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PhotoPlusExpo 2013 Booth Highlights and Observations

I had a great day yesterday at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. As usual, I had photo gear and photo print overload! Below are 14 booths that really impressed me (there were many more, and I will share more in the upcoming days). I want to get these out quickly for those who are visiting the show on Saturday, so I will add more web links in about a day. For now, I’ve listed the company name and their booth number. If you won’t be there for the last day of the show, you can visit other trade shows where these companies are exhibiting or you can visit the show next year if the companies return to exhibit at the show. You may also want to refer to my previous articles here and here on ImagingBuffet.com for more booth suggestions and tips for getting the most from the show.

There are also a number of photo exhibitions on the show floor that should not be missed. Two that are in the same location (near booth #176) are: “My Favorite People and Places,” sponsored by Canon, and another show sponsored by Sony and printed by Bay Photo that showcases many stunning glossy metal prints related to the Space Shuttle and NASA.

1. American Photography/Pro Photo Daily/DART (Booth #266)

I’ve been reading DART and Pro Photo Daily for as long as both have been available. They are outstanding resources with a lot of news and insight from people who have a very long history in the photo and art world. The company also publishes books of Illustration and Photography from contests that they run each year. If you can visit their booth, you can see many of their booths, and I promise that you won’t be disappointed! The range of work and print/binding quality of the books are truly spectacular.

The site to subscribe to their free publications is https://www.ai-ap.com/register/.

2. AcrylicPress.com (Booth #176)

I was extremely impressed by this company’s face-mounted plexi prints. If you know anything about the process, it is very difficult to do right, and the print quality (prints are made with Canon pigment printers) and edges are outstanding. I highly recommend taking a look. They also have 1″ thick plexi products available which are pretty amazing. They are giving away cards at the show with a 50% off special offer code.

3. Black River Imaging (Booth #443)

Black River Imaging has many interesting products, but three that stood out in my mind were their LOFT line of cards and ornaments (these are printed or mounted to a super-thick board material…think paper coaster (and they make those too)), their books, and their new “Folio Collection” of print boxes and mounted prints. The cover options they have for their boxes and books are absolutely beautiful.

4. Canson (Booth #437)

The print samples on the walls of Canson’s booth are truly stunning. As with most companies who make photo papers, the primarily reason to stop by Canson’s booth is to see their fine-art papers on the walls of their booth to better help you decide which paper might be right for your work.

5. Datacolor (Booth #162)

If you are interested in learning more about color management (it can be a bit complicated if you don’t “see it in action”), or if you’d like to see some powerful tools for color balancing your camera, I recommend stopping by the Datacolor booth. One of my favorite products for getting the right color balance in any light is a simple but ingenious item called the Datacolor SpyderCUBE. They also have a product called the Datacolor SpyderLENSCAL that helps you to determine if your camera/lens autofocus is accurate at different focal lengths (some cameras have a micro adjustment capability built in). If you see a real problem with your autofocus and if your camera does not have the micro adjustment, you can speak with your camera/lens manufacturer about possibly fixing the issue. The folks at Datacolor can also give you more advice about this at the booth.

6. Epson (Booth #701)

As usual, Epson has a great booth with many prints on the walls, and a display rack filled with papers that really helps to compare different prints without glass or other glazing in front of them. What I really like is how they’ve displayed groups of the same image, printed on different papers in a few different areas of the show floor. They also just introduced a new paper called Exhibition Watercolor Paper that has a strong texture and a very nice overall look and feel. It’s Mould Made and contains no OBAs (Optical Brighteners).

7. FLORIcolor USA (Booth #1169)

The quality of this company’s boxes and albums are absolutely amazing. They have cards on the display tables with a 50% off studio sample special if you’d like to produce some samples for your studio, or do testing for a fine art project.

8. Fotodiox Pro (Booth #345)

Fotodiox Pro has many products at the show, but their LED products impressed me most. Some are really innovative because they contain white and amber LEDs for good color balance in different lighting conditions. Two products that blew me away were their LED studio lights (Fotodiox Pro LED100WA-56 Daylight Studio LED and the Fotodiox Pro LED100WA-32 Tungsten Studio LED). At full power, the Daylight model appeared to me to be brighter than the sun 🙂 (I’m kidding, but it had a lot of intensity)! Truly incredible. Just ask them to turn up the brightness to full power to see what I experienced. As I indicated, there is a daylight and tungsten-balanced model available. If I were going to purchase one, I’d get the daylight version and use gels to correct for other color temperatures.

9. Innova Art (Booth #1149)

Innova Art always has impressive paper samples (they make a range of fine-art papers), and this year they had a few items worth mentioning. First, they have a beautiful new fiber inkjet paper called FibaPrint® Warm Cotton Gloss 335gsm. The thickness of this paper is truly impressive, and the overall look and feel of the ink on paper is beautiful. They also have a new easy to use system that allows you to easily mount any print on either a 5×7, 8×10 or 11×14 thick block with a series of holes on the back for easy hanging or display on a table. Their inkjet-printable cards are also worth a look.

10. Josephine Herrick Project (Booth #1067)

This organization has been helping others through photography for over 70 years. They are also featuring a new Benefit Photo Contest that’s running on Phoozl.com, and that’s juried by acclaimed photographer and author Robert Farber. The contest will help raise money for the organization, and you can read about the contest on their site here: https://jhproject.org/2013/10/phoozl-announces-photo-contest-benefiting-the-josephine-herrick-project/

11. Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd. (Booth #1127)

Kenko Tokina has a wide range of products that you can try out on the camera bodies that they provide, or on your own camera. I was very impressed by the look and feel of their two newest wide angle autofocus lenses, the Tokina 11‑16mm F/2.8 ATX Pro DX, and the Tokina AT-X 12-28 PRO DX (available for a number of different camera bodies). If you’ve been thinking of purchasing a teleconverter, they have some nice ones under the Kenko brand name. The Kenko-brand variable NDX Neutral Density Filters are also impressive. Their Zéta brand filters are also very interesting, and they claim to have “zero reflection,” which can be an issue with filters, especially when shooting at longer focal lengths.

12. Red River Paper (Booth #255)

Red River Paper has many impressive paper samples at their booth, and what really stood out in my mind were three new surfaces: San Gabriel SemiGloss Fiber paper (300 gsm), 80lb. Polar Pearl Metallic, and Blanco Matte Inkjet Printable Canvas. They also have many inkjet-printable cards on display that helps to compare the different options. They are participating in a free print program with Canon, and they have cards at the show to learn more about how you can get a free print of your image printed on one of their papers.

13. ShootProof (Booth #443)

ShootProof provides websites geared primarily toward the wedding/portrait/event markets. I was very impressed by the look and feel of the sites (the bottom left of the galleries allows you to switch views easily), and I like their pricing model. Since they charge based on the number of images that are “live” at any time, you can save by “archiving” previously posted galleries for a very small fee per gigabyte.

14. White House Custom Color (WHCC) (Booth #147)

White House Custom Color had a number of books and some small accordion books on display that are really spectacular. I especially liked their press printed books with hinged bindings. They are very elegant and sturdy. I also liked going through the 30+ printed samples on the table at their booth. They also have a very useful print sample pack with many examples of their prints (photo, inkjet and press printed).

 

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PhotoPlus Expo Returns to NYC This Week, and a Quick Review of the Mobile App

One of the highlights of my year is the PhotoPlus International Expo + Conference, held in New York City. This is the 30th Anniversary of the show, which is being held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from 10/23-10/26, 2013 (trade show runs from 10/24-10/26). Over the last 20+ years I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of the event in many ways, from being an attendee (like most of the 20,000+ people who are expected to attend this year), as an exhibitor, as a speaker and as a member of the Press. All of the experiences have contributed to my love for photography and my overall education. It’s also been a place where I’ve met and have had a chance to catch up with many of the people whom I respect and with whom I’ve become good friends.

Quick Review: PhotoPlus Mobile App

This year, the company who runs the Expo built a new app for iOS, Android, Blackberry and other Smartphones to make the experience of finding everything at the show a lot easier. I downloaded the iOS version for my iPhone and found it fast, easy to navigate and extremely useful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go to the main website in the past and hunt around to find the trade show hours, or information about the Keynotes, seminars, special events, etc. The fact that all the exhibitors are listed both alphabetically and by product category (with their booth number just under their name) is fantastic, and you can even press the star in the top left of just about any page to add it to your Favorites (a list of Favorites will then be visible on the page for each category (Exhibitors, Seminars, Special Events, etc.), as well as under the Star on the main page of the app (you can find it just under Special Events)).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is even an option to view “Exhibitors with Show Specials,” and if you click through, the specific show special will be listed. If you are really organized, you can press the “Add to Agenda” button on any exhibitor page to bring up a calendar where you can insert the item into whatever time slot and on whatever date you choose.

To download the PhotoPlus Mobile App, visit this page: https://app.photoplusexpo.com/landing/

Quick Tip for Testing Lenses and Cameras at the Show

The ability to see different papers, print processes, try out different cameras, lenses and other equipment on the show floor are main reasons why many people come to the show, and I highly recommend bringing a few extra SD and/or CF cards to put in any cameras that you’d like to test out. Also have a safe and dust-free place for your current lens to go while you are testing a lens (or better yet, just keep a body cap on your lens, and place it in a small zipper bag to keep dust at a minimum while you are testing lenses).

Related Articles

Below are articles with my “First Day Impressions” and “Second Day Impressions” from last year’s show (Oct. 2012). The vast majority of the companies listed in the articles below will be there again this year, so this information can be very useful for planning your walk through the trade show.

https://imagingbuffet.com/2012/10/26/photoplus-expo-2012-first-day-impressions-from-the-show-floor/
https://imagingbuffet.com/2012/10/27/photoplus-expo-2012-second-day-impressions-from-the-show-floor

And here are links to two more articles from past shows:
https://imagingbuffet.com/2009/10/23/photoplus-expo-new-york-city-1st-day-observations-5-trade-show-booth-suggestions/
https://imagingbuffet.com/2010/10/29/2010-photoplus-expo-review-day-1/

As in the past, I’ll be posting my thoughts and sharing photos from the show floor on Facebook and Twitter. I will also be sharing links to information like booth presentation schedules from different exhibitors. The amount of information you can learn at the talks happening on the show floor is truly incredible. You can keep updated by “Liking” my page here and/or by following me on Twitter here.

Enjoy the show, and if you see me running around the show floor, please say hi!

Link to the main page for the PhotoPlus International Expo + Conference.

Link to a PDF with a pricing guide for the show.

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Two Upcoming Lightroom 5 and Printing Workshops in Long Island, New York, and special offers that end on Mon. 9/9

Hello and happy almost end of Summer! The very cold weather is not something I’m looking forward to, but that’s for another blog post and season! It’s been a while since I’ve announced my workshops here on ImagingBuffet.com (I often announce them on my Facebook Page at facebook.com/andrewdarlow and on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewdarlow if you’d like to connect).

Even though I mentioned it on Facebook and Twitter, I wanted to make sure that I tell everyone here about the “early bird” offers that will expire at midnight tonight for two of my upcoming workshops in Long Island, New York on Sat/Sun November 9 and 10, 2013. I’ve been doing similar workshops on Lightroom and Printing for many years, and I look forward to sharing many of the new tools and features that can be found in Adobe’s Lightroom 5, as well as many of my “tried and true” printing and “screen to print” color matching secrets. If you are unsure at this time whether you are free on either of those dates, there’s no risk because  a 100% refund is given for cancellations made by 10/10/2013 (50% by 11/3 or 11/4 depending on which workshop you reserve).

WORKSHOP TITLES AND LINKS

Monday, 9/9 is the last day to save over 20% on my 2.5 hr. workshop: “Lightroom Printing Techniques for In-Home/In-Studio & Pro Lab Printers” being held from 2-4:30pm on 11/9/2013. See the link below for a full description or to register: https://www.longislandphotogallery.com/proddetail.php?prod=2013-DARLOW1

and Monday, 9/9 is also the last day to save $20 on my upcoming full-day workshop: “Using Lightroom for Inkjet Printing and Color Management,” at the same location in Long Island on Sunday 11/10/2013.

See the link below for a full description or to register:

https://www.longislandphotogallery.com/proddetail.php?prod=2013-DARLOW2

If you have any questions about whether these workshops might be right for you, or if you would like to inquire about me speaking for your photo-related organization, please contact me here:
https://imagingbuffet.com/contact-us/