Each year Imaging USA brings around 10,000 amazing professional photographers who descend on a city for networking, friend-making and bonding. This year the event took place in San Antonio, Texas. The energy from the thousands of attendees, great speakers and the incredible gear from the Expo vendors makes for a truly spectacular conference. As with most years, Canon threw a fantastic welcoming party on Sunday night in the Grand Ballroom at The Marriott Rivercenter Hotel. The party was open to anyone with an Imaging USA badge.

During the party I was able to get several Canon Explorers of Light to agree to pose for me for a few group shots. Images were shot with a Canon 5D Mark IV and the new Canon 24-105mm IS f4 lens.

The Explorers of Light concept came out of Canon USA in the mid 1990s as a broad-ranging initiative for photographic education and inspiration. Today, the group is comprised of dozens of the most influential photographers and cinematographers in the world, each a master of their creative specialty.

I just returned from the Photographic Society of Americas International Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Each year its members gather to take advantage of the opportunities provided that week to further their education and shooting skills. This week I had the opportunity to try out the brand new 5D Mark IV. Its built around a new 30.4MP CMOS sensor and uses the Digic 6+ processor. The AF system is from the flagship 1D X Mark II. It also has 4K video, a touchscreen, improved weather-sealing, built-in Wi-Fi/NFC, an interval timer and GPS.

I managed to get away from the Canon booth for a few minutes and drop in on one of the photo bays that was nearby to test the 5D out. It's always impossible to tell how good a camera's images are by looking at low res images posted on the internet. So I'd like to add that the full size images are gorgeous. Looks like Im going to be ordering one soon.

Heres 3 photos taken with the 5D Mark IV and the Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS version II lens.