Photokina 2014

Despite a long-term decline in the sales volume of stand-alone cameras brought on by the prevalence of cameras built into smartphones, imaging industries -- both hardware and software branches -- are optimistic about the future. Gross revenues from hardware are holding steady, and new high-value gadgets continue to be developed. On the software side, big opportunities are expected.

"In Germany this year, the sector is looking at revenues of about 20 billion euros for hardware sales alone," Christian Müller-Rieker, CEO of the Photoindustrie-Verband, Germany's photo industry association, told Deutsche Welle.

That revenue number doesn't include software and services. The sector's overall revenues, when these are included, are hard to estimate, because the boundaries between software and services that belong to the imaging sector, as distinct from other categories like web services, are hard to define.

"The total value of the services side is hard to measure. There are apps, social media and cloud services, and related processing software, for example for videos. I could extend the list indefinitely," Müller-Rieker said.

A shifting focus

It's expected that about 5.2 million cameras will be sold in the current year in Germany, which is 13 percent fewer than in 2013, when six million cameras were sold. The drop in revenues will be lower, however, at just 4.6 percent, down to 1.45 billion euros, because the decline in sales volume is focused on inexpensive cameras. They're being displaced by cameras built into ubiquitous smartphones.

That's causing the focus of the camera market to continue to shift toward the hight end in 2014 and probably in the years ahead as well.

"Some people are bitten by the photography bug whilst using their smartphone cameras for still or video photography, and as get more deeply into new their hobby, at some point they start wanting to buy a 'proper' camera," Müller-Rieker said.

This sort of camera-buyer doesn't buy a low-end device, but goes directly to camera systems with interchangeable lenses, or to digital SLR cameras.

Smartphones are getting ever cheaper

Smartphone sales volumes have increased six years in a row in Germany, with 24 million devices sold in 2013, one and a half million more than the previous year. One reason may be the fact that prices are dropping due to increasing competition amongst smartphone makers, with cheap Chinese phones driving prices down.

The price decline implies a decrease in revenues for the sector. Annual smartphone sales revenues are likely to drop from six to about four and a half billion euros next year.

More functions, more software, more gear

The photography and imaging industry has picked "connectivity" as its organizing theme for this year's Photokina trade fair: Connectivity with other devices and with the Internet.

These days, every high-end camera also features a video function, which creates a requirement for video editing software and accessories. That's what's driving the market, according to Müller-Rieker.

He also sees growing markets unfolding in specialty applications like action-cams.

You can't go on holiday anymore without seeing youths on surfboards, snowboards, skis or whatever wearing a camera, filming action sequences. That's a huge theme for this year's Photokina."

With more and more action-cam makers entering the market, the range of models is broadening, Müller-Rieker says.

Video and photography apps and cloud services are also highlights of this year's trade fair. "At this point we estimate there are around 50,000 apps in this genre, which extend the functions of your camera."

3D printing and light-field technology

The six-day trade fair is also showcasing a variety of strange and wonderful gadgets, for example light-field cameras, which use microlens arrays and associated software to make it possible to generate images that can be refocused after a picture has been taken.

Another technology being showcased is the combination of 3D imaging with 3D printing, which allows, for example, busts of a Photokina visitor's head to be created on-the-spot.

Another innovation: Cameras with "4K" technology, which make images that are precisely four times as sharp as previous high-definition (HD) cameras.

Yet another trend: Photo-wallpaper is set to make a comeback. Remember those wall-size pictures of a Tahitian beach once common in 1970s-era basement recreation rooms? Now, you can make wallpaper using your own custom images. Bless.

The wearables megatrend

The industry has great expectations for the wearable-devices trend. Wearables are tiny high-tech devices equipped with cameras that can generate and send images round-the-clock. They're now on offer in the form of pendants, eyeglasses, watches or brooches. Wearables like the Apple Watch could, some industry observers say, displace smartphones over the next decade or so.

Wherever all these trends and technologies lead, it's clear that in the 175th year since the invention of photography, the uses and functions of images and imaging technologies are continuing to expand.

"Pictures don't just document anymore - though they're still used for that. They're also taking on more of a communications function," Müller-Rieker said. "You can see from the billions of images uploaded to social networks every day that the imaging boom is going to continue."

How big that boom is can be illustrated by a statistic. It's estimated that in Germany alone, about 2000 photos are made every second.

Photokina 2014

From September 16 to 21, about a thousand exhibitors from 51 countries are showcasing their innovations at the Photokina 2014 trade fair in Cologne. Nearly 180 companies are exhibiting at Photokina for the first time, including Google, GoPro, RED, Black Magic, Lytro and Helipro. That's a signal of how dynamically the photography, video and imaging sector is evolving and expanding. Around 180,000 visitors are expected to attend the fair.