Best Of PMA
What's New And Next From The World’s Largest Photography
Trade Show
By The Editors
Each year, photographers,
industry insiders, retailers and journalists from around the
world descend on PMA—the Photo Marketing Association’s
annual convention. There are a number of photo trade shows and
conventions throughout the year, but none compare in size and
scope to PMA. Many manufacturers plan new product announcements
around the show, saving their biggest news for this audience.
The news this year is that digital
has truly come of age. The distinction between photography and
digital photography has all but vanished. Walking from booth
to booth, everything was “digital,” even a few products
that have absolutely nothing digital about them.
That digital photography has finally become mainstream was underscored
by a few noticeable changes at the convention itself. For the
first time, film and film-based products such as scanners took
a backseat. One film counter at a major manufacturer may as
well have had tumbleweeds under the glass—attendees were
all gathered around that manufacturer’s new digital products.
Looking into the future, there will come a day when the phrase
“digital camera” will be as unnecessary as the phrase
“electric lamp” is today.
Another indicator of this evolution was Microsoft’s first
appearance at PMA. Although Microsoft has for years made some
good photo-imaging applications, that hasn’t been an important
enough part of its business to attend a photo trade show. The
times they are a-changin’.
In terms of technology advances, the big story was 8-megapixel
cameras. Not so long ago, we lamented the limitations of camera
resolution in comparison to film, and wondered how long it would
be until the image quality of consumer-level digital cameras
would rival that of film for most photographers’ uses.
Arguably, we arrived at that point with 5 megapixels; but certainly
at 8 megapixels, there are few consumer applications of photography
that aren’t satisfied.
These new 8-megapixel cameras are exciting, not just for their
resolution, but because of the other enhancements that manufacturers
have brought to this generation of digital cameras. World-class
optics, bigger zoom ranges and advanced image-processing technologies
are hallmarks of these new models. As digital continues to grow
in mainstream popularity, we expect that manufacturers will
focus on these improvements rather than merely up the resolution
ante.
Keeping with the theme of eight, inkjet printer manufacturers
are introducing eight-color ink systems. Additional colors help
increase tonal range and can improve the reproduction of subtle
variations in hue.
Huge strides also are being made in terms of print longevity.
It’s now common and affordable to make inkjet prints that
last as long as, and in some cases, considerably longer, than
traditional color prints from film.
Photographers who want quick prints without having to boot up
the computer are finding more options for direct printing. Manufacturers
realized that even quality-obsessed enthusiasts sometimes just
want a quick print, and so the industry has settled on a connectivity
standard called PictBridge. This technology allows you to connect
any PictBridge-compliant camera and printer directly to each
other (even if they’re not from the same manufacturer)
and produce prints without a computer. We’ve seen it work,
and it’s easy to use.
PCPhoto readers generally want to use their computers
to process photos, however, especially for their best images.
The latest generation of software adds finer control, improved
tools and more flexible workflow. For a few years, the attention
of software developers had seemed to steer toward accommodating
inexperienced digital photographers, but that trend may now
be changing. As the wider audience of consumers becomes more
familiar with digital photography, and even casual shooters
desire greater control, we’re seeing a lot of power in
the entry-level software packages.
Enthusiasts and professionals are also finding improvements
and new features geared toward them. We’re getting deeper
toolsets and broader support for high-end applications, such
as 16-bit color. Color management and calibration has become
something affordable and accessible for the home user. And the
RAW image file format has reintroduced many of us to the joys
(and challenges) of perfecting our photos as we did in the traditional
darkroom.
It seems as though a new golden age of photography has arrived.
Digital technology has matured to the point that it’s within
the reach of everybody, both in terms of cost and ease of use.
Pros and like-minded hobbyists can achieve incredible image
quality and enjoy more control over every aspect of the image-making
process than ever before possible—and the immediate gratification
is so 21st century.
CAMERAS
The Canon EOS-1D Mark II
is now the fastest D-SLR around at
8.5 fps (for 40 frames). It’s also among the highest
in resolution with 8.2 megapixels. The camera features a new
DIGIC II processor and an improved shutter tested to 200,000
cycles. List Price: $6,400. Contact:
Canon, (800) OK-CANON, www.usa.canon.com.
The Canon PowerShot Pro1’s
28-200mm (35mm equivalent) L-series lens boasts fluorite glass
and aspherical lens elements to combat chromatic and spherical
aberrations. It can shoot in the Adobe RGB color space for
increased color saturation in prints, and features a large,
flip-out, two-inch LCD monitor. List Price: $1,099. Contact:
Canon, (800) OK-CANON, www.usa.canon.com.
Casio’s EXILIM PRO EX-P600
is a 6-megapixel compact camera with a 4x, 33-132mm (35mm
equivalent) Canon lens. It offers quick-response manual shooting,
with all pertinent exposure and focus information prominently
displayed on the camera’s two-inch LCD. It accepts auxiliary
lenses to increase the focal-length range and sports a traditional
PC-contact flash connection for use with external flash units.
List Price: $649. Contact:
Casio, (800) 435-7732, www.casio.com.
The Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro’s
Super CCD SR features dual sensors at each photosite (one
high sensitivity, one low sensitivity) for increased dynamic
range. The body includes a built-in, vertical shutter release
and a two-inch LCD monitor. The system is now powered by AA-sized
rechargeable NiMH batteries. List Price: TBD. Contact:
Fujifilm, (800) 800-FUJI, www.fujifilm.com.
The Fujifilm FinePix S20 Pro�s
new Super CCD SR sensor provides increased highlight and shadow
detail and includes a 6x optical, 35-210mm (35mm equivalent)
zoom lens. Auxiliary wide-angle and telephoto adapters expand
the focal-length range to 28-315mm (35mm equivalent). List
Price: $999. Contact: Fujifilm,
(800) 800-FUJI, www.fujifilm.com.
Konica Minolta’s DiMAGE A2
offers 8-megapixel resolution, a 7x, 28-200mm (35mm equivalent)
zoom, image stabilization and auxiliary lenses. The A2 also
features an electronic viewfinder and 3-D Predictive Focus
Control. List Price: $1,399. Contact:
Konica Minolta, (201) 574-4000, www.konicaminolta.com/dimage.
The Konica Minolta Maxxum 7 D-SLR
was shown under glass at the show. The anticipated 6-megapixel
camera is expected to take the full line of Maxxum AF lenses,
and is scheduled for release this fall. Of particular note
is Maxxum’s Anti-Shake mechanism; unlike other image-stabilization
systems, this one is in the camera body, not the lens. The
chief advantage to this approach is the ability to use it
with every lens in the system. List Price: TBD. Contact:
Konica Minolta, (201) 574-4000, www.konicaminolta.us.
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LC1
is designed to look and feel like a classic 35mm rangefinder
camera. A shutter-speed dial rests on the top deck, and an
aperture ring with marked full-stop settings resides at the
back of the lens barrel. It features a Leica 28-90mm (35mm
equivalent) ƒ/2-2.4 DC Vario-Summicron zoom lens and
5-megapixel resolution. List Price: $1,599.95. Contact:
Panasonic, (800) 211-PANA, www.panasonic.com.
The Nikon D70 D-SLR features
6-megapixel resolution for both the beginner and the serious
user for a less-than-$1,000 estimated retail price. The image
buffer can handle approximately 70 continuous full-resolution
JPEG-fine images at three frames per second. List Price: $999.
Contact: Nikon, (800) NIKON-UX,
www.nikonusa.com.
The Olympus C-8080 includes
8-megapixel resolution as well as a TruePic TURBO processor,
which offers fast startup and improved image processing for
cleaner color and freedom from noise. The C-8080 offers eight
user-customizable settings for quick operation and a tough
magnesium-alloy body. List Price: $1,149.95. Contact:
Olympus, (888) 553-4448, www.olympusamerica.com.
With 8-megapixel resolution, the Nikon
Coolpix 8700 builds on Nikon’s previous advanced
compact flagship, the Coolpix 5700. The new camera retains
the 5700’s 35-280mm (35mm equivalent) Nikkor-ED lens
and optional auxiliary lenses for a combined focal-length
range of 28-420mm (35mm equivalent), plus fish eye. List Price:
$999.95. Contact: Nikon,
(800) NIKON-UX, www.nikonusa.com.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
features 8-megapixel resolution and includes an ƒ/2-2.8
Carl Zeiss T* 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) zoom. In dim lighting,
the F828 offers a Night Framing system that allows you to
see your subject well enough to compose your shot. Built-in
flash provides illumination for the actual exposure. List
Price: $999. Contact: Sony,
(800) 222-SONY, www.sony.com.
PRINTERS
The HP
Photosmart 7960 photo printer uses eight inks, including
photo and gray photo inkjet print cartridges, to create professional-quality
photos in color and black-and-white. A 2.5-inch color LCD screen
allows the viewing and editing of photos before printing, and
memory card slots make it easy to print without a computer.
List Price: $299. Contact:
Hewlett-Packard, (800) 752-0900, www.hp.com.
The Canon i9900 Photo Printer
extends the range of colors inkjet printers can reproduce by
adding individual red and green ink cartridges to the other
colors usually found in six-color printers. This allows printing
of richer reds, more realistic skin tones and deeper greens
than before. Other notable features include a high-density print
head with 6,144 nozzles and ultra-fine, two-picoliter droplets,
direct photo printing from a camera or camcorder without the
use of a computer and the ability to create 13x19-inch borderless
prints. List Price: $499. Contact:
Canon, (800) OK-CANON, www.usa.canon.com.
The Epson Stylus Photo R800 printer
produces archival-quality prints on matte and glossy media using
UltraChrome Hi-Gloss pigment inks. The eight individual ink
cartridges include the new Gloss Optimizer, Photo Black and
Matte Black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red and blue. The 1.5-picoliter
ink droplet is the smallest in the industry. The printer incorporates
PRINT Image Matching II technology for optimal prints and direct
CD/DVD printing capabilities, an exclusive Epson feature. List
Price: $399. Contact: Epson,
(800) GO-EPSON, www.epson.com.
Olympus’ P-440 and P-10 dye-sub
photo printers produce fast, high-quality prints. The
P-10 includes PictBridge technology for printing either 4x6-
or 3.5x5-inch photos quickly and easily right from a compatible
camera. With a 7.5x7.7-inch footprint, it’s one of the
smallest photo printers available. List Price: $599.95 (P-440),
$249.95 (P-10). Contact: Olympus,
(800) 645-8160, www.olympusamerica.com.
The HiTi Photo Printer 730PS
uses New Generation Ribbon Technology to produce professional-quality
borderless prints with increased longevity. Accepting seven
types of memory cards, the printer allows you to select, edit
and adjust images through an attached LCD handheld controller.
List Price: $399. Contact:
Hi-Touch Imaging Technologies, (909) 974-0099, www.hitouchimaging.com.
IMAGE-EDITING
SOFTWARE
Adobe
Photoshop CS is the latest incarnation of the world’s
most robust, powerful image- editing software. This new version
features expanded support for digital camera RAW files and 16-bit
color, plus tighter integration with Adobe’s other design
and illustration programs. The file browser has been improved,
allowing users to preview, tag and sort images more efficiently,
as well as search by metadata and keywords. Other advances include
the Match Color command, histogram palette and text on a path.
List Price: $649. Contact:
Adobe, (800) 833-6687, www.adobe.com.
Ulead PhotoImpact Pro 8.5
helps you organize and manage your images into albums with features
such as memory card detection, auto file rename and keyword
search. Photos saved on CDs can be viewed as thumbnails even
when the CD isn’t in the drive. You can create slideshows
and screensavers and burn them onto CDs or save photos in formats
and sizes for use on handheld devices and mobile phones. List
Price: $99. Contact: Ulead
Systems, (800) 85-ULEAD, www.ulead.com.
Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9
combines the photo-editing program Digital Image Pro with the
organization and archival benefits of Digital Image Library.
Find photos using the keyword painter, organize them by event,
date, file size or other options, and categorize your photos
with the five-star rating system. The archive wizard conveniently
backs up your photos to CD or DVD. List Price: $129. Contact:
Microsoft, (425) 637-9308, www.microsoft.com.
ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 offers
batch processing that allows you to processhundreds of photos
at the same time. The new Photo Browser makes it easy to search
for images, sort them and print indexes. List Price: $79. Contact:
ArcSoft, (800) 762-8657, www.arcsoft.com.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
is an intuitive image-editing program that features batch processing,
an enhanced file browser for effortlessly finding files and
time-saving Web features. Redesigned brushes and an expanded
library of drawing tools are some new additions to the program.
List Price: $99. Contact:
Adobe, (800) 833-6687, www.adobe.com.
Jasc’s Paint Shop Power Suite
is a collection of software for digital photographers, including
full versions of Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop Photo Album and
Paint Shop Xtras 1 and 2, with a fully color illustrated book
explaining digital cameras, enhancing photos and using photos
to make projects like thank you cards, posters and more. MSRP:
$149; Street Price: $129 (special offers vary the price). Contact:
Jasc, (800) 622-2793, www.jasc.com.
Roxio PhotoSuite 5 Platinum Edition
automatically names and stores your photos in albums using Exif,
or metadata, from your digital camera. Multiple keywords, titles
and personal comments can be added for easy reference and retrieval.
Multi Photo Enhance allows you to simultaneously edit a number
of photos. List Price: $49. Contact:
Roxio, (866) 280-ROXI, www.roxio.com.
IMAGE
BROWERS
ACD
Systems’ ACDSee 6.0 has several new sorting and
organizing features. The photo rating system allows you to sort
the good photos from the bad ones. Using Selective Browsing,
combine search results from folders, categories and the calendar
to find any photos,
regardless of how randomly you placed them. The “image
basket” can be used to temporarily gather images from different
locations to use in a project. List Price: $49. Contact:
ACD Systems, (866) 244-2237, www.acdsystems.com.
Extensis Portfolio 7’s
new features focus on streamlining the process of importing,
organizing and distributing digital images. Built-in CD burning,
batch image conversion and the ability to embed metadata into
images are just a few examples. NetPublish is an add-on that
turns catalogs produced in the program into full-featured Websites
that can be shared with family, friends and clients. List Price:
$199. Contact: Extensis, (800)
796-9798, www.extensis.com.
Canto Cumulus 6 is now available
in both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms and is easier to
use than before. An enhanced toolbar has been added, along with
the ability to perform multiple cataloging processes at the
same time. List Price: $69. Contact:
Canto, (415) 495-6545, www.canto.com.
Picasa 1.6 automatically organizes
photos it finds on your computer. Browse through your photos
on a timeline or slideshow, reformat for e-mailing, view images
as scalable thumbnails and integrate movies into your collection.
List Price: $29. Contact:
Picasa, www.picasa.net.
Adobe Photo Album 2.0 is a
handy application for keeping your photos organized and accessible.
Photos can be found by date or keyword tags, viewed all at the
same time or in smaller groups, printed at home or online, e-mailed,
put into slideshows, calendars or other creative formats, and
archived on CDs. List Price: $49. Contact:
Adobe, (800) 833-6687, www.adobe.com.
Color
Management Solutions
ColorVision
offers affordable color management solutions for photographers
at every level, from amateur enthusiasts to graphic professionals.
Spyder and SpyderPRO
address monitor calibration for accurate monitor color quickly
and easily. To maintain consistency from monitor to printer,
PrintFIX and SpectroPRO
Suite are available at a low price. Value-added suites
combine these solutions with the necessary software to complete
the entire process. List Price: $169 (Spyder), $249 (SpyderPRO),
$329 (PrintFIX), $449 (SpyderPRO and PrintFIX), $999 (SpectroPRO
Suite). Contact: ColorVision,
(800) 554-8688, www.colorvision.com.
Monaco Systems has developed
a cost-effective monitor-profiling solution that simulates the
human eye for maximum accuracy. MonacoOPTIXxr
combines a colorimeter with powerful software for reliable color
displays. Other products include MonacoEZcolor,
easy-to-use software that builds profiles for monitors, scanners
and printers, and MonacoDCcolor,
a digital camera profiling solution necessary to integrate your
photos into your color-managed workflow. List Price: $299 (MonacoOPTIXxr);
$299 (MonacoEZcolor); $299 (MonacoDCcolor). Contact:
Monaco Systems, (978) 749-9944, www.monacosys.com.
Digital Light & Color’s
Profile Mechanic 1.0 for Monitors is a complete monitor
calibration solution that includes a colorimeter, adapters for
LCD and CRT displays and software. The low price brings professional
color consistency within reach of the advanced amateur. List
Price: $179. Profile Mechanic for
Scanners is a complete solution for scanners and cameras.
List Price: Starting at $79.95. Contact:
Digital Light & Color, (800) 243-1515, www.dl-c.com.
DisplayMate is particularly
easy to use with its slideshow format and on-screen instructions.
Adjust, set up, tune or calibrate any type of computer monitor,
as well as other imaging devices, such as a color printer. List
Price: $79. Contact: DisplayMate
Technologies, (603) 672-8500, www.displaymate.com.
