Collaborator's Article: My First Sony Camera And My First Experience With Sony Customer Service

It's annoying, sad and troublesome when your camera suffers an accident and it can't take any more pictures and you have to send it for repair.

Usually one is scared, since one needs a place to send the camera to without having to worry what kind of experiments they will run on it. You need a reliable and trustworthy place to perform any repairs (or maintenance)

Sony has a facility at Laredo, Texas in the United States that provides repair or maintenance service to Alpha DSLRs.

Our new collaborator, Elspeth Duncan, had to send her A300 there in order to get it repaired, I asked her to write an article about her experience with Sony's service so you have input on the kind of service they provide if you ever need to send in your Alpha for repairs.

My First Sony Camera And My First Experience With Sony Customer Service by Elspeth Duncan.

On February 14th 2009 my padded camera bag containing my SONY A300 DSLR dropped to the floor from a low height of approximately ten inches. As the bag is padded and the fall was minimal, I thought nothing of it.

About an hour later I took my camera out of its bag to get a shot. Upon looking at my LCD screen afterwards, I was shocked to see the screen looking like it had taken a shot of curtains being drawn on a stage. My mind went back to the low fall in the padded bag. Could it be possible that something so simple had caused what appeared to be a serious problem? I had ordered my camera from B&H Photovideo eight months before and had it shipped to Trinidad & Tobago where I live. It had never given trouble, I was consistently pleased with its performance and was sure to always handle it with great care.

I consulted a camera buff friend of mine and sent him a shot of the LCD screen. “Looks like your screen got cracked inside and there is leakage,” he said. I couldn’t believe this misfortune. I googled SONY A300 LCD to see if there was anyone who had experienced something similar. I found no such thing. However, in my search, I came across the Alpha Sight website (http://alphasight.blogspot.com/). I contacted the owner, Diego, using the address in the side bar, explained my issue and asked for advice. He responded quickly and, having done research on the issue after receiving my email, was able to offer comprehensive advice. I had sent him the photo of the LCD screen and he confirmed what my friend had told me: the LCD screen was internally cracked.

Picture of the cracked LCD screen.

There is no SONY service centre in Trinidad, so replacing the LCD screen here was not an option. I had no choice but to make an overseas call for SONY support (http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/contact-relation.pl?mdl=DSLRA300) in the USA. It was my first experience of dealing with them. I was put through to a rep called Adrian, who dealt with me in a polite and professional manner, knowledgeably answering all of my questions and advising me on what I had to do. Further discussions with SONY (this time with a rep called André), when I called to give them some information a while later, proved to be just as professional, thorough and friendly. I was told that I would have to send my camera to the SONY Repair Centre in Laredo, Texas. I was concerned about having to send my camera all the way there, but decided to trust that all would be well.

When I received an email from SONY that night asking me to fill out a customer service evaluation form, based on my thorough conversations with Adrian and André, I did not hesitate to give them high or highest ratings in all categories.

My only frustration in this experience of sending my camera for repairs came with the actual shipment of the camera from Trinidad & Tobago to the United States via DHL. I was told by DHL that it would take two days for my shipment to reach its destination, but this was not the case. For reasons as yet unknown to me, my camera was held for extended periods of time by US customs in both Miami and Ohio. According to one of the reps at the courier company, US customs can sometimes hold a shipment for as long as three weeks to a few months and are not guaranteed to give any explanation. A little over two weeks after sending my camera off, someone at the Laredo Service Centre finally signed for it.

As per SONY’s explanation on the website, it was my understanding that my camera would have been examined and a quote sent to me for approval before they went ahead with any repairs. In the event that the customer cannot pay, no repairs are done and the camera is shipped back “as is”. My unit was still under warranty but, as it had dropped, I did not know if the warranty would be honoured. I awaited their quote.

The day after SONY signed for my camera (3rd March), I got an email from them (4th March) acknowledging its receipt. Then, on the 5th of March, I got an email from them informing me that my camera had been shipped back to me.

I was shocked. So quickly? They had barely even received it! And no quote? There was no further explanation with their brief email, so I had no idea what repairs, if any, had been done. I sent them an e-mail asking for details and promptly received the following response:

We are pleased to inform you that the repair of this Digital SLR Camera was restored to factory specifications. According to the technician’s report the LCD screen was replaced as well as a part that is described as a CV LCD Lower Cov. You should not have any more problems with this unit in the future.

The package was returned via UPS 3rd Day Service, and shipped to the following address: (Sky box address)

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Regards, SONY.

After the frustration of waiting more than two weeks for my camera to arrive at its destination, I was relieved and impressed by SONY’s swift action and grateful that my warranty had been honoured. Shipping via UPS was without delay and spot on time. Within a few days my camera was back home, safe and sound, working like brand new at no cost to me other than shipment via courier to the States and a minimal fee for UPS handling within Trinidad. Some days later I was sent another SONY customer evaluation form via e-mail and, once again, gave all categories high or highest markings. I have the feeling they seriously take into consideration the customer feedback and do what is necessary to maintain high levels of service.

Diego asked me if I would write about this for his site and I said yes. This is my first time having any of my equipment repaired, so I have no other such experience with which to compare it. Also, my SONY A300 DSLR is my first SONY product. My camera buff friend (mentioned above) had highly recommended it to me and I was convinced enough to make the purchase. My other cameras (video and photo) have been/are Canon (digital), Pentax (non digital) and Panasonic (video). I don’t know about other people’s experiences with SONY. All that I have said here is based on my personal first time SONY experience (product and service). I am pleased with both my A300 camera and with the level of customer response and assistance received. Prior to this experience I had no real impressions of SONY (having never owned any of their products or had to deal with them as a customer). The brand has since risen in my estimation as one in which I would place confidence.

Elspeth Duncan
Multimedia Artist/Film maker
Blog: http://nowiswowtoo.blogspot.com/


As you can see, Sony is indeed putting hard work into having a reliable customer service for Alpha DSLR owners. The Laredo, TX facility should be the first place to consider if your camera needs a repair or maintenance.

I hope this article is useful to you.

Thanks to Elspeth for taking the time to write this, and welcome to Alpha Sight Collaborators! :)

An Insight On Dynamic Range Optimization By Apical

Everyone one of us who owns an Alpha DSLR, no matter what model, knows (to a bigger or lesser amount) what the Dynamic Range Optimization or DRO Function is.

What some of you may not know is that the technology behind DRO isn't developed by Sony, but licenced from a company called Apical. Apical is a company that develops software used in cameras from major brands, including Sony, that aims to deliver photographs closer to the way we see them with our eyes.

Digital Photography Review has recently posted an article of an interview they did with Apical's managing director Michael Tusch, on which he explains what their software does and what was the reason they created it, along with visual examples of how DRO works better most of the time than using tonal curve adjustment in post-processing.

It's a very interesting read if you're curious about how DRO works, the principles behind it and when is advised to use it and when not to use it.

Feature: Apical dynamic range interview by Richard Butler

Finally Released: Gary L. Friedman's Complete Guide To Sony's A900 Digital SLR Camera And The Alpha Mount System

Hello Alphanautics:

For those of you who are lucky enough to own a A900, you'd be interested to know that Gary Friedman has finally published it's book dedicated for the A900.

The book has a 85% of new content or refreshed information and has been organized differently from his previous books for the rest of the Alpha family. It's 525 pages long.

Mr. Friedman's books present photography and your camera in an easy-to-understand fashion, whether you're a rookie or a seasoned photographer, his books contain something worth knowing.

Interesting concepts covered in this book include:

• Dynamic Range Optimization function
• The new Sony Wireless Flash protocol (the protocol changed with the introduction of the HVL-F58AM and 42AM flashes, which replaced the F56 and 36AM flashes)
• Features exclusive to the A900 (Im guessing one of them is the fact that you can have Mirror Lock Up function and use of the Bulb speed at the same time)
• How to get great high quality ISO images out of the camera (which I think this is something a lot of people are interested in)

The book is presented in two formats: E-book or printed book (in B&W or color). The E-book costs $29.95 USD. No price yet revealed for the printed version though, all I know is that they will be presented in two volumes due to the book's length.

I own Mr. Friedman's book for the A700, which helped me a HUGE deal to understand my camera (right now I'm giving it a second read) and I can say that every cent paid for his books is worth it. You'll get the info you need to understand your camera and to take off and create a vision of your own with your Alpha.

His books make more sense than the official manual does, so you won't regret buying this book.

So if you own a A900, this book MUST be part of your library.

Click here to go to the Friedman Archives site for the A900's book

21 Things To Keep In Mind As A Photographer

This article is focused on the activity of taking pictures known as photography rather than discussing the tools to take a picture.

1) If you want to improve your photography, study your subject well, write down the skills or things you need to master and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE and then PRACTICE some more one skill at a time until you have it mastered, then move on to the next skill you feel you need to master.

2) If you want to become a photographer and not a snap shooter, don't spend hours in front of your computer reading camera specs or photography forums. The information contained in them can be interesting and sometimes helpful, BUT if you spend more hours reading rather than shooting, you won't get far as polishing your skills and practicing goes. Read them only when you need to know information contained in them.

3) Owning a camera doesn't make you a photographer, your results are what matters. Anyone can buy a camera these days and call itself a photographer, but there are photographers and PHOTOGRAPHERS.

4) If you think that owning X or F camera brand will make you a great photographer or that if you owned top of the line lenses, your pictures would look better; you are SO WRONG. A great photography is a great photography regardless if it was taken with a cellphone camera or a $1,000,000 camera. Cameras and lenses are just tools, it's what you do with them that counts.

5) Owning the most expensive equipment or the brand that most of your pals use won't make you a better photographer. Only PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE will.

6) There's no such thing as a perfect lens or camera, every lens and camera will have some flaw in it. Stop going over pages and pages of lens reviews that point out the flaws of it at a view of 1000x. Only pixel peepers look at photographs one pixel at a time, the rest of people look at the big picture a.k.a the photograph you took.

7) Regardless of what you think, even the most expensive lenses have flaws in them. Optical and light physics enter into the equation and therefore there will be always something in a lens that's not optimal. Usually lens or sensor tests bring out the flaws in them on tests that look at the results at a microscopic view. Lenses these days are pretty much good enough in all the price ranges to make good photographs. A $250 lens can make great pictures as well as a $1800 lens can. IT'S WHAT YOU DO WITH IT THAT COUNTS, NOT HOW MUCH SPECIAL GLASS OR COATINGS YOUR LENS HAS.

Regular people will not tell you: "This picture could have been so much better if you only used a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 lens"

If you're a pixel peeper, this point won't apply since you will be looking for the slightest thing wrong in every pixel of an image, therefore you WILL need to get lenses that have no color aberration or flare or any flaw at 10mm or less or at 1200mm or more; or cameras with a sensor that doesn't show any noise from ISO 50 to ISO 3,000,000. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

8) No matter what you think or have been told about noise; IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO HAVE A NOISY PICTURE THAN NO PICTURE AT ALL.

9) When buying a camera, select the one you feel the most comfortable with, it will be a tool of regular use, and if you're not comfortable with it, you just won't get along with it. Do not buy a specific brand just to please your friends/mentor/boss/wife/husband/teacher/etc. or be part of the group that uses R camera brand.

10) Buy books or look for information on the Internet about photography, read them and take down notes, write down the points you feel you could improve on and do point 1.

11) When working to master skills, work on one at a time and then move on to the next one. If you do 3 or more at a time, you won't put your full attention on them and may overwhelm yourself and just drop it.

12) Always have the last word on how your picture looks, be open to suggestions if they will help you improve, but always stick to your vision and NEVER waiver on it just to please a bitter photographer who is supposed to be a savant on the subject but just criticizes your photo to make you feel wrong about it.

13) In photography there are 3 main axioms to keep in mind at ALL times:

a) In photography; LIGHT is EVERYTHING

b) In photography; COMPOSITION is what will make a GOOD photograph.

c) Knowing the subject of photography will guarantee you CONTROL over how your pictures come out.

14) If you think you don't need to know what aperture, f/stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. mean, you're not a photographer, you're a dilettante.

Dilettante: Someone who takes something serious as a game or a hobby.

15) Share your knowledge and expertise with other people. Knowledge is for everyone, not just for a small circle.

16) There's no such thing as positive criticism. There are critics, which are meant to degrade or to discourage you and there are suggestions, which are options you can look into to improve your skills or have in mind for next time or to experiment, but its completely up to you what you do with them, unlike criticism; that one you're supposed to take it and suck it up.

17) There will be people who will genuinely try to help you without interfering with your work and there will be people who will openly or covertly try to stop you, discourage you or make you end up taking pictures like them. From the first group learn everything you can, from the second group learn what NOT to do to other photographers.

18) Having a long time practicing photography doesn't mean one is great. Results are the way to measure how good or bad someone is. Having 40 years of doing the same thing is only useful to show off at parties, but practically it doesn't mean squat if your pictures aren't great.

19) Don't get stuck on the same subject or style or kind of photography, etc. Always be open to try new things, experiment and always try to do something new.

20) Develop your OWN style, not a style that it's been overdone to death by a thousand people before you. Being original is a lot more fun than being the copy of the copy of the copy of the copy of the copy of the copy...

By this I don't mean that you don't try a subject already done, what I mean is that you don't shoot like someone else has or does, show the world how YOU see the subject you're working on.

21) Don't do something to another photographer that you wouldn't like that someone else did to you.