broncolor's new weather generators not proving that popular :P

Well, at least they can deal with enquiries at lightning speed:)

FWIW, I believe that Bron is going to end up as the only alternative supplier to Godox, but obviously only selling to an extremely limited and specialist market.

From what I hear, the show was quite badly attended, it seems to me to have outlived its usefulness, many of the smaller exhibitors have lost too much money there, and many others are only there because all the costs are paid by the brand that they promote.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Well, at least they can deal with enquiries at lightning speed:)

FWIW, I believe that Bron is going to end up as the only alternative supplier to Godox, but obviously only selling to an extremely limited and specialist market.

From what I hear, the show was quite badly attended, it seems to me to have outlived its usefulness, many of the smaller exhibitors have lost too much money there, and many others are only there because all the costs are paid by the brand that they promote.
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It is hard to see the point of a trade show for many suppliers - and it wasn't that busy yesterday. The stands are also much less lavish than they used to be - I remember some of the elaborate Nikon/Canon stands with two floors, walkways and internal "rooms". Nothing like that now. The idea of the show as a temporary shop is still popular for some people, but I almost never buy anything from a stand - I'm not going to commit to something based on a 1-minute pitch there and then.. A lot of the floor space was taken up with filler such as sets you can shoot each other on, and a lot of it was just empty (they could have used the space to triple the number of tables and chairs though as there's never anywhere to sit and eat your £15 hotdog).
 
The internet has killed shows like this too. There used to be a lot of exhibitions where we would go for fact finding with everything under one roof. Now we do our research online and there's no need for an exhibition.
 
Scooter said:
It is hard to see the point of a trade show for many suppliers - and it wasn't that busy yesterday. The stands are also much less lavish than they used to be - I remember some of the elaborate Nikon/Canon stands with two floors, walkways and internal "rooms". Nothing like that now. The idea of the show as a temporary shop is still popular for some people, but I almost never buy anything from a stand - I'm not going to commit to something based on a 1-minute pitch there and then.. A lot of the floor space was taken up with filler such as sets you can shoot each other on, and a lot of it was just empty (they could have used the space to triple the number of tables and chairs though as there's never anywhere to sit and eat your £15 hotdog).
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Agreed. I think that the show has been going downhill since Focus on Imaging closed, and maybe a year or so before that.
The costs, for exhibitors, are horrific and it didn't help when the show was cancelled during Covid and refunds weren't made to the exhibitors . . .

Actual sales are poor, most people save money by buying from grey importers, Amazon and similar, the main advantage for exhibitors has, for a very long time, been building customer loyalty and promoting their brand, but brand loyalty and customer loyalty is now all but dead.

And yet, some people still believe that they can get a bargain there:(. I know of at least one dodgy seller who encourages people to pay cash, to evade both tax and VAT, and they can afford to discount their stock to some extent, but most sellers are honest and are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Reality check: The exhibitors pay an enormous amount of money to go there, the food concessionaires have to pay even more (and probably make very little profit on their overpriced food) and yet some people are still happy to pay to enter and pay a lot to park their car, which just doesn't make sense to me.

And of course, things can happen that can make the exhibition a total disaster for exhibitors, I remember one year when it snowed on what should have been the busiest day, and the place was nearly empty, and snow is a real possibility at this time of year.

ancient_mariner said:
The internet has killed shows like this too. There used to be a lot of exhibitions where we would go for fact finding with everything under one roof. Now we do our research online and there's no need for an exhibition.
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Yes. Also, it can be hard to find suppliers who have knowledgeable staff, and many exhibitors have to hire in temporary staff for exhibitions, and these people are just good at smiling and telling customers what they want to hear, they often have zero useful knowledge.
 
I was chatting to a stallholder at a recent motorcycle show and they said it was their last time there. The organisers only see the bottom line and after falling visitor numbers (covid is the obvious culprit), they have increased both the entrance fee and the cost of space to the stallholders, resulting in a drop in numbers on both counts. TBH, I'm not sure we'll go up next year since at least half the stalls I wanted to visit weren't there and I doubt it'll be different next year.
I know it's a different industry/interest but it's still a hobby based show so probably relevant!
 
Garry Edwards said:
Yes. Also, it can be hard to find suppliers who have knowledgeable staff, and many exhibitors have to hire in temporary staff for exhibitions, and these people are just good at smiling and telling customers what they want to hear, they often have zero useful knowledge.
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This is a common problem. I realised halfway through a conversation with a lighting manufacturer that I wasn't talking to the manufacturer, but just an almost self-appointed rep. I've since looked at his social media accounts and it's apparent he's just a bit of a general grifter - lots of various businesses, with a bit of a gold chain Del-boy image. He didn't understand that the lights he was selling would vary in output depending on the colour balance/colour (as the white light is made from a cool chip and a warm chip and the full output is only achieved at about 5600K when both chips are at maximum.) We didn't discuss it - I just nod and smile., but if I was not a technically minded potential customer, able to filter out the BS, there was no clarity or reliable information available on the stand.
 
Scooter said:
This is a common problem. I realised halfway through a conversation with a lighting manufacturer that I wasn't talking to the manufacturer, but just an almost self-appointed rep. I've since looked at his social media accounts and it's apparent he's just a bit of a general grifter - lots of various businesses, with a bit of a gold chain Del-boy image. He didn't understand that the lights he was selling would vary in output depending on the colour balance/colour (as the white light is made from a cool chip and a warm chip and the full output is only achieved at about 5600K when both chips are at maximum.) We didn't discuss it - I just nod and smile., but if I was not a technically minded potential customer, able to filter out the BS, there was no clarity or reliable information available on the stand.
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And I could make an educated guess at who this might be.
The Company that he often represents hires a lot of people just like him, who promote themselves to be experts but have never actually achieved anything in photography:(
But, I'm not knocking either this individual or the business, it's a common deception.
 
Came away with a feeling that it was not as good as previous, I have to say. Might give it a skip next year.

Notably missing were profoto and elinchrom, among others.

Nice to chat with our printing lab managers and hats off to the Canon cps manager who came up trumps for us.
Scooter said:
sit and eat your £15 hotdog
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Or fill up your water bottle with the single free water fountain outside the hall! Though I have to say the £5.60 traditional pasty was big, tasty and cheap(ish)! Really shocked!
 
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