 50/ H: 6400)
•	Customisable White Balance Settings
	-	Enables you to manually set up to 5 different personal custom white balance options, especially useful when shooting under multiple lighting conditions as you can switch white balance setting quickly and easily
	-	The custom white balance can be registered with up to five images shot on the spot, in addition to registering it from an image in the memory card.
	-	The lowest colour temperature has been extended to 300K, while selectable range has been expanded to 2500K - 10000K with 100K increments.
•	Highlight Tone Priority
	-	To give your images better colour rendition for a more lifelike feel, this function improves gradation within highlight areas.
	-	It effectively preventing your photos from suffering a ‘whitewash’ effect when shooting under bright conditions.
•	Shoot to Small RAW (sRAW) Type Files
	-	Able to shoot using a new sRAW image format, which is approximately a quarter of the pixel count (approx. 2.5 megapixels) and takes up only half the space of standard RAW Type files (approx. 7.6MB).
	-	A handy substitute for the JPEG Type files, sRAW Type can be processed and adjusted with the provided EOS Utility software. This is useful for photographers who want the versatility of the RAW Type for snapshots, but do not require their images to be at the highest possible resolution.

High Speed & Quick Response
•	Fast continuous shooting speed of 5 fps (max burst of 56 JPEG Type-Large shots)
•	Shutter speeds of 1/8000 sec. and X-Sync speed of 1/250 sec to capture fast moving subject
•	Fast 0.2 sec. startup time
•	Burst rate of 12 RAW Type images

Durable Body with Rugged Design
•	Magnesium alloy body for toughness and durability
•	High shutter durability of 300,000 cycles for outstanding camera reliability and performance
•	Large 3-inch LCD monitor (approx. 230,000 pixels resolution offers wider viewing angle with visibly clearer images and larger text

New Innovative Features
•	Redesigned Control System for Maximum Operability
	-	To make the camera more user-friendly, the camera’s control system was built from ground up to allow it to incorporate new and innovative features that make it easier to access the various functions of the camera.
•	New Power Supply System
	-	EOS-1Ds Mark III uses a new 2300mAh High-Capacity Li-ion battery that is smaller and lighter but lasts up to approx. 1.5 times longer than its predecessor. Battery life indication can also be displayed in percentage terms for higher accuracy.
•	New External Device Interface
	-	For faster data transmission, the camera has adopted the USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface, which has transfer rates of up to 480Mbps. It comes with a USB cable protector that ensures the cable does not get disconnected or pulled out accidentally.
•	Recording on Secondary Media
	-	When in shooting mode, the camera can automatically switch to a secondary media when the main recording media is full. This allows you to shoot without any interruptions.
	-	The same image can also be captured in different image sizes of your choice, and saved separately into the primary or secondary media. In addition to this, the same image can also be recorded simultaneously onto all recording media.
	-	EOS-1Ds Mark III now fully supports High-Capacity SD Cards (SDHC) that has storage capacities ranging from 2GB to as much as 32GB.
•	Additional Copy and Back-Up Options
	-	EOS-1Ds Mark III has been enhanced with copying and back-up options for more flexible media handling.
	-	User can now copy single images or entire folders from the camera’s primary (CompactFlash card) to secondary (SD card) recording media or vice versa.
When used in tandem with the WFT-E2 Wireless File Transmitter, you can also back-up files and folders from the camera to your computer or external media using the camera’s Quick Back-Up function.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System
•	New EOS Integrated Cleaning System- Canon's comprehensive measure to minimise effects of dust
•	Includes both Self Cleaning Sensor Unit (hardware) and Dust Delete Function (software)
•	Manual Sensor cleaning is also available
•	Self Cleaning Sensor Unit – Uses camera’s front infrared-absorption glass which ultrasonically vibrate in an undulating pattern by 2 thin, single later piezoelectric elements to shake off dusts adhered to the glass
•	Dust Delete Function - Camera detects and registers the location and size of extremely sticky dust adhering to the low-pass filter and then appends this information (dust delete data) to the image taken. The Digital Photo Professional software detects this data appended to the image to execute dust deletion

Versatile Features for Absolute Control
•	45 point with selectable 19-point cross plus 26 assist points area AF
	-	High precision 19-point (selectable) cross f/2.8 (vertical line detection) and f/5.6 (horizontal line detection); Centre AF point performs horizontal line-sensitive focusing with f/8 or faster lenses
	-	26 assist points (not freely selectable) operates during AI Servo/AF frame region AF working range EV-1 to 18 (room temperature/ISO 100) for improved performance during low light (brightness) shooting
•	63-division metering sensor
	-	Metering modes:
		»	Evaluation/partial/spot/centre
		»	Spot metering from any of 19 AF-points supported
		»	Also supports spot metering based on AF points and multi-spot metering
•	ISO/Exposure safety shift to achieve optimum image exposure

Live View Mode
•	Live View Mode greatly enhances your shooting experience by introducing a whole slew of innovative functions.
•	Remote Live View Shooting available
•	Live View Mode – Real-time Viewfinder display on LCD screen
	-	100% field of view
	-	Precise focusing with 5x, 10x magnification
	-	Ability to simulate exposure
	-	Displays aspect ratio/grids
	-	Ability to frame/focus while using big images on a PC monitor
	-	Makes it possible to check moire, & false colour

Picture Style
•	Just like selecting the film type on a conventional camera, users can get the optimum image by selecting the correct setting
•	6 image composition modes available and the range of factors that photographers usually consider previously when selecting film type - sharpness, contrasts, colour tone, saturation can be adjusted:
	1)	Standard- vivid and sharp images (general shooting)
	2)	Portrait- beautiful skin tones and clear image quality
	3)	Landscape- vivid blues and greens, enhanced sharpness
	4)	Neutral-natural colour reproduction, low sharpness and moderate expression
	5)	Faithful-extremely accurate colour reproduction in daylight
	6)	Monochrome- black and white or sepia images
•	3 custom user-defined modes available
•	More Picture Style files can be downloaded from Canon website- Twilight, Clear, Autumn Hues, Nostalgia and Emerald
•	Picture Style Editor lets you create your own Picture Style files for use with the EOS

Shoot, Print It Direct
•	Print photos directly to any PictBridge-compliant printers without using a computer
•	USB 2.0 Hi-Speed for fast and easy transfer of large files to computer
•	Enhanced PictBridge Printing options:
	-	Angle correction function horizontally corrects tilted images for printing
	-	Printing Effects Preview lets you preview the results of the selected printing effects on the LCD monitor prior to printing
	-	Print all JPEG, RAW and sRAW images complying to the Design rule for Camera File System

Compatibility
•	Compatible with MS Windows and Mac operating systems

Bundled Software
•	EOS Digital Solution Disk Ver.15 contains useful software like EOS Utility, ZoomBrowser EX, Image Browser, PhotoStitch

New Optional Lenses & Accessories
•	Over 60 Canon EF lenses, compatible with EOS-1D Mark III including the new EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM lens
•	Other new optional EOS accessories include:
	-	Speedlite 580EX II
	-	WFT-E2 Wireless File Transmitter
	-	Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3

from that specification the price is very expensive for beginner photograph.

USD 7880.00