Blackmagic Design and Z CAM have announced new cinema cameras. While these announcements aren't related, the announcements do fall very close to one another. Both companies compete in similar markets so it's not surprising to see them makes announcments at the same time. Blackmagic and Z CAM showed off their new cameras at IBC in Amsterdam and CineD has posted interview videos.

After experiencing a significant drop in attendance due to the pandemic, Colossalcon looks to be back on track. Attendance for the 2023 convention was the highest since 2019 and it follows a promising trend of growth. Pandemic concerns are in the past and convention attendance in general is booming. It’s a good time to be Colossalcon.

Colossalcon is an anime convention held at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Sandusky, Ohio. It’s a water park resort, so if you’ve seen photos or videos of cosplayers in swimsuits there’s a good chance that it’s from Colossalcon. It’s been held at that location since 2009 so it’s pretty well known. There are actually four Colossalcons. This article will focus on the one known as “Colossalcon Prime” since it’s the original and most popular, but the advice here is generally good for the others as well. The other Colossalcons are in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

The room booking process sucks. You sit on the landing page, impatiently pressing the refresh button, waiting with bated breath for the moment the block opens. Once it does you scramble with hands shaking to enter your information only to find out the block is sold out 😩. “Why does this happen to me?!” you scream. Is it you? Are you too slow or does the booking process just suck? Well, maybe it's a little bit of both. Don't be offended. You're not alone.

MomoCon is the Southeastern United States’ largest gaming and anime convention. Based in Atlanta, GA, this large convention gathered a record-breaking 48,000 attendees this year. That’s a significant number for an anime convention and enough to put it in the top 5 by attendance. Held at the giant Georgia World Congress Center, it has plenty of room to grow.

Anime Central, or ACEN for short, is one of those conventions that you hear a lot about from your friends, but you never make a point of attending. It has a good-sized vendor hall, lots of events, two raves, and lots of cosplay. It’s located near Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois, right next door to the ginormous Chicago O’Hare airport. That makes it easy to attend for those out of state and the surrounding area is pretty nice. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants nearby and I didn’t see a single homeless person. By all rights this con should be on your list. So why haven't you attended?

Weebcon is an anime convention based in Dallas, Texas. For being just three years old it’s doing great. It moved to the fabulous Gaylord Texan this year and had a great turnout. I’d estimate it to be around 15k attendees. While there might be some bumps and growing pains along the way, I’m pretty sure this con is going to keep growing and improving. Definitely consider it if you’re looking for a new convention.

WonderCon is a comic convention held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim California. Operated by Comic Con International, the same company that runs the very popular San Diego Comic Con, WonderCon is an absolute blast of a convention. It's as though the company knows how to step aside and just let people have a good time. Too many conventions want the event to be about itself, constantly reminding you of how great it is. WonderCon sets the stage and gives you, the attendee, the opportunity to shine.

If the anime community is a high school, then Katsucon is the homecoming prom. It’s the big event that everyone looks forward to. People dress up in their best outfits and get pictures taken. Hopefully all that con-crunching has paid off. Some people party late into the night and do things they kind of regret, if they can remember it at all. Maybe it will become a fun story to tell years later. Conventions are supposed to be fun after all. Whether that means partying, cosplaying, or attending panels – we all have different ways of having fun.

I’ve attended enough conventions to recognize a well-run event. Considering its size, Anime Los Angeles (ALA) is an impressive convention. With an attendance of 16k, ALA offers a lot and presents itself in a professional manner. There’s a lot that goes into putting on a convention and the success or failure rides largely on the competence of the people running it. I have no relationship nor personal knowledge of the folks behind it, so these are just my impressions.