The Sound Shark Swims Through the CES Show – Part 1

After attending the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show for a few years I naively believed NAB had to be about as big a show as there could be.  My first trip to the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) quickly demonstrated that I was wrong, and in a huge way.  The NAB usually has just under 100,000 attendees while the CES show announced approximately 170,000 attendees.  The NAB show utilized three show halls while the CES utilized at least six.

Setting aside the size of the show the variety of products was equally impressive.  As an engineer I was impressed by the wide selection of 3D printers including models that can print circuit boards.  While I kept an eye out for interesting engineering items I was primarily on the lookout for items of interest to users of long-range microphone – hybrid photographers, filmmakers and videographers.

The first item of interest that I saw would probably be of most interest to photographers, but could be useful to anyone with a smartphone.  It was a small, portable Selphy CP1200 printer from Canon that actually produces prints for a lower cost than the neighborhood box store.  The paper & ink set that will print 108 4×6 prints can be purchased for about $30 so the per print cost is less then 3 cents.  You can print postcards for just a bit more.  So this printer could prove to be a very good home printer for snapshots and it could also be taken on vacation to create your own postcards.  One idea that came to mind was printing out postcards at photography shoots or photos of a customer at trade shows.  I’m assuming the post cards could be printed with your companies’s information.  This low cost printer may be worth checking out.

The second item that caught my attention was actually a small company from New Zealand called Syrp.  They offer very nice panner and slider that are reasonably priced.  But what was more interesting was a very simple cable cam that they are developing.  (There are also videos online showing how to built a DIY cable cam using their current products.  These products could definitely add a touch of class to any video project.

In my next blog I will discuss the huge variety of drones that were on display at CES.