{"id":4136,"date":"2014-10-02T19:05:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T00:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=4136"},"modified":"2014-10-02T19:08:46","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T00:08:46","slug":"look-back-photokina-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/look-back-photokina-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at Photokina 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4146\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"photokina\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s been two weeks since Photokina came to an end, and the over 180,000 visitors, press and exhibitors have headed home. It was a big show with a lot of news, and I hope I was able to give you some insight into the latest in the camera industry, specifically for mirrorless cameras. \u00a0If you missed any of my coverage from Photokina, catch up here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Hands On: Olympus Booth (40-150mm f\/2.8 and more)\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-olympus-booth-40-150mm-f2-8\/\">Hands On: Olympus 40-150mm f\/2.8, images of new 300mm f\/4 and 7-14mm f\/2.8<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Hands On: Panasonic LX100, GM5, Voigtl\u00e4nder 10.5mm f\/0.95 and more\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-panasonic-lx100-gm5-voigtlander-10-5mm-f0-95\/\">Hands On: Panasonic Booth (LX100, GM5, 35-100mm f\/3.5-5.6, Voigtlander 10.5mm f\/0.95)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Hands-On: Sony 16-35 and QX1, Zeiss Loxia Lenses and More\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-sony-16-35-qx1-zeiss-loxia-lenses\/\">Hands On: Sony Booth (16-35mm FE, QX1, New FE lenses, Zeiss Loxia 35mm f\/2 and 50mm f\/2)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Hands On: Fuji Booth (X100T, 50-140mm f\/2.8 and more!)\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-on-fuji-booth-x100t-50-140mm-f2-8-and-more\/\">Hands On: Fuji Booth (50-140mm f\/2.8, X100T, New Lens photos, Silver X-T1)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Hands On: Samsung NX1\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-samsung-nx1\/\">Hands On: Samsung NX1<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Hands On: Leica T\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/hands-leica-t\/\">Hands On: Leica T<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Interview with Fujifilm\u2019s Torben Hondong\" href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/interview-with-fujifilms-torben-hondong\/\">Interview with Fujifilm&#8217;s Torben Hondong<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/photokina-tidbits-kowa-m43-lenses-sigma-dp1-quattro-zeiss-85mm-otus-leica-s\/\">Photokina Tidbits: Kowa Micro 4\/3 lenses, Zeiss 85mm Otus, Sigma DP1 Quattro, Leica S and more<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While there weren\u2019t any earth-shattering announcements from the big mirrorless players, there were a lot of good things that help improve each of the main mirrorless systems, as well as a big move by Samsung to enter the conversation among the other three main mirrorless systems. Let\u2019s begin there:<\/p>\n<h3>Best of Show<\/h3>\n<p>I wouldn\u2019t have thought this going into Photokina, but my Best of Show goes to Samsung with the introduction of their new NX1.\u00a0 Samsung has taken a unique approach in the mirrorless world by specifically targeting sports and action photographers with the NX1.\u00a0 While all the manufacturers have added competent continuous autofocus over the past year, with special note going to Sony with their 11 frame per second tracking wonder in the a6000, Samsung is the first to truly target this segment of the system, and they seem positioned to make a run.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4023\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4023\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_front.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4023\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_front-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"The new Samsung NX1 (with their 85mm f\/1.4)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_front-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_front-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_front.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4023\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new Samsung NX1 (with their 85mm f\/1.4)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The NX1 is not a small camera, but focuses on handling and performance. It\u2019s a body roughly the size of the Panasonic GH3 or GH4, with a large comfortable grip, good viewfinder and ample controls.\u00a0 It packs promising continuous autofocus and a high-speed drive mode that can rattle off an impressive 15 frames per second with a very large buffer.\u00a0 Oh, did I mention it shoots 4K video too?<\/p>\n<p>Not only did the NX1 feel quite impressive when I did a hands on, but they\u2019ve also begun leveraging their lens lineup for sports as well.\u00a0 They introduced a nice and quite compact 50-150mm f\/2.8 lens along side the NX1, while also showing off their prototype 300mm f\/2.8 lens.\u00a0\u00a0 Samsung seems to be going all-in on this system.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4024\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4024\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4024\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_300-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"The NX1 with Samsung's prototype 300mm f\/2.8 OIS (which looked beautiful through the viewfinder)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_300-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_300-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/nx1_300.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4024\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The NX1 with Samsung&#8217;s prototype 300mm f\/2.8 OIS (which looked beautiful through the viewfinder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Samsung hasn\u2019t been on my radar before this show, and judging by sales and market share, they haven\u2019t been on many other people\u2019s minds either.\u00a0 However, the NX1 was a wake-up call to the industry, and I certainly took notice.\u00a0 I hope to receive an NX1 for testing in the next few months, and will put it through its paces to find out if it\u2019s as impressive in real world use as it was on the show floor.<\/p>\n<h3>The year of the f\/2.8 telephoto zoom<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4009\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4009\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/50-140-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4009 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/50-140-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Fuji's new 50-140mm f\/2.8\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/50-140-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/50-140-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/50-140-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4009\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fuji&#8217;s new 50-140mm f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This year appeared to be the year that the manufacturers started loading up on f\/2.8 telephoto zooms.\u00a0 As mentioned above, Samsung released a 50-150mm f\/2.8, Fujifilm released a 50-140mm f\/2.8, and Olympus released their 40-150mm f\/2.8.\u00a0 All of these lenses are high-end professional grade zooms with internal zooming, constant f\/2.8 apertures and lens ranges that are quite similar (with the lone exception being the Olympus, which is a fair bit longer on the Micro 4\/3 system than the other two lenses are for their APS-C systems. )<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the f\/2.8 zooms, it seems that this year has been about building up high-end glass for the mirrorless companies.\u00a0 While Micro 4\/3 has already had quite a selection of very high quality lenses, and Fuji started out targeting this market, all the makers expanded their top shelf lineups.<\/p>\n<p>Sony released their 16-35mm f\/4 ultra-wide angle zoom for the FE mount, while announcing several more high-end lenses on the roadmap, including a 35mm f\/1.4 and a 90mm f\/2.8 OIS Macro lens.<\/p>\n<p>Zeiss continued to add to their mirrorless resume as well, producing two beautiful new manual focus prime lenses for Sony E-Mount cameras in the 35mm and 50mm Loxia lenses.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4033\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4033\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/loxia50.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4033\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/loxia50-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Zeiss Loxia 50mm f\/2\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/loxia50-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/loxia50-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/loxia50.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4033\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zeiss Loxia 50mm f\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fujifilm not only showed off the 50-140mm, but revealed mockups of their 16-55mm f\/2.8 standard zoom, as well as the new 90mm f\/2, 16mm f\/1.4 and 140-400mm supertelephoto.<\/p>\n<p>While Panasonic didn\u2019t announce anything remarkable in the high-end interchangeable lens space, they did produce a beautiful top shelf compact camera with a fast lens and 4\/3 sized sensor in the LX100.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4014\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4014\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/olympus714.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4014 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/olympus714-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Olympus 7-14mm f\/2.8\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4014\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Olympus 7-14mm f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Olympus added mockups of their upcoming 300mm f\/4 PRO and 7-14mm f\/2.8 PRO lenses.\u00a0 All of these companies are seeing the same thing I\u2019m seeing: The mirrorless market isn\u2019t selling to those casual shooters wanting a bit better image quality.\u00a0 They\u2019re selling to the enthusiast and professional who want to have very high quality gear without the cumbersome bulk and weight of a high-end DSLR kit.\u00a0 This is where mirrorless is profitable, and it\u2019s also the way to get the casual consumer interested in the gear as well.\u00a0 When mirrorless cameras start being seen as professional grade gear by the average consumer, then that is what they will look to get when they want to step up from their camera phones. \u00a0That brings me to one of my biggest observations about Photokina this year.<\/p>\n<h4>Continue: <a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/look-back-photokina-2014\/2\/\">Observations on Photokina<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3>Mirrorless has Arrived<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina_mirrorless.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4141\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina_mirrorless-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"photokina_mirrorless\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina_mirrorless-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina_mirrorless.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Not for the industry as a whole, but in the enthusiast consumer space: mirrorless has arrived.\u00a0 Photokina visitors, by their nature, tend to be photography enthusiasts.\u00a0 You have to be into this stuff in order to spend money and time to go to Cologne and walk around the enormous sprawling complex that is the Koelnmesse.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that was very apparent to me, is that many of these enthusiasts have switched to mirrorless.\u00a0 Now, they may still own DSLRs\u2026I didn\u2019t interview all the visitors obviously, but I saw a tremendous number of mirrorless cameras around people&#8217;s necks at Photokina.\u00a0 While DLSRs still made up the majority, I\u2019d estimate that around 30% of Photokina visitors were carrying a mirrorless camera.<\/p>\n<p>I saw dozens of Sony A7s, oodles of Panasonic G bodies, a handful of Samsung NX cameras, at least ten or fifteen Fuji X-T1s and X-Pro 1s, along with a huge number of the X100 series cameras.\u00a0 I lost track of how many Olympus OM-D E-M5s and E-M1s I saw.\u00a0 I even saw at least 6 or 7 people carrying Leica M series bodies (including one with a 50mm f\/0.95 Noctilux).<\/p>\n<p>These are the enthusiasts, and they are using the mirrorless bodies.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t be shocked at all if they made up a majority of cameras carried around Photokina 2016.\u00a0 Even the press (myself included) was seen with tons of mirrorless bodies, perhaps at even a greater percentage than the patrons.<\/p>\n<p>This space will simply continue to grow, despite the global downturn in camera sales as more and more casual shooters turn to their phones as their only photographic device.<\/p>\n<h3>Experiencing Photokina<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, I just want to talk about my experience in covering Photokina this year.\u00a0 This was my first time covering a major photographic trade show, and I learned quite a lot, both in how to cover a show as well as what not to do.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4142\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4142\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/press_center.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4142\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/press_center-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The North Press Center at Photokina\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/press_center-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/press_center-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/press_center.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4142\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The North Press Center at Photokina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Covering a show like this is both extremely fun and exciting, as well as incredibly grueling. The show is enormous, spanning nearly a mile end to end, and that\u2019s straight line through one hallway.\u00a0 There are over 1000 booths, a mind-blowing number of things to see and try, and not much time in which to do it.\u00a0 I found I would spend two to three hours on the show floor, before having to head back to the press center to start writing the articles for the day.\u00a0 In covering the show, in order to provide good coherent discussion on what I had seen and tried, I needed to limit what I actually did on the show floor each day.\u00a0 Too much seen means too much to write, and too little time to write it, all while keeping your impressions fresh in your head.<\/p>\n<p>I usually got to the show around 9:30, ate breakfast in the press center, then headed out to the show floor.\u00a0 Around 1:00, I\u2019d head back, eat lunch, begin writing, then head back to my hotel room to offload images and insert them into my articles.\u00a0 I usually finished around 6:30 in the evening, and was generally quite spent.\u00a0 However, this is fun work, and meeting some great people and interacting with so many great representatives from the camera manufacturers was new and exciting.\u00a0 I hope for the reader, you got something out of my articles and were able to experience a bit of the show for yourselves. Ultimately, I tried to test things that my readers would enjoy learning about, so I hope I was successful in that regard.<\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019ll return to your regularly scheduled writing.\u00a0 I hope to get review samples of many of the things I briefly tried out at the show, including the NX1, Sony 16-35mm, Olympus 40-150mm f\/2.8, Fuji X100T and 50-140mm f\/2.8 and the Panasonic LX100. \u00a0I also have upcoming reviews of the Fuji vertical grip for the X-T1 and the Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 for Sony E-Mount, which should be coming along shortly.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2014\/cologne_bridge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/2014\/cologne_bridge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"436\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cologne at Night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One last thing: It&#8217;s only been two weeks and I\u2019m already missing Germany again.\u00a0 I lived in Germany for over three years between 2002 and 2006, and it\u2019s a wonderful place to visit.\u00a0 There is so much history and culture, with friendly people and beautiful landscapes.\u00a0 If you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend you do so.\u00a0 I was fortunate enough to get a bit of time for sightseeing, including a quick day trip to Aachen, which I had always wanted to see when I lived in Germany, but\u00a0 I never made it out there until this week.\u00a0 Hopefully I&#8217;ll be back for Photokina 2016!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been two weeks since Photokina came to an end, and the over 180,000 visitors, press and exhibitors have headed home. It was a big show with a lot of news, and I hope I was able to give you some insight into the latest in the camera industry, specifically for mirrorless cameras. \u00a0If you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,21],"tags":[184],"class_list":["post-4136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","tag-photokina"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/photokina.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-14I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4136"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4147,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136\/revisions\/4147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}