Sony Imaging Pro Support

How Sony plans to woo professional photographers away from Canon and Nikon

Published in
4 min readFeb 22, 2018

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While Sony might be one of the most technically impressive hardware makers out there, their inability to focus on long term plans and roadmaps has often doomed many of their products. One such segment that hasn’t been ailed by this internal culture is their professional cameras, a category that’s extremely challenging to break into.

While for years now Sony has been pushing the professional photography market forward with breakthroughs and superior equipment, breaking into a market long dominated by Canon and Nikon is no easy task.

Unlike a TV that’s easy to swap out, photographers have built years, if not decades, of workflows and gear that are centered around a given band. Going from a Nikon to a Sony isn’t just a matter of changing your camera, but also swapping out the countless lenses you might own as well.

Here’s Gordon Laing for CameraLabs:

Canon and Nikon may be increasingly challenged on technology by their rivals, but they’ve remained dominant in the professional markets thanks to their established pro support networks. Any camera company that wants to break into those pro — especially pro sports — markets needs to offer their photographers a similar commitment to support.

Sony in particular is targeting pro photographers, so it was no coincidence its Alpha A9 sports body was announced in 2017 alongside a greatly enhanced support program. It’s still early days, but Sony Imaging Pro support is now available in North America, Western Europe, Australia / New Zealand, and parts of Asia.

Last year I wrote about Sony surpassing Nikon for the number two seat in the US and while many assumed it was purely due to their ever expansive fleet of camera and lenses, it’s now likely that support also played a big role in that as well. As for what the program offers:

Sony Imaging Pro Support — member benefits

Sony announced its Imaging Pro Support programs in 2016, but only really began ramping them up in 2017 with the opening of a number of walk-in service centres in each region. Members are entitled to free repairs on products that are still in warranty, or discounts (typically 20%) on repairs that are out of warranty. Repairs under warranty are generally turned-around within three business days upon receipt of the equipment, shipping is free, and loaners are available if the repair period exceeds this.

Members also have access to a 24 hour remote helpdesk and are entitled to two or three (depending on region) complementary clean and maintenance services every year. Depending on your region, there may also be invites to special events and or loans of products to trial.

Members can also use the walk-in service centres in their region for potentially quicker turnaround on repairs. In the USA, there are walk-in centres in New York and Los Angeles. In the UK, you’ll be heading to Fixation in London or the Technology Centre in South Wales. In Australia, the walk-in centre is based in Adelaide. Depending on the region, you may alternatively be able to drop-off your gear at a speciality camera shop; check the local program for details.

As you’d expect with Sony and professional grade services, the Imaging Pro Support program isn’t cheap and you don’t qualify for it by just owning the a7R.

In the US you need a minimum of two full-frame Alpha bodies and three premium full-frame lenses from the G, G Master or Zeiss ranges. In the UK you also need to own two bodies and three premium lenses, but one of the bodies can include the cheaper A6500. The ownership requirements in Australia are the same as the UK.

Further, to qualify for membership in the US and UK, you must be able to prove you’re a professional photographer with active work. The US and Australian programs also required an annual fee of $100 USD and $150 AUD respectively, although at the time of writing the program was free in Europe for photographers who owned the qualifying equipment and could prove their employment as a pro photographer.

As is often the case with Sony, since they lack scale or marketshare in many areas, it becomes a chicken and egg story. This is the case for mobile where carriers don’t offer Xperia phones because there’s little demand for them and consumers don’t buy Xperia phones because carriers don’t offer them.

With professional photography, a similar story plays out.

As mentioned earlier, Sony’s pro support is clearly at the early stages, with on-site presence at major events growing but still limited compared to Canon and Nikon. This is something they’re working on, but it’s a chicken and egg situation where a major sporting event is unlikely to grant space on-site until there’s sufficient demand. Sony’s well aware of this and when a service centre can’t be accommodated on-site at an event, they’re trying to offer facilities nearby — the 2018 Winter Olympics is a prime example with a Sony service centre in Pyeongchang.

The whole piece is a fascinating read, especially for those who dabble in the pro market, and points to the challenges that Sony faces and the lengths they’re going to address them.

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 alumni | journalist and content creator | part 🇩🇪, full petrol head | lover of all things Marvel | creator of @sonyrumors | #fuckcancer