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.
