I feel the Alpa announcement is an important announcement from our perspective in that it symbolizes some of the significant changes that have occurred at CI in the past 3-4 years. Prior to recent times, Capture Integration has been viewed - for the most part - as Phase One/Capture One specialists. When I joined CI, we sold Phase One and Leaf (Leaf just starting back up from the Kodak relinguishment in mid-2009). We sold Cambo, some Arca Swiss, a few other non camera-related products.
Today we sell digital back/camera solutions from Phase One, Leaf, Hasselblad, Sinar, Pentax, Leica. All the available primary large sensor capture solutions on the market. We also now sell technical cameras from Linhof, Cambo, Arca Swiss, Sinar, and now Alpa.
This is not by accident - this has been a concerted effort to not be seen as, and not be, a dealer that relies on a preferred status with a few select product lines, while ignoring other product lines that are just as viable for clients to consider. This filters down to accessory products as well. We've taken some heat at times for selling alternative accessories that are just as good or better, rather than just the force-fed manufacturer branded accessories. But this is a key part of our philosophy - and that is to attempt to offer solutions that provide the best quality options for our clients.
The satisfaction of the client is not the only important element of any business equation, but it is at least the most important. We're in one segment - the high quality segment, and we'll consider specializing in any product that will help our clients achieve that objective.
All that said....we're really excited about adding the Alpa product line!
Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration