Thanks for the booth report, Marnie. I have to wonder about your definition of "scantily clad" though. Aside from bare legs, the only way that girl in your shot could be more covered would be with a burka.
The very next thing you need to learn to do on your X-5 is disable the date/time stamp. :-) On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 12:59 AM, <eactiv...@aol.com> wrote: > I went to CES in Las Vegas and just got back. These were shot with the X-5 > (which I got so I could take pics for the annual and PUG). > > Thoughts/reactions about CES below. And first impressions of the X-5. > > I just got the X-5 delivered from Amazon the day before I left. I barely > had time to figure it out. It doesn't have an Av setting, so I either shot > manual or program or green button. None of the shots are great and I haven't > edited them. > > http://mapphotography.com/CES/index.html > > Pentax: I asked two reps if Ricoh intended a FF Pentax. I asked them > separately. The answer was pretty much, no. One rep said that the market > share > for FF is a sliver and too small. The other said because the 645D is out > there ( prominently displayed), it is very unlikely. He also said that USA > Pentax reps are the last to know. They may know a little in Japan -- but only > when Ricoh/Pentax actually comes out with a public release do they find > out. I went on the trip with a friend, and he asked later too, and he was > simply answered, no. Overall, the answer seemed to be very much, no. > > OTOH, I asked about Ricoh's support of Pentax. Very much so -- this will > be one company that will not drop Pentax or sell it out. They are heavily > invested and very much behind the "brand name." > > The Pentax display was understated and tasteful, except for the scantily > clad Japanese girl sitting on a chair, pushing a button on a toy train > running on a track below her. Photo op, supposedly. There were scantily clad > girls in a few places, CES is male-oriented. Evidentially there were more > girls in previous years, but each year brings more and more women attendees > to > the show. There was a wall of K-50's, not quite sure why. The big poster > shot of the GR was taken with the K-3, and that is partly why it was there, > to show how large it could be blown up and not lose resolution. > > Paul's pic had an end spot, and really was one of the best there. :-) > > Okay, about the rest of CES -- it was not the primary purpose of my trip. > I went with a friend and just wanted a trip, also saw Las Vegas, a ghost > town, Red Rock Canyon, and the Bellagio fountain and some of the casinos (I > don't gamble). So I did not ask a lot of questions a lot of you would ask > and did not look at lot of things a lot of you would look at. I was also not > solely interested in photographic equipment. > > I also went under an assumed identity, heh, as a audio/visual design > person (smart houses). This show is mainly for dealers who are going to put > in > large orders for products. Nothing is on sale to the public. > > So I did brief tours of two halls, well, three and a half halls. > > Other Cameras: The Nikon display was similar to Pentax's, a bit bigger, > lots of yellow. And one seating area with a video running about some camera. > Pentax had no video seating area. No scantily-clad girls at Nikon. > > The Canon display was much, much bigger. The emphasis there was mainly on > their printers and other imaging products. They did have a small walk-thru > photo gallery. And a tier of cameras. A shot of that is in the gallery > above. At first when I saw it I thought it was photographers taking shots of > the show. Then I realized they were actually cameras to try out and went up > and tried some. That was clever of them and they were the only ones that did > that. No poles locking the cameras down to a hole in a display table. The > two dancing girls there were wearing pants and T-shirts. WTG, Canon. > > The Sony display was one of the largest and a bit confusing. It had a > 'surround' video running above -- it covered a very large area with their > products inside, much bigger than it looks in my picture. > > The camera I was, personally, most impressed with and taken by was the > Fujifilm (yes, moving on) X-M2. Which the rep told me had just started being > shipped in November. She only had one, it was so new, although she had > several X-M1s. > > CES: The show/convention/conference overall, was overwhelming. It is > HUGE. Most people were there to do business and see specific items. If you > didn't have a focus it was pretty confusing. Lots and lots of booths, but the > most overwhelming part was simply the massive number of people walking > around. Almost worse than Disneyland during summer. About 150,000 attend, so > it > was busy, busy all the time. Most were wearing black. The racial/ethnic mix > was mainly White and Asian. At least the shuttle buses between venues were > good (there is a three-hall convention center, two stories, and things > spilled over into three other hotels). > > I had very interesting discussions with a cable company owner and a > representative of GSM (Global Standards for Mobile) on the shuttle, one on > the > way, and one on the way back. > > PMA: PMA was also there. Unfortunately it was in the last stop, all > travel between buildings was by foot, and after a very long walk down > looping a > corridor, back and forth, linking buildings, we found it. Since it was in a > different building and so far away, it's attendance was low. We spent time > in the Black Rapid booth, and learned that PMA will probably fade away. > Because the big camera companies were in the main hall, the PMA was mainly > support equipment: bags, tripods, etc. > > What were the most interesting things I saw? I was interested in any > high-tech sci-fiy thing, not just cameras. And I really took a cursory look at > most of the things I saw. > > The Black Rapid guy had an add-on lens on his iphone. Three little lens > adaptors that rotated, one wide angle, one fish eye, and one telephoto. He > wasn't sure if it was available for other phones and I never found the booth. > But it was intriguing and seemed well designed. > > Drone photography. I took no pics. But they are orderable at B&H. The > large one no, the consumer ones, yes. It was fascinating. > > 3-D printing. That made me feel the future is really here. Large WOW > factor. Heh. Think replicators from Star Trek. Honestly and truly. Though > right > now they can only replicate with polymers and not very large items yet. But > the technology is there and it will improve and develop. Totally > revolutionary. About five companies were there, all with different > orientations > (many with a research/product prototyping focus). But two were marketing > consumer 3-D printers and two were marketing 3-D scanners, as well, one > hand-held. All very impressive and futurist and oh-my-goddess. > > If you want to know more about the 3-D printing, just ask. I have some > literature and was going to google and research. > > Real photos to come. > > The X-5, meh. It is a Pentax, but... well, I was warned. I still have to > play with it more, but the viewfinder is only adequate. That's the best way > I could describe the whole camera, for a point and shoot it is adequate and > nothing to write home about. It does have a green button and it is cute. > It looks like a mini-DSLR, so you don't feel stupid wearing it around. But > if it wasn't a Pentax, I really wouldn't have bothered. > > Marnie aka Doe :-) I wish I had more specific impressive insider camera > stuff to tell you, but I don't. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
