PIW the aftermath

[nito]

Just curious on what people thought of PIW06.

I found only a few displays which caught my attention because most of what was on display have been extensively review on the net. No ground breaking announcement or concepts. May be I have been to too many car shows.

I really like the opportunity to play with a D2X and some really expensive zooms. I overheard maxwell staff admitt that there is no stock of a D200 in aus and the next shipment wont be here until mid to late may.

The ilford man was nice. And for some reason there were two bikini girls at the event.

Overall mildly impressed.

[gstark]

Largely unimpressed.

No announcements (why would there be any?) and nothing of any technological significance (nn new developments) there.

I did get a chance to play with an 18-200VR however, and I'll be posting some initial thoughts - along with some ymages - in another thread later today

[pgatt]

Dinner was awesome. Go Birddog!!! The highlight of the show was the photos down one end for mine. Tops catching you all again! And meeting the many new faces as well.

[Nnnnsic]

I saw three things at the show that I liked... and two of them were blonde.
(The Ricoh girls and the S3 Pro which I got to play with and took a few shots on my CF card.)

The dinner was great, though, as was the company during the day while we were out shooting.

[byrt_001]

where are the photos??? girls? bikinis? blondes?? no photos??

[optogamut]

I'm sure these things are more fun with a large positive bank balance! I got there late in the day, so most of the exhibitors seemed happy to hang around talking to each other while waiting for the day to end.
Got a bag of brochures while wondering around, but that's about it. Yeah, the gallery area was probably the best bit.

[stubbsy]

The highlight for me (other than catching up with both old & new faces) was probably the Ilford stand. The man was helpful and I found some new must have Ilford paper that will soon be available in A3+.

[nito]

yeah he told me to use the smooth paper on my epson. Not the classic, but he did give me some bad advice also. Ilford isnt available at CC camerahouse or hardly normal. I checked today. They sell lots of kodak stuff.

Where do you guys order the paper?

[stubbsy]

Where do you guys order the paper?

Nghia

Ausmedia (aka AIM digital Imaging. Ilford section of website is here

[gleff]

I actually found the show rather interesting.. Sorry I couldn't bump into more of you. I only managed to find a couple of you before I had to leave. I was going to stay longer but I was spending too much money.

[padey]

I got more out of catching up with Birdy after the show, then the two hours i spent there. I had a job on Saturday, so missed the mini meet.

Nikon stand - I was hoping to find out if Nikon were going to release some new pro glass. AFS VR versions of 28, 85 f1.4s. No one had any idea. I asked if the SB-R200/SU-800 kit would fit on the 85mm PC macro. Told it world fit, but again, no idea if it would work with the tilt/shift function.

WT-3 - once again, no idea.

Had a look through the 200mm f2. It looked like it had been bounced 50 times. I know these are demo glass, but it looked like it had been hammed.

Canon had a good setup. If only i didn't have a large investment in Nikon glass. Anyone want to buy some glass?

[moz]

I was pretty impressed, but the only money I spent was a CF card from Birddog and dinner. I didn't expect any announcements or swag, so I was pleasantly surprised to get a decent metal drink bottle out of SanDisk.

Mostly I went along to play with the Canon toys that I don't usually see, and to test drive lenses that I might want one day. I got a few shots with a 5D and 24-105IS, and that's a nice combo. Unforgiving, though, the face of the nice lady behind me looks like a lunar surface when I pixel peep. I also got to try my Sigma 12-24 on it, which could be an expensive experiment. Test shooting the Sigma 120-300/2.8 has showed me that without IS I might as well not bother, the 70-200IS with 1.4TC does what I want and I already have it (the Canon focuses faster!)

Playing with the Nikon gear was interesting, I wasn't too convinced by the VR although it was nice that the big lens cameras weren't bolted down, so I could actually hand-hold them. They also had digital cameras on them, so I have a few shots... the 200/2 is quite nice

Then I sat round and ate for a few hours. Thanks team!

[nito]

Thanks peter for the link. I saw that these guys stocked ilford, but wanted a store front instead of a internet front. Nevertheless, the initial prints on the paper are good and would be worth the online ordering.