Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/17/24 i Amateur Photographer

AI IS NOW so omnipresent in the photography business that it’d be daft to call 2024 ‘another’ year of AI. It’s here to stay, now appearing in many photo-editing programs and apps. That said, even tub-thumping AI evangelists have been put slightly on the defensive this year, and while it’s too soon to predict exactly how AI will change photography, some interesting trends are emerging. Firstly, we’re going to start seeing much clearer indications of how AI was used in the creation of a digital image (if at all). After a lot of committee chin-stroking, the wider adoption of ‘Content Credentials’ accelerated this year, with Adobe announcing a new extension for the Chrome web browser that makes easier to see who produced an image/video on our screen, the tools and…

The end of the year and the festive break is a good time to think about sorting out your photographic archive once and for all. Earlier this year, my father died and one of the tasks that has since fallen to me is to adopt and sort out our family photo archive. There is an entire bookshelf of photo albums to go through – nobody in our family has room to keep such a big physical archive, so it’ll be up to me to prune, digitise and responsibly dispose of whatever’s left. This got me thinking about my own legacy and our family archive going forward. What do I want my own children to inherit from me? In some ways, now we’re out of the print era, the problem is…

Mikko Takkunen, Photo Editor, International, The New York Times The civil war in Sudan which broke in April 2023 has largely been forgotten by the international community. The New York Times was trying to gain access to the country since the start of the war and our chief Africa correspondent Declan Walsh and freelance photographer Ivor Prickett finally gained access a year later. They spent three weeks in the country in April of this year. They were some of the first Western journalists to make such a visit. We published a front-page story of their visit in the beginning of June which was led online by this image of a lightly-geared soldier on a humble motorbike glancing at the heavily destroyed streets of the historic, sprawling Al-Shaabi market in Omdurman,…

Andy Westlake, Technical Editor Normanton Sunset, Rutland, August Fujifilm X-T5, XF 16-80mm F4 at 16mm, 1/25sec at f/8, ISO 250 Some photos are all about careful planning. Others are about spectacular locations. This one, though, is all about being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and seizing the opportunity. I shot it in August, during a break in my drive back to London from a holiday on the North Yorkshire coast. I was staying at Rutland Water, and an hour or so earlier had gone for an hour’s walk under dull grey skies. But when I looked out of my window and saw the sky lighting up, I grabbed my camera and ran back out to one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve witnessed.…

Fujifilm X-T50 The Fujifilm X-T5 is one of my favourite cameras, so when I learned that Fujifilm was about to launch a smaller, lighter version just as I was about to go on holiday, I had to take one with me to try out. Holidays are a chance to spend some quality time with my wife so there’s a limit to how much I can allow photography to encroach on that. I need to travel light. The X-T50 features the same design dial-based design concept as the X-T5 (unlike Fujifilm’s other smallish camera, the X-S20) but weighs just 438g. With the 27mm f/2.8 pancake lens fitted, it will slip into a blazer pocket, while weighing almost exactly the same as its fixed-lens compact sibling, the X100VI. Some small cameras don’t…

Steve Gray Sealskinz Worstead Waterproof Cold Weather Knee Length Socks Instagram @stevegray_photography I like to shoot in stormy and rainy conditions, and I often shoot on beaches or around the coast. I find that once your boots and socks get wet, they stay wet and it doesn’t take much for you to start to feel the cold. There is nothing worse than cold feet when you are trying to focus on a shot. So, after some research I purchased a pair of Sealskinz waterproof socks; they are very similar to thick walking socks and can be worn with walking boots. The first time I wore them I was shooting a lighthouse in Norfolk, and it was about a mile walk through long damp grass to the spot I wanted to…

STAYING with smartphones, some great new models for photographers have appeared this year. Highlights include the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which features a one-inch sensor and stepless variable aperture, from f/1.63 to f/4. Samsung launched the flagship S24 Ultra, with the usual impressive cameras. At the other end of the price scale, the Samsung Galaxy A55 shows cheap needn’t be nasty, offering a 50MP f/1.8 wideangle camera, 4K video recording, generous 6.6in screen and more. Other stand-outs in 2024 include the Vivo X100 Pro, with its exceptional macro performance, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro, a compact flagship that takes fantastic photos in most situations. While Apple got some flak for launching the iPhone 16 in September without all its new AI features actually ready, the company is still a force…

Nigel Atherton Editor Ramadan Celebrations in Gaza by Belal Khaled 2024’s biggest ongoing documentary photography story must surely be Israel’s daily onslaught against the Palestinian population following the 7 October 2023 attacks. Anyone who pays attention has probably already seen far too many images of death, destruction and suffering. This visually beautiful image by Belal Khaled, taken in Rafah, Gaza, conveys a rare moment of joy and hope as two children light lanterns for Ramadan, surrounded by the city of tents in which they are now forced to live. They are among the lucky ones – more than 11,000 other children, just like these, have had their lives extinguished in Gaza during the last year. Rebeca Andrade, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles on the podium at the Paris Olympics The…

Liz Hatton (b. 2007) Liz Hatton, an exceptionally talented young photographer, died in November at the age of 17 after battling an aggressive Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour. Despite her diagnosis, Hatton continued to pursue her passion for photography, creating a bucket list appeal of what she wanted to accomplish in the final year of her life. Hailing from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Hatton discovered her love for photography in Year 6, saving up to buy her first camera. She achieved top grades in GCSE Photography before starting A-level studies at Harrogate Grammar School. Her natural talent led her to capture images of renowned figures and events, including comedian Michael McIntyre, the Royal Ballet, and the MTV Europe Music Awards. Hatton also photographed the UK premiere of Venom: The Last Dance…

When film photography was at its peak, there was a wide range of different film and frame sizes available and the maxim ‘the bigger the better’ was widely acknowledged to be true when it came to image quality. That still holds today for digital camera sensors, but the huge technological leaps made in recent years mean that Fujifilm’s latest medium format cameras redefine the genre and offer some significant advantages over full-frame models. Here’s what you need to know. The power of the GFX sensor At the heart of the GFX100 II and GFX100S II’s advantages lies their large (43.8x32.9mm) sensors, that’s about 1.7x the size of a full-frame sensor. This difference in size has a profound impact on image quality. For a start it means both cameras pack 102…

Fujifilm X100VI I had the luck of going to Japan to use the Fujifilm X100VI, a camera that, despite being manufactured at double the rate of the X100V, is still in high demand, and still on a waiting list if you actually want to buy one new. It truly is a runaway success story for Fujifilm, and it’s incredible that no other manufacturer has come up with an alternative. I mean seriously, why is there no digital version of the Olympus Trip 35 or 35 RC etc, or the Canon Canonet? In every way the Fujifilm X100VI is the ultimate compact camera, with a high-quality prime lens, a large APS-C sensor (now with 40MP resolution), and oodles of style. And I mean oodles. Fujifilm also added in-body image stabilisation (IBIS)…

Fujifilm X-T5 Of all the cameras I’ve used for my work and leisure travels in 2024, the Fujifilm X-T5 is my overall favourite. The camera is simply a delight to use. Let me elaborate… Stills photography is its raison d’etre, and it is unapologetic about this, rather than being encumbered with lots of advanced video features or vlogging extras designed to attract new audiences. The cool-looking X-T5 is a proper photographer’s camera and is perfectly suited to travel, being light (557g), compact and sturdy. Yes the sensor might ‘only’ be APS-C, but I have no complaints about the richly detailed images generated by the 40.2MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR chip. Noise is very well controlled, with the ISO range stretching from 125-12,800, which is expandable to 64-51,200 (not that…

THE YEAR 2024 was also a significant one for Amateur Photographer. We celebrated our 140th anniversary, and we’d like to thank all the generations of readers and advertisers who’ve helped to make AP the oldest weekly photography title in the world. We’ve been hosting events, too, with the first, highly successful AP Student Roadshow taking place at the University of South Wales in October. More exciting events are planned for 2025, so watch this space – AP also has a stand at The Photography Show, taking place at the London Excel for the first time from 8-11 March. Don’t miss our round-up of the best cameras and lenses of 2024, starting on page 71…

Damien Demolder Photographer and journalist Damien has worked in the photographic publishing industry since 1997 and is the former editor of Amateur Photographer. He writes regularly for several leading publications and has also been a judge on a number of prestigious international photo competitions. www.damiendemolder.com We often talk about the power of photography as though it’s some divine force for good and truth that has the capacity to liberate the people of the world. It can be, of course, but that’s just one side of the matter. Photography can be used to reveal facts and to raise issues just as much as it can be used to convince us of things that aren’t true – or at least, aren’t quite as they seem. What I think of Donald Trump is…

We feature dozens of photography books in AP every year, so narrowing down just a few to show you in our annual round-up of the best ones is quite a tricky task. But it’s also a joyful one because it’s a great reminder that the publishing industry is very much thriving at the moment – as you can imagine, there are even more books that we simply didn’t have room to include on these seven pages. In this list, I’ve tried to be as diverse as possible. I’ve included books across a range of genres and tastes, as well as those which include contemporary photography, and others which feature historic or archive work. Over the next few pages, the books are presented in no particular order. It was difficult enough…

Welcome to my roundup of the highlights of the past year, in terms of photographic kit. Across the next few pages, I’ll take a look back at the most exciting and significant camera and lenses released in 2024. But first, let’s examine some trends. Perhaps the most significant milestone of 2024 is that it looks set to be the first year since the late 1990s that not a single new DSLR model has appeared at all. Nor have there been any new lenses for DSLRs. It’s been four years since either Canon or Nikon introduced an EF or F-mount product, and while Ricoh has gamely attempted to keep the Pentax K-mount alive, it now appears to have turned its attentions elsewhere. It’s clear that the shift to mirrorless is (almost)…

Pentax 17 I’ve reviewed a fair few products this year, including a new Asus phone and the GoPro HERO 12. But the Pentax 17 was such a highlight during the summer I couldn’t not mention it here. Alongside the Fujifilm X100VI, the Pentax 17 has been one of the most hyped and talked-about cameras on social media in 2024. My first film camera was the Pentax K1000, and my first DSLR the K-70. So as a known Pentax fan, I was excited and really wanted to review the Pentax 17. Thanks to our friends at Analogue Wonderland, I was able to try out the camera for a couple of months before giving it away to one of our lucky Instagram followers. The Pentax 17 came to the market 20 years…

Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II I spent the first half of this year away from my desk most of the time, enjoying maternity leave. But when I got back in June I was keen to hit the ground running. One of my first tasks was to take on the review of this stunning new lens from Sony, which I was lucky enough to secure a sample of well ahead of its reveal. This is a fairly rare opportunity for us, and gave me the time to set about creating some great work with it. The FE 85mm F1.4GM II is positioned as an ideal portrait lens for Sony users, so I wanted to make sure I scouted a model to really put it through its paces. I found Nel…

Lenses Interchangeable lenses come in a huge array of types for shooting different kinds of subjects IN GENERAL, the easiest way to expand the kinds of pictures you can take is by buying different types of lenses. For example, telephoto lenses let you zoom in on distant subjects, while macro lenses enable close-ups of small objects. Large-aperture lenses allow you to isolate subjects against blurred backgrounds, or shoot in low light without having to raise the ISO too high. Meanwhile, all-in-one superzooms cover a wide range of subjects, but usually with rather lower optical quality. Lens mounts On the whole, each manufacturer uses its own proprietary lens mount. Notable exceptions are Micro Four Thirds, shared by Olympus and Panasonic, and the full-frame L-mount that’s used by Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.…