Chuck Westfall Technical Education Award

4th ANNUAL LUCIE TECHNICAL AWARDS HONOR THE YEAR’S PHOTO-RELATED INNOVATIONS AND INTRODUCE CHUCK WESTFALL TECHNICAL EDUCATION AWARD

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo, Jacob Javits Convention Center, NYC

August 16, 2018 – (Los Angeles, CA) - The fourth annual Lucie Technical Awards, an initiative of the Lucie Foundation and sister-program of The Lucie Awards, will take place in New York City on Thursday, October 25, 2018, during PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo, at The Jacob Javits Convention Center, in New York City, 5:30pm reception, 6:30pm awards presentation. Held just prior to Lucie Awards weekend, the acclaimed Lucie Technical Awards embraces a large and critical segment of the photographic community. The Lucie Technical Awards aim to honor the large and small companies, as well as the individuals who have advanced the photographic industry in a particular year. All-inclusive, these awards intend to encompass such items from cameras, lenses, lighting, and accessories, to printers, software and more.

This year for the first time, the Lucie Technical Awards will be presenting the Chuck Westfall Technical Education Award, named in honor of the legendary Canon spokesperson who became “teacher of technology” to journalists and the photo industry in general, for more than 35 years. Despite losing his long battle with cancer earlier this year, Chuck Westfall remained a transcendent, authentic spirit who loved photography and the photo industry, and it loved him right back. This distinguished honor is awarded to an influential voice in the photographic industry who displays an extraordinary commitment to, and love for the art and technology of photography. The recipient will have demonstrated a tireless effort to share their extensive knowledge with others, either through interactions with the media, written or published documents, and public appearances and presentations.

Hossein Farmani, the founder of The Lucie Technical Awards, commented, “For the 4th year in a row, we spotlight an ever-growing segment of our beloved photographic community by embracing those whose penchant for the technological lifts up the talented image-makers, many of whom we honor just a few days later at The Lucie Awards. It is with great pleasure that we add the Chuck Westfall Technical Education Award, to the festivities.” The 16th Annual Lucie Awards will follow, on Sunday, October 28, at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Experts in the field of photography as well as members of the public can contribute to the nomination process with the goal to recognize and reward deserving companies and individuals whose efforts have advanced the careers of so many image-makers. They all share a passion for creating extraordinary imagery through innovative technology.

In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award, the categories include:

Camera:

Best Camera Drone
Best Instant Camera
Best Action Camera
Best Small Format System Camera
Best Full Frame System Camera
Best Medium Format System Camera
Best Fixed-Lens Compact Camera

Camera Accessory:

Best Camera
Bag Best Tripod
Best Speedlight
Best Industrial Design

Lens:

Best Wide Angle Prime Lens
Best Wide Angle Zoom Lens
Best Standard Prime Lens
Best Medium Range Zoom Lens
Best Telephoto Prime Lens
Best Telephoto Zoom Lens
Best Special Purpose Lens

Lighting & Studio:

Best Light Modifier
Best Continuous Light Source
Best Portable Battery Powered Studio Light
Best Studio Strobe

Printing:
Best Inkjet Printer

Software:

Best Photo Editing Software
Best Software Plugin

Storage:

Best Memory Card
Best Backup Solution

With the invaluable advice and guidance of the esteemed Lucie Technical Awards Advisory Board, these awards will honor the people and companies who have assisted and inspired so many on their photographic journeys. These awards, plus The Lucie Awards bestowed later in the same week, together create an even more inclusive photographic community.

Ticket availability for The Lucie Technical Awards will be announced shortly. For the complete list of awards and to nominate, please see http://tech.lucies.org/nominate/ for additional information.

About Lucie Technical Awards – The Lucie Technical Awards aim to honor the large and small companies, as well as the individuals who have advanced the photography industry in a given year. All-inclusive, these awards encompass cameras, lenses, lighting, accessories, printers, software and more.

About Lucie Foundation - Lucie Foundation’s mission is to honor master photographers, discover and cultivate emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of photography worldwide. In addition to Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA), the foundation presents year-round programming to support high school students through SNAPSHOP!, emerging and professional photographers through the Lucie Scholarship Program and master photographers through The Lucie Awards. Lucie Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable foundation. www.luciefoundation.org

Guest Blog: PhotoPlus New York - 2017 Trip Report

by Natalia Stone - Travel and Landscape Photographer
http://nataliastone.com & http://instagram.com/natalia_stone

Nikon's D850

Out of the gate, the Nikon D850 comes with a ton of firepower. D850 boasts a 45.7MP Sensor,
7fps burst shooting - great for action photography, the newest EXPEED 5 high performance image processor which should handle the increased megapixels while still retaining the fast write speed.

If you are into time lapses, the D850 has a built-in 4K time lapse creation. If you love shooting
video, it has 4K/30p or 1080/120p slow-motion capabilities while still retaining high performance.

All in all a very impressive beast of a DSLR camera.

Click here to see Ron's Review of the Nikon D850.

Sony’s A7RIII

Sony ‘s A7 series has been on top of the mirror less camera game and the new Sony A7Riii doesn't disappoint. As an owner of a now older model Sony A7Rii, I couldn’t wait to play around with the next iteration and boy was it awesome. Sony has made a multitude of improvements - much better focusing, 10 fps continuous shooting not to mention the 15 EV dynamic range that rivals that of Nikon’s D850. A7Riii also comes with a Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode which produces very high detail raw files. Not going to lie, I walked away thinking Ill be upgrading soon.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Lenses, Lenses, Lenses

So many new releases at the show this year, some of the highlights:

Zeiss Milvus 25mm f/1.4

This all new manual focus lens would be a great addition for a landscape photographer. Amazing
at capturing every crispy detail with edge to edge quality, perfect for those massive prints and the
‘wow’ effect. Any astrophotographer would very excited about a maximum aperture of 1.4 when
every stop of light makes a huge difference in producing the best images when shooting at night.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens

Sigma announced the new Ultra-fast 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens – super sharp with minimal
distortion - perfect for the high megapixels DSLRs like Nikon D850 I checked out earlier. If you
are a portrait photographer, you definitely want to check this one out!

Click here for Ron's Review.

Rokinon announces AF 35mm f/1.4 FE

I’ve using Rokinon manual lenses for night photography for a long time and absolutely love them
so it’s exciting for the company to be releasing more autofocus ones like the new AF 35mm f/1.4 FE .

This lens is perfect for full frame mirror less cameras, comes in a Sony E-mount for anyone
sporting an A7 series body from Sony and would be great for either portrait, landscape or astrophotography!

Click here to learn more at B&H

Epson SureColor P8000 – “Print your legacy”

Speaking of printing your work – check out this beast of a printer from Epson.
SureColor P8000 doesn't just look impressive, once you see the prints, they take your breath
away. Not for those on a shoe string budget, but worth the money for a serious professional.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Conclusion by Ron Martinsen

I'd like to thank Natalia for covering for me in New York this year. While I was too busy to make it, I was fortunate enough to have already reviewed a couple big products that headlined the show. I've also got the Sony A7RIII in the pipeline for review, so it looks like I'll be featuring the best of the show here after all!

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these archives from previous shows:

• PhotoPlus Expo New York 2016–Day 1
• PhotoPlus 2016 Gadget Report–Day 2
• PhotoPlus 2016 Gadget Report–Day 3
• PhotoPlus 2013 Summary
• PhotoPlus Expo 2012 Trip Report (Part 1 of 2)
• PhotoPlus Expo 2012 New Product News (Part 2 of 2)

Enjoy these and more on the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

PhotoPlus Expo New York 2016–Day 1

Today was a light day where on a small subset of exhibitors were on hand for the “Test Drive” event, but some of what I saw was very cool. Here are some of my favorites of the day:

Global Drone Union (GDU) Byrd  – Replace the gimbal, not the drone

This was a super cool drone that collapses up and is easy to carry, but it has a unique feature – you can mount different gimbals. What this means is that in the near future you can mount any camera up to 5 pounds including DSLR’s and point and shoots like the Sony RX100 IV.

While this drone does have the limitation that it can only travel up to 1000 meters from the user, FAA guidelines require line of site so this won’t be an issue. Instead, what people will love from this $849 drone (before the gimbal which should cost about $100) is that you can choose the device you want to use from major makers like Canon, Nikon and Sony, yet still have it control shooting via your phone app.

I’ll have more news on these early next year after it has fully matured, but all signs show that this is the drone many photographers have been waiting for. If you are someone who is fine with having a camera provided by the drone, then they offer that too as shown in the display image above.

DJI users will find the controls very familiar as there are ex DJI employees who worked together to make this product realize their dreams and ambitions about what a drone should be.

Mounting your phone is exactly like the DJI and the feel of the controls seems the same from a quality standpoint, but more intuitive from a practical standpoint.

VR is getting real

Ricoh was showing off the Theta SC 360 degree camera which is everything you like about the Theta S, but with a cost savings derived from not having an HDMI port. Aside from that, it’s the same lens and sensors so the final results are identical – at a lower price.

To really enjoy 360 cameras, VUZE was offering the 3D 360 degree VR camera which adds a whole new dimension to enjoying VR content:

Panono also showed off its unique 360 camera with demos of amazing shots achieved by tossing it in the air. Be careful though, as this device isn’t drop proof so if you toss it, you better catch it!

DxO One

I’ve been eager to try the DxO One out ever since I heard about them, so it was fun to finally see them in real life. It not only works great with your iPhone as shown above, it offers a wide selection of underwater housings to take a great camera and make it even more practical:

Unlike a GoPro, it offers a tiny LCD for the scenarios where your mobile phone isn’t attached as shown below:

Placing it in the housing is a simple operation that happens in seconds, so you don’t have to choose do I want an underwater version or not – you can have both as shown below:

And why stop at an underwater housing, when you can have cool filters to go on the end as shown below to help you realize your creative intent:

Ikan Gimbal Stabilizer

The best way to describe the Ikan gimbals that I saw would be to say they are intelligent gimbals designed for mobile phone cameras all the way up to DSLR’s. It’s a brilliant design that works incredibly well. Definitely check them out if you are looking to get smoother video.

Conclusion

Lots more to come in what promises to be a fun and exciting show this year.

Disclosure

If you purchase links found this article, I may make a commission.

PhotoPlus 2013 Summary

Photography legends - Douglas Dubler & Michel Tcherevkoff

I’ve been attending PhotoPlus for the past three years, but this was by far one of the best. It seems the economy is bouncing back, and so are the budgets of the big photography companies. As a result, the booths were impressive and the volume of new products coming out is incredible.

Lots of progress for ronmartblog.com

NEC displays 3 of my photos of its new 30" PA series display
Shown here using sRGB and Full Color Gamut at the same time with PIP mode

As an independent blogger, the biggest problem I have is getting enough recognition from the big photography companies so that I can be added as a trusted source for early release information. This year I think I’ve finally got the right contacts and agreements to make that happen, so I’m excited to be in a better place to have information for you as soon as embargo dates are reached.

Thank YOU for your support in growing this blog so I could finally make this happen with some of the hold out companies from the previous year.

Lot’s of hands on love

I had a blast playing around with the new cameras and am very eager to bring you my full reviews. Below is a quick photo summary of some of the products I was able to try out with the full attention of the respective camera makers technical and/or marketing representatives:

The new Sony α7 & α7R were the most frequently talked about products at the show

The Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 vs 50mm f/1.4 proved why it was bigger & more expensive

The Nikon AW1 proved to be a real underwater camera

Nikon D610 had my attention after the D600 captured my camera of the year title last year

The D5300 was so advanced that many speculated if other models would need a quick refresh to catch up

Fujifilm had me excited about their newest cameras

Fujifilm's Kayce Baker had some amazing prints that showed off the power of the x100s

Canon's only highlight was the firmware update for the 1D X,
but I was still excited as an owner of that camera

Conclusion

PhotoPlus is open to the public each year in late October in New York City. I highly recommend it as a it’s a place where you can learn about the latest gear and rub elbows with the who’s who of the photography business. It’s expensive, but if you do business in the photography industry it’s worth it.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• FIRST LOOK: Fujifilm X-E2 & X-Q1 (ISO 12,800)
• PRESS RELEASE: Canon Firmware Upgrades for the EOS-1D X AND EOS-1D C Digital SLR Cameras Deliver Improved Creative Control and Convenience
• New Nikon, Panasonic & Sony Cameras available for Pre-Order
• Nikon D610 NOW Shipping and in Limited Stock
• Have My Dream Fujifilm Cameras Arrived? (X-E2 & X-Q1)–Sample Images Gallery Link Included
• Deals Newsletter 10-23-2013 

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

Join Ron at B&H in New York on Oct 23, 2013

I will be doing a seminar again this year at the B&H Superstore in New York City on October 23rd at 10:00 AM Eastern during the week of the PhotoPlus Expo.

Click here to register for my event, and go to http://www.photoplusexpo.com to learn more about attending the biggest and best photography related conference in the country this year.