Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Dec-2018 i Amateur Photographer

Well, that’s 2018 pretty much done and dusted. As usual our Christmas special – our last issue of the year – is a chance for us to look back at the photographic highlights of the past 12 months. We’ve been wowed by amazing new camera gear, awed by so much incredible photography, and humbled by the passion and talent we have encountered when meeting people during our visits to 2018’s photo events and festivals. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers and advertisers for your support over the past year. In an online world where magazine readership is in free fall, AP continues to enjoy a level of loyalty that most editors can only envy. I’d like to think that this is because we have…

We all have our Christmas traditions. It might be a bracing pre-breakfast walk in the park, never carving the turkey before the Queen’s speech, or photographing Auntie Beryl asleep on the sofa after one too many of her annual snowballs. Since 2013, AP has also developed a tradition – its annual front cover competition. It’s the one week in the year we hand over the reins to you, the reader, to shoot the most important page in the magazine. This year, once again, Photocrowd hosted the competition and we received more than 1,500 entries. When judging, we prioritised portrait-format images. While it is occasionally possible to use a landscape-format image on the front cover, it’s always preferable not to throw away pixels – and therefore quality – by cropping. Also,…

AS OUR lead story mentions, full frame isn't the only game in town when it comes to mirrorless cameras. Fujifilm remains a very strong player, and the X-T3 (released in September) so impressed AP's testing team that our features editor has already gone out and bought one. Panasonic, meanwhile, has been buoyed by its involvement in the L-mount Alliance with Leica and Sigma, and by the announcement of the S1 and S1R full-frame mirrorless models (expected early next year), along with a raft of new lenses. So where does all this leave Olympus, its partner in Micro Four Thirds, and another major player in the mirrorless market? The company only released one new camera this year, the E-PL9 (above). The official word is that the company is still committed to…

When in Rome Geoff Harris, Deputy editor Olympus PEN E-PL1, 17mm, 1/200sec at f/10, ISO 125 One of the challenges of shooting in a photogenic city like Rome is trying to find something ‘different'. So when I visited Rome for the first time on a very short trip in spring, I was keen to try some infrared shooting, focusing on places that are not so well known. Armed with an old infrared-converted Olympus PEN, borrowed from AP regular Ian Burley, I visited the EUR district. EUR was a vanity project by Mussolini and his fascist architects to try to recreate the glories of the old Imperial city. I was drawn to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, an imposing icon of neoclassical and fascist architecture. Its facade has been shot to…

As a member of Photocrowd who perpetually gets frustrated by members who are ‘unable' to follow briefs or insist on voting for images that are off brief, I wish you could be stricter in the writing and implementation of your brief for the Christmas Cover competition. It is obvious that the image you are looking for needs to be in portrait format so why do you allow images in landscape format? Of course you can crop any good landscape ones to fit, so why don't you insist on portrait format so that the members have to do their own cropping of landscape images? The outcome is that the ‘crowd' part of the competition has voted for loads of landscape images (that clearly cannot be cropped successfully) merely because they like…

BEST PHOTOGRAPHIC KIT OF 2018 Nikon Z 7 Rumours of Nikon's entry into the full-frame mirrorless sector have been rumbling for a couple of years, so it wasn't a huge surprise when we were invited to see a new, top-secret camera at the end of July. But what did come as a surprise was just how refined the Z 7 turned out to be. It took three generations for Sony to produce a really top-notch design with the Alpha 7R III; Nikon pretty much matched it the first time around. So why did I like the Nikon Z 7 so much? Quite simply, it takes essentially the same sensor as the D850 – arguably the best DSLR ever made – and drops it into a body that's considerably smaller and…

Christopher Sparrow During the recent Black Friday sale I snapped up the Fujifilm X-A3 with the 16-50mm lens for £220 for my wife. It's a great little camera – fast autofocus, detailed images, and easy to use but with a lot of manual controls. It looks smart too. The price has shot back up again, so if you think Black Friday is just a lot of old crap being sold off cheap, I'd advise you to think again. Adrian Gray I didn't buy much photo gear this year, so it is easy to pin down my best buy. I spent a whole £10 on a Coronet ‘Portrait Lens' box camera, and a VP Twin with the most deliciously camp camera case you have ever seen! Frank West I got tired…

‘I STARTED taking photography seriously 12 years ago when I bought a Canon EOS 350D. I tried a bit of everything to find out what I might be good at. ‘I've been interested in steam engines for a long time, and have always felt they go perfectly with photography. I regularly visit heritage railways, but it wasn't until I learned about photo charter companies that I learned how it would be possible to get images from better locations. They work by someone arranging a specific locomotive and set of goods with the railway – then they sell places and you take pot luck with the weather! This photograph was taken at an event with 30742 Charters last January, at the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire. I drove up the night…

YOU DON'T need to be an expert statistician or industry analyst to see how smartphones have seriously dented camera sales. Shipments of cameras with interchangeable lenses peaked at 121.5 million units in 2010 but slumped to 25 million in 2017 according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), and phones are behind much of this. There's hope that the brace of exciting full-frame mirrorless camera releases this year may help digital camera sales to bottom out, but at the same time, some seriously powerful smartphone cameras have been released over the past 12 months. Chinese maker Huawei is on an extraordinary run of form, with its P20 Pro in particular impressing our testing team with its 16mm ultra-wideangle lens, 27mm standard lens and 80mm optically stabilised telephoto lens, alongside…

THERE'S much more to AP than camera reviews or tips features. We've also reported on the growing awareness of how photography can help with mental health – one of the hottest topics of our age. Back in February we ran a ground-breaking cover feature on how taking pictures can improve your wellbeing. It included insights from psychotherapists and a big contribution from professional landscape photographer Paul Sanders, who's bravely battled anxiety and depression. The response from readers was huge, and a large number contacted us with their own stories – it was also one of our best-selling issues of the year. More and more workshops are now appearing which use photography to help with stress relief and greater mindfulness, including some that are run by AP's former features editor, Tracy…

The year 2003 was a significant milestone in camera history. Although digital cameras had been around for years, they were mostly chunky point-and-shoot affairs because DSLRs were unaffordable for the average Joe. Film was still king. But in 2003 Canon announced the EOS 300D – the first DSLR for under £1,000, and although it was a flawed camera (and an ugly one in its garish silver livery) it rapidly accelerated the switch to digital photography, and the demise of film. The DSLR has ruled the photographic roost ever since, but not for much longer. Mirrorless cameras made their debut ten years ago, but once again they have taken a while to gain traction and seriously challenge the existing order. Frankly they just weren't good enough. But technology doesn't stand still,…

Small size The NEO 2 is perfectly sized to mount in a camera's hotshoe or on a portable light stand. Portability The NEO 2 can be powered by mains or 6x AA NiMH or Li-ion batteries. Electronic viewfinder Constant light takes the guesswork out of exposure and colour temperature. High shutter speeds HSS flash at up to 1/8000sec. Fast shooting rates Zero recycle time and no loss of power even at 20fps. High-end video features Flicker-free constant light and CineSFX Mode for custom lighting effects.…

Sony Alpha 7 III Where have the last 12 months gone? It feels like only yesterday I was waxing lyrical about the Nikon D850 being the favourite camera I'd used in 2017, yet here we are a year down the line reflecting on the most significant photographic kit to pass through our hands. Though 2018 will be remembered as the year that Canon and Nikon finally got their act together and uncovered their full-frame mirrorless systems to the world, Sony had an exciting start to the year. In February I was one of the first to lay hands on a Sony Alpha 7 III – a model pigeonholed by the manufacturer as their most basic full-frame mirrorless camera. A quick glance over the spec sheet revealed it was anything but,…

1 True or false: Zeiss lenses are named after various species of owl, in recognition of their excellent eyesight. 2 Which is larger, the 1-inch type sensor used in many compact cameras, or the Four Thirds sensor used in Micro Four Thirds mirrorless models? 3 Which of these does not denote lenses for APS format SLRs: CS, Di, DT, DX or IX? 4 From where do Lubitel TLRs originate? a China b Korea c Russia 5 True or false: ISO stands for the International Standards Organisation. 6 Which British camera maker produced the Selfix cameras that used 120 film? a Corfield b Ensign c Wray 7 Which company made the first SLR capable of video recording? a Canon b Nikon c Panasonic 8 Who was first to use in-body image…

Each week we choose our favourite picture on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter or the reader gallery using #appicoftheweek. PermaJet proudly supports the online picture of the week winner, who will receive a top-quality print of their image on the finest PermaJet paper*. It is important to bring images to life outside the digital sphere, so we encourage everyone to get printing today! Visit www.permajet.com to learn more. *PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY Send us your pictures If you’d like to see your work published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how to send us your images: Email Email a selection of low-res images (up to 5MB of attachments in total) to appicturedesk@ti-media.com.CD/DVD Send us a disc of high-resolution JPEG, TIFF or PSD images (at least 2480 pixels along its…

January • Leica got off to a good start announcing revenues of almost €400 million in its last financial year: a 6% growth for the company compared to the near 10% decline recorded in the global camera market. • It was New Year blues for GoPro as it announced plans to exit the drone market and cut 250 jobs. CEO Nicholas Woodman also felt the pinch, reducing his cash compensation to $1. February • Adobe announced Photoshop 19.1, with headline new features including the AI-powered Select Subject tool, along with improvements to the Mask tool. • As well as some neat new cameras (notably the Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 and Olympus Pen E-PL9), the UK saw the first major retrospective of Andreas Gursky. March • A Leica O Series no.122, one…

$200,000 Cost of the world's fastest camera car, a modified Lamborghini Huracán 180,000 Number of visitors to Photokina 2018 137 Number of people who signed a change.org petition for a dual memory card slot on the Nikon Z $2.08 billion Adobe's revenue for the first quarter of 2018, $1.23 billion of which came from Creative Cloud 1,726 Length in metres of the longest line of photographs 73,044 Number of entries in the 61st World Press Photo Contest 2018 28 Number of awards presented at the AP Awards 2018 €3.9 billion Global digital camera sales in the first half of the year (down 11%) 87.3% Canon, Nikon and Sony's combined share of the interchangeable-lens camera market in 2017 £300,000 Money raised from the Remembering Rhinos and…

Young at heart The above postcard was sent to me 44 years ago to remind me to order the 90th birthday issue of AP. I've long since moved away from the address on the card but I still have the special issue. How the medium has changed! John Oliver Data recovery Your 24 November issue contained a fascinating letter from Peter Murrell about his failed CF card being rescued. He said the German company was clever, successful and with reasonable charges. But he failed to say what its name was or how to contact the business. Please persuade him to tell us as most of us would like to have such an address as a stand-by in our records. Michael Becket We received several letters about this so we contacted…

Neil Burnell scores 25 points and wins with a 24-point lead. Marco and Simon also scored, making it a close result for 2nd and 3rd places. Steve Palmer drops to joint 9th place with Michael Farley after a scoring error was noticed in the Close Encounters round. 1 NeilBurnell 111pts 2 MarcoTagliarino 87pts 3 Simon Hadleigh-Sparks 84pts 4 RichardWhitson 71pts 5 SteveCheetham 64pts 6= JoeBaumann 55pts 6= Tom de Waart 55pts 8 DavidLain 52pts 9= StevePalmer 50pts 9= MichaelFarley 50pts…

Nikon Z 7 The flagship model, the Z 7 features a 45.7-million-pixel full-frame sensor, a 2.1-million-dot touchscreen, a 493-point autofocusing system and a 3.6-million-dot EVF. Nikon Z 6 Another option is the Z 6. It uses exactly the same body and design as the Z 7, but features a lower-resolution 24.5-million-pixel sensor. It also has fewer AF points, but comes in at a lower price than its sibling. NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S This classic zoom lens is often sold with the Z 7 or Z 6 as part of a package. It promises sharpness across the frame at every focal length, and uses anti-reflective coatings to prevent ghosting and flare. NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.8 S At the moment, there are two prime ‘Z' lenses: 35mm and 50mm. We have…

DJI Mavic Air The most fun I've had this year is with something I only got recently and I'm still trying to get to grips with – a DJI Mavic Air drone. I'm lucky in that I live in an area surrounded by miles of downland and coastline, and having long admired some of the beautiful aerial images taken by drones, I decided it was high time I gave it a go myself. The first thing to report is that drone photography isn't as easy as you might think. I'm still at the stage where I'm terrified I'm going to lose it, so I haven't let it wander very far or very high. I flew it over the sea once and my heart was in my mouth the whole time.…

Christmas is complicated. For a start, no one knows exactly when Christ was born. The date 25 December was not generally adopted until around 300 years after His death, and it is widely believed (even by the devout) that this was merely a convenient appropriation of an existing pagan mid-winter festival. Different churches use different dates. The Ethiopian Orthodox church celebrates Christmas in early January, which was when Espinosa took this. Regardless of that aspect of the theology, it’s a gorgeous picture of another piece of theology: light out of darkness. It’s also a tribute to both the skill of the photographer and the versatility of photography today. As early as the 1930s a popular ‘trick’ shot was a picture of someone lighting a pipe or cigarette, lit only by…