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 began, the imaging market was already subject to strong upheaval, with annual declines in the double digits. The momentum in this direction intensified massively in 2020, most recently reporting a decline in the 50-percent range. Recently, these developments have had a profound effect on photokina, which – in Cologne since 1950 – for generations has been the top address for the imaging industry and ranks among the most favourably and emotionally charged brands in the trade fair world.

Since 2014, Koelnmesse, together with the German Photo Industry Association, has taken its cue from downward market trends, responding with adjustments to the underlying concept of the trade fair as well as considerable investment in new exhibitor and visitor segments. “These changes in conceptual design, along with a shift in intervals and a change of dates, did not fundamentally improve the situation of the event,” says Oliver Frese, Management Board member and Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse. “While there are more photographs taken today than ever before, the integration of smartphone photography and videography, together with image-based communication, e.g. via social media, was not able to cushion the elimination of large segments of the classic market. As a result, the overall situation is not compatible with the quality standards of photokina as a globally renowned brand representing the highest quality and professionalism in the international imaging market.”

Koelnmesse has made its decision in close coordination with the German Photo Industry Association. Kai Hillebrandt, Chairman of that association, remarked: “Our partners in Cologne have done everything in their power to maintain photokina as the leading global trade fair. Nonetheless, an event held in 2022 could not have met the expectations of the entire imaging community that those efforts were intended to serve. That is why we, on behalf of our association, are joining them in taking this regrettably unavoidable step. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the team in Cologne for a tremendous 70 years together!”

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31 comments

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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...
  12. 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.
  13. 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!
  14. 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.

    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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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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