PhotoPlus Expo Is a Darn Good Computer Show Too -- for BSD, Linux, Mac, and Windows Users

. . . removable digital memory cards pretty much make digital cameras platform independent. That's because the major operating systems such as BSD, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, and UNIX can look at these cards as removable hard drives.

Mike Angelo -- 31 October 2005 (C) -- Page 1

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Executive Summary

PhotoPlus Expo is primarily for professional photographers. But, there is much there for computer people too.

There were plenty of great film cameras at PhotoPlus -- from top manufacturers such as Cannon, Fuji, Konica Minolta, Leica, Mamiya, Nikon, and Pentax -- and all sorts of camera and photography accessories too. But, much of the stuff at PhotoPlus Expo 2005 was computer stuff.

Nearly every major camera manufacturer has a digital camera line in addition to its film camera line. Kodak, Epson, and Microtek make only digital cameras. Moreover, now you can get nice digital cameras with good resolution, optical zoom, and decent memory for under $200.

Computer memory, digital media, jump-drive, and audio player manufactures Delkin, Kingston, Lexar, and Sandisk also were at PhotoPlus Expo. Speaking of digital memory such as SD (Secure Disk), CF (Compact Flash), and so forth, the removable digital memory cards pretty much make digital cameras platform independent. That's because the major operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows can look at these cards as removable hard drives.

Apple had one of the largest booths at PhotoPlus 2005. The Apple people were demonstrating their new Aperture image processing software

For computer users also interested in digital photography and image editing, there was plenty at PhotoPlus Expo 2005 to keep them busy. And there were lots of ideas for Christmas and winter holiday gifts also -- from inexpensive stocking stuffers to some very pricey stuff too.

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About the Author

Mike Angelo has written hundreds of published newspaper and magazine computer and technology articles. He has more than 40 years experience using solid-state, digital computers.

Mike has written lots of computer programs in assembly, BASIC, FORTRAN, machine, and several other languages -- on a variety of mainframe and desktop machines. He has designed and built some special purpose computers, and does PC upgrading and building. Mike also creates, designs, and maintains Web sites.

In 1993, Mike Angelo started writing a print newspaper computer column, About Computers. He has written articles for top-tier magazines including Byte, Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbook, DOS World, I-Way, Laptop Buyer's Guide & Handbook, Linux Journal, Maximize, MozillaQuest Magazine, PC Novice, and PC Today.

Despite Mike Angelo's extensive computer experience he has a real life and uses computers as tools. Therefore, he approaches his computer writing from the user's interest and point of view.

This year's annual PhotoPlus Expo was held at the Javits Center in New York City from October 20 through October 22. Of course there were plenty of great film cameras on display and being demonstrated at PhotoPlus -- and from some of the top film-camera manufacturers such as Cannon, Fuji, Konica Minolta, Leica, Mamiya, Nikon, and Pentax. There were all sorts of camera and photography accessories too.

But what impressed this writer was how much of the stuff at PhotoPlus Expo 2005 was computer stuff. Just a few years ago there were only a few manufactures of digital cameras.

At first the digital cameras were pricey, had low resolutions, no optical zoom, and not much memory. And they were a far cry from good amateur, let alone professional, quality.

Now it seems just about every major camera manufacturer has a digital camera line in addition to its film camera line. Moreover, now you can get nice digital cameras with good resolution, optical zoom, and decent memory for under $200 -- some less than $100. For not too much more you can get very nice digital cameras for talented amateurs. And now there also are some nice professional quality digital cameras too.

Some, such as Kodak, have migrated entirely from film cameras to digital cameras. And then companies one often thinks of as primarily computer companies such as Epson and Microtek also have digital cameras and projectors too.

When many people hear names such as Delkin, Kingston, Lexar, and Sandisk, they usually think of computer memory, digital media, jumpdrives, and audio players -- all computer stuff. Nevertheless, they all were at PhotoPlus 2005 too. Perhaps that's largely because digital cameras use digital (computer) memory.

Speaking of digital memory such as SD (Secure Disk), CF (Compact Flash), and so forth, the removable digital memory cards pretty much make digital cameras platform independent. That's because the major operating systems such as BSD, Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, and UNIX can look at these cards as removable hard drives. Please see our articles, The Microtek S1/D1 Digital Camera for the Linux, Mac, and Windows Platforms, The Lexar USB JumpDrive, and The SanDisk 512-MB SD Card and Ultra II Card Reader for Linux, Mac, and Windows, for more about that.

Digital photography today is a large part of the computer market. Part of that digital photography market is the software for downloading, editing, printing, saving, and storing digital photographs. There was lots of that at PhotoPlus 2005.

Printing and displaying digital photographs is part of today's digital photography market too. So, as you might expect there were lots of computer printers on display at PhotoPlus Expo 2005. Some of the printers were the all-in-one type that include both a scanner and printer in the same unit. There were lots of scanners too.

Apple had one of the largest, if not the largest, booth at PhotoPlus 2005. The Apple people were demonstrating their new Aperture image processing software -- of course they were showing Aperture on Apple computers running Mac OS. So, PhotoPlus 2005 also turned out to be a good show to see Apple computers and software at work -- and also play with that stuff too.

For computer users that also were interested in digital photography and image editing, there was plenty at PhotoPlus Expo 2005 to keep them busy for a day or two. And there were lots of ideas for Christmas and winter holiday gifts also -- from inexpensive stocking stuffers to some very pricey stuff too.

PhotoPlus Expo 2006 is scheduled a little later in the year next year -- November 2 through November 4, 2006.