The Associated Press says it will soon equip all of its photographers and video journalists with equipment manufactured by Sony thanks to an exclusive product partnership between the news organization and the electronics company.
On Thursday, the not-for-profit news agency said Sony was chosen to become “the exclusive imaging products and support provider for AP news photographers and video journalists around the world.”
“We are extremely honored to announce this collaboration with the Associated Press, an organization with an incredible history in journalism that continues to raise the bar for global news reporting and delivery,” Neal Manowitz, an executive with Sony’s imaging and products department, said in a statement.
Derl McCrudden, the deputy managing editor for the AP’s visual and digital journalism, said Sony’s track record of photography and video innovation complemented the news organization’s commitment to providing visual representations of news stories.
The AP’s main product is a news wire that provides written news reporting along with supplemental photo and video news elements. The company says it transmits around 3,000 photos and 200 videos to clients each day.
AP photojournalists and video producers will start to receive several Sony products within the coming days, including full-frame mirror-less cameras and 4K-capable video cameras.
The AP says it will work with Sony to streamline its workflow and experiment with new ways of delivering visual content, including through the use of emerging 5G technologies. Once the transition is complete, the AP says all of its photojournalists and video photographers will use the same equipment — including camera bodies and lenses — which should result in better collaboration across the company.
“This is a game-changer for the AP and will give us way more flexibility into the future,” McCrudden said.
