The Photo Service Centre in Milan at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy.
Behind the scenes at the Olympics has been an Olympic Photo Services Center, which provides camera and lens loans, cleaning, and minor repair to all accredited photographers covering the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
A photo service of varying levels has been offered at past Olympic Games, starting in 1896 at the Athens Olympic Games, when Kodak published the results book, and in 1924, when Kodak supplied film to photographers at the Paris Olympic Games.
In 1986, Kodak became a top-tier sponsor of the Olympic Games, and the Photo Services Center was born, with film and print developing, along with camera servicing from Canon and Nikon under the Kodak sponsorship, premiering at the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. Kodak ended its sponsorship after twenty years following the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
In 2010, Canon and Nikon were invited to provide the same level of service to photographers covering the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and the modern Photo Services Center was born.
Here at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, the Photo Service Center offers loan, cleaning, and minor repairs for Canon, Nikon, and Sony equipment to the approximately 700 accredited photographers.
At the Sony depot here in Milan, not only can you get your cameras cleaned and some repairs done on-site, but a peek behind the service counter reveals a stunning array of cameras and lenses ready to be loaned at no cost. Sony, for example, is prepared to loan over 400 cameras and 1,200 lenses to photographers reporting on these Olympic Games.
On loan in the Sony depot is the flagship Sony a1 II and a9 III, and other cameras and full-frame mirrorless lenses from 12-24mm f/2.8 and 14mm f/1.8 through to 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4, the standard for sports photography, but also try the new 28-70mm f2, 50-150mm F2 and the 400-800mm zoom lens. It’s an impressive amount of gear shipped here for loan, with over 400 cameras, 1,200 lenses, and 60 PDT-FP1 portable data transmitters.
The depot here in Milan has 35 Pro Support staff working shifts, with an additional 35 staff working in operations in Cortina, Livigno, and Tessero, all connected with Sony Engineers worldwide to resolve any issues that may trouble a photographer working here.
Also on loan is the Sony data transmitter PDT-FP1, which allows a photographer to connect their camera via an Ethernet cable (WiFi access points like MiFis are not permitted in Olympic venues, along with Tripods or Flash photography). The PDT-FP1 can be used worldwide on many mobile carriers’ data plans, making it a snap to transmit photos directly from a camera.
When I asked a Pro Support member why they come to the Olympics to support the photographers from all over the world, he said, “The goal is to provide products and support that exceed professional expectations, and that stands by photographers in the field with a commitment to keeping their coverage of the games uninterrupted.”
Since 2010, large news Agencies and individual photographers alike have relied on the Olympic Photo Center’s support services, provided directly by their camera manufacturer of choice, to augment and service their gear and capture some of the most iconic images of sport.
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