Photographic Show 2017

Don't laugh. One day your cameras will be here too

Every year, I declare that I will not be going to the annual UK photographic show. However like a Caribou following the herd, I again found myself driving down a rain sodden M6 to the industrial wasteland which goes by the name NEC to find new and innovative ways to burn holes in my credit card.

This year I had even fewer excuses than normal to go. I have lenses My lens that cover most of my needs from a stonking zoom through a decent macro and ending up with reasonable wide angle. I am still getting to grips with my Sony A6000, and my DSLR, while long in the tooth and probably need of an upgrade is going OK. In short I had no real reason to go

That last paragraph is in fact a total lie.

follow the light......

One of the curses of photography is that you never stop thinking that you are only a new lens or body from becoming that world beating photographer I want to be. Problem is I have just about exhausted the relative cheap options. Any improvement in lens or cameras will require the spending f serious amounts cash. To spend the amounts I would need to do to get any significant improvement would require considerable amount of research and thought and definitely something you don't want to do in a whim in a show like this.

As for the show itself? Well I have two big issues with this photographic show.

Firstly the show likes to present itself as a festival of photography and you would imagine that with so many photographers in attendance the organizers would take the opportunity to celebrate photography in all its forms.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In truth it is glorified trade fair. This can be evidenced from how they treat the photo exhibitions. These are mounted in the eating areas where you have to dodge supine members of the public lying like beached seals against the boards.  I really wish the organizers would provide a gallery area with proper lighting and mounting, but I guess that would reduce the amount of selling space available.

Secondly issue is the NEC itself.

Even after you have paid for the tickets itself, the costs just mount. Despite having car parks the size of Belgium, they still feel the need to charge you £12 for your stay . A collection of adverts masquerading as a show program comes in at £5 and what is euphemistically termed food  is sold at prices that someone attending a West end restaurant would feel aggrieved about.

Then there is the venue itself. For a show that should be about the art of photography, the NEC has the warmth and ambiance of an aircraft hanger.

So lets recap. I had nothing to buy, do not like the show and will be paying hover £30 for the privilege of going.

So why did I go?

Well firstly, it is close. My total journey from work or home is only 40 minutes, which makes it a temptation

Secondly is the herd thing. It is the feeling that if I was not there I could not be serious about my hobby, which is of course total bullshit.

Finally despite its limitation, it is a place where you can play around with a huge mix of products, and hopefully I would get some sort of inspiration or new ideas.

This year I could only make it half a day. This is however not a bad thing. I find any more than 3 hours and both my physical and mental muscles are tired out. After 3 hours I really need to leave since I am at my most susceptible to any sales patter and could easily be persuaded to part  with a large amount of cash for a product I have no use for.

Unfortunately this meant that I had little opportunity to visit any talks or lectures. Considering the number of friends and colleagues who came home with a new printer, the one by Doug Chinnery seems to been the one to go to and I'm sorry I missed it. However I did catch the talk again by sport photographer, Bob Martin, who is always a pleasure and  inspiration to listen too. When I get to go to the Olympics as a sport photographer, I am sure his advice will be invaluable :)

Bob Martin, sports photographer extraordinaire 

I also noticed some changes this year. One welcome change was the move away from scantily clad models (mainly female) on the camera stands. This hopefully is a sign that manufacturers are growing up and being more inclusive. Another obvious change was the number of drones sellers this year showing how big drone photography has be come in recent years.

There is always one...

What was as interesting was the what was missing.

Sigma seemed to be the only major lens manufacturer there. Of the main camera manufacturers, Leica did not show up, maybe feeling that the venue were beneath them.

After there impressive showing last year, Serif were not hear meaning out of the photo software companies, only Adobe had any presence.

In terms of new technology, Fuji was the most interesting. I still think their cameras can take retro a tad too far, but they are a work of art and the lens line up is well thought out and high quality. I was also interested in their new medium format camera, the GFX 50S.  It took fantastic images, but the suggestion that it could replace a dSLR for general work seemed unlikely due to its weight and size. However I would not be surprised to see more professional landscape photographers migrating to it, if for no other reason to differentiate themselves from full frame cameras, which are starting to filter down pro/am photographers now,

Talking of which I had a go on the Sony A99ii, which seemed a very good camera, if not a tad heavy. However its price plus the need for full frame lenses will probably be forever out of my reach.

So did I come away with anything? Well apart from a few magazines,I got a reasonable priced travel tripod for a coming holiday. I was also interested in a few products. I have a yearning for a camera trigger systems, but whenever I look at them they always feel a bit expensive for what is nothing more than a sensor trigger and a adjustable timer. I feel it is something I could knowck up myself if I had the time and inclination. I also liked the macro lights by adaptalux. I have desire to do more macro work and these looked good for lighting your subjects. Again however they seemed quite expensive for what they were, but well engineered and put together.

So after all that, will I go next year? At present, no, but I said that last year and i ended up anyway. Maybe I am approaching the show in the wrong way and I should go with a group. After all if you are going to follow the herd, you might as well be part of it

Sony juggling

Exit please

NEC Photography Show 2016

Last year  I went to the photography show at the NEC. I wasn't at the time greatly impressed, and I had pretty well decided not to attend this year.

So of course I did. So what what did I learn?

Well, it was better represented with camera manufacturers than last year, with virtually all the top marks being there including Fujifilm (who were not there last year )and Leica.

A these sort of shows you are limited as to what you can learn. For example it won't allow you to judge how good the images are. However it is a great opportunity to feel how cameras feel in hand and get to grips with the ergonomics, which is an area which is often overlooked in reviews.A good camera should almost be an extension of the photographers arm, in that you should not need  to think to hard when taking an image about how to switch modes etc.

I had always felt that despite being a tad too retro in their design, that Olympus and Fuji were ahead in making there cameras function more naturally. However  I was surprised therefore that I didn't really take to the their products. They just feel cameras too manual and, how can i put this, clunky to use. Certainly I did not feel that they became part of me.

However my award for my special dislike award went Leica's. I was surprised how heavy they were and frankly how bad the poor ergonomics were . I am sure they take great photos, but even if I could afford one, I wouldn't want one. I do feel they are still more fashion statements than a camera to do work with.

As usual I gravitated to the Sony stand, who had a few new products such as the new A6300 and A7R II among others. Because the A6300 is so similar to my A6000, it is difficult to assess how improved it is, but I appreciated that it now has a dedicated MF button, and wonder how they managed to miss that off in the first place.

However what surprised me most was the new A-series camera, the A68.  Now I have had a downer on the A68 since it was announced (that's an understatement - Ed) and while many of my gripes are still valid, I liked in in the hand far more than I thought. I would now consider it as an an upgrade to my A-37. However on the downside it is a heavy beast and the back screen is far too small and low resolution for my liking.

So what else caught my eye this year...

Well as usual I was interested and amused as to what photographic targets  were provided by the stands. Sony put two girls on a bike on a rolling mill, obviously emphasizing the high speed, low light capabilities of their cameras. Panasonic one the award for the most politically incorrect stand with a girl dressed as a peacock, presumably pushing there colour rendition capabilities. Fujifilm just had a girl on a stationary motorbike, which I am not sure what that was to represent.

Panasonic's girl in a weird costume

One way of getting around mirrorless cameras moving subject focus issues

Fujifilm's woman on a motorbike stand

However like the previous year, there did not seem to a lot of new innovative products out there, although it was good to see the turnpro guys had got there product to market.

The one product that did impress me however was Affinity photo processing software by Serif. Unfortunately at present it is MAC only, but they promise a window port soon. It is the closest product I have seen that could be called a photoshop replacement and if the windows version is sold for the same price as the MAC version could really give Adobe the kick up the backside they need.

Of course the purpose of these shows are half exhibitions and half retail opportunities. I must admit I got caught and bought a 55-210 lens for my A6000. OK, it was a bit cheaper than online, but you have to take into account that I had already paid £13 for a show ticket and the exorbitant £12 for parking, so if you take all that into account it probably wasn't really much of a bargain.

Photographer extraordinaire Bob Martin with one of his iconic images behind him

However the best bit of the show was listening to Bob Martin , who was giving a talk on sport photography on the Nikon stand. Bob has produced a number of iconic and award winning images over the years and he gave some great advice. Some of the outstanding points was how he concentrated on the background more than the subject to make his images stand out, his use of wide angle lenses (apparently you need a really fast shutter speed) and his use of mirror lenses to create interesting Bokeh effects. He was also very honest in how much luck played a part in creating some of his most famous images.

So it was a mixed bag. Again I felt the exhibition could do to more celebrate photography, rather than just extact money from photographers. I'm not sure that the NEC is the best venue for this sort of show. However it was fun to play around with all the cameras and listening to Bob Martin was a eye opener.

Yes, you too can be captured in plastic

Sigma line up

Showtime

I recently went to the photography show at the NEC, Birmingham .

Since this is the 1st time I have attended the show, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was at a minimum hoping to see some of the latest photographic technology. Also it would be a good place to try out various cameras and see how they felt.

I was also very interested to visit the Sony stand to try out the latest models. I have been thinking for a while of upgrading my present camera and I was quite prepared to be tempted into buying something.So after wrestling my credit cards from my wife I duly arrived.

The show

I have to admit that I felt slightly disappointed by the show. I was fully prepared for the extortionate prices for car parking and food at the NEC (Note to NEC management, if you are going to charge £5 for a small pot of chips, at least put some bins out and have more tables). But my main issue was that the show was a little dull.

Rather than the festival of photography I had expected, it was the usual suspects selling the usual wares. There did not seem to be a lot of innovation or new products at the show. Certainly I dod come away thinking I must get one of those.

One interesting thing however was how the various manufacturers set out their stalls.

Nikon and Canon of course had the largest stands in the show, and their basic message was the punters would come to them, so why try too hard.

Olympus however seemed concentrated on the use of their cameras in a studio setting. They had a live studio session, run by an entertaining gentleman (in a non-PC fashion) and a model who's job seemed to be to stand around while his assistants threw paint at her

The photographer running the session was a laugh, but the model basically had been trained to resist his charms 

All done in a discrete and private environment

Ah the glamour of being a photographic model. Someone throws paint at you while 50 strangers take photos.

With Panasonic on the other hand, it was much more about action and movement with gymnasts and boxers showing off while you could use various Panasonic cameras to photograph them. I guess they were emphasizing their 4K capabilities.

I had brought with me my wife's small Sony compact with me and it gave me a chance to play around with it . I found it had a capability to take 10 photos at a fast rate, and this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go as we can see below (Interestingly few stands had compacts on display. Maybe the companies thought that they would be of little interest to professionals or serious amateurs.)

What about Sony? Well to be honest their stand was a little disappointing. It consisted of a bored model sitting in front to a colourful candy store. Presumably it was to show the colour rendering capabilities of Sony cameras, but compared to many of the others it was a bit dull. I did however have the chance to play with the low light capabilities of the A7S which was quite impressive.

Sony - not trying too hard since 1970...

User interfaces

One nice feature I found on the Sony compact was when I took the photos in burst mode, I could scroll through them via tipping the camera backwards and forwards. Which is quite a nice feature and it brings me onto user interfaces

I have always been interested in user interfaces generally and often quite critical of camera manufacturers in the lack of innovation in this area. The show gave me the perfect opportunity to play around with a number of cameras and see which ones I liked from this viewpoint

Panasonic's I found was very good, but one of the best was Ricoh, which provided quite a clever graphics.

I also got a chance to play with the Sony A58 for a while. In theory the A58 is an improved model of my present camera, however I have always had my doubts.

I have a number of issues with it, but playing with it I have one more gripe

Back of a A58

The primary interface of any camera is the dials and rotary dials. One of these on the A58 is a 4 way pad on the back of the camera. On my camera it allows me to select ISO, White Balance, Display mode, and shooting mode and it is really useful to have these quickly to hand when using the EVF.

 On the A58 it is much the same, except one axis now selects the  photo effect mode.

Now these modes allow you to play around with the in-camera image processing, doing things like high key images. They can be a bit of fun, but nothing you cannot do in post-processing later and after a while you quickly get bored with them. Not only that they only work when in JPEG mode, not in RAW.

It therefore seems incredible to dedicate a valuable button to select these modes. It shows the market that Sony is aiming for with this camera and think that the only users for this camera will be people who never want to do more than take a few snaps and will never be serious photographers, which is a bit condescending.

Anything else?

So apart from user interfaces what else did I find?

Well the Panasonic camera/mobile was interesting. I have often thought that camera makers should copy a lot of the ideas from mobile phones in terms of user interface design, and this looked a good example of that. However at £700 (more than a iphone) I wonder what how big the market is for it. That is a lot of money for a adequate camera and an average mobile phone especially when you could spend far less on a good compact and a good android mobile together.

The only other product I found interesting was the Turnpro which was a kickstarter funded camera time lapse rotater.I must admit I had thought about doing a DIY version of the very same thing, but this looks better. It appears they have got their kickstarter funds, so I look forward to seeing it when it comes out.

Another thing I noticed was a certain yearning to simpler days on some of the stands. For example the stand below, selling old film stocks seemed to be doing good business

Camera's, old style

Alpa cameras especially seem to try their best to go back to the 1940's in their design. Interesting for a digital camera that can cost upwards of 47000 dollars

Alpa cameras. If you have to ask the price...

Finally

So did I buy anything? 

The short answer, no. 

While I was impressed by the Sony A6000, I do not like the kit lens(too narrow a focal range), so it would cost a lot more to fit it with a decent one, Also of course it cannot use my A-Series lens.  The Sony salesman tried to pitch a A7, but of course forgot to mention, until prompted, the need for an adapter which again would put the price up. Also I am not convinced that this is an all round camera for everyday usage. 

One of the things I really wanted to do was play with the Sony A77II since at present is my only real upgrade path. 

This is the benefit of shows like this, in that you are able to hold such cameras in your hands and see how they feel. When I held this camera I was very surprised how big and heavy it was. Compared to my present A37, it would be a considerable weight gain and I am not sure it is th kind of camera that I would want to carry it around all the time. 

So although interesting, the wait to upgrade goes on (much to my wife's relief)

Some final thoughts and images

I didn't ask how much this Sigma lens was, although hopefully it comes with a dedicated Sherpa team to carry it

Selfie taking machine

One disappointment was there was not more original art work to see. You would have thought people like the RPS would have had an exhibition on. What was there however was interesting and thought provoking

One of more interesting booths was one run by the disable photographers association  who were selling 2nd hand camera equipment. If you have anything you want to give away, it might be worth contacting them to see if they are interested in taking off your hands

Nikon users were quarantined to ensure they were not contaminated by other camera makers users