My Dad and I went down to the PhotoPlus Expo in NYC yesterday and had an absolute blast! We left early morning and in this article I will bring you along for the adventure courtesy of the New Sony RX100 III and my Sony A7r armed with the 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor-X lens!
I wanted to have the full frame Sony A7r for lens testing purposes and it worked out really well as you see below! We checked out pretty much everything at Sony and then moved on to the competition and accessories that were everywhere. Lots of new gear this year as well of all kinds that I will share with you below including links to the various new products and so on.
Here is a taste of what went down in our day:
Meeting Brian Smith, QX1 Lens Camera, Otus Lenses, FE 28-135mm f/4 OSS Powerzoom Lens, Killer Multi-rotor Copters of all kinds, amazing Cinematography Rigs, Tripods, Camera Straps, New Lighting Solutions, T-Shirt Printer, Curved Ultra-Wide Monitors, and much more from the day in NYC. We also went to the Empire State building. I’m telling you it was an awesome day and I got some great photos and video to help make it like you were their with us, so please read on…
The Departure
It was early and a bit brisk out when we departed from my parents house about 8:30am. My Dad offered to drive and I was totally down with that as I suck in the city and he knows his way around well.
Click Photos for Higher Res Versions!!
A few snaps from the drive and walk to the PhtotoPlus Expo 2014 at the Javitz Center.
We crossed the George Washington Bridge to get onto the island of Manhattan.
Parking was a brutal wait!
Tower cranes are amazing and we saw a ton of them as it seems construction is everywhere.
The Jacob Javitz Center.
Meeting Brian Smith
Next I was lucky enough to met the amazingly talented Sony Artisan and Pulitzer Prize-winning Bryan Smith (Click Here)! I was amazed to see him sitting by himself at a little table just on the outskirts of the Sony area, which was packed by the way! I immediately recognized him and walked right over, even though I was really nervous. He was the nicest guy you could imagine and gave me a warm welcome. I told him was the SonyAlphaLab guy, and I think he might have heard of it. Either way awesome!
I really wish I was prepared to speak with him honestly, because I basically just complimented him his amazing work and then was at a loss for words. Star Struck? We did discuss the awesomeness of Sony for a few minutes and I got the impression he was extremely intelligent which I totally expected. He also had had a depth to him that I was intrigued by and drawn to. Meeting somebody of this caliber photography talent was really awesome, and perhaps I might be fortunate enough to get an interview with him at some point via skype or better yet, in person 😉 I would clearly be more prepared for that though! Check out some of his latest work at BrianSmith.com
The Sony Booth
After running into Brian, my Dad and I ventured over to the Sony booth where lots of very knowledgeable folks were letting people play with all the goods! Oh yeah, and they had the Otus 55mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4 with a Metabones IV electronic lens adapter they let me play with 🙂 I also saw the 28-135mm in action and the new QX1 interchangeable lens camera module. I asked for the 16-35mm lens, but I was told I could not shoot with it, because it was not an official copy. No big deal, because the Otus f/1.4 lenses were a huge treat to try out on my A7r!!
First look of the Sony booth area:
Check out this bad-ass Tali H500 Carbon Fiber Copter with a RX100 mounted underneath.
Joe Brady was giving a talk at the time and showing off some of his incredible photography on the killer 4k TV’s behind him. Some really impressive work and I overheard a killer tip from Joe, “know your gear” 😉
Check out the Sony ILCE-QX1 Mirrorless Lens Style Camera:
The 28-135mm f/4 OSS Power Zoom lens (selp28135) in action:
I could not get my hands on it, but some other gentleman had the opportunity, so I took snap or two for photo journalism purposes 😉
The Zeiss Otus Lenses
The Zeiss Otus lenses are regarded as the best in the world by many and I was fortunate enough to try them out on my Sony A7r via the Metabones IV lens adapter that Sony had ready!
Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus Distagon T* Lens, Metabones IV and my Sony A7r:
A few Sample Photos with 55mm Otus.
This Sony rep was awesome and I wish I had his name!
Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 Otus Distagon T* Lens, Metabones IV and my Sony A7r:
A Sample Photo of my Dad with amazing 85mm Otus lens.
One of Vivienne Gucwa who was speaking at the time, and also showing off some awesome work!
PhotoPlus Expo 2014 – New Gear
Check out some of the New Products and other Awesome Gear available these days!!
The Atomos Ninja 2 Video Recorder all pimped out on the Full Frame Sony A99 utilizing the Clean HDMI Output and 10-bit 4.2.2 ProRes quality recording options..
Lots of Multi-Rotor solutions on display including the DJI S900.
FreeFly Systems (Click Here) had some incredible products including the Freefly CineStar 8 was the most amazing fly machine I saw at the event! These guys had some of the most amazing rigs I have ever seen personally, and the quality was outstanding, innovative, and looked cool too. Really knowledgeable friendly people as well willing to let us play with the stuff and touch it 🙂
The Tero was the coolest camera rig I have ever seen! Engineering on another level and has to be fun to drive, come on!
Check out the Movi Controller
And the Movie M5 Rig I believe, and again the same incredible engineering plus quality!
If I had the money and was going into this field, these are the guys I would look at for sure based on what I saw at the show. The rigs are very expensive, but not when you consider the top quality you are getting!
The Cinestar 8 copter as shown goes for ~$13,000 or so the guy was saying and the the Movi Controller is ~$440o.
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More Gear
I came across these really interesting camera straps and it turns out they are all made by hand. Really nice quality also, but I can’t find the card I picked up for them at the moment, sorry…
NovoFlex had some really nice products that I was not aware of!
The MagicBall caught my eye and I must say it was a unique experience that I could see getting used to for sure!
The Epson F2000 T-Shirt printer was impressive and about ~$20,000 if you are in the market.
LG (Click Here) was showing off a Worlds First 34″ ultra Wide screen monitor and wow it was impressive to see. Oh yeah, they have a curved model as well that looks incredible twined together for a parabolic effect.
A interesting lighting solution from LEDLightCube.com which features a strobe and constant light in one unit!
WhiteWall.com had an amazing display with gigantic HD Metal Glossy and all sorts of other style prints.
Some motorized camera sliders were also on display.
Empire State Building – Sony RX100M3
My Dad and I decided to take a walk up to the Empire State Building, because I have never been up to the viewing deck and really wanted to see the view. Weather was pretty good so we went for it.
This first photo is actually from last year’s show (Click Here) courtesy of my Nex-6 and 18-55mm kit lens. We also walked past the building last year, but regrettably did not go up.
Click Photos for Higher Res Versions!!
The rest of these images are courtesy of the Sony RX100M3 which I am currently reviewing. Here is inside the building on the way through the stalls that weave all over the place.
The view was amazing and I can only say worth every penny of the ridiculous charge! The depth and scale of the height is so awe inspiring and horrifying at the same time 😉 I felt it in my knees big time and my hands were actually sweating! I felt like I was going to fall through the fence when I was sticking the camera through for the pano shot! Clearly I am afraid of heights…
Sony RX100M3 Auto HDR Sample Photos
The Observation Deck.
Zoomed in all the way to the effective ~70mm.
Looking up and down verticals.
After this we went to the Intrepid Air Craft Carrier Museum, but I will save that for another post, because I have a lot of photos and this article is long enough already 😉 Check out the forums here for some Intrepid Photos >>
Saw another Tower Crane on the way back to the car.
The Ride Home
We were both pretty tired and hungry after all that walking and viewing of amazing history, engineering, and architecture, so we stopped at this really good restaurant called Houston’s on the way home. They have awesome fall off the bone ribs that never disappoint and a loaded baked potato to die for as you will see below.
The Ribs and Loaded Baked Potato 🙂
Destroyed it all 🙂
Closing remarks
Thanks for checking in and coming alone for the ride to the PhotoPlus Expo 2014 in NYC with us 😉 It was a lot of fun and I was very happy with the performance of both cameras in all regards.
PhotoPlus Expo Trip from 2018 >>
Jay
Support/ Gear Links:
Sony RX100 III for $798 US @ BHPhoto
Sony A7r for $2098 w/ $200 Instant Rebate @ BHPhoto
