The Photo Imaging Technology show which took place in Melbourne from the 4th to the 6th May was a great success according to the organisers.
With all wide format major players taking part there was little in the way of new product launches unfortunately.
Canon did use the occasion to launch their new iPF6100 and iPF5100, 24 and 17 inch models that have built in calibration devices. Steve Brown, Canons Production Printing Systems Group Manager, said that these devices were a Canon innovation and the technology is far superior to the inbuilt densitometers in other machines. He has promised to provide both Digital Reproduction magazine and www.wideformatonline.com magazine a detailed explanation of how this calibration device differs from HPs inbuilt densitometer.
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| The DES stand was very busy |
Craig Heckenberg from Epson had nothing new to show, but said watch this space, as 2007 will certainly see some new innovations coming from Epson.
HP had the biggest stand of them all, even allocating a sizeable chunk of their expensive real estate to the Indigo press, a digital printing press that is normally presented at offset printing shows. The photo industry is becoming a viable market for these machines as photo book production and high volume, high speed near perfect photo prints can be produced with personalisation on an ever expanding list of media.
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| HP had the biggest stand |
HP, Canon and Kodak have machines that are ideally positioned to appeal to photographers for this purpose albeit they would normally go into the bigger photo labs and copy shops as the average photographer would struggle to justify the expense of one of these hungry machines.
DES had invited Eric T. Kunsman, a photographer and book artist currently teaching at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York to Australia to present a series of lectures 'Pixel To The Book Shelf Work Shop'. Eric was on hand at the Photo Imaging show to demonstrate and answer questions. His workshops take place after the show in both Melbourne and Sydney.
Our own Digital Reproduction magazine scored well with dozens of new subscribers swelling the ranks of this popular niche publication.
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| Imedia, always put on a popular exhibit at these shows. |
The ubiquitous photo album business can be likened to the fashion industry with shifts in design coming through most years. They are a firm favourite at the Photo Imaging shows with this years event being no different and plenty of variations on offer.
With the first half the show dedicated to trade only and the second half open to the trade as well as the general public, the numbers were such that it was sometimes difficult to move along the aisles.
Seminars were high on the agenda of the organisers who worked with the exhibitors to invite some high calibre speakers. Henry Wilhelm from the famed Wilhelm Imaging Research in the US was sponsored by Epson who also sponsored Hollywood celebrity photographer Greg Gorman.
Kayell Australia sponsored Les Walking from RMIT University, he was present on the Kayell stand on Sunday to answer questions regarding his presentation.
His session provided a comprehensive overview of Adobe Photoshop - preparing files for printing, editing tone and colour independently; increasing print luminosity; reducing image posterisation and print banding; and re-defining spatial relationships in print.
Next year the show goes back to Sydney.
