Professional Photographers using Sony?

[kiwi]

Personally never seen one in use by a professional, so, that says something

[BuDWiZe]

while im not a professional i do, do some paid work and i get pretty damn good images of my a700. just as good as i can pull off with a friends 7d and another friends nikon d90
if you alreayd have soyn geatr have a look and wait for the a77 which will get announced in a cpl of weeks on paper it looks pretty damn good but have to wait for real world results/reviews.
at the end of the day the camera doesnt matter its the end result and availability to replace parts quickly if needed.

[mechawombat]

I have seen Bud's work and his pics are STUNNING

[Lion31Cybershot]

To anser the topic opening, I have mates who are pro and use Sony in combination with te supreme quality of te old Minolta-lenzes with A-mount.
They never heard a client complain...

[Robert J Lawton]

All reports for the Alpha77 indicate that it is up there with the best. If a photographers images are on a par or better than others in the wedding or portrait game then the choice between Sony and others should not be a snob issue. Clients will judge a pro by the images,not the camera

[I @ M]

Clients will judge a pro by the images,not the camera

Conversely, pros will judge a camera by many things including service availability if it is required and in Australia in particular Sony just don't have much of that happening.

[JM Tran]

Conversely, pros will judge a camera by many things including service availability if it is required and in Australia in particular Sony just don't have much of that happening.

Damn straight.

I dont use and wont use a Sony camera atm anywhere in the world for work based on lack of professional servicing/hiring/support by the company. At both events and also offices and branches in major cities in the world. Last time I used a professional service during work was at Paris Fashion Week last March, walked into a tent manned by 2 technicians from both Canon and Nikon - a fast and efficient walk in/walk out service. No signs of a Sony body or lens anywhere. If Sony wants to be taken seriously in the pro department they need to roll out programs like CPS and NPS etc.

[rodw]

The history of the Sony SLR is that Konica and Minolta decided to merge back in 2003 or so because both companies realized that neither was big enough to compete on the world stage. There was no take over but a mutual merger. Subsequently they decided to get out of the camera market and sold that business to Sony. That in itself was probably not a bad move as Sony had a wealth of experience with video and sensors. But the way I see it is that the camera division is just one small division in a conglomerate.

Canon have a big interest in digital printing and recently spent about $1.9b buying Oce, a Dutch company who is a leader in production digital printing. Our Oce B&W printer at work runs at up to 320 copies per minute and is about 6 metres long. Canon paid cash for this purchase and still only used a third of their cash reserves ( hope I got these details right).

Konica Minolta, Canon and Oce are all players in the digital printing market together with Ricoh another once well regarded camera brand.

So that leaves poor old tsunami affected Nikon who to my knowledge have still specialized in cameras and optics and have not chased other markets to the extent of their competitors.

I have not forgiven Minolta for abandoning me as a very happy user when they changed their lens mounts and making my kit worthless. Canon did the same thing at that time and maybe I have not forgiven them for a dud printer they once sold me that I took action under the Trade Practices Act about.

So knowing all this history, I decided that Nikon was the brand for me and I still remember the state of shock I was in from the moment I was in after processing the first roll of film through my Nikon F80! I was just blown away by what it captured!

I know the Canon is a good camera today. I took some photos on film at a beach wedding where the pro photog used Canon digital and to me, the results looked a little soft when compared with my shots using a prosumer 24-85 Nikon lens (but maybe that was the effect they wanted for a wedding).

Consider this history, the strategic direction and the importance of the camera market to the company you choose to invest an obscene amount of money with! I did second time round.