Pixiq

After a long day at the 2010 PhotoPlus Expo in New York City (as usual, the show floor was filled with activity), I thought I'd share some of the things that impressed me, as well as some news from some of the exhibiting companies. I still have a lot to see, and I look forward to visiting the show over the next two days. 

Canon (Booth 200): The Canon booth (especially the area in front of the main stage) was packed with attendees every time I passed by throughout the day, and one presentation that I found fascinating was by Vincent Laforet. He showed both still and video work that was quite incredible, including a very low-noise video shot with available street lighting at night in Los Angeles. You can see the video here. 

He explained that the video was shot at 6400 ISO with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV DSLR. Also, the shooting rigs from iDC on display at the Canon booth were impressive. For more about them, visit the iDC Photography website.

Epson (Booth 602): In addition to many other printed samples, Epson is showcasing a 5x25 foot-wide image by artist Bert Monroy printed on Epson's DisplayTrans™ backlit media using an Epson Stylus Pro 11880. This is definitely worth a look, and this is the first time the image will be visible to the public. 

Epson also announced a new sample pack of their "Signature Worthy Papers. This is from the company's press release: "Epson’s new sample paper pack gives photographers and creative professionals the opportunity to try a variety of Epson Signature Worthy papers. Available for $24.95, the pack includes two letter-sized sheets of each of the following: Hot Press Bright and Hot Press Natural, Cold Press Bright and Cold Press Natural, Velvet Fine Art Paper, Exhibition Fiber Paper, and Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster."

Lowel (inside the Tiffen Booth 553): The Tiffen booth had a wide array of products distributed by the company, including Lowel lighting. The two lights I was most impressed by were the Rifa-Lite eX and the Lowel Blender LED Light Kit. What I like about the Rifa-Lite eX is that you easily collapse it and keep the light inside when you use the tungsten light that comes with it. Also, it can be used with either tungsten (hot lights) or fluorescent lighting by changing out the center module. There is a single lamp option and a three lamp module-each of which will take fluorescent or tungsten bulbs with an Edison (standard) screw base. I also liked the quality and usefulness of their Gel Frames, which can hold gobos (light-blocking cards), sheets of diffusion or gels. They can also be held in place by inserting the rod that's attached to them into most umbrella brackets. Visit this page for more information. For info on the Lowel Blender LED Light Kit, which offers two separate dimmable color temperatures in one unit, visit this page.

Nik Software (Booth 561): The Nik Software booth was another place that was filled with people watching live tutorials of their products. Their newest product is called HDR Efex Pro. For more info, visit their site here.  

Kodak (Booth 453): Kodak is celebrating 125 years of innovation, and they had the video above running at the booth with a lot of fantastic images and ads from throughout their history (if you can't view it in the window above, it can be seen here). If you look closely (at 2:45), you'll see that the first digital camera, invented by Kodak, had a tape cassette attached to it! They also have some nice sample prints in the booth of their papers for people to take home that really help to see how the different print surfaces look. I was impressed by a new paper the company calls ULTRA ENDURA High Definition paper. It has a high gloss finish that gives a look similar to Cibachrome/Ilfochrome. The company also just introduced a new Portra 400 negative film. For more on Kodak's Pro papers, visit this page. Also at the Kodak booth is Keith Canham, who makes spectacular view cameras, including models that take 20x24-inch film! He and a Kodak representative explained how Kodak is able to fill custom film orders for sheet film over 8x10 inches in size. As long as Kodak has an order for $15,000 in film, they can pretty much make anything people want, and Keith has a system in place for accepting group orders. For more information on this, visit his website.

Also, I'd like to invite anyone visiting the show to stop by the Moab booth (#149) from 3-4PM on Friday, 10/29. I'll be signing about 100 prints of one of my photographs, printed on their Entrada Rag Natural 300gsm paper.