The weirdest camera at the show, the GFAE, wasn’t even recognizable as a camera, not least because it was a view camera with the bellows left out in order to show its construction more clearly. We’ll come back to it later, but first, let’s look at some more conventional offerings.

Countless things appear at photokina that are not cameras, lenses, tripods, bags, materials, or lighting and studio. It’s part of the magic of the place. Calling this category “accessories” won’t do, because for most of us, “accessories” consist mostly of small things in blister packs: cable releases, lens caps, that sort of thing. At photokina, it can...

Perhaps the hardest thing to convey about photokina is just how wide-ranging it is. Where else are you going to get an opinion, from a factory representative, about how much longer film coating is going to survive in Iran? The answer, incidentally, was “maybe two to three years.” Did you even know there was a coating line in Iran? Then there are Romanian photo-book machines, Turkish...

What’s new and different in gadgets and accessories this year? While digital has overtaken cameras it seems that many of the accessories we saw could be used as much on a film as a digital camera, proving that while there might not be much new under the sun there are certainly variations that bend with the technological tide.

Alpine Innovations’ D-Pod is an interesting...

While there are no revolutionary designs in tripods, monopods, and heads this year (unlike the introduction of the Novoflex four-legged tripod last year), manufacturers have not sat idly. They continue to address the needs of studio photographers but appear to be placing even greater emphasis on travel photography.

Notably, we’re beginning to see more subcompact tripods...

Every year about this time we present a report on the new products that appeal to photographers in a number of categories, all gleaned from our visit to the annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Show. As we have for the past few such reports, we concentrate on many of the product categories that do not often get the spotlight grabbed by new cameras, many of which are announced throughout the...

There are a couple of new printers aimed at the event photographer market, and there are plenty of media options as well for snapshot to fine art printers. And, the photo book industry is taking off—there were more book printing options available than ever before, both for the portrait/wedding photographer with companies like Fujifilm, HP, Kodak, and Lucidiom all having offerings in both...