The Photography Show (which ran this year from 1st-4th March at the NEC in Birmingham, UK) is the country’s biggest show, with over 150 exhibitors. This was the first year for the show, as it took over the same venue from Focus – a very highly regarded institution. So there was a fair amount of pressure on the new organisers to live up to past events.

I visited the show on March 4th, the last day of the show, with a colleague and was very impressed with all that we saw. As well as all the exhibitors, the show had a range of talks from world renowned photographers such as Rankin and Terry O’ Neill, workshops, conferences and even a flower garden!

photo by Peter Treadway

Interesting as this all is, this article is really designed to give you, the readers, a guide to some of the new and interesting products that were introduced at the show.

The Big Hitters – Nikon & Canon

The two big hitters in the DSLR world, Nikon and Canon, were out in force at the show. Nikon debuted their new flagship camera, the Nikon D4s – the 16.2mp FX full frame upgrade to the D4. It has a host of clever and new features, including an expanded ISO range (100-25,600, extendable to an amazing 409,600 (equivalent)). The feature that really stood out for me though was the new Group Area AF mode. This allows the user to set five different AF fields, which enables fast moving subjects to be tracked accurately across long distances. We tested this out on a demo model and the difference it made to the clarity and sharpness of moving objects, along with isolating them from the background, was astonishingly good.

Canon were concentrating mainly on existing products, although they did introduce a new version of their entry-level camera in the EOS 1200D (T5). There was also a lot of interest at the stand in their range of cinema EOS cameras. As a fun setup, Canon were showing off the slow motion capabilities of these cameras by filming visitors playing with an array of silly string and party poppers. It’s possible that I was still picking out the remains the next morning!

FujiFilm

Fuji introduced a new addition to their X-series in the form of the X-T1. Unlike previous models in this range, the X-T1 bears more of a distinctive DSLR body. Like the Nikon D4S, it’s in the 16mp range (16.3 to be precise), but is an APS-C crop frame camera. Fuji’s X-series has proved immensely popular, with a fantastic range of lenses and interesting features. I’ll be interested to see whether this slightly chunkier model will prove as popular.

It’s certainly got a lot of modern features, but I particularly like the retro feel of ‘film stimulation’, whereby you can set the camera to mimic old Fuji films, such as Velvia, Provia and Astia slide films.

Panasonic

Panasonic have added to their incredibly popular Lumix range with the DMC-GH4. This 16mp camera offers a big step forward for video users, offering 4K videos on what is still a very compact body. I’m a big fan of the Lumix cameras and think the image quality for stills is incredible. This camera looks like it will match the quality on the video front as well.

Hasselblad

At the top level of the industry, Hasselblad used the show to preview the new Hasselblad H5D, which is available with either a 40, 50, or 60 mp sensor. The show also gave visitors a chance to admire the new Hasselblad HV, which is based on the Sony Alpha A99.

It’s another gorgeous piece of kit (as all Hasselblads are), but will come with a hefty price tag (expected to be around $11,500 in the US).

Elinchrom

Moving away from cameras, Elinchrom were leading the lighting pack with their new studio flash units – the ELC Pro-HD 500 and 1000. I had a chat with Elinchrom’s president, Chris Whittle about the units and was extremely impressed with their capabilities. As a long time Elinchrom user myself, these will certainly be on my wish list!

Recycling times on the units are fast – 0.6s / 1.2s to full power (500 / 1000 units) with accurate colour temperature and consistent power output on each shot. But what’s really amazing about these units is their ability to freeze motion. The super flash durations go up to 1/5000s on the 500 units and 1/5260s on the 1000. Helpfully, the digital screen on the back of the units displays not only the stop based power scale, but also the power in Joules and flash durations.

Think Tank Photo

Think Tank Photo caught my attention with their range of well-designed bags. I particularly liked their range of rolling camera bags, which I firmly believe should be an essential for all photographers who have to carry a lot of kit.

They’ve just introduced the phenomenal Logistics Manager 30, which has over 3600 cubic inches of storage! To put that into meaningful terms for a photographer, you can easily fit two monobloc heads and a large battery pack into it, with room left over.

They’ve also just introduced a new range of bags designed specifically for mirrorless cameras. These bags are well made and designed with photographers in mind. My colleague, Abigail Murphy, recently took one to India and reports back that they are extremely sturdy!

Print Services

As always, there were a huge number of companies offering display and print options for professional photographers and their clients. There are some great companies out there, but two particularly caught my attention. BusyPictures was founded by photographers and offers incredibly reasonably priced options. I was particularly impressed by their Acrylic and Aluminium prints, along with their fun options of photo customised wallpaper and stick-on poster prints.

On a larger scale, the well-known Loxley Colour offered some lovely finishes. In particular, I loved the metal alumini wall prints, which are even waterproof!

So in conclusion, there are some great products to look forward to and many more that I’ve run out of room to include. I’m already looking forward to next year’s show! Did you attend the show? What was your favorite part?