Vitec, a company that owns more than 20 different photography brands including Manfrotto, Gitzo, Lasolite, Sachtler, and now Joby and Lowepro, announced the collaboration during the 100th-anniversary event for Gitzo in Tokyo.
For photographers, the collaboration means a new line of products is coming designed specifically for Sony interchangeable lens cameras like the Sony a9 and a7 mirrorless series, the compact a6500 mirrorless and the a99 II SLT, among other alpha cameras. The new series will launch in 2018, Vitec says.
The first product to come out of the agreement will be a special version of the Manfrotto Befree, a best-selling travel tripod. The new tripod is expected to be unveiled at the PhotoPlus expo in New York on October 26. That is just the first to come, Vitec says, with new Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods, plates, photo heads and video heads slated to come from the agreement. The company says the upcoming products are “targeted at professionals who demand utmost quality and high performance.”
Along with the hardware, the agreement is also expected to produce a special edition of Digital Director, remote camera control software from Manfrotto.
“We are proud to announce the agreement with Sony,” Marco Pezzana, CEO of the Vitec Group Photographic Division, said in a statement. “This collaboration sees our brands Manfrotto and Gitzo, leaders in the market of photo and video accessories, working side by side with the prestigious Sony brand, globally renowned for product excellence and superior technology, with the primary intent of collaborating to the development of even more innovative products for professional content creators, thus further increasing customer satisfaction and future business growth.”
The agreement comes shortly after Vitec announced the acquisition of Joby, the company behind the flexible mini tripods Gorillapods, and Lowepro, a camera bag company. The move, announced earlier this week, allows the photography accessory company to expand into smartphone photography as well as expanding its existing bag knowledge.
