On the following pages we've assembled reports that act as mirrors on the state of the art of photo and imaging gear today. While the reports themselves cover numerous recently introduced products in various categories they also tell us how taking, making, and sharing images has changed. Compare this report to one made in past years and you'll see a radical...
Weird stuff is my favorite category at any show: the things that don't fit into sensible categories, but are useful, or unusual, or yes, just plain weird. Some manufacturers of weird stuff rejoice in being called weird (they are often the most fun of all) but others sometimes flinch and say things like, "Um, we'd prefer to be called, er, unique." At a...
For the first time in the history of the PMA Show, not a single 35mm SLR camera was announced at PMA 2005. We do not expect any to be announced anytime soon. Or maybe ever again. ...
Must-Have Photo Gadgets Another edition of the biggest photo show in the U.S.A. has come and gone. As always in recent years, it was huge with thousands of products being hawked for photo buffs of all types. Even so, a number of people I spoke with thought this show was noticeably smaller in size than prior annual PMA trade shows and I would have to agree...
Fundamental Accessories For Every Photographer Everyone has to carry their equipment, and a good bag makes it easier to work quickly and efficiently, and saves your back, neck, and arms from unnecessary discomfort. It therefore follows that although bags are sometimes seen as unexciting, they are of fundamental importance.
While our reporters were assigned specific product categories to cover for the show, we also requested that they pick what they considered their favorite product of the show. The product didn't have to be in their area--indeed, the product could be a prototype or something that wouldn't appear in any real way for the near future. So here's the Shutterbug...
"Has digital photography reached the end of the road?"--Headline in Convention Daily Newspaper
When you read such erudite comments in the trade press, a person might wonder if we have, in fact, reached digital nirvana. Maybe that writer's grandpa posed the same question when wet collodion plates were introduced, but digital imaging is...
"New at PMA `05: Film!"--Headline in Convention Daily Newspaper
In the entire history of the PMA show this is the first time no new 35mm film SLRs were introduced, so ya gotta wonder what the dude who wrote that was smoking. According to the British Journal of Photography, the manufacture of Contax and Kyocera 35mm film cameras has...
Small is big--at least among PSDs (Portable Storage Devices). That can be the defining motif for the strong emergence at this year's PMA of smaller and smaller digital portable storage devices with higher and higher capacities and enhanced feature sets. These devices cropped up at every turn, never failing to grab my attention.
"Don't call 'em D-SLRs, in the future all SLRs will be digital."--Overheard at PMA
A recent New Yorker cartoon showed a salesperson demonstrating a digicam to a customer. The caption read something like, "This light comes on to tell you when the camera is obsolete." A lot of digital SLR owners feel like that from time to...
Good news from Ilford made this PMA a shot in the arm for zanyone who loves the craft of photography and photographic printing. As most people know, in August 2004, Ilford Imaging UK Ltd. had gone into receivership. For months, rumors had been flying about a management buyout, and it finally succeeded just hours before the PMA show opened. The new company will trade as Ilford...
One trend has continued unabated since the first Shutterbug's Photography Buyer's Guide: As the number of digital cameras has increased, the number of scanners has decreased. My guess is that while the presence of camera-phone manufacturers at PMA 2005 does not bode well for the future of lower end point-and-shoot cameras, they will have no impact whatsoever on the...
According to a report published by the Photo Marketing Association (PMA), some 82 percent of cameras sold in 2005 will be digital. The study also indicates that many consumers are already buying their second or third digicams, making the full-featured, high-resolution models increasingly popular. Consequently, I was not surprised to find numerous new cameras at PMA 2005 with...
While the latest generation of ink jet printers continue to astound us with their enhanced printing technologies, ink jet media--primarily papers--do not fail to grab our attention for one reason or another. While the industry still has not firmly established a uniform testing standard across international lines (British paper manufacturers, for instance, adhere to...