FOCUS ON IMAGING 2013 NEC BIRMINGHAM 3 - 6 MARCH 2013

Focus On Imaging is now over for another year… : – (     It’s been a really great Show and everyone in the team would like to thank all our visitors for coming and all our exhibitors for bringing their fantastic products and services – we couldn’t do it without you. We all look forward to seeing you again next year. Take some amazing pictures in the meantime!

You may or may not have noticed something rather strange floating over the seating in the Nikon lecture theatre space on their stand at D40.

Visitors to last year’s Focus on Imaging will be pleased to see that this year there are at least 50 D800s on the stand this time around, only problem is that they are rather hard to get your hands on, as they are hanging from a large semicircular scaffolding rig 4 metres above overtones heads. This seems like a rather excessive set-up, but if you have see The Matrix you might be able to guess at what is going on.

At 2pm all will be revealed, and demonstrated live in front of everyone’s amazed eyes will be “TIMESLICE – a moment in time” a presentation of the incredible 3-D “Matrix” effect. Make your way to D40 for 2PM and prepare to be amazed.

Focus on Imaging saw PHASE ONE take advantage of the show to launch their new flagship range of digital backs – the IQ2 series. Being at the very top end of currently available technology, these backs are not cheap coming in at between £25,000 and £30,000 depending on the version [Prices are approximate - being Danish, Phase One work in Euros].

The new backs all have wifi capability, and have an increased dynamic range of 13 stops which on the 80MP IQ280 is due to upgraded software. The 60MP IQ260 boasts a brand new sensor which is capable of taking an exposure up to an hour long. The Phase One engineers had studied where noise was coming from in long exposure images, and found that most of the noise was coming from a particular area in each individual pixel well. In long exposure mode, this part of the well is actually switched off, thus drastically reducing the noise. The long exposure mode is only available on the 60MP backs. The third back in the new range is the IQ260 Achromatic – a black and white only version.

Eric Joakim from Phase One was kind enough to indulge us with a very quick play on the 80MP version of the back on the lovely Phase One camera, with a macro stuck on the front. Due to extreme incompetence and haste on the part of the designated camera operator, coupled with choosing the wrong lens, deactivating the autofocus and refusing to listen to any of the advice being offered by Eric we didn’t really manage to extract the maximum from the potential of system. But even with such cack-handling, the files are beautiful. The camera was reported as being: “Wow, i am really glad I didn’t drop it, that camera is worth more than my house.” We post a sample below anyway, because it seems a shame to just delete such large beautifully creamy files [they run at about 180MB as delivered to us].

If you fancy being among one of the first people in the world to own one of these marvels of bleeding edge technology, get yourself over to TEAMWORK on stand G31 and talk to the guys.

Mark at Daymen is getting busy with his black marker pen…

PNY Technology’s F1 simulator shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s pretty tricky to get a handle on it. They give you just a couple of laps to post your best time and you’re doing reasonably if you can come in under two minutes. Our best hack was 1min 59 sec and that included a 185mph spin-out so not bad eh? What’s your best time?

Amazing ’30% off’ deals on cutting mats and ’20% off’  paper trimmers from the best in the business Rotatrim – Focus on Imaging special prices are available over at stand H10. Rotatrim’ Steve Yourin didn’t want to be photographed showing off his offer, but we decided the Focus on Imaging blog needed a handsome man so we ignored his humble protests.

“Some people don’t seem to realise that they don’t actually have to carry the trimmers away with them,” said Steve (well he said something along those lines). “They can order them from us, and we will deliver them.” Pretty much every professional lab we’ve been in has Rotatrim kit, so if you are a pro, or want to cut like a pro, get down to stand H10 and take advantage of the crazy Focus prices. And if you are lucky you might get one of their brilliant metal straight edges while you are there, it’s got conversion charts on it and we love ours. Thanks Steve.

The COOLPIX A is the first compact camera to have a DX sensor. The 16.2 MP sensor is the exact same as the sensor from the D7000, and the crossover with Nikon’s DSLR range doesn’t end there.

The whole camera has been carefully thought out to easily fit into the workflow of photographers who are already using Nikon’s DSLR. Starting at the factory, the COOLPIX A is made in Tokyo, in the same factories as their DSLRs, which signals the seriousness of the commitment to bulked quality with this new camera, and the screen on the back is the same screen as found on the top of range D4 and D800 cameras. Jeremy Gilbert, Nikon’s UK marketing manager, told us that the camera has been designed to be a compact for a serious photographer. The detail in the design goes down into the menu system and user interface which is exactly the same layout as their DSLRs, and the NEF RAW files are also the same.

The camera offers a fixed 18.5mm/f2.8 lens – which is equivalent to 28mm in 35mm format. The fixed lens ensures higher image quality and also signals the target market of the more serious user. It can shoot at 4 fps, and has a really easy manual focus override switch placed on the left side of the body. A hot shoe can be used to hold the optional optical viewfinder, or enables the camera to be used with Nikon’s speedlites. Additionally there is a ring on the front that screws off which allows a lenshood and filters to be used with the camera.

The models we saw (black and silver) felt very nice in the hand. Super solid build and very nice weight. As they were technically pre-production models Nikon don’t want anyone taking pictures with them just yet, but we were allowed to turn one on to see the lens extended – which we believe is a world first.
The camera is expected to be available (in the UK at least) on 21st of March, and retail price is, we think, about £999.99.

It certainly looks like Nikon might have been paying attention to what enthusiasts have been asking for in forums across the net – fixed lens, DSLR quality, no-nonsense compact. Bravo.

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin @FocusOnImaging

Here’s Kayleigh at Graphistudio showing off an example from their amazing brand new digital matted albums. It’s a new line that just takes professional albums another big step forwards, and creates equally great opportunities for photographers. See them now and prepare to be wowed!

With some hot prices on offer at Focus this year, products are flying off the shelves. Gabriella and mum Francine had just taken the plunge with a cracking Canon 7D, a lovely 50mm lens and some bits and pieces to go with all the big hardware from Calumet and were very pleased to boot. There’s nothing like anew camera to put a smile on the face eh?