Is there anything left to announce at PMA?
The United States' largest photography show, hosted by the Photo Marketing Association, starts this Sunday, but it seems like all the major manufacturers have already announced their products.
At noon Pacific time on Sunday, the Photo Marketing Association will kick off its PMA show with a traditional "sneak peek" for the press. But it's also a tradition for most of the companies to make their new-product announcements beforehand, leaving very little sneaky about the peeking.
That holds true again this year: we've already posted previews of models from Canon, Fujifilm, HP(!), Nikon (including a full review of the just-announced
It's always possible that we could be in for some surprises. For instance, Sony is holding a press conference on Sunday and there's speculation that the company's first interchangeable-lens cameras are on the bill.
But aside from that, we don't expect much. Other rumors--such as for new Panasonic Micro Four Thirds models--are for announcements in March or beyond. There's talk of a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark IV for next week, but a full-frame model like that would make a bigger splash as a prelude or part of the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) show in early March.
So given how little news we're expecting out of the actual show, rather than expending our usual efforts of trolling the show floor for news leftovers, this year we opted to save our travel pennies, perhaps to spend them on this year's Photokina show in Germany, and pass on physically attending PMA 2010. We'll know in a few days if our gamble paid off.