PMA 2008 Wrap-Up

Here are three key things that were not shown:

• A full-frame Sony digital SLR with a 35mm-sized, 24MP sensor, was not unveiled—although the sensor was announced the day before the show, and a mockup of a future pro camera using the sensor was displayed under glass at the Sony booth.

• A 35mm sensor Leica; when asked about the rumors of a full-frame M9, a Leica spokesperson said no, ain’t happening. But the day after the show, Leica sent a letter to M owners saying that a full-frame M is coming; the full-frame rangefider as a stand-alone camera and possibly also as an upgrade option for the M8 was sort-of confirmed in an interview with Leica’s president that was published in Amateur Photographer‘s web site.

• Motion Blur Fix technology: FotoNation (which was acquired by Tessera right in the middle of the show–nice timing, guys!) showed a demo version of a new technology that will fix photos with blur caused by camera movement after the photo was taken. But it’s not “there” yet. We might see this technology (along with chromatic aberration correction and more advanced versions of smile detection) in cameras within the year.

The invisible 800-pound gorilla

Any time you have an even-year PMA, there’s always an 800-pound gorilla, biding its time, sitting in a corner of the convention hall–and its name is Photokina. Canon and Nikon held back on the really big product announcements (more full-frame Nikons, possibly a successor to the Canon 5D and more). We may see some more dramatic new product introductions early this fall when the world’s biggest photo trade show opens in Cologne, Germany. Nevertheless there were plenty of great new products clearly visible in the unusually chilly southwestern town of Las Vegas, Nevada that offer features for photographers that will improve the quality of their images for years to come.

So…what did we see?

DSLRs

Nikon and Canon both introduced more advanced versions of their lower-end DSLRs (The 10.2MP Nikon D60 and the 12MP Canon EOS Rebel XSi). Pentax announced the 10MP K200, which takes over their lower-end, while the 14MP K20D is an even more serious contender than the K10D, which it replaced. Samsung‘s GX-20, also introduced at PMA, is the Pentax K20D’s virtual twin. Just a few weeks after announcing a the Alpha 200, a new beginner DSLR, Sony announced two new models, the 10MP DSLR-A350 and 14MP DSLR-A300 (could Sony, Samsung and Pentax be using the same sensors?).

A great show for lenses

Nikon unveiled a 24mm tilt-shift lens for architecture photographers, their first in a very long time, a 60mm 1:1 Macro, and a new extended-range 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Kit lens with vibration reduction.

Sony added new high-end Carl Zeiss lenses—a 24-70mm f/2.8—likely in anticipation of the introduction of a full-frame pro camera later this year. Other new but lower-end lenses include a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 and 55-200mm f/4-5.6.

Not much new from Canon, but if you’re a pro sports or nature shooter with a generous expense account, the 200mm f/2 (yes, it’s that fast) and 800mm f/5.6 models might be worth looking at.

Olympus showed, for the first time, its 14-35mm f/2 zoom, as well as a 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5. Otherwise, it shot its big guns at Photo Plus last fall.

Sigma unveiled nine new lenses: the 200mm f/2.8 II EG DG Macro HSM for Pentax and Sony, APO 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM for Pentax and Sony, 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC OS HSM for Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony, APO 70-200mm f/2.8 II EX DG Macro HSM for Four Thirds, 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM for Four Thirds, 70-300mm F4-5.6 DG MACRO for Nikon, APO 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM for Sigma, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sony, APO 200-500mm f/2.8 with extender that doubles its range, for Sigma, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sony, and APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM for Sigma, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sony.

Finally, Tamron updated its line, adding internal autofocus to several of its Nikon-mount models so users of Nikon D40, D60 and D80 cameras can use them. In addition, Tamron announced a 10-24mm lens.

Compact cameras make lots of noise

Approximately 2 gazillion compact cameras were introduced but sadly, few at the optimum resolution of 6MP. Most offered more pixels, which according to independent test sources, will lead to reduced overall picture quality. Read why here.

More important than pixels, however, are the new features that are making their way into point-and-shoot cameras that promise to reduce the number of images snapshooters would reject on technical merit. For instance, face tracking and image stabilization are on practically every new camera being introduced, and refinements to these are either on the way or already appearing on a handful of new models.

For instance, GE‘s flagship E1050, which unfortunately has a 10MP sensor (4 megapixels too many, in our book), bedazzled us with blink detection—a new feature that sends a warning signal to the photographer if someone has blinked in the photo just taken—and a GPS receiver so you can easily geotag your photos. Then there’s Fujifilm‘s new S100fd, which offers, in addition to a superzoom 12x lens, modes that emulate the exposure, contrast and color characteristics of such classic Fuji films as Reala and Velvia.

From Kodak‘s EasyShare Z1012 IS (a 10MP EVF “bridge” camera with a 12X optical zoom lens for about $300) to the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW (a 10MP camera that’s shock-proof and water-proof), there were plenty of full-featured cameras with too many pixels. Panasonic‘s Lumix FX35, another 10MP model, has a zoom lens starting out at 25mm (equivalent), which is unusually wide.

Canon, bless them, held back on the pixels in their new SD1100 Digital Elph, with a relatively sedate 8MP (there will be lots of digital noise, not as bad as with 10 and 12MP models) but lots of face and motion detection features.

Finally, there’s the Sigma DP-1, a most unusual compact: We got a teaser look at it—the cameras were in the US for the show, but according to our source at Sigma were sent back to Japan as soon as PMA was over. The DP-1’s sensor is 14MP, but that’s all right in this case, because the sensor is APS-D sized, the same size as in a typical DSLR. We hope that means it will produce less noisy pictures than a typical compact. For an anticipated $800 (plus $125 for the optical finder), it better.

Bits and pieces

Memory cards got a boost in features, thanks to Eye-Fi‘s Wi-Fi enabled SD card; look for it to become ubiquitus. “Our phone’s been ringing off the hook,” someone from Eye-Fi told us. They’re making deals with companies like Lexar and Nikon, and they broadly hinted that much more is to come. Watch these guys. Memory cards also got capacity boosts, with the world’s first 32GB SD card introduced by SanDisk.

Photo frames could be found everywhere, and some of them are even pretty nice. But there were also quite a few that made us walk by the booth a bit faster. We will need to write a comprehensive buying guide. Two standouts? Jobo‘s 15-inch frame, which holds 1GB of internal storage, and Smartparts‘ 32-inch photo frame (although at $899 we’re not sure what advantage this has over just buying a big flat-screen HDTV with it’s additional features.)

© 2008 Adorama Camera, Inc.