How KEH Helped the Atlanta Falcons Switch to Sony Cameras and Lenses

Aug 17, 2024

Jeremy Gray

A football player in a white jersey with the number 43 leaps into the air with outstretched arms to catch the football. The sky is clear blue, and green trees are visible in the background.

The 2024 National Football League (NFL) season is just around the corner, and the Atlanta Falcons’ photographers and videographers will be capturing the excitement with a new suite of Sony cameras provided by pre-owned gear retailer KEH.

KEH became the official camera gear provider for the Atlanta Falcons in May, and the first big project between the football team and KEH was a massive summer gear swap.

“KEH was able to bring our team into a new era of photography by taking all of our old gear and trading it in, allowing us to purchase Sony bodies and lenses,” says Brandon Magnus, Senior Manager of Photography for the Atlanta Falcons. “The process of trading our gear with KEH was one of the smoothest processes I’ve ever been a part of.”

A football player wearing a red jersey and a black helmet is captured in action under the rain. The back of his jersey displays the number 87. The background shows a blurred, green outdoor setting.

The Falcons’ photographers are primarily using Sony a9 III cameras now, especially for all the on-field action. However, the team also purchased Sony a1 bodies for portraiture and studio work, says Shanna Lockwood, the Falcons’ Manager of Photography.

“It’s been great, honestly. There is a learning curve, but it’s not as big of a learning curve as I expected coming from Nikon,” says Lockwood. “It’s pretty intuitive and immediately I was taking photos that I had in my head that I wanted to take with the new autofocus system, and immediately I was able to produce those kinds of photos.”

A football player wearing a black helmet, white jersey, and black shorts is catching a football mid-air during a practice session on a green field. Other players and a coach are visible in the background, with trees providing a natural backdrop.

The Nikon gear the Falcons were using was evaluated, cleaned, and entered into KEH’s massive inventory of pre-owned gear available for purchase.

“As a photographer, you can be holding that gear the Falcons used to shoot those most important moments in-game, and there’s something really cool and special about that,” explains KEH’s CEO, Noah Treshnell. “Our business is circular, so as we get bigger, the circularity impact gets bigger.”

KEH isn’t the first camera brand to partner with a professional sports team — Sony works with the San Diego Padres team in Major League Baseball. In both cases, there’s a strong hometown community connection. Like Sony’s United States headquarters in San Diego, KEH has old roots in Atlanta. KEH has been in Atlanta since the company was founded in 1979, just 13 years after the Atlanta Falcons built their nest in Georgia.

Image and video credits: KEH / Atlanta Falcons.

Disclosure: KEH is PetaPixel‘s official pre-owned camera gear partner.