Photoclub Alpha

The first SONY World Photography Awards were presented in the late April sunshine of Cannes, to what must have been an exclusive gala dinner audience - at €250 a head, our ‘man on the spot’ Thomas Goseberg decided against the opportunity to take his wife out for a quiet meal…

This is the latest press release from Sony UK - filling the streets of Miami with club-style foam for their new digital photography ad campaign:

The World Photography Awards (WPA), sponsored by Sony, proudly announces an impressive number of entries in its inaugural year. Submissions closed on 31st January with a total of 25,934 amateur photograph entries and 44,641 professional photograph entries across the categories.

We have a Photoworld day in Edinburgh on February 10th 2008, to which all Photoclubalpha registered members are welcome (it is strictly by prior arrangement, so please do not turn up on the day). It starts at 10.30am and ends around 4.30pm, and will be held at Edinburgh Photographic Society. There is a small fee for refreshments. Details follow.

BEFORE we publish a fuller assessment of the Sony Alpha 700, here is a taster of just one improved function, the Dynamic Range Optimisation (DRO) system built into the camera. For social, wedding, sports, music, theatre, news and event photographers DRO Advanced Manual settings are a real magic bullet zapping the bugbears of excess contrast, poor lighting, and inadequate flash penetration.

Online trade photographic supplier www.photomart.co.uk is to hold a bumper day of photo workshops in its huge London showrooms on November 28, 2007. Billed as an “Anniversary Day”, the day-long programme of workshops is to celebrate the second anniversary of the opening of this major photographic venue.

The World Photography Awards (WPA), sponsored by Sony, is an international showcase of the best images taken by renowned and undiscovered photographers alike. From landscape to music and photojournalism to fashion photography, the WPA is the first awards of its kind and is supported by hundreds of the industry’s top photographers, critics, gallery curators, directors, founders and more.

Photo © Ed Robinson/OneRedEye courtesy WPA

SONY, following their entry into the serious DSLR arena with the Alpha system inherited from Minolta, is to become the sponsor of a high-profile World Photography Awards salon and event with a 2008 presentation ceremony in Cannes and support from some of the biggest names in independent fine photography.

SONY UK is finally to reveal the Alpha 700 to the UK press on October 10th, over a month after the European launch and three weeks after the first Alpha 700 cameras began shipping in other parts of the world.

Burlingame, CA, September 12, 2007 — FotoNation, Inc. (www.fotonation.com), a world-leading imaging solutions company for the digital photography industry, announced today that it has been selected by Sony’s Professional Printer Group to provide its award winning digital Red-Eye Correction technology for new professional Sony photo printers, Picture Station Kiosks, and photo application products.

Weybridge, 15 August 2007 - Sony technological innovation has once again been recognised by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). This year the EISA judging panel has made no less than four awards to Sony Europe in categories spanning home entertainment, digital imaging and in-car navigation. A fifth award was made to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for PLAYSTATION®3.

EISA Awards 2007-2008 have been made to Sony Europe for these products: European Green Television (Sony BRAVIA KDL-40D3000); European Video Projector (Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW60); European HD Camcorder (Sony Handycam® HDR-SR8E); and European Portable Navigation (Sony NV-U92T). PLAYSTATION®3 was winner of the European Media Center category.

“It’s immensely gratifying to have the skill and passion of our designers and engineers recognised by the world’s largest and most prestigious multimedia magazines association”, commented Fujio Nishida, President, Sony Europe. “At Sony we take pride in creating products that transcend their basic function to create an emotional connection with the user. This year’s award‑winning innovations are a perfect demonstration of this ‘Sony Spirit’ in action.”

EISA is the largest editorial multimedia organisation in Europe, with a membership of nearly 50 Audio, Mobile Electronics, Video and Photo magazines drawn from 19 European countries. This year’s award winners were selected after the deliberations of a judging panel comprising journalists and independent technical experts.

The 2007-2008 EISA Awards will be presented at a special Gala Event on September 1st, 2007.

Berlin, 9th August 2007 - As a result of Sony’s commitment to energy efficiency, Sony reduced power consumption within 90% of its product categories during the FY06. With energy efficiency as one of its core commitments towards the creation of a sustainable society, Sony is continuously striving to make products that use less energy in homes and offices.

IN 1998 Minolta published, for their 70th anniversary, a large poster featuring all the landmark cameras from their own museum and employee collections. Many of the cameras shown - all fairly small on the poster - were well used and worn examples. The original image-files for the poster, which we have archived, are of poor quality. They are Japanese inkset CMYK sharpened for pre-press, with very dark gamma. This page re-creates all the information from the original poster, complete with the photographs.

For everyone who is passionate about photography, the AOP Open is a celebration of the diversity of photography and the perfect opportunity to achieve recognition for outstanding images. You may be a professional photographer or a weekend snapper, it doesn’t matter – there are no restrictions or categories, you just have to take a great picture. Enter now, for the opportunity to exhibit at the AOP Gallery and to win a variety of outstanding prizes.

TESTING the flash options most widely sold for the Minolta/Sony unique hot shoe system became a necessity after the launch of the Alpha 100. Despite the reliability of automatic TTL off-the-film flash metering ever since Minolta first introduced it with the Auto Electroflash PX series in 1981, things began to go wrong with the shift to digital SLRs.

The latest Photoworld edition, Autumn07, appeared on November 1st 2007. It contains a first review of the Alpha 700 including a report on the UK press conference. It also covers the Sony World Photo Awards. Articles include a journey to China from Colin Brenchley, a portfolio by Paul Murphy, and autumn scenes by John Gilkerson. Issues are published in January, April, July and October.

FREE MAGAZINE SAMPLE - UK ONLY

If you are in the UK and would like a sample magazine, we have a limited number of the random back issues available free on a first serve basis. Send an A4 self-addressed envelope with 55p stamp affixed to Photoworld Sample at the address shown below. You will receive a back issue and a postal subscription form.

To subscribe by post to Photoworld in the UK, send a cheque/PO made payable to Icon Publications Ltd for £19.95 to Photoclubalpha Subscriptions, Icon Publications Ltd, FREEPOST, Kelso TD5 7BR. No stamp is needed. You will receive:

• A free ‘most recent available’ back issue
• Welcome information letter
• Current or last issue to start your subscription term
• The balance of the year in quarterly magazines

You can download a PDF version of our latest printed application form.

This does include Europe and World subs. The pricing can be found on Page 2 of the PDF in fairly small print - sorry, it was designed for UK use.

Alternatively, and for all Europe/World subscriptions, see web subscription offers. These include bare-bones subscription prices starting at £17.95 with no back issue (£2 off the standard subscription price), and offers with free gifts (you pay postage & packing only).

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE PDF VERSIONS OF PHOTOWORLD BACK ISSUES

You may now download from this site a complete 36-page ‘edition’ PDF of the Summer06 issue of Photoworld, at a medium quality 150dpi resolution suitable for viewing up to 200 per cent on most monitors or printing out to better than webpage quality. Printed copies are still available for new subscribers.

You can also download as an alternative just our eight-page article covering the European launch of the Sony Alpha 100 camera in Morocco. It is in two versions, page by page and in spreads, and is a little over 2Mb in size.

We have now made the autumn06 edition of Photoworld available for download, again, it’s a 36-page edition. Click here to download (10MB). It includes a report on Sony’s Alpha system as exhibited at photokina (Sept 25-Oct 1st, Cologne). There is some detailed test material on the A100 including comparisons with other 10 megapixel DSLRs; a great account of Duncan McEwan’s assignment to cover the Commonwealth Games in Australia using his Dynax 7D kit with 70-200mm SSM; a timely portfolio of off-season images from award winning garden photographer Tony Jones.

Photoworld Winter07 (January) is one of the best editions we’ve had yet. It contains a superb Carl Zeiss 135mm Æ’1.8 ZA lens portfolio from Wietse Jongsma, and a brilliant landscape essay from the Dynax 7D of Neil Paskin. At the heart of the issue is a big article from a big man - Gary Friedman visits Cuba, taking wonderful character portraits of people he met, talked to, and encountered in their own space. This is not tourist photography, it’s something else. You can now download the entire 36-page issue as an 8.5Mb PDF file.

If you wish to subscribe to Photoworld just download our complete postal application form. However, you can also do so using our online Paypal subscription service. This has additional bare-bones price and free gift offer options not included on the postal form.