First it was announced that the registration for the convention will be opened today at 9am. Alphanatics (http://www.alphanatics.com/) forumers jammed the forum from 8.30am up till 10.30am where George (Sony α Brand Manager) finally posted a message on the thread stating that registration will start at 9pm due to a typo.

Everyone went amok and went back to work without anymore distractions on the convention registration. Everyone could buka puasa happily until 9pm. At 8.55pm, George posted another message on the thread and directed all traffic from the Alphanatics forum to the Sony α Convention site at http://www.amc.com.my/convention/default.aspx which, in my opinion, is a very well designed site with a scrolling banner in the center of the main page done in Javascript (instead of Flash).

I managed to register myself and kumbang for the convention. Oh, by the way, Mr. kumbang got himself a very nice Sony Alpha a300 just recently. We just sent his dad’s old Beercan (which looks spanking new) and a 35-70mm/f4 for servicing at Albert Cheah just last week. While kumbang is waiting for Albert to finish servicing his lenses, I am waiting for my Peleng 8mm fisheye lens to arrive!

Instead of stating the date of the convention, there is a countdown ticker at the page, which in this case, has 30 more days to go. So, by glancing over at the calendar, it is clear that the convention will be held on October 10 till 12. Starting on Friday after the Friday prayers and then right through the weekend.

As plucked from the convention site:

The α Convention 2008 is the first convention for Alpha users ever and it’s happening right here in Le Meridien, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Being the first convention we’ve ever had and conducted, we hope to provide a fulfilling avenue for new and existing users to get inspired by the many professionals residing in Malaysia and from abroad. For this convention, we’ve invited 8 distinctive personalities to talk about various topics such as fashion (rather uncommon in Malaysia), architecture, portraiture, automotive photography, unique compositional tips, digital workflow and even tips on building your own wedding photography business and handling the everyday life of a professional photographer.

So, if you have an Alpha camera, do register for the convention now as it is only limited to 400 seats! I suspect that about 150 to 200 seats are already gone. Oh, do have your camera in hand as you will need to enter the serial number located at the bottom of your camera during the registration process.

Register here: http://www.amc.com.my/convention/registration.aspx