• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Alpha Shooters Logo

AlphaShooters.com

News & Community for Sony Alpha Shooters

  • Blog
  • Forums
  • Cameras
  • Lenses
  • Memory Cards
  • Accessories
  • Reviews
  • Compare

About Alpha Shooters

You are here: Home / About Alpha Shooters

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this site. I may also earn from links to other online retailers at no extra cost to you.

Last updated: January 21, 2021 by Timothy Mayo

Hi there, I’m Tim and I’m the owner/editor here at Alpha Shooters.

I started Alpha Shooters in 2017 to share my own photographic journey and experiences with shooting Sony, since then the site has evolved into a community and resource for Sony Alpha Shooters.

tim mayo

Beautiful Snowdonia. Shot with the Sony a6500 + E 10-18mm F4 lens. Grad filter added in Lightroom.

So just a little about me.

I live on a little wet and wind swept island called the United Kingdom. I’ve spent ten years of my life working for Hewlett Packard in the small town of Böblingen, South Germany doing very unexciting IT stuff. Thankfully my free time was a lot more fun and I’d often spend it snowboarding, mountain biking or hiking in the beautiful Alpine mountains.

After ten amazing years in Germany gorging myself on Maultaschen and Currywurst I decided it was time for a change, so I said auf Wiedersehen to Deutschland and returned home.

Since returning I’ve worked as a digital marketing consultant, mainly helping small businesses to grow their online presence.

I’ve taken a casual interest in photography since I was a child, but it was just that, casual. In early 2017 I decided it was time to change that, so I finally took my camera out of auto mode and started learning how to get the most out of it.

Although I originally enjoyed shooting landscapes the most, I’ve since discovered that I also love shooting wildlife (with my camera), sports and aviation. That said, I’ll happily point my camera at pretty much anything that gets me out into the great outdoors.

I’ve been through quite a few different cameras over the years, mainly small compacts as they suited my sporty pursuits and I could easily clip them to my belt for fast shots when something caught my eye.

My first ever digital camera was the Sony DSC-P9 Cybershot which I purchased way back in 2002. I then swapped over to a Canon Powershot G9 (awesome little compact), briefly tried a Canon EOS 10D (far too big and heavy), so I ended up sticking with the G9 for a few more years.

Sony-DSC-P9-Cybershot

In 2013 I experimented with my first mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS M. But it turns out that I still wasn’t quite ready for swapping lenses so purchased a little Canon PowerShot SX700 HS.

In 2016 I returned to Sony when I picked up the RX100 IV and was blown away by the quality of this tiny little camera, my eyes were now open again to the world of Sony digital cameras.

I purchased the Sony a6000 and my first Alpha camera in early 2017. At the time I had no idea just how much this small camera would motivate me to improve my photography skills and also drain my bank account!

My Alpha collection has grown a little over the past years and now looks something like this (must update photo with new gear!):

My Sony Alpha Gear Nov 2017

My current cameras and lenses include the:

  • Sony a6400
  • Sony a7R III
  • Sony a7R IV
  • Sony a7 III
  • Sony a9
  • Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6
  • Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary
  • Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary
  • Sony E 35mm F1.8
  • Sony E 10-18mm F4
  • Sony E 18-105mm F4 G
  • Sony E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6
  • Sony E 16-70mm F4
  • Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3
  • Sony FE 24-70mm F4
  • Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM
  • Sony FE 16-35mm F4
  • Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
  • Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G
  • Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM
  • Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G
  • Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G
  • Sigma 70mm F2.8 ART Macro
  • Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM
  • Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G
  • Sony 1.4x Teleconverter
  • Sony 2x Teleconverter

My past cameras and lenses:

  • Sony a6000
  • Sony a6300
  • Sony a6500
  • Sony a7R II
  • Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6

I know, I quite possibly suffer from a bad case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). But surely that’s better than the other form of gas?

Whilst my collection of Alpha gear grew so did the questions that I had around the gear that I was buying. I found many answers by digging around in forums and reading reviews, but was disappointed that apart from Sony Alpha Rumors there appeared to be no real community or site focused solely on Alpha Shooters, hence Alpha Shooters was born.

I also found it very frustrating to read camera and lens reviews where many of the photos presented had been post processed, often I wasn’t sure if I was reading a gear review or a review of Adobe Lightroom. I almost always shoot RAW + JPEG, so my own images on this site will always include both SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) JPEGS and also the RAW images. If any of my images have been post processed I will always say what’s been done.

If you’d like to say hello or make any suggestions for this site, then you can message me here.

Happy Shooting!
Tim

P.S.
Although I’m clearly a fan of Sony Alpha gear, I also have plenty of love for Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Olympus, Leica and many other brands too. I am actually considering setting up a similar site for Canon R Shooters as well. Competition is what drives innovation, without it we would all still be using Kodak box cameras and sending messages via carrier pigeon.

Sony Alpha Forum

About Timothy Mayo

I love shooting wildlife the most but will happily point my camera at pretty much anything. I started Alpha Shooters in 2017 to share my own photographic journey and experiences shooting with Sony Alpha. The site has since evolved into a popular community and resource. You can find out more about my story here or follow me on Instagram if you wish. I also have a YouTube Channel but haven’t published much content over the past year due to spending more time changing smelly nappies and also launching our community forums. However, I do hope to get back to creating content again there soon!

Sidebar

Pro Membership

If you’d like to support this site you can easily do so by becoming a Pro Member in our Community Forums and unlocking the following benefits:

✓ No Adverts in the Forums
✓ Pro Member Competitions
✓ Sell Items in the Marketplace
✓ Unlimited Gallery Uploads
✓ Higher Resolution Gallery Uploads
✓ Forum Profile Signature
✓ Custom Profile Cover Photo
✓ Advertise Your Photography Workshops

VISIT FORUMS

Latest Articles

Sony Compact Shotgun Microphone ECM-B10

New Sony Compact Shotgun Microphone ECM-B10 Announced

Sony A7S III Firmware Update v2.10

Sony A7S III Firmware Update v2.10

Sony A1 Firmware Update v1.30

Sony A1 Firmware Update v1.30

Sony A1 CFexpress Cards

The Fastest Sony A1 CFexpress Cards

Featured Articles

Sony A7III Memory Cards

Best Sony A7III Memory Cards & Buffer Tests

Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G vs FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM Comparison

Sony 200-600 G vs 100-400 GM Review & Comparison

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-F5.6 Review

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-F5.6 Review for Sony FE

Pro Membership Upgrade

If you’d like to support this site you can easily do so by becoming a Pro Member in our Community Forums and unlocking the following benefits:

✓ No Adverts in the Forums
✓ Pro Member Competitions
✓ Sell Items in the Marketplace
✓ Unlimited Gallery Uploads
✓ Higher Resolution Gallery Uploads
✓ Forum Profile Signature
✓ Custom Profile Cover Photo
✓ Advertise Your Photography Workshops

Join today!

Memory Card Guides

  • Sony A1 Memory Cards
  • Sony A7 IV Memory Cards
  • Sony A7 III Memory Cards
  • Sony A7R IV Memory Cards
  • Sony A7S III Memory Cards
  • Sony A7C Memory Cards
  • Sony A6400 Memory Cards
  • Sony A6000 Memory Cards

Accessory Guides

  • Sony a1 Accessories
  • Sony a7IV Accessories
  • Sony a7C Accessories
  • Sony a7R IV Accessories
  • Sony a7III Accessories
  • Sony a7R III Accessories
  • Sony a9II Accessories
  • Sony a9 Accessories
  • Sony a6600 Accessories
  • Sony a6400 Accessories
  • Sony a6100 Accessories
  • Sony a6000 Accessories

Lens Guides

  • Sony FE Lenses
  • Sony APS-C Lenses
  • Sony Macro Lenses
  • Sony Telephoto Lenses
  • Sony a1 Lenses
  • Sony a7IV Lenses
  • Sony a7III Lenses
  • Sony a7R IV Lenses
  • Sony a7R III Lenses
  • Sony a6600 Lenses
  • Sony a6400 Lenses
  • Sony a6000 Lenses
Visit Our Facebook Groups
Alpha Shooters Text Logo
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Return To Top

Copyright © 2022 Alpha Shooters. All Rights Reserved. Content and images may not be used without permission.
Disclaimer: Alpha Shooters is an independently run website and is not affiliated with Sony.com
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Terms · Privacy · Cookies · Contact · About · Affiliate Links