This year’s Focus on Imaging show was well attended, despite the current UK financial climate and the surprise absence of one of the industry’s big hitters, Canon. Although most products on show have already been announced, this was the first chance to get hands-on with stand-out products like the Fujifilm X100, to listen to one of the many free techniques sessions, or to grab one of the retail bargains on offer. We have a gallery of photos of some of the most interesting stands and products from around the show.

DayMen are offering free inspirational talks hosted by some of the nation’s top landscape photographers. Paul Gallagher, Colin Prior and David Noton will all be giving talks. To sign up simply visit http://www.daymen.co.uk, follow the links and fill in your details to register. DayMen will also be running a free prize draw from their stand (B10).

Color Confidence will be exhibiting at this year’s Focus on Imaging Show in Birmingham, England. This year, Color Confidence will be focusing very clearly on delivering education, inspiration, innovation and great savings. “Each year our stand at the must-attend Focus On Imaging event gets bigger and better, and this year we have truly raised the bar in terms what visitors to our stand can expect.” Commented Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director of Color Confidence.

Jacobs Digital have released details about their special show offers for Focus 2011. Highlights include discounts on the Panasonic GH2 and GF2, Sony A55 and NEX5, and the debut of the Canon EOS 600D. Jacobs are also the only official Pentax partner at Focus on Imaging.

Canon have pulled out of the Focus on Imaging show with less than two weeks to go. A Canon UK spokesperson confirmed this morning that the company will not be exhibiting at the UK photography show due to a reassessment of its European marketing plans for 2011. They did confirm that retailers at the show will still have stock of Canon’s products for interested buyers to try out and purchase. Canon usually have the largest stand at Focus, so it will be interesting to see who takes their place. Photography Blog will be there as usual with a show report.

Focus on Imaging is Europe’s biggest annual photography show, and this year’s event is currently being held at the NEC in Birmingham, England. Open to both trade and the public, business seemed brisk as we made our way around the show floor, perhaps indicating that the worst of the global recession is behind the photography industry - or at the very least that photographers are window-shopping again. Read on for our Focus 2010 show report.

Aaduki Multimedia Insurance is offering 10% off their insurance policies for photographers. The 10% discount will only be available from the Aaduki or SWPP stands at the Focus on Imaging show, and will be valid on quotes issued at Focus up to the end of March 2009. Vince Brown, Sales Manager said, “ We are offering the additional discount to attract photographers that may have seen our name but never received a quotation off us to come and get a price to see how it stacks up against their renewal. We are confident that not only do we offer good value for money in these times of economic hardship, but we have a great service too.”

Phase One will be demonstrating their range of Digital Backs and Capture One software at this year’s Focus on Imaging show. There will also be seminars and presentations running all day on stand Q10 featuring Walter Borchenko, Drew Gardner and Adrian Weinbrecht. The exhibition takes place at the Birmingham NEC, UK from February 22th - 25th 2009.

Nik Software are exhibiting their new software products at this year’s Focus on Imaging show. There will also be daily live presentations of their products shown by Nik experts, live shootings and presentations by Robin Preston at the HP stand, and an advanced Capture NX 2 speech at the Nikon stand. The exhibition takes place at the Birmingham NEC, UK from February 22th - 25th 2009.

Nikon will be showcasing the new flagship professional camera, the D3X (pictured), at this year’s Focus on Imaging photography show. Held at the NEC, Birmingham, UK from 22-25th February, the recently unveiled Coolpix lineup will also make its UK debut. Visitors to the Nikon stand will have the chance to win a Nikon D90 camera kit, and an exciting seminar schedule has been lined up.

Epson has taken a 50% bigger stand at Focus on Imaging 2009, including a dedicated theatre with a full programme of presentations.  “Mike McNamee and Paul Gallagher’s presentations were so popular we have decided to expand the programme of presentations to provide expert advice across a much broader spectrum than was previously possible.” said Kerry Reid, Director of Marketing at Epson. The presentation programme starts at 10.15 every morning, with a presentation every hour. Each presentation will last 30 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for questions and answers.

Epson will be showing their largest printer, the 64” Stylus Pro 11880 and their smallest, the PictureMate 260, at this year’s Focus On Imaging show. Also the Stylus Photo R1900 will be demonstrated in the UK for the first time. Mike McNamee, editor of Professional Imagemaker and Paul Gallagher, photographer and monochrome specialist who will be doing short talks on the stand. Finally, a media gallery will show the wide range of options, including premium glossy, traditional photo, canvas and fine art which are available to choose from.

Nikon will be showcasing its new professional digital SLRs, the D3 and D300, at this year’s Focus on Imaging photographic show. Visitors will also be able to check out the recently announced D60 and Coolpix compacts. Travel photographer Steve Davey and Photography Monthly Editor, Will Cheung, along with John Clements and Oz Kharawala, will be giving talks throughout the show. The Focus on Imaging show runs 24th – 27th February 2008 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.

REALVIZ will be demonstrating their full image processing software range at Focus on Imaging 2008. Products on show will include Stitcher Unlimited 5.6, ImageModeler 4, VTour 1.2 HDR and the HDR Imaging Studio. Visitors to the show can also obtain a 20% discount off the standard retail price of the REALVIZ software products.

Wacom will be showcasing the newly launched Cintiq 12WX at this year’s Focus on Imaging photography show in Birmingham, UK. The Intuos3 pen tablet system, Special Edition Intuos3 A4 and Intuos3 A5 Wide tablets, Cintiq 21UX and 12WX Interactive Pen Displays, and Bamboo Fun will all be on display. For the duration of the show, Robin Preston, Wacom’s senior evangelist, will be hosting twice daily presentations on the Wacom stand. The Intuos3 range, Cintiq 21UX, Cintiq 12WX and Bamboo Fun are available now from Computers Unlimited.

Website: Read our Wacom Cintiq 12wx Review

I’ve just arrived in Las Vegas for PMA 2007, to find the news that Focus on Imaging, Europe’s largest annual photography show, has got even bigger this year with record numbers of visitors. More than 32,000 visited the UK-based show during its 4 days, an increase of 3700 over the 2006 total. The show, which took place at the NEC between February 25th and 28th, featured well over 200 individual exhibitors. You can read my Focus 2007 Report to remind yourself of what happened.

Focus On Imaging is Europe’s biggest annual photography show, with over 200 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors during the 4 days that it runs. I attended the opening day to bring you all the news from the show floor and an exclusive gallery, so that you enjoy the show even if you couldn’t make it to Birmingham, UK.

Website: Focus on Imaging 2007 Report

Nikon were one of the few major camera manufacturer’s exhibiting at Focus (Canon, Samsung, Pentax, Casio, Kodak, Olympus, Sony and Panasonic were all notable by their absence). Consequently it was difficult to actually get to the Nikon stand, as people crowded round watching and waiting for the free seminar series. Nikon announced their new Coolpix range nearly a week ago and only had a few prototype samples on show, including the P5000 performance model, which looked nice and was a lot smaller than I’d expected.

Fujifilm were the other big camera name at Focus. They were showing the S5700 / S700 camera that was announced last week (although not the A900 or A820). It was next to the older S5600 model and was noticeably smaller and lighter, yet still retaining a 10x zoom lens and with a much larger LCD screen. The other highlights were the F40d and Z5 (first announced at CES in early January). Fujifilm were also keen to point out that a growing number of models had the new dual xD / SD memory card slot, citing demand from repeat buyers with a vested interest in SD cards as the principal reason. Finally, the new S5 Pro DSLR has already crept onto the store shelves, with retailer Jacobs offering it for a show special of £999 body only.

HP and Epson were both at Focus 2007, although neither had any brand new products on show. HP were heavily pushing their large-format Z series printer range (which we’ve enthusiastically reviewed), whilst Epson were concentrating on the Stylus 1400 and 3800 models.