Cool Stuff: Photokina

Photokina roles around every two years, transforming the German city of Cologne into a photography mecca. Having been invited to come and spend a few days with the team over at F-Stop Gear, I jumped at the chance to make the journey over.Just like most exhibition centres, Koelnmesse is huge. You could quite easily walk around for hours and hours without actually finding what you were initially looking for. I was in town for three days and only touched on a tiny percentage of what was on offer.I did get a chance to check out some of the halls though and there were a few cool things that stood out along the way. As I just said, I saw only a tiny bit of the products on offer, but these few things stood out along the way. COOPH – The Cooperative of Photography Just because it’s a photography show, doesn’t mean all of the cool stuff has to be expensive camera equipment (although there was plenty of that on display). I was introduced to COOPH late one evening and was so impressed with the clothing line. A shirt with a lens cloth and cap holder integrated – so simple, yet effective.Here’s a little excerpt from the site:”Frustrated at the lack of stylish yet functional photography clothing & accessories – we decided it was time somebody did something… So we’ve embarked on this exciting new project and are working on creating apparel that is both practical and fashionable.”I can’t wait to see this clothing line when it’s available to buy.3 Legged ThingThe F-Stop booth at Photokina was sandwiched between GoPro and 3 Legged Thing. Yes, GoPro was there in its dominant state, but this UK based tripod company was gaining a fair bit of attention itself. A company consisting of just 4 full time staff but producing tripods to rival the large competitors is a great thing to see. I had a chance to tryout some of their tripods and they really are as light and sturdy as you need. Being British is always a nice touch too. Peak DesignIt was impossible to miss Peak Design at the show. Located directly in front of us, and offering out beers come 4pm, they had a steady flow of people all day long wanting to try and buy their product. Starting life as a kickstarter campaign, this range of quick release camera accessories really do seem to make the life of a photographer (especially outdoor photographers like myself) that little bit easier.G-TechnologyTalk of external storage solutions is not always glamorous, but G-Technology had a cool setup with some interesting talks from photographers about they’re individual storage solutions. I listened into a talk From Kamil Tamiola and they were 20 minutes well spent. As i said, it’s not always the most glamorous topic, but storage solutions are a fundamental part of our lives. Each and every photographer has a slightly different take on their process and it’s always good to get additional insight.SonyOf course, whilst at Photokina I did make an effort to check out some of the more expensive offerings, including the mega booth that was Sony. If there’s one company that’s had a massive impact on cameras in the last few years, it has to be Sony. I’ve been using the Sony RX100 for a lot of my running related work and love the image quality for such a small point and shoot style camera. Wanting something bigger and better, I spent a bit of time with the A7 series camera and am sure that i’ve found the perfect camera for outdoor adventure where you have to be as light as possible, say whilst running 168km. The camera is available to take current Canon and Nikon lenses (with an adaptor) making initial purchases easier to digest.Sigma Art LensesThere’s been a lot of talk online about the new lenses that Sigma have been producing and I was keen to try out the relatively new 50mm 1.4 Art lens. It’s heavy – in a good way, produces beautiful images and I absolutely have to find a way to get this into my camera bag. One of the great thing about investing in new lenses like these is the adaptability. With the camera advances of today, it’s possible to be shooting this lens on a pro body like the Canon 1D series, and then simply switch over to a body like the Sony A7R (using an adaptor) for an altogether different look and feel. The price is also very attractive, coming in quite a bit cheaper than the Canon own brand offering.  F-Stop Gear Being invited to the show by F-Stop, it was impossible to miss them off the list. The company has compiled a selection of truly inspiring photographers and I had the chance to meet and hangout with a bunch of them this week. Of course i’m slightly biased, but their range of mountain related camera bags is really second to none. I recently returned from a trip to Corsica to photograph a trail running project on the GR20 route and had the chance to really put one of their bags (the Kenti – pictured left) through it’s pace. I’ll update the blog with that behind the scenes shortly.  And after some of those highlights, my Photokina came to an end. Cologne played its part as the beautiful host and the industry appeared to be thriving behind the exhibition centre doors. With a biannual schedule it’s off until 2016 but i’m already looking forward to what i’ll see then.