Digital Camera Show 2002 report

London Digital Camera Show report

22nd October - 2002
By Ian Burley

London show boasts several big names this year

This year’s Digital Camera Show, which is part of the Digital Solutions On-Demand event at the ExCel exhibition centre in London’s Docklands, kicked off today and runs until Thursday, 24th October.

Last year (click here) we thought the event was a bit confused as the photography exhibits were mixed in with the print and publishing industry exhibits. This year’s show is similar to last, certainly in size, but I detected a shift in balance towards digital photography.

The big names the show could boast as exhibitors this year include Canon, Sony. Fujifilm, Kodak, Epson and HP. Now if only they can entice Minolta, Nikon and Olympus next year...

Here’s some views from the show today. Some of the more acutely sensitive of you might wonder at the unusual quality of these photos; I have to own up and reveal that all my photos were accidentally shot with the EV override set to -2, severely underexposing every shot. With limited time, I have applied some emergency resurrection via Photoshop, but they aren’t what they could have been, so apologies in advance!

Here’s Jill Lubetkin, assistant editor of Digital Photo User - oops, sorry, that should be ‘Digital Photography Buyer & User’ (DPBU) as of the current issue. Jill is brandishing one of Fujifilm’s latest digicam starlets, the diminutive 2.1 megapixel SuperCCD-equipped FinePix F402.

DPBU publisher WV and rivals Paragon, who produce Digital Photography Made Easy, were the only news-stand magazine publishers we saw exhibiting at the show. Paragon, which publishes Digital Photography Made Easy, was also showing its new title: Digital Photographer.

Above is another interesting new arrival from Fujifilm. It’s the FinePix M603 Zoom, launched at Photokina in Germany last month. As you can see, it has an enormous (for a digicam!) LCD viewscreen. It’s probably the most advanced hybrid digital still and movie camera and goes on sale in the UK next month in time for Christmas.

Canon attracted much attention with a new small footprint all-in-one scanner and ink-jet printer that can function as a photocopier and fax machine. It sports slots for memory cards so you can print photos without having to transfer them to a computer first. This new model hasn’t been officially launched, so details are scarce, but will bring them to you as soon as we have them.

Below, is one of the two, yes TWO!, Canon EOS-1Ds digital SLRs Canon has on it stand at the show. You really have to hold one of these marvels to get a real idea of how purposeful these 11 megapixel cameras really are.

At Photokina, Kodak stole much of Canon’s EOS-1Ds thunder by announcing a 14MP DSL, the DCS Pro 14n. Alas, you won’t find one on Kodak’s stand (below), as it’s dedicated to retail digital printing systems.

If you are a Formula 1 fan, HP has a Williams BMW racer on its stand. HP sponsors the Williams team and provides a great deal of its IT solutions, especially in the area of CAD/CAM, which lies at the heart of design and manufacturing of key components that make up a car. HP has the largest stand at the show, mainly featuring its large format printing solutions.

Epson (left), is a stalwart of the Digital Solutions and Digital Camera Show. The full range of larger format Epson ink-jet printers is on display, churning out highly impressive and very large poster prints.

Star of the Epson exhibit this year has to be the brand new 10600 (below) that can cope with 44 inch wide (B0+) media. It uses the same Ultrachrome pigment ink system as used in the A3 Epson Stylus 2100 Photo.

Last year, we were amused to observe that Epson was situated cheek by jowl with Lyson, the third party ink and paper suppliers who compete fiercely with Epson in the consumables market. This year it’s the same. It’s not easy to see in the picture to the left, but Lyson’s stand is the one behind the Epson tower!

Epson’s new flagship Color Proofer 10600

Below, Sony’s clever mobile exhibition stand (it’s a actually a convertible lorry) makes another appearance at the show. Inside you can examine Sony’s latest digicam models, including the feature-packed 5 megapixel DSC-F717.

Besides the big names, there are a number of smaller businesses at the show of note. These include Fo2Pix, who produce PhotoArtMaster, PhotoBox - the online digital printing service, Dane-Elec - displaying their growing range of flash memory cards and readers, The Digital Camera Company - a major online camera supplier, among others.

Is the show worth a visit? If you are in town and have a couple of hours to burn, a quick detour via the Docklands Light Railway to the ExCel centre won’t be wasted, but once again I do wish the show could be that little bigger and less mixed up with the print industry exhibits.

Have you been to the show - click here to let us know what you thought of this year’s event.

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