Innholdsfortegnelse for 3/26/2024 i Amateur Photographer

This week’s issue is nothing if not eclectic. Magnum photographer Mark Power has been engaged in a long-term project on America and its endlessly fascinating culture and has just released his latest instalment. We talk to Mark about his work and show some of his latest images. From big countries to small mammals, Julian Rad shares the techniques behind his amazing shots of small mammals in his local park. Our regular series on great album cover photos tells the story behind Taylor Swift’s album, 1989. For the kit lovers John Wade looks at classic half-frame cameras, and we test the new, great-value Sigma 17mm F4 DG DN. If you enjoy the variety that you get from AP why not subscribe? Turn to page 16 for details. This week’s cover image…

WHEN the full-frame mirrorless EOS RF system was announced with a new lens mount in 2018, many industry commentators took it as a sign that it was only a matter of time until the Canon EOS M series was discontinued. That time seems to have come, as Canon EOS M mirrorless cameras and EF-M lenses have now been removed from the Canon UK online store. Most lenses are also listed as out of stock at big retailers such as Wex Photo Video and Park Cameras. While there are a few lenses left on Amazon and with smaller retailers, readers will need to act fast if they want to buy a new EF-M lens. All EOS M system camera bodies including the popular M50 and M50 Mark II were discontinued in…

Julian Rad Born in Vienna, Austria in 1991, photographer Julian Rad has made his mark with photographs of small wild and semi-habituated animals, including ground squirrels, hamsters, rabbits, foxes, birds and insects. His work has appeared in international publications, from Natur to the Daily Express. He has won multiple awards in competitions, including Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, Euronatur, Terra Mater, and GEO’s Funny Animals Photocontest. He runs ground squirrel workshops in Vienna. Visit radwildlife.com/en/home/ and Instagram @julianradwildlife I grew up in Vienna, near the Danube, where the Danube-Auen National Park is located. Growing up surrounded by nature, I was captivated by the intricate patterns, behaviours, and habitats of animals I encountered. My journey into photography began with a keen interest in macro photography (insects), when I was 20. Macro photography…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week North Cornish Gold by Daryl McCabe Sony Alpha 7 III, 70-200mm f/4, 1/500sec at f/4, ISO 320 ‘This was a balmy January day in North Cornwall, with the rare combination of good waves and nice weather. I’d just got changed from surfing and noticed the golden glow hitting the cliffs, and one lucky surfer all on his own. I quickly grabbed my camera, ran down the beach, and fired off a few frames before the sun disappeared for the day.’ Instagram: @daryltmccabe Facebook: Daryl McCabe Photography #appicoftheweek Win! The AP Pic of the Week winner will receive a beautifully framed print of their winning image worth up to £100. If you Love it, Frame it! ThisPicture.com is an experienced, high-quality…

Photo Critique I have been writing this column for almost a year now and this is the first time I have thought of selecting a picture by my old friend Peter Mitchell. This surprises me as firstly I love so much of his work, secondly his popularity is immense, and thirdly his images are constantly enjoyed by so many of you. Bristol bedroom In addition, I have one of those strange overlapping relationships with him that often make my life in photography so varied and amusing. For over a year each week in 2019 either Peter or I would visit the Bristol home of publisher Rudi Thoemmes and use his spare room as a base for our work – Peter on his archive and books, me on the development of…

JULIAN RAD In our big technique feature, wildlife pro Julian shares his tips for stunning shots of small wild animals PETER DENCH The AP regular talks to Magnum’s Mark Power about his book on the USA’s cultural and physical landscape DAMIEN DEMOLDER Former AP editor Damien tests Sigma’s small and light 17mm f/4 I-series lens JOHN WADE Halve your film costs by using a 35mm half-frame camera. Our expert on vintage cameras is your guide STEVE FAIRCLOUGH The AP regular discovers the inside story of a great Taylor Swift album cover ROD LAWTON In the latest in our Affinity Publisher series, editing pro Rod shows you how to make a leaflet for your business…

NIKON has announced a firmware update for the Nikon Z 9, the fourth since the camera came out in 2021. Version 5.0 adds a reserve function to Auto Capture, enabling users to set a shooting start date and duration in advance to help save battery life. Aviation fans will also appreciate the addition of the Airplanes AF subject-detection mode to Auto Capture. The firmware update also adds a Rich Tone Portrait Picture Control and other features for portrait and event photographers, and a low-speed (C15) option to the High-Speed Frame Capture+ settings. Full details are at bit.ly/z9firmware…

LONDON Camera Exchange (LCE) has announced the winners of its LCE Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. UK-based Marilyn Taylor won the overall first prize with a photo of a long-tongued bat in Costa Rica. ‘It was so dark that it was very difficult to see these tiny bats flying like ghosts,’ said Marilyn. ‘We could only photograph for a short time, as they soon flew off. This was probably one of the most interesting shoots I’ve ever been on – it was absolutely fascinating. The fact that I achieved a couple of super images out of it was a terrific bonus.’ The awards were presented at a special ceremony at The Photography & Video Show on 17 March. All winners and runners-up had their images displayed in an exhibition…

● £60 - £235 ● pny.com/en-eu ALMOST all current cameras use SD cards, but when choosing one to buy, it’s easy to get lost in the confusing alphabetti spaghetti of speed ratings and classes. As a result, it can be difficult to work out why you might select any particular card, rather than a cheaper or more expensive option. Even when you know exactly what you’re looking for, PNY’s EliteX-PRO90 might be seen as too good to be true, as it has a super-fast rating at a fraction of the price of brands such as SanDisk or Lexar. Available in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB sizes, this card declares its credentials up front, with read speeds up to 300MB/sec and write speeds up to 280MB/sec clearly written on the packet. This…

7 daysA week in photography RYAN Stalker has won the latest British Wildlife Photography Awards competition with an image of a floating football covered in goose barnacles. He beat 14,000 other entries in ten categories and takes home the £14,000 grand prize. Meanwhile, Max Wood was named RSPB Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year for an image of a coot taking off in mist. The 2025 competition is now open for entries – see www.bwpawards.org…

With an essay by Geoff Dyer, £38, Kehrer Verlag, hardcover, 96 pages, ISBN 978-3969001363 This unusual book portrays Hong Kong very effectively, finds Ailsa McWhinnie I really wasn’t sure about this book at first. I wasn’t absolutely certain what I was supposed to be looking at, and it took me a while to get to grips with it. However, the longer that I spent with the images within it, the more I appreciated their substance and detail, and the fleeting moments that had been captured. The photographer behind the book is Mikko Takkunen, a picture editor at the New York Times. And this book is certainly tightly edited. The placing of each of the 68 images has been carefully considered and they paired beautifully across the pages. In one example,…

If you have the right equipment, physical measurements of technological articles are quite easy. Image sensors are particularly straightforward, because they are themselves measuring devices. So long as it is known how they should respond to a stimulus, how they actually do tells most that there is to know about performance. But that depends on what you think ‘performance’ means. The image sensor industry relies on several metrics to measure sensor performance. These include quantum efficiency, sensitivity and read noise. But the question is, how are these relevant to photographers? Quantum efficiency measures the effectiveness of the sensor in turning incident light photons into measurable charge. This affects how noisy an image looks, so it’s relevant to photographers. But it’s not the sole determinant of noise, so taken in isolation…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Editing mistakes You don’t have to be a royalist to feel sorry for Princess Catherine after the frenetic reaction to her making mistakes whilst editing her family image. Many of us amateur photographers have badly edited our images and ours are not scrutinised by the top picture agencies in the world. The lesson for all of us is to be careful how we edit our images because we don’t always know who will get to see them. It would be nice for AP to arrange a sympathetic interview with her about her interest in photography. John Bolt Win! A Samsung 256GB PRO Ultimate SDXC memory card. The PRO Ultimate card offers read speeds of up to 200MB/s and write speeds of up to 130MB/s. Plus 6…