Sony: When timing is everything...

[UPDATE: See the wrapup to this discussion in this later post.]

Use a Nikon?

Or at least that appears to be the message.

I opened my copy of Outside Magazine's companion piece of fluff, Go, this morning and was greeted by an ad for Sony's A700 DSLR with the tagline "In Photography, Timing is Everything." The accompanying photograph was spectacular and showed a leopard about to dispatch a baboon. Dust is flying and, clearly, timing has a lot to do with the impact of this photo.

It was also very familiar.

In fact, it's a 1965 photograph taken by John Dominis for the late, lamented Life Magazine. You can see a version of the originally published photo at Getty Images. In the Sony ad photo, there are some slight differences in the position of the dust and the baboon's mouth but they're clearly part of the same sequence. Perhaps a quarter of a second separated them as Dominis' motor drive clicked away.

Sony ad for DSLR-A700.

(Credit: Sony)

I certainly have no reason to believe that the photo isn't properly licensed and all that. And it is a great photo. (Which is why I recognized it.)

But companies have to be sensitive to how bad it looks when they don't use their own products. That's why Ford execs drive Fords rather than GMs. And HP folks deliver presentations to us on HP notebooks rather than Dells. In this case it's Sony that looks bad. I imagine Sony and their agency justified it to themselves by the fact that the newness of their single lens reflex line meant that they didn't have much in the way of stock photography on which to draw. Still, bad call.

In business, perception is everything.

(I don't know for an absolute fact that the photograph in question was taken with a Nikon, but it was almost certainly shot using an SLR with telephoto lens and was taken at a time when Nikons were the predominant pro SLR. Dominis also did, in fact, use Nikon gear for at least some of his photographs. In any case, Sony wouldn't have a camera line until many years in the future.)

[gbruce40]

What if it had been taken by a Minolta.

It could also have been a Minolta! Many camera rights were purchased by Sony, from Minolta.

Before you start making these innuendos, you should be sure of your facts.

[ghaff]

Well, Minolta is not Sony

Even if there is some chain of ownership of some intellectual property that traces back to Minolta, that's a lot different than the photo being taken with a "Sony camera." In addition, although I haven't done in-depth research to verify beyond a reasonable doubt that Dominis shot with Nikon on this particular photograph, it's a pretty safe bet given that I did enough research to verify that he shot other African photographs using Nikons. And Minoltas weren't common pro gear in this or any era. In short, it's pretty good odds that the photo was taken with Nikon gear and very slim that it was taken with Minolta gear (which in any case wouldn't really be Sony gear).

[HUM4699]

This ad went completely over you I think. I do not mean it as an insult, as it certainly should have been more clear and effective. But the point wasn't that this was a Sony shot, or even that a Sony cam could take it, but that the Sony would have taken it BETTER. You almost hit it on the head saying that it looks like a later shot from that motor drive series, with more dust, and you are right. They used this one because it is less clear and less good than the origional. They did the same thing with the Brandi Chastain sportsbra photo where they used one earlier or later in the motor drive series where the ref is almost completely blocking everything having walked into the frame at the last second. The whole point of the campaign is to show familiar photos, but showing all the misses that surrounded the known shot. By association, they are suggesting that the Sony cams will catch more "keepers" since the consensus in all the reviews so far is that the A700 is a very fast, responsive, and intuitive camera to use. But yes, they could have been more clear in this point.

[DrWuzer]

You're still missing the point of the ad. It would have been silly of Sony to want people to think this shot was taken with the A700 since it was clearly taken a millisecond too late (resulting dust making one of the subjects nearly invisible). The point of the ad is to say the Sony focuses and captures images fast enough that you won't end up with pictures like this.

Its also interesting that you're not providing us with the complete copy supplied with the photo...for instance - is the original photographer credited? Is there a copywrite date for the photo? etc. I don't find it deceptive at all. In fact, its quite clever.

[rbow14]

and besides...

Regardless of whether it was a minolta or a nikon, it certainly wasn't captured using a digital SLR - so I think that sony definitely misses out on marks for integrity in advertising. Although, techinically, the tag line still applies...

[menotbug]

You missed the point

It is a clever ad regardless of the equipment used. The fact that you are blogging about it proves its effectiveness.

[t500d]

You obviously missed the intent of this picture. The shot shown in the ad is ruined by the sand kicked up in front of the baboon, where as the shot in the archives is perfect. The message? Timing is everything. It shows the difference a fraction of a second can make.
Sheesh.

[cobalto27]

Looks like you don't understand a thing about advertising...
ALL the pictures used in this ad were INTENTIONALLY taken by a different camera. And, if you understand a bit of photography you would agree that the picture is ruined by the sand. That?s why ?Timing is everything?.
Looks like the Sony agency is really brilliant and you just didn?t have the click to understand the point of the ad...
Perhaps a "Sorry I misunderstood the ad" can fix your mistake.

[DrWuzer]

I don't suspect we'll get a retraction from this hack. He's not the type to admit he made a mistake.

[joschmoe1]

Actually, you've missed the intended point of the advert completely. It's not supposed to be a great shot. In fact, you'll note that the famous photo is substantially better as the baboon is hidden in a cloud of dust in the Sony advert, while clearly visible in the famous version.

Sony has a similar "Timing is everything" advert out with the famous Brandi Chastain sports-bra photo, except that instead of the famous photo, it has a referee in the way, spoiling the shot.

The thrust of the advertisements is, "this picture is not as good as it could have been because the timing was screwed up", the idea is to point out that the difference between a famous photograph and one that's junk can be, and often is, nothing more than timing. By showing instances of "failed" timing, Sony is implying that their camera can get it right, unlike the camera that took the flawed photograph in the advertisement.

[joschmoe1]

Actually, you've missed the intended point of the advert completely. It's not supposed to be a great shot. In fact, you'll note that the famous photo is substantially better as the baboon is hidden in a cloud of dust in the Sony advert, while clearly visible in the famous version.

Sony has a similar "Timing is everything" advert out with the famous Brandi Chastain sports-bra photo, except that instead of the famous photo, it has a referee in the way, spoiling the shot.

The thrust of the advertisements is, "this picture is not as good as it could have been because the timing was screwed up", the idea is to point out that the difference between a famous photograph and one that's junk can be, and often is, nothing more than timing. By showing instances of "failed" timing, Sony is implying that their camera can get it right, unlike the camera that took the flawed photograph in the advertisement.

[snapsterfoto]

This ad is target at photographers, not necessarily the general public. Not many people at all wold realize that the photo in it is a millisecond behind the more famous and better timed photo. Now a similar ad with the referee and Brandi Chastain (US Women soccer) is a better photo for the ad, because that photo is more recent and more widely recognized by the general public, thus getting the message of "timing is everything" across better.

[t500d]

I'm mostly stunned by his statement, "The accompanying photograph was spectacular..." That photo is anything but "spectacular", and the fact that he doesn't know it means he should stick to computers. But my guess is he has an issue with Sony in general, and took a shot. Too bad he now looks so foolish.

[kombizz]

Please do not forget that all these companies do their best to sell even if try to get another shot from another company with little manipulation of PS.

http://www.kombizz.photopoints.com