Had a surprising couple of days. Imagine you go along to a trade show, and just wander up to see if you knew anyone on the Adobe stand - a gentle bit of networking, nothing more. You ask why they're showing Lightroom 1 rather than 2's public beta, but apparently they weren't even showing version 1 - the speaker hadn't shown up and no-one on the stand knew the software. Then the Adobe guy starts to say if you do want to learn Lightroom…. Well, you respond, actually I…. Ooh - and 5 minutes later you're miked up and doing an impromptu presentation and Q&A.

Well, that's what happened on Thursday at the Digital Photo and Imaging Show at the Design Centre, Islington. I was there as a regular visitor and was then meeting a friend for a pint. I'd enjoyed a Hasselblad presentation and was fascinated by the H3D MultiShot which moves the sensor after each exposure. My initial thought was of those 19th century cameras which moved the lens or film back so that 4 pictures could be exposed onto a single sheet negative, but obviously that wasn't the concept. Moving the sensor 1 pixel at a time, right, down, left, then back up, an image is built up of 4 exposures - with each pixel recording red, green and blue values, rather than the standard RGGB mosaic. Its main application is in archival work, such as in the Vatican library, but I also wondered how far it is away from the mainstream where many current digital SLRs have mechanisms to shake the sensor for dust cleaning. Anyway, that was just a thought. I then stayed in my front row seat for Colin Prior's talk, and I can't remember what was next but that was when I thought I'd do my innocent bit of networking.

Unknown to me, the seminar area had been full for the earlier LR slot and there had been a “mini riot” or “mass exodus” when Adobe announced a PS Elements demo instead. I'll confess my presentation skills are rusty and date from my financial IT days, but I do “know my stuff”, and no sooner had I disentangled myself from the cabling than the conference organizers were asking what I was doing on Friday. So yesterday, after three Lightroom presentations and Q&A's, each an hour long and unscripted apart from 20 bullet points scribbled on a notepad, I deserved a pint or two - and it was fun too.