A concise round-up of new product updates, international snippets and other interesting stuff from the wonderful world of photography: 50 not out for Camera Electronic… New Olympus camera not for A/NZ… Pano Awards roll around again…
50 not out for Camera Electronic
This year (June 11) marks the 50th anniversary of the late, much-respected Ron Frank establishing leading Perth professional photography outlet, Camera Electronic. The business, in the hands of Ron’s sons Saul and Howard since his passing in 2016, now has three Perth locations: Stirling Street, Murray Street and a new ‘tech toys’ concept store, Wanderlust, in the Hay Street Mall.
As Perth’s only full-service photo specialist, Camera Electronic offers camera and studio lighting hire along with a camera and lens service centre.
To mark the 50th anniversary, Camera Electronic is holding a 24-hr sale on 11 June – from midnight to the next midnight. There will be balloons, food trucks, the whole shebang. As well as grabbing a bargain, purchases on June 11 will also go into the draw to win one of 50 prizes, drawn over the following 50 days.
Inside Imaging congratulates Howard and Saul for their success in an increasingly challenging sector of retailing.
https://www.cameraelectronic.com.au
New Olympus camera not for A/NZ
New Olympus entity OM Digital Solutions has announced the Pen E-P7, first new camera since it assumed management of the Olympus camera business unit, but it will only be available in the Japanese and European markets.
The new camera features a 20-megapixel sensor with five-axis image stabilization, built-in WiFi, and a tilting rear LCD screen. It can shoot video at 4K. Petapixel described it as ‘a minor update for PEN fans’ which ‘may not move the needle for many in the West’. On the other hand, the over-the-top effusive review this week on the Digital Camera World website describes the camera as ‘one of the best travel cameras, best cameras for street photography, best cameras for beginners and even best vlogging cameras for quick and clean content creation’ – along with direct links to the Olympus online store. Sometimes you wonder…
The move to limited distribution is resonant of JIP’s (the OM Digital Solutions parent company) treatment of the Sony Vaio brand, acquired back in 2014. Spin-off specialist JIP still markets a tiny range of Sony Vaio laptop computers in a few markets around the world, including the United States, Japan and Brazil. Sony still holds the intellectual property rights for the VAIO brand and logo and 5 percent of the Sony Vaio business. The Olympus/JIP deal seems to have strong similarities. Olympus Corp still owns the Olympus brand along with a small stake in the new business. Under this model, the Olympus brand is more likely to simply fade away rather than be killed off altogether.
‘The OM Digital Solutions era is off to a great start,’ according to Digital Camera World.
Pano Awards roll around again
The Australian-based Epson International Pano Awards is calling for entries, with a total prize pool of over $50,000, including over $17,000 in cash and an array of prizes.
The 2020 competition saw 5859 images submitted from 1452 photographers in 96 countries ‘and these numbers are expected to be exceeded again this year’ according to the competition manager David Evans. Entry fee is US$22 ($28.40) per entry in the Open section and US$18 in the Amateur section. There is an early bird discount through to August.
For full details: https://thepanoawards.com/enter-2021-awards/
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