Video: Nikon's Wireless Lighting System at Work!

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I'm sure Nikon had something a lot more creative in mind when they developed their Wireless Lighting System, but it proved to be a real godsend for our on-site product photography at the Spring 2005 PMA show. The SB-800 and SB-600 strobes look like standard on-camera flash units, but their capabilities go way beyond anything most of us would expect from such compact light heads. They have two amazing capabilities that combine to make for a portable lighting system of unparalleled flexibility. The first amazing trick is that they offer true TTL (through the lens) metering for wireless flash exposures, regardless of how many strobes you have slaved together for any given shot. The second, really amazing feature is that you can control the exposure and operating mode of up to three separate groups of flashes independently from the "master" SB-800 attached to your camera. Each group can have as many individual units in it as you'd like, with all members of a group sharing exposure and operating mode settings, as determined by the master. At PMA, we used an SB-800 and three SB-600 units and a folding, portable light box to shoot cameras and other products on the show floor. The flashes unfortunately did nothing for my mediocre photographic skills ;-) but did a wonderful job of illuminating the subjects. (This system is so good, it's enough to justify buying a new Nikon d-SLR just to be able to take advantage of it. - The Wireless LIghting System is supported by the Nikon D2H, Nikon D2X, and Nikon D70 (click the links to read our reviews of those cameras), as well as the just-announced D2Hs.) Check out this video for a brief intro to how the Wireless Lighting System works, and a look at how the whole rig was set up.

Note: The 10MB video can take a long time to load if you don't have broadband and a wired or high speed WiFi connection. (802.11b seems to produce very long load times.)

Video: Kodak EasyShare-One Camera/"Sharing Station"

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This is a product that we first saw back at the CES show in January, but it's since moved further along the development path, apparently on track for retail availability in June. Kodak's done an excellent job of focusing on what consumers actually do with their cameras, and the EasyShare One is the latest example of that. Designed for "Power Sharers" (think of families with a new baby, or the proverbial Soccer Mom emailing photos to the grandparents, etc), the EasyShare One is not only a 4-megapixel, 3x zoom digital camera, it's also equipped to become "Sharing Central", with 256 MB of internal memory (room for 1500 of your favorite photos), an optional WiFi connection, and the ability to browse your Kodak EasyShare Gallery (formerly Ofoto) albums, upload images, and email photos directly from within the camera... All without wires! The Canon Rebel XT (see below) is the product from the show that I expect to have the greatest commercial impact in the near term, but down the road, the EasyShare One points the way to a whole new level of sharing and interaction with your photos.

Note: The 13MB video can take a long time to load if you don't have broadband and a wired or high speed WiFi connection. (802.11b seems to produce very long load times.)

Video: Canon Digital Rebel XT

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Easily the most significant product to come out of PMA 2005 is the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It improves on the original Rebel by adding much-requested features, all in a smaller, lighter package. While many will focus on its 8 megapixel sensor as its most significant feature, there's a lot more to the new Digital Rebel XT than higher resolution. Check out our exclusive "video walkaround" by clicking on the image.

Note: The 8MB video can take a long time to load if you don't have broadband and a wired or high speed WiFi connection. (802.11b seems to produce very long load times.)

Video: Opening Day Reel

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Our second installation covers the HP PhotoSmart 8750 printer, the Konica Minolta Magicolor 2430 laser printer, the Sony DSC-H1 long zoom camera, Tokina Lighting, and TreasureKnit photo blankets.

Note: The 13MB video can take a LONG time to load if you don't have broadband and a wired or high speed WiFi connection. (802.11b seems to produce very long load times.)

Video: Sneak Peek Report

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Here's the first of what we hope will be a lot more videos to come. Dave and Shawn give you a behind-the-scenes peek at setup for the PMA show, and highlight a few interesting products we found at the Sneak Peek event! Covered are the LowePro CompuTrekker AW Plus, the Leica R9 Film/Digital SLR, the Gitzo Traveller tripod, and the PhotoVu PV1940 digital picture frame.

Note: The 12MB video can take a LONG time to load if you don't have broadband and a wired or high speed WiFi connection. (802.11b seems to produce very long load times.)

Video is a lot of work! Special thanks to video editor Andrew Alexander, for the great job he did putting this together, particularly with the, shall we say, less than stellar material he had to work with!