Sony has for some months been building a new company-backed Flickr community to give photographers a place with direct access to Sony representatives and other unique opportunities. Some of the features of the new community include Q&A opportunities with product development teams (which I previewed for you here), and trying out new equipment as it is released. I've been a beta-tester in that community since it began, eager for it to go public to see what new members make of it.

If you're on Flickr and use a Sony camera, be it an Alpha, NEX, Cyber-Shot, Mavica, or whatever, please stop by and check out the Sony Camera Club. It won't replace the kind of community we have here at Photo Club Alpha, but it does intend to offer exclusive opportunities and bring together Sony users of all walks.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sonycameraclub/

(Really, please go check it out for yourself! I'm attempting to spread the word among photographers, at photographers' gathering places, before the group gets swamped with "SAR" nerds )

Thanks for the link Kevin, I just signed in.

Thank you, Kevin..

That's very considerate of you. Promises to become a safe hub for Sony camera owners.


Yildiz

Thanks Kevin. I've signed up, but not posted anything yet. Looks like a nice Flickr place to hang out. Now, where do I sign up for this SAR Nerds Group I keep hearing about ?

I've signed up, and posted a few pics. We'll see how it goes. John

I saw your pics there, John. I uploaded one too and used it to link it here. That might be Sony's site (sponsored, sort of) but this one is our own.

It will be interesting to see how the new Flickr based site does. I miss the old SonyStyle site, as Flickr is blocked by my hospital's firewalls, and for pure nostalgia, it was the first place I ever posted a picture online....
I do like having a gallery for my photos, but I don't necessarily like how Flickr does it. (I would like to be able to re-do the order of the photostream, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that.
I think that Photoclub Alpha is definately more like a global 'club' where you get to know the members, and their photography. For that reason, I hope this site is around for years to come.
I saw Birma's photostream as well, and I recognize a few other names as well. I look forward to seeing you (and them) here there and everywhere. John

Thanks all of you who hopped over to introduce yourselves. I had to create a Flickr account just to get involved, so my own photostream is quite limited, but it's really good to see some of your work flowing into the pool there.

There has been some heated discussion there about rights to pictures. Sony claims non-exclusive right to photos submitted to their pool, but only for the purpose of promoting the Flickr group, but that gets lost in the legalese and a some folks are getting upset. The interpretation they're objecting over was addressed after the first draft of those rules, and they've since been pared down to protect the users who submit pictures.

I've joined up as well, and have posted some pictures, personally I think it would be great to have images used to promote the site. Especially if it means the high ups at Sony are taking an interest in what we do photographically.

All the best

Paul

I removed all my pictures from Flickr because it is used by so many businesses as an unpaid source of pirated pictures. I hesitate to put anything there. I have posted one, but honestly, any picture I attach a possible value to I will not put on Flickr.

David

Thanks for the warning David.

Philip