New York City-born, Los Angeles-based photographer Kit Karzen thrives where timing is everything. From Standing Rock and the events of 2020 to Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, NASCAR, The Amazing Race, Queer Eye on Netflix, and political campaign work, his assignments demand speed, reliability and real-time delivery. “I’m most-often a three-body photographer,” he says, crediting mentor and Sony Artisan David Burnett’s many-cameras-on-assignment approach. “The time it takes to switch a lens is time you can miss a photo.”
Photo by Kit Karzen. Alpha 9 II.
Investing In Gear, Investing In Yourself
Before photography, Karzen was a professional cyclist. After retiring in 2012, he joined Oakley’s marketing team, and when a corporate layoff hit, he turned the moment into a full pivot. He took his severance to Samy’s Camera, invested in used gear, and dove headlong into nonfiction storytelling focused on environmental and social issues. Standing Rock for CNN became his early break, ushering in years embedded on frontline stories of domestic extremism and environmental disasters. In 2021, for balance and mental health, he widened his scope, embedding with Legion of Los Angeles – the first Black-owned pro cycling team. This is where sport, culture and social storytelling really intersected for Karzen. Today he moves fluidly among unit stills and live sports, energized by collaboration and the teams he works with: “I love the people I get to work with.”
Photo by Kit Karzen. Alpha 9 II.
Karzen’s core kit centers on three Alpha 9 III (Buy Now) cameras with a zoom-first philosophy that keeps him ready for anything: wide coverage with the 12–24mm f/2.8 G Master (Buy Now) or 16–35mm f/2.8 G Master II (Buy Now), the 24–70mm f/2.8 G Master II (Buy Now) as an all-day workhorse, and the 70–200mm f/2.8 G Master II (Buy Now) for reach on sidelines and stages. He chose the Alpha 9 II for its silent electronic shutter, reliability, and 24MP files that he says hit the sweet spot for fast transmission and multi-day card management. “My allegiance is to speed and the ability to instantly deliver my files via FTP – not massive file sizes,” he explains.
Photographer Kit Karzen with his three camera setup of Alpha 9 IIs.
PDT-FP1: Revolutionary For Sports & Live Event Photography
The real unlock in his workflow is Sony’s PDT-FP1 5G portable data transmitter (Buy Now), which he calls a game changer for live deliverables. Before adopting it, he relied on hotspot devices that were finicky and prone to dropouts – especially in stadiums with tens of thousands of phones competing for bandwidth. The PDT-FP1’s dual SIMs constantly hunt for the faster path, keeping transfers moving when seconds matter. He says that the device’s eSIM support made international work seamless when he pre-purchased a plan and transmitted from Mexico City without missing a beat. Plus, its built-in Wi-Fi lets him keep his phone connected to editors for continuous coordination.
PDT-FP1
Working with Sony Pro Support, Karzen scaled the PDT-FP1 to match his three-body style. Instead of hardwiring a single camera, he built a splitter solution that feeds Ethernet to all three Alpha 9 IIs. The result mirrors how he shoots: no swapping, no fiddling, just press and send. He proved the setup on a NASCAR assignment and now relies on it across sports, sets and campaign work. The payoff is simple and crucial: no downtime, maximum reliability under pressure, and consistent, fast delivery straight to client FTPs. "I’m grateful for Sony Pro Support’s willingness to troubleshoot ideas for file delivery speed so that I can meet the demands of content teams and my editors."
Photo by Kit Karzen. Alpha 9 II.
Whether he’s documenting a community at an inflection point or capturing championship moments at a stadium, the job is the same: anticipate, be present, and as he said, deliver – fast. “The photos matter,” Karzen says, “but the ability to transmit those images rapidly to my editors and clients has proven to be just as important.” However the assignment reads – frontlines or finish lines – Karzen relies on his Sony kit to get the job done.
Photo by Kit Karzen. Alpha 9 II.
See more of Kit Karzen's work on Instagram @kitkarzen and at kitkarzen.com.
To change the game with live deliverables, purchase the PDT-FP1.
To add the global shutter system to your kit, purchase the Alpha 9 III.
