Javits photo show boring for large format photographers

<p>Just got back from the Javits show. I was concerned that I would have enough time. No problem. There was nothing there of any real interest. Schneider and Phase One shared a booth, and it was the only LF booth I saw. Phase One discouraged my interest in selling digital backs for LF. I found this rather surprising. In my experience, a product is more profitable when you sell it. They seem to think otherwise. Maybe they are influenced by Canon, which likes to run out of popular models and have a waiting list. Schneider had a lot of guys at the booth. They were more interested in talking to each other than the customers, so I do not have much to report. I did manage to pry loose a flyer about a new lens they have. IT is a 350mm F11, called the apo tele xenar. The lens requires only 280mm of bellows to focus at infinity and covers 8x10. At least I think it was a new lens. As I said, they were not eager to talk to customers. It is a good thing I am not a reporter. I was not in a pushy enough state of mind to find out much at the show about anything. It is interesting to note that Canham, View Camera Magazine and Bromwell, previous LF exhibitors, were gone. I also could not find a booth from HP. Maybe I missed it. This will be my last year wasting time at that show.</p>

<p>Bruce, as you well know, the news are elsewhere. If you were interested in micro 4/3 formats or DSLRs with HR video I guess it could find a thing or two. Also Post Processing S/W packages or applications for pushing pics and video from your iPhone should have been in abundance. But when LF companies count the screws in their stock, (not speaking of cameras), who can exhibit there? The world shifted elsewhere...</p>

<p>I also just got home form the expo. Its at least 20-25% smaller then last year.<br />Many of the large booths from last year did not even show up. Ones to note is the MAC group (Mamiya, sekonic, pocketwizard, profoto....) and Calumet.<br />No Profoto, what are they thinking. They are one of the premier lighting companies but a number of the smaller guys showed up.<br />Both MAC group and Calumet had very large booths last year. I did not see any staff from either at the expo.<br /><br /> Very sad. The HP booth was at the end near Canon. They had one or 2 printers.<br />Epson only had the 7990 showing and a few desktop models. Sad.<br /> Ilford was a delight to talk to as usual. As was Kodak. Very nice people who are dedicated to film and to LF.<br />Schneider had a small booth about the same size as last year iirc, they didn't have the SSXL i wanted to see but they were helpful.<br /> The majority of the booths were album manufacturers, lots of them! Some nice, most expensive.<br />Also a number of inkjet paper manufactures and services companies.<br /> One of the staples of trade shows are the giveaways. Barely a pen, pin or bumper sticker around.<br />I did the whole show in 3.5 hours with a number of long stops at vendors.<br /><br />All in all depressing but i did speak to a number of good people who are hopeful for the future.<br />I will attend next year and every year they show up to the city but if it shrinks any smaller, it wont be cost effective to open the doors.<br /> -ian</p>

<p>One of my friends said the reason that I did not get the attention of many salespeople at the show, despite having a camera store and being a good customer of a number of exhibitors, was that I look like a terrorist. Of course I look like a (spiritual) terrorist. I am one. Will people ever get past looking at the obvious and superficial? One certainly expects that those who make a living off photographers would learn to see a little. Not so. They seem to excel at complaining about the lack of business, while ignoring the business that walks past their booths. Well, I guess we already knew that the brains in business are working on Wall St. The photo business gets the opposite end of the body. How comical life is.</p>

<p>Bruce, as a person who sees beyond the superficial, maybe you just caught them in a bad moment. Maybe it has nothing to do with your persona or appearance. Perhaps they had many visitors before, asking how much their digital backs cost and when answered, people reacted inappropriately, like bursting in historical laughter. Maybe some visitors told them that ordinary Canons produce better images. I heard that argument many times before. Maybe they were just tired of that crowd. How about that? </p>

<p>Bruce, you didn't miss us at HP MArketing this year. We are not exhibiting at the show for the first time since the show was started by Photo Methods in the hotel. The reasons are many but basically the costs for exhibiting were the same but the show floorspace was cut in half this year and many hardware suppliers are not showing. So we will visit the show, our Product Manager yesterday and me today. Last year we spent close to $40,000.00 to exhibit at the show (floor space, decorator, airfares, meals, parking, drayage, etc). This year we are using that money to travel with our reps and do dealer training.<br>

We do have a booth in PMA and will exhibit in Anaheim even though some large companies like Canon and Leica have announce that they will not do that show next year.<br>

The dynamics of trade shows for photo are certainly changing this year.</p>

<p>Thanks Bob. Just 3-4 years ago I was planning on showing Ebony and Lotus there myself. The business has changed so much that it doesn't even make sense for me to attend anymore. It is a digital photo show now. What surprised me most was the way so many of the exhibitors seem to have given up on sales and were just going through the motions. I have worked trade shows myself, and even used to own one, New Artists at Madison Square Garden. I have never seen exhibitors so blase. I was at the first version of this show, run by the original" Photo District News". It was certainly more dynamic than this. I believe it was 1983. The guy who started it bought my BMW motorcycle.</p>

<p>Bruce,</p>

<p>The first show was run by Photo Methods magazine, which was one of the Ziff Davis magazines. The show was originally held in a hotel ball room and hall way. We had been in every show up till this year's. With all of the show owners, Photo Methods, A marketing company in Norwalk, PDN and the current owner who bought it from another show marketing company a couple of years ago. PDN is the sponsor but not the show owner.</p>

<p>Bruce, It's gonna be a bikers thread and as a Harley owner would parhaps say some things too, like that don,t you guys forgetting the economical crisis? Everything is slower and smaller. As Bob says exhibitions cost a lots of money.</p>

<p>Looking like a terrorist? About a week after Pearl Harbor in Dec of 1941, two well dressed Oriental gentlemen got off the New York Central Rail Road at Poughkeepsie, NY. They walked around a bit and played tourist. Photographing both the automobile and RR bridges that cross the Hudson here. It was then that the city police showed up and promptly arrested both men.</p>

<p>Only after beating and stripping them, and smashing their cameras, was it realized that they were visiting college professors from China, not Japan.</p>

<p>Frank, tough economic times are when you put your best people (the ones you kept around!) to work getting business. Strange thing about this recession is that it seems so many folks have given in to the notion that they aren't going to make any money, so why bother.</p>

<p>Bruce -- I had a similar reaction, although I am always impressed with the advances in digital printing. Truly amazing stuff on the walls, particularly at Epson. For some reason, HP did not have their usual impressive display of new prints. </p>

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<p> Strange thing about this recession is that it seems so many folks have given in to the notion that they aren't going to make any money, so why bother.</p>

 

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<p>Jim, true, I've noticed that too. I keep telling everyone to stop watching the news, but no one believes me. I saw someone here post a comment a while back that makes a lot of sense: "I've heard there's an economic crisis, but I've chosen not to participate." But hey people are simple, they've got their ipod and internet porn, life is good.</p>

<p>Steve:</p>

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<p>Only after beating and stripping them, and smashing their cameras, was it realized that they were visiting college professors from China, not Japan.</p>

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<p>OUCH!! I don't know how one could make amends for that kind of injustice.<br>

Guess it goes to show that police brutality is not merely a <em>new</em>-fangled response to terrorism then.</p>

<p>Bob: The first show was run by Photo District News, which was a small independent giveaway of unusual quality. The magazine was started by a photo assistant who had no way to connect with jobs. So he put out a free monthly paper with articles by his friends and cheap classified ads for the people in the business to connect. It was a neighborhood paper. When he did the show he got a job with the show producers and joined them to run trade shows. The paper was sold. I remember him but can't recall his name. We were all entrepreneurs back then. I had done two years of running an art fair called "New Artists at Madison Square Garden".</p>

<p>Hi Franky: I am slower and smaller too. </p>