Hanging in Las Vegas for a few days, checking out what new equipment may be coming down the line for us.
PMA or Photographic Marketing Association’s yearly convention is taking place at the LV Convention center, bringing out most of the major manufacturers to debut new products and show some prototypes for the pro/retail and consume markets.

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We spent day one gambling all of our money away and selling off our gear to pay off the rest of the stay.

No. We didn’t. Really.

It’s a little quieter in Sin City these days, economic woes being what they are.
And we are very curious to see the turnout for this industry event.
On the first afternoon, we got a Sneak Peak (capitalized because that’s what the event was called) at some pretty cool new stuff.

From some amazing new software from Tessara, that will be included in some future cameras that will allow you to a little age reversal, in-camera. More on that later.

[photopress:SKloupe_group_SK2_products_medium2.jpg.jpeg,full,alignright] From a company called LensPen, a new sensor cleaner that made total sense to us. Not only does it have an LED lighting system that lets you see what’s on the sensor, but also has a cutout, so you can work on the dust culprit with a special pen, while you are watching the sensor.

The folks at ThinkTank have a new way of working on location, this time with a pop-up, fold-flat solution, for working on your computer in the field. These designers make some great workers.

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GPS, one of our favorite subjects is coming on strong, with 2 solutions being shown today by Jobo, for use with ANY camera, giving you location data plus points of interest.
[photopress:_DSC0035_2.jpg,full,centered] Jobo unit designed for a hot shoe

Plus a small company called Foolography, using a tiny Bluetooth receiver to get any GPS units data, and embedding it into the EXIF file.

[photopress:_DSC0017.jpg,full,centered] mini rec. for Nikon

At Delkin, we saw one o the shows winning entries, with the Fat Gecko, a suction device that will put your camera where you want it. Incredibly strong.
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Gorillapod continues their line with a new heavy-duty model, plus a ball head mount with level. They might as well make one, since we all had to buy one anyway, to use these in the best way.

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Pentax debuted an interesting entry in a select category of pre-DSLR, cameras. More than a point and shoot, less than a DSLR.
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The X70 boasts a high-magnification 24x optical zoom lens with wide-angle to super-telephoto coverage (26-624mm equivalent).

One of favorite parts of the day was a talk given by David Hobby of The Strobist, and David Honl, designer of some of the best speedlight shapers around.

[photopress:_DSC0052_2.jpg,full,centered] David Hobby working it out

The topic of their chat was essentially using Web 2.0 to your best advantage.
Essentially, the Davids told the crowd to utilize all that web has including YouTube, promotional blogging, etc. to get your business jumpstarted and part of the new economy.

[photopress:_DSC0056.jpg,full,centered] David Honl

People know how to promote others, but are woefully lacking in self promotion.
Heck, do you have a head shot if asked for?
Yep, That’s what we thought.

[photopress:_DSC0075_2.jpg,full,centered] The web will be seeing a lot of vid coverage on his one.