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An open letter to producers of photography equipment

An open letter to producers of photography equipment
1 March
2016 10:41
Arkadiusz Olech

We would like to share with you our appeal to the producers of the photographic equipment.

We've just returned from CP+ fair in Japan. We went there with a lot of enthusiasm, hoping we would be able to share with our Readers impressions concerning new products. Let's face it, this year so far has been very abundant as every producer has showed a camera or a lens which can make hearts of photography fans beat faster.

Still we return very disappointed. These were not photographic equipment fairs but a showroom with preproduction models and mockups. All products which interested us were safeguarded against taking photos with them or saving any files from them on your own memory card. Olympus and Fujifilm companies were an exception to that rule; they had managed to make their new products available to us long before the fairs so we could test them, taking a lot of sample shots.

Travelling several thoustand kilometers just to write how a particular camera or lens looks like or how it fits your hand is completely counterproductive. Taking photos - that's our passion. We, like our Readers, are interested in practical tests of new products. Lack of devices advanced enough to be used and tested is a huge slip-up of the exhibitors. If such a tactics is going to be continued we, the journalists, won't attend your fairs and won't write about them. It is a bleak scenario and, I suppose, nobody would want it, neither our Readers, nor journalists nor the producers themselves. After all the more is written about your product the better.

There is still the Photokina before us this year and we would like to urge all players on the photography market to treat the participants of these fairs, the journalists and photography fans alike, in a serious way. Please, prepare devices which actually work and can be tested on the spot. Thank you.