Pixel Weekly - 17th October 2014

17th October 2014

ISSUE NO. 932D

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CO MI NG

SO ON

21/11/2014

INSIDE

shares drop for gopro, jessops leads way for high street, Mike Lane retires from the photographic industry, John Lewis Enjoys Boost in Online Sales

Canon launches lens with ‘world’s longest focal length’ Canon’s new CN20x50 is a 4K cine-servo ultratelephoto lens for high performance use in nature and sport broadcasting.

This is the first of its kind to feature a built-in 1.5x extender, 20x magnification and a removable servo drive. It has a native 50-1000mm focal range that expands to 75-1500mm.

Canon said: “The CN20x50 is conveniently portable and lightweight and offers unrivalled focal length and zooming for its class.

Camcorders are back in vogue thanks to GoPro

Failing camcorder market has been given a mighty boost by action cam popularity, says GfK

RRP: £47,800 + VAT

Impossible Launches New Special Edition Film

Impossible is continuing Polaroid’s legacy by refurbishing SX-70 cameras and producing accompanying film.

Its most recent launch is a ‘faster, improved’ black and white film with matt, multi-coloured frames.

The films come in: • 2 shades of green • Orange • Blue • Purple • Red • Pink • Yellow RRP: £17

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For the last three years, growth in the camcorder market has been on the decline. Now, analysts at GfK say the demand for action cams like GoPro is fuelling a revival for DIY video.

A spokesperson for GfK said: “In 2010, the camcorder market (traditional camcorder, pocket camcorders) and action cameras) grew for the last time year on year with +12% in units compared to 2009. After this growth the market entered a decline and registered the highest volume decrease in 2012, -44% when compared to 2011.

“With the development of more extreme activity based video taking being posted online a new category entered the market: the action

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cameras. Since 2012, the market has started to improve with the help of action cameras growing and taking increasing importance every month in the camcorder market.

“In 2010 action cameras accounted for less than 2% of camcorders sold,” they continued.

“Whereas more than 4 out of every 10 camcorders sold in 2014 was an action camera. Furthermore, action cameras enjoyed 133% unit growth in the first 9 months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

“As a consequence of the changes in the market, camcorders were back in growth in Q3 2014 compared to same

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period a year before and enjoyed +25% units growth.”

GoPro isn’t the only brand making tracks in this increasingly busy market. Sony has quickly caught up with the Sony Action Cams with premium features such as Zeiss lenses, WiFi, GPS and NFC for easy sharing. More recently we’ve seen the new and some might say bizarre innovation from HTC, with the periscopestyle handheld RE camera for smartphones.

GfK added: “Looking ahead, we can expect the camcorder market to keep growing in the next months.

This trend should continue until action camera reaches its peak and enters a replacement cycle period.”

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Welcome To Pixel Magazine In this issue we have two stories on one of the most exciting brands in the imaging industry today. Of course, GoPro isn’t the only camera of its kind. Since launching in 2004 a number of big name brands have created products that now jostle for space in the increasingly busy action cam market. Despite this, no other product has has become quite so synonymous with adventure as GoPro. It’s exciting because it’s a self-promoting product, fuelled by its own momentum. It has a wealth of high profile followers, from pro surfers and snowboarders, to world class rock climbers and mountain bikers. GoPro is a name we all know because it creates so much of the video content we see online. From great white sharks circling beneath surfers feet, to skiers escaping avalanches and free climbers traversing rocks 300ft above the ground - some of the most hair-raising moments on the Internet have been shot with one.

Of course, such a prolific product can’t always generate good news, and as we report in this issue, bad press can affect share value on a significant scale.

Don’t miss our more in-depth feature on the action cam market in our next print edition.

Elsewhere in this issue, Canon launches a new lens which claims to have the ‘world’s longest focal length’, Jessops confirms its revival under Peter Jones, and industry veteran Mike Lane has an announcement to make…

In other news, The Pixel Trade Awards are edging ever closer.

They will be held on Friday 21 November at Grange City Hotel, London. Spaces are limited so book your table now by contacting Samantha Ash on samanthaash@outlook.com, or calling 07800919519. We would love to see you there!

Editor, Zoe

‘Thriving’ Jessops Leads Way for High Street

Shares Drop as GoPro is Blamed for Schumacher’s Head Injury Will the bad press prove troublesome for the action cam pioneers?

GoPro shares have dropped by more than 10% since Yahoo Sports published an article claiming that the company’s wearable action cam could be to blame for F1 racer Michael Schumacher’s severe head injury.

The report claims that investigators are looking into the possibility that Schumacher’s helmet was crushed by the GoPro camera he was wearing when the skiing accident occurred. The former champion has been in a medically induced

coma for almost a year now. According to the Yahoo journalist, Schumacher’s helmet was completely smashed while the GoPro camera remained intact.

While the rumour has clearly rattled GoPro investors, there is no saying whether this will affect sales.

Despite recent setbacks, analysts expect GoPro’s earnings to increase 31% a year for the next few years, and recent reports show that GoPro is one of the most searched-for stocks.

New Mobile Apps for Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe has launched its most popular editing tools for mobile

Smartphone photographers can now edit their images and videos to a professional level on the devices they shot them with. The apps come with new synch features which allows creative workflow across all devices.

Desktop enhancements include: • Sync enables access to photos video edit projects, brushes

and shapes created on mobile device • Touch functions have been improved for use on touchenabled laptops and other similar devices.

Jones said: “This is a great result and I’m excited that we’ve been able to restore an iconic British high street brand.

With the right formula and strategy, the high street is full of potential for growth and job creation: our new stores will create over 100 new jobs before Christmas.

“Our strategy for success is a multi-channel strategy, within

which the high street plays a key role. It is all about giving shoppers choice on how to buy: either shop in-store (where they can get hands on experience), order by phone, shop online 24/7 or benefit from the collect at store service – all with the reassurance that prices will be the same across all channels thanks to the Jessops ‘One Price’ and benchmarked against the leading UK retailers with their ‘Price Match Promise’.”

The new stores feature all the signature services Jessops currently rolls out, including wellknown imaging brands.

Find out more about the updates at www.adobe.com/uk/ creativecloud

Jessops is back in profit under its new owner Peter Jones Since taking the collapsed chain over in 2013, the tech entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den investor has helped return Jessops to profit in just one year of trading.

Jessops has reported an operating profit of £280,000, on sales of over £56m. It will now build on its success by opening six new stores across the UK, taking the total number of stores to 34.

The news follows a deal signed with Sainsburys to launch instant print kiosks, customer services for buying specialist cameras and an under 18s photography club

in selected stores across the country – including Newport, Waterlooville and Maidenhead.

The new Jessops stores will be opened in Reading, Milton Keynes, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Hull and Kingston.

The first, in Tunbridge Wells, will open in October 2014 with the remaining open in November.

Jessops Chairman Peter

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New Drobo Mini 8TB Is ‘Industry First’

John Lewis Enjoys Boost in Online Sales

The tough new Drobo houses ‘massive’ amount of storage Connected Data, creators of the award-winning Drobo range of smart storage solutions, has launched the new Drobo Mini 8TB. The new device features four hot-swappable 2.5” drive bays pre-loaded with four Samsung Spinpoint M9T 2TB drives.

The Drobo Mini’s BeyondRAID technology ensures data isn’t lost in the event of one or two drive failures.

Even if a drive does fail, the Mini will automatically repair itself and return to protective state without denying access to data. New drives can be added or swapped without

John Lewis reports strong trade for the second week in October, enjoying a 7.9% year-on-year rise in overall sales. Electrical and home technology sales rose by 6.8%, as a number of divisions benefited from newly introduced product ranges.

Online sales grew by 19.6% compared to the same period last year, as emphasis switches to e-retail.

Ed Connolly, buying director for fashion at John Lewis, said: “A good week’s trade on the whole, despite demand for seasonally focused assortments not yet firing on all cylinders due to the prolonged clemency of the weather.

“With our momentum online, up 19.6%, and good signs from shops, up 3.6%, we should be in a strong position to capitalise on demand once the weather turns as expected.”

losing access.

Weighing in at just 3lbs, the Mini is ideal for on-the-road photographers and videographers who need to store, access and transfer large multimedia files from media cards while on location.

David Franjovich, Director of

Samsung’s HDD division said: “The Drobo Mini is the ideal storage array for our new 2TB Samsung Spinpoint M9T hard drives. We’re able to provide Drobo users with the highest-capacity and thinnest storage solution available in today’s market.”

Updates to Nikon Image Processing NX-D has been updated to version 1.0.3 and View Software Capture NX has been updated to 2.10.2 Both Nikon software updates introduce a number of bug fixes for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Issues with Capture NX-D included failure to save file when images were adjusted using Edit palette functions, and then the

programme was shut down and launched again. This issue has now been resolved with version 1.0.3.

Modifications on View NX 2.10.2 include support for the S6900

and changes to the way image files are moved.

The new updates can be downloaded from https://support. nikonusa.com/app/ answers/detail/a_ id/61

‘The Photographic Industry Has Been My Life’

Mike Lane retires from the photographic industry

After over 50 years in the photographic industry, Mike Lane has announced that as from the end of October 2014, he will retire.

Mike began his career in 1963 as a Saturday boy in Desmond Tripp’s photographic shop in Bath. After gaining a degree in photography and eventually managing numerous photographic brands, including Fuji Consumer Products and Vivitar UK, he established his own company Elizabeth Carrington Limited

Credits & Contacts

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importing photo frames and albums from China and Indonesia and supplying both the wholesale and retail trade in the UK. Mike said: “The photographic industry has been my life and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in it. I have met and worked with some great people and have witnessed the incredible move from silver halide to digital and all the changes that this has brought about.”

Digital Distribution GFB Ltd will

Managing Director/Publisher: Lee Mansfield 01323 819007 lee@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Editor: Zoe Thomas 01323 819011 zoe@pixel.co.uk

Commercial Director: Simon Skinner 01323 819017 simon@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Editorial Design: Harriet Weston 01323 819010 harriet@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Operations Director: Clare Fermor 01323 819016 clare@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Design Assistant: Amy Watson 01323 819010 amy@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Editorial Consultant: Damien Demolder 01376 339240 damien@damiendemolder.com

Accounts: Amelia Wellings 01323 819016 amelia@lifemediagroup.co.uk

become the sole distributor of Elizabeth Carrington products in the UK. On behalf of Elizabeth Carrington Ltd, Mike Lane would like to thank all of the customers who have been so loyal over the many years of trading and to assure them that this exciting new change in distribution will bring them a much enlarged product portfolio from a company that has already established itself as a major supplier to the Industry.

Subscriptions: Linda Grace 01323 819015 linda@lifemediagroup.co.uk

Published by: LMG SE LTD (Life Media Group) 1 Swan Business Centre, Swan Barn Road, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2BY

Craig Norton, Elizabeth Carrington’s National Sales Manager will head up the Elizabeth Carrington product range for the company. 07771 602262

All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The views expressed in Pixel Magazine do not necessarily represent the view of Life Media Group LTD. Every care is taken in compiling the contents but the publishers of Pixel Magazine assume no reponsibilty for any damage, loss or injury arising from the participation in any offers, competitions or advertisment contained within Pixel Magazine.

All prices featured in Pixel Magazine are correct at the time of going to press.

Copyright Life Media Group LTD 2014©

The NEW CP – D80DW Dye Sublimation Photo Printer

The latest innovation in digital sublimation printing, the CP – D80DW from Mitsubishi Electric is loaded with new exciting features.

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