PhotoPlus Expo 2013:
Hey everone! I went to the PhotoPlus Expo today. I originally wasn’t sure if I wanted to go but a new friend that I recently made asked me, and it was definitely better than going along :). She has such a passion for photography; it is quite refreshing: She loves everything about photography. She bought a Canon 6D, and she wanted to check out some new stuff for it, so the PhotoPlus Expo was the perfect place.
One of the first sections at the PhotoPlus Expo that we stopped by was the Leica booth. They had a bunch of M lenses but I just didn’t feel like cramming myself in the crowd to check them out. I did play with the new S camera and 35mm Elmarit, which was cool. I tried out an S2 a while back, and I absolutely loved it. I also saw a Leica M with a Leica Cine lens attached to it, which was definitely cool to see.
↑ Leica M Typ 240 with a 50 Summicron Cine lens.
My next stop at the PhotoPlus Expo was to check out the new Fuji X-E2. I’m still on the fence about upgrading but it never hurts to just look, right ;)? I also got to play with the XF 23mm F1.4 R lens. This lens is an absolute beauty, and it’s smaller than the pictures suggest making it very balanced on the Fuji bodies. Btw, I just wanted to mention that the Fuji reps were really a great bunch of guys. They were extremely helpful and friendly.
↑ Fuji X-E2 with the XF 23mm F1.4 R lens.
↑ X-Pro1 with the XF 23mm F1.4
After that, we went to check out the Zeiss lenses. Like the Fuji reps, the people at Zeiss were extremely friendly, accommodating, down to earth, and knowledgable. My friend wanted to check out a bunch of lenses for her 6D, and the rep had no problems letting her demo their fantastic glass for as long as she wanted to. The rep explained to her what were the highlights of each lens, and was completely patient with my friend, answering any questions she had.
The first lens my friend tried out was the 85mm F1.4 Planar. I’ve never played with this lens in person but the build quality is definitely top notch. This lens is all glass. If I owned a Canon DSLR, I’d save up all my money for the Zeiss stuff lol. My friend’s photos with this lens look great.
Next up was the 100mm F2 Makcro Planar. The rep said this was her preferred lens over the 85mm F1.4 for portraits. My friend tried it, and I was blown away by the images. The bokeh was absolutely perfect…there was definitely a bit of a glow from the photos, and I’m hoping my friend buys this lens in the future, so MAYBE I could borrow it out from time to time :). My friend tried a few more lenses but the two that I mentioned were my favorite. These lenses are expensive but on build quality alone, these lenses are worth it. After my friend finished checking out the Zeiss lenses for her 6D, I checked out some M Mount lenses.
I played with a couple of lenses but the one lens that surprised me most was the 50mm F1.5 Sonnar. It’s not a new lens but it was the first time that I played with it, and it is tiny! I tried it out, and the images look great but it’s the size of this lens that attracts me most, making it a lens that I really have to add to my collection in the future :). I love Leica lenses but I’ve said this before; I think some of their lenses are getting a bit too big. I still have my 35 Summicron Version 4, and it is tiny compared to my ASPH version. Something like the Sonnar, which is fast, performs very well optically, yet is also small would be perfect.
Next, I played with the Zeiss Touit 50mm F2.8 Macro lens for the Fuji X Series. The rep was explaining to me that the lens was a prototype, so focusing was a bit slower but it is definitely a very promising lens. It focuses very closely, and the image quality looks fantastic.
↑ X-Pro1 with the Zeiss Touit 50mm F2.8 Macro.
↑ Zeiss Otus 55mm F1.4
We checked out so many other booths at the PhotoPlus Expo from companies like Nikon, Canon, ThinkTank, and Sony but the booths mentioned above, were the booths that we spent the most time at. I did get to play with the new Sony A7r, which was awesome. Overall, PhotoPlus Expo was fun. I can’t wait till the next one :). If any of you live in New York City, and haven’t gone yet, you should go to the PhotoPlus Expo tomorrow. There is a lot of cool stuff. Take care, everyone!
↑ Sony a7
↑ The Nikon booth at the PhotoPlus Expo.
↑ Candy at the Nikon booth.
↑ More from the Nikon booth.
↑ One more from the Nikon booth (one of the biggest booths in the PhotoPlus Expo).
↑ Samsung booth.
wish i were there,haha
Hey Meng,
yeah, you would’ve loved it. They had all the Fujis there lined up for you to play with :).
hello patrick, I believe i would love it too, i do go to some exibition in malaysia and like it, this is so much bigger,haha…but one thing,there are always someone there to give you pressure,haha…..not only fuji, omd em1,sony a7/a7r and so on…can’t wait to actually try them out,haha…cant afford them though,haha
Hey Meng,
It was actually pretty cool! No pressure…they had a lot of stuff to try out. I ended up trying out a lot of new stuff! I even got to play with the 23mm F1.4. I went with a friend, and she even ended up buying a new bag :).