Hundreds of photography enthusiasts eagerly lined up inside the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in anticipation for The Digital Show to open its doors. More than 100 industry heavyweight brands, including Nikon, Fujifilm, Olympus, Maxwell and Kayell, showcased their products with exclusive launches, presentations and demonstrations to excite camera aficionados.

Olympus heavily invested in this year’s Show with its biggest stand to date, over 10 staff members, and a show-stopping giant cardboard camera (pictured) to capture the attention of visitors as an Instagram-worthy photo opportunity.

Olympus 1

The stand was separated into a number of categories to allow the company to showcase its camera capabilities. The company used a hover board simulator to show visitors the quality of the image stabilisation. Visitors were asked to stand on the board and take a photo of a toy carousel as the board moved and shaked.

Maxwell

Maxwell Australia used the Digital Show as a platform to showcase its new camera lenses. With a total of nine staff members on the six metre squared stand, the company also integrated efforts in to the creative centres.

Tamron supporter Glynn Lavender taught portrait workshops, while David Glaze Brooks hosted a macro photography workshop, over the three-day event with sell-out sessions.

Maxwell Australia marketing manager, Brendan Lee, said, “The popularity of the workshops confirms my strong feelings that when it comes to photography, people don’t need information at an event, they need inspiration.”

Although the company’s stand was smaller to previous years, Lee explained that the company was catering to the expected increase in retailer visitation.

“We will be getting a number of retail staff through the doors and we wanted to take this opportunity to discuss our new products with them.”

“Sunday was a little quieter in total visitor traffic, but we believe this was caused by local logistical issues with other events going on around the city. Having said that though, our engagements were much more involved and we had the opportunity to have follow-up discussions from visitors who came on earlier days. We were able to help them get what they needed for their next step in photography.”

Kayell

Kayell Australia also had its biggest stand to date measuring 144 metres squared as the company wanted to engage with visitors like never before, according to managing director, Robert Kayell.

“We built the stand to be very open so visitors felt invited to engage with it. We also divided our stand into two key categories: photo and video equipment, and graphic arts with Epson Stylus Pro printers for easy navigation.”

But there’s more…

For the first time, The Digital Show invested in the four corners of the Show floor by introducing Creative Learning Centre Workshops, which focused on specific photographic genres, while the Inspiration Theatre was host to four free educational presentations by Australia’s most accomplished photographers and digital imaging professionals.

As another show first, IDEA partnered with LG to set up 4K viewing rooms to enable visitors to experience 4K television and video technology in darkened viewing rooms on LG displays.

Visitors were also able to learn more about Tesla’s advanced electric motor vehicles and how digital technology is integrated into the car.