Then look no further than lensrentals.com. Roger Cicala started the First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest. There is a little more than one week left to participate (10 days left).

Things are a bit different in this contest, compared to “classic” photo contests.Roger’s introduction:

Don’t worry, my pixel-peeping photogeek friends, I know that your usual images of ISO 12233 charts, backfocus targets, dog and cat fur don’t lend themselves well to the various photo competitions out there. I know that a beautiful picture of a cloudy sunset doesn’t give you the opportunity to evaluate corner resolution, and that it’s impossible to assess for spherical aberration in an artfully shadowed nude. Yes, we could enter an superbly sharp brick wall in the architectural category of a normal photo contest, or a 100% crop of our cat’s whiskers in the wildlife section, but we know those ‘artsy’ photo judges never have proper appreciation for that kind of work.

These are the categories:

• Sharpest corner – first prize: a lensbaby
• Bokehliciousness – First prize: An early 1900s Baush and Lomb Tessar
• 3-D Rendering of a 2-D Test Chart – First prize: A 24″ x 36″ Edmund Optics Resolving Power chart
• Largest Number of Accesories Between the Lens and the Camera – First prize: 2 pounds of  lens elements from Roger’s bin (see pic above)
  
• Best Picture of Stuff Inside a Lens – First prize: the Lensrentals repair team will get the stuff out of your lens
• Most Distortion Corrected in Software – First prize: A distortion-free Holga Pinhole lens
• Dynamic Range Demonstration – First prize: A pair of no-longer-available-to-the-public, totally geeked out T-shirts
• Best Picture from a Camera without a Movie Mode – First prize: A Lomography Kunstructor Build-it-yourself film SLR Kit

Be aware of the following:

JUST SO YOU KNOW:  Yes, the contest is in fun, but the prizes are real. So if you’re the only one who enters a category (which seems pretty likely) you win the prize. If no one enters a category, I win the prize (it’s my stuff anyway, so that’s fair.) Although I suspect some of my fellow judges will have a catfight over the T-shirts, at least.

Entries must be received by November 15th, we’ll announce the winners over Thanksgiving weekend after the sales are over. Non U. S. entries are accepted but we’ll only be able to ship to U. S. addresses so you’ll need a friend in the U. S. to forward it to you.

And be sure to check all you have to know at lensrentals.com

Canon Germany announced the upcoming Professional Imaging (ProIG) Roadshow, November 12-26. The roadshow will be held at 5 different spots in Germany:

12. November 2013:  Potsdam
14. November 2013:  Köln
19. November 2013:  Wörth am Main
21. November 2013:  München
26. November 2013:  Stuttgart

It addresses professional users as well as enthusiast photographers who are using Canon’s high end gear. Registration here. A machine-translated excerpt from the press release:

KREFELD 28 October 2013. Canon today announces its upcoming Professional Imaging (ProIG) roadshow, Canon’s Professional Forum, 2013, at. The ProIG Roadshow takes place from 12 to 26 November 2013 held at five different locations. It is aimed primarily at professional users in different market segments and dedicated amateurs who use high-end equipment. In addition to product demonstrations and live shoots and the entire ProIG portfolio is presented at a glance – from the professional cameras, the EOS-1D series, about XF camcorder, Cinema EOS, and broadcast to Pixma Pro printers, large format printers, projectors, network cameras and Reference 4K displays – the Canon Professional Forum provides an overview of all products and solutions around the topic of professional imaging. Services, such as the Dreamlabo finishing and the Canon Service Center Willich are on tour. There is a lot on offer – entry is free!

Canon Germany press release (translated):