The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Information from Alpa

Thierry

New member
To all,

I would like to inform herewith that I will stop posting or answering questions here on this forum. It is Alpa’s decision to concentrate its efforts less on internet forums and to rather have a direct contact and to answer personally to photographers. It is also meant to not interact with opinions from the industry and from manufacturers and to let the forum be what it should, an exchange and discussion place for photographers.

I kindly invite those having specific questions or requests to contact me either by email at [email protected] or then Alpa directly at [email protected]
You will always be welcome and get an answer rapidly.

Best regards
Thierry
 

rupho

New member
Thierry
You'll be missed for sure not only as a great source of information but also Inspiration
on as well as offline
Grischa
 

darr

Well-known member
I will miss you around here Thierry! I have saved your e-mail address.

Kind regards,
Darr
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Thierry i have to say that is a bad decision by Alpa as you know full well that having the reps on the forums answers a lot of questions for end users but keeps us aware of what is out in the market as far as tools needed to complete our shooting tasks. Sorry as a co-owner of the forum its not the best decisions on Alpa's part and if the good folks at Alpa would like to discuss this with me I am totally open to talking to them directly as this will also not help in the sales end of the business in my opinion. I say this with the greatest respect for you and Alpa but I think a bad call. Good luck and you will be missed here. Guy
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
I totally agree with Guy. This is the world's main and best place for your employer to interact directly and sensibly with clients. information is shared, refined, worked up into both a knowledge base and a map for future developments in a collaborative manner. I personally think that those gear manufacturers and vendors who participate here get a lot of visibility with a market demographic you couldn't buy if you tried to.

My 2 cents...
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I totally agree with Guy. This is the world's main and best place for your employer to interact directly and sensibly with clients. information is shared, refined, worked up into both a knowledge base and a map for future developments in a collaborative manner. I personally think that those gear manufacturers and vendors who participate here get a lot of visibility with a market demographic you couldn't buy if you tried to.

My 2 cents...
Well said. This goes for all the OEM's, Dealers and Sales reps that reside on this site.
 

lance_schad

Workshop Member
Thierry,

Its a shame that you are not going to be able to participate directly in the forums. You have been a great source of information even beyond Sinar and Alpa. Hope you will still be viewing them.

It is also unfortunate because one person questions is usually many others as well......

Best wishes......

Lance
 

kit laughlin

Subscriber Member
+10, Guy. Not to mention Thierry's presence here for me personally has kept the Alpa name front and centre, for me. No, I haven't bought yet, but no one knows what the future holds and how it will unfold.

Thierry, please feel free to pass my remarks on.
 

Anders_HK

Member
+10

Shame they are cutting Thierry from the forums. Though they make good cameras, they appear to have some odd policies...

I am also among those who have not purchased yet but I do plan to buy Alpa later this year (or a competing product???). I view Thierry as a cornerstone because he is honest, have integrity and give excellent advise and information.

To be referred to Alpa themselves is not good since last times I emailed them they routed to their China agent in Beijing who know zip zil and nada technical. That is NOT the way to sell Alpa. One of reasons I have not yet purchased is actually that their China Mainland agent who also distributes Alpa for Hong Kong overprice... They should take care of support and sales from Switzerland instead, or a local agent such as my Leaf agent who gives 500% support also on weekends and holidays. Someone in Beijing does not know or understand Hong Kong market or what is needed outside China (just visit Hong Kong and look at what shops they sell Alpa, then visit the Leaf agent :), point simple to confirm). I am in Shanghai at moment and know both Mainland and Hong Kong.

Thierry is indeed a good chap and very much needed. :thumbs: One can wish for that Alpa themselves read this thread... Their sales support for Hong Kong and Asia need to be bettered to no less than the same quality as their cameras! As a customer and photographer I simply want the best, but that is also the sales and support, and at good price!!! Simple.

Best regards,
Anders
 

gazwas

Active member
Everything is measured today in conversions/sales and possibly in Alpa's eyes, Thierry doesn't directly generate a revenue stream like a sales rep or main dealer.

IMO, what is not measured is the behind the scenes sales decisions people make from reading these forums and the wealth of information they provide. Many people, myself included spent many hours researching and participating on getdpi before I even aproached my dealer for a sale.

You're just WRONG Alpa!
 

jlm

Workshop Member
Thierry did provide direct contact info, so all is not lost, but most of us lose our more general information stream
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Wasn't there an imminent announcement of a tilt adapter for all focal lengths? I suppose we will still see Alpa product announcements from other forum members watching their website, but the direct presence will be missed.

--Matt
 

darr

Well-known member
I personally would like to never deal with a dealer--Paul from Optechs was the exception. I would prefer purchasing directly from the manufacturer and have them provide someone like Thierrry as their middle person for information. I hope Alpa (and other manufacturers) consider revising their selling models in this very small marketplace. With internet businesses, saving money by eliminating middle people can make economic sense for smaller companies like Alpa to stay in business. My 2 cents.
 

cunim

Well-known member
Sorry to see you go, Thierry. I have learned from many of your posts.

Guy, I agree that this will affect Alpa's visibility but my impression is that they are a very "personal" company. In other words, there is a small number of folks that are Alpa. They are ego-involved with the products and they are used to supporting clients at a technical level. Very Swiss.

Typcial corporate motivations may not apply.

I think Thierry's role here was to to stroke Alpa's amateur users and increase Alpa's visibility beyond their core client base. It was an experiment. Perhaps Alpa are unhappy with the interactions here ("great shot" type of comments), which are not typical of communications with the parent company.

Pure speculation arising from my dealings with them in the past.

Peter
 

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
I personally would like to never deal with a dealer--Paul from Optechs was the exception. I would prefer purchasing directly from the manufacturer and have them provide someone like Thierrry as their middle person for information. I hope Alpa (and other manufacturers) consider revising their selling models in this very small marketplace. With internet businesses, saving money by eliminating middle people can make economic sense for smaller companies like Alpa to stay in business. My 2 cents.

The savings from eliminating "middle people" can vary, depending on the amount of education and technical support required and the attributed margins towards the dealer channel. In the case of medium format and technical cameras, the education and support is on quite a different level than say, a Canon 5D-MKIII. Typically, a company would need to reinforce their internal support infrastructure ($$$) if they went direct and away from their dealer-based model. I believe the savings would be minimal, if any. In the case of Alpa, the margins are extremely thin, so thin to the point that removing their dealer channel and going completely direct would probably result in an increase in their costs if the level of sales results were maintained.

This also does not address the sales and evangelism that a dealer channel can contribute. Canon largely uses the dealer channel for distribution and on the shelf inventory. Get it into the customer's hands. They don't need dealers to evangelize their product that much - it is a mainstream product with plenty of evangelism, similar to Adobe. Eliminating dealers on products as complex and niche as technical cameras removes a lot of necessary sales horsepower also, which has to be replaced at a cost, unless the manufacturer is on a track to shrink their business.

I will also say that I feel manufacturer representation on a forum like this is a very big plus. However, sometimes those efforts need to be applied in a more direct manner, and this can leave less time for public online activity. And some cultures prefer just straight information as opposed to mixing with end user opinion, which can be tricky and uncomfortable for some manufacturers.


Steve Hendrix
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
It is a puzzling turn of events on Alpa's side to be sure. Regardless of the apparent illogical reasoning, we will miss the knowledge and expertise you shared here Thierry!
 
Top