Focus on Imaging - seminars

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st599

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Just sorting out all the meting requests I've had from manufacturers exhibiting at Focus.

Are there any must-attend seminars, events etc. before I fill my days up?
 
The 'open air' seminars are generally full of people who can't walk and need to sit down for a rest. They take up more room because they try and grab as much 'free' material as is possible plus they have a 300mm lens/camera on a strap around their necks then have their 'backpack 920b - with tripod' on the floor so nobody can squeeze past to get in the one remaining seat next to the seminar in the next booth who has turned his mic/PA up louder so that he can be heard above the baying sweatfest that has gathered around his pitch because a female is sat here in a bathrobe!


Yeah - the seminars are good.
 
tiler65 said:
The 'open air' seminars are generally full of people who can't walk and need to sit down for a rest. They take up more room because they try and grab as much 'free' material as is possible plus they have a 300mm lens/camera on a strap around their necks then have their 'backpack 920b - with tripod' on the floor so nobody can squeeze past to get in the one remaining seat next to the seminar in the next booth who has turned his mic/PA up louder so that he can be heard above the baying sweatfest that has gathered around his pitch because a female is sat here in a bathrobe!


Yeah - the seminars are good.
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I can't wait :D
 
tiler65 said:
The 'open air' seminars are generally full of people who can't walk and need to sit down for a rest. They take up more room because they try and grab as much 'free' material as is possible plus they have a 300mm lens/camera on a strap around their necks then have their 'backpack 920b - with tripod' on the floor so nobody can squeeze past to get in the one remaining seat next to the seminar in the next booth who has turned his mic/PA up louder so that he can be heard above the baying sweatfest that has gathered around his pitch because a female is sat here in a bathrobe!


Yeah - the seminars are good.
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Hmmm. May give it a miss. Sounds a bit like the t***s who turn up at boat shows dressed for rounding the horn.

Why would you take a camera to a camera exhibition? Surely if you're there as an amateur, it's a given that you're interested in photography.
 
st599 said:
Why would you take a camera to a camera exhibition? Surely if you're there as an amateur, it's a given that you're interested in photography.
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In my experience at these shows the level of kit carried is inversely proportional to the skill level / success of the "photographer". It is amazing to see people in a poorly lit busy exhibition hall full of trade stands lugging all their gear with them. :cuckoo:
 
tiler65 said:
The 'open air' seminars are generally full of people who can't walk and need to sit down for a rest. They take up more room because they try and grab as much 'free' material as is possible plus they have a 300mm lens/camera on a strap around their necks then have their 'backpack 920b - with tripod' on the floor so nobody can squeeze past to get in the one remaining seat next to the seminar in the next booth who has turned his mic/PA up louder so that he can be heard above the baying sweatfest that has gathered around his pitch because a female is sat here in a bathrobe!


Yeah - the seminars are good.
Click to expand...

Sounds like that was the year I went, Or is it like that every year? :lol:

Some people really are embarrassing at these things, Im tempted every year to go Focus but this above holds me back. Lets grab as many brochures as we can to fill our recycling bin up 2 weeks later
 
You could always come and see me on Wednesday at the Manfrotto/Gitzo stand but if you want an interesting talk I know Drew Gardner, Sue Flood, Victoria Hillman and Steve Gosling are talking on the same stand. The Daymen/Lowepro stand has a great list of speakers, Phase One also have a great line up including Tim Flach too.
Lighting seminars are normally ran on the Lastolite, Wescott, Lencarta and some others but they tend to be filled with the big lens brigade getting off over a pretty model
 
markmullen said:
In my experience at these shows the level of kit carried is inversely proportional to the skill level / success of the "photographer". It is amazing to see people in a poorly lit busy exhibition hall full of trade stands lugging all their gear with them. :cuckoo:
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So, are you saying I should leave the 120cm Octabox at home? :-)
 
It's threads like this that make me so glad I'm a girl :D I've got no interest in ogling semi-clad women & am no threat to the big lens beardy brigade so can slip through the gaps easily enough.

Hope to catch some talks & I need to buy some things so it'll be good to see a wide variety & actually talk to people about their products.

If anyone wants to say Hi, I'll be walking around with part blonde part purple hair & a glazed expression on my face when people start getting technical and isn't carrying a back pack... Or a camera ;)
 
Depends what you're after - I always love Jonathan and Garry's talks on the Lencarta stand, and the Adobe talks are pretty good value - but you'll find there will be some clashes and often, the talked are hyped up to besomething special but a lot of the time you're listening to someone give you a little bit of info about themselves while they parade their portfolio.

I've definitely come to the conclusion that many of the talks and shows are there to capture the 'average Joe' who owns a camera and not the people who have experience and most probably shoot for a living.

I'll still be going tomorrow though - it's a day out of the office and if I pick up a few little gems of info, then fair enough :)
 
Was an interesting experience. There were some interesting people there, plus lots of strange characters wearing cameras in holsters and swearing a lot when they smacked an expensive lens into ribs, pillars etc.

You were right about their swarming tendencies around the stands with models. Worst I saw, however, was some guy with two 5D 2s dressed in combats, being very snobby to some teenage girls who'd bought a Zenit E and 10 rolls of film for £20.

There was an awful lot of up selling and poor information around video:

Telling a guy he wanted the more expensive camera rather than the cheaper as it had pro outputs. From what he said, I doubt the genlock BNC would get much use.

Trying to sell an £850 ssd recorder to a grandfather/grandson team because the DSLR footage used an audio codec not supported by his TV. A simple fix with free software like handbrake.

Insisting ProRes is raw and that 4:2:2 was a bit rate.

Still no easy fix for DSLR audio.


Didn't really see any really disruptive products. Android apps seem to be big, as does tilt shift and fisheye. Truematte is making its way onto consumer products and LEDs are getting better.
 
My daughter and I went today (Sunday) and had a fabulous time listening to mainly the dance orientated talks on the PT4U stand. A good job well done guys, even with all the technical hitches!

Tops for me though remains Jeff Ascough (on the Canon stand). I'm not sure he realises what an inspiration he is - and I'm not even a Wedding Photographer (or Wedding Photojournalist as he puts it). My daughter has her first wedding assignment coming up in June though so his hints and tips were perfect timing.

One thing for sure: Everytime he presents he doesn't fail to bring a lump to my throat with at least one of his images, due to his attention to detail, awareness and keen eye.

We've come to the conclusion that we need at least an annual Ascough-Fix to keep us inspired; in other words a whole new meaning to the term 'AF' :clap::clap::clap:.
 
I agree with Robin, and Marc Aspland his images looking for the other angle that everyone else doesn't shoot. I remember seeing quite a few of his images online during the olympic and after.
 
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I went yesterday and attended 3 talks

Sue Flood on "From the Arctic to the Antactic and in between"
Sue has worked on Frozen Planet and Planet Earth and her photos were brilliant to supplement her talk on what it took to get the shots

Marc Aspland (Chief Sports photographer for the Times)on "the Art of Sports Photography"
Inspirational and a new way of looking at sports photography

Danny Green (wildlife photographer) "The EOS 1Dx one year on"
Magical images of wildlfe in frozen Finland and even more frozen Poland

All these made it a brilliant day for me :thumbs:
 
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