Show Reports

The annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Show is the US market's introduction to new products and services that will be appearing on store shelves and, increasingly, Internet sales shops in 2005. Coming on the heels of last year's photokina, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and the hoard of other trade shows that litter the calendar of late, this, the...

Considering the overwhelming popularity of digital SLR cameras, it's understandable that all lens manufacturers are devoting their resources to this market. All of the new products--featuring entirely new designs--shown during PMA 2005 were exclusively for use with digital SLRs that employ the APS-C size sensor; these are not suitable for use with film-based...

What is the state of the art for imaging software? At PMA 2005 it seems concentrated at the low end (under $99) with just a few, OK maybe one product aimed at the high end. What's left is a Grand Canyon of opportunity in the middle that might just be filled with free open-source software such as The Gimp (www.gimp.org)...

Tripods are important, but for most people they tend to blur together. The most important news is always that tripods are getting lighter. There are many more companies offering carbon-fiber tripods, increasingly with magnesium-alloy metal work. And while Gitzo's Basalt range gives a more modest savings in weight, it has the same desirable "deadness"...

Imagine you're a kid with a very sweet tooth in the world's largest candy store. You're allowed to roam around the halls for five days, sampling whatever strikes your fancy. You're also in one of the world's largest slam dancing parties, sharing the space with 100,000 or so other such kids. That's the feeling one can get at photokina, the...

The most vibrant growth sector in high-end film cameras was undoubtedly rangefinder, with a completely new model from Zeiss and two substantially revised models from Voigtländer: I have already covered Leica a la carte elsewhere.

The lenses for the new Zeiss Ikon are really exciting: Distagon 15mm f/2.8, Biogons for 21mm f/2.8, 25mm f/2.8, 28mm f/2.8, and 35mm...

Photokina is one of the photographic industry's largest and most exciting trade shows and features the very latest developments in photographic and imaging technologies from around the globe. During the course of the show, which lasts about a week, the halls of the convention center become a beehive of activity with business people buzzing around the corporate booths for a...