Sony Alpha at Focus on Imaging 2009

SONY has a stand at Focus on Imaging in the UK after an absence of three years for the Alpha brand from this major annual photo fair, said to the be largest national show in Europe with the exception of photokina. On Stand L28 – right next to the Canon exhibit – the UK’s technical sales executive Paul Genge has lined up a nonstop programme of speakers and demonstrations.

It will be a hectic four days for Paul himself, as most of the presentations are in ‘conversation’ format with Paul sharing the stage. Photoclub Alpha Scottish regional organiser Duncan McEwan whose cover image from Photoworld No 1 2009 is shown below is one of the guests, and so is Dutch kingfisher specialist Gustav Kiburg whose work featured in the same edition.

Gustav will be projecting examples of his work, but is also bringing along a series of 12 x 16 prints (mounted on 20 x 16) to show how well his Alpha 700 captures print up.

There will be a prize competition on the stand to win a Sony Alpha 900 with CZ 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, or one of five Alpha 350 cameras.
To avoid the queues which form at the entry to Focus from its opening at 10.00am on Sunday February 22nd almost up to the 6.00pm close on Wednesday 25th it is worth registering on-line for your ticket:
http://www.focus-on-imaging.co.uk/registration.htm
The show is held in Halls 9 and 10 of the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
Photoclub Alpha does not have any stand presence at the show or any involvement with the Sony stand; David Kilpatrick can be contacted at the Master Photographers Association stand Q24 on Monday and Tuesday, but has a full diary of appointments for the show.
The Sony stand programme is:

Further details can be read on the Sony UK website. In past years, the Minolta (UK) Ltd stand was a consistent winner of the best large stand in show award and occupied a prominent position:

This was the last Konica Minolta stand, 2005, again an award-winner for its design and use of space.

Paul Genge (above) organised a similar format of conversations and demos or talks on this stand. Minolta enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that Bernard Petticrew, once the guardian of decades-worth of Minolta literature and technical information, has been engaged by Sony to be present on the stand. Between them Paul and Bernard probably know more about the current and legacy systems than anyone.
Here’s Bernard with the UK flag badge in action at photokina 2004 – the launch of the Dynax 7D. The shot was taken with a D7D and a 17-35mm f/2.8 D lens, but sadly like all the samples shot at photokina, the camera was back-focusing…

We’ll have photos from the Sony exhibit in a report here after the show (probably not during it, despite the rush to put stuff on line at such times).
Here is the location for the Sony stand L28:

Canon is stand L26, Photomart is L27. Photomart is a major Sony distributor (not a retailer, but a wholesaler with direct sales to studios) specialising in event photography with Sony Alpha cameras and Sony dye-sublimation printer systems. To download a full size plan of Focus with all the stand numbers and location of stands, just click the cropped image above.
Insider comment: the wall shown below stands L32-L35 has not been there for previous shows. It looks as if Mary Walker, the show organiser, anticipated some loss of space bookings and cut a corner off the hall. Either that, or she’s got even more bookings and has added an extra bit.