The Digital Photography Experience

Though Apple hasnt’ re-introduced a digital camera since it’s short lived QuickTake camera back in 1994, this year’s Macworld Conference introduced what it calls The Digital Photography Experience, set up for attendees to get “hands-on demonstrations, training, and tips on everything from cameras, to printers, to hosting services, to asset management, and more.”

Though of course Macworld is not a photography conference, I think in the coming years, we’ll see even more focus on digital photography at Macworld, along with more software and even hardware support from Apple for digital photographers.

Here are a few highlights from the exhibit floors:

Canon and Nikon, of course, are the two largest digital photography exhibitors at Macworld. I recently purchased a Canon Powershot G9 that I will be reviewing in the next week or so.

I also was in the market for a good all-in-one printer (printer, copier, scanner), and I settled upon the Epson Stylus Photo RX680. What sealed the deal for me about this printer was when the show floor salesman said that printer will automatically do back-to-back printing. For several years, I’ve been using the very reliable Expostylus Photo R200 for its printable CD/DVD features, but to save on paper, I often print documents back-to-back. So if this feature works well, the RX680 will be a great time saver.

This year in the South Hall about three dozen iMacs were set up for participants to participate in the Digital Photography Experience presentations using all types of digital photography software, including Apple’s iPhoto ’08 and Aperture.

If you’re at the point of wanting publish your digital photos in a book format, but you find Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture book publishing services limiting, you should considerBlurb.com. This company offers bookstore quality book for your digital images. You use their free bookmaking software, Blurb BookSmart (for Mac and PC) to layout your books. The books come in a wide range of sizes, and are printed 80# coated, semi-matte paper. I got my hands on the sample books in the booth, and I was very impressed. Prices start at $12.95, but you can sell your photography books in the Blurb Bookstore at prices you set. You keep all the profits on books sold.