Photoclubalpha

www.bythom.com
I find Thom Hogan's today (August 13 2012) post pretty interesting. I'll quote some parts because Mr Hogan's website send to the "archives" front page posts, without a per-post URL.
"
Sony is up and coming and relying on technology to drive their products, Nikon is same as they ever were, and Canon seems a bit confused at the moment about whether they're making video or still cameras.
"

I think it is more pronounced than that, specially about Canon: they are not generating any kind of excitement on their users, just repeating the same old formula with a little bit more of this and a little bit more of that. Canon guys like EOSHD.com are shouting their disappointment, and embracing more interesting causes, like a Hack for the NEX system (specially the NEX-5n)

"
Challenge yourself. What is it you seek: right camera or right public image? Which did you choose?
"

Ha! how many times I had to endure inelegant commentaries about using Sony cameras instead of a "more professional" Canon equipment. A couple of yeas ago I had the chance to buy a Sony/Zeiss 24-70 f2.8 that I use as example of professional gear you can not find on Canon mount.

I had the chance to work with clients that know my work well enough, so they don't look a the camera anymore, but at the photographer -and this is not just about choosing CaNikon vs Sony, but A900 OR NEX7 for a determinate gig.

Thom must have had me in mind when he stated that "Sony Alpha fans tend to be younger and want to project some sort of hipness." Well, at least my young grandson thinks I'm hip!

In terms of brand image, I've yet to encounter another human being using a Sony DSLR/DSLT/NEX anywhere in my travels. My A700 has indeed attracted a few strange stares from Nikon users, and a young Canon 7D user in my photography class once asked me if I was planning to buy a new camera [read "real camera"]. He became rather quiet, however, when I brought a slideshow of some of my A700 images to class for show-and-tell.

Health problems have restricted my use of my new A57, but, hey, I do feel kind of hip using it. It's no Olympus OM-D E-M5, but compared to my A700 it does feel pretty sleek with my CZ 16-80 mounted on it. If liking features such as in-body stabilization, tilt/swivel LCD screen, electronic level, Auto HDR, multi-frame NR, sweep panorama mode, etc., makes one a "techie," I plead guilty!

Andy

Speaking of brand image:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Lens- ... 4089094212

And here I've always refused to wear any camera straps with the camera manufacturer's name on them.

Andy B wrote:Speaking of brand image:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Lens- ... 4089094212

And here I've always refused to wear any camera straps with the camera manufacturer's name on them.

why a lens "needs" a bracelet?
;-P
I think it is most "video-related", a way to make the lens less noisy...

Actually, as opposed to Lens Bands--which are designed to solve lens creep--the Lens Bracelets are intended to be worn on one's wrist! For example:

"The black with red stripe Lens Bracelet for Canon Pro C from Lens Bracelet sends a message that you are a Canon afficianado and are proud to display your loyalty on your wrist."

Frankly, I'd rather wear a green Heineken bracelet on my wrist!

Andy

Andy B wrote:Thom must have had me in mind when he stated that "Sony Alpha fans tend to be younger and want to project some sort of hipness." Well, at least my young grandson thinks I'm hip!

Hip we are, yes...

In this regard, I think that the Sony Alpha division is like Minolta (but in steroids: they manage different budgets) looking for the best and new and better tech available -even if some people will complain about crippled modes, that apply mostly to low end cameras.

I remember a Sales guy at Adorama complaining about Minolta because, "every time you buy a new camera, you need to buy a new computer" It was definitely an exaggeration... but I prefer that, a challenge that force me to improve my whole workflow all the time -even if I can not necessarily afford it...

Andy B wrote:
In terms of brand image, I've yet to encounter another human being using a Sony DSLR/DSLT/NEX anywhere in my travels. My A700 has indeed attracted a few strange stares from Nikon users, and a young Canon 7D user in my photography class once asked me if I was planning to buy a new camera [read "real camera"]. He became rather quiet, however, when I brought a slideshow of some of my A700 images to class for show-and-tell.

A never ending story!

I was contacted by a small photo school here in Midtown Manhattan where a friend of mine teach a couple of classes, and they asked me to teach a class on food photography (not that I'm a food photography specialist, but I've done some successful gigs and demand for this kind of workshops from bloggers and foodies is getting higher and higher)

Since they knew that I'm a Sony guy they tray to make sure I could solve CaNikon users questions. I told them to ask students to bring their camera AND user manual. What really surprised me is that they don't really know that much about other cameras than CaNikon -nor that I KNOW about all the models, but I do understand how other systems works.

In any case, people are buying what they think is "safe", like Rebel (...) cameras. So Canon is making "safe" cameras: now they introduced their EOS-M mirrorless camera, another "safe" product that will probably sell well, but that is not generating any kind of excitement, not even from the Canon fanboys; while Sony is making people talk about the NEX7, the NEX5N generated enough respect that we can find now serious projects for hacking their firmware and produce uncompressed video quality.

I don't know if Sony will ever become #2 or #1, but in the meanwhile, they are shaking the photographic industry -good for us!

Andy B wrote: Frankly, I'd rather wear a green Heineken bracelet on my wrist!

Better: a bottle opener!!!

The only thing hip about me is my dodgy left one.....

Andy B wrote:In terms of brand image, I've yet to encounter another human being using a Sony DSLR/DSLT/NEX anywhere in my travels.

You know, it's funny, but in Texas all the people I knew that were into photography had high-level APS-C Canon's and Nikons, and eventually gave them up to use smartphone photo apps instead. Now, I'm in Seattle and I know a few other photographers incidentally through my brother's network, and all of them use Sony!