Photoclub Alpha

The Alpha System celebrates its Silver Jubilee or 25th Anniversary this month – though left uncelebrated by the inheritors of the Minolta AF legacy, Sony. They have no reason to draw fresh attention to the age of the system, as in four years they have taken it the same sort of distance that Minolta took the world’s first AF system in the late 1980s.

It’s not only Alpha’s 25th birthday. This is also the 25th birthday of modern AF SLR systems – all of them!

This is a multi-page article. See the links at the bottom of the page to Continue Reading after each page.

For Photoclubalpha and the historic Minolta Club of Great Britain, the anniversary does matter. A good many of you out there have been members since the launch of the system, often using the earlier SR and X manual focus systems before that. We still have a 1985 Minolta 7000AF and it’s still working just as it did when new.

25 years before the first Minolta SLRs appeared – a folding Minolta Six of 1935

I don’t mind showing my age to make a comparison. I was 11 in 1963 when I took my first pictures with an SLR camera. My father had bought himself a Pentax S3 – and the camera it replaced was 25 years old, a pre-war Zeiss Ikon Kolibri collapsible 16-on-127 model.

When the Kolibri was made, 127 was the ‘vest pocket’ format of choice. 35mm was on the rise, but 35mm SLRs had not yet arrived. They were as much a thing of the future as digital SLRs were when the Minolta 7000AF was launched.

But within that 25 years, there was hardly a single camera system made with interchangeable lenses that did not become obsolete. Only the ‘frozen assets’ of the cold war kept some systems, like the Exakta bayonet and the Praktina, alive. New brands were launched, from the British Wrayflex and Periflex to the Italian Rectaflex and many German oddities. It was not unusual for an entire system to be come and gone within a few years.

Even in the following quarter-century, the high years of the Japanese 35mm SLR, the succession of lens mount changes was bewildering. Independent lens makers like Tamron and Sigma were forced to make systems using interchangeable mounts not just because the public wanted it. A dozen or more mounts were made for every lens and in the 42mm screw thread fit alone there were endless variants – Praktica LLC (Pentacon Electric), Olympus FTL, Pentax ES and more.

It was more or less a 25-year cycle – the SR system was announced in 1958, and really got underway by 1960. It was to be another quarter century before the AF system arrived. We are now a further 25 years on – can we expect a totally new camera system, once again, in 2010?

Minolta’s SR bayonet mount, introduced in 1958/9, actually remained basically unchanged all the way through to 2005 when the last manual focus model, the X-370S, was available. It survives even now as a mount popular in China where the Seagull range from Shanghai Optical includes Minolta fit models. That mount only ever had one major revision, to add a linkage for open aperture TTL metering. The introduction of programmed exposure and shutter priority was cleverly enabled by using the existing design of lens mechanism and improving its accuracy, while adding a simple reference lug to the ƒ-stop setting ring.

Nikon’s 1959 F-mount proved similarly easy to improve without any basic modification. Both these bayonet mounts celebrated half a century of production in 2008/9 – another landmark, which Nikon was able to celebrate but Minolta of course could not.

The Autumn 2009 (No 4 2009) issue of Photoworld mails out to subscribers on Monday November 2nd.

You can also read the edition on-line at YUDU – we have now changed the price for each individual edition to £2.50 (from £3.00) so that if you buy single edition access, a year costs exactly the same as a normal yearly digital subscription of £10. All YUDU subscriptions and sales support the Photoclubalpha website and forum. The price including the printed edition is £25 per year (worldwide).

Click to launch the full edition in a new window.

Each issue now has six sample pages viewable without purchase.

All of Icon’s professional Master Photo Digital magazines can be read free on line. The latest, June 2009, has just been published:

This magazines uses the same Flash Reader format as the 19 editions of Photoworld and – NEWLY ADDED! – five editions of Minolta Image from the 2002-4 period just before Konica moved in. We have been able to find complete, or very nearly complete, original archive files for these issues and create PDFs to convert for our subscription service.

Photoclub Alpha’s Photoworld quarterly magazine is now available as an on-line subscription without printed paper issues (you can print any pages you want from the Flash-viewable ‘book reader’ format editions, read on-line, or download to read when you like). The cost is just £10.00 per year and gets you the latest issue before it even reaches our susbcribers!

The five editions of MINOLTA IMAGE from 2002-2004 take the archive back to December 2002 with 23 past editions of the club magazine available to read. Your £10 now gets you over 800 pages right away.

You don’t even have to keep checking the site, you are sent an email anytime we add a new edition – or add to our archive of back issues. Already there are 19 issues of Photoworld covering from Spring 2004 to Spring 2009 – the entire history of the Alpha digital system from the Konica/Minolta merger onwards. That’s over 500 A4 pages of reviews, news, tests, portfolios, galleries, how-to-do-it and inspirational articles. To preview what’s on offer (see the covers, contents page and first couple of pages of each magazine free) click the link then click any cover thumbnail. You’ll get a preview of four pages, and the choice of a full subscription or the single issue price of £3. If you pay for the full digital subscription all the issues are unlocked including the next year’s new issues, and each archive edition as we add them.

PW Subscribe

You can also subscribe, worldwide, to both printed and digital editions – this subscription for £25 means you will get the next four printed magazine delivered to your door:

PW Digital + Printed

Here are two comments from readers:

“The current Photoworld copy I received yesterday again is of outstanding quality. It is easily the thinnest magazine I read in terms of mm width, yet content and printing quality are reason for great delight. The printing is so much better then any of the magazines for sale in Germany, it is breathtaking every time.” - Markus Spring

“The best ten quid of any Minolta/Sony owner’s money has to be on YUDU, right now. I have just paid (through PayPal) and have access to every copy (it seems) of Photoworld magazine from early 2004. That’s 19 editions and the on-screen presentation is fantastic, not to metion the opportunity to download and read offline. I love magazines, I especially love photography magazines, and to be able to read the back catalogue of Photoworld is an absolute steal for that price.” - Brian Young

Postal subscription only Paypal options

You can subscribe to the printed edition only (no digital edition access) using our online Paypal subscription service.

We have just published the latest edition of the MPA magazine, Master Photo Digital, on-line at YUDU. This format is the same as the Flash Reader format used for the subscriptions to Photoworld on-line (digital subscription).

MPA’s magazine is free. Only full-time professional photographers are eligible to become members, but you can all read the mag.

- DK

It’s been a marathon exercise – all 18 editions of Photoworld, from the time of the Konica Minolta merger to our last (January) back issue, have been converted to a really great readable format (using Flash Player) which you can view via your web browser, print out or download for off-line reading. We have now added five more earlier editions of MINOLTA IMAGE, taking the archive back to December 2002 – plus two compendiums of reviews and articles from our other magazines.

The cost to access all these back issues – over 750 pages, fantastic portfolios, technical reports and tests covering the entire history of the Alpha digital system – is just £10 (by Paypal) and also gets you a full year of new Photoworld issues in advanced of the mailed copy. Or instead of it, if you prefer to subscribe this way. £25 now buys the postal magazine subscription plus the e-version and archives, worldwide.

We are now accepting images for entry to the Summer edition Photoworld magazine Gallery pages. Non-subscribers may submit via this email address up to three images per quarter/issue only (subscribers to the magazine may submit an unlimited number). Images should be no larger than 2000 x 3000 pixels or the equivalent data size for panoramas (6 megapixels). They should saved as AdobeRGB or sRGB JPEG files, with embedded ICC profile and intact EXIF data, to level 8 quality (High) or better. Your details, caption, copyright information, website URL, email address etc should be written into the file EXIF/IPTC fields – use ‘File Information’ in Photoshop File Menu to view and edit these text fields.

You may also put caption, website, etc information in a separate text document attachment or in the body of your email.

The picture/s must have been taken on Minolta, Konica Minolta, Sony or Sony Alpha equipment. Scans from slides, negatives or prints are accepted and full details must be provided of equipment used. EXIF data will be used to confirm the origin of digital entries.

Do not use ‘Save for Web’ as this will strip out your colour profile, EXIF camera data and IPTC caption data!

gallery@photoclubalpha.com

The terms are single use in the publication, website and on-line PDF edition. One year’s subscription will be given to the photographer for each image chosen for use (if you already have a subscription, you may nominate a friend or family member to receive this as a gift, starting with the issue featuring your photo). One extra copy of the magazine featuring your image will also be supplied. A byline and web link to your URL (live in the PDF edition) will be printed.

Gallery is an edited competition, not a judged competition. Pictures are chosen which work well as pages, spreads, pairs or fit a theme chosen by the editors. Images may be filed and carried over to future issues if they are of merit and may fit in with future theme.

The closing date for the Summer issue is June 30th.

- David Kilpatrick

For any large circulation magazine to create a page section which folds out to view a A2 size is too expensive to consider – but Photoworld, subscribed to by enthusiasts and printed in a short run of only 1,600 copies, goes out on November 5th with a foldout sample image.

If you are on the verge of making a decision, I’m here to help your think clearly – even if it means breaking some cherished behaviour patterns. I am going to help you think of the Alpha 900 not as a logical progression from the 700, but as a different camera system entirely.

Today I took delivery of a Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM lens. There is no doubt this is the best built Sony SAL lens I’ve handled (the CZ 135mm 1.8, 85mm f1.4 are a class above again). It weighs over 800g with its lens-hood, which is one of the most efficient deep tele hoods I’ve seen.

Photoworld 2008 #2 is now being mailed to subscribers!

Our Spring edition features -

THE FIRST QUESTION anyone asks about the Sony GPS-CS1 device is whether it will work with their non-Sony digital camera. The answer is ‘yes’ but you may need to buy some extra software, as it only comes with software to link up to Sony Picture Motion Browser. If you can ensure that you buy the product sold as GPS-CS1KA it should include a copy of this software in full. If you buy the product coded only as GPS-CS1, it may have nothing apart from a patch-updater program you are supposed to use with your existing Sony installation. So make sure you know exactly what you are buying (there appears to be no price difference, and very few retailers are making any distinction between the two bundles). There seems to be no reason to continue offering the kit with the updater only.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ON-LINE DIGITAL EDITIONS – GET ALL OUR BACK ISSUES FREE!

ISSUE NO 1 2010 now mailing!

Cover Photo by Paul Murphy

25 YEARS OF THE ALPHA SYSTEM launched in January 1985 by Minolta – special commemorative feature records the development of the Alpha from Minolta 7000AF to Sony A450 – read an edited revision of our magazine article online

JUMP to our latest on-line articles with summary extracts here

Photoclub Alpha’s Photoworld quarterly magazine is now available as an on-line subscription without printed paper issues (you can print any pages you want from the Flash-viewable ‘book reader’ format editions, read on-line, or download to read when you like). The cost is just £10.00 per year and gets you the latest issue before it even reaches our susbcribers!

UPDATE: in addition to 150 pages of tests, reviews and articles from our other magazines we have now added five editions of MINOLTA IMAGE from 2002-2004 taking the archive back to December 2002 with 23 past editions of the club magazine available to read. Your £10 now gets you over 800 pages right away.

You don’t even have to keep checking the site, you are sent an email anytime we add a new edition – or add to our archive of back issues. Already there are 22 issues of Photoworld covering from Spring 2004 to January 2010 – the entire history of the Alpha digital system from the Konica/Minolta merger onwards. That’s over 500 A4 pages of reviews, news, tests, portfolios, galleries, how-to-do-it and inspirational articles.

To preview what’s on offer (see the covers, contents page and first couple of pages of each magazine free) click the link then click any cover thumbnail. You’ll get a preview of a few pages, and the choice of a full subscription or the single issue price of £3. If you pay for the full digital subscription all the issues are unlocked including the next year’s new issues, and each archive edition as we add them.

Read 001 PW Digital subscription
Online Publishing from YUDU

You can also subscribe, worldwide, to both printed and digital editions – this subscription for £25 means you will get the next four printed magazine delivered to your door:

Read 002 PW Print+Digi sub
Publisher Software from YUDU

Here are two comments from readers:

“The current Photoworld copy I received yesterday again is of outstanding quality. It is easily the thinnest magazine I read in terms of mm width, yet content and printing quality are reason for great delight. The printing is so much better then any of the magazines for sale in Germany, it is breathtaking every time.” - Markus Spring

“The best ten quid of any Minolta/Sony owner’s money has to be on YUDU, right now. I have just paid (through PayPal) and have access to every copy (it seems) of Photoworld magazine from early 2004. That’s 19 editions and the on-screen presentation is fantastic, not to mention the opportunity to download and read offline. I love magazines, I especially love photography magazines, and to be able to read the back catalogue of Photoworld is an absolute steal for that price.” - Brian Young

Postal subscription only Paypal options

You can subscribe to the printed edition only (no digital edition access) using our online Paypal subscription service.

PHOTOWORLD for Minolta/Sony Alpha system owners is published seasonally four times a year and is sent by Airmail to subscribers outside the UK (not by slow surface mail) so it is received within a week of printing. UK subscriptions are posted by 2nd class Press-stream. Every issue has 36 pages on heavy gloss art paper, full colour, printed sheetfed litho with a fine screen to allow the full detail of pictures to be studied. There is an open Gallery you can submit images to, and every edition features tests or reviews of the latest equipment along with articles by professional and enthusiast Alpha system and vintage Minolta users.

Photograph by Tony Jones

PHOTOWORLD is available on subscription by mail to anywhere in the world. You can subscribe at minimum prices with no additional back issue (which we have in the past included) to keep postage costs down. These prices are the same as for advance RENEWAL of subscriptions. You may also use these buy it buttons (please inform us by email) to renew your existing subscription.

UK RENEWAL or starter subscription with current issue only – £17.95.

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EUROPE RENEWAL or starter subscription with current issue only – £19.95.

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WORLD RENEWAL or starter subscription with current issue only – £23.95.

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WORLD BASIC SUB (applies to any region) with included DIGITAL EDITION access – £25.00.

PW Digital + Printed

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SUBSCRIPTION WITH VINTAGE KONICA MINOLTA GIFT

We are offering a subscriber gift – the very neat belt/shoulder Konica Minolta CS-DG1000 Z-case which is great for lenses or flashguns as well as Z-series digital cameras. This neat zipper case has a generous belt loop plus two D-rings and a shoulder strap. We find it great to fit on a belt, and use it when changing lenses – a kind of platform to pop the lens in, freeing the hands.

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UK subscription 1 year including free CS-DG1000 Z-case which will fit Z-series cameras, many lenses including 11-18mm, 17-35mm, or flash units including the 3600 (perfect) and 5600 (tight but it fits). Cost – £21.95 (£19.95 subscription includes one back issue and current issue; £2 p&p/handling for case).

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European subscription including the CS-DG1000 case. Cost £24.95. (£21.95 subscription includes back issue and current issue; £3 p&p for case).

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World subscription (outside Europe) including the CS-CG1000 case. Cost £27.95. (£23.95 subscription includes back issue and current, £4 p&p for case).

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Subscribing by post or fax (cheque or credit card)

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 postage for up to 250 grammes large letter (90p 1st class as of April 2009) affixed, addressed to Photoworld Sample, Icon Publications Ltd, Maxwell Place, Maxwell Lane, Kelso, Scottish Borders TD5 7BB.

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 plus the current issue unless this is just about to published in the next couple of weeks – in which case you get your free back issue, followed shortly by the first issue of your subscription
• Welcome information letter
• The balance of the year in quarterly magazines

You can download a PDF version of our latest printed application form. This can be sent in by post, or faxed to +44 (0)1573 226000.

This does include Europe and World subs. Please use our Online Paypal subscription page for these to avoid problems with currency conversions, cheques, money orders etc. 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).

E-Books from Gary Friedman are user guides, mines of information and all-round treasuries of inspiration for Alpha owners – see www.friedmanarchives.com for details and how to buy them either as a physical printed book, or a download. His e-Books include:

• Dynax 7D/5D
• Dimage A1/A2 book (equally applicable to the Dimage A200)
• Alpha 100
• Alpha 700
• Alpha 200/300/350
• Alpha 900

dPreview

dPreview is recognised as one of the most important camera test sites on the web. While some visitors complain of bias, we do not believe that is the case, and Phil Askey’s test report on the Alpha 100 while missing a few minor plus points was very fair. This report also showed that the Sony Alpha 100 has (and still has) the highest extinction resolution of all the 10.2 megapixel class DSLRs. dPreview has now covered the Alpha 350 and 200 as well as the 700, a different staff writer covering each camera.

Read Phil’s Alpha 100 review

Phil has also done a review of the Alpha 700

Alpha 200 review – Alpha 350 review

Alpha 900 review

Raw converters

Sony Alpha owners will find that Adobe Photoshop CS2/3 and Photoshop Elements 4.0/5.0/6.0 include a good .ARW raw file converter in the current version of Adobe Camera Raw 3.x/4.x (anything later than 3.4 will process Alpha 100 .ARW files, 4.3 or later is needed for .ARW2 files from the A700/200 and is much improved over the first compatible version, 4.2, so upgrade your installation if you are still using 4.2). Earlier versions will not handle Alpha files. 4.5 handles 350 files well.

You can also convert .ARW raw files from the Sony Alpha 100 into Adobe .DNG (Digital Negative) universal raw files, readable by earlier versions Adobe Photoshop 7, CS and Elements 3. Please note that downloading auto-updates for Photoshop does NOT automatically update the raw converter, and this must be done as a separate, manual download. There are two download options, both entirely free, for the DNG converter and the ACR 3.x/4.x plug-in (which requires CS2/3 Mac/PC; or PSE 3/4 for Mac, PSE 4/5 for Windows; and is not compatible with earlier versions):

Windows download page

Mac download page

Adobe Lightroom, a dedicated raw file conversion and ‘digital asset management’ utility, which is a complete stand alone product including A100 conversion, can be purchased from:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/

There’s a great Mac-only raw file developer for the A100, A700, A200 and previous Konica Minolta DSLRs – RAWDeveloper from Iridient. This is really fast, allows scaled exports, has superb noise reduction and is a highly professional workflow solution.

Another alternative is Silkypix Developer Studio, a Japanese developed raw file converter, which has something in common with Sony’s Image Converter SR, and will – again – handle both the new A700/A200 and A100 file formats and previous Minolta and Konica Minolta raw files, for those with mixed systems. This is available in both Windows and Mac versions.

Bibble, a popular commercial multi-format raw converter and browser utility, now supports the Alpha 100/700/200. We have had some problems with scaled-up output showing unwanted raster-like patterns, but for normal size files BibblePro offers NoiseNinja which is one of the best ways of dealing with the Alpha 100’s rather strong high-ISO noise levels.

DxOptics Pro also now supports some Konica Minolta/Sony DSLRs and includes automatic correction for a few Minolta/Sony lenses. This deals with chromatic aberration, fringes, curvature of lines and vignetting of brightness towards the corners of the field, and it is especially useful with digital format zooms. They do not appear to have fulfilled the promise of serious support, and are concentrating on the obvious cashcows of Canon and Nikon ownership percentages. The latest v5.2 update brings the Alpha 700, 200 and 350 into the fold with an odd set of lenses but omits the 300 entirely.

An excellent top-level raw .MRW/.ARW converter, if a little hard to master, is Capture One Pro made by Phase One, the Danish digital medium-format back manufacturer. You can download trial software, or upgrade the LE version provided promotionally to the full product, by visiting Phase One’s website. The latest versions are good at handling high ISO noise but Phase One is fairly slow to add new camera models.

Recently, a Mac-only converter came to light, RawPhotoProcessor. This is simple and deep. It reveals a lot about the image through reading the makernote and metadata comments hidden in each file. It is fast and small. It has no noise reduction beyond simply chroma blurring, and no sharpening option.

http://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/Downloads.html

Another commercial program we really like – it has a very good interface – which works well with the 5D, 7D and A100 but awaits A700 addition is LightZone from Lightcrafts Inc. This is a feature-laden full image management system which can match Aperture or Lightroom on most levels and even replace Photoshop for some work.

http://www.lightcrafts.com/download/download.html

This program is not very well marketed internationally, yet. Of all the commercial offerings it has the most potential, I think, for cross-platform universal application. It is apparently JAVA-based.

A good PC-only raw converter, small enough to run on palmtop devices and Origami platform machines, is RawTherapee. This independently written experimental converter has won many converts amongst Alpha 700 users, as it offered support right from the start and overcame most of the smurrging issues present in high ISO detail:

http://www.rawtherapee.com

Let us know of any other raw converter links, and I will add them.

Support and resources

For legacy support and information on Konica Minolta photo-digital products, we currently recommend the website below, which has not disabled all its downloads of software, firmware, etc: http://ca.konicaminolta.com/support/americas/

For information on the Sony Alpha system and the new Sony Alpha 100 DSLR, the UK Sony site now has some really excellent resources in place. Use the High Bandwidth option if you possibly can, and expore both ‘Assignments’ and ‘Equipment’: http://www.sony.co.uk/nextlevel

The bimonthly magazine for freelance photographers, f2 Freelance+Digital, has a dedicated website where many PDF articles can be downloaded. We have included on this site many PDFs from our Photoworld magazine. f2 magazine moved to new publishers from the October/November 2006 edition, but our website remains operational. Registration is necessary but paid subscription is only required to access the archives of older articles – new editions are free for two months to all comers, subscribers can download from well over 100 previous articles: http://www.f2photo.co.uk/

You can view a selection of full size, 10.2 megapixel images taken with the new Sony Alpha 100 on David Kilpatrick’s pBase pages. At the last count there were over 70 examples and the Alpha images had clocked up over 100,000 views. There’s lots of technical information on the tests, examples, and comparison present on these pages. These include comments, captions and EXIF shooting data: http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick

There is an independent Minolta M-AF forum and website, Dyxum, which offers many useful resources including lens tests and storage card speed comparisons. Unlike dPreview, Dyxum does not ban participants for being associated with specialist websites like Photoclubalpha, and has kindly promoted and helped us in the past: http://www.dyxum.com. Dyxum is probably the most active Alpha discussion site, with an excellent lens review and rating system allowing you look up almost any lens ever made to fit M-AF and find a user opinion along with full specs and original selling price. They also have a very good links page which lists just about every other Alpha resource around!

Yahoogroups include one dedicated entirely to Minolta which in practice is used by Sony Alpha owners as well – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Minolta/. There is also a Yahoogroup called SonyAlpha, at least until Sony’s legal dept ask them to cease and desist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SonyAlpha/.

A busy forum is well established at Dynaxdigital – http://www.dynaxdigital.com/

Carl Garrard and T E Morrison have set up a site called Alphamountworld which offers forums, reviews and articles and will be reporting from major trade shows in the US. Carl is also going to post articles from his show visits or press invites to Photoworldalpha.

A useful group with a strong photography emphasis is UKExpert – forums and galleries and many further onwards links. It was a pleasure to meet Andy from UKExpert at the Sony Alpha 700 launch, and great to know that Sony value the presence of independent opinion-formers.

There is a photo sharing site (by far the most popular web activity for photographers!) at Shootalpha.com. This is, after all, what camera clubs and even august professional associations do – share their pictures and pass generally not unkind comments on them to each other, with the occasional bit of constructive crit. Do not expect to encounter the photo equivalent of Simon Cowell stalking the gallery pages, you will be welcomed as a beginner and find your level quickly. There is also an active forum.

Here’s an enthusiast from New Zealand – Rob provides many further links connected with the A900.

And here’s a man banned from the Photoclubalpha forums because of his outbursts, insults and general bad attitude – Don Northup, aka Sonolta. He’s an excellent Alpha photographer (not mention prolific).

Dealers and spares

At Icon Publications Ltd we now have just a selection of Minolta glass filters; MD/AF hard lens cases (many types); Dynax branded original camera straps; Minolta leather cases ideal for iPhones, iPods etc; and Vectis BPS-1 battery base grips for the Vectis S-1.

Former Minolta Club administrator Adrian Paul has his own specialist business selling spares, accessories and smaller hard-to-obtain products from the Minolta and Konica Minolta ranges, and will be offering Sony Alpha system products in future. The Photostore is a mail-order business only and Adrian offers a fast, excellent standard of service and knowledge: http://www.photostore-uk.com/

Lens rental is also available from the Photostore in the UK, but applies only to Photoworld magazine subscribers, and full details are printed in each magazine. There is a new Alpha lens rental service operating in the USA – http://www.alphalensrental.com/index.html.

In New Zealand, the Sony Service Centre for Alpha is http://www.phototronic.co.nz/ – they are also dealers, an ideal one-stop shop for purchases and repairs, run by a former Minolta UK Ltd service department staff member.

Pro dealers Calumet have the Alpha system now as a main line, after decades of sidelining the Minolta mount. This is very important and will put the Alpha in front of Britain’s working professionals: http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/.

London Camera Exchange Colchester is now a Sony ACE dealer and has committed to supporting this website and our magazine. The branch manager will always try to offer the best deal to Photoclubalpha members! Email them on colchester@LCEgroup.co.uk or call 01206 573444.

To find out about the values of used cameras, visit the Monark camera price guide site – http://www.cameravalues.com/

Thank you for visiting the photoclubalpha.com site. If you would like to receive future information by email from Sony UK about the Alpha system, and news of future developments for the former Minolta Club of Great Britain, please email david@photoclubalpha.com using the heading ‘Add to Alpha mailing list’.

PHOTOCLUB ALPHA is the website for the Photoworld Club – the former Minolta Club of Great Britain after the final closure of the Konica Minolta camera division on March 31st 2006. David & Shirley Kilpatrick – that’s us, aka Icon Publications Ltd – first started using Minolta SLR systems in 1974. In 1980 we were asked by Minolta Camera Co. Ltd to run the existing club and produce its quarterly magazine, Photoworld; we did this for 25 years with their support and later that of Konica Minolta Photo Imaging (UK) Ltd. In 1987 we formed Icon which is the siteowner of photoclubalpha.com, and now publishes Photoworld as an independent quarterly full colour glossy magazine for Minolta, KM and Sony Alpha DSLR system users.

SUBSCRIBE NOW to the magazine and support this website!

Photoworld started life in 1966 as a black and white newsletter produced by David Shaw, marketing manager of Japanese Cameras Ltd, the UK importing company owned by Charles Strasser which handled Minolta, Soligor, Miranda and several other brands. It became an A4 magazine with some colour in 1976. Between 1982 and 2004 it was published under the title of Minolta Image. Over 110 quarterly issues have been produced under our editorship.

You can now subscribe to digital e-book editions (powered by Flash Player, on YUDU) for just £10 a year including access to all new issues published for one year from the day you subscribe, and all back issues on the site. You will find that buying the subscription below gives you immediate free access to 18 issues starting with Spring/Summer 2004 and covering the complete development of the Alpha digital system from the time of the Minolta/Konica merger. You will also get the latest issue and new ones for the next year. Pages or complete issues can be printed off, or downloaded for off-line reading on PC or Mac. You can keep your own collection.

With over 500 pages of articles, news, portfolios, advice, technique, reviews and tests in the 2004-2009 back issue archive alone this has to be a fantastic deal – for anyone, worldwide, and it’s carbon-neutral publishing into the bargain!

PW Subscribe

What made the Minolta Club of Great Britain possible was the long-term loyalty of thousands of system owners, and the regular intake of new members through the medium of leaflets in product packaging. This new intake is no longer possible.

The future of the club and the magazine are Icon Publications Ltd’s responsibility. Konica Minolta preferred the option of closing it entirely, and Sony UK will not support any external (non-corporate) user group.

We have since the closure of Konica Minolta welcomed support from Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd, Intro2020 Ltd (Tamron lenses), The Flash Centre, and Calumet Group. This enabled us to continue the magazine. We really need new blood, however – new photographers to feature in our pages and competitions, to join in with or create future events for readers, to write for us, perhaps to lecture in our sponsored camera club talks programme.

Download and install latest FIRMWARE and SOFTWARE updates for the Alpha cameras and conversion/browsing packages.

View David Kilpatrick’s images on pBase – you will find hundreds of images including comparisons with many other camera systems.

Run our original 2006 Alpha System web slideshow