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My PhotoPlus Expo 2017 Quick Review: What to See and Do

The 2017 PhotoPlus Expo is upon us and once again it’s a fantastic show. As I had mentioned in my last post, this year is a bit different for me because I decided to exhibit this year (I’m in Booth #673), which has been a lot of fun. That means, of course, that I had much less time to spend on the show floor. However, I’d like to highlight a few booths that I highly recommend visiting a few things I recommend doing at the show.

I should probably start with a link to my 2016 PhotoPlus Expo Show Report, which you can find HERE, because most of the companies I highlight are at the show again this year.

Have Your Camera Checked and Cleaned for Free

Many of the camera companies at the show are offering to check your camera and clean the sensor for free. I’d recommend visiting your camera maker’s booth as soon as you get to the show to see if they are offering the service, and how long it will take. Remember that you won’t have a camera for that time period, so you might want to bring another camera if you want to use it for the many photo opportunities around the Expo.

Show Floor Presentations

There are many, many presentations happening throughout all three days of the show on the Expo floor. I would recommend checking online first to see what’s scheduled for the companies in which you are interested. If you can’t find the schedules posted, I would just take a photo of the schedules for any specific company when you first come into the show, then decide which ones you want to attend.

Two companies that I have schedule info for, and that I’d like to highlight are Canon (Booth #121) and Epson (Booth #707). I especially want to highlight Epson because of the outstanding speakers that both companies have at the show during their “Epson Print Academy.” For example, on Friday from noon-1pm Mac Holbert, a fantastic teacher and pioneer in the world of archival inkjet printing will be speaking at the Epson booth, followed by John Paul Caponigro, also a pioneer in the world of digital imaging and fine-art printing. Even years after it was published, I still highly recommend to my students and clients the video training series by Mac Holbert and John Paul Caponigro titled: Fine Art Digital Workflow, which you can find HERE.

 

Robert Farber Exhibition and Blazing Editions

Last night there was a special event in the exhibition area in the Icon Gallery (Booth #1101, shown above during the event) highlighting the incredible work of Robert Farber. Farber was named the featured photographer in the Blazing Editions/ChromaLuxe Collaborator Series: 2017 Master on Metal, and the show should not be missed. I also highly recommend visiting Blazing Editions’ Booth (#665) at the show to see some massive, stunning images from John Paul Caponigro, Jay Maisel, and other outstanding photographers. You can read more about the exhibition HERE. There you will also find the other cities where the show will be traveling.

Now I need to jump in my car and get back to the show!

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All the best, thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you enjoy the show if you attend!

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Happy New Year and a Winter Product Review of NuTouch Touchscreen-Compatible Gloves

HAPPY NEW YEAR, and all the best to you and yours for a Happy and Healthy 2017 and beyond!

I thought it would be fitting, as we enter 2017, to share a photo from about a dozen years ago. It’s a photo of our son Tyler with my Dad (his Grandpa Mark) when Tyler was just two months old. It’s my version of “Father Time w/ Baby New Year!” Below the photo is the image info.

Image Info: The lighting was entirely from a table lamp and a halogen torch lamp. Both of those lights had the same color temperature, so it was easy to balance them in Lightroom when I prepared the final image. Camera Data: Camera: Fuji FinePix S3 Pro; Lens: Tamron 28-300mm XR Di f/3.5-6.3 @ 60mm; F-stop: f/4.8; Exposure: 1/250 Sec.; ISO: 200.

I have a lot to be thankful for this past year. I was able to work with many new and longtime clients and workshop participants, and I was able spend quite a lot of time with family in 2016, especially Tyler, who just turned 13 (oh my!). My wife and I (and his teachers at school and at a weekly social class he attends) have been helping Tyler to become more independent and outgoing each day. If you haven’t seen the special GoFundMe page I set up recently about our upcoming week-long intensive therapy for Tyler, which I believe will have very positive results based on the techniques we are already implementing, you can take a look at it here. In the photo below, I included a photo of Tyler at 10 months old with a photo of me, Tyler and my wife, Belinda a few months ago at my wife’s Mom and Dad’s 50th Anniversary.

We are extremely thankful to everyone who contributed and shared the information. I generally don’t share such personal family matters, and I’ve never requested assistance in this way, but I had a feeling that our story would help others who are experiencing similar family situations, and I was right. The outpouring of love and thoughtful comments have been very heartwarming.

QUICK PRODUCT SUGGESTION FOR SMARTPHONES or CAMERAS w/ TOUCHSCREENS

Cold weather in many parts of the world brings cold hands and fingers when outside (or in a cold car), and that can pretty easily be solved with gloves. However, most gloves are useless on touch-screen devices, and if you have an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you may have noticed that the home button is even more finicky when using gloves (assuming you are not using Touch ID, which recognizes your fingerprints on the home button).

That being said, I found an inexpensive and comfortable set of gloves that work very well (even while pressing the often difficult to press buttons on DSLRs when using many different gloves). They are called NewerTech NuTouch Gloves, and they are currently priced at under $10 at Other World Computing (see above). You can find them in a few different sizes here. You can also find them for about $14 on Amazon.com here. The Other World Computing links are not affiliate links, but the one to Amazon.com is, which helps to support our publishing efforts.

Want More Mac and Photo-Related Tips, Plus Lightroom Video Tutorials?

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Please let me know if you have any questions about Image Backups, Lightroom, Photoshop, etc. and I might just answer them here on ImagingBuffet.com (or privately if it’s a quick answer). You can reach me here.

All the best, and I hope to be back soon with more tips and techniques!

-Andrew

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PhotoPlus Expo 2015 – Day 2 Observations and 20 Quick Booth Suggestions

A few days ago, I posted this pre-show article about the 2015 PhotoPlus Expo, in New York City. I spent the whole day at the expo on Friday, 10/23, and even though I am very tired as I write this, I feel that it would be a shame not to recommend some booths to visit and specific things to see before the show ends on Saturday, 10/24.

There are some things that you can’t easily experience on a website or even in a camera store, so I’ve put together a list of companies in booth order in case you’d like to treat this like a scavenger hunt. I list odd number aisles from low to high numbers, and even number aisles from high to low since that’s how you would normally walk up and down the aisles. If you attend, please consider commenting below about what you found interesting and/or inspiring.

There are many more booths I could mention, but I need to go to sleep sometime! Booth numbers follow each company listed below, and I Highly Recommend Checking Out…

1. Canon (#121) for their compact and impressive PowerShot G3 X digital camera with a 24-600mm effective focal length (35mm equivalent), and the G5 X (24-100 mm), which has a super-sharp EVF (Electronic Viewfinder). I was also impressed by the capabilities of Canon’s new 430EX III-RT Speedlite. The prints in the Canon gallery are also stunning. Thank you to Syl Arena of Pixsylated, and this episode of the TWiP podcast for the tip (I probably would not have known about the new flash had I not listened). On the page I linked to, you can also find a link to Syl Arena’s presentations at the Canon booth, and more information about the new flash.

2. G-Technology (#149) for their many well-made storage options. I learned that all of the enclosures they ship contain HGST hard drives, which have an excellent reputation in the industry.

3. Museo (#169) to see some incredible prints by Les Picker on matte and fiber-gloss papers. Picker’s work has appeared in hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, including National Geographic Society publications.

4. OWC Digital (#170) for their many storage options, and a dock called the Thunderbolt 2 Dock that can turn one Thunderbolt port into a wide array of inputs, including Ethernet, FireWire 800 and three USB fully-powered 3 ports (no external power needed).

5. Digital Silver Imaging (#173) for their true black and white digital silver prints and a new, easy print ordering system via their soon-to-be released iOS app. They are a pro imaging lab based in Massachusetts.

6. Peleman Industries/Unibind (#258) for their instant book binding and print mounting options. If you want to make a book quickly, they have some excellent options.

7. Sigma (#337) to see their many lenses and the impressive exhibition of backlit prints of various “critters” by David FitzSimmons.

8. Moab Paper (#354) for their “wall” featuring the same print made on different papers, as well as a beautiful presentation of face mounted prints on acrylic using their very unique paper, Moab Slickrock Metallic Silver.

9. Polar Pro (#361) for their new product, PowerGrip H20, a innovative tripod/extension arm, as well as a huge collection of GoPro and Drone accessories (GoPro users should definitely see their case with a built-in battery charger for two different GoPro battery types).

10. LensBaby (#372) for their many impressive lens offerings, including the new Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic. Definitely bring your camera to get the most from your visit there.

11. MagMod (#562) for some truly innovative magnetic shoe-mount flash accessories.

12. WD (Western Digital) (#573) for their many storage products, including the bus-powered WD My Passport Pro 4TB portable RAID storage with integrated Thunderbolt cable.

13. Peak Design (#669) for a look at their Everyday Messenger bag. The bag, which comes in two styles, was recently launched via a Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly five million dollars. The company has quite a few other new products worth a look as well, including The Field Pouch, three new waterproof camera covers called Shell, new and improved Peak Design anchors (if you know their products, they look like thumbnail-sized round disks with a cord attached), and a new system for changing lenses called CaptureLENS.

14. Hahnemühle (#655) for a look at all of their papers, including their newest Baryta paper called FineArt Baryta Satin. They also have artist signings each day.

15. Miller’s Professional Imaging (#701) for their many offerings, including small wood photo boxes that holds 4×4 inch mounted prints and matching stands. Very simple, yet elegant.

16. Epson (#707) for their amazing print gallery, and for a look at their newest line of fine art papers, called “Epson Legacy Papers.”

17. Blazing Editions (#859) for their truly jaw-dropping print samples. The company is a professional imaging lab based in Rhode Island.

18. Professional Graphics Systems (#933) to take a look at their impressive printed samples on different media and to see a sample of a removable, repositionable fabric material I had never seen before called Photo Tex. This material seems ideal for when you don’t want to use adhesives on walls when hanging prints.

19. LumeCube (#959) for their incredible new super-compact, powerful and waterproof LED external flash and video light (and companion iOS app).

20. WANDRD (#1227) to see their very innovative backpack, the PRVKE Pack. You can check out the company’s Kickstarter campaign here (ends 11/5).

I hope that you enjoy the show if you plan to visit. You can always check the companies’ websites for more info and updates (they are all linked above).