The Photography Show is the largest consumer photographic show in the UK. It is held annually at the National Exhibition Center, Birmingham and attracted 30,077 visitors in 2016. For 2017, it was held from 18 to 21 March, and Wetpixel was abet spend the day there on the final day.

The show attracts all the major camera brands, with Canon, Nikon, Sony and Panasonic having large stands. There are a number of large stages which host talks, and individual exhibitors also have talks running throughout the show.

For 2017, there have been a limited number of new cameras released so far.

Interestingly, Nikon’s stand featured an homage to the Nikonos underwater cameras. Staff on the stand refused to confirm if this means that they are looking at releasing new underwater specific models! They also refused to confirm whether the rumored new fisheye lens is in the offing. To be fair to the staff, Nikon are notorious for keeping new products a closely guarded secret.

They also had their flagship D5 and D500 models.

Panasonic had the GH5 on display:

Canon has a big presence at the show:

Their talks were well attended:

On display was the EOS range, along with the M5 mirrorless camera:

Atomos’s UK distributor had the new Shogun Inferno on display in many different configurations, along with the Ninja Blade. Th former features a really bright clear display.

Whilst on the subject G Technology had some interesting products designed to ease video workflow. They are producing the Atomos Mastercaddy 4K (SSD) and HD (spinning drive). Both of these integrate directly into Atomos recorders, and can also be combined directly G Speed RAID units or be read via USB C. Other readers that can stand alone or be integrated are available for RED Mini Mag and Fast 2.

The G Speed RAID drives mentioned above can be equipped with up to 80TB of drives. Two versions are available, the Studio XL and the Shuttle XL.

The latter is supplied in a Pelican case and is specifically ruggedized for on location work. Both versions connect via Thunderbolt 2.

G Technology also supply the ev all terrain case, which is an IP66 waterproof case that can have a G Drive hard drive inserted. There are options for USB 3 and Thunderbolt interfaces.

Sony had the new a6500 mirrorless camera on their stand:

They were not aware of any plans for a full frame fisheye lens, but suggested using the Zeiss Distagon T* f/2.8 15mm Fisheye with either the Metabones or Sigma MC-11 mount converters.

Sony also had the PXW-Z150 4K camcorder on display.

Well-known UK underwater photographer, Saeed Rashid, presented a talk about UK underwater photography on the Smugmug stand. It was well attended, with many familiar faces in the audience.

Irix had their new lenses on show. The Firefly and Blackstone 11mm is a full frame rectilinear lens with electronic aperture and manual focus.

It will be very interesting to see how they perform behind a dome port, as they offer an 126° FOV (in air). For wide angle scenic images, manual focus may be a viable option.

It was great to see some old school brands:

Another feature is a huge increase in the number of drone and drone related stands. DJI had a big presence at the show.

Laowa has an interesting lens on their stand. The company are offering a 24mm, f14 macro relay lens. It is not shipping yet, but at the show it was attached to a Sony a7, so it seems as if it will be available in e mount at least. It seems to have built in LED lighting and is waterproof for about 8 inches, allowing it to be dipped into shallow rock pools for example. It is expected to be shipping in the next month or so.

The Photography Show is great event that provides an opportunity to see all that is new in imaging under one roof. Perhaps the exception to this is underwater imaging!