Show Reports

PMA 2008 is not going to go down in history as the year of the new printer. Unlike past years where every major company had multiple new product announcements, this year was relatively quiet on the inkjet front. That does point to a maturing category, one where the existing quality bar is already very high. Indeed, you could take any of the top three (Canon, Epson, HP) and have...

The new models of shoe-mount portable flash units seen at this year's trade show not only offer more powerful light output for more distant subjects, but also frequently include new features that make them easier to use. This report also includes new small camera-mounted LED lights for continuous lighting, intended for camcorders but also useful for still photographers.

As would be anticipated in this ever more dominant digital world, there were very few new offerings from silver-based film and paper firms, and even less for the conventional darkroom. Here are the few items I did locate:

Fuji has the new Fujicolor Crystal Archive Preferred color reversal RA-4 process paper that's said to offer vivid color reproduction, brilliant...

Although the D-SLR category is growing more rapidly, digicams with integral lenses still outsell the larger cameras by roughly 10 to 1. That's primarily because of the lower price and particularly the greater portability. Even the most serious photographer usually wants a pocket-size camera--with built-in lens and flash--that they can carry most anywhere.
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Nearly every picture-taking device today is electronic in operation so the need for a reliable battery is imperative. Some digital cameras use specialized rechargeable batteries while compact models often still rely on standard AA- or AAA-size batteries. The latter tend to hog the battery power, especially when flash pictures are made. Because of this there were lots of battery...

In order to organize and conveniently display your favorite pictures of family, friends, pets, and travel, you need albums. There were many sizes and shapes on display with a host of color variations, textures, and themes. For those precious few images worthy of even more prominent display, there were lots of frames for single or multiple images.

There were also...

After a thorough walk about the entire two-floor trade show at the 2007 PMA this old photographer was pleasantly surprised to learn that in spite of some type or form of digitizing being involved in nearly everything photographic displayed at the show, film is not dead--yet!

The Agfa brand is getting back into the market in the U.S.A. with Vista color...