Photokina 2018
Geoff Harris, Michael Topham and Andy Westlake report on photography’s biggest show
For the past five decades, in the September of even-numbered years, the world’s photographic press has descended on Cologne, Germany, to hear camera and lens makers announce their latest cutting-edge products. Traditionally, this is where all the biggest news breaks: ten years ago it saw the launch of the world’s first mirrorless camera, the Panasonic Lumix G1, while in 2016 the show was stolen by Fujifilm’s GFX medium-format system.
This year’s Photokina, held from 26-29 September, was perhaps the most exciting for some years. By far, the biggest news revolved around full-frame mirrorless: huge crowds swarmed around the Canon and Nikon stands to catch their first glimpse of the new EOS R and Z 7 cameras, while Leica, Panasonic and Sigma jointly announced their ‘L- Mount Alliance’ to produce cameras and lenses based on a common standard. Somewhat mischievously, Fujifilm proceeded to suggest that its exciting new mediumformat cameras should be known as ‘super full-frame’. Even Zeiss tried to jump on the bandwagon by calling its upcoming full-frame ZX1 ‘mirrorless’, despite the fact that with its fixed lens, it doesn’t fit the category at all.
Strikingly, other sensor formats and camera types were left by the wayside. Only two SLRs were announced: the entry-level Nikon D3500 and the specialist medium-format Leica S3. The D3500 was also one of only two new interchangeable-lens models with APS- C sensors, alongside the Fujifilm X-T3, which to be fair is sure to sell by the bucketload. No Micro Four Thirds cameras were announced at all.
Of course it’s not just about cameras, and a whole array of new lenses and accessories were also revealed at the show. You can read all about them towards the end of this report.
The end of Photokina?
Sadly, though, that’s the end of Photokina as we know it, as from 2019 onwards it’ll run annually in May. This means that it’ll miss out on the camera and lens announcements that have been its lifeblood, and will most likely become a German domestic event instead. At AP we’ll miss our biennial expedition to Cologne, although perhaps not this year’s dismal hotel.
Photokina’s change of focus shouldn’t have much impact on enthusiast photographers, who’ll still see plenty of fancy new kit announced during the course of next year. But we can probably expect the most exciting new camera announcements to be focused on the Japanese CP+ show in February, with other releases spread more evenly through the year. However, if 2018 really was the last ‘proper’ Photokina, at least it’s gone out with a bang.