I dare say NO.

While it’s true to say that the impact of the 11th March earthquake has been very large on the photo manufacturers, it had only a limited role in moving the big photo fair. The first reason is astonishingly simple and less pleasant to hear in the offices of the PMA itself: This show is falling through the floor since a few years and has been randomly looking for a solution for a few years already.

You have to remember that the PMA Show has long been held behind doors open only to the professional photographers, the distributors and the industry. But it was one of the largest venue for photography-related news and announcements. In the recent years, photography -who could miss that?- went through a series of revolutions and 2008 was specially hard for weakened economies. In 2009, the show did not succeed to compensate this in its home town, Las Vegas, Nevada: A 22% drop in participation, often considered the consequence of the hard competition from the CES Show. But 2010 has also seen the negative effects of a migration to the much-less-famous town of Anaheim, California: A real litany of complaints from the participants and a limited presence. This culminated into Canon not willing to be there.

So, the PMA had decided to kick-start the machine again in 2011 moving back to Vegas. And opening the doors to the greater public for a day (which was thought to be good for financing part of the costs with tickets). At the same time, the show would change its name to become CliQ 2011. However, this late a change for a public event in Vegas in September proved difficult.

The management was left with a half-baked offer not really attracting visitors (they tried hard -and failed- to collect advance fees and tickets) and pros still were dazzled by the changes.

Japan certainly played a role here: Photo brands are not ready to commit themselves now, even if everybody is sure that September is the right time to restart the marketing machine and the ma.

So, the PMA made a strategical choice, difficult but logical: Let’s partner with an organization which is perfectly tuned to the public needs for an electronics show, the CES. This in January the largest event of the electronics gadget industry for the public. A strategic alliance between the two organizers will limit the risks (and the costs) for the Photo Marketing Association.

Conclusion: Bye bye CliQ 2011 in September; the PMA is back under the name of PMA@CES in 2012 between the 10th and the 13th January. This is betting a large sum on a weak hand, but the PMA is near to the bottom. We’ll see if the sons of Vegas will succeed here. In January 2012.

This pro-tele-prime lens announced a year ago by Sony includes a small DMF button whose meaning should be Direct Manual Focus. The use of this button would be to easily move from a “normal” AF mode to a “x15 zoom” mode allowing easier fine focusing.

This feature has nearly no use in a prime lens which certainly contains no optical element to support such a feature. AP concludes that the only explanation is that this is a control for an SLR body feature associated to the electronic viewfinder of future cameras from Sony. Good reasoning…

The consequence:If a prime lens whose price (a few thousand Euros, maybe 10000€/$10.000) puts is firmly in the pro range contains such a feature, the electronic viewfinder is coming to the next pro cameras from Sony. The conclusion is that the Sony Alpha 77 (or Alpha 750) which will follow in the steps of the Sony Alpha 700 will be equipped with an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) and a semi-transparent mirror like the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55, that are clearly in the entry-level part of the Sony camera offering.

It’s still a bit weird for a button already appearing on the 500mm f/4 mock-ups presented a little more than a year ago. But the indication is quite parallel to the success observed by the semi-transparent mirror system with an electronic viewfinder of the SLT-A33 and SLT-A55 (big sales everywhere in the world in 2010, starting with the Japanese market).

Several web sites are showing photos of the camera taken through the glass of the showcase. Here are those coming from PhotographyBlog.

The camera is not displaying any name tag, so the Alpha 750 moniker may not hold. However, it is presented with a battery grip and an unmarked lens.

The viewfinder size seems compatible with nearly any option (traditional optical VF or Electronic viewfinder / EVF). We find the usual AF mode rotating control now under the left hand.

We can observe that Sony is moving more and more toward a somewhat “rounded” shape (far from the Alpha 900 and Alpha 850 big shapes).

It is quite visible that HD video (AVCHD) will be available; No surprise here. But if there are less buttons than on the A700, there is a new top-side LCD display (an important improvement for many users).

If many controls are reproduced on the grip, it is clear that some A700 controls are gone:

• No White Balance
• No direct ISO control
• Image stabilization control only available through menus (most will not complain)
• Picture delete and play buttons are moved on the right of the LCD (the Menu and Display buttons have moved up) but this is clearly a consequence of the large size of the LCD display on the back

Obviously some new controls are appearing too:

• Movie capture mode
• The now-Sony-usual On-Off control around the shutter button

Most users of the Sony Alpha 700 will not be disturbed much by these changes which seems to be maintaining a very good man-machine interface. Controls for AF/MF focus mode and Exposure mode are still there. The two rotating controls are still there (one in the front and one in the back).

And the function selector is displaying exactly the same set as a current Alpha 700. The Sony Alpha 750 is not ready to add new functions here.

Since this is still a mockup and not a prototype, the fake top-side LCD is visible but no detail can be read and we will have to wait for a later presentation.

Sony did not disclose dates for an official launch or for availability, but the word is out that the Sony Alpha 750 will reach shelves in May 2011 (possibly late in April). The big questions still open are the final features to be available (sensor resolution, type of viewfinder, continuous shoot speed, maximum usable sensitivity). We will have to wait until some leak is found.