Back in 1996 when I attended the Photokina World Imaging Fair held at Cologne, Germany, I decided to leave behind my EOS System back home and carried my Canon New F-1 camera with three single focal length FD lenses, and without a power winder or motor drive unit to make the travelling lighter. Photo trade shows, like Photokina, are a place meant for those involved in the wholesale, retailing and photofinishing industry involving photographic products, it is not a place where you will find professional photographers roaming about, except for the numerous photography magazine editors and their writers. Anyone seen in such trade shows carrying his or her whole arsenal of camera equipment around the exhibition area is definitely not a professional but those advanced amateur shooters eager to show off their possessions. This is because Photokina is the world's largest trade show of photographic-related items and all the camera manufacturers have many of the same products on display and nobody is going to give a second look at what you have. For instance, at the Canon booth, photo enthusiasts are encouraged to test out the respective EOS cameras with any of the EF super telephoto lenses attached, and loaded witth their own films, with no obligation. Wearing a small photo vest and a medium-size waist pouch to keep the camera when it was not in use, were all I needed to be part of the Photokina crowd, without the hassle of being bogged down by excessive camera weight - with all the Press Kits and new product brochures to be collected there, extra equipment weight is the one thing I didn't want. Since my Canon New F-1 is not equipped with the optional AE Finder FN viewfinder, metered manual exposure was the only mode I had. Instead of using my regular Spot metering's focusing screen, I chose to have the Partial metering screen for all my pictures shot over there. Right, a Canon EOS-1N with its Power Drive Booster E1 removed and a few single focal length EF lenses will also do the same job but most of my EF lens collection are of the bulky, f/2.8 maximum aperture-type of zooms, not that convenient to carry around. My FD lenses collection consists of an FD 14mm f/2.8L Super wide-angle, an FD 50mm f/1.4 and the FD 100mm f/2.0. Two of the FD lenses are compact enough to fit into the pockets of my photo vest while the 50mm lens can be attached to the camera all the time and still fit into my waist pouch. Speedlite? All my photos in Cologne were shot using daylight or available light with no need for any Speedlite. Furthermore, using the Canon New F-1 in Photokina enabled me to shoot completely in manual exposure control without resorting to any AE shooting mode, something which I have not done in eight years prior to visiting the Imaging Fair trade show after having invested in the EOS System.   << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 .