At last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Sony joined the stalwarts of Canon and Nikon as a service provider at the Main Press Center for the first time. With the Winter Olympics kicking off this weekend in Beijing, Sony is back with a fully-stocked service center for the roughly 700 accredited photographers in China to capture the games.
Sony has made continued inroads with photojournalism and sports photography in recent years. On the gear side, the Sony A9, A9 II and A1 are fantastic cameras for action photography, including full-resolution shooting with AF at up to 30 frames per second. Sports photographers need glass, too, which Sony has addressed with its FE 400mm F2.8 GM and FE 600mm F4 GM super-telephoto primes, plus zoom lenses like the 100-400mm GM and 200-600mm.
Professionals need more than just equipment, though. They also require service. At the games in Beijing, Sony Pro Service staff is on-site to offer camera cleaning and repair services, plus they are prepared to loan out a huge array of pro-level equipment, including more than 250 cameras and 600 lenses. Cameras include the expected offerings, like the a9 II and a1. Lens offerings include the expected telephoto lenses, plus wide-angle lenses and standard zooms.
Numerous news agencies rely exclusively on Sony for its photographers and videographers, including the Associated Press and Gannett (USA Today Network). The two major press organizations partnered with Sony in July 2020 and November 2021, respectively. Sony services has 41 local staff working under the strict on-site COVID guidelines.
It’s one thing to talk about Sony’s pro services in Beijing, but it’s another thing to see them. Professional sports photographer Nick Didlick has published a pair of blog posts about his experience leading up to photographing the 2022 Winter Olympics. It will be his 15th Olympic Games. His first was in Sarajevo in 1984. Didlick’s transition to digital began in 1996 at the Atlanta games, and he switched to Sony mirrorless cameras in 2017 when Sony released the original a9.
Last week, Didlick wrote about the gear he’s taking to Beijing. It’s an extensive list. Didlick packed five Sony a1 cameras, two of which will be used as remote cameras, two Sony a9 ii bodies, and a lot of glass. Lenses include the Sony 12-24mm F2.8, 14mm F1.8, 24mm F1.4, 35mm F1.4, 24-70mm F2.8, 50mm F1.2, 135mm F1.8, 70-200mm F2.8 GM II, 100-400mm F4-5.5.6, 400mm F2.8, 600mm F4 and 50mm tilt-shift lenses. He also has 1.4x and 2x teleconverters.
| Nick Didlick is taking a lot of gear to Beijing, including a hat from his very first Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984. |
The Olympics are always an exciting time for sports photography, and we can’t wait to see the amazing images that photographers like Didlick and many more capture in China. To view more of Didlick’s behind-the-scenes images showing Sony’s pro service support operations, click here.
All images courtesy of Nick Didlick, used with permission
