Photokina 2020 - victim of coronavirus?

[Andrew Reid]

Now Fujifilm has pulled out and only 3 remain - Sony, Panasonic and Canon.

But due to coronavirus they are now in doubt, which means Photokina is likely now completely kaput!

I think a good German camera trade show with a long history deserves better. Photokina has been mishandled for years. Sure, the final demise is virus assisted, but I don't see them coming back from this. What is the point of 2 or 3 manufacturers turning up every 2 years?

The thing I enjoyed the most about Photokina (RIP) were the smaller stands, many of them from China. How many of those will be making the trip this year amidst a near-pandemic for a show that may or may not happen, but one that needs to be booked months in advance and costs an absolute fortune for exhibitors?

Hopefully we get a NAB-equivilent for photo cameras soon, one a year, in both Europe and the US.

[independent]

It's 2020. Live streams. 

[mirekti]

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Now Fujifilm has pulled out and only 3 remain - Sony, Panasonic and Canon.

But due to coronavirus they are now in doubt, which means Photokina is likely now completely kaput!

I think a good German camera trade show with a long history deserves better. Photokina has been mishandled for years. Sure, the final demise is virus assisted, but I don't see them coming back from this. What is the point of 2 or 3 manufacturers turning up every 2 years?

The thing I enjoyed the most about Photokina (RIP) were the smaller stands, many of them from China. How many of those will be making the trip this year amidst a near-pandemic for a show that may or may not happen, but one that needs to be booked months in advance and costs an absolute fortune for exhibitors?

Hopefully we get a NAB-equivilent for photo cameras soon, one a year, in both Europe and the US.

Honestly, the number of people visiting such events is very low compared to the actual number of the consumers. 
Having a new product reviewed on Youtube is much cheaper, hits larger audience, and this is where it all goes. 
I understand your point, but it is getting "old". You better focus on the reviews, but you need to add video content, you have a good starting point. ...unless you're camera shy
Cheers!!!

[leslie]

I suspect coronavirus is probably going to put the kibosh on pretty much everything for awhile. No matter what area your involved in. May be a good time for england to pick up the pieces in couple of months if things get back to normal. Scrap that europe business idea, get it happening in england. Surely england could put on a good trade show. Get the queen down there signing a couple of fuji's perhaps, you could even flog btm_pix a stall for ten pounds 😉. It would work for a couple of years at least but i think mirekti is right things are changing, peoples are looking for cheaper options.

[kaylee]

im into trade shows, and id rlly like to see photokina stick around...! its special

when things calm down, i think it will return. never underestimate the willingness of marks like me to pay big $$$ for the location and the culture ~!

> that being said, how is the coronavirus affecting you guys?? who can report from home bout whats going on where u live...?

FINALLY my antisocial southern california mountain home is coming in handy...! just when i was abt to move back to LA too 🤔 [pandemic protip: avoid LAX, fly into any orher airport]

note: my posts often contain a lot of misinterpreted deadpan humor, but now is not the time ok 😂 i know that this is a serious subject guys; i rlly hope that you all are doing ok ❤️💯👍🏻

 

[rdouthit]

I was supposed to be flying to the Geneva  Auto Show tomorrow, but it was just cancelled this morning due to Covid-19. I expect that most major events will probably be cancelled until a more effective treatment is in place.  

[BTM_Pix]

5 minutes ago, kaylee said:

 

> that being said, how is the coronavirus affecting you guys?? who can report from home bout whats going on where u live...?

 

I landed in Tokyo about 90 minutes ago, my body clock thinks it 4:30 am and I'm off to buy a Sigma FP.

So pretty much normal addiction service is ongoing but the only difference is I'm wearing a mask.

Which looking at me after 24 hours with no sleep will come as a relief to the shop assistants.

[BTM_Pix]

To be fair, it is having a big impact here and two events I was definitely going to (CP+ obviously and New Order) have been cancelled but its because they are taking steps on an official basis whereas the UK and its absent leadership is basically just saying go home and take a lemsip.

 

[kaylee]

omg lol. kayleerumors is reporting a vaccine coming in a couple weeks, lets just lay low and be a lil careful til then 💕

[BTM_Pix]

31 minutes ago, kaylee said:

omg lol. kayleerumors is reporting a vaccine coming in a couple weeks, lets just lay low and be a lil careful til then 💕

What I'm getting from that is that I should just stay here and buy more shit, right?

Gotcha.

[leslie]

3 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

I landed in Tokyo about 90 minutes ago, my body clock thinks it 4:30 am and I'm off to buy a Sigma FP.

So pretty much normal addiction service is ongoing but the only difference is I'm wearing a mask.

Which looking at me after 24 hours with no sleep will come as a relief to the shop assistants.

well its 4. 53 pm here

also be aware, as masks go, option 2 isn't likely to cause any major panic

[sanveer]

They can save money for trade shows and offer more discounts to customers. Also avoid the spread of infections. Don't shake hand with anyone, do the namaste instead.

And wear masks, even if they haven't been medically certified. And sun glasses and surgical gloves. 

[independent]

Some don’t show symptoms, so why take the chance? Don’t shake hands with anybody. Or make out with them. Definitely none of the old in-out. 

[thebrothersthre3]

3 hours ago, independent said:

Some don’t show symptoms, so why take the chance? Don’t shake hands with anybody. Or make out with them. Definitely none of the old in-out. 

I'll take my chances 

[barefoot_dp]

It's looking like a bit of my work this year is going to be effected by Coronavirus.

One of my clients is an international sporting tour who normally give me about 2 months work a year (including travel to the events). They might be cancelling several of their competitions due to Coronavirus.
 

I also know a lot of guys & girls who are working on the Olympics. If they get cancelled they'll be missing out on a huge chuck of work/income for the year.

[Robert Collins]

There is minor panic here in Bangkok. Most people are wearing masks (despite the fact that they are effectively useless for preventing you catching Coronavirus).

The schools have all been shut. My 6 year old son had to self-quarantine for 14 days when he returned from a holiday in Japan. I had dinner with a friend who has a birds nest business and in February sales were down over 90% compared to January. (In China, car sales are down 83% for the first two months (YOY)).

And this is despite the fact that Thailand has only had 40 cases of Coronavirus so far (mostly Chinese tourists visiting during Chinese New Year.) I doubt a Coronavirus could spread here with temperatures in the mid 80s (possibly explains why there are virtually no cases in India or Africa.)

But these worries/concerns/panics tend to be self-perpetuating - easy to stoke and slow to dissipate. The economic impact in Asia is going to be quite dramatic and I expect everyone of us is going to be impacted in one way or another.

[Kisaha]

It is/will be a pandemic. Everyone will be affected one way or another. Just hope just for the financial loss for everyone around us and not anything more serious.

[KnightsFan]

21 hours ago, leslie said:

also be aware, as masks go, option 2 isn't likely to cause any major panic

I will be much more panicked if I see a group of people wearing option 2 coming towards me.

[OliKMIA]

The facts behind the panic:

• Corona virus death toll so far after two months of existence: 3000 persons
• Mortality rate is about 2-3% and old people are the most vulnerable, about 80% of deaths recorded were from those over the age of 60, and 75% had pre-existing health conditions including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. (source: WHO)

What should really be a cause of concern:

• Nearly 1.35 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,698 deaths a day.
• Flu Kills 646,000 People Worldwide Each Year. 1769 per day average
• Stroke killed 5,000,000 people worldwide in 2016
• Nearly 40,000 People Died From Guns in U.S. in 2017

Leading causes of death in the US in 2017:

• Heat disease: 647,457 deaths
• Cancer: 599,108 deaths
• Unintentional injuries / accidents: 169,936 deaths

So we may want to take a huge chill pill. Eat healthy, double check left and right twice before crossing the street, put the seat-belt on and stop worrying about a small pandemic of a not so dangerous virus. That being said, the public safety measures and large gathering restrictions are totally justified to prevent the spread of the disease, Photokina or the Olympic Games are clearly not a priority at this point.

[KnightsFan]

Agree with what @OliKMIA said but wanted to be a little more cautious as well.

While the flu kills a lot more people total, its mortality rate is on the order of 0.05% in the US. That's a difference of 40x. Those numbers are the US flu rate vs. the primarily China coronavirus, so it's not apples to apples, but the coronavirus is an order of magnitude more deadly. The flu is global, the coronavirus has really only hit a single city so far, with a few isolated cases escaping.

The rate of spread is extraordinary. The SARS outbreak infected 8,000 people total over six months. This has hit 10x that in two months. And this is even with Wuhan being in complete lockdown with extraordinary measures undertaken to limit the spread. If a similar outbreak happens in New York, a similar lockdown could devastate the global economy.