Photo Plus Expo 2017

2017.10.31

As every year, the Javits Convention Center hosted Photo Plus Expo in New York. This is the biggest photography convention in America with plenty of new products unveiled just before the show or as it opens.

Canon sprung the gates open with their Powershot G1 X Mark III announced here just 10 days before the opening of Photo Plus Expo. This is their new flagship Premium Compact, now sporting an APS-C sensor and a large 2.4 megapixels EVF built right in. It is essentially one of their mirrorless yet with a fixed 24-70mm F/2.8-5.6 optically stabilized zoom lens.

Nikon used the show to celebrate their 100th anniversary, with an enormous show case of cameras from their entire history. The main attraction though was the Nikon D850 that has recently started shipping to customers. This is their flagship 46 MP Full-Frame DSLR with a class-leading 0.75X magnification viewfinder.

Ricoh is still reeling from their first and only full-frame DSLR, the Pentax K-1. It was on display, along with the K-P and 645Z Medium Format camera at a very small both. No sign of the K-3 II and no word about its successor was said. They made two surprise pre-announcement at the show:

The Pentax D FA* 50mm F/1.4 is a huge lens with a bright aperture for Full-Frame Sensors. It is said to have a new type of Sonic Drive Motor that is faster and much more reliable than the original. It should appear around the middle of 2018.

A prototype Pentax DA 11-18mm F/2.8 made its appearance. This is an ultra-wide angle constant aperture zoom for APS-C cameras to replace its aging DA 12-24mm F/4, arguably one of the best ultra-wide zoom of its time but now a rather old lens. Oddly, it seems to have been already removed from Pentax Canada and Pentax USA websites, leaving a significant gap in the range until the new DA 11-18mm F/2.8 is launched during the second half of 2018. This lens is slightly wider and offers an additional stop of light-gathering ability. It is surprisingly not weather-sealed.

More Photo Plus Expo announcements coming up in the next blog posts.

• Photo Plus Expo