# Have we experienced our last Photokina? The show has been suspended until further notice



## Canon Rumors Guy (Nov 27, 2020)

> *No 8 / Cologne, Germany, 27 November 2020 // photokina will be suspended until further notice*
> * *After 70 years, decreases in the imaging market force a hard cut
> In view of the further massive decline in markets for imaging products, Koelnmesse has decided to discontinue organising photokina at its Cologne location for the time being. “Unfortunately, at present the framework conditions in the industry do not provide a viable basis for the leading international trade fair for photography, video and imaging,” according to Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse. “This hard cut after a 70-year shared history was very difficult for us. The trend in this industry, with which we have always had a close and trusting partnership, is very painful for us to witness. But we are facing the situation with a clear, honest decision against continuing this event, a decision to which, unfortunately, we have no alternative.”
> 
> Even before the coronavirus pandemic...



Continue reading...


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## allanP (Nov 27, 2020)

Moving to spring, lack of new concepts, shrinking market...
In the current situation this is not surprising, but it is still sad!
I've been to Photokina many times and will miss it

Black Friday got a new meaning today


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## blackcoffee17 (Nov 27, 2020)

It's a bit sad. Are we going to have everything online in the future? I've been to Photokina and was a nice experience. You could see and touch equipment you wouldn't even look for on the internet.


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## mb66energy (Nov 27, 2020)

I really liked the photokina environment. I visited it maybe 5 times -
for me just traveling 40 km at that time.

I will never forget the situation when a friend of mine - working on the
photokina temporarily - got her hair in the AF gear of a stripped EF lens 
demo model.
And we fiddled to separate her from the display model without breaking
the model or sacrificing to much hair! (~1988)

Or eating a chicken steak on the terrace while wild birds gave some interesting
target for AF systems (~2010). While the steak tasted great I always was a 
not really relaxe. What if some falcon or eagle wanted to taste a little
bit meat? But maybe they do not their more earth bound buddies.

Sad story that this fair might be over - but maybe a consequence of a market
spinning faster and faster ... to get the news more shiny gear instead of
using the tools as tools.


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## YuengLinger (Nov 27, 2020)

It is fun and energizing going to a good convention. We are told over and over that things can never go back to normal. Really? Why would that be? Even without the virus, attendance at social gatherings of many types has been going down. We are so obsessed with checking our smartphones and streaming video while waiting for delivered take-out, why bother going out?

I belonged to a good photo club. The members started aging out. They resisted efforts to bring in younger photographers, but I and a few others persisted. And then Covid-19, and they loved Zoom, and decided almost right away even after the virus passes they will remain virtual to save driving evenings. And the club wouldn't have to spend $35 a month for a conference room with projection equipment...I had to quit.


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## Maximilian (Nov 27, 2020)

Though living in Germany I never found the time to go there. 
One additional reason may be because I have worked on fair booths several times before and I found it too stressing on fairs. 
But that just me. 

Seeing that other fairs are still successful (in times w/o COVID-19) the question is, if it is the concept or the market that isn't working anymore for the photokina. 
Seeing the numbers the market for sure is causing trouble. But seeing how many pics and vids are taken today I'd say it also the fair concept that's outdated.


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## melgross (Nov 27, 2020)

This is not surprising. The large shows here in the US have been crumbling for many years now. The internet has been the root cause of much of it. I went to Photokina back in 1971, I think it was, where Canon introduced the F1 line.

but shrinking sales has made it difficult for companies to afford this. Back in the olde days, it was much cheaper to exhibit at these shows. Costs are gotten out of control though. The pandemic has destroyed much of what we’ve taken for granted.


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## canonnews (Nov 27, 2020)

I did a write on this and it's a weird announcement .. and it's .. well, based upon fictional data. I obviously don't run PK, but if you wanted an example about how to kill a trade show, photokina is object lesson #1.


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## unfocused (Nov 27, 2020)

I'm surprised that there isn't a business model that could work. With the decline in brick and mortar stores, I would think that a show where consumers could go and actually see cameras and lenses first hand would be sustainable post-pandemic. Tamron used to (maybe they still do) have a traveling show to showcase their lenses, but it was tied to local camera shops, which are all but dead now. 

Other hobbies have successfully developed traveling shows that hit major convention centers and draw people from hundreds of miles away. I'd certainly travel to Chicago, St. Louis or Indianapolis if there were a show where Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Sigma, Tamron, etc., were exhibiting. Possibly needs to be under the auspices of a retailer like Adorama or B&H.


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## blackcoffee17 (Nov 27, 2020)

YuengLinger said:


> It is fun and energizing going to a good convention. We are told over and over that things can never go back to normal. Really? Why would that be? Even without the virus, attendance at social gatherings of many types has been going down. We are so obsessed with checking our smartphones and streaming video while waiting for delivered take-out, why bother going out?
> 
> I belonged to a good photo club. The members started aging out. They resisted efforts to bring in younger photographers, but I and a few others persisted. And then Covid-19, and they loved Zoom, and decided almost right away even after the virus passes they will remain virtual to save driving evenings. And the club wouldn't have to spend $35 a month for a conference room with projection equipment...I had to quit.



Yes, for some reason we want to live our lives online without any human connection.


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## blackcoffee17 (Nov 27, 2020)

unfocused said:


> I'm surprised that there isn't a business model that could work. With the decline in brick and mortar stores, I would think that a show where consumers could go and actually see cameras and lenses first hand would be sustainable post-pandemic. Tamron used to (maybe they still do) have a traveling show to showcase their lenses, but it was tied to local camera shops, which are all but dead now.
> 
> Other hobbies have successfully developed traveling shows that hit major convention centers and draw people from hundreds of miles away. I'd certainly travel to Chicago, St. Louis or Indianapolis if there were a show where Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Sigma, Tamron, etc., were exhibiting. Possibly needs to be under the auspices of a retailer like Adorama or B&H.



It might be because photo companies don't want to pay the huge costs preparing for a show like this in a declining market. It's a shame tho.


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## LDS (Nov 27, 2020)

unfocused said:


> a show where consumers could go and actually see cameras and lenses first hand would be sustainable post-pandemic.



Not when people flocks to Youtube to watch someone else play with them...


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## EOS 4 Life (Nov 28, 2020)

NAB is *******!


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## stevelee (Nov 28, 2020)

About 25 years ago I went to MacWorld Boston. It was a great experience. I met interesting people, saw demos of Be machines and Kai Krause’s presentation on his software. I asked an author whether she had seen this great article in the Washington _Post _that I had read on the way up. She said it was an edited-down version of a chapter in her book. So I bought the book, and she autographed it. It was also a fun trip otherwise. I looked forward to going to another one. Before I got back, Steve Jobs moved it to NYC and soon closed it down. The West Coast version lasted a little longer.

Those now seem like more innocent distant times.


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## zim (Nov 28, 2020)

stevelee said:


> About 25 years ago I went to MacWorld Boston. It was a great experience. I met interesting people, saw demos of Be machines and Kai Krause’s presentation on his software. I asked an author whether she had seen this great article in the Washington _Post _that I had read on the way up. She said it was an edited-down version of a chapter in her book. So I bought the book, and she autographed it. It was also a fun trip otherwise. I looked forward to going to another one. Before I got back, Steve Jobs moved it to NYC and soon closed it down. The West Coast version lasted a little longer.
> 
> Those now seem like more innocent distant times.


My goodness KPT plugins! I'd totally forgotten about that, for it's time a quirky interface, I loved it. Made me rethink about interface design which i was doing a lot of with business software back then. Tbh I was actually more interested in how it worked and interacted with the user than what it actually did!


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## Antono Refa (Nov 28, 2020)

unfocused said:


> I'm surprised that there isn't a business model that could work. With the decline in brick and mortar stores, I would think that a show where consumers could go and actually see cameras and lenses first hand would be sustainable post-pandemic.



For the price of a trip to Germany (flight, hotel, etc) I could just rent the equipment.



unfocused said:


> Tamron used to (maybe they still do) have a traveling show to showcase their lenses, but it was tied to local camera shops, which are all but dead now.



I live in a big city, under 500,000 people. There are three big shops that sell photography equipment, three labs (read: sell film, develop, and scan / print, one also specializes in Lomo), a shop that specializes in old used equipment such as FD lenses, a small school that runs photography courses (has a few rooms for classes), etc. The larger metropolitan area has several more shops, e.g. Canon's official importer.

Yes, the 1 hour shops are gone, but Tamron wouldn't have a problem finding a shop to showcase their lenses in.


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## allanP (Nov 28, 2020)

Antono Refa said:


> Yes, the 1 hour shops are gone, but Tamron wouldn't have a problem finding a shop to showcase their lenses in.


You can see it in a different light too. Thousands of visitors come to a stand during the fair. Much more than the potential customers in the big cities.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 28, 2020)

Our Metro area is about 600,000 but the last Pro camera shop which began in 1908 has stopped selling cameras totally, They have gradually transitioned to very profitable high end audio Video and high end Kitchen small gadgets and appliances. They are still on the Canon Authorized list but have dropped all the brands.

So, we have big box stores, mainly Best Buy and Costco selling consumer cameras for the most part. We have to buy from Seattle now at Glazers or Kenmore Camera as the closest physical pro Camera store. There is also Robi's Camera Supply near Tacoma. Some of these stores have hard to find products like the EF to RF adapters.


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## Antono Refa (Nov 28, 2020)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Our Metro area is about 600,000 but the last Pro camera shop which began in 1908 has stopped selling cameras totally, They have gradually transitioned to very profitable high end audio Video and high end Kitchen small gadgets and appliances. They are still on the Canon Authorized list but have dropped all the brands.
> 
> So, we have big box stores, mainly Best Buy and Costco selling consumer cameras for the most part. We have to buy from Seattle now at Glazers or Kenmore Camera as the closest physical pro Camera store. There is also Robi's Camera Supply near Tacoma. Some of these stores have hard to find products like the EF to RF adapters.



I thought the local shops not carrying 180x210mm NiSi filters made my home town provincial. Now having a local shop that sells 150x170mm NiSi filters looks like a privilege.


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## tmroper (Nov 29, 2020)

Everyone's going to have to go to Apple's WWDC instead :/


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## degos (Nov 29, 2020)

LDS said:


> Not when people flocks to Youtube to watch someone else play with them...



Instead of waiting two years for an event in another country?

Photokina and other such shows were already irrelevant to the majority of photographers purely on an opportunity and financial basis.


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## canonmike (Nov 29, 2020)

For decades, we lived in Atlanta and loved the local camera stores there, like Wolf Camera on 14th St., located not far from where KEH was located, Showcase Photographics store on Cheshire Bridge Rd and a handful of other local stores, all gone now, unable to compete with the internet. So, most likely, wherever you live, you are no longer able to go to your local cottage vendor and personally look at your camera gear of choice. Sadly, we now rely on social media sites like YouTube to get our gear fix and to help us make an informed decision, as best we can, based on some vlogger's review of same. Then, we go on Amz, Ebay, Adorama, B&H and other sites to order our gear of choice. It is our fault there are no longer any good small camera stores around. Using, first the phone and later the internet, we drove them all out of business, as they no longer could compete on price as we opted for the lowest price at the expense of personal service, both during and after the sale. I envy those living close enough to N.Y. or N.J. and their ability to shop at Adorama, B&H and other stores located there, where you can instantly get your camera gear fix. In a market where annual camera sales are declining, we are most fortunate that the major camera Mfgs. are still coming out with new products, seemingly oblivious to market data logic. With company's like Olympus selling their camera division, I can not see where this trend can continue into the future. For now, I remain grateful to all Mfgs., still committed to new products in the face of declining revenue and profits. We all know this cannot continue indefinitely. In the interim, I am enjoying all this new gear, across all Mfgs. lines but am worried about what the Olympus sale really forsees for the market we have grown to love, while taking it for granted that they will always give us what we want. Enjoy your gear, improve your photograhic skillset, whatever it might be and stay safe out there. I thoroughly enjoy reading my fellow CR members daily gear chatter, on any given topic, even if I don't necessarily agree with your viewpoint. Please keep sharing your commentary, as we all work to get through this Covid fatigue that now surrounds us.


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## SteveC (Nov 29, 2020)

canonmike said:


> For decades, we lived in Atlanta and loved the local camera stores there, like Wolf Camera on 14th St., located not far from where KEH was located, Showcase Photographics store on Cheshire Bridge Rd and a handful of other local stores, all gone now, unable to compete with the internet. So, most likely, wherever you live, you are no longer able to go to your local cottage vendor and personally look at your camera gear of choice. Sadly, we now rely on social media sites like YouTube to get our gear fix and to help us make an informed decision, as best we can, based on some vlogger's review of same. Then, we go on Amz, Ebay, Adorama, B&H and other sites to order our gear of choice. It is our fault there are no longer any good small camera stores around. Using, first the phone and later the internet, we drove them all out of business, as they no longer could compete on price as we opted for the lowest price at the expense of personal service, both during and after the sale. I envy those living close enough to N.Y. or N.J. and their ability to shop at Adorama, B&H and other stores located there, where you can instantly get your camera gear fix. In a market where annual camera sales are declining, we are most fortunate that the major camera Mfgs. are still coming out with new products, seemingly oblivious to market data logic. With company's like Olympus selling their camera division, I can not see where this trend can continue into the future. For now, I remain grateful to all Mfgs., still committed to new products in the face of declining revenue and profits. We all know this cannot continue indefinitely. In the interim, I am enjoying all this new gear, across all Mfgs. lines but am worried about what the Olympus sale really forsees for the market we have grown to love, while taking it for granted that they will always give us what we want. Enjoy your gear, improve your photograhic skillset, whatever it might be and stay safe out there. I thoroughly enjoy reading my fellow CR members daily gear chatter, on any given topic, even if I don't necessarily agree with your viewpoint. Please keep sharing your commentary, as we all work to get through this Covid fatigue that now surrounds us.



It's definitely too little, too late, but I now have a policy of supporting my local brick and mortar shop. I print there, I buy gear there if they carry it at all. The exception I make is for refurbs and filters (their house brand sucks).


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## stevelee (Nov 29, 2020)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Our Metro area is about 600,000 but the last Pro camera shop which began in 1908 has stopped selling cameras totally, They have gradually transitioned to very profitable high end audio Video and high end Kitchen small gadgets and appliances. They are still on the Canon Authorized list but have dropped all the brands.
> 
> So, we have big box stores, mainly Best Buy and Costco selling consumer cameras for the most part. We have to buy from Seattle now at Glazers or Kenmore Camera as the closest physical pro Camera store. There is also Robi's Camera Supply near Tacoma. Some of these stores have hard to find products like the EF to RF adapters.



I live in a small town in a metro area of about 2.6 million. The camera stores that I have been to have all closed, but Google tells me there is one 29 miles from me that has been there for over 40 years. Their website shows a variety of services and products, all photography related. The Best Buy 11 miles down the interstate from me had, as last I was there, a surprisingly good camera department with knowledgeable sales persons. I have bought several cameras there in the last few years and a couple of my lenses. Of course I don't know what is going on there now. If you got serious about a particular brand, the sales folks would hand you off to the person who shot that kind, if they were there. The guy who sold me my 6D2 had a 6D himself, so he was quite helpful. His photography business had picked up so much that he cut his hours back a lot, he told me. I didn't see him when I bought my G5X II there last year, but the salesman was very helpful. I also looked at the M50 and the Sony that was in the same general class as the G5X, but more expensive. The salesman helped me look at the pros and cons of each. The Sony got eliminated quickly because the newer versions add more telephoto length at the expense of lens speed, exactly backward from my needs for travel. I like to shop locally when possible, even if it is in a big box store, especially when I can get that level of customer service.


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## SteveC (Nov 29, 2020)

stevelee said:


> I live in a small town in a metro area of about 2.6 million. The camera stores that I have been to have all closed, but Google tells me there is one 29 miles from me that has been there for over 40 years. Their website shows a variety of services and products, all photography related. The Best Buy 11 miles down the interstate from me had, as last I was there, a surprisingly good camera department with knowledgeable sales persons. I have bought several cameras there in the last few years and a couple of my lenses. Of course I don't know what is going on there now. If you got serious about a particular brand, the sales folks would hand you off to the person who shot that kind, if they were there. The guy who sold me my 6D2 had a 6D himself, so he was quite helpful. His photography business had picked up so much that he cut his hours back a lot, he told me. I didn't see him when I bought my G5X II there last year, but the salesman was very helpful. I also looked at the M50 and the Sony that was in the same general class as the G5X, but more expensive. The salesman helped me look at the pros and cons of each. The Sony got eliminated quickly because the newer versions add more telephoto length at the expense of lens speed, exactly backward from my needs for travel. I like to shop locally when possible, even if it is in a big box store, especially when I can get that level of customer service.



I sure hope no one at Best Buy reads this; they will probably have to fire the knowledgeable salesmen and replace them with the usual clueless monkeys.

The only qualification for Best Buy sales is an unwillingness to say "I don't know" and a willingness to make up an answer to cover your ignoriance.


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## jam05 (Nov 29, 2020)

unfocused said:


> I'm surprised that there isn't a business model that could work. With the decline in brick and mortar stores, I would think that a show where consumers could go and actually see cameras and lenses first hand would be sustainable post-pandemic. Tamron used to (maybe they still do) have a traveling show to showcase their lenses, but it was tied to local camera shops, which are all but dead now.
> 
> Other hobbies have successfully developed traveling shows that hit major convention centers and draw people from hundreds of miles away. I'd certainly travel to Chicago, St. Louis or Indianapolis if there were a show where Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Sigma, Tamron, etc., were exhibiting. Possibly needs to be under the auspices of a retailer like Adorama or B&H.
> [/QUOTE
> Cost vs revenue. Too much cost. Especially air fare & hotel expenses.


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## jam05 (Nov 29, 2020)

SteveC said:


> It's definitely too little, too late, but I now have a policy of supporting my local brick and mortar shop. I print there, I buy gear there if they carry it at all. The exception I make is for refurbs and filters (their house brand sucks).


Very few even carry sufficient inventory. 80% of items online are never available locally.


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## SteveC (Nov 30, 2020)

jam05 said:


> Very few even carry sufficient inventory. 80% of items online are never available locally.



True.

In my case I am lucky; I am able to find most RF lenses at the Brick And Mortar, though in some cases I might have to have one shipped from another store (they are a chain with about a dozen stores in two states). Fortunately the more specialized ones I am not interested in (yet). Ancillary gear like bags and straps is a little more problematic; they don't carry a lot of different brands, and that is something I really do want to see and try out in person before I buy. A familiar sight is me bringing in a loaded bag and moving all the contents into their display bag to be sure they fit and there is a place for everything, before I will buy the bag. (I did lose a rear lens cap and body cap that way one time--ones they didn't sell so I couldn't replace them.) However, I won't buy their filters, and if they flat out don't carry an item, I won't hesitate to jump to B&H.

The fact that they know me at this shop meant I was able to preorder the R5 before it was officially announced, and that let me be possibly the first person in my 500,000+ county to have an R5 instead of finding myself SOL for not getting my order in in the first thirty seconds.


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## Mr Majestyk (Nov 30, 2020)

Having resisted for so long I believe they will be relaunching the event as Phonekina and there will only be Samsung and Sony present at the event.


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## EOS 4 Life (Nov 30, 2020)

tmroper said:


> Everyone's going to have to go to Apple's WWDC instead :/


Apple basically obsoleted wristwatches because people could use smartphones to keep time and schedules but then they came out with a huge selling smartwatch.
I have no doubt they could do the same for point and shoot cameras.
I doubt that Apple is interested in the professional camera market.


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## tmroper (Nov 30, 2020)

Mr Majestyk said:


> Having resisted for so long I believe they will be relaunching the event as Phonekina and there will only be Samsung and Sony present at the event.


Why Sony? They hardly have any share of the phone market. Samsung, though, is one of the top market leaders. As is Huawei (basically tied with Samsung for the top spot) who would likely attend, too, if the EU would allow them to.


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## EOS 4 Life (Dec 1, 2020)

tmroper said:


> Why Sony? They hardly have any share of the phone market. Samsung, though, is one of the top market leaders. As is Huawei (basically tied with Samsung for the top spot) who would likely attend, too, if the EU would allow them to.


Sony dominates the phone sensor market.
I read that they lost a lot of market share to Samsung because Huawei was Sony's biggest customer.
Samsung has itself and Apple.


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