The End Of A 70-Year Era For Photokina
First staged in 1950 – when Germany was at the centre of the camera industry – the Photokina trade exhibition has been officially put on hold “until further notice” and, consequently, is unlikely to be held again, at least not at its traditional location in Cologne. The event’s organiser – Köln Messe – says that the “massive” decline in the markets for imaging products has made staging Photokina unviable.
“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,” states the organisation. “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.”
Prior to the 2018 exhibition – which now turns out to be have been the last – it was announced that Photokina would return to being an annual event (it had been biennial since 1966) and move from its traditional dates in September to earlier in the year, in May. This was undoubtedly mostly motivated by the desire to avoid the clash with the giant EFA consumer electronics show, held in Berlin in September and which had been increasingly attracting imaging companies (with obvious crossovers for the likes of Panasonic and Sony). The plan to hold the first annual event in May 2019, just eight months after the 2018 exhibition, ran into resistance from many of the photo industry’s major brands due to the very short turnaround time, and so the next dates set were for May 2020. Covid-19 forced the cancellation of Photokina 2020, so it had been rescheduled not for 2021, but for 2022… most likely a sign that participation numbers were too low to sustain it.
Over the decades, Photokina has witnessed the most significant new camera unveilings, including the Leica M3 and Hasselblad 1000F in 1954, the Pentax Spotmatic in 1960, the Olympus OM-1 in 1972 and, in 1988, the world’s first true digital compact camera, the Fujifilm DS-1P.