Photokina (Part 3)

I've left the two big guns til last, Nikon and Canon. When I worked at Atlantic Photo, everyone would come in the store and see the display cases that we had and ask, so which is better, Nikon or Canon. To which I would always reply, 'It depends on the person and the camera' I would also always encourage people to check out snapsort, to compare and contrast features of different cameras in point form. I personally, and a Canon fan but this is due toafewreasons,The first (and only so far) DSLR camera that I bought, is a Canon. I like their range of lensesand the colors that the sensors come out with. I also don't mind that the sensors tend to 'work' the image a bit because I honestly don't do much photo editing at all so thats fine with me.

In the first pavillion that you walked into in Photokina Canon had escalators taking you up to the color and intensely lit canon floor, not shared with anyone else and occupied by the variety of cameras and lenses as well as all the other consumer products like printers and scanners. I had my photo taken and printed on one of their new at home 4x6 printers which claims to have the photo stay good for 100 years. I would like to see something that is not chemically based last that long but anyway, the guy seemed to like my photo, probably because of the dirty great big (and very worn) Canon camera strapped around my neck. He did although ask me to put down the Nikon bag which was given to me at a very early stage to carry all of my freebies in.

Me, with a mighty fine piece of glass..

Taken with EF800 F5.6L IS USM

Taken with EF400 f2.8L IS USM

Newest in the series of my favorite point and shoot cameras.

By the time I made my way to the Nikon floor, to be honest I was getting a little tired so I didn't take as much time to walk around as I did at the Canon floor but I did like how they were personalizing the products for everyone, I am telephoto, I am sharp, I am precise, I am imagination.. On of my faves, I am marco polo.. Which had a double page spread in the Photokina times and I took a photo of it while in my hostel in Berlin and I like the wallet with the map on it sitting with my ear buds and phone.

Impossible Project weere of course there and although they are only relatively new on the scene, to me they are another of the big players. At their modest stall they had Beppe Bolchi doing creative techniques on impossible instant films and there weren't many people there so I got to ask him lots of questions and get up close to look. I'm still keen to try it out but the thing is, with instant film, If you take a photo and decide to play with it then that is it. It is like deleting a raw file or scratching a negative, but sometimes that is the way to get the best out of your work..

The last place I visited at photokina before running off to kind a post office to send all my goodies home was the gallery, with various different methods of hanging and loads of different styles and series I was in my element because in the end, that is what the whole show is about, coming out of it with the equipment and knowledge to make these beautiful photographs, not how many free things you can give away or how great the lighting is on your models.