The well attended event had a number of seminars you could pay to attend, keynotes, and a large expo hall. There was no shortage of camera gear, though I didn’t see some of the notable brands like Panasonic, Samsung, or Olympus. Nikon was heavily promoting their latest DSLR, the D80, while Leica was doing the same for their new digital camera, the M8.

Here are some highlights:

1. Lensbabies - The new Lensbaby 3G is now out, which allows you to lock your lens in place when you get it just right and then adjust the focus. Lensbabies allow you to compress and bend your lens to get a softer blur around your object of focus. They retail for about $270. www.lensbabies.com
2. I listened to a booth seminar by Mary Du Prie who gave a fascinating lecture on how to pose people for professional photography so they look natural - and if you’re photographing models, what modeling agencies are looking for in model photographs. She did a live demonstration on how to give directions to your subject, which was very informative. Check out her website at www.photographingmodels.com for her dvds.
3. Adobe was giving lectures throughout the day demonstrating the power of their Creative Suite 2 and handing out demo cds. For those of us who have yet to upgrade, they were giving out 15% discounts, so I think I’ll be taking advantage of that shortly. If you order through their online store, use code Q4DI which is good until 11/10/06.
4. Want to win a Leica V-Lux 1? Go Indie is having a photography contest. The deadline for submission is 12/15/06. Check out www.goindiecontest.com for details.
5. Sony has a new Digital SLR called the alpha 100. It’s a 10.2 megapixel CCD with in camera image stabilization and is roughly the size of a Canon Rebel XT. They boost it can “shoot without interruption at up to three frames per second until the memory card is full” and that you can shoot up to 750 shots with a single battery charge. www.sony.com/dslr
6. If ever you wanted a mini-tripod you could wrap around a pole or tree branch, check out the Gorillapod. They come in 3 sizes, with the largest sturdy enough to mount up to 6.6 lbs. www.joby.com
7. O’Reilly publishes a number of digital photography books. As of this summer, most of their Photoshop Cookbooks are finally available though their Safari online subscription service. If you prefer hard copies, they’re running a promotion - buy 2 books, get 1 free. Use discount code OPC141 when ordering from www.oreilly.com/digitalmediastore. I’m not sure how long that’s good for.