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Last week I visited Sydney for an afternoon to attend ‘Photo Imaging World’ – Asia/Pacific’s annual trade show where all the leading photographic manufacturers put their latest technologies on show.
The show was the biggest of its kind in Australia with over 100 exhibitors ranging from the powerhouse manufactures of Canon, Sony, Kodak and Olympus through to the small photographic retail outlets and photographers.
Whilst there were few new product announcements made at this years show (manufacturers tend to focus on PMA Los Angeles in February for such moments) there were a number of interesting trends that we noticed.
The Word is Digital
It goes without saying but Digital Photography has overtaken Film Technologies in so many ways. At this year’s show all the major manufacturers give almost their complete exhibitions over to Digital Cameras and their related accessories. Even Fujifilm and Kodak’s areas were dominated by digital cameras.
The Megapixel Race is not the Main Event
In chatting with a very helpful representative at Sony I began to realise that the ‘Megapixel Race’ of building digital cameras with bigger and bigger megapixel capacity is becoming less of a priority for at least some manufacturers. This year I noticed an increased focus upon personal printing (all the major players are releasing personal printing units and equipping their cameras with direct printing functions), Editing Software and Image Storage technologies.
Sony’s rep told me that now that there is a new wave of requests coming in from their customers that focus on the question ‘what do we do with our images?’ This makes sense as more and more families and individuals now own a quality digital camera and are beginning to turn their attention to preserving and displaying their prized photos. As a result we can expect to see a lot more products released in the next year like Sony's HDPS-M1 which was on display at the show.
Ho Hum
Whilst there are some amazing digital cameras on the market I came away from the show feeling a little underwhelmed by what was on show in terms of marketing and displays. Of the 100 exhibitors only 1 stood out as doing anything different. Crumpler Bags was the only ‘edgy’ booth – they surrounded themselves in 44 gallon drums, allowed visitors to write comments on their black board walls and presented one and all with stickers, temporary tattoos and the worlds smallest box of matches (all adorned with Crumplers logo). Other exhibitors stuck with more of a minimalist approach with the exception of Sony who attempted do something different with an area where an indigenous artist painted in the middle of their exhibition.
Evolution vs Innovation
Whilst I know that the major focus of a show like Photo Imaging World is the technology, I came away from it wondering if the ‘ho hum’ nature of displays is actually a reflection of the state of the industry as a whole. Is anyone really doing anything different? Most of the new cameras released in the last year look and operate remarkably similarly to one another. Yes we are getting more megapixels, longer lenses, bigger memory cards and more automatic shooting modes – but where will the next ‘wow’ come from? I get the feeling that we’re in ‘evolution mode’ and not ‘innovation mode.’ Maybe Apple should start making digital cameras – we need an I-cam to shake things up.
Best In Show
Perhaps I’m being a little cynical, I did have a good time really, I just want to see the industry continue to move forward as I know it can. Lets get a little more positive with my ‘Best in Show’ Awards ceremony. Here are my stand out exhibitors:
Overall PIW was well worth the visit to Sydney (a great city to spend a few days anyway). The main reason I went was to meet and network with some key people from the manufacturers of Australia’s most popular digital cameras. We’re hoping that out of the relationships established that Digital Photography Blog will continue to grow in providing you our readers with quality Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips.
Posted by Darren in our News category on May 31, 2004