One week to ADAPT

The Australian Digital Art & Photo Technology (ADAPT) exhibition and seminar opens its doors next Thursday at the Byron Kennedy Hall, next to Fox Studios, Sydney. Addressing the radical shift is the way art and professional photographic images are captures, processed and produced, ADAPT boasts a stunning line-up of speakers at the seminars, including three international identities and leading players in the local pro digital imaging scene.

On the exhibition floor, there will be the very highest resolution digital cameras and backs available, from Hasselblad, Pentax, Leaf/Kodak, Imacon, Canon, Nikon and others. Correct lighting for studio and art reproduction will not be overlooked. Scanners are also a feature, with Epson’s new 4990 now achieving a DMax of 4.1D for reflection and transmissive originals, and .

Of course, the technology that started the shift away from silver-halide and offset printing for works of art and photography, large format inkjet, will be there in abundance with major presentations from Epson, Kodak (Encad), Hewlett Packard and Roland DG. Canon will be represented on the DES booth.

Choice of media is critical in art and professional photo applications and the world’s leading brands will be there, with galleries of finished images to show how the end product appears. Arches, Canson, Hahnemuhle, Innova, Epson, Kodak, Ilford, HP, Giclee Media and others will be there in a broad array of surfaces, weights and finishes. Some acid-free rag art papers can now achieve archive lives of 200 years + before any noticeable fading occurs when digitally printed with inks such as Epson’s new K3 set, or Roland’s new d’Vinci set.

Finishing the images has not been ignored either with leading framing supplier Megawood there, GBC and new framing systems from Image Products.

Seminars add knowledge
As with all new and emerging markets, knowledge is king and ADAPT does not disappoint in this regards. An intensive all-day seminar programme runs concurrently with the exhibition where, for $195 + gst, delegates can learn from ten of the world’s leading experts on professional-quality digital imaging for art and photographic applications.

Epson Australia’s Pro Graphics Business Unit Manager Craig Heckenberg will break the latest news on certification of Digital Fine Art reproductions;

HP’s worldwide Marketing Manager for Large Format, Guayente Sanmartin travels from Europe to speak on how HP has helped galleries to preserve their treasures and maximize returns by producing limited editions;

Image Product’s Ross Coffey will reveal how he set up one of the world’s first concept shops dedicated to on-demand art reproduction;

Hahnemuhle’s Norbert Klinke speaks on archive qualities of papers from this 500-year old mill;

Sydney Pro Photographer David Roche tells all about his company Silverpixel – all-digital since 2001;

Wayne Connolly from Innova UK brings that country’s perspectives to ADAPT;

Kodak’s John Federico shows how the Rochester giant is changing pell-mell into a digital imaging end-to-end provider;

colour management guru David Crowther instructs on how to get the colours right every time.

Awards for the creative
The closing date for the ADAPT Awards is this Friday, 15th July, so get those entries in if you want a share in $15,000 of prizes! According to organizers Exhibitions Pty Ltd, the standard of entries received so far is ‘extraordinary.’ Details on how to enter are on the website www.adaptshow.com.au

ADAPT takes place between 21-23 July at the Byron Kennedy Hall, next to Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney. Entry to the exhibition is free and doors open 10am each day, till 5pm. Seminars commence at 8:30 each day and the full programme is $195 + gst.