Sony US just announced the new PRO support service for the US. This is the official press release:
SAN DIEGO, CA (Oct. 29, 2014) – Sony, a worldwide leader in digital imaging, has announced the formal launch of their “PRO Support” service program, offering premium service, repair, support, equipment loans and more to working professional photographers.
“I’m very pleased to launch our PRO Support program here in the US” said Neal Manowitz, director of the a interchangeable lens camera business at Sony. “We’ve seen such a strong response to Sony cameras from working pros, and are proud to offer this versatile program to cater to their demands. It’s a premium support experience that will ensure our pros are constantly ready for business and remain up-to-date with all of our leading innovations.”
Brian Smith, Sony Artisan of Imagery, added “As a professional photographer, my Sony cameras take a beating while they hold up to the rigors of the road. Yet it’s great to know that Sony PRO Support has my back – so I can finish the job even when shooting in the harshest conditions.”
The program, already in beta, will launch tomorrow, October 30th at (www.sony.com/PROServices). A formal overview of its membership benefits and requirements is below:
PRO Support Program Benefits:
- Welcome Kit
- Dedicated phone support
- Expedited turnaround time for repair service
- Repair facilitation loans
- Access to loan equipment for evaluation purposes
- Free camera maintenance services
- No out-of-pocket shipping expenses
- Discounts on out-of-warranty repairs
Membership Eligibility requirements:
- Owner of two (2) Sony Alpha Full Frame Interchangeable Lens Cameras and three (3) Sony ZEISS™ and/or G-Series Lenses
- Apply through host URL (sony.com/PROServices) + receive official invitation from Sony
- $100 annual membership fee
- Active professional photographer (self-employed or member of professional imaging business)
For more information on Sony’s PRO Support Service program or to formally apply, please visit (www.sony.com/PROServices).
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Contact:
Matt Parnell
Sony Electronics Inc.
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This is great news, the timing probably relates to Photoplus which starts tonight/tomorrow.
While I already have the Sony Extended Accident/Service warranty on my three ZA’s, I still wouldn’t qualify based on the total number of six lenses required. Then again its possible I’ll add to my kit but Sony would really have to show me something more enticing than what is currently available.
Where does it say 6 lenses are required? I read a minimum of three G/Zeiss.
Thanks Christopher! I completely overlooked the “/or” in the text. This is why I will only do two shows per night.
Glad to hear it, good luck!
It’s a two FF body and 3 ZA/G Series lens requirement. It’s not 3 lenses per body. You’d be eligible if you did this actively.
Definitely a step in the right direction. Now is when Canon and Nikon should start to worry.
When Sony is planning on imitating – on a very limited scale – something they’ve had full-on and at every major event for decades? Seriously? That’s when Nikon and Canon should start to worry? Because Nikon and Canon pro shooters will leave for Sony because Sony now offers some limited pro support? Get real!
Not sure what you’re referring to, but AFAIK, Sony doesn’t have a Pro support program. And you’re damn right professionals would leave Canon and Nikon, even without Pro support! I’m one of them, and know plenty of others. I don’t need to see a chiropractor after hauling my gear to a remote location anymore. The A7R and A7S are amazing!
So I have to buy 2 A99 and or A7x (I already have Zeiss and G lenses) to be considered a “pro” according to Sony ? 🙁 My A850, A77II (and A57) are so sad now…
Isn’t the 850 a full frame camera?
On the European PRO program (in Germany), it was A99 or A7 series only.
According to the posted criteria, your A850 qualifies, but your A77 does not.
A57 would never qualify, it is a lower-end consumer body.
Hmm… I don’t understand why the A77 (at least the v2) isn’t in the list, that body is awesome.
Also, does old Minolta G lenses count as G lenses? (I doubt that).
I have 3 Sony cameras 2 crop 1 ff, no zeiss glass, Yet I make my living with the gear I have.. I bought the E mount system just for the purpose of using legacy glass.. Canon’s program was a bit less restrictive.. Oh well !!
From memory you need at least one pro (1D series) Canon body, a second body and 5 L series lenses, but that is from memory.
Not a bad start.
YESS!
I can see why some will be a little disappointed about the criteria for joining, but I never expected this to be an easy thing to implement; I’m just very glad it is starting!
Professionals have been screaming for this for a long time and, if it turns out to be efficient and reliable, it could be the beginning of something really important marking the true start point of Sony becoming the number one for cameras.
Actually, the criteria makes a lot of sense.
Consider the bodies that qualify. The A850, A900, A99, A7, A7r and A7s. That leaves out only the 7-series APS-C bodies (A700, A77, A77mII, NEX-7).
Any vaguely pro shooter is going to be shooting G or ZA lenses as well. for FE lenses only one does not qualify (28-70 kit). In A mount all the f2.8 zooms and almost every prime worth buying is G or ZA (exception is the 85/2.8 and the Macro’s) as is the 70-300G and 70-400G’s.
Really, for a serious shooter the only missing stuff is the A77’s and the 16-50 SSM. And most working A or E mount shooters will be upscale from those.
I’m not sure I agree with your assessment.
While many pros will have and use the kit you suggest, not all will. Indeed, I could do the bulk of the work, without too much difficulty, with an RX10 (and I suspect that applies to most of us!). It does seem a little harsh to exclude those who follow that line of minimal outlay when Sony are asking $100 a year subscription.
In any event, I’ll have to watch how it goes from the sidelines until they roll the service out in Europe. If I read decent reports, I’ll be first in the queue the second it happens here!
Not all will, of course. But a significant majority will, especially for the sort of shooter who needs the support of CPS or NPS.
I can’t even do the non-pro work I do with an RX10. It’s a good little P&S, but you aren’t going to shoot with it in anything except good light, or anything requiring wide angles or shallow DoF. The IQ falls apart in low light, the lens, while fast, is too limiting. I shoot work that is similar to working pro’s (events, some portraiture, landscape & macro) and aside from the portraiture, none of it could be done by an RX10. Of course I can shoot almost all my work with an 18mm, fast 35mm and a fast 85 or 105.
Sony’s very minor cost to the Pro support program is predicated on you spending a fair bit on your gear. If all you have is an RX10, Sony has no reason to support you since you have no investment in their system. Pro programs are there to support investment in the system by people who need fast support to do their jobs.
I never questioned that Sony want to support those who invest in there system. I did, however, suggest that the criteria is a little arbitrary and I could see why some would find it frustrating. Also that it is likely a beginning, rather than a finalised program.
As to your point about the RX10, I have to disagree entirely. Indeed, if I could travel back in time with one a mere 10 years it would be just about the best camera on the market! I don’t think expectations of the finished product have changed that much to render it almost useless for our work.
I love comments such as yours.
What does a ‘vaguely pro shooter’ shoot that necessitates G or ZA lenses? If sports, Sony’s AF isn’t good enough, battery life is too short, and on their newer ‘SLR’ cameras, EVF update rate are too slow. There are other problems, but those are probably the biggies.
The flash system isn’t great.
For still life, there are some decent lenses available, but a lot of still life shooters (me included) use bellows. Scratch Sony lenses. You’d be surprised that many pros use kit lenses. Here in Japan, the main pro is the school photographer that uses a mix of crop and FF cameras and usually slow super zooms, or fast medium zooms, that capture everything in one go. Throw in a fish eye or wide rectilinear lens, and they are good to go.
They shoot day in day out, 7 days a week, most of the year. And Sony is a Japanese company: they should know more about the majority working pros in their country.
As the commenter below me pointed out, an RX10 could do most of what is necessary for him. Pros come in manifold shapes, sizes, and needs. And this programme does NOT cover them.
This programme covers a small number of pros, and IS too restrictive for its own good.
Go, take a look at Sony’s lens line again.
Non-G or ZA lenses compromise a selection of cheap consumer plastic zooms (the 18-55 and 55-200’s, the old 75-300) and Tamron rebadges (11-18, 28-75, 18-250, etc) as well as a few inexpensive primes (the awful 28/2.8, the very good 85/2.8, the DT 35/1.8 and DT 50/1.8), and a very few very good lenses worth looking at for a working shooter (16-50 SSM, 50 & 100 macro’s, maybe the non-ZA 50/1.4).
Pretty much every mid-range or better lens Sony makes today is either a G or a ZA. All of the go-to primes are except the macro’s. All of the go-to zooms are, or are non-existent (Sony long ago discontinued mid-range zooms like the 24-105 or the 17-35/2.8-4) and this has been the case for more than 4 years.
The average working pro is using a basic set of f2.8 zooms and an A900 or A99 (or two). Some might be using A77’s, especially the long-lens guys (and yes , they get screwed).
I know quite a number of working pro’s. They pretty much all start with the 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/2.8 (or equivalents) regardless of what system they are shooting.
BTW, for the Japanese pro you describe, they’d be using most likely a 24-70/2.8 or a 70-300G SSM (both qualify), the 24/2 (qualifies) and the 16 fisheye (doesn’t qualify). That’s your slow long zoom, fast medium zoom, fisheye and wide rectilinear lens, and 3 of the four qualify for the Sony Pro program.
Everyone knows a lot of working pros. Dear god, don’t we all. I, for instance, am one.
A lens doesn’t have to be awesome to work for pros. It doesn’t even have to be mid range. You’d be surprised by the number of maligned lenses used here (in Japan) professionally. Again, here in Japan (where Sony are based), most pro wedding and school and other do-all studios (which comprise most of the pro studio community) use a lot of cheap lenses, opting for faster zooms generally for indoor sports.
Most are using anything that gets the job done. And, if they own a Sony (most are not using FF Sony cameras). Sony are doing a poor job of reflecting the working pro market.
Naturally, a lot of pros use 2,8 zooms. But there is a HUGE breakdown about WHEN pros use them, and for what. This is a pay-in system, and Sony should work toward the customer, not against him or her. Unfortunately, that also is the way things are done here in Japan. In general, after service, and consumer protection are zilch.
You do realize the pay-in system is simply a filter, $100/year is cheap insurance for a pro, but a real outlay for an amateur, many of whom qualify otherwise.
BTW, so what cheap FF medium zoom are you suggesting Pro’s might use? Sony offers 2 today – The 28-75/2.8 SAM, which only an idiot buys (if only because it’s a Tamron rebadge and the Tamron is half the price) and the ZA 24-70/2.8 which qualifies. For a Telezoom, aside from the elderly and fragile 75-300, they’re all G if they’re FF. Wide zoom? Well again, there’s one, the 16-35 which qualifies. Sure there’s a selection of FF primes which don’t qualify, but I’d expect few of those to be used by Pro’s (only the macro’s and 50/1.4 really)
This isn’t Canon or Nikon, where there’s a wealth of mid-range & low-end 1st party glass available new, and anything old enough to be guaranteed out of warranty wouldn’t be fixed by Sony anyways (which covers the 24-105, the only real slow FF medium zoom ever offered by Sony).
You aren’t following what amass is saying. Half of Sony’s lineup is G and Zeiss lenses. And, sure enough, pros will use cheap lenses, but do you really expect Sony to provide you with dedicated phone and email support, expedited repair turnaround time, no out-of-pocket shipping expenses, product evaluation and repair loans for your 300 dollar 85mm 2.8 lens? I am not saying it is nice, but Sony is a company trying to make money.
Go join CPS instead 😛
It will be a miracle if Sony can pull this off. You actually have to care or at least pretend that you give a damn when dealing with a customer’s concern. You wouldn’t believe the hassle I experienced just to get them to send me the correct lens hood for my last purchased lens. After 5-weeks and more phone calls than I can remember, I finally got a hold of someone who cared enough to do what was needed to resolve the issue.
Sony is launching pro support, while at the same time killing off its professional product line?
This doesn’t make any sense.
No, it doesn’t. I wonder why. Maybe because it isn’t killing anything?
Correct. Sony can’t kill what they never had.
You may not consider A system professional, but E system is leaps and bounds further away from that. So what’s the “pro support” for?
Last postings(Kenta and Sigma interview) tell that E-mount pro is coming in 2015. I guess A9,A9r and A9s? A-mount sounds like it will be put in the back burner.
Or….or….we get a MILC A mount- no mirror with a truly world class AF. They may also choose to slim it down and make it more like a slightly larger A7. I’m starting to think the A99II will be a vast departure from the A99. Why not? Pro’s don’t want the mirror on their on sensor tech is good enough to implement on the A99II NOW. Maybe this is the reason for the silence.
I am afriad all the signs are pointing to the E-mount pro A9. That will be the A99II successor. Sony probability has the A9 AF speed up to the a6000 speed. The new 35mm f/1.4 for E mount shows they are going that direction.
I’m afraid you might be right. No worries, I’m about to pick up an A7. I already bought a cheap adaptor. I tried the D750 this weekend and thought long and hard about another DSLR- no go. I’m done with bricks. I think I need to stop talking smack and give the A7 a try:)
What makes you think they’re killing the pro product line?
The only A mount stuff left is pro & semi-pro bodies and Sony’s still pushing G and ZA lenses in A mount.
Of course it doesn’t make sense it’s not TRUE. Until they’ve confirmed they’re killing off anything you’re just wasting your time speculating.
Canon will announce the new 35mm f/1.4 II lens
http://www.dailycameranews.com/2014/10/canon-ef-35mm-f1-4l-ii-lens-patent/
Meanwhile, Sony releases the new 35mm f/1.4… for FE! Completely disregarding A-Mount. What more confirmation do you need?
In case you don’t know what “confirmation” means, what you just cited was again “speculation”.
Every Sony shooter is pro and should be enrolled in the program for free gratis!!!!!!!
Say SunnyBunny that’s funny!
the FF and lens requirement is amazingly stupid!
Why?
Pretty much the same requirements from Canon and Nikon (Canon only counts L lenses and all qualifying bodies are FF except the 7D, Nikon only counts FX lenses and all qualifying bodies are FX except the D300s)
Sony’s non-consumer stuff is pretty much all FF except the A77’s, the 16-50 SSM and the two ZA E lenses (24/1.8 and 16-70)
they are charging $100 per year for the service so what should it matter what Sony gear i use? if it was free i could see them making these requirements but i have 2 A900s and the 24-70ZA and 70-200G and then a few sigma lenses but because I’m missing one ZA or G lens i cant sign up for the service?
Because $100 is chump change, it’s basically there just to weed out the consumers who don’t need the support (and I know quite a few Sony shooters who qualify, aren’t working pro’s and don’t need the support). And yes, you are missing one lens to qualify (Sony doesn’t care about how many Sigma’s you own).
Add a single ZA or G prime or zoom and you’re good. And note you wouldn’t qualify for NPS or CPS either, with equivalent systems.
So if I own the A7, A7s, 24-70, 55, and 70-200mm, I can “evaluate” the 35 and 28-75 kit lens?
yayyyyyy…….
Or you can evaluate the 16-35 and the new high-end primes when they arrive in March
Or the $2500 28-135mm, 16-35mm, new bodies when they come out, new lenses out next year, existing Alpha range and Alpha bodies. Maybe you were expecting something else?
I’d be curious to know what the discount on out of warranty repairs will be?
When I sent my 24-70mm F2.8 ZA to Sony for an estimate they quoted me $2200.00! I asked them to ship it back to me since I could buy a brand new one for $2000.00!!!
I then shipped it to the repairs department at KEH and they fixed it for $300.
Ridiculous right?
This is good news either way. The criteria for joining may be a bit steep for semi pro’s trying to break out into full pro , but still this initiative is much needed from Sony. GOOD JOB!!!!
Let’s see…
If Sony started with not so steep criteria, tons of people will be getting the service. This could potentially decrease quality of service in order to meet the demand resulting to customers complaining.
On the other hand, starting with steep criteria could potentially attract less customers. Thus giving Sony enough time to provide high quality service and can potentially evaluate how to make this a better service.
Have you seen the criteria for Canon Pro support?
For Nikon Professional Services, which I am a member of, the requirements are below. It seems that the requirements are similar to what Sony is requiring but has the addition of needing an existing NPS member to sponsor your initial application. They also ask for tear sheets and you have to requalify every two years but when you do qualify there is currently no charge:
To qualify:
NPS Sponsor (current member to verify that you are a full-time photographer)
Professional Work Information
Ownership of a minimum of 2 Nikon Professional Digital Bodies and 3 NIKKOR or DX NIKKOR lenses
Awesome, can’t wait for this to come.to Australia.
Being on SAR for several years, I can say that expectations have gotten completely out of hand.
+1,000,000
Sony hasn’t released any “pro” A-mount cameras but then they offer a “pro Service”. Makes perfect sense (For Sony)
Recent SARS posts point towards pro E-mount in 2015. A9, perfect timing.
TIme to sign up 😉
Wouldn’t that be a good opportunity for Sony to figure out the future of A-Mount? If the registered pros are planing to use it long term, they will have to keep it (new lenses, support). But it could also offers Sony a nice way to convince/lure pros into using E-Mount…
Until f/2.8 zooms and f/1.4 primes and long telephoto lenses and FF A6000-type cameras are released, there’s no use shifting pros to E-Mount
Pro E-mount body and E-mount F2.8 zoom G lenses will come next year.
Care to share your source?
The Sigma interview said pro E-mount is coming and also Kenta Honjo stated that pro emount is coming too. Aim at pro/sports photographers.
There’s nothing about f/2.8 zoom lenses.
That would be a turning point, where E-Mount would actually become something serious…
To little to late Sony and unlike CPS or NPS you have to pay for the service…with the amount of problems Sony cameras are having of late there going to be very very busy busy.
i paid $500 a year for CPS
you are uninformed. CPS or NPS is not free, requires a similar level of gear ownership, and believe it or not, canon and nikon cameras fail too! http://www.frankwithersphoto.com
actually silver membership into CPS is free (5-7 day repair timeframes). Gold membership is 100/year and also includes nice things like 24/7 support and 20% discount on repairs. platinum and enterprise are quicker turnarounds, more bling and deeper repair discounts. remains to be seen if sony offers the same level of loaners, etc that canon and Nikon USA does. gold membership is easily met by the 2.8 zooms not even including camera bodies.
Quick, everyone send him your Hvl-f60!
Again, Sony is obsessed with Full Frame which I object to.
I shoot video with Sony e-Mount Cameras, also have a NEX-7, and Plan on buying an FS7.
I have eleven Sony lenses and plan on buying the new G cine zoom…
I use this gear for music videos and television shows and earn my living with it professionally,
but would not qualify simply because it is not full frame format, that is insanely stupid Sony!
(I do not want full frame format for shooting video thank you very much!)