Photography Show 2017

IMG_1490104598.277025.jpgit was this cable that ran from one to another the smoke came from the battery unit.
 
I enjoyed the show this year (as I do every year) and the 2 days I spent there flew by, I could have easily done another day.

The DJI stand or should I say the people who were on it were terrible. They didn't even know their own products one of their reps argued with me that the Phantom 4 Pro+ was a cut down version of the 4 Pro... I even used my phone to go onto the DJI webiste to show him they were both the same but the difference was the + had a sceen on the controller. But ohh no not even that was enough he said that must be a USA thing as here the 4 Pro is beter, the 4 Pro+ doesn't have a good camera and is based on the old design.

Other than that I didn't think that the show 'deals' were as good with most offering 10-15% off RRP or throwing in something for free so not much different to online prices.
 
I avoided DJI, I've had 4 of their drones but they didn't look like much to look at anyway.
 
Just waiting for my train back to London after my first visit to the show. Overall I enjoyed it, especially the down to earth aspect of Joe McNally's demos. Didn't know whether I would have needed to take my camera out for a walk like many others did, and now know I didn't need to!
 
Called in this afternoon to the show as I was in Birmingham on business..

Got to say that I can't see myself going again in future years.

£30 to park and get in and unless I was looking for a bag, tripod or a company to print my stuff, then it was a bust.

All in all a pretty poor exhibition, think I'll stick to internet browsing for the information and deals. JMHO.
 
Had a constructive time at the show today.

Nice to catch up with Stewart and put a face to a name (I'll get back to you about that 200-500 around September time).

David Noton gave an instructive talk on PPing landscapes in LR.

Also got a good deal on a Canon Pixma Pro 100S, which, whilst they didn't have any at the show, Calumet have arranged to delivery free of charge and also qualifies for Canon's double rebate and so £100 off the price. Nice!
 
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I think if you just go to the show and judge it on the trade stands and deals you're missing part of the appeal.

I attended for the day last year, but this year decided to make the most of it.

I arrived on Sunday lunchtime and attended the 'turning pro' conference. Quite enjoyable and came away with few notes and ideas. The speaker supposedly telling us how useful a drone could be just gave an extended sales pitch for his own business which was the only downer.

I attended the pro conference on Monday morning and found it really informative and inspirational (I left before the drone guy came on again). The pro 'drinks session at 17:00 was hilarious with some excellent stories from the speakers.

The first session on Tuesday morning was excellent, but I bowed out after that one.

The exhibition floor was tripod city, drones and printers with several bags thrown in. I still enjoyed walking around although it was much better after the weekend.

I picked up few minor bits a bobs and probably saved the equivalent of my parking fees.

I did manage to get a portfolio review and acceptance into one of the associations which was better than I hoped as I just went to chat and scope out the various 'societies' and discuss options. Saved some money there as well.

I managed to spend a while chatting with the Pentax 645 rep and gleaned some very useful insights into service levels for my needs and some insights into new developments which will help me with my business.

I chatted with several other togs and had an enjoyable time. I met up with Tim (@twhite87) and we shared a coupe of evenings of chatting over a pizza and a hotdog.

I did find it ridiculous to offer 'pros' a free coffee voucher which you could only redeem before 11 am when all the conferences were in the morningo_O, but apart from that I found the whole experience enjoyable and informative.

Would I go again next year? It would depend on the conference line up and if I planned to meet up with anyone.
 
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Got to agree with Ralph.

Chatted to a few people I knew.

Got to handle some gear I'd not get hands-on anywhere else, with some expert guidance too

A brilliant talk from Jeff Ascough about B&W and finding your own style

Some interesting stuff from Joe McNally and Andy Rouse too

And an interview with Sabastaio Salgado.

How is getting to hear some of the worlds greatest photographers not worth attending?

Almost incidentally I bought a travel tripod (I say incidentally but I did get to play with dozens)
 
Back home now :) Enjoyed the show, not so much for deals, but for the various talks I attended. Really enjoyed, the talks by Joe McNally & Dixie Dixon and got to play with some cameras and lens that I can only dream off.
All in all, a good day out and would probably go again, next year.
 
Phil V said:
How is getting to hear some of the worlds greatest photographers not worth attending?
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I think the problem is for many people is they're there to hunt a bargain camera or lenses and if that's the main concern I can see why it might feel disappointing as the prices weren't amazing and there wasn't that much used stock (I think?).

Perhaps that's an opportunity not being properly exploited by the retailers (although I think they're happy with how the show goes last I checked) but the show offers a lot and there are definitely bargains to be had if you don't mind hunting for them, I made a nice saving on some new tripod heads and found some reflectors I didn't know anyone was making at a bargain price.

I look forward to next years, I might even go for a couple of days if I can find enough talks that interest me.
 
Maybe because I was looking at different things, but:

I went on the last day (Tuesday) and thought that the prices of Fuji equipment at the show were very good. Sadly I have all the equipment I want but everything seemed cheaper than the cheapest online. Best was probably the X-T2 with a free grip, or £100 off the 50-140 and there was even £50 off the new 23mm, nobody is discounting these at the moment, so at £369 unsurprising these had all gone by mid afternoon! The £200 trade bonus in deal still applied to the X-T2 as well - so a good saving to be had.
 
@ralphhardwick @Phil V i think you are right there is more to it than just walking around the stands. This year like all others I researched the talk schedules in advance and had a plan of talks that could have potentially have took up the whole period from 11am to 4pm. In the end I went to Andy Rouse, John Miskelly and Richard Peters. I missed out on David Yarrow as he was on at the same time as Andy Rouse (why did canon and Nikon do this?), and Luke Massey's scheduled 4pm talk on the behind the lens stage had been changed since I planned my talk schedule a month ago. I didnt get to any of the Adobe theatre talks this year due to timings, they are usually quite good.

My only gripe would be the handling of the behind the lens stage. It was very much a free for all and there was no organisation at all. people stood in front of others blocking their view. My wife had trouble getting a clear view as she is only 5ft4. And why do people think it's ok to get up and leave part way through a talk on one of these enclosed theatre stages?

Over the years I been to some great talks on both the free theatres and on the super stage (Chris Packham was great last year). Another highlight was a portfolio review by Ross Hoddinott a couple of years ago. I do like the photography show, the access to talks on so many subjects/genres is fantastic. If you book early with the discount code it's about £20 for ticket and parking which isn't so bad for what you can see.

I would love the photography show to do a morning or afternoon conference specialising on separate genres of photography (portraits, weddings, landscapes, wildlife, motorsport etc). If they ran a conference on a series of talks on landscapes or wildlife photography like they do for pro subjects that would be a great addition. I can kind of plan my own schedule but I would be willing to pay a little extra for the comfort of knowing you get a seat and have a good 2-3 hours of talks from a great line up of pro's.
 
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ralphhardwick said:
I picked up few minor bits a bobs and probably saved the equivalent of my parking fees.
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I am surprised why anyone would pay those rip off fees when you can park anywhere along the railway line and get a cheap 2min train ride right back to NEC. You just encourage them to put it up even higher.
 
michael23 said:
I walked past one stall that mentioned about a trigger or something for capturing lighning strikes more succesfully, I forgot to go back, did anyone stop by? I can't even remember the name,
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Probably this one http://miops.com
or the trigger smart. The Miops is better

I went yesterday to see the new Ursa Mini Pro and was surprised that Blackmagic were not there, still got to play with one on the Calumet stand though and managed to get round the whole thing in one day. Seemed smaller this year.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I am surprised why anyone would pay those rip off fees when you can park anywhere along the railway line and get a cheap 2min train ride right back to NEC. You just encourage them to put it up even higher.
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I agree that the parking fees are ridiculous. However I was staying at the Premier Inn. Unfortunately their website stated that they had refurbishment ongoing and limited parking (this wasn't the case once I arrived!). I wasn't getting there till Sunday lunchtime and needed a space until Tuesday. Sadly this left me very little option but to pay the ludicrous £12 per day to ensure I had somewhere safe to leave the car overnight.

Saying that, at least it was offset by the fact that my entry ticket was free.
 
Spiderdudeuk said:
Called in this afternoon to the show as I was in Birmingham on business..

Got to say that I can't see myself going again in future years.

£30 to park and get in and unless I was looking for a bag, tripod or a company to print my stuff, then it was a bust.

All in all a pretty poor exhibition, think I'll stick to internet browsing for the information and deals. JMHO.
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What! I only paid 12 quid for parking
 
Zedrider said:
All the Canon sellers that I approached were price fixed at exactly the same price and there was no budging.
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dcash29 said:
I wonder how much anti-competitive activity goes on between retailers.
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I don't think you have to posit any collusion.

Take a look at Camera Price Buster and you'll see that most of the major retailers charge the same price for most stuff most of the time. That's not collusion, it's competition. They all watch each other's prices, and when somebody cuts a price the rest usually follow suit because they don't want to be seen as more expensive. They're all buying at the same price, and their margins are all cut to the bone (except when there's a new bit of kit and they can charge premiums to the must-have-it-now brigade), so it ends up that they all sell at the same price.

At the show, with three major retailers virtually next door to one another, they all know that a price war would just be stupid. Say LCE offer you £10 off. You go to Calumet and ask if they'll give you £20. Then you go to Camera World and ask if they'll give you £30. Five minutes later you're back at LCE asking for £40. It's unsustainable, and they all know that without having to discuss it.

Zedrider said:
There was the phaff of applying for "double" cash back from Canon but the prices were still more than all the reputable grey market importers.
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Well yeah, because, y'know, taxes and other legal stuff. That bloke down the pub selling the D4 which he nicked from our stand at the show last year was probably even cheaper. Does that make him a good guy and the major retailers villains?
 
StewartR said:
I don't think you have to posit any collusion.

Take a look at Camera Price Buster and you'll see that most of the major retailers charge the same price for most stuff most of the time. That's not collusion, it's competition.

At the show, with three major retailers virtually next door to one another, they all know that a price war would just be stupid. Say LCE offer you £10 off. You go to Calumet and ask if they'll give you £20. Then you go to Camera World and ask if they'll give you £30. Five minutes later you're back at LCE asking for £40. It's unsustainable, and they all know that without having to discuss it.


Well yeah, because, y'know, taxes and other legal stuff. That bloke down the pub selling the D4 which he nicked from our stand at the show last year was probably even cheaper. Does that make him a good guy and the major retailers villains?
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StewartR.

We will have to agree to disagree on our interpretation of price fixing/collusion amongst the Canon dealers at the show. The facts regarding the Canon lens I was looking to buy was that the headline price was £1899. That was £100 more than other official canon suppliers not at the show. The double cash back offer was smoke and mirrors to off set the high headline price, and the majority of buyers see the cash back system for the nonesense that it is.

Regardless of our opinions on this, their uncompetitive priceing cost them a sale. I can save over £500 on this particular lens and there some highly reputable grey importers out there who are completely legit. I know UK canon dealers don't like it, but comparing them to some one selling stollen goods undermines many of the perfectly valid arguments you could have used in the Dealer vs Grey importer debate.
 
Byker28i said:
£12 for Parking then the £18 to get in?

Mind you if you park in resort world it's £7 and a shorter walk from the car park.
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My ticket was pre brought months ago :)

Resort world? Listen. I any clueless. It's the first time going to the nec
 
Zedrider said:
StewartR.

We will have to agree to disagree on our interpretation of price fixing/collusion amongst the Canon dealers at the show. The facts regarding the Canon lens I was looking to buy was that the headline price was £1899. That was £100 more than other official canon suppliers not at the show. The double cash back offer was smoke and mirrors to off set the high headline price, and the majority of buyers see the cash back system for the nonesense that it is.

Regardless of our opinions on this, their uncompetitive priceing cost them a sale. I can save over £500 on this particular lens and there some highly reputable grey importers out there who are completely legit. I know UK canon dealers don't like it, but comparing them to some one selling stollen goods undermines many of the perfectly valid arguments you could have used in the Dealer vs Grey importer debate.
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What about Amazon prices? Cheaper or same as in the show?
 
Headline price on Amazon is £100 cheaper. Double cash back offer at the show reduced the difference, but still no real saving ti be achieved.
 
I just enjoyed the 4 days away. Met some new people as @ralphhardwick said. Got to chat with a few seasoned professionals too, and have now managed to sort myself out with a portfolio review and some mentoring. I stayed in the premier inn and ended up only paying £6 in total for the parking for three nights. Bargain! I'll definitely be going back next year, but may plan my days and just visit the talks and conferences and then have one day for wandering around the show.
 
Zedrider said:
Regardless of our opinions on this, their uncompetitive priceing cost them a sale. I can save over £500 on this particular lens and there some highly reputable grey importers out there who are completely legit. I know UK canon dealers don't like it, but comparing them to some one selling stollen goods undermines many of the perfectly valid arguments you could have used in the Dealer vs Grey importer debate.
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It's not a question of legitimacy, it sounds more like you have unrealistic expectations as they'd probably have to sell it to you at a loss to match a grey import price.

All those staff cost money, being at the show costs them a lot of money, running a business in the UK costs them a lot of money. I'm just not seeing how any company can give you what you're asking for.
 
jonneymendoza said:
My ticket was pre brought months ago :)

Resort world? Listen. I any clueless. It's the first time going to the nec
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As you come into the NEC on the left is Resort world, basically a shopping mall, cinema, food. We parked there as we'd queued for 20 mins to get off the junction and then it was queuing to get to the car parks. Parked at resort world and walked through the shops to get to the NEC, about 10 min walk? Parking was £7 which was a bonus.
 
simonbarker said:
It's not a question of legitimacy, it sounds more like you have unrealistic expectations as they'd probably have to sell it to you at a loss to match a grey import price.

All those staff cost money, being at the show costs them a lot of money, running a business in the UK costs them a lot of money. I'm just not seeing how any company can give you what you're asking for.
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You wouldn't believe how much it costs to exhibit at the show. Even if you take the responsible view that the purpose of the show is marketing (NOT SALES) and an opportunity to say hi to old customers, meet new ones and show everyone the products, the chances of taking enough money to cover the costs (let alone make a profit) are very low.

Therefore, most of the "bargains" there have to be old stock.

Also, Many manufacturers have "guidelines" on prices and if retailers break these and undercut those prices they are in very real danger of losing their suppliers, another reason why sellers won't haggle on prices - they can't even if they want to.
Add in the effective 20% devaluation of the £ following the Brexit vote, and it should be obvious to most people that prices are going to be high.

Of course, there are always exceptions, one company was engaged in destructive pricing (which is illegal) - selling some products at less than cost price, simply to damage competitors. All that this does is to p*** off customers who have bought from them at the proper price, and add to their losses. My guess is that they lost £100-125K at the show, you have to laugh...

And of course the whole ethos of the show has changed since the new ownership took over, it's now all about talks and sponsorship, must less about a shopping experience./
 
I spoke to a couple of the smaller exhibitors who said they weren't allowed to sell at the show.
 
I went for a with a mate on Sunday just to have an enjoyable day out. I did buy a Vanguard backpack with £50 off, but shopping wasn't the main reason we went. Shopping at exhibitions I find is always hit and miss, with lots of "Show Offers" not being that special. If I was looking for something specific then I would do my homework on prices first.

Having said that, we both did enjoy the day and will go again.
 
twhite87 said:
I just enjoyed the 4 days away. Met some new people as @ralphhardwick said. Got to chat with a few seasoned professionals too, and have now managed to sort myself out with a portfolio review and some mentoring. I stayed in the premier inn and ended up only paying £6 in total for the parking for three nights. Bargain! I'll definitely be going back next year, but may plan my days and just visit the talks and conferences and then have one day for wandering around the show.
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So you managed to blag it with the change over to a new car park company then? (y)
 
Picked up a BlackRapid Sport for £65 instead of £82. That was about the best buy I could find. XQD cards were the same price as Amazon so I didn't bother. Swapping my D810 for a D500 after playing with one :-/

Oh, and I bought a paper trimmer of all things! £172. I daren't look to see if I can get it cheaper online!!!!!! Allegedly it was about £60 cheaper.
 
StewartR said:
They're all buying at the same price, and their margins are all cut to the bone (except when there's a new bit of kit and they can charge premiums to the must-have-it-now brigade), so it ends up that they all sell at the same price.
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So they hold their prices on premium items until the first nod.
I've known it happen in the licensing trade, where a number of publican sit down every week and revise their prices to give each other a fair bite of the cherry.


StewartR said:
At the show, with three major retailers virtually next door to one another, they all know that a price war would just be stupid. Say LCE offer you £10 off. You go to Calumet and ask if they'll give you £20. Then you go to Camera World and ask if they'll give you £30. Five minutes later you're back at LCE asking for £40. It's unsustainable, and they all know that without having to discuss it.
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I wouldn't have thought they'd have given a discount at a show as you describe. Surely it would be more along the lines of the first 10 or so that receive a discount on a premium item, which may then hopefully result in them purchasing another item?
 
Garry Edwards said:
Of course, there are always exceptions, one company was engaged in destructive pricing (which is illegal) - selling some products at less than cost price, simply to damage competitors. All that this does is to p*** off customers who have bought from them at the proper price, and add to their losses. My guess is that they lost £100-125K at the show, you have to laugh...
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Which company was this, or do you not want to say?
 
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