Amateur Photographer 04/01/2022

One of the joys of working on the world’s oldest weekly photography magazine is our sheer breadth of coverage – we aren’t just limited to writing about digital photography and we actively celebrate older cameras. As you’ll see in our cover feature on bargain cameras under £100, AP team members and readers alike have found some amazing buys covering many periods, with one of them, a Kodak Number 2 Folding Pocket Brownie, dating back to 1911. As well as still taking great pictures, it only cost the lucky owner £20. So, if you are looking for a digital or film bargain yourself, turn to page 35 for inspiration – your wallet will thank you for it. Other highlights of this packed issue include how to maintain your film camera, buyer’s guides…

Salvador Dali by Charles Hewitt Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali (1904-1989) clutches an ornate clock at his home in Cadaques on the Costa Brava, Spain, 8 January 1955. This image appeared in the Picture Post story ‘A Day With Salvador Dali.’ The photographer Charles Hewitt visited Dali and his wife (who was also his muse) Gala at their home. During the day, the artist took every opportunity to pose in the quirky and surreal fashion that embodied the spirit of his art works. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic Company in 1854, today it houses over 80 million images spanning the birth of photography to the digital age. Explore it at www.gettyimages.com.…

AP picture of the week The Last Oasis by Abigail Winkle Canon 4000D, Canon 18-55mm, 2.5 seconds at f/18, ISO 100 ‘Walking through my local village taking long exposures of the traffic one evening, I began to notice the puddles which led me to look for reflections. I’ve seen some really cool reflections recently in the photography world and I was keen to try to capture my own,’ says Abigail. ‘I love night-time photography and this photograph is of a takeaway based in Chesterton, Staffordshire. With my trusty tripod in place over a rather large puddle, I began to line up the reflection with the lines in the building and took a few shots. I edited and started to bring out some of the colours using Lightroom but it wasn’t until I flipped it…

LEICA has introduced another special edition of the Leica Q2, the Leica Q2 Reportage. It features Kevlar armour designed to protect the camera, as well as a tough green paint designed to withstand scratches and bumps. The camera itself features a 47MP full-frame CMOS sensor, a 28mm f/1.7 optically stabilised lens, and an ISO range from ISO 50 to ISO 50,000. There’s also a 3.68m-dot OLED viewfinder, a 3in touchscreen and dust- and splash-resistant construction. The Kevlar on this latest special edition is designed to age with the camera, and Leica said this may change in colour over time, with exposure to UV light. The camera has an RRP of £4,950, and it is available now from Leica UK. Last September the company also announced an 007/James Bond special edition.…

ADOBE has announced that its Spark software – used to create web pages, short videos and social media graphics – has become Adobe Creative Cloud Express. The updated tool is free, giving you access to thousands of unique templates, design assets, and Adobe fonts. A paid version, for £10.10 per month, gives additional content including millions of royalty-free photos plus 20,000 Adobe fonts. There’s also basic editing and photo effects built-in, including remove background, and animate. This lets you create content on both the web and on mobile. You can access it directly at adobe.com/express.…

MORE lenses have been announced by Nikon. First up is the full-frame Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 zoom lens for Z-mount cameras. Key features include a f/2.8 maximum aperture across the zoom range, a minimum focus distance of just 0.19m at 28mm and 0.39m at 75mm, and suppressed focus breathing for video. The firm also claims that it will give natural-looking bokeh, facilitated by the large Z mount and rounded 9-blade aperture. It’s available in January for £949. The company has also announced the development of the Nikon Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S, a super-telephoto prime for its full-frame mirrorless Z range (the ‘S’ designation signifies that this is part of Nikon’s premium lens line-up). It’s a PF (Phase Fresnel) lens, the first time this technology has been used in the…