Motordrive Photography wrote:
Constant disappointment, but I still have a flicker of hope that Nikon
will replace D300s. With all the well deserved headline grabbing intros
of last two years, there is still a hole in the Nikon lineup.

As I'm finally thinking I'm gonna get a D800, this would be the perfect time for Nikon to release that D300s replacement, just to make matters more difficult for me.

I have given up trying to predict what Nikon will do, as it seems like they make a specific effort to do things that make so little sense and deliver products that still leave customers with "I wish it would" aspects.

Whether it is their Nikon 1 series lacking wired remote/wired release capabilities or their more professional products having ridiculously priced half-assed wifi solutions and a pathetic "user mode" plan.

I agree, I'm sure that whatever they do, it will bring disappointment.

SayCheeZ!  wrote:
Now that PMA has been absorbed by CES, it's gone from an event that filled a large convention hall into a couple of hard-to-find ballrooms in a hotel.  Last year very few major photo companies appeared at CES/PMA.  The few that did (ie: Kodak and Canon) were the ones that typically showed up at both events anyway.

Certain industries' trade shows go the way of the dodo this way. If you've lived here in Vegas long enough you'd remember COMDEX. It was, by far, the largest trade show in the world. COMDEX used to bring upwards of 300,000 people into Vegas for the five day event. Hotel rooms would sell for $800/night at Caesars and were booked 2 years in advance. Every conference room in every hotel was booked solid for companies who didn't have a chance to get a booth on the show floor which encompassed the entire Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo center. It was just insane.

But then this weird thing called the "Internet" came around, plus a few major computer magazines that were 1/2" thick every month. There was so much news and information on everything about the computer industry, some of the companies who showed up for the show started thinking that all their press releases and new product updates were being announced all the time and people were able to get this news on a moment's notice, so what is the point of paying $1 million for a booth at the show? Not long thereafter, Intel, Apple, IBM and Creative Labs all decided to not do the event one year. The next year a hoard of major industry leaded decided not to show. The year after that the company that ran COMDEX went dead and that was the end of that.

So with forums and websites and mainstream media all doing the PR for all the camera companies, what's the point of spending an outrageous amount of money and resources to go do the show? And thus ends the era of PMA.

Shot By Adam wrote:

Certain industries' trade shows go the way of the dodo this way. If you've lived here in Vegas long enough you'd remember COMDEX. It was, by far, the largest trade show in the world. COMDEX used to bring upwards of 300,000 people into Vegas for the five day event. Hotel rooms would sell for $800/night at Caesars and were booked 2 years in advance. Every conference room in every hotel was booked solid for companies who didn't have a chance to get a booth on the show floor which encompassed the entire Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo center. It was just insane.

But then this weird thing called the "Internet" came around, plus a few major computer magazines that were 1/2" thick every month. There was so much news and information on everything about the computer industry, some of the companies who showed up for the show started thinking that all their press releases and new product updates were being announced all the time and people were able to get this news on a moment's notice, so what is the point of paying $1 million for a booth at the show? Not long thereafter, Intel, Apple, IBM and Creative Labs all decided to not do the event one year. The next year a hoard of major industry leaded decided not to show. The year after that the company that ran COMDEX went dead and that was the end of that.

So with forums and websites and mainstream media all doing the PR for all the camera companies, what's the point of spending an outrageous amount of money and resources to go do the show? And thus ends the era of PMA.

I worked COMDEX for Microsoft back in the day, it was a massive event but saddle trade shows don't do well at keeping pace with computer technology.  Cameras are much slower to change so expect them to hang on for a bit longer...

Blue Cube Imaging wrote:
Pretty disappointing so far... 

Last year most of the camera companies made their biggest announcements in the second quarter.  PMA typically was held toward the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter (before it merged with CES).

I haven't been to the show today, and I'm not sure if I'm even interested enough in going at all because last year I heartfully thought that it wasn't worth my time.

With that said WPPI is much more geared toward the MM demographic and I'll be sure to attend that.  Hell, even Photoshop World held in September at Mandalay Bay seems to be more interesting than the current PMA.

Michael Pandolfo wrote:
I'm just hoping for a wider variety of porn stars in attendance. They make product announcements there too?

That's the other thing that used to make the convention a lot of fun... they'd have hot looking girls in micro mini skirts or short shorts at practically every booth.  Now it's basically old grey haired guys like me that are demonstrating the products and answering questions.

CES hasn't been affiliated with the porn industry for at least a decade.  When CES severed ties with the porn industry, Adult Video News (AVN) held a seperate convention AT THE SAME TIME as CES, so many people still associate the two different entities as being one.

This year will be the second year that the AVN convention will be held AFTER the CES show.  The AVN is next week.

Blue Cube Imaging wrote:
Pretty disappointing so far... 

Yep. Biggest news seems to be about how crappy the launch/naming/concept of the new Polaroid Android phone/camera is.