In a few short days, it’s finally here – NAB show in the City of Sin, Las Vegas, Nevada – and I’m going there!

I’ve been to Vegas before, but not yet to NAB. It’s particularly exciting to finally come to the most important camera technology event of the year. Lots of new products are to be expected from all sorts of companies in the business of filmmaking gear. Absolutely everybody and their mum will be there! And me too 🙂

It should be a helluva ride … actually, I am looking forward to finally getting to meet all the people I’ve been in contact with for a very long time via this blog, email, Twitter & Facebook. This is much more important than any gear introductions – real connections. A community that got to know each other in virtual life will – to a great part – be meeting in real life, and that is truly remarkable to me!

Apart from all the exhibition action on the main floor, there are lots of networking events going on at NAB, I will attend a few of those:

 

ALL-IN Film:

First, there’s the ALL-IN-Film poker tournament on Monday, organized by Rob Imbs and Benjamin Eckstein (two chaps I also really look forward to meet!), featuring the créme de la créme of the DSLR filmmaking world: Philip Bloom, Vincent Laforet, Kevin Shahinian and many other familiar faces. It’s for charity, so everybody taking part is doing something good, all while awesome prizes by a huge range of sponsors can be won. I don’t think I’ll have any chance really, I have no idea about poker, but I will try to train my skills using some iPhone app during my endless flights!!

 

Final Cut Pro Users Group Supermeet – Finally a new Final Cut Pro?

On Tuesday, there is something VERY exciting going on: There are very persistent rumors that Apple took over the FCPUG Supermeet (all the other sponsors were cancelled just a few days ago, also the keynote speech by Philip Bloom) to present a loooong-overdue new version of Final Cut Pro. It’s about time as competitors like Adobe and Avid have strongly been gaining ground over the last few years while Apple has been doing to their pro software what they had unfortunately been doing to their pro customers for quite some time already: nothing at all.

 

Zacuto’s Great Camera Shootout 2011

Zacuto is showcasing their upcoming “Great Camera Shootout 2011” at their booth during the show (they share the booth with Kessler Crane). Like last year, they invited a range of the most talented DP’s – this time under the leadership of Robert Primes, ASC – to evaluate and compare all sorts of camera models. In 2010, some VERY surprising results, mostly in favour of DSLRs, came out in the end. I’m looking forward to attending a screening of the new shootout on Tuesday.

 

Kessler Crane Party

On Tuesday evening, I’ll be at the Kessler Crane party, were I really look forward to meeting Eric Kessler, Tom Lowe and many others.

 

NAB Tweet-Up

On Wednesday evening, there’s a NAB Tweet-Up, meeting point in front of the Eiffel Tower (the fake little Vegas one of course), where I guess all sorts of people will bring their DSLRs and try to shoot out in public in Vegas (good luck, authorities and hotels are notoriously annoying about that). I might have time to go there a little later on.

The 4 days of NAB will be a jam-packed geekathon of epic proportions! If you want to meet during NAB, I’d be very happy to do so – preferably at any of those events, or otherwise for a drink or lunch 🙂 Just hit me up on Twitter or sound off below!

 

Traveling across the US for the rest of April!

I’ll be staying in the US with my girlfriend until early May, traveling to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and the Florida Keys, mostly for leisure, partly for business. If anybody of you would like to meet up in any of those places, let me know too!

And now … I better start packing!