PhotoPlus Expo 2004

PhotoPlus Expo 2004 took place at the Javitts Convention center in NYC between October 21st and October 23rd 2004. PhotoPlus Expo isn't normally a show where many (if any) new products are announced, and this year was no exception. There weren't any major announcements from any major manufacturers associated with the show (you can see a list of new products at the PhotoExpo Plus website) so this isn't going to be a review of new products. It's more of a "what I did at the show", with a few observations and opinions thrown in.

Digital is King

Not much doubt about where photography is going. Sure there were film cameras, both 35mm, Medium format and Large format, but the crowds were around the digital parts of the displays and all the major companies were emphasizing their digital offerings, with all the major display images digitally shot and digitally printed. Kodak had a display and it covered both their digital and film products. They were giving away samples of film, but no samples of anything digital related. Perhaps that tells you something!

I spent a little time playing with the new Minolta Maxxuum 7D. It's "claim to fame" is that it has "anti-shake" technology built into the camera body rather than in the lens as Canon and Nikon have chosen to do. It's a neat idea. The thing I hadn't realized (because I hadn't thought about it!) was that, of course, the image stabilization isn't visible through the lens. The lens isn't stabilized, the sensor is. Coming from Canon, where is can SEE the image stabilize, it was less reassuring. There is a viewfinder indicator (LEDs) that stabilization is working but I still like to SEE what's going on. However, the fact that it works with ALL lenses is a big plus for the system. They spec 2 stops increase in "hand holdability", but say that in practice it's closer to 3. This is pretty much what you get with Canon IS lenses. A head to head test will be interesting. One other feature of the 7D is that it's covered in buttons and switches! Rather than depending on nested software menus, Minolta have gone the route of hardware controls.

With all the small sensor (APS-C) DSLRs around there's great interest in wideangle lenses. However they were in very short supply! Sigma didn't show up at PhotoPlus Expo, just as they didn't last year and typically don't show up at most Photo shows. They've apparently made the decision that its just not worth doing in terms of increasing sales. At the Canon booth they didn't even have a sample of the new EF-S 10-22mm lens. They apologized and said that they should be coming into the country sometime in November, but right now they were so scarce that even they could get one! At the Tamron booth they had a non-working mockup of their 11-18/3.5-5.6 . They were predicting the lens should hit the stores in early spring 2005. No pricing was available, but listening between the lines I'm guessing they're aiming it to sell for less than any of the other similar lenses which are (or will be) available. Maybe in the $300-$400 range? They did have a working sample of their new 17-200 lens which was remarkably small and light. However they had been instructed not to let anyone mount it on a camera and take shots with it, so no sample images I'm afraid. At the Tokina booth they didn't even have a mockup of their 12-24/4. They said that it was due to appear in the stores in December. Time will tell. Again no word on pricing, but my guess is that it's going to be in the same range as the Sigma 12-24.

There was an interesting new 8-color printer from Canon on display, the PIXMA iP8500, which adds red and green inks to the usual set for expanded color range. Output was impressive. It should be available pretty soon and is expected to sell in the $350 range.There was also the PIXMA iP400R which is a 4 color (CMY + black) printer, but with two black cartridges, one dye and one pigment based. It's main claim to fame though is built in 802.11g wireless (WiFi) operation, meaning you can use it anywhere within about 160ft of a wireless hub. It has the usual USB and PictBridge ports too. Booth these printers have an 8.5" maximum paper width.

JASC, the company that makes Paint Shop Pro had a fairly sizeable booth, perhaps associated with the fact that they were recently bought by Corel. Looks like Corel might be trying harder to compete with Adobe in the software area, though PhotoShop is a tough act to follow.

Hasselbald had their new digital H1D, but at $22,000 I don't think I'll be buying one. Nice results, but it makes a Canon EOS 1Ds mark II look like a positive bargain at only $8000!

My overall impression, and the impression that I got from talking with many of the exhibitors is that the photo industry in general is in pretty good shape - as long as you're talking digital. If you're in the film business, especially 35mm film, you may be in trouble if you don't shift gears and move more into digital. Even medium format film work is in some trouble, with previous users (like wedding photographers) moving into 35mm digital. Right now large format camera sales aren't being affected a lot by digital, but then large format work is a pretty small and specialized part of the photography pie.

I made some valuable contacts at the show and I'd like to thank those who took the time to chat with me. I hope that some of these connections will result in photo.net being able to bring more (and more timely) product reviews to it's members.