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Focus On Imaging - Europe's biggest annual imaging show - draws to a close today.
The ThinkCamera team went to visit the show for a couple of days to see what this year was all about, who was there and of course what camera-related goodies were being shown.
The show was comprised of over 200 exhibitors across a huge 17,000ft space in Birmingham's NEC.
The range of exhibitors this year covered a wide range of the market - from cameras, studio and lighting through to software, printing and finishing among exhibitions, talks and training.
To sum up the key strength of the show - professional companies with professional people and advice.
Be you an enthusiast or a pro there were staff on hand that knew their kit; should you be contemplating investing in anything new this was a good opportunity to roll out the questions and physically get your hands on (given a little patience in wading through the crowds and waiting at stands).
Perhaps surprising was the disproportion of camera manufacturers - over 75% of last years' visitors had a product interest in cameras as their purpose for attendance - but with only Nikon, Fujifilm and Olympus exhibiting this year it does beg the question as to whether consumers and professionals alike were satisfied with such a range on show.
Whilst this was not unexpected it left plenty of time to go and check out what else was on show, and there was indeed a whole lot of stuff!
Professional development was certainly at the forefront - a range of pay-per-session talks from Jeff Ascough and Malcom Mathieson - “Making Money From Weddings” and “Making Money From Your Camera in 2007” respectively - offer you the opportunity to speak to those guys that know how to pack out their wallets with cash. If that's your thing.
On the other hand, should you want to save yourself the odd twenty quid, there were plenty of free hands-on training sessions and talks at multiple stands across software, studio lighting, colour correction and printing.
It was refreshing to take a break and get to look at some pictures, which is what it's all about.
Travel Photographer of the Year had a large exhibition stand full of some stunning prints, just the sort of inspiration that should make anyone want to pick up a camera and get shooting.
Of course there were plenty of industry professionals to bump into too - Andy Rouse was around the Kata and National Geographic stands, a whole load of professionals were dishing out talks and demonstrations and were more than happy to chat away.
Should you be thinking of attending next year then there's certainly a lot to see, and if you can plan your own informative or profitable itinerary then it should be well worth the trip.
Whether this will have been the busiest and most successful show to date waits to be seen, watch this space.
