Online Magazine

Recent Posts

Tags

More Places to Go

Archives

PhotoPlus Expo

09th November 2015


 
 

The PhotoPlus Expo is the largest photography show in the US. This year more than 21,000 photo professionals and enthusiasts flocked to New York City’s Jacob Javits Center to attend the various events. These included more than 100+ classes conducted by 140 speakers covering posing, lighting, equipment, software, services, business techniques and strategy. In addition there were 15 photo walks across the New York City landscape in which participants were mentored by noted professionals.

I took an interest in the more than 250 exhibitors covering more than 100,000 square feet of space and demonstrating their goods and services.

 
 


Following are some of the exhibits that I stopped by during my visit to PhotoPlus Expo.


There were an abundance of live seminars and demonstrations on the expo floor. These covered a large gamut of photo topics: better use of equipment, lighting techniques, wedding and portrait sets, directing and posing subjects, post-processing and software usage.

Many well-known photographers and educators were on hand for the seminars and floor demos: Hanson Fong, Joe McNally, Lindsay Adler, Tamara Lackey, Terry White, Julianne Kost, Scott Kelby to name a few. With more than 100 classes, there is learning for every photographic category.


Equipment

For those interested in trying new cameras and accessories, all of the major manufacturers had exhibits and representatives to demonstrate their wares and answer questions. Even hard-to-find accessories such as these long lenses were available for hands-on trial for the many interested photographers.

 


Services

Many attendees use the services available at PhotoPlus to clean and/or service their equipment Here is a Canon rep cleaning a DLSR while the owner waits. The major manufacturers Canon, Nikon, Sony and Panasonic all had technicians on hand to provide service to those with extended service contracts. They also provided complimentary cleaning.

 


Barber Shop Leather Accessories

I was attracted to goods at the Barber Shop booth. They had a very attractive collection of leather camera straps and cameras bags. Barber Shop is an Italian company and these goods were exquisitely stylish and solidly made. For more information visit Barber Shop.


LowePro Camera Bags

Based on my many years of satisfaction with their products, I stopped at the LowePro booth. On display were several dozen of backpack style camera bags in sizes varying from small for a single camera to extra large for two cameras with six or more lenses.

I took to their Urban Reporter which looks more like a messenger bag rather than a conventional camera bag. It has room for a laptop, a large camera and ample padded storage for several lenses and accessories.

I also saw their new DroneGuard. This is a case designed to carry a drone (e.g. DJI Phantom) and accessories. This makes transporting the drone convenient and safe.

You can learn about their product line by visiting LowePro.


Urban Reporter 350

DroneGuard

Tornado Hexcopter Drone

Drones are available in many different sizes and sport a wide variety of features. It’s almost essential that these flying devices have excellent digital equipment, stabilization and easy control if the desired end result is quality photography and video.

At the Yuneec booth, the Canadian company’s product director Mark Padilla gave me a demonstration of their Tornado H920. This professional drone has a lightweight carbon fiber body controlled by a sophisticated remote that includes “pilot view”, video downlink and instrumentation.

The camera provides full 1080 HD. Since the drone’s landing pods are retractable, the camera has an unobstructed view. Additionally, it is mounted on a controllable 3-axis gimbal for steady shots.

For more information please contact Yuneec.

Below you can see Mark giving me a demo of the Tornado H920:

 



Cotton Carrier Harnesses

As an outdoor photographer, I typically carry two or more cameras on assignment and headed to Cotton Carrier to look at their products.

Their “vest” holds one or two handsfree depending on the options selected. Each camera is held to the vest using a locking connector and leash. They also have a Speed Belt for holding a camera at waist level.

You can learn more about their lineup at Cotton Carrier


Epson SureColor P800

Over the years I’ve owned several professional quality printers. The most recent was limited to 13″ wide prints.

I’m now interested in a printer for making larger prints and stopped to talk to the Epson representative who demonstrated their new SureColor P800. This device can make 17″ wide prints on a very wide variety of papers, has several paper handling features including roll feeder, uses large capacity ink cartridges with enhanced black and white printing. The samples produced during the demo were superb. The SureColor P800 is now on my wish list.

You can find out more about the P800 by visiting Epson.


Kodak PixPro SP360 Action Camera

Kodak’s Rep Amanda Drain gave me a demo of their innovative PixPro SP360 Action Camera. As its name suggests, it captures 360 degrees as 1080p HD video.

The camera itself is a cube with a dome on top. It’s weather resistant and ruggedly designed to withstand drops and knocks. It has Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity and can be controlled with either IOS (Apple) or Android devices.
To see samples of the 360 HD video and for more information please visit Kodak PixPro.


If you’re ready to experience the PhotoPlus Conference next year, mark your calendar for October 19-22 at Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 


 
 
 

PhotoPlus Conference & Expo

12th October 2015

 

 

I have a strong interest in staying on top of the rapidly evolving picture taking techniques and amazing new advances in photo equipment. One way of doing this is for me to attend the various conventions and meetings. On my docket is the upcoming PhotoPlus Conference & Expo.

Next week I’ll be going to New York City and the Javits Center where PhotoPlus runs from Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 24th.

 

 

 

 

Traveling to New York is always an enjoyable trip for me. I was raised in Westchester, just a stones throw from NYC. I’m anxious to ride the subway to the brand new Hudson Yards station (across the street from Javit’s). Taking the subway will save me a couple of miles walk from Grand Central to Javits.

What is PhotoPlus?

Since 1983, PhotoExpo has grown to be the largest photography show in the US. The conference is geared towards amateur and professionals who can sit in on more than one hundred seminars and classes ranging from posing and lighting techniques to business and promotional practices. Seminar and class instructors are led by noted professionals who are anxious to share their know-how. With New York City as a backdrop several accompanied photo walks are scheduled for attendees can explore the city photographically.

PhotoPlus also attract attendees to the expo where more than 200 exhibitors are showing their latest equipment, supplies and services. They’ll get hands-on time with cameras, lenses, flashes, gadgets, and accessories galore. Several large vendors are on hand at the expo for those ready to buy new equipment. Many vendors present live on-floor demonstrations of their equipment and services so attendees can see the products in action.

As an interested photographer, if you’re in the New York City area next week consider attending. Here’s where you’ll find more information at the PhotoPlus Conference & Expo.

 

 
Written by Arnie Lee

 

 

 


Light Field Technology

I made it a point to visit all of the booths at PhotoPlus Expo looking for new and interesting products.

At the Lytro booth, I learned a new term: Light Field Technology. With this camera, the direction, color and brightness of the light rays are captured by a specialized sensor array. Afterwards, this information can be “processed” to refocus and change perspective.

The Lytro Illum is a new, second generation camera to capture light field photographs. Lytro refers to these images as “living pictures”.

The Illum is fitted with a 30-250mm zoom lens with f/2 constant aperture. It has a 4″ tiling LCD viewing screen and weighs just over 2 lbs.

The fast f/2 lens provides an 8X zoom range. Images are stored on an SD, SDXC or SDHC card.

The specialized CMOS sensor has ISO range from 80 to 3200.

The camera also has built-in WiFi for transferring images directly to a smart device.

You can preview the images on the LCD and immediately see these living pictures as the focus and perspective change.

The LCD is touch sensitive – you can touch the part of the image to refocus. A “Lytro” button displays an overlay on the screen that displays the depth of field of objects, indicating the range of refocus.

Use the included Lytro Desktop software to upload to Lytro’s web (no charge) or to Facebook. Viewers can post comments about your pictures on the Lytro Gallery. When you upload, the software creates an animated gif file that animates the refocusing and change of perspective capabilities.

To see this interesting light field technology, visit the Lytro Gallery where you can experiment with these images by moving your mouse over the area to be refocused. I think it’s an amazing technology.

The Illum is available now at a list price of $1599 includes battery and ND filters (since aperture is fixed at f/2).

Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 


 
 

Newer Posts »