Dubious about such showcases, I tentatively entered the Melbourne Exhibition Building. And boy was I happily surprised!

The Digital Show has been running in Melbourne for some time now and I believe it started either in 2011 or 2010. Since then the numbers have grown steadily.

The exhibition’s master classes (as I’d like to call them) were worth the price! For the day I attended, they covered the art of analogue photography, framing photos and how workflows can make your life that much more simpler.

One of the highlights, was SanDisk introducing it’s 256 GB SD card. That’s right…. 256 GB. That’s half the normal hard drive you get in machines these days. If that is anything to go by… the fact that they were able to compact that much space into the size of a memory card… well, I am keen to see what the next iteration of computer will look like. 256GB, people. In the palm of your hands. Seriously. 256GB. Yes, I cannot get over it. Oh and the price, $2199. Yep. Bargain. Lol. Well, in 18 months, that will come down and then we may even have a 512GB SD card. I see no end to this!

The other good thing, that is trying to make it resurgence is the instant pictures. And yes whilst it is fun, $20 for a 10 roll of film. Well, I don’t know. You could definitely use it in a tourist spot and see if you can get some money for it. But alas, with digital technology and the 256GB memory card, why would you go down this route? Did I mention the 256GB memory card? To showcase this, they had “angels” walking the show with the stand’s assistants taking instant photos with the crowds.

Some of the photography exhibitions did showcase what was the latest and greatest. But I find, as a hobbyist, lugging around all that equipment to be quite tiresome. Then one of the stalls showed me their brochure about renting out the stuff. Which makes sense. But alas, if I was going to rent something out, I would need to know the ins and outs of the device even if I was only renting it.

I was fortunate to sit into one of the photography judging competitions and would have to say that some of the judges are absolutely ruthless… “don’t like the colour”….”not a fan of the composition”… I thought they were spectacular photographs but I hardly saw anyone come away with the top most prize. Besides, in my opinion. A beret does not an art critique make. Nor your silly mustache sir. Handle bars are so passe!

I definitely recommend you go to this show, the next time it comes around. I will definitely be there, looking to learn more about this amazing world. And perhaps pick up my 1TB memory card for $10,000.