PHOTOKINA 2012, yes, “it’s a PHOTOKINA Year”

 

Photokina is held every two years, in the autumn, in beautiful Cologne, Germany.

FLAAR photographer Eduardo Sacayon had an exhibit there last year and perhaps we at FLAAR may exhibit again.

 

 

 

I have faithfully attended Photokina every two years since 1998, and I look forward to attending again.

We recommend this Photokina 2012 expo for:

- Pro photographers
- Pro-sumer photographers
- Hobby photographers
- Beginner photographers
- Students
- Distributors of photo equipment
- Manufacturers of photo equipment
- Individuals in the inkjet printing industry (printers, inks, media)

 

 

 

We look forward to seeing the exhibitor list Photokina 2012 and I am looking forward to seeing all the equipment and all the exhibits.

PMA@CES

PMA is co-located with CES in Las Vegas

First posted 26 Sept 2011

Updated Jan 10, 2012; updated Jan 16, 2012.

I enjoyed PMA for many years, but too many trade show organizations did not provide adequate events as the Internet took over the role of display for products. If you can see everything on the Internet, why go to a trade show if it is dull and boring.

What sealed the fate of PMA was selecting Anaheim as location and then Epson pulling out one year and then Canon pulling out the next year. I stopped even looking at what was left of their exhibitor list.


Evidently enough people at PMA woke up to reality and they did what other floundering trade shows are doing: co-locating. So, PMA@CES is attempting to be relevant.

Sadly the PMA exhibitor list on their (inadequate) web site the days before the expo opened was so short I could hardly believe this was the PMA that I used to visit year after year. Major manufacturers are simply not present. I was really surprised and totally disappointed.

Plus photo related exhibitors which are present (either at CES or PMA locations) were either not listed at all or poorly listed. 

But there were several items of photography equipment that I wished to evaluate and write reviews on, so now I am at PMA. I will try to find something nice to say about the expo (though there is no signage to guide you through The Venetian complex for PMA whatsoever, zilch. As if PMA does not want to exist). Even inside The Venetian, supposedly where PMA is supposed to be, there were no directional signs to PMA.

But once I eventually found the area of PMA, it was nicely organized inside (even if not in the catalog and especially not on any web site). I saw lots of colleagues and had many informative discussions. Met owners and managers of several new companies.

Plus I visited key booths of photo equipment in the CES area several miles away from The Venetian (at the Las Vegas Convention Center) such as Manfrotto. I enjoyed stopping at the CELESTRON booth, to see their impressive telescope that can take a digital camera.

Three FLAAR Reports will result: a free download on camera equipment at PMA + at CES; free download of general comments on CES; and a special consulting report for trade show organizers who would like to learn how to avoid the issues, headaches, problems, omissions, inadequacies that were so glaring at CES. All three should be ready by Friday this week. You can order the report on how to improve management of your trade show by writing FrontDesk "at" FLAAR.org.  The other two reports will be free downloads as soon as they are finished.

 

 

 

Digital photography is alive and well at PhotoPlus in New York

First posted November 3, 2011

Daniela and Nicholas spent two days at PhotoPlus in NY. A surprise blizzard dumped so much snow on New York the third day, we were stuck out at the NY Botanical Garden and never made it back to the city in time to get to the third day of the photo show.

The FLAAR Report on tripods, tripod heads, digital cameras, accessories exhibited at PhotoPlus will be out this coming week.

 

 

 

PhotoPlus 2011 exhibitor list in New York

First posted 26 Sept 2011

Last year was a Photokina Year, so I skipped PhotoPlus. But in 2011, there is no Photokina, so it's good to visit PhotoPlus in New York. So I will be at PhotoPlus 2011 together with biologist and student photographer Daniela Da'Costa. I am curious what I will find in the PhotoPlus 2011 exhibitor list.