Panasonic

It's a reflection of Panasonic's growing confidence and position in the market that their booth gets bigger every year; at Photokina 2006 it's enormous (and located in the first hall). The company is using Photokina to showcase the new range announced back in July (and to give many visitors their first hands-on experience with real production versions of the L1 DSLR, which takes up a good half the floor space). Lots of interest in the FZ50 and LX2 (10MP, Venus III upgrades to last year's FZ30 and LX1) and the trio of newish ultra-compact models; the FX07, FX3 and FX50. There's lots to photograph here, from surf scenes to Formula one cars and - you guessed it - scantily clad women (draped over the F1 car), and, unusually Panasonic is allowing visitors to rent out Lumix models for the duration of the show.

UPDATE: After our meeting with Panasonic today we've now added some in-hand pictures of the new 25mm F1.4 prime lens (50mm equivalent), which will be arriving on the shelves next spring.