[Cynog Ap Brychan]

FWIW, I've been a photographer for over 50 years (not necessarily a good photographer, but certainly a keen one). All that time, I have been very interested in the gear side of things, suffering (or rather, enjoying) a chronic case of CBA and LBA, like many on this forum. But, I have never, ever been to a camera show, and I don't think I'm untypical in this. I am left to wonder just how relevant they are to the average camera/lens buyer who make up the majority of photographic consumers. I know that the shows attract the photographic press, who then report back and can, I imagine, influence some buying decisions, but if there's nothing new there, what's to report? Many companies announcements of new products do not coincide with camera shows (Photokina being a possible exception). Surely, there are other and more cost-effective ways of marketing products, and we should not be too worried about who has the biggest and bestest booths at these shows.

Having said all that, I don't claim to have the insight of some posters, who are much more knowledgeable than I, so I could be wrong.

[Uluru]

FWIW, I've been a photographer for over 50 years (not necessarily a good photographer, but certainly a keen one). All that time, I have been very interested in the gear side of things, suffering (or rather, enjoying) a chronic case of CBA and LBA, like many on this forum. But, I have never, ever been to a camera show, and I don't think I'm untypical in this. I am left to wonder just how relevant they are to the average camera/lens buyer who make up the majority of photographic consumers. I know that the shows attract the photographic press, who then report back and can, I imagine, influence some buying decisions, but if there's nothing new there, what's to report? Many companies announcements of new products do not coincide with camera shows (Photokina being a possible exception). Surely, there are other and more cost-effective ways of marketing products, and we should not be too worried about who has the biggest and bestest booths at these shows.

Having said all that, I don't claim to have the insight of some posters, who are much more knowledgeable than I, so I could be wrong.

I think shows are good places for manufacturers and users to come and meet together, listen to each other, and benefit from mutual insights. The whole new progress is possible like that, and a bond of dependancy and mutual trust is established.
But many manufacturers don't think like that, cannot connect with customers, see all that as a nuisance and by avoiding trade shows, they also miss a vital ingredient needed for their future efforts.
I remember, a year ago PF went to Fotokina 2012 with tons of suggestions for Pentax managers and developers coming from its users. I presume they've had enough of it, and therefore will avoid all shows in the near future.

[tsangpo]

To be fair to CRK, during the last 5 years they have offered a much more internationally competitive pricing on Pentax gear (excluding an odd variety of lenses) than Nikon and Canon who have only caught up in the last year or so. This was one of the major reasons I went with Pentax; I could get a decent kit (K7) locally at a premium of about $100 as opposed to the ~$500 on the 7D and ~$300 on D90. They do even better with Sigma lenses price matching any grey importer.

[Bob from Aus]

To be fair to CRK

- distributes more than just pentax
- lets face it there not much that is new this year
- where was Ricoh?
- Pentax as a brand name was up as a sponsor
- maybe some of the smaller mobs Fuji and Olympus are more desperate
- maybe CRK is thinking that Ricoh will want pentax under their distribution in Aus
- maybe Ricoh is treating CRK as if they are mushrooms - keeping them in the dark and feeding them bull sh..

[rod_grant]

To be fair to CRK

Nah. I got into an email conversation with someone at CRK (by surname of Kennedy!!) after I had tried fruitlessly to find a K5 to hold, in numerous specialty photographic shops within two hours drive of home without finding one (!). My consolation was to be that the CRK family member personally knew and thought highly of one of the retailers that I had visited! (OK he also offered to have delivered a K5 to one of the stores that I visited for me to look at, but since the nearest store was still 80 kilometres away, and I would be giving custom to someone who didn't care about the product, I declined the offer and bought off the internet.)