BIRMINGHAM, UK -- The fourth Image Processing & Optic Technology exhibition in February introduced more than 2000 people to the latest photonics technology from more than 100 companies.The general attitude of exhibitors and attendees at the show seemed optimistic, with an expressed feeling that business is continuing on an upward swing for most. Floor traffic at the show appeared heavy at times, leaving one with the impression that many visitors were coming early and staying late.During both days of the show, companies offered a series of 20-minute technical product presentations in a reserved area of the show floor. Admission was free, and the presentations proved very popular, with "standing room only" being a common feature of most.Image technology products seemed to dominate the exhibition space with a number of video camera, machine vision systems and sensors, and image processing systems. Highlights included: Eastman Kodak's high-resolution (3072 3 2048) full-frame CCD camera for industrial image acquisition. Hamamatsu's new high-performance back-illuminated CCDs with higher sensitivity in the UV and NIR. A series of new PCI-bus image acquisition and processing boards for scientific and medical applications offered by Kane Computing. The new Anorad piezoelectric ceramic linear motors for nanometer positioning applications offered by Laser Lines. The Pulnix Europe CCD-based traffic-monitoring camera observing and counting vehicles. Oxford Lasers' new 1000-fps imaging system using a solid-state laser illuminator with pulse lengths down to 1 µs. AG Electronics' demonstration of WYKO's noncontact surface profiler. Two new digital signal processor-based dual image processor modules from Sundance Microprocessor Technology.