Henry's photo Show/sale

[Javelin]

This is billed as the largest photography show in Canada. but it's organized and put on by a retail chain and is mostly attended by them and the Canadian distributors and is more of a sale really than a trade show. however there are sometime manufacturers reps in attendance. I spent a couple hours there talking to Sony and the dealers, about a bunch of things. Think I wore out my welcome at the Sony booth though.

The surprise was the A330 in stock and for sale at at least Henry's in Toronto. Some of the reps on the booth were surprised to. and hadn't been trained on the model. I got to hold it and the 330. they are very nice cameras to look at. the checked texture on the A330 is actually a rubberized coating. they feel pretty solid but not something you would want to shoot for hours with. they are small for sure. the flashes pop up by themselves and the live view screen is very nice to look at and feels solid The rubber makes you feel confident that your not going to have it slip from your hands and was quite nice. They look very clean and well made and to be honest made the A7 and 900's look a little old fashioned by comparison. The show wasn't busy enough to gauge reactions from people but there was as many people looking at those as there were at any other booth.

got to try the 18-55mm on my A700 it was noisy in the hall so I can't comment on how noisy it is. it does work smoothly though and seems made better that my 18-70 was. in fact it's not any heavier but sure seems less... loose? it does that same funky front element extend-retract-extend the 18-70 did while zooming though.

I also tried the hew HVL 20AM flash on my A700. not much to say. it is a little more powerful than the pop up and it's noticeable. exposure seems as good as the pop up but I'll know better when I compare the pics later. It's pretty slick really and I'll pick one up for sure just to have as a carry around convenience thing.

Their lead rep came over and I was a little more aggressive about the macro ring flash that I was last year. there is no news at all on this, where last year he was wanting to find out about it and seemed excited about everything. this year he just said he'd like to have one too. I got the distinct feeling that they were basically told a strong NO on that point. He actually led me to the distributor for metz to show me their 15-MS1 Ring flash, And the rep there seemed less excited about it than I was :/ And thats where the Sony rep abandoned me. Never saw him again after that, Maybe what could be considered good news is the ring light was not there at all so maybe there is something and I'm just reading it wrong.. The Sony reps do seem to know about what is coming in the fall but wouldn't say anything about items or timing. I got that feeling because their language indicated that there is information they are holding back not like the macro flash question where there was nothing there. Again these are my impressions

30mm macro. They had a mock up there but none on hand to try and they came out and said they aren't talking about it. I couldn't get a feel if that was a good or bad thing. To be honest the reps all seemed a lot less pumped about the line than last year and I don't know what to make of that. It was the first afternoon of the show so it's not like they were wore out or anything. It could just be because they had no training on the new stuff maybe. Usually the first day of the show is an exciting time


I visited Sigma who had a lot of their stuff on show. I didn't bother with the lenses sorry. I did get a very good deal on a 530DG super which unlike last year the sample they had actually worked on my A700. lat years was a dud. their sale price and a further 20.00 show discount (really only 5 because they dinged me 15 bucks to get in)it was 299. it's funny at these booths you can always tell the Sony flashes because they don't have little stands for them so they are laying on their sides. They did not have a macro Ring flash there for Sony. or in stock and Henry's themselves didn't have one and only one in stock 4 hours away in a store. not well represented at Henry's I guess. although the Henry's rep I spoke to said every day they are getting more calls for Sony fit stuff and are doing really well with it. Some A300's had already sold today so we may see some DPR participants posting about them as soon as the batteries are charged. He also said they are starting to build up inventory on adapters and little stuff that fits Sony which has always been a problem even in the Minolta days. Their reps would run away from you sometimes at the mere mention of Minolta, so thats an improvement.

Pocket wizards. They weren't there as a manufacturer, only the distributor was there. But I had a lengthly discussion with someone that was a rep to the dealer for Pocket wizard. Basically they are tied up trying to get the Nikon compatible product done and in the market, he did tell me that they are getting a lot of pressure from certain markets to support Sony and that that have been talking directly with Sony. But he said it's the same as Canon and Nikon, they will be no help and they will have to reverse engineer the flash protocols like they did for the other. I got the feeling that they would support Sony tomorrow if they actually had that ability but it's going to take time. Look at how long it took for them to work out Nikon, and they still aren't done. This distributor also sells Tokina lenses but nobody there knew much other than to say there are some Sony fit lenses coming for sure. as they have had a lot of inquiries from Canada. again no time frame

There was another outfit there with radio triggers (non TTL enabled) with a pretty well made looking set that have native Sony hotshoe mounts on them not added in adapters, very compact and professional looking. they also make hotshoe adapters both with and without circuit protection. It's a new product and I see it's not on their web site (they must be a distributor for Henry's) I have a brochure and if anyone wants more info I'll post later when I have had a chance to go through it. These might be an alternative to the Chinese ones people are buying now if they want something better made.
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[David Kilpatrick]

I visited Sigma who had a lot of their stuff on show. I didn't bother with the lenses sorry. I did get a very good deal on a 530DG super which unlike last year the sample they had actually worked on my A700. lat years was a dud. their sale price and a further 20.00 show discount (really only 5 because they dinged me 15 bucks to get in)it was 299. it's funny at these booths you can always tell the Sony flashes because they don't have little stands for them so they are laying on their sides.

That's very funny, as the Sigma standard stand - supplied with all flash units - is dual Minolta/ISO fit! The reps must have been unaware that you can just fit a Sony flash to it the same as you can fit a regular gun. There is no special model for Sony.

David

[Greg Beetham]

That's a great "newsy" report Javelin, thanks for going too the trouble.
Greg

[bossel]

Thanks, great report!

[Javelin]

I noticed that, but in the display cases they have these little acrylic stands the flashes fit with the sigma logo on the front. They don't have thosefor the Minlolta fit. Actually the Sigma stand is pretty impressive. I think I might see if I can get some for my other flashes. They have a brass insert for the 1/4-20 tripod fittings too.

That's very funny, as the Sigma standard stand - supplied with all flash units - is dual Minolta/ISO fit! The reps must have been unaware that you can just fit a Sony flash to it the same as you can fit a regular gun. There is no special model for Sony.

[Javelin]

I also forgot to add that the new cameras don't have grip sensors at all. Also it struck me seeing the new cameras displayed next to the old ones at the show. they really do look like cameras from a different brand. this might be considered a\ (to borrow a recent movie phenomenon) a reboot of the alpha line. the A700 and 900 look like all business.. like a tractor. the new ones look more appealing at first glance.