Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/23/2023 i Amateur Photographer

How many lenses do you own? I’m guessing it’s more than four, and that you’ve got at least a couple more on your wish list. This week’s issue is dedicated to that piece of glass on the front of your camera. Whether it’s 10mm or 1000mm, your lens has a profound influence on your pictures. This issue we present a round-up of 32 mirrorless camera lenses under £500. We also revisit the eternal primes versus zooms debate and discuss inexpensive ways to create interesting bokeh effects, while a selection of AP readers tell us about their favourite lenses. Once you’re done reading about lenses you can enjoy our tests of the great-value new Canon EOS R8 and the latest Xiaomi camera phone, and drool over the winning images from Pink…

Canon has announced its first vlogging camera, the PowerShot V10. With an unusual vertical design, it’s designed to be an easy-to-use, all-in-one vlogging solution, which will fit readily into a pocket and facilitate one-handed operation at arm’s length. It also has a built-in stand, reducing the need to carry a tripod. Unlike rival models from other companies, which are essentially stills cameras that you’re supposed to hold the wrong way around pointing towards you, the PowerShot V10 has been designed from the ground up for videoing yourself talking to camera. It’s built around a 20MP 1in type sensor, which is paired with a 19mm equivalent f/2.8 ultra-wide lens. The camera offers Full HD recording at 60fps and up to ISO 6400, or 4K at 30fps up to ISO 3200, for…

TAMRON has announced the UK availability of the Tamron 11-20mm F/2.8 Di III-A RXD for Fujifilm X-mount. The fast lens features 12 elements in 10 groups, with two Glass Molded Aspherical lens elements to ensure high resolution from edge to edge, according to the firm. The 11-20mm f/2.8 has a minimum focusing distance of 0.15m at the 11mm end and 0.24m at the 20mm end. At 11mm, the lens also has a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4, useful for macro photography. In addition, Tamron’s RXD stepping motor unit helps maintain sharp, quiet focus on continuously moving subjects, while the lens is protected by a moisture-resistant construction and a Fluorine Coating. It’s compact too, at 335g and 86.5mm long. It will be available in June for £799.…

LETTER OF THE WEEK 96 years young May I join the AP Readers Geriatric Club? I was born in June 1927, so I’m probably not the eldest member. It seems that I was a slow learner because it took me until I was 11 years old to develop my first film. The film was photographs of model aircraft that I’d made and were contact printed on printing out paper. My interest in aircraft led to a career in the aerospace industry. You are correct in your reply to Mike Rignall’s letter (AP 16 May); we all have our own particular photographic interests. As a compulsive DIY enthusiast, the first AP that I read, passed to me by a family friend, was a happy source of things to make. When I…

Tech Talk Mention the word Nikon, and what probably first comes to mind is the range of top-quality SLRs that dominated photojournalism in the mid to late 20th century. The company wasn’t a one-trick pony though, and over the decades made a whole variety of camera types. Although not so well known in Europe, it started making precision 35mm rangefinders in the late 1940s, similar in quality to the Zeiss and Leica offerings of the time. Move forward a few years, and the firm dipped its toe in the market for simple, fully automatic point-and-shoot cameras. Production for these low-end models was outsourced from Japan to Indonesia. My dad picked this one up in a car boot sale around 20 years ago, and he paid £1 for it. This was…

ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Our chief reviewer takes a first look at Nikon’s Z 8, and tests the Canon EOS R8 AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy shares tips from food photography winners about their creative images JON STAPLEY Save money on kit with Jon’s useful guide to the best mirrorless lenses for under £500 HOLLIE LATHAM HUCKER Technique Editor Hollie and Jessica Miller find out what are AP readers’ favourite lenses JESSICA MILLER Dep. Online Editor Jessica interviews top photographer Annabel Moeller about her 30-year career JON TARRANT The lens expert and photography author on the various ways to create pleasing bokeh…

IT’S BEEN a busy week for smartphone releases with a strong emphasis on camera performance. First up is Sony’s announcement of the Xperia I V, a flagship smartphone with a triple-camera set-up on the rear. These include a 16mm-equivalent f/2.2, 12MP 1/2.5in ultra-wide, a 24mm-equivalent f/1.9, 48MP standard lens with optical image stabilisation (OIS), and an 85-125mm-equivalent telephoto zoom, offering 12MP and OIS. Other improvements include a night mode, on-screen shutter button, and an interface that rotates properly when using vertical/portrait orientation in the Photo Pro and Video Pro modes. A more significant change, however, is the inclusion of new image sensor technology, the Exmor T for mobile, which is designed to further improve low-light and noise performance, with increased sensitivity to light. Other enhancements include a product showcase setting,…

FOLLOWING the beta launch of Adobe’s AI image generator, Firefly, the company has teamed up with Google to bring text-to-image capabilities to Bard – Google’s experimental AI service. Users can access Adobe Firefly via Bard and edit their generated images with Photoshop Express. According to Adobe, more than 70 million images have been generated by Firefly, making it the company’s most successful beta launch ever.…

When I finally picked up the Instax Mini 8 for a photo project, I expected it to be fun – and easy. The camera, with its cute and simplistic design, looks like a toy. And, at around £90, it’s relatively cheap. I had already seen my then-tween sisters recreate their own ‘Polaroid wall’ during the 2010s, inspired by their friends and countless girls on Instagram and Tumblr who had one as well. So, to me, the Instax Mini 8 was not only a toy camera but also inescapably girly, which often translates to ‘not very good’. Spoiler alert: I was so wrong. If anything, shooting with an Instax Mini 8 was harder than shooting with a DSLR. My adventure with the Instax Mini 8 began when most of my extended…

This spring, Farleys House & Gallery – the post-war East Sussex home of Lee Miller – is the base of Annabel Moeller’s first survey exhibition. Comparable to the multifaceted but fascinating work of Lee Miller herself, Annabel covers a range of genres including war and conflict photojournalism, performing arts, interiors, and portraiture. From major productions around the world through to the documentation of current affairs and conflict, the exhibition presents an extraordinary catalogue of human experiences. Early years Annabel’s career to date spans 30 years, with her photographic journey truly beginning when she went to Australia on holiday. But her inspiration started much earlier as her father was working on Fleet Street. ‘I was always seeing him and all his mates having loads of great adventures and all the fun…

It is possible to spend a huge amount of money on mirrorless lenses – at least, if you are the sort of person with huge amounts of money to spend on things. After all, most of the major manufacturers are betting the house on their mirrorless systems, and accordingly, in recent years there’s been a glut of premium, pin-sharp lenses for the likes of Canon RF, Nikon Z, L-mount, et al. With price tags climbing higher and higher, you could be forgiven for concluding that mirrorless systems are made only for professionals and the idle rich. But this isn’t the whole story, as the major manufacturers are actually doing a commendable job of filling out the budget end of their lens catalogues. These lenses don’t always get as much ink…

FRANCO-Cameroonian photographer Samuel Fosso, best known for self portraits where he plays the role of important figures in black history, has won the 2023 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. He received the prestigious £30,000 prize for his retrospective exhibition Samuel Fosso at the Maison Europeìenne de la Photographie, Paris, which traces his career of almost 50 years, bringing together his famous and lesser-known works, archival material and previously unpublished images. The other 2023 shortlisted artists – Bieke Depoorter, Arthur Jafa and Frida Orupabo – all received £5,000. An exhibition of all shortlisted photograhers will be on show at The Photographers’ Gallery until 11 June 2023.…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week Iris by Louise Rayner Nikon D850, Tamron 90mm F/2.8 Macro, 1/125sec at f/5.3, ISO 400 ‘I try to photograph something every day as part of a mindful practice, as I find it helps to slow me down and pushes me to think more creatively. I had a beautiful bunch of spring flowers which were all wilting apart from the iris which was still in full bloom. Using natural window light and given the creamy bokeh this lens produces, I was able to play around by getting very close to the petals and I could produce a different look by changing the position of the vase. I love the softness of these petals against my blue sofa blurred in the background.’…

Will Cheung Photographic journalist Will has been involved in photo magazines for over 35 years, including editing several titles, and has been an experienced photographer for even longer. He is a Fellow of the RPS. Visit www.williamcheung.co.uk Zoom lenses let you change the focal length, or the angle of view in other words, while you’re shooting; but prime lenses offer just a single focal length. It sounds like a zoom lens should be the obvious choice, then, but prime lenses have advantages too. Experienced photographers have learnt what lenses they prefer to use. But if photography is a fairly new passion to you, the decision whether to go for primes or zooms might cause some stress. Rest easy, we’re here to help. Read on… The idea of a single zoom…

John Arnison, Leeds About John John is a photographer who has worked at the BBC. Favourite subjects Night-time waterfalls – I love being outside in the countryside at night. How did you get into photography? From the age of ten I hated school. I was diagnosed as dyslexic at 12, at which time I found I was good at photography. After leaving school I got a couple of jobs assisting, including Mark Gerson and Chris Ridley. I worked for the BBC for years until I worked my way up to being a first assistant. What was your first camera? Kodak Instamatic. Current kit Hasselblad 500c and Mamiya C330. Favourite lens 80mm. Favourite accessory A piece of white card to use for fill-in light. What software do you use for editing?…

Photo Critique We are now so familiar with those statistics that tell us two trillion photographs will be made this year, but I know a photographer who makes a bigger contribution to that staggering number than most – and in analogue, not digital! I speak of my old friend Mick Williamson, who started shooting at least one roll of film a day when we first met nearly 50 years ago. I met him when I gave a talk at Sir John Cass School of Art in Whitechapel, London, in the 1970s; and over the next 20 years he brought groups of photo students from the East End up to my workshop in Derbyshire for field trips. During the past half century, he has accumulated two million images using his 72-frame…