Sony digital cameras at Photokina
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Photokina report
If we speak of a camera manufacturer that is growing fast and conquering a large market share with a lot of marketing force, it has to be Sony playing the main role. In 2006 Sony launched its first DSLR under the own brand name; the Sony Alpha 100. One year later, the Sony Alpha 700 arrived, a camera for the middle segment. 2008 was a great break-through with no less than three new DSLR models, notably the A200, A300 and A350. During the PMA, at the beginning of 2008, Sony stirred up the fire by unveiling some information about the CMOS image sensor that was going to be used. The message was clear; with 24.6 Megapixels on a full frame sensor, 2008 should also be the year for Sony to launch a DSLR in the high end segment. And thus, the Sony DSLR-A900 was born.
Olympus cameras at Photokina
Most surprising was the presentation of a twosome so-called Micro FourThirds system concept models at the Photokina 2008. However, it does not come across as a well thought-out strategy; on the contrary, it seems that Olympus wants to tickle us with something that in the end might not be available. At least, that is what it looks like to an outsider. However; when talking to various R&D employees of Olympus, the official statement is that Olympus doesn't find the time is right to present a camera fully based on the Micro FourThirds system. In order to develop a true compact Micro Four Thirds System camera with the highest possible image quality, Olympus takes its time, unlike Panasonic; since this company already presented a working camera with the aforementioned system.
Nikon Photography Community
Nikonians were also present at the Photokina show 2008. If you happened to miss the booth, the Nikonians undoubtedly attracted your attention by pushing a leaflet into your hands in one of the huge halls. Nikonians is the largest and most active group of Nikon lovers and focuses on the amateur, semipro and professional photographer. The booth of the Nikonians attracted a lot of attention. Through Apple computers, a lot of Nikon equipment and demonstrations by photographers, Pascal Baetens and Gary Fong, the audience was given a good impression of how certain accessories work and which effect they can have. Gary Fong showed his Lightspere system II, an excellent accessory for flash photography.
Tamron lens assortment at Photokina
Tamron, presented in quite a large booth, showcased several new lenses. Tamron will undoubtedly stay close to the continuously growing DSLR market, and will be able to reap the fruits of their efforts. It won't be the lens assortment that is to blame, because we spotted many interesting consumer lenses among the heap. However, Tamron is not the only player in the field; competing brands such as Sigma are still very much in the game and it is a matter of continuous innovation and making sure to act according to the demand of an unpredictable DSLR camera market.
Leica digital cameras at Photokina
Besides Panasonic’s surprising news for the visitors of the Photokina show, Leica also made itself heard. Leica is a company with an excellent reputation, although you would not actually expect surprises of them. However, at the Photokina 2008, Leica presented the company as a brand with actual world fame. Who would expect Leica to present an entirely new digital camera system in addition to a twosome compact cameras (C-Lux 3 and D-Lux 4) and a somewhat dull Leica M8.2? A genuine surprise, to say the very least, and an interesting new development for the professional photography market. The Leica S2 is a much larger format system camera than the usual Leica assortment, and the camera features a gigantic sensor sized 30 x 45mm.
Kodak photo frames
If you are well acquainted with the imaging world, you likely remember the enormously huge hall Kodak used to claim for its company to showcase and introduce the Kodak assortment. This is hard to imagine after visiting the Photokina 2008. The old Kodak is no longer today's Kodak. That is to say, Kodak doesn't seem to be that prominently present in the field of consumer electronics, and the Kodak booth seems to confirm this. There is a line-up of the digital compact cameras on the counter; waiting for visitors, however, the digital photo frames seems to have taken over. These frames stem from a long generation of digital photo frames of which these recent frames benefit since they are packed with all sorts of technical novelties.
HP photo printers at Photokina
HP doesn't seem to have anything left to offer when it comes to cameras. The company seems to have bid these farewell and instead focuses on image editing for cameras and printing solutions in any which way you can imagine. HP offers many printer solutions, from compact trendy photo printers portable in an equally trendy bag, to large format printers that print ultra big poster sized prints.
Hasselblad cameras at Photokina
- Brand: Hasselblad
- Subject: Corporate
- Category: Events
Two years ago, during the Photokina 2006, the Hasselblad H3D was introduced. A revolutionary new system which was Hasselblad's first step in the direction of affordable digital medium format photography. And although the prices were not yet that appealing two years ago for the majority of the professional photographers, it becomes clear during the Photokina 2008 that the introduction of two years ago did work out well. Prices can drop now that the first development costs seem to have broken even, and Hasselblad managed to introduce a couple of new cameras; the Hasselblad H3DII-39 and the H3DII50. The Hasselblad H3DII-50 is the first camera in the market equipped with Kodak's 50 megapixel sensor.
