Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/26/24 i Amateur Photographer

This week we offer inspiration for all tastes and interests. If you love wildlife then take a gander at our selection from this year’s Bird Photographer of the Year. If you prefer the sound of beating drums to beating wings then tune in to our pick of the best entries from the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards. They rock! On the other hand if you enjoy nostalgic documentary photography then travel back with us in our time machine to 1980s Britain for our highlights from a new exhibition at Tate Britain. Finally it’s that time of year when our nearest and dearest start asking us what we want for Christmas. If you’re stuck for ideas check out the 39 great suggestions in our accessory gift guide – all of which…

7 daysA week in photography SONY has also revealed a new premium standard zoom, the FE 28-70mm F2 GM. It’s designed for photographers shooting such things as weddings and live events, who want to use a larger aperture than f/2.8 but not give up the flexibility of a zoom. As it’s part of the G Master range, the firm is promising top-quality optics that rival GM primes for sharpness. Sony says that restricting the wide end to 28mm has helped to keep the lens’s size manageable. It’s 93mm in diameter, 140mm in length, and weighs 918g, while accepting 86m filters. The optical formula employs 20 elements in 14 groups, and Nano AR II coating is on board to help suppress flare and ghosting. Four XD linear motors drive the autofocus,…

7 daysA week in photography IT’S been 25 years since Cosina started selling lenses under the Voigtländer brand and to celebrate, the company has released a limited-edition set of Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 50mm F3.5 VM Type I lenses. They are available in grey, olive, or navy, and only 250 have been produced in each colour. The APO-Lanthar 50mm is a manual focus lens for full-frame Leica M-mount cameras. It features eight elements in six groups, four of which are made of anomalous partial dispersion glass for peak optical performance. Each limited-edition lens costs £799. See bit.ly/robertwhiteorder…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Cover star I recently came across your 140th Anniversary issue and was thrilled and astounded to see two of my late uncle’s cover images featured: from 1946 and my own father in ‘Choir Practice’ in 1948, in your Evolution of Covers. Patrick Miller was a talented amateur photographer who in the years after WW2, won many national competitions. He owned quality cameras like Rolleiflex and enjoyed darkroom work, in an era when it was not a popular interest amongst the public. Apart from his own family, my father Charles was a favourite subject. Along with many other humorous posed portraits, I have a print of that ‘Choir Practice’ portrait (shown above). My uncle encouraged me to follow this satisfying creative hobby, as a young boy, and…

ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Our chief reviewer picks out 39 top accessories – put them on your Christmas wishlist HOLLIE LATHAM HUCKER Technique Editor Hollie presents images and tips from this year’s Bird POTY finalists PETER DENCH The AP regular on a major book and exhibition devoted to photography during 1980s Britain AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy highlights the best new books, including A Queer History of Photography PROF BOB NEWMAN In his regular monthly column, Prof Newman looks at depth-of-field calculators JESSICA MILLER Dep. Online Editor Jessica selects some more of your stunning reader images, in It’s good to share…

7 daysA week in photography If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you’ll know I love shooting with a DSLR. I think the ergonomics of a larger camera, with a large grip and optical viewfinder, provide a photographic experience that can’t be matched by electronic viewfinders in mirrorless cameras. However, putting that aside for a second, has the switch by major manufacturers, such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, et al, to mirrorless, and killing off the DSLR market, been a huge marketing mistake? Hear me out. There must be thousands (if not millions) of photographers who have been using DSLRs and love their DSLR cameras, and yet the modern-day mirrorless version just isn’t the same. If we compare it to the car market, is switching from traditional DSLR cameras the…

Tech Talk Professor Newman on… This is the first of a few articles suggested by AP reader Richard Sharp. The topic is depth of field (henceforth ‘DOF’ for brevity), and why the usual depth of field calculations may not result in the image sharpness that he was expecting. Many sources will tell you that deep DOF makes more of the image ‘in focus’, but this is inaccurate. Even worse is the claim that it makes your images ‘sharper’ – technically, it makes them less sharp. Only objects in the precise plane of focus are ‘in focus’, and as the lens is stopped down to gain DOF, these become less sharp due to diffraction softening. What deep DOF does is to reduce the scale of defocus blur, bringing more within acceptable…

You said... Liz Hammond Yes but only with IR filters... an IR converted camera is on my wishlist.... but so are a lot of other things. Craig Johnson Had my old Canon 40D converted years ago and love the B&W it produces. Joe Hayhurst Doesn’t appeal to me, it just looks like a terrible editing mistake. BytownPhoto @BTP_Ottawa No, but my project in school was on a camera that had a convertable sensor for IR/UV if you had a quartz lens. Harry Herd Yes, in my Southampton Camera Club days, many moons ago. Still have my film cameras. As I’m getting on in years, can’t bring myself to trade them in as It brings back so many lovely memories of where and when I used them. Kevin P Kitching Yes,…

Cameras Cameras come in three types: DSLRs with optical viewfinders, mirrorless models with electronic viewing, and compact cameras with non-interchangeable lenses Handgrip DSLRs traditionally have relatively large handgrips, while many mirrorless models have much smaller grips to keep the size down. However, some can accept accessory grips to improve handling with larger lenses. Lens mount Each camera brand uses its own lens mount, and mirrorless cameras use different lenses to DSLRs even from the same brand. However, mirrorless models can often use DSLR lenses via a mount adapter. Controls Entry-level cameras tend to have simple, easy-to-understand controls, while more expensive models add lots of buttons and dials to give quick access to settings. Viewfinder The biggest difference between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras is that the latter use electronic, rather than…

7 daysA week in photography SIGMA has announced that four of its APS-C F1.4 prime lenses will be available for Canon RF mount. On 5 December, Sigma will roll out the 30mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary for £319 and the 56mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary for £419. On 23 January 2025 it plans to release the 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary, for £389, and the 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary for £479. A control algorithm including AF drive and communication speed optimisation has been developed for the lenses, and they also offer Servo AF and in-camera aberration correction (available on supported cameras only).…

7 daysA week in photography £40, Thames & Hudson, hardback, 240 pages, ISBN: 9780500480960 There are many different histories of photography, with lots of books and exhibitions seeking to examine how different groups have approached and been entwined with the medium. Calling The Shots is one such volume. Drawing from the vast photography collection at the V&A, this book takes a broad and bold look at the history of photography as told through a queer lens. Spread across six thematic chapters, along with five artist-in-focus sections, we see images from pioneering LGBTIQ+ photographers (and their subjects), with over a century of activism, community-forging, performance and nightlife to examine. There are more than 200 images here, with explorations of identity, examinations of the self, what it’s like to live your everyday…

NiSi Clever Cleaner for square filters ● £7 ● nisioptics.co.uk If you’re a regular user of square filters, you’ll know how easy it is to get them covered in fingerprints from sliding them into the holder and removing them after use. This handy device springs open to reveal a rectangular felt cleaning pad, to help keep their surfaces clean and in perfect condition. Packed up it measures just 8x4x1.5cm, so it will slip easily into your camera bag. VSGO Tumbler air blower ● £19 ● vsgophoto.com Bulb air blowers are invaluable for keeping your camera’s sensor clean of dust, which can leave unsightly blobs on your images. This 10cm tall version is a particularly fine example. It filters the air that it draws into the bulb and employs a soft…

AP picture of the week Poppies at Dawn by Chloe Miller Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 70-300mm, 1/500sec at f/5.6, ISO 1000 ‘I love the angle of this image and the level of detail it captures. The angle I chose was intentional, as it offers a perspective that highlights the subject and draws your attention to its most striking features. I was able to showcase the textures and form in a way that feels both dynamic and intimate.’ Instagram: chloemillerphotography_ #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 framing company with a unique, easy-to-use website. Build single or multi-image frames with a few clicks…

Grandparents can often be responsible for embedding core memories that last a lifetime. That first fishing trip, train journey, football match or bag of Werther’s Originals. The gift of a stamp or coin that made you awestruck and ignited a childhood passion. For me it was gin, cigarettes and dice game Shut the Box. For Daniel Stephen Homer, it was space. ‘I am no astronomer, it must be said, but my interest runs deep. When I was a child, my grandfather would hoist me atop his shoulders, point upwards and name the constellations. I was too young then, to now recall much else of him. So, I have this single early image in my mind, more like a photograph than a memory.’ Twisted web Over five years, photographer Daniel traced…