Prior to 2024, Spartan DEKA used to provide athletes with photos from their event (DEKA FIT events only) free of charge, or included with their registration. An email sent out on January 15, 2024 announced a change to this policy. DEKA is no longer providing free event photos. You will now have to pay at least $29.99 for a package of up to 40 photos.
This comes on the heals of a near identical change Spartan made to their OCR events about 2 months prior.
Before you get excited at the possibility of receiving more cool photos of yourself during your DEKA FIT, DEKA RUCK, or DEKA FIT TEAMS event, let’s go over the details, and take a look at how DEKA mismanaged the announcement of this new offering.
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The Email Announcement
There’s one confusing piece of information in the email, and another “feature” whose added value is questionable.
20-60 Photos or Up To 40? 🤔
In the email, DEKA mentions you’ll receive “around 20-60 photos” with the new photo package. However, when you view the FAQ page that they link to in the email, it says “up to 40 photos.”
Let’s be clear, “up to 40” means anywhere from 1 to 40 photos, but no more than 40. 20-60 photos means at least 20, but no more than 60. So which one is it, DEKA? Are we getting 3 photos, 10, 30, 40, or 60?
I don’t expect them to predict the exact number we’ll receive. I understand the complexity of a large event, multiple heats, athletes moving at different paces, etc. But they’ve basically told us we could get anywhere from 1 to 60 photos, and for $30, that’s a ridiculous range. I’m not paying $30 for 5 photos, 3 of which might be mediocre.
New & Improved Experience
DEKA is now partnering with Sportograf to provide photos. They say they’ll have 50% more photographers on course. For example, if they used to have 4 photographers, now they’ll have 6.
They also say that they’re “upgrading our coveted photos to a new improved experience” which includes “automatic image processing,” and “every image gets an extra ‘pop’ to the final product.”
On paper, these are both good things, and don’t get me wrong, Sportograf has a reputation for taking awesome photos. But the photos were already very good in 2023. I’ve seen the photos that Sportograf takes for HYROX events, and while they are good, I don’t see any “extra pop” that’s worth thirty bucks.
2024 DEKA Photos Details
For all events in 2024 and beyond, DEKA is no longer providing free photos included with registration.
How much does a DEKA photo package cost?
You can purchase a DEKA photo package during registration (before your event) for $29.99.
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How many photos are included in a DEKA photo package?
DEKA has said both “up to 40” and “about 20 to 60” in different messaging, but their FAQ page currently states “up to 40 photos.” This technically means anywhere between 1 and 40, but I suspect you’d get at least 25 at a minimum. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if 3 or 4 of these are all super-slight variations of the same photo, taken in burst mode. So it could be possible to receive around 10 unique photos.
Can I purchase DEKA photos after an event?
Yes. DEKA has indicated that photos will be available for purchase 48-72 hours after the event, however, the photo package will be more expensive (price unknown).
Can I purchase a single DEKA photo without buying the package?
Yes. After the event, you will be able to view all the photos of yourself, and purchase an individual photo. Single photo pricing is still unknown, but I expect it to be similar to HYROX photos, which cost around $10 each.
What if I don’t buy the package during registration and then change my mind?
You can login to your Spartan Tickets account and still add the package before the event for $29.99.
What if I’m running multiple DEKA events?
Spartan DEKA says you need to purchase one photo package per day, however, this language looks like it was copy-pasted from the Spartan OCR announcement. Since DEKA runs multiple events (FIT, RUCK, TEAM) in the same day, it’s unclear whether you’ll need one photo package for the day, or one for each event. — I sure hope it’s just one per day.
How do I find my DEKA photos after the event?
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- Navigate to photos.deka.fit
- Click on the event you participated in
- Enter your email address to prove that you were registered for the event
- Upload a selfie so DEKA can locate your photos
- Your photos will be watermarked, and you can then purchase a photo package or just a single photo
What if I registered for a DEKA event prior to December 15, 2023?
DEKA says this official announcement went into effect on December 15, 2023. Therefore, any athlete who registered for a 2024 prior to December 15, 2023 will be receive event photos free of charge. You will receive instructions via email.
Stationary Cameras
With this change also comes the addition of stationary trigger cameras placed throughout the event. These cameras will snap photos of athletes as they enter the frame, and do not require additional photographers.
This is a nice addition to any event photography, especially fast-paced sporting events like DEKA FIT.
Photo Certificate
Included with your $30 DEKA photo package, you also receive one photo certificate, which includes a photo of your choice with the race location and your finishing time overlaid on the image.
This is a nice alternative to medals for those who want to commemorate the event and celebrate their accomplishment.
DEKA Photo Pricing
I’m sure many will have an opinion on the $30 price tag for this new photo package, so let me share mine. I won’t pay it.
Before my photographer friends come at me with justification, let me say this:
- I know good cameras & other photography equipment is expensive
- I understand that it takes years of practice & experience to become a good photographer
- I know the post-production work is not easy and also takes time
- I realize that facial recognition software is often subscription based, and to process over a thousand faces takes computer processing power, which costs money
$30 is about one-third the cost of event registration. Included in my registration is the event itself, a medal, a t-shirt, a free drink or two, and access to sponsors who often provide free stuff. To pay one-third that price just for photos is too much.
DEKA claims that many of us were asking for more photos of more stations, but I found the photos they used to provide just fine. Were that many people really asking for more photos, and more importantly, did those people say they’d be willing to pay $30 for them? I have my doubts, but 2024 will let us know.
Will you be buying a DEKA photo package in 2024? Let me know in the comments.
How does this compare to HYROX photo pricing?
In short, it’s $3 cheaper. HYROX charges $32.99 for their photo package. HYROX doesn’t specify how many photos you’ll receive for this price, but honestly, DEKA’s messaging is also unclear, so I would assume the number of photos would be similar.
2023 DEKA Photos
As of January 15th, 2024, all previous year’s DEKA FIT photos are still available at photos.deka.fit. These will likely be removed soon, and replaced with a redirect to the Sportograf photo packages, which we believe will be hosted on sportograf.com.
Conclusion
We’ve covered all the details of DEKA’s new photo packages in this article, but in case anything changes, you can keep an eye on the official photos FAQ page.
NOTE: The FAQ page mentions “Increased obstacle coverage – capturing obstacles we’ve never covered before!”, which proves they copied much of the information from their Spartan OCR photo update. Unless DEKA is adding a new DEKA OCR event that they haven’t told anyone about yet… 😮
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