Sony skips over Alpha line, uses Canon DSLR for Cyber-shot press photos
By Darren Murph 
posted July 10th 2010 4:05AM
posted July 10th 2010 4:05AM
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posted July 10th 2010 4:05AM
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For some reason this article actually made me LOL.
@piam101 made me wet myself, cant wait to show this to my sister xD
@piam101
The photography team owns and uses Canon.
Does it mean we should ask photographer teams to use Alpha to do their jobs?
OMG, now i'm gonna rush to a camera store and buy that Canon camera!
@wmac No, just that it should launder it's EXIF info, like any professional group would do. It was a stupid oversight.
@wmac
Of course, and I say this as a pro photographer. It's called using the right tool for the job.
It would be like the Toyota CEO driving an Audi http://jalopnik.com/5461311/toyota-ceo-apologizes-drives-away-in-black-audi
@piam101 : I can taste the irony. When a company makes a product and uses another companies product that has the same function, it has to be bad.
@piam101
A lot of people are missing the point. The perception of this is not good. I am into photography, and can tell you that this has made me wanna dismiss Sony's dslr line. If the pros shooting a Sony camera ad didn't think Sony's dslr, that they could have gotten for free, was not good enough, then why should I bother with it. Bottomline, they needed to use the best. The best is a Canon apparently. Sony should fire the ad agency immediately.
DSLR
@Roger Moore
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I'm assuming you shoot toddlers or weddings? You proved to know nothing about how ad production works. And who said they would get a free camera? If I'm used to my canon and I get offered a FREE hasselblad, I'm still going to shoot their paid job because my canon tricks are already worked out. It's comfortable, I know when highlights are nearing being unrecoverable, how much color I can push and pull from the files therefore what my lighting limits are atthe shoot.
And the reality is, were not talking about a free shot with a blad. Were talking about an assumed opportunity with an ok slr.
@Failbait
I know perfectly well how pro photography and commercial art works - and one of the biggest rules is "don't do anything that will embarrass the client"
Nobody seriously thinks the AD COMPANY should be using the Sony Alpha. They just think that the ad company failing to clean up the EXIF data (at the very least removing the obvious camera model info) is a very foolish move.
I shoot stuff on occasion for a lot less money, and even I know that.
@Failbait Free camera because sony makes them and would have provided them with one had they asked. Obviously not for keeps.
Anyway, the 5d Mark II is a FANTASTIC camera, wish I had one. When I upgrade I'm going for it.
@wintersolstice
Well I do work in ads, and this may have well been designed in house by photos submitted by a third part photographer's initial proof shots. It happens when you're speeding.
@marsmissions
Thats my point, why would you offer a professional photographer a free camera? I shoot with a 5D II, and if I were offered to shoot with a phase one, I'd turn it down for reasons already mentioned a few posts back.
@Failbait
if that's "the dumbest thing" you've ever heard, you really need to get out more. play nice.
@marsmissions
Whu would you offer a camera to a 'professional' photographer. I do shoot with a 5D II, and if I were offered a phase one, I'd decline - for reasons already mentioned a few posts back.
@Failbait
I hope you do not have an ad agency. With your reasoning you will cause your clients to lose a ton of money. I shoot with a 5D Mark II. If I was doing this project, I would ask Sony for their best DSLR, try to shoot with it and create some goodwill with the company for future projects. Now if that is not possible I will shoot with my camera and make sure the EXIF is cleaned out. You have to know who is your client is an avoid anything that would cause an embarrassment.
@piam101 The first picture of a girl holding a camera is called "Black Female" ... and she's not black.
@nullifie It's a black TX9 being held by a female
@piam101
This is the sort of thing that make CEOs proud!
@Kemttep actually the next photo is also labeled as Black Female but the camera is pink in the photo, so hmm... could go either way huh?
Really you're making a post on this, you do know many of this press shots are done by advertising firms not related to Sony.
@Complex
true. but its still a good chuckle.
@kojo87
agree ahahahahaha
@Complex
Cheap ass photostudio then! 5DmkII is for amateurs!
We want at least 3DX or even better, Phase One metadata in those pics.
@blanka
You mean d3x? And anyone using a phase wouldn't leave metadata. And they wouldn't use a phase for that shot.
@Complex Yeah, and while Canon and Nikon wouldn't use each other's cameras for press photos...they do use Hasselblads and Mamiyas.
Thing is, these things aren't done in-house. It's not like Sony can force the companies that they hire to shoot these press photos to use Alphas. Especially since Sony doesn't have a camera comparable to a 5DmII (or any pro-level units for that matter, although the A900 comes close). I'm sure they'd rather have the photographer get the best pictures using the gear he prefers and knows best than adding the burden of adapting to unfamiliar equipment and post-capture workflows to his job.
It still is amusing though.
@Willen
You're right about Sony not being able to force a studio to use their equipment, but the point about Sony lacking gear comparable to the 5DII isn't really true. Neither are high-end, both are in the cheapest bracket of full-frame cameras. For a studio-shoot the A900 is capable of better end-results, with better resolution, color-accuracy and color-separation. The ZA 85mm F/1.4 is also one of the best in it's breed. The 5DII has other strengths.
@Willen
Still, how about deleting that metadata?
@Willen
Yes Sony can. I work with big ad agencies that have multi-million dollar deals with the company I work with. They do what we ask. If we ask them to draw the picture in crayolas, so be it. It's not their money and do what the client asks. Clearly the client should have been more careful or even requested that the press shots be shot with the product they were showcasing.
@Willen
Also the 5D is not a pro camera. It is mostly used by the smaller contractors for the not as important shots (I know, I was one of those guys)
@PDOG
Then you're lacking talent. Unless an art director or the print size demands larger, many high end commercial shooter use a 5D II. Um; Michael Grecco?
@Willen Agreed... I often work in advertising and the honest truth is no one gives a fuck about how anything is done behind-the-scenes, as long as no one in-front-of-the-scenes figures out the mystery.
The real problem here is that the photographer/retoucher/Sony left the metadata on the files, hence, "the mystery" was revealed; the public now wonders if Sony has a device capable of professional work needed for advertising. He/She just made it slightly more difficult for the next people who work with Sony or their ad agency.
BUSTED AGAIN! :P
So what, Nikon uses Phase One backs for some of their press shots. No big deal.
@revoltracers
it is a big deal when you're trying to sell a camera :p it'd be like Steve Jobs getting caught using an android phone lol but then people like us wouldn't have the random laughs we just had by reading articles like these. Just priceless!
No, this is like the guy Steve Jobs hired to advertise his iPhone using an Android phone - hence, no big deal.
@Megamancito No, this would be like getting a third party to make a Mac advertisement who use PCs. This is such a non-story.
@TheWakeUpCall
Actually it was the other way around
http://www.macworld.com/article/135659/2008/09/microsoft_ads.html
Wow Darren, you have to know that most serious PR companies don't play. If you think what you see in their ads are shot with the actual product; that's good it means their campaign is working as planned.
But I thought you would know better than to ass-u-me that all is well in fantasy land.
FAIL
@ems epic fail
No biggie but still funny.
I bet Sony execs won't be too happy about this.
@Geozec
Are you implying that someone is actually managing the company? When did that happen?
No biggie but still funny.
I bet Sony execs won't be too happy about this.
Mmm, they probably used the 85mm f/1.4L USM... *drool*
Really Engadget? Are we still in the Kindergarden?
These shots are mainly done by advertising firms not related to Sony in any way.
Well, I assume that's called "decent journalism" nowadays...
@Khattab
I can understand the confusion here, since journalists have been doing mainly soft-ball pieces for the past several years. The point of journalism, however, is not to avoid offending either politicians or corporations, or the people who are overly attached to them emotionally.
no biggie, Sony hired an external Ad company which happens to use Canon DSLRs. While they can go about specifically requiring that the cameras to be used should be Sony's Alpha, they didn't do that because it doesn't matter as long as the job gets done !