Photofocus

My trek through PMA is over and I have about a half dozen interviews which I will compile into a podcast early next week. But here are some additional thoughts…

1. The photo industry is still going strong. Despite the loss of many traditional photo-related businesses, digital has created new opportunities for those who want to innovate.

2. There are just too many point and shoot consumer camera models. The camera manufacturers seem to have lost their minds, creating as many as six versions of the same camera, all with minor differences, so that they can market them differently. There’s too much concentration on megapixels (as there always has been) and not enough concentration on other feature sets.

3. There are some amazing new digicams out there that offer wild stuff like being waterproof in up to five feet of salt water and 1200 FPS video. But still, we just need cameras with less shutter lag, simpler menus, better noise reduction and easier-to-use view finders.

4. Did I just say viewfinder? The traditional viewfinder is going the way of the film cameras. Boo! Boo! Don’t ever buy a camera without a viewfinder. Don’t give into the dark side of the force!

5. Speaking of film – it’s still for sale. I saw one exhibit that offered film. They had it in a glass case – like in a museum. Actually – the numbers are out. 89% of all photographs made last year were made with digital cameras. Film is just still barely hanging on.

6. Camera bags made just for women are starting to pop up. And there were more women at this show than ever before. In the old days, the girls didn’t have to wait in line at the restroom since there were so few of them. Not so anymore.

7. The Canon G9 was my favorite camera shown at PMA. It feels like a camera. It offers RAW mode now, has dials instead of nested menus, fits in my hand, and makes amazing images.

8. Nik has some very cool new software that really makes it totally unnecessary to use masks in Photoshop. It’s new and in BETA and I’m being added to the BETA team. As soon as I can, I’ll report more on this.

I’ll have more on some of the cool stuff I saw in the podcast where I interview folks on the floor that were showing gear that impressed me. For now, I’m headed home to start writing reviews of all the neat stuff I picked up at the show.

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This post sponsored by the Digital SLR Store