“These worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all of the beaches of the Earth” – Carl Sagan. Only a few things are as beautiful as the sight of a clear star-studded night sky. What is even better is to be able to see celestial bodies which are otherwise impossible to witness with our naked eyes. Thanks to technology, astro photographers over the years have been able to capture detailed images of deep space objects adding to our limited idea of the universe.

Motorcycling as a genre has powerful synergy with Photography. At Royal Enfield, they understand and hence, they curated Astral Ride – a seven day excursion for photography enthusiasts. In the first edition of Astral Ride which happened in October 2019, aspiring photographers from around the country rode across the Himalayas to the Indian Astrological Observatory at Hanle in Ladakh riding their #REHimalayan to learn the meaning of astro photography. With professional guidance provided to amateurs that ride Royal Enfields, this ride has been perfect for expanding the scope of knowledge of photography, especially Astro photography. Like the Himalayan Odyssey, Astral Ride is Royal Enfield’s way of organising a riding experience which was infused with life-changing photography destinations and a classroom full of throttle riders learning how to capture the night sky.

Having said that, Royal Enfield has been endlessly encouraging its community of riders to explore different aspect of motorcycling and curate experiences that last for a lifetime.

Photo Credits – Royal Enfield 

It is appropriately said that passion is food for the soul. Being passionate keeps everyone energised and helps them become the best version of themselves. So how would you best find a way to express your love towards your passion? Well, Ravi Hongal a photographer from Belgaum, Karnataka built a camera-shaped home and not only that, he has even named his three sons, Canon, Nikon and Epson. If this is not love for passion, then we surely wonder what is!

Ravi Hongal who stays in Belgaum, Karnataka is a photographer by passion. Since childhood, photography was his passion and his love for cameras increased as he grew up. He would carry his ‘Pentax’ camera out to the nearby rural areas to capture images back then. Soon, photography became his passion and after that, he started a business into it.  

By building a camera house, Ravi has made the biggest attraction in Belgaum which is worth over ₹70 lakhs. His whole house is designed as a camera. While the front exterior is made with a lens, flash, reel, a memory card, and a viewfinder, the interiors have ceilings and walls designed as various parts of a camera. The lens of the camera-shaped home is a window. And Ravi named his house as ‘Click’.

Ravi Hongal from Karnataka showed his love for photography through his camera-shaped house. And now his house has become a leading attraction in Belgaum City. During the day time, it stands tall and takes a lot of attention. And during the night time, the yellow and white lights make it unique and beautiful.

Image Source: The News Minute

After intensive consultation, Koelnmesse GmbH has finally made a decision to call off the Photokina 2020, which was going to be held from 27^thto 30^th May 2020. The next Photokina will be held from 18^th to 21^st May 2022. The Imaging Innovation Conference will not celebrate its premier this year as planned, though a new date will be announced soon.

The managing team of Koelnmesse has planned not to create any own events on the part of Koelnmesse until the end of June 2020. This decision is supported by the crisis management team of the City of Cologne, which also suggested in its meeting on 18.03.2020 to cancel the trade fairs deu to COVID-19 outbreak.

This also happens against the background of the agreement reached on 16.03.2020 between the German federal government and the governments of the German states, laying down common guidelines for dealing with the coronavirus epidemic and explicitly including the general closure of trade fairs and exhibitions. This impairs the planning security for Koelnmesse and the participants of the trade fairs in Cologne far beyond the scope of the current scenarios. With this early announcement, Koelnmesse wants to give its exhibitors and visitors planning security.

The decision not to host the next edition of photokina until May 2022 was made with in view of several factors: Even before the appearance of the coronavirus, the imaging market was already subject to strongly dynamic movements. This trend will now gain momentum and must be factored into plans for the upcoming photokina. Added to this is the fact that our customers’ resources are already under heavy strain in 2021 – as a result of general economic trends as well as rescheduled events on the global trade fair calendar. The orientation towards 2022 gives everyone involved time enough to design the next photokina with an eye to the needs of the market, and of our exhibitors and visitors.

Kai Hillebrandt, Chairman of the Photo Industry Association said “It goes without saying that PIV completely stands behind the decision taken by Koelnmesse to cancel photokina 2020. The health of exhibitors and visitors is top priority at the moment. As the conceptual sponsor of photokina, we will do our utmost to assist the Koelnmesse with the planning of the next edition of photokina.”

All India Photographic Trade and Industry Association (AIPTIA) organised and conducted its mega event, Consumer Electronic Imaging Fair 2020 shortly known as CEIF-2020, from January 8-10, 2020 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai 400063, with great display and brilliancy. CEIF 2020 was the 28th Photo Imaging Exhibition and was rated to be one of the top Photographic and Imaging exhibitions around the globe. Its opening function took place at 9.30 A.M. on 8^th January with formal lamp-lighting. More than 150 exhibitors from India and abroad including major manufacturers, importers and distributors and suppliers of Photo Imaging and related products were present among the gathering.

The opening ceremony was attended by Haruto Iwata – Managing Director, Fujifilm India, Nimesh Thakkar – DI Marketing Department, Sony India Pvt. Ltd, Appa Durai – Country head – Hewlett-Packard, Ashok Pahwa – Business Manager Commercial Business, – India & amp, Srilanka, Hewlett- Packard, Amit Saraf – Managing Director , IMS Mercantile, Nitin Goyal – CEO – Tamron India, Anurag Kumar – Deputy General Manager Memory business, Samsung India Pvt. Ltd, along with the team members of AIPTIA.

Jayesh Mehta, President of AIPTIA welcomed the exhibitors and visitors. He briefly addressed the audience on the role of AIPTIA in bringing out the exhibition of such a great importance. He expressed that CEIF offers visitors an essential platform to let them know about the latest market evolution and exchange ideas about the upcoming business strategies, which makes it a different event for the Imaging Sector. Shri.Chandrakant Shah, Hon. Secretary stated the mixture of exhibitors and informed that all efforts had been put in to ensure the comfort and safety of exhibitors and visitors during the exhibition. The Guests of Honour happily rewarded the efforts of the office team members and members of the managing committee of AIPTIA in supplying the market place for the Industry and Trade through CEIF. Shri. Hemant Bhavsar, Vice President proposed the Vote of Thanks. The inauguration completed with Bell ceremony resonating the air with bright note.

CEIF 2020 was distributed across an area of 15,000 sqm and was open for three days. The fair had over 35000 of foot-falls. The fair draw in sizeable crowds/visitors from different states of the Country, alongside visitors from neighbouring countries also visited the fair. Also, one got an chance to meet face to face with startup entrepreneurs, imaging researchers and technological consultants to get a clean classification of the imaging industry. CEIF 2020 had all the major multinational companies, along with some of the well known Indian distributors, offering their advanced camera and photography products, gadgets, and accessories at the fair. The major companies exhibited were Sony, Fujifilm, Hewlett – Packard, Zeiss, Tamron, Epson, Samsung, Konica Minolta, Kodak Alaris, Manfrotto, IMS Mercantiles, Nikita Distributors, Nikon, Noritsu, Technova, Sunlight Industries, Colo Color, Foto Centre, Red Moments etc., to name a few. Additionally, to the imaging industry products, this time visitors observed numerous new section coming for the first time. In an interview, during the Fair, Shri. Jayesh Mehta, President, AIPTIA disclosed that while the imaging industry is going through functional changes, it has in many ways severely impacted CEIF too, given its top position as the Indian industry’s leading trade fair. Believing the fact that the camera sales are dropping, the affirmative part is the need for the enjoyment with photography and sharing of pictures go on to sky rocket, thanks to the growing digital Imaging Product. The growth is express by the effort of the younger generations’ fascination with mobile imaging and sharing images on social media platforms. The growth in this process in the number of pictures being captured truly means that for the success of the imaging industry, it is built-in for the segregation of mobile, motion and digital imaging as the new cause of growing and moving towards delivering of services. Chandrakant Shah, Hon. Secretary, AIPTIA, stated that the mixture of product display, networking happening at the fair and knowing the imaging innovations surely makes CEIF 2020, a very extraordinary event which amused one and all. CEIF 2020 concluded the Fair for visitors with absolute spirit of having visited an useful and informative exhibition.

With CP+ cancelled due to the Coronavirus scare, number of launches haven’t been able to be executed as envisioned. Canon India has launched the new EOS 850D which features Dual Pixel CMOS AF, EOS Intelligent Tracking and Recognition in Optical viewfinder and high speed Auto Focus (iTR AF) for face detection and 4K video recording for crisp and smooth footage.

The camera will be available for sales in India in April 2020 and the price for the same isn’t announced yet. However it is priced at $749 (body only) and $899 (with kit lens) in the international market. The estimated price is India is expected to be around Rs. 60,000.

Canon says that the 850D is ideal for photographers looking to acquire new skills and upgrade from an entry-level beginner model to mid-segment with high end functions and operability. The feature packed camera will enable users to capture clear, sharp and precise images and record high quality videos.

Commenting on the launch Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India said, “With the launch of our latest marvel EOS 850D, we want to provide the photography enthusiasts with an affordable product to further upgrade their skills in their photography journey. We are confident that our latest offering will enable us to expand our consumer base in the imaging industry and increase our foothold in the segment.”

Speaking about the new product, Mr. C Sukumaran, Director, Consumer System Products & Imaging Communication Products highlighted that, “With the launch of our new EOS 850D, we want to address the evolving requirements of users and further expand the imaging industry. The EOS 850D offers a 24.1-megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor, EOS intelligent tracking and 4K video recording for superior image and video quality. We are hopeful that EOS 850D will receive positive response from users and inspire them to explore newer possibilities in the imaging space.”

CP+ and World Mobile Congress Cancelled on Coronavirus scare

Increases importance to Photokina 2020?

With the world in frenzy over the coronavirus epidemic, some of the biggest shows globally have been cancelled on safety and security concerns. Two of the biggest shows in the photography and mobile segments, CP+ in Japan (scheduled to start from 27^th February) and the Mobile World Congress in Spain (scheduled to start from 24^th February) have been called off.

But what makes things interesting in the photography world now is the increased focus on Photokina 2020? With Koelnmesse turning a new leaf by making the show an annual affair and starting on 27^th May this year, does this cancellation throw light on Photokina as an important global event for the year? Number of new products were expected to be introduced at the CP+ and WMC shows this year by some of the biggest manufacturers in the industry.

With growing feelings from global visitors to Photokina that the show is becoming more of a regional show, the current situation puts the light back on the worlds premier photographic show again, atleast for this year. There is no indication from CIPA, the organizers of CP+ if there has been another date scheduled yet. 

But with the Photokina 2020 show scheduled in May this year, it is expected that the world would’ve put the virus scare behind them by then. 

In a statement CIPA President, Masaya Maeda said that given there is no effective treatment or containment measures to deal with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we have chosen to cancel CP+2020 because we put top priority on the health and safety of visitors and exhibitors. The event was originally scheduled to be held over 4 days at PACIFICO Yokohama from February 27. 

CP+ is a trade show for consumers. The main feature of this show is that visitors can actually handle the newest camera and related equipment to get a feel for how they operate. The event attracts around 70,000 unspecified visitors and therefore we cannot completely eliminate the risk of infection. The CIPA believes it is important to avoid such risk at all cost. While it is truly regrettable, we have decided to cancel this year’s show. 

After a long time, Nikon has shared the details of its latest flagship DSLR, the D6. Rumors of a new Nikon camera were running uncontrolled throughout most of 2019, with the camera maker giving a stop to those in September 2019 by letting us know that the D6 was in process.

Five months forward and the highly awaited Nikon D6 has finally been officially announced. With a amazing spec sheet, the Nikon D6 is all set to give the Canon EOS 1D X Mark III plenty of competition. The Nikon D6 comes with a 20.8MP sensor, providing the same resolution as the D5, but it now comes with a new Expeed 6 processor and provides up to 14fps burst shooting with ‘E-type’ lenses. Switch into live view, and the D6 will shoot silently at up to 10.5fps at full resolution, photographers can also go for 30fps for 8MP files and 60fps for 2MP files if required. The native ISO range covers values of 100 to 102,400, with an increase range up to 3.2 million. Possibly the biggest change for Nikon users is an all-new autofocus system. Though the total number of focus points has went down from 153 to 105, now all the focus points can be selected and cross-type, and each uses a ‘triple-sensor arrangement. Nikon also claims that the detection area for single focus points and groups is enlarged, so focus can still be attained even if the subject changes slightly outside the zone in use. In terms of video, the D6 proceeds to offer 4K/30p recording, but now provides with focus peaking and an option for MP4 recording.

The D6 is Nikon’s first professional DSLR which will not support Compact Flash media, like the D5. The D6 will come with dual XQD / CFExpress card slots. There have been some other changes as well, including a maximum exposure time of 30 minutes, the choice to shoot different quality or sizes of JPEGs to different cards. The Nikon D6 also offers Wi-Fi with Bluetooth and GPS.. The D6 has gigabit ethernet like the D5, but Nikon is claiming 15% faster transfer speeds. Weight has increased a little, from 1405g to 1440g including battery and memory cards. The Nikon D6 will be available April of 2020 with a suggested retail price of $6499.95 USD.

Canon India recently launched EOS-1D X Mark III in Delhi, India. The flagship product from the Canon EOS 1D series, which can be easily known by the camera design. Canon claims EOS-1D X Mark III carry together the best of technology to captures amazing image quality and performance for professionals across all photography and videography form. The EOS-1D X Mark III features the latest advancements and innovations in digital imaging technology making it truly deserving of the ‘flagship’.

Carrying forward the inheritance built by its forerunner EOS-1DX Mark II, the launch of the new EOS-1D X Mark III is intent at challenging the growing imaging section such as wedding, wildlife, fashion, sports and film-making. This premium flagship camera is example for supplying the creative aspirations of professional photographers and videographers by presenting best in class images at an fastest speed. The new technology offers an chance to experience invention like never before. With its capabilities to capture images in dark surroundings coupled with capturing the perfectly timed shot, the camera provides the highest possible image quality in all shooting conditions. The EOS 1DX Mark III comes with Face + Eye + Head detection features which offers an unmatched subject tracking during live view still and video shooting, making it the fastest and best AF System DSLR full frame camera available in the market.

Canon 1Dx Mark III is priced at an MRP of INR 575,995/- (incl. of taxes) for the body, including 512 GB CF Express Card and Reader, the EOS-1D X Mark III will be available mid-February onwards at select retail outlets across the country.