Amateur Photographer 21.06.2022_downmagaz.net

Tuesday 21 June 2022 TESTED SWfraihygmthmeiswcaoidme2paa0nctg,mlaeffoismrdaasbtFluen,2nfuerll Passionate about photography since 1884 Cash Camerafrom your Expert advice on how to earn money from your photography – from those who do Collect classics How to make money buying and selling vintage cameras Stock libraries Twelve £3.75 formats What’s selling, and how to succeed in this market Tony Kemplen used a different film format each month for a year K KELSEYmedia Camera Buy9icn2g36Gbu2i8d-8e71c130-m40odee9ls-bfe0afteu-re8d8ifn40oubr5c7o3m9pere9hensive listings

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7days COVER PICTURE © ROBERTO MOIOLA/SYSAWORLD/GETTY IMAGES The binary labelling of all sell some of their work on the side. Photography photographers as either ‘amateur’ can be expensive so this week we focus on ways or ‘professional’ misses the point that we can earn some income from our work to that many people, including a subsidise the cost, whether from selling pictures lot of AP readers, occupy a world through stock libraries, setting up a photography somewhere in between. With business, or by buying and selling vintage cameras. fewer pros than ever able to pay a mortgage solely Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to afford from photography, many have to supplement their to spend £12 million on an old camera, as someone business with an unrelated day job. Conversely the just did for Oscar Barnack’s personal Leica 0. Read internet makes it easier than ever for hobbyists to all about it on page 8. Nigel Atherton, Editor This week’s If you’d like to see your words or pictures published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how: cover image SOMETHING TO SAY? Write to us at [email protected] with your letters, opinion columns (max 500 words) or article suggestions. This week’s cover image PICTURES Send us a link to your website or gallery, or attach a set of low-res sample images (up to a total of 5MB) to [email protected]. by Roberto Moiola was JOIN US ONLINE Post your pictures into our Flickr, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram communities. shot at Lake Limmernsee, Switzerland. amateurphotographer.co.uk facebook.com/ flickr.com/groups/ @AP_Magazine @ap_magazine amateur.photographer.magazine amateurphotographer In this issue This week in 1956 3 7 days 8 Leica auction TREASURES FROM THE HULTON ARCHIVE 12 Keep it in stock 19 Inbox © GETTY IMAGES 24 Reader portfolio 26 From little to large 30 Join the club 32 How to make photography work in 2022 40 Sell buy debate 47 Sigma 20mm F2 DG DN | C 50 Accessories 52 Tech talk 55 Buying Guide: Cameras 66 Final analysis Hepburn at Paris by Bert Hardy SUBSCRIBE Audrey Hepburn in a Paris street during the filming of released the following year, and was a box-office AND SAVE! Funny Face, June 1956. The image, taken by the disappointment. It gained success later after the legendary Bert Hardy, was included in the Picture Post 1964 release of one of Hepburn’s career-defining See page 38 for details article entitled ‘Audrey Dances with Astaire’ in June films and smash-hit My Fair Lady. Funny Face was 1956. The film, also starring Fred Astaire, was re-released at that time and went on to make a profit. 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. 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9

*PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY Our favourite photos posted by readers on our social media channels this week AP picture of the week Passenger’s View by Toby Hayes Canon EOS 77D, 50mm lens, 1/160sec at f/1.8, ISO 100 ‘When I went to take this image, the intention for the photoshoot was mainly to focus on street photography until I came across a vintage car meet-up. Introducing myself to the nice people at the car meet-up, they were quite willing for me to photograph their cars. I wanted to photograph the interior of the cars and that led to an image like this.’ Toby is based in Doncaster and is hoping to study photography at university. Instagram: @tobyhayes_photography #appicoftheweek Win! Each week we choose our favourite picture on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr or Twitter using #appicoftheweek. PermaJet proudly supports the online picture of the week winner, who will receive a top-quality print of their image on the finest PermaJet paper*. It is important to bring images to life outside the digital sphere, so we encourage everyone to get printing today! Visit www.permajet.com to learn more. 4 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Indian White-eye by Swaroopsankar Sivadasan Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 ED VR, 1/500sec at f/6.3, ISO 1600 ‘I am passionate about being outdoors and photography came along as a part of that. This photo of the Indian White-eye was taken at the end of last year when I visited my native place in India. We visited a photography hide in one of the famous birding locations of South India – Munnar. We shot a countless number of photos of different species endemic to South India that day.’ Instagram: @swaroopsankar.sivadasan www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 5

In Your Eyes By Chantal Carrère Nikon Z 6II, 1/800sec at f/8, ISO 2200 ‘Early in the morning, this blue dragonfly is here to dry its wings. I found this photograph easy to capture as it didn’t move! It’s placed on a grass still wet with dew,’ Chantal tells us. View more of Chantal’s photos on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/countrygirl33 and Instagram @carrere.chantal We also liked... Painting with Light By James Ross Nikon Z 7, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S, 1/40sec at f/13, ISO 64 ‘While visiting the Louvre Abu Dhabi, I was exploring the different alleys and paths between the various buildings, under the patterned canopy roof. Turning a corner, past a Turkish-inspired courtyard, I saw this path full of clean geometric lines and dramatic shadow and light.’ Instagram: @rosskov Want to see your pictures here? Share them with our Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook communities using the hashtag #appicoftheweek. Or email your best photograph to us at [email protected]. See page 3 for how to find us. 6 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

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Oskar Barnack’s personal Leica sells for £12.3 million at auction Leica 0-series no.105 smashes record to become the most expensive camera ever sold. Andy Westlake reports from Wetzlar LEICA cameras aren’t exactly known camera with a lens that retracts into the Alexander Sedlak, Managing Director of the Leitz for being cheap, indeed the latest body. It’s almost 100 years old, with a Photographica Auction, with the Leica 0-series no.105 Leica M11 rangefinder will set you back patina that reflects its age. Much of the £7,500, and that’s before you even add original black paint has worn away to a lens. But how about £10.25 million? reveal the brass underneath, and a few That’s how much an ultra-rare vintage parts have even been replaced by a Leica sold for at auction in Wetzlar, previous owner, whose name is engraved Germany, on Saturday 11 June. And on top of the viewfinder. that’s just the hammer price; add on the buyer’s premium (a 20% surcharge that However, this isn’t the kind of old goes to the auction house) and the total camera you might find, forgotten and price becomes €14,400,000, or £12.3 abandoned, in your grandparents’ loft, million! I was there watching among a that’s suffered some kludgy home-brew rapt audience, as the bidding unfolded repairs. It’s an ultra-rare Leica 0-series, and the record was set. serial number 105, and that owner’s To the untutored eye, the new name belongs to its inventor, the record-holder doesn’t even look all that legendary Oskar Barnack. Oh, and it’s much. I was lucky enough to be able to recently been tested with film, and still view it up-close on the day before it sold, works perfectly. To committed collectors, and it’s a surprisingly small black 35mm there’s probably no more desirable camera on the planet. 8 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

A black-paint Leica MP sold for €960,000 The accompanying An auction full of lens cap bears variety Barnack’s initials IT WASN’T just the 0-series number 105 that went on sale in Wetzlar, or indeed only Leica cameras. In The Leica 0-series archives here in Wetzlar. You could fact, the auction comprised 433 lots, including Canon, compare it to a personal camera from Contax, Hasselblad, Nikon, and Olympus cameras. So what does ‘0-series’ mean? This Daguerre, or the Lumiere brothers, Vintage black-paint M cameras sold especially well. A camera is one of just 20-odd prototypes those would be the same category. It’s very early Leica MP raised €960,000, well over twice made by Leica in 1923, to test the not just about the value of the camera, its estimate, while an M3 from the first black batch market’s appetite for a pocket camera but the historical importance.’ sold for €384,000. Personally I was rather besotted by that used 35mm film. The experiment an ex-West German army, olive paint Leica M3 kit, but proved a success and the production So who bought ‘105’, and did they at €102,000 it proved to be a little beyond my means. version, the Leica 1, is now considered really pay quite the price that Leica This wasn’t purely an occasion for super-rich the first practical 35mm camera. claims? We’ll never know the answer to collectors, though. Within the busy auction room was Indeed Barnack’s design still has major the former, as such things aren’t made Peter Loy, one of the UK’s leading classic camera repercussions today, as the 36x24mm public knowledge. But it’s unlikely they dealers, friend of AP and regular advertiser, picking out negative size that he chose is now will pay the full 20% premium, and whatever bargains were to be had. At one point, a known as ‘full frame’. would instead have negotiated a fee in couple in front of me delighted in acquiring a special advance. So maybe not quite £12.3m, edition Leica R-E SLR kit made for the 1992 Olympics, Of those early 0-series cameras, but rather more than £10.3m for sure. in mint condition and complete with a 28-70mm lens maybe a dozen survive. Another one and all paperwork, for under €1700. A couple of Leica sold for €2,400,000 in 2018 – the Barnack’s name is engraved on top IIIs went for under €500 each. previous record for a camera. But with Other lots worthy of mention included an extremely Barnack’s name attached, this one is rare black Olympus OM-1 modified for NASA, which sold even more special. for €6,000 – possibly a record for an Olympus camera, reckons Peter Loy. A Canon J II prototype sold for For the expert’s view I asked €22,800, while a Contax II once owned by American Alexander Sedlak, managing director of photographer Walker Evans fetched €18,000. the Leitz Photographica Auction, Last but not least, special mention has to be made whether any other camera in existence of the one-of-a-kind Leica MP, gold plated and dressed could possibly be more valuable. ‘Not in ostrich leather, with its serial number engraved only one that I know. Maybe the first on the underside of the film lever. Specially donated by prototype, the ur-Leica, which was made Leica and destined to be a future collectable, it raised in 1914, but this is still in our Leica €72,000 for charity. The collector’s view This unique gold-plated MP raised €72,000 for charity To explain further just why this camera is so desirable, I turned to Amateur Photographer’s vintage camera guru, and committed collector, John Wade. ‘Among the many things collectors look for when buying a camera, two major factors stand out: rarity and provenance,’ he explains. ‘This camera has both by the bucketload. It’s super-rare because it is one of only a handful of pre-production prototypes that led to the launch of the Leica I in 1925, the camera that made 35mm truly viable and therefore kickstarted the most popular film format ever. ‘So this is a rare and important camera in its own right. Add its provenance and you begin to see why the price is so high. Because this actual camera belonged to Oskar Barnack, the man who invented the Leica. ‘Is it worth the money? Well, yes and no. Speaking as a camera collector of many years standing I would not buy it, as I am not that much interested in Leicas. But if I was a serious Leica collector who was also seriously rich, I would move heaven and earth to buy it.’ www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 9

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Sony’s latest Books & exhibitions smartphone, the Xperia 1 The latest and best books and exhibitions IV, has an from the world of photography 85-125mmm true optical zoom Sony: smartphone image © SEBASTIÃO SALGADO quality set to beat cameras Amazônia THE PRESIDENT and CEO of Sony will surpass that of DSLRs and inter- Semiconductor Solutions, Terushi changeable lens mirrorless cameras. Until 14 August. Science and Industry Shimizu, has predicted that the image Museum, Manchester. Free (booking required) quality of smartphones will exceed that Sony expects ‘large pixel, large-sized of all interchangeable lens cameras image sensors’ in ‘high-end’ For those not fortunate enough to make it to London (ILCs) by 2024.   smartphones to have doubled in size by to see this incredible exhibition by Sebastião At an official Sony Group Imaging & fiscal year 2030 in comparison to those Salgado (winner of our recent Power of Photography Sensing Solutions briefing, held on 27 sensors seen during fiscal year 2019. Award), you’ve got another chance as the show is May, Shimizu said, ‘Within the last few currently in Manchester. years, we expect [smartphone] still Sony says the larger pixels on larger images to exceed the image quality of sensors will allow high-end smartphones Salgado’s photography, which can be described as single-lens cameras.’ to ‘pursue a high-performance camera masterful, breathtaking and engaging, is a One of the slides in Shimizu’s system by developing technology that celebration of the indigenous peoples and the presentation stated, ‘Still images are realises a new imaging experience.’ beautiful and varied landscapes of the Brazilian expected to exceed ILC image quality by rainforest. Working on the project for seven years, mobile camera’s large pixel, plus High For stills this technology will include Salgado worked with 12 indigenous communities to Quantum saturation technology and AI improved Super HDR modes, zooms that get an extremely rare glimpse of their lives. The processing.’ The use of ILC suggests combine folded optics with AI algorithms results, created powerfully in black & white, give you Sony believes smartphone image quality and ‘two-layer transistor pixel a real feeling of immersion – especially as the technology’, which promises to improve exhibition is accompanied by a soundtrack which the dynamic range on smartphone evokes the sound of the forest. cameras and help reduce low-light noise. We highly recommend a visit to this exhibition – Rogue flash modifiers range revealed even those who’ve seen it might like to go again. The fact that it’s free is incredible too – don’t miss out. EXPOIMAGING has announced a flashguns. Both the Rogue Flash Grid 45 range of compact Rogue Round and Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome allow Congo, A Sublime Struggle Flash Magnetic Modifiers, gels and kits you to control light from your flash for by Finbarr O’Reilly that are compatible with round flashes wedding and event portrait photography. and rectangular speedlight flashes. £35, Reliefs / Fondation Carmignac, hardback, The products fit all popular round shoe There are also Rogue Round Flash 128 pages, ISBN: Unknown mount flashes, such as those from Gels available in two sets – Ultimate Godox, Geekoto and Westcott. Portrait Collection and Colour Correction British-Canadian photographer Compatibility with the Profoto A1, Profoto Collection – with a diameter of 71.5mm. Finbarr O’Reilly was awarded the A1x and Profoto A10 flashes will require 11th Carmignac Photojournalism the use of a Rogue PF Adapter. Visit www.rogueflash.com. Award for his reportage on the The range includes the six-magnet Democratic Republic of Congo. Rogue Round Flash Modifiers and the Some of His work began in January 2020, but due to Covid, Rogue Flash Adapter for adding multiple the Rogue ‘Congo in Conversation’ was launched instead, light modifiers to speedlights. The Rogue produced with Congolese photographers and Flash Gel Lens lets you attach colour flash journalists. As borders re-opened, O’Reilly resumed correction or creative gels to circular modifiers his work, which is presented here. The book’s themes are security and human rights in the eastern DRC, as range well as the environment, climate crisis, the country’s colonial history and how ongoing extractive industries affect and exploit the lives of the Congolese. This is a beautifully arresting piece of work that deserves wider attention. Highly recommended. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 11

Technique SELLING FOR STOCK Keep it in stock? A lot of photographers in popular genres assume stock image sales have gone south. But is that true across the board? As Kingsley Singleton discovers, there are still opportunities to make money with a bit of creative thinking © GETTY IMAGES T he market for stock images Content at Getty Images. ‘To succeed, Above: There is VisualGPS, he says, which helps has changed massively thanks you need a passion for photography, still a demand for customers discover the images that to the impact of the internet, consistent quality, variety, style, and strong travel resonate with their audience using and payment rates may have high volumes of work. But with more imagery post market surveys, search data, and the fallen, but there is still a market there – than 825,000 customers purchasing Covid, says Getty experience of its analysts. And it’s and you don’t need to invest massively from Getty Images every year, sales not just a tool that customers can in facilities and equipment like the are there to be had.’ use – photographers themselves can biggest ‘stock farms’. Over the next few look for inspiration in what sells. pages, we speak to a range of agencies Get trending and successful stock shooters to see These trends are backed up by what’s selling and get some pointers on What about trends? ‘For commercial another of stock photography’s big doing it better. uses there’s a huge range of needs,’ players, Alamy. Sophie Basilevitch, Richard continues, ‘but one of the Senior Content Executive, tells us ‘The stock photography and video recent stand-outs is authenticity, as ‘People want to see stories from their market are thriving, and that’s customers search for realness and own perspective and within their because more and more images are diversity in their campaigns.’ This own communities. They’re looking consumed every day,’ says Richard has formed a key part of one of for greater realness in depictions of Newstead, Senior Manager of Creative Getty’s most helpful tools, workplaces, or travel, with a greater 12 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Authentic lifestyle © GETTY IMAGES shots featuring real-looking people are in demand too number of ethnic minorities continually needs refreshing.’ Find your niche featured. They don’t want things to look cheesy or unconvincing, like Go your own way It can also be worth contacting a specialist organisation painters and decorators with that deals with more niche subjects and looks. Trevillion, as perfectly clean overalls, and they Of course, it’s not just the larger Creative Manager Kyle Stubbs explains, ‘offers expertise in want more candid images with less agencies where you can sell images pairing fine-art photographers with art buyers, where the eye contact. Real locations are more online. For instance, PicFair enables same images can get lost among huge generalist popular than studio spaces, and a lot signed-up photographers to set up collections. We sell most of our photography to the of romantic, hazy looks like Stores, which they run themselves. international fiction book publishing industry, so photos end sunbursts have been left behind.’ Philip Mowbray, the company’s up on covers or part of composite designs, and they come Content Manager, and a keen from both pros and enthusiasts. Creative content is Alamy also offers insights on contributor himself, explained, ‘I’ve certainly where it’s at right now, and we see a lot of current and developing trends via been working in the industry now success in images that follow classic portraiture, or surreal the Fresh Picks section on its for over ten years, and the market in montages. Genres of book also tend to have particular website, where recent collections terms of how images are sold is styles of cover. For instance, crime thrillers will often have included on the menopause, unrecognisable from five years ago. feature mysterious figures lurking in urban landscapes or ‘but there’s certainly not a limit on Many image buyers out there now fleeing through eerie forests! Creative, narrative images are what photographers should use a variety of sources to find what often a hit.’ So it seems that crime can pay. For more photograph, as the world is they need, using for instance social information about Trevillion, go to www.trevillion.com constantly changing and there’s media like Instagram, before homing always a new angle or style to use or in on websites.’ develop,’ Sophie observes. Are trends different on these You might assume more smaller-scale sites such as PicFair? traditional/done-to-death subjects ‘For our users, there’s more of an aren’t selling, but that’s not actually emphasis on customers buying the case, according to Getty. ‘We see images for personal use, so many good-quality images of things like sellers cater for wall art, in terms of ocean waves and cloud formations nature, wildlife and architectural continue to sell. Strong travel subjects. But there are also options imagery from around the world, such to license images for more as famous landmarks and landscapes, traditional stock uses, like print is always popular with customers and or packaging.’ www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 13

Technique SELLING FOR STOCK Dave Harrison-Ward: Rosemary notes down Gold in the everyday ideas for more conceptual shots, as Based in Macclesfield, Dave splits his photography sales into two here, then shoots in distinct streams, one for fine-art images and the other for general her studio stock, using the likes of Getty Images, Shutterstock, Alamy and Adobe Stock. picfair.com/users/Dave_Harrison-Ward Having taken thousands Not just bricks... first image that took off for of images, I wondered if I Simple images of me, was of reclaimed could make some money building materials parquet flooring. My from them via stock sales. and textures have stepson had a stack of it But most of my output worked for Dave and it all needed cleaning was fine-art nature and up, just sitting in a pile. I landscapes and I soon one. That really steered got a few pictures in that realised those sorts of me down the path of stock state, which sold images don’t sell on big photography I do today. immediately. Then when he stock sites. The people put the floor down, I shot going there to buy images Basically, it’s the more it, and those sold, too! are after something else. niche the better. It's really ordinary stuff for So reclamation images In my experience, it’s the someone's business and building materials more mundane and website, or a pamphlet became my niche. I shoot everyday subjects that sell, about driveways! And if you them on location in yards and I found this out do it right, it will sell. The and elsewhere, but I also first-hand. My wife’s make images in the studio worked in publishing for where I’ll play with years, laying out brochures patterns using bricks or for companies and other tiles, or concentrate on promotional materials, and textures. I shoot food, but one day she was looking it’s the ingredients, not for a photo of a pile of portraits of finished bricks. She couldn’t find dishes. Sometimes these one on the library she was images are just used as using, so asked me to take backgrounds, or part of composites, but there’s Close-ups of food and always a need. ingredients can also be a seller, says Dave I’ve got the tools and motivation to do it, but it’s still very much part of my Jarmo Piironen: hobby. That said, there’s a Stay local lot of fun and reward to be had, both monetary Hailing from Turku, Finland, ‘Jamo’ is a and in the validation of semi-pro photographer. He’s been your images being used in shooting stock for 15 years, selling print or on products, landscape and travel stills, digital art around the world. The and video, including aerial footage. more I upload, the more jamoimages.com I sell, and it’s addictive getting an email to say People imagine stock stock portfolio. In that you’ve sold a shot. photography generates time, my income went from ‘passive’ income. I’ve $0 to $550 a month, so it found that’s only partially can work. I have images true. Photos on a stock and footage at several site can be sold for as long sites, including Adobe as they’re available, but Stock, Shutterstock, iStock really you need thousands and Alamy, but it takes a of images to generate a lot of time and dedication reasonable amount of to do. Images have to be return. And of course they tagged well, and the need to be high quality, portfolio has to be updated too. Last year marked my regularly to keep you up in fifth full year of building a the searches. 14 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Rosemary Calvert: studio. Flowers are very Think differently popular and they sell all over the world for all sorts A self-taught and highly experienced nature, travel and conceptual of products and photographer, Rosemary has been successfully contributing to stock publications. Fruits are libraries for over 30 years. She’s a Fellow of the Royal Photographic popular, particularly if Society, a writer and author, with a new book, Covid Chronicles in Rhyme they’ve been mentioned in by Rosemary Laird, recently published. Find out more at covid- the news as ‘super-fruit.’ chronicles-in-rhyme.com and rosemarycalvert.com When contributing stock Success in selling images stock earnings clients. Over the years the images it is important to comes down to a mix of represented nearly all of type of images I have offer something new. drive and creativity. One of my income. I worked all produced has changed. There’s no point in my first successes was day every day shooting When I lived abroad it was reproducing images that selling postcards in and uploading. It takes primarily wildlife, are already out there. Holland. While living there that level of effort to build landscape and travel Make your images unique I took pictures of bicycles, a big collection and keep photography. But now, by adding your personal bridges and canal scenes. it fresh. The industry has since I remarried, I work touch. Concentrate on Inspired by postcards I changed in the past ten more from home what inspires you. Don’t saw, I contacted local years as the number of photographing still-life, give up if an image postcard publishers and images available on the flowers, fruit and creating doesn’t sell. It might sell soon my own versions internet has increased. conceptual images in my tomorrow, or in a year. were on stands all over Still, my earnings make Amsterdam. up a third of my income, For Rosemary, flowers but I have to work hard are a big seller all It was in 1992 that I endeavouring to upload around the world first started submitting three images a day, seven stock images seriously. A days a week. couple of agencies, after seeing my images in a Adding to your collection magazine, contacted me, is important when and asked if they could contributing to a stock sell my photos. One of the agency. You need to give agencies was bought by clients fresh imagery. Tony Stone and later by Most images are now Getty Images. I used to sold as ‘royalty free’, contribute to eight whereas previously a agencies but I now client could also buy contribute primarily to ‘rights managed’ images. Getty Images. ‘Royalty free’ images can be used multiple times in Stock photography is any way so newly hard work but can be fun contributed images are and rewarding. At the especially attractive to height of my career in It takes a lot more than increased the amount of Jamo has found that a few evenings here and digital art, 3D renders and some of his biggest there and with a full-time video as there’s less sellers have been shot job to keep up, it’s taken competition in those than close to home me those five years to get regular photography. I portfolios of no more than mean, Shutterstock alone 2,200 images at the most. has already over a million That’s small by most contributors and 400 standards. That said, I do million images, so making a lot of digital manipulation something that others and 3D images which take can’t do gives you an edge more time to create. And in the market. seasonally my images sell more in the winter – most My landscape images, of them are snowy, after all! which took a lot of effort to get, or are location I’ve found that anything specific, sell the most. My can sell, and people and heavily edited night sky lifestyle photography images of Finland, seems the best, but especially around my images need to stand out hometown Turku in Finland and be high quality to sell are good examples of that, well. In the five years I’ve so shooting where you live been doing it, I’ve also is a good place to start. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 15

Technique SELLING FOR STOCK Tim Scrivener: Buying the farm Tim’s supplied creative agricultural and farming images to editorial, corporate and PR clients for over 25 years. He also runs his own stock library, powered by PhotoShelter, at agriphoto.com My father was a Clients often seek out been a magazine and I can pick them up A close connection to farmworker all his life and and return to niche photographer it’s second everywhere I go on jobs, your subject helps, that’s where my interest in libraries like mine. They nature for me to shoot to shows or site visits. I says Tim agriculture came from. understand the level of upright and portrait do go out specifically for From about the age of personal knowledge, versions, as well as stock, too, though mostly mundane things are nine, I also got an interest connection with the thinking ahead in terms of close to home as the needed alongside shots in photography and subject and experience design, getting a frame- margin is tight. of ploughing at dawn, too. persuaded a local pro to that’s gone into the work, filling version, biasing the Fortunately, living in take me under his wing. and recognise that there’s composition left and right, Lincolnshire, we’re not Having been around He was a commercial and likely to be greater as well as leaving negative short of farmland. I also farming all my life, I’ve got wedding photographer, so diversity and texture in a space for text or logos get excellent feedback a huge network of it gave me a good specialist collection. The via my composition or from clients who’ll say ‘we contacts I can rely on for grounding. stock side of my business depth of field. might need more of this fresh material, finding out is roughly equal to or that’ down the line. when people are I’ve been a freelance commissioned work from In terms of gathering And of course lots of harvesting, spraying, pro since 1984, working magazines, corporate images, it’s very organic certain crops are worth on magazines. That was clients and events, so it’s shooting, and so on. all on film and something I’m proud of Whatever the subject, if transparencies, which creating. you’re connected with it, went into their archives, it’s going to help. and that process was my Building up a good-sized inspiration in a way. I catalogue is also realised they had all this important for seasonality, history untapped, so because clients will be when I began shooting producing publications or almost entirely agricultural adverts well ahead of say, subjects, I made a point lambing in spring. And of keeping everything. I variety in the style of now have a huge digital capture is, too. Having library, all searchable and for sale online. The Working close to the financial pressure on the industry, Tim knows stock market was also a when to be around for driver, as running my own the best shots show meant I could draw more income from each sale or subscription. Build up a sizeable catalogue with lots of variety 16 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Richard Gunn: Travel still sells: this Opportunities everywhere image sold into a US advertising campaign Principally a writer with over 20 years’ experience in classic transport subjects, Richard contributes photography to his publications and sells stock gathered from his work and travels. In 2014, he was a finalist in the Royal Photographic Society’s 157th International Print Exhibition. flickr.com/people/richardgunn Stock photography is by Essentially, Getty invited I’ve used myself in anyway for fun. That said, casually taken on holiday no means my trade, but selected Flickr publishing over the Getty does now issue some years before, which I’ve had many good photographers to years. I had my first sale client briefs via its online ended up being used in an experiences simply by contribute to its library in late 2009, and have contributor portal and I IT company’s advertising having images available. and I was one of those been selling steadily have submitted for some in the US. Wondering In 2009, I was a member lucky enough to be ever since. of those. Some months, whether the next royalty of the Flickr photo asked. It really did feel I don’t have any sales but statement will reveal hosting site – then owned like good luck, because As my primary you can get an another surprise by Yahoo! – when a Getty is one of the occupation isn’t unexpectedly large substantial sale is partnership with Getty biggest and best-known photography, the shots pay-out. My biggest was definitely all part of the Images was announced. names in stock, and one that I upload tend to be £720 for a single picture fun of doing this. ones I’d have taken Natasza Fiedotjew: For art’s sake Natasza specialises in conceptual and portrait images, and is a successful contributor to Trevillion. Her images are on book covers around the world. @natasza_fiedotjew I’ve been selling stock of the time, with no small Natasza’s narrative, images since 2019 after a attention to detail. For fine-art work is close relative showed me instance, a Regency lady popular with book what was possible. It’s not cannot have an publishers my main income, but a Edwardian collar and a nice addition. I had to Victiorian girl cannot have invest in better gear, but it Regency coiffure! has paid for itself. The other main investment Practically, when has been time, but this shooting I’ve found it’s work is stimulating. important to keep the end purpose of my photos The style that’s been central in my mind. Space successful for me is also for copy is important and one that interests me. it’s satisfying when I see I make historical the steps I’ve taken to reconstruction photos, help a designer pay off. with vintage styling and a romantic or narrative air. But the main thing I’ve I’m always trying to learned about stock is to imagine the lives of the know now that I know people I shoot, but book nothing! I can’t predict covers must, above all, exactly what will sell and hide a secret, stop the what will sit in my gallery story being told at the unused. Repeating proven right moment and give a motifs doesn’t guarantee little suspense. success. What does is courage. In the end, when These fit all sorts of I’ve been carried away subjects from historical into the unknown by a novels to crime, thriller, shoot, it’s those images and contemporary that will work. Publishers subjects. I try to make need images that fit a these images as genre, but also to move authentic as possible, its boundaries, and a featuring the fashion, breath of freshness is customs and architecture often needed. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 17

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YOUR LETTERS Amateur Photographer Inbox camera. I’m also not clear precisely how it will work Email [email protected] and what compromises I will have to accept. I know Editorial the best advice is just to use all new equipment but Group Editor Nigel Atherton I’m afraid I’m a bit of a nostalgic traditionalist and Deputy Editor Geoff Harris want to use what I have rather than throw it away. Technical Editor Andy Westlake Robin Hollington Features Editor Amy Davies As you’ve been advised, it’s entirely possible to use Technique Editor Hollie Latham Hucker your Canon FD lenses on a mirrorless camera, via a Acting News Editor Steve Fairclough mount adapter. A full- frame model would make Online Editor Joshua Waller the most sense, as then your lenses will behave in Deputy Online Editor Jessica Miller the same way as you’ve come to expect. Any Production Editor Jacqueline Porter Write to the Editor at [email protected] and include your full postal address. Please don’t send letters in brand will work – Canon, the post as there is no one in the office to receive them. Replies are from the Editor unless otherwise stated Nikon, Sony or Lumix. The Design atg-media.com (Calum Booth) most affordable new option would be the Photo-Science Consultant Canon EOS RP, which costs £1,049 body only. Professor Robert Newman Second-hand, you could get a Sony Alpha 7 in Special thanks to The moderators of the AP ‘excellent’ used condition from MPB.com for under website: Andrew Robertson, lisadb, £500. Nick Roberts, The Fat Controller LETTER OF THE WEEK Whichever camera you choose, you’ll also need to Advertisement sales & production acquire a mount adapter. A huge variety of brands is Head of Market Neil Tillott Know the rules available, but I’ve found that Urth adapters offer a Commercial Manager Brian Lynch good balance between quality and price. They’re Ad Production Neil Hepden (01233 220245, available from Amazon for around £35, in most [email protected]) mirrorless mounts. Management As a journalist and Some cameras require you to change a menu Chief Executive Steve Wright setting called something like ‘Shoot without lens’ Chief Operating Officer Phil Weeden photographer, I before they’ll take a picture without an Managing Director Kevin McCormick electronic lens attached. You will, of course, have to Subscription Marketing Director Gill Lambert wholly agree with focus and set the aperture manually. To get the most Publisher Liz Reid Damien Demolder  accurate focus, it makes sense to set an easily Retail Director Steve Brown accessible button on the camera to show a Brand Marketing Manager that too many magnified view. The aperture will always be Rochelle Gyer-Smith closed down to what’s set on the aperture ring, Print Production Manager Georgina Harris people are put off which means that it can be easier to focus at a Print Production Controller Hayley Brown street photography large aperture before setting the one you want Subscriptions because they fear 51 issues of Amateur Photographer are that they may break published per annum. UK annual subscription price: £152.49 laws. At a time when Europe annual subscription price: €199 USA annual subscription price: $199 fake news is Rest of World annual subscription price: £225 everywhere and UK subscription and back issue orderline 01959 543 747 many people would Overseas subscription orderline like street 0044 (0) 1959 543 747 photography to be AP’s article updated readers on the legal aspects Toll free USA subscription orderline banned, we must all 1-888-777-0275 UK customer service team 01959 543 747 be aware that this is another freedom it has been known for them to Customer service email [email protected] LETTER OF THE WEEK WINS A SAMSUNG 64GB EVO PLUS MICROSDXC CARD WITH SD ADAPTER. NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RESIDENTS ONLY we must protect, while, as Damien demand the memory card or film and Customer service and subscription postal address Amateur Photographer Customer suggests, always being sensitive to even issue fines. Similar laws apply in Service Team, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court, the feelings of our subjects.  several other countries. Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent ME18 6AL Damien doesn’t mention, however, In some countries it can be a fatal Find current subscription offers on that laws overseas are very different mistake to point a camera at anything our website shop.kelsey.co.uk/AMP in lots of countries, and those who that might be related to security, Already a subscriber? Manage your subscription online at shop.kelsey.co.uk/site/loginForm Classifieds are going abroad must make including police officers simply Telephone 0906 802 0279. Premium themselves aware of the rules in the directing traffic. rate line, operated by Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Calls cost 65p per minute from a BT country where they intend to visit. The message is that you should not landline; other networks and mobiles may vary. Lines open Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm In France, for instance, it is an think that what you can do on the Email [email protected] Kelsey Classifieds, Kelsey Media, offence to photograph a public streets of Britain you can do The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent ME18 6AL building. That can include the Town anywhere overseas. Know the local Distribution in Great Britain Hall (often an impressive building) or laws, rules and common behaviour or Marketforce UK Ltd, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London, W2 6JR even a police station. The list is long things can turn nasty very quickly.  Telephone 0330 390 6555 and many cannot be easily identified. Jay D’Arcy Distribution in Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland Often the police will not intervene if it Newspread. Telephone +353 23 886 3850 looks an innocent act, but if they do, Some good advice, Jay. Printed by Precision Colour Printing Win!The Samsung 64GB EVO Plus microSDXC memory card Kelsey Media 2022 © all rights reserved. Kelsey Media with SD adapter offers fast U1, Class 10 rated transfer is a trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction speeds of up to 130MB/s, offers 6x Multi Proof protection and a Limited in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in 10-year warranty. www.samsung.com/uk/memory-storage/ writing from the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the FD lenses on on a digital camera. Can said a Sony A7 or a Canon original work of the author and not previously published. mirrorless you recommend one which RF, because full frame Where photographs are included, which are not the I could use with my old would be truer to the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them I am a long-term Canon AI lenses? I’ve asked around 35mm lenses than the must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. user, and have been and one suggestion was a cropped sensor on the The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all thinking about using my Fujifilm X-T3 because of X-T3. At least it seems it letters and emails received. The views expressed in the collection of old FD lenses its film presets; another needs to be a mirrorless magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties. Kelsey Media takes your personal data very seriously. For more information of our privacy policy, please visit www. kelsey.co.uk/privacy-policy. If at any point you have any queries regarding Kelsey’s data policy you can email our Data Protection Officer at [email protected]. www.kelsey.co.uk www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 19

YOUR LETTERS holiday – no pictures of us In next week’s issue © TESNI WARD having a coffee, or hiking Robin asks about using Canon FD lenses on mirrorless to the wonderful High Advanced Force Waterfall, or visiting AF modes to use. If you switch the that UK customers should the Museum of Classic © DEBDATTA CHAKRABORTY | PINK LADY® FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2022 camera to shutter priority buy from the MPB UK site. Sci-Fi in Allendale, or any How to master advanced AF mode and use auto ISO, Unfortunately this has a number of experiences modes so you can nail focus you can set the shutter different warehouse with that might contribute to it whatever genre you shoot speed fast enough to different stock, and didn’t being a ‘holiday’. My avoid blurring from have the item I wanted. point? Put yourself about Glorious food camera shake, and the Richard Patterson a month hence and try to camera will adjust the ISO imagine if you’re likely to 12 successful Food POTY entrants to match. Mirrorless MPB Europe is the name be happy with the pictures reveal the secrets behind their shots cameras tend to meter of the company, not the you’ve taken; because you extremely reliably, so you EU website. Since Brexit might return with No barriers won’t need to second- the sale of camera gear competent pictures of the guess the metering and between the UK and EU, visit, but maybe not-so- We talk to the Disabled Photographers’ apply exposure in either direction, is now competent memories of Society and share adaptation advice compensation based on subject to customs duty the visit. David Richards  the lighting. Instead, you and time-consuming Canon EOS R3 can use exposure paperwork, so it is Well put, David. There compensation to get the understandable that they seems little point in Andy Westlake puts Canon’s high- pictorial effect you want, would want to keep the returning from a holiday tech pro camera through its paces based simply on what you two markets separate. with a collection of record see in the viewfinder. shots of buildings and On sale every Tuesday Record the holiday views. You may as well If you buy a camera with just go on Google to look in-body stabilisation, the I’ve returned from a lovely at the same pictures. system needs to know the holiday in Northumberland focal length of the lens in with friends and while Life in old cameras use to work correctly. sifting through my efforts Otherwise it can add blur, something became very Rummaging through a rather than combat it. So, apparent; I’ve (thankfully) drawer, I found my old you’ll need to remember managed to get cracking Nikon Coolpix L22 to reset the focal length shots of Alnwick Castle, purchased in 2010. I put manually every time you Kielder Observatory, Holy in two AA batteries and change lenses. It’s an Island, and others. But I noticed an insect on one incredibly useful option to have no pictures of the of our pot plants. I took have available, but with one shot quickly and then manual lenses, it does just brightened/cropped need to be used with care. the image in my ancient Photoshop Elements 10. This might sound overly It made my day. complicated, but once Steve Nicholls you’ve got the hang of it, using manual lenses on mirrorless cameras is straightforward and can give excellent results. Andy Westlake, Technical Editor Europe, not EU Steve Nicholls took this on his old Nikon Coolpix L22 CONTENT FOR NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE I was a little surprised to YOUR FREE APOY ENTRY CODE see MPB Europe listed as a winner of a Good Enter the code below via Photocrowd to get Service Award. I tried to one free entry to Round 6 – Close-ups. Go to order something from their amateurphotographer.co.uk/apoy2022 to enter EU site only to be told they do not deliver to UK APOY59692446 addresses. When I queried this I was told 20 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

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Reader Portfolio Spotlight on readers’ excellent images and how they captured them 1 ANLybemiwgeacailsWtlein-Uklned, er- Favourite lens Always Be Kind Canon 50mm f/1.8. When Running About Abigail the Race for Life Abigail is a checkout operator, but Favourite accessory takes photographs in her spare time. An iPad app that allows me to press 1 The art work going the shutter remotely. down into the subway Favourite subjects drew me to this At the moment, I really love street Dream purchase angle. I wanted to photography. The lights in an evening I quite like the look of some of the new encapsulate it into a fascinate me, and the shadows and so Sony A7 models. long exposure and a on. Everywhere looks so different bus came just at the when the light changes – it creates all What software do you use? right time. In the sorts of interesting images especially Lightroom Mobile (iPad). past 2 years we’ve in reflections. all needed kindness Favourite photographers more than ever. How did you get into photography? I really like David R Flower on I’ve loved photography for years. As Instagram at the moment. I like to Canon 4000D, 18-55, watch his videos on YouTube. They help to give me some ideas for my 2.5sec at f/4, ISO 100 next photo walk. phone cameras became better I took Favourite tips 3 A Late Night more and more photos. I eventually Just give it a go, find the beauty in the Trim took a short course in photography most unusual places. which gave me the boost I needed. I’m 3 At the end of a enrolled on a class with Appetite and Is there a story behind your photos? little walk through Grain photography which has helped In the past year I’ve belonged to a town I saw the me get out, especially during the photography class run by Appetite reflections in the lockdown, and try new things. Stoke and Grain photography. We have windows, the researched different genres and barber’s shop in What do you love about photography? artists which gave us inspiration to try particular. It’s a I love that I can almost zone out, enjoy out our own projects, which have been modern-looking the small parts of a town or village displayed in Hanley town centre and barber’s which really and bring out the best in it. Finding Newcastle-Under-Lyme centre. The added to it. beauty in the oddest of places is really main theme is Our people, Our places. satisfying and rewarding. We can explore our surroundings and Canon EOS 4000D, show them through our eyes which is First camera really fun. I’ve really taken to street 50mm f/1.8, 1/50sec A Canon bridge camera. at f/1.8, ISO 400 Current kit photography just recently and I really Canon EOS 4000D. enjoy it so I hope my work reflects this. 24 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9

YOUR PICTURES IN PRINT NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RESIDENTS ONLY The Reader Portfolio winner chosen will receive a copy of Submit your images Skylum Luminar AI, worth £79. See www.skylum.com Please see the ‘Pictures’ section on page 3 Luminar is a fully featured photo editor for Mac and PC designed for photographers of all skill levels, blending pro-level tools with for details of how to submit. You could see your photos here in a future issue! remarkable ease of use and an enjoyable experience. A new Library feature lets you organise, find and rate images easily, while over 100 editing features, plus a suite of fast AI-powered technologies under the hood, will make any image stand out. Reflections in the Night No Time To Stop…. I’m 2 After a rainy afternoon, I took myself out Late! to try to capture some reflections. The lights 4 I’m new to from the shops really caught my eye so I panning and this took a long exposure to grab a car or two image really caught my eye after it which I feel really enhances the image. popped up on my screen. It’s a Canon EOS 4000D, 50mm f/1.8, combination of ICM (Intentional Camera 10sec at f/18, ISO 100 Movement) and panning but I love the composition. Canon EOS 4000D, 50mm f/1.8, 1/13sec at f/2, ISO 400 I’ll Take The Next Bus 5 When walking around the station, the curve of the shelter caught my eye. I really liked the relatively quiet station and how the light caught it. Canon EOS 4000D, 50mm f/1.8, 2sec at f/18, ISO 400 45 www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 25

12 FILM FORMATS IN 2021 The pictures here are printed in their From actual physical dimensions. The largelittle to formats, in ascending size Tony Kemplen’s latest project order, are: explores the weird and wonderful variety of film format sizes l Minox l Disc l 16mm l 110 l 35mm HF l APS l 126 l 35mm l 127 l 120 l Polaroid SX70 l Postcard 26 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

H aving spent a decade enough to photograph secret The made for this format. This using a different film documents, for which dedicated deteriorates more quickly than black camera each week, 522 accessories were available. cameras & white, as I’ve mentioned, but in total, I’ve slowed the nevertheless I did manage to get pace and set myself an annual project I sourced some Minox film from used were: some photos. using just one camera each month. eBay; it expired in 1975, but black & white film deteriorates more slowly l Minox B In March I moved on to 16mm, So it was that in 2021 I decided to than colour, so I decided it was l Minolta Disc 7 which has somewhat larger use a different film format each worth the risk, and found the results l Minolta 16 negatives at 12x17mm, though the month – starting in January with were acceptable. l Fujica Pocket exact image size varies between the smallest one, Minox, and then camera manufacturers. Previously working my way up to Postcard Next up in February came the disc Flash 350 I’ve cut my own 16mm film from format in December. format, which actually has image l Olympus PEN FT 35mm, but this involves using razor sizes about the same as the Minox, l Nikon Pronea-S blades in the dark (with There is a vast difference in the but rather than coming on a roll, it l Kodak Instamatic accompanying blood loss) so this size of the negatives, as the largest takes the form of a thick film disc time I bought some pre-cut film to has an area that’s 135 times the size which rotates between exposures to 255-X load into my cassettes. Although of the smallest. give 15 shots per disc. It was a l Canon AE-1 pre-loaded 16mm film cassettes were short-lived format – the first cameras l Ihagee Parvola available, it was common practice For many of the formats I have a were introduced in 1982 and only l Zeiss Ikon Super for users to buy loose film and load range of cameras, but in general I made for a few years, though the it into their own cassettes. chose to use those from the more film was available for a little longer Ikonta C sophisticated end of the spectrum so until manufacture ceased in 1999. l Polaroid 1000 This is not as fiddly as it sounds that I wasn’t tied to photographing This was firmly a snapshot market l Kodak No. 3A and it certainly would have cut well-lit outdoor scenes. product, and the vast majority of down the costs. The negatives are disc cameras, of which there were big enough to give good-quality The smallest commercially many, are extremely basic. I chose to prints, and the small cameras, such available film was made for the use the Minolta Disc 7, an unusual as the Minolta 16, were easy to slip Minox ‘spy’ cameras. These precision camera as it has a built-in selfie stick into the pocket. devices were made in Latvia, and and posing mirror. became a staple of the spy movie Kodak introduced the Pocket scene over the coming decades. The It’s two decades since disc film was Instamatic, or 110 format, in 1972. film is 9.5mm wide and the last made, so any to be found now is This consists of a cartridge negatives 8x11mm – pretty small, long expired. Only colour film was loaded with 16mm wide film, but given the right film, good www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 27

12 FILM FORMATS IN 2021 though it is not the same as Olympus’s digital offerings. All of the films in July’s film, the 126 Instamatic regular 16mm, and has just one The 20th century saw a number of Tony’s project cartridge, fared better at 44 years. perforation per frame, and a backing gathered together This was an attempt to simplify paper with numbers on. The short-lived film formats, and the last in one shot camera use for the nervous user, who negatives measure 17x13mm and the of these was APS or Advanced Photo would no longer have to thread a film is still being made 50 years on. System. APS was aimed at the 35mm film and rewind it after I’ve got lots of 110 cameras, and in consumer market, though a handful shooting, since the 126 cartridge April I decided to up my game and of more-sophisticated cameras were simply dropped into the back of the use a different 110 camera each day, made, such as the Nikon Pronea-S camera. The later 110 format that I 30 in all. This sub-project was the SLR. The film is 20mm wide and used in April is basically the same subject of a feature article in Amateur comes in a cassette which is simply system but with smaller film. Photographer in June 2021. slipped into the bottom of the Instamatic negatives were 28mm Perhaps the best known and most cameras; everything else is square, the film was 35mm wide, so widely used film was 35mm. Initially automatic. A magnetic coating on could be processed in readily made for the movie industry, 35mm the film allowed some cameras to available equipment; unlike the later film soon started to be used in still write metadata onto the negatives. APS which needed labs to cameras, and allowed for much There were three aspect ratios extensively and expensively upgrade smaller and more portable available to the user – H (high their machines. The few cartridges equipment. Full-frame 35mm was definition), C (classic) and that I have are very old, but I to be the format for August, but P (panoramic) – although in reality managed to get some images using before that came half-frame which the entire negative was exposed for one of the many Kodak Instamatic allows twice as many shots per film, each shot, and the cropping was models that came and went over though of course the negatives are done automatically by the the decades. only half the size. The Olympus processing machine, reading the PEN FT is a single lens reflex, for information about the size from On then to full-frame 35mm, which a whole range of lenses and the magnetic layer. APS was which dominated both amateur and accessories were available. The effectively killed off by the march professional photography in the camera was last made in 1972, but of digital cameras around the turn years following World War II up the PEN name lives on with of the millennium. until the establishment of high- resolution digital cameras in the first While APS lasted only 15 years, 28 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

decade of this century. Initially made give 8, 12 or 16 photos per roll. At Above: A closer obsolete 122 Postcard size roll film. for the movie market, 35mm film 46mm wide, 127 is smaller, and this look at some of As the name suggests, this makes became the mainstay of what at the was what I used in September in an Tony’s images negatives which would be contact time was called miniature Ihagee Parvola, before moving on to seen on the first printed to make postcards at the then photography, with the Leica being 120 in October with a Zeiss Ikon spread – the one standard size of 3¼ × 5½ inches. perhaps the best-known brand, its Super Ikonta. here is a With the film no longer available, I small size contributing to the rise in self-portrait of the used paper negatives instead, though war and other news reporting. I used Instant cameras, which produced author with photographic paper having an the popular Canon AE-1 with a black prints which could be seen within ISO of around 3, I was limited to & white film. minutes of taking the photos, date photographing static subjects. back to 1948 when the Polaroid Prior to the 35mm cassette, most system was introduced. They became I managed to cover all the film came on rolls. They came in a very popular in the 1960s and ’70s, common formats during the year, variety of sizes, but by the second and are now enjoying something of and despite having to use some very half of the 20th century, only two, a revival, which means that some of old film at times, I didn’t have any 127 and 120 were still widely the various Polaroid film sizes are total failures. As 2021 drew to a close, available. These two formats are once more available, and the older I lined up my next project ‘Twelve pretty much the same, except that cameras can be used. Polaroid SX-70 Twins in Twenty-two’ in which I will one is bigger than the other. Both of films produce almost square images, be using a different twin lens reflex them came with backing papers, which are somewhat larger than the camera each month. Let’s hope and can be used in three different full-frame 120 negatives. I’m not seeing double by the ways, depending on the camera, to end of the year! Finally in December I used the www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 29

2 Campanula by Jon Bird Lovely colours and great framing for this pretty close-up 1 5 1 Tulip Macro by Brian Phillips Filling the frame with this bold close-up was a wise choice for maximum impact 5 The Walkway by 6 Jacqueline Simmonds A simple shot which has been well-executed, especially as the lines have been kept straight 6 Bruge Reflections by Steve Stringer The choice of a wideangle lens was a smart move for showing off the architecture at its best Join When was the club founded? answer questions. Last year we moved to The club has direct links to the first town brand new and larger premises in the middle Clutheb camera club that was formed in 1950 but of town. This venue has excellent facilities, closed in the early 70s. Photofold Camera including a high-end AV system. Photofold Camera Club Club was established in 1980 and became aims to make improving affiliated to the Photographic Alliance of Great Describe a typical club meeting members’ skills enjoyable Britain through The East Anglian Federation. Each season we hold 39 weekly meetings that run from September to June. We meet What does your club offer new members? on Tuesdays from 8pm with members arriving We aim to be an inclusive club that welcomes earlier to have a chat. Meetings can feature anyone with an interest in photography, either an external speaker, a competition or a whether just starting out or with significant members’ evening. Competitions are either experience. Potential members can attend as prints or digitally projected images (dpi) – we visitors before deciding to join. New members usually have seven of each throughout the are offered a ‘buddy’ who will help them season. Members’ evenings include tutorials, settle into the club and be on hand to answer photo presentations and group discussions. questions. They can also participate in a Refreshments and a raffle are also available. pre-club meeting ‘clinic’ where more experienced members provide tutorials and During the worst of the pandemic, we shifted to online presentations using Zoom. 30 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

YOUR PICTURES IN PRINT 3 Victorian Kitchen 4 by Paul Silence The lighting has been expertly captured to create a very atmospheric result 7 4 St Paul’s Cathedral 7 Raging Bull by Ken Cole Shooting in Bumblebee by Ray portrait format adds Waters This charming interest to this very nature shot has been familiar landscape well framed and location contains great detail Club essentials Photofold Camera Club The Chantry Centre, Billericay, Essex, CM11 2AP Meets We hold meetings at The Chantry Centre in Billericay every Tuesday at 20:00 to 22:00 Membership 66 Contact Chris Wooldridge Website www.photofold.org.uk/membership We were delighted to return to face to face Essex Interclub competitions every year. such as the Northumberland Coast, The Lake meetings in September 2021 but we have District and Dorset. Our last trip was in March continued to broadcast meetings to members How many members do you have? 2022, to North Wales. who need or wish to participate from home. We were very concerned about the potential negative impact that the lockdown would have Do you have a funny story about the club? Do you invite guest speakers? on the club. We therefore went all out On an outing to Maldon, one member tried to We invite about 20 speakers each season, promoting the club locally last year so get closer to the wrecked barges opposite covering many photographic genres. Notable although some members didn’t renew at the Hythe Quay and got stuck in the glutinous speakers have included many award-winning start of the 2021/2 season, we’ve ended up mud. He struggled for quite a while sinking photographers and educators. Like many with a significant increase in membership. deeper in the mud, which of course raised the clubs we have enjoyed the flexibility of using Our membership now stands at 66, with a photographer’s dilemma: do I help or do I take video conferencing to invite a greater variety good mix of age, gender and ability. the picture. Thankfully he’s still a member! of speakers from further afield and have decided to continue including a few Zoom Are any trips or outings planned? What are the club’s goals for the future? speakers each season. Club outings take place monthly throughout To give members enjoyable opportunities to the year with all members, their partners and improve and experiment with their Do members take part in competitions? friends being invited to join. These outings photography, as well as making a few friends. We have an external competitions secretary are within driving distance of Billericay. Also, In parallel we also strive to continue who arranges our participation in a number of we’ve arranged trips further afield to locations improving the diversity of our membership. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 31

Technique THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY How to make Lauren Huggins diving photography for the ball in a PR and work in 2022 marketing image taken for the Commonwealth Games Starting a photo business is a challenge, but don’t be put off. Eight successful shooters in a range of genres share some hard-won advice Multi-genre: One colleague recently Denise Maxwell made her biggest sale in newborn photography, lensi.co.uk, Instagram: worth £2,300. But I have also seen businesses @lensi_photography disappear. I think my success is a combination I describe myself as a I currently have a contract of hard work, social skills owner needs are media is key: we need to multi-genre photographer, to shoot architecture for a and delivering the goods. adaptability, to get our heads around how but I would say my style local council; have just I also throw out lots of understand the different it works for us, as it is in each genre is similar finished one for hooks, regardless of the hats you need to wear, now our advertising. – clean, energetic and documentary work; for outcome. I am always and be able to grow into Instagram Reels are big vibrant. Many people have another, I take the applying for opportunities, these roles or contract at the moment; you tried to put me off prospectus images for a exhibitions, practising, them out – editing, or create a video that needs delivering my business in local university; and have networking, keeping busy social media marketing, to capture attention in this way but I have now a few music festival on social media and living for instance. You also seconds, but from this been going for 11 years. contracts, for example! photography – people need resilience as you you can literally get Never was it so useful need to be constantly will get a lot of ‘no’s. thousands of views, than over the past two I know a lot more reminded about what you Understanding social thousands of new eyes years with Covid. photographers doing well do. The main skills the on your work and than those struggling. photography business services. Denise exhibits widely and recommends this as a good way to raise your profile London Fashion Week catwalk with Cara Delevingne leading the procession 32 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Mae Hong Son, Thailand. ‘This was my highest single sale price ever, fetching four figures, and was used in a large size at a travel event in the US’ Travel: Kav Dadfar jrnymag.com, Instagram: @dadfar_photography, and @jrnymag Denise’s top tips Travel photography hasn’t relationships over time Kav’s top tips exactly ‘recovered’ after and start by selling a few 1 Without a portfolio and easily accessible Covid as things have images. Social media 1 Travel photography is examples of your work, it’s hard to compete. been declining for years, works in a different way a business – it’s not but since March a lot of – it’s best used to target about subsidising trips to 2 There are opportunities everywhere, especially magazines, PR agencies and tag specific brands places you want to visit. with exhibiting. These can bring recognition, and tourist boards are that you really want to Have a business plan. possibly a fee, and generate further commissions. pushing destinations. So work with. I don’t know there are opportunities. many picture editors who 2 Attend travel trade 3 To work out what you need to live, and help My clients have a bit use Instagram to hire shows to meet tourist set pricing, split your target salary by 48 more budget and are photographers: I also boards, PR agencies and, weeks (assuming you take some time off), then more open to pitches. If co-publish a travel tour operators. I still get split this between how many days per week you you can write as well, that magazine called JRNY work from contacts I want to work. hugely enhances your and sometimes made years ago. chances of getting work. Instagram pictures aren’t If you want to get into high-resolution enough to 3 There are still editorial travel use in print. Remember opportunities for photography, it’s about too, the more touristy tours and workshops, networking – contacting destinations tend to sell but it will take a number picture editors and better as they get the of years to build up a big getting on their radar by most media attention. enough mailing list and talking about the grow your website coverage you’ve had, your El Floridita Bar in content. expertise, any awards Havana, another big you’ve won. You need a seller for Kav fantastic portfolio of work and it’s best displayed on a website, so it can be easily browsed by a picture editor or art buyer. Don’t go in all guns blazing asking to get sent to Africa, it won’t happen until they trust you: rather, build the www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 33

Technique THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY Food portraiture is an important area for Donna Food: Donna Crous to return. These are my ‘gold’ customers. In the www.donnacrous.com, food industry it’s much Instagram: @donnacrous easier to work with returning clients than if I Reaching successive confidence to charge were, say, a maternity or A finalist in the Cream many small brands that finals of the Pink Lady market prices without wedding photographer. of the Crop category, are desperate for Food Photographer of the feeling like an imposter. When it comes to social Pink Lady Food photography and content Year competition was a I felt I couldn’t charge media, I only really use Photographer of the for social media. great springboard for what more experienced Instagram and ccasionally Year, 2019 starting a food and professional Facebook. Instagram Aligning with a brand photography business. photographers were provides a great instant tag them in the caption that has a similar You are taken more asking. My main portfolio. If there is a and on the image. If I aesthetic and culture seriously. It made me marketing strategy is to brand that I particularly don’t have an image to which gives both stand out in the industry keep my existing clients want to work with, I’ll tag, then sending them a photographer and brand and it also gave me happy and getting them shoot an image using genuine message is a space to grow is key. their product and share it great way to get noticed. on my account. I’ll also Some of my oldest and favourite clients have come through this method. There are so Neil has found success Products: that makes gym gear for working with local Neil Bremner luxury yachts. I also won drinks companies the MPA Commercial madeportraits.com, Photographer of the Year Instagram: @madeportraits award in January, and they contacted me on the basis I got into product of years of meetings of that. Other regional photography when I was brought in over £12,000 of awards from the MPA have assisting commercial work. I’ve also found generated interest from photographers. I later LinkedIn really helpful for clients, too. Awards are moved into family product work. Instagram great marketing if you post portraiture, but started will get images seen and on the social media where building up the product raise your profile, but your clients are likely to side again. I was lucky in LinkedIn is where be. In terms of gear that a mineral water marketing and ad agencies investment, I was lucky to company was next door to will see you. Smaller have lights for product my studio, so instantly I businesses are more likely shoots from my portrait had a client. To branch out, to find you on Instagram. business, but to be I started going to This year I have three quite honest, my most-used networking events in the significant jobs from piece of gear for products area, particularly with an LinkedIn, one with a is a frame over which I organisation called BNI. It company that specialises attached tracing paper to wasn’t cheap but a couple in security and another – it makes diffusing the light for bottles, jewellery etc, really easy. 34 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Jess and her first pony, Dotty Rural lifestyle: found more success in Lucy Newson being ‘social’ on social www.lucynewsonphotography.co.uk, media – doing stories, Instagram: @lucynewsonphotography commenting on posts, direct messaging them in a friendly way, and suchlike. I post Instagram I don’t know many clients are already Stories a few times a photographers who do interested in art and week – the algorithm what I do, and my clients photography, but I’ve changes so you need to Donna’s top tips are varied – they could be found one challenge is experiment. 1 Start small and local. If a client doesn’t have a a farmer who’s diversified, convincing them to appear Frames and albums are budget for all that they are asking, instead of lowering your fee to match, drop some of the expected rural businesses after in front of the camera. a great way to add value ‘deliverables.’ Never work for exposure or free samples! promo shots, or a family They are happy with their to clients and boost your 2 Food magazines, cookery books, creating content for social media or shooting food for restaurants with a lot of animals and kids and animals being in, margins. I look for the – these are all great areas for food photography businesses to explore. land. I’ll capture formal not always them. highest quality products Neil has also got steady portraits, lifestyle imagery My target market is on and market them as work from a sunglasses and business shots – I Instagram, where 60% of family heirlooms. I also business offer an all-encompassing my clients come from. enjoy designing Neil’s top tips experience. I started this I look for organic growth photobooks, which helps. 1 This year will be big for product photography. Businesses always need to market their products, side as the pandemic and word of mouth. I used This is another way you especially during the tough times at the moment, so it’s a great time to move into this area. kicked in but it’s going to post every day but I’ve can add value. 2 Joining a pro photography society such as the well. Everyone wants the MPA or SWPP is well worth it – as well as getting recognition via distinctions, they are great for country life, after all! Lucy’s top tips networking.and training. I learned the basics 1 Drone photography is going to get huge as most while working at a things have been captured from the ground. It’s photography studio, and worth getting the necessary qualifications. have found a great 2mentor, something I think I travel the whole of the UK, which is a selling point. I’m also happy to spend days on a photoshoot. is really important. Today you need to be able to What is your unique selling point? adapt and diversify, you’ve got to think why clients Life of a farrier would want to book you and invest in the camera and video technology you need. You have to be a strong marketer – the opportunities have grown massively. But you have to market in the right way. It’s about what I can do for my clients – I try and solve clients’ problems and save them time, and I changed my marketing accordingly. My target www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 35

Technique THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY Landscapes, TikTok. Social media is Verity’s Birmingham cityscapes, pushing towards video, cityscapes still make interiors: which I know can be good licensing revenue Verity Milligan frightening, but there are ways to incorporate the www.veritymilliganphotography.com, two. As for workshops, they’ve been hit hard by Instagram @veritymilligan the cost-of-living crisis and it’s not something I Most of my income regarding commissions. can rely on in the same comes from commercial/ It’s been a completely way I did last year. corporate work which holistic process. Only Workshops probably does sometimes include recently have I started need to evolve to meet landscapes, but also can bidding for tenders which the needs of the next range from architectural has been a real learning generation of photography to interiors, curve. My advice is to get participants and I have advertising and really good at what you some ideas. To succeed corporate lifestyle. My do, and share it; if it’s in business, prepare to urban landscapes are done from a place of joy always be learning and still the most popular in and authenticity then be prepared to fail. Most terms of licensing others will respond. The of all though, have fun. revenue and make up a downside is that those You have the privilege of proportion of print sales jobs might not always be sharing this beautiful too. I’m comfortable landscape-based. world with others. working commercially to fund my personal work. Still, If you’re driven Verity’s top tips and passionate about I don’t really have a the landscape, there are 1 LinkedIn is a marketing strategy as plenty of opportunities to particularly good way such: I share my work, create outlets. YouTube to engage with local and what I love taking is a prime example of businesses. I still get a photos of, and people how to get your name lot of work around see my work on social out there, along with new Birmingham. media and contact me technology such as Make full use of social 2 Add strings to your media and YouTube to bow: I’ve never been help push your under the illusion that landscapes my love for landscape alone could sustain me financially. 3 Enter competitions – you never know how you’ll do and if you get commended that can be a huge boost to your profile. Maddy’s image won Newborns: her Digital Newborn Maddy Rogers Photographer of the www.maddyrogers-photography.co.uk, Year 2021 at The Newborn and Instagram: @maddyrogersphotography Portrait Show There is a shift in stream of babies through priorities for families the door! But business right now, and everyone does not simply happen is feeling the pinch. But because you’re able to as newborn take a good photograph. photographers we have People too often assume the edge. With the their photos will sell correct marketing themselves, so all they strategies, adaptability need to do is be as good and making sure I stand as those at the top. So, out from the crowd, I’m many invest heavily in still seeing a steady newborn photo training 36 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Portraits and weddings: James Musselwhite www.musselwhitephotography.com I’ve worked in a studio appreciate that you need Mariah May, a lovely James’s top tips so I had a grounding in a ‘scroll stopper’ – portrait shot with just a marketing and pricing. something that stops single light 1 There are lots of The hardest bit for me people on their phones opportunities with has been client – and this must come So it’s a mix between corporate photography; acquisition. The through in your marketing Instagram and Facebook. firms need quality stills photography itself sits online, after you have The key thing is don’t try and video for marketing. relatively low on the worked out who you are to do all the platforms at pecking order with social trying to appeal to. Joining once, as it can be very 2 Get your costs down photography, like a business networking time-consuming with the – understand what weddings – people buy organisation makes scheduling – think about is going in and what is people. So a personal sense, because most your customer, their going out. connection with seeing businesses could benefit demographic, and work your face or hearing your from commissioning out what platform they’re 3 Don’t put all your back words is crucial. You photography at most likely using. The catalogue online. You really need to be able to some point. great thing about need to identify what type identify how to quickly weddings is you can add of photographer you are. I grab someone’s With social media, we value at every stage do quite varied work, from attention. A lot of are finding that we are through albums etc. You weddings to wrestlers, but photographers don’t having more success with must understand the it’s all ‘impactful Instagram through Reels. value of what you are photography.’ Professional wrestler giving customers. It’s an Hari Singh emotive process and you really can add value. (which I also offer) but must also look at platform, check my marketing perspective) as Maddy’s neglect the business and marketing as a whole. reviews, compare me with your weakest platform. top tips marketing side of things; The idea that the world is others... so you are only Word of mouth referrals others worry too much divided in ‘websites’ vs ever as strong (from a are very important too. 1 Attend events, such as about creating a ‘social media’ vs ‘word the Newborn and business before being of mouth’ is not Make the most of the Portrait Show. You’ll make ready for it in terms of applicable any more. huge range of props, contacts and learn skills. skill. A large part of it is Sure, different platforms says Maddy also creating a style that give you a different type 2 With so many great is unique – as that of lead, but to be ahead props and backdrops makes you irreplaceable. of the competition you available, it’s never been When it comes to need to look at how the easier to create a unique marketing strategies I different pieces of your style and stand out to your believe you need marketing work together. ideal client. someone with in-depth knowledge to help. Your Ultimately, very few 3 My pricing is based on job is being the best at people choose to book how much I want to your craft, not being a with me based on what make, and what works marketing agency. You they see on one page. with my ideal clients. It’s They will move cross- clearly visible on my website. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 37

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Testbench COLLECTABLE CAMERAS Ilford Witness: A camera similar to this one helped an Get the name right: auction sale achieve more than 150 times its estimate It might say Compur on the front, but a small FILM STARS engraving on the base identifies this as a Tropical Model of the Ensign Watch Pocket Carbine Sell buy debates John Wade investigates ways to make cash the camera has bellows, are they in good buying and selling vintage cameras condition? The better the cosmetics, the higher the value. A few years back, at a general Finding the right cameras auction, there appeared a tray of We all have dreams of discovering that old Sometimes cameras that look similar can five cameras. Three were snapshot camera in the loft, junk shop, charity shop or vary in value. A Voigtländer Bessa II, for models. The fourth was a boot fair and finding it’s worth a fortune. It example, is worth upwards of £250 with a Compass (rare and valuable) and the fifth does happen. But not very often! Color Skopar lens, but with an Apo Lanthar was an Ilford Witness (equally rare and lens the same camera might top £2,000. extremely valuable). The auctioneer’s The first task is to discover the name of the Red, green, black and brown Cornet Midgets estimate was £80-120 for the lot. They sold camera, usually found somewhere on the are worth about £90-120 each, the same for a little over £16,000. There are two body; and the lens, written around its front camera in blue has sold for more than £500. morals to this tale. One is that there are still rim. Don’t make the common mistake of The aforementioned Compass camera was a cameras being sold by people who don’t assuming the camera or lens is called a Model II, which on its own could be expected know their worth. The other is that it only Compur. That’s the name of a shutter found to sell for £1,500-2,000. A Model I, which takes two people bidding at an auction for the on a great many cameras. looks very similar, was auctioned back in April value of a lot to find its true level. with an estimate of £12,000-18,000 and Is the camera pristine, pretty good, a bit sold for £9,500 (plus commission). So is it still possible to make money buying rough, really tatty? Does the shutter click at and selling vintage cameras? The answer is what sounds like the right speeds, but do the Beware of fakes. Early Russian Fed and yes, provided that you know what you’re doing. slow speeds stick? Does the lens appear Zorki cameras are copies of the Leica II. Most cloudy, scratched or show signs of fungus? If have the Fed or Zorki name on the camera and lens, but some are inscribed with ‘Leica’ 40 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

This Canon EXEE and Olympus Mju were bought together in a box of otherwise worthless cameras at a local house clearance auction for £15. Value of these two together: £150-200 A Polaroid SLR 680 like this one was bought at a boot fair for £3 and immediately sold on eBay for £82 Despite looking like a humble folding camera, the Voigtländer Bessa II can be worth between £250 and £2,000 depending on the lens on the body and ‘Leitz Elmar’ on the lens. Cosmetic quality They can be difficult to differentiate, but the is important, shutter and film wind on a fake is usually particularly in courser than on the real thing. Also serial wood and brass numbers won’t match real Leicas. Check out cameras like this a full list of Leica serial numbers and the very early cameras to which they should apply at Sanderson reddotcamera.net/leica/serial-number To check values, go to eBay and, on the top right of the home page, next to the large ‘Search’ button, click on the much smaller, and easily overlooked, ‘Advanced’ button. On the next screen, enter the name of your camera, choose ‘Cameras & Photography’ in the category box and check the ‘Sold listings’ box. Then hit search. This will give you recent prices at which specific cameras have sold. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 41

Testbench COLLECTABLE CAMERAS Coronet Midgets in all their colours: the blue camera can fetch five times the price of any other colour A John Player Where to buy and sell auctioneer’s price, or you can use the Special spy information to visit the auction house direct. camera like this eBay Chiswick, Flints and SAS all have their own one, sometimes Every item on eBay can potentially be viewed online platforms on which you can bid. found on eBay by millions of people around the world, so for around prices achieve the right level. Which means Sometimes, if two people desperately want £300, sold buying on eBay for selling elsewhere tends to an item, the bidding will soar to beyond its at auction for be unrealistic. On the other hand, if you pick true value. Other times, if there is less £29,500 plus up an unexpected bargain somewhere, then interest, an item might sell for less. If an commission eBay is good place to sell. When buying on auction has more than one lot featuring the eBay, look for items that are inaccurately same model of camera, the first might go for Six value tips described or badly photographed. Using the right price, while the others could fall Photoshop to improve a blurred, below. Most major auction houses conduct underexposed picture can sometimes reveal proceedings on the internet as well as in the a bargain. room. So experts are bidding from all over the world. This means auctions can be a good Auctions place to sell, but bargains to buy are rare. In the UK, there are three major auction Look instead for smaller local auctions houses that specialise in classic cameras: without internet connections and which you Chiswick Auctions, Flints Auctions and can attend in person. Cameras often crop up Special Auction Services. There are also in these, where bargains are more frequent. auction houses around the country which feature cameras amidst other lots. To see Whether you are selling or buying at who is selling what, when and where, register auction, actual costs differ from the hammer with www.the-saleroom.com and enter price – that’s the maximum price attained for ‘camera’ as your specialist interest. Every day an item after all the bidding is done. Then the an email will update you on what’s coming up. auction house deducts a percentage from You can either join an auction online and bid what the seller receives, while the buyer’s through the-saleroom.com, in which case you premium adds a percentage to what the pay a small commission on top of the buyer pays. Here’s an example of the real cost of buying a Macro Killar lens at auction a few weeks ago. Hammer price, £50; hammer 1 Age: the older the camera, the more likely its rarity and value. 2 Manufacturer: Names such as Leica, Zeiss, Voigtländer, and Rollei indicate quality and value. 3 Condition: Pristine sells, scruffy not so much. 4 Rarity: The lower the number of cameras that were made or have survived, the higher the price. 5 Landmarks: The first of a certain type or model adds value. 6 Prototypes: Pre-production models Spot the fake: the camera on the left is a genuine Leica IIIf, value £300-400. On the right is a are more valuable than cameras Fed fake of a Leica II, once worth more like £60, but recently increasing in price from the later production line. 42 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

A Wrayflex II prototype, one of only two known, that is worth much more than a conventional Wrayflex camera VAT, £10; buyer’s premium, £12.50; VAT on Age sells: It might not [COMPASS I COURTESY OF FLINTS AUCTIONS] buyer’s premium, £2.50; shipping, £15; look anything special, shipping cover, £1.39; VAT on shipping but this Kombi camera charge, £3.28. So the price paid by the buyer dates from 1892 and is for a lens whose hammer price was £50 worth £200-250 was actually £94.67. The good news was that the lens was worth at least double, maybe The rare Compass II camera (left) is worth £1,500-2,000; the three times, that. almost never-seen, super-rare first model of the camera recently Specialist dealers sold for £9,500 (plus the auctioneer’s commission) Dealers will charge the going rate for any This hand-cranked classic camera they sell. That means they wooden cine buy cameras at below the market price. camera was Therefore you won’t make money buying a bought in an camera for its market value and selling it to a antique shop for dealer. But if you have picked up a bargain, or £100 and some maybe had a camera for many years and it years later sold on has appreciated to a value that’s more than eBay for £1,880 you paid, it might be worth considering a dealer’s offer. Others Then, of course there are boot fairs, junk shops (not so many of those around today), charity and antique shops. Owners of these outlets can check out eBay to get an idea of prices, but a lot more don’t bother or don’t know how. Seek out the right item, discard the rubbish and there are still bargains worth buying for selling on. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 43

Testbench COLLECTABLE CAMERAS How the professionals do it There are four main types of professional that regularly profit from buying and selling cameras. Here’s one representative of each Peter Loy: internet dealer Peter sells mostly from his website where you will find an ever-changing list of more than 1,000 cameras. His website also gives details of how to contact him if you want to sell. He mostly buys complete collections, rather than one-off items, unless they are particularly rare. He buys a lot at specialist auctions and the larger camera fairs in the UK, France, Germany and Japan. He once bought an unusual wooden camera at auction and sold it to a collector. A few years later he bought that collector’s collection and sold the camera to another collector in the USA. It ended up at an auction in Germany where he bought it and sold it to another collector. A couple of years later it was sold again at auction in the UK, where he bought it for the fourth time and sold it to another collector.  Tim Goldsmith: auction consultant After more than 35 years as a collector and camera fair dealer, Tim became involved with auctions in 2017 when he set up the photographic sales department for Aston’s Auctioneers in Dudley. When that auction house closed during the pandemic, he took his expertise to Chiswick Auctions in London. The cameras he sells come from people he knows or who are recommended to him personally. Sometimes, people simply walk in off the street with equipment to sell. He accepts one-off cameras as well as complete collections. The biggest expected price he has recently achieved was £16,500 (plus commission) for an Ensign Multex. The biggest unexpected price in recent years was £29,500 (plus commission) for a John Player Special spy camera estimated at £80-120. Jem Kime: Niv Amir Ibrahimi: Specialist camera fair dealer camera shop owner Niv has been trading for 27 years. He is a well-known face at UK camera fairs and at an outdoor antique market in Jem has been running The Real Hertfordshire every Friday morning, and this is where he Camera Company in Manchester buys many of the cameras he sells. When he is offered a since 2001. It’s a shop where camera, he has strict criteria about what he is looking for customers come to sell cameras – brand names, specific models he knows will sell, physical over the counter. He also buys damage, wear and tear, clear lens optics and fully working at local and national online mechanical and optical functions. To those seeking to buy auctions, occasionally from with the thought of selling, he has this advice: Don’t charity shops and even car boot assume the item is working without testing it. When a sales. Only about a fifth of his seller describes a camera on the internet as ‘untested’, intake comprises larger that probably means ‘not working’. collections of ten or more cameras. The most he has paid for a collection is £26,000. If he buys a camera for £50, he needs to sell it for £100. To the uninitiated that sounds like a 100% profit. But out of that £100 sale he has to pay 20% VAT, plus overheads and of course income tax. It means he might only make £20 profit on a £100 sale, which is about right by the retail world. The largest sale he has made was £16,000 for an early black Leica M2 with 50mm Summicron-M lens. 44 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Photographica, the annual camera fair organised by the Photographic Collectors’ Club of Great Britain Camera collector confessions What’s hot and what’s not become fixated on something that has been Vintage camera values are always changing. paraded on social media. Manual-focus Most dedicated collectors will tell you that For current market trends, over to Peter Loy: 35mm SLRs, like the Olympus OM-1, Nikon they buy cameras, but never sell them. Some, FM and Pentax MX, have also had a mini- however, have been known to make a few ‘Medium format cameras like Hasselblad, resurgence lately.’  sales, usually to generate enough money to Rollei, Bronica and Mamiya are increasingly buy more cameras. For reasons of security, being bought to use, so prices continue to Join the club some collectors spoken to didn’t want their rise. This has now knocked on to increase One place where you will find cameras names mentioned, so here’s a general the value of 120 roll film folding cameras like changing hands at rates often lower than the overview of their experiences. the Agfa Super-Isolette, Voigtländer Bessa II market value is among members of the and late Zeiss Super-Ikonta cameras, but only Photographic Collectors’ Club of Great Britain. EBay tops the list of places to buy and if in excellent, fully working condition. But be aware that club members are occasionally sell, closely followed by camera essentially collectors, not dealers. It is fairs and, in years past, boot fairs. Fewer buy ‘As we approach the 100th anniversary of frowned upon to buy a camera from a fellow at auction houses. Some have been the Leica Ia in 2025, people like the idea of member at mates’ rates, then sell it on at a collecting for many years, back to the days using a nearly 100-year-old camera, and so profit. The club holds meetings all over the when it was unusual for anyone to truly know prices of screw-lens Leicas are increasing. UK; runs Photographica, the UK’s biggest the value of a camera. Prices of Leica M cameras have also shot up, annual camera fair; and distributes a regular especially black versions of the M2 and M3. full-colour magazine plus newsletters to its One collector, who still regularly finds members. Camera fairs, where anyone can cameras to sell at boot fairs, spoke about ‘Wood and brass cameras continue to sell buy and sell equipment, are listed on paying £165 for a Leica IIIf with two lenses at well but only if in excellent and completely the club’s website. a camera fair some years ago, only to find the original condition. Some point-and-shoot 50mm f/1.5 Xenon lens was a pre-production cameras, like the Olympus Trip, are becoming The Olympus Trip, which model that sold for £600, while the second more valuable, thanks to the way people could have been picked up for a fiver or less a lens, a 50mm f/2 Summicron, was especially rare and sold for £2,400. He rounded off the Rarity and few years ago, now sells for £60 or more sale by selling the Leica body for £100. quality combine Useful contacts Another collector obtained a No.6 Cirkut to command a panoramic camera – the type used to shoot high price in Dealers those extra-wide school pictures – from a cameras like www.peterloy.com friend who wanted to give it away. Eventually a realcamera.co.uk suitably low price was agreed. Being a this Zeca-flex, www.nanites.co.uk collector first and foremost, and one who current value: mwclassic.com restores and uses old cameras, the recipient www.collectablecameras.com had no intention of parting with it, even £900-1,250 though he is aware that in working condition Auction houses the camera is worth around £1,500. Quality medium format www.chiswickauctions.co.uk cameras like this www.flintsauctions.com A third collector remembers buying a 35mm www.specialauctionservices.com f/1.4 Summilux lens for £300, being offered Rolleiflex 2.8F (left) and £1,500 by another collector, but eventually Hasselblad 500CM are Collector’s club selling it for £2,000 to a dealer who currently rising in value pccgb.net undoubtedly sold it for much more. Then there was the collector who bought a wooden, hand-cranked cine camera for £100 in an antique shop. Later, having decided to sell off his cine equipment to finance his ever-growing collection of still photography cameras, he put this one on eBay, hoping for £300. It fetched £1,880. The same collector paid £1,500 for a Wrayflex prototype assuming it was the only one in existence, before later finding another one which he bought for £200. Subsequently, he was offered £6,000 for just one of the cameras. He said no and both cameras remain in his collection. Which sums up the way true collectors behave. www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 45

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LENS TEST Testbench The lens’s wide view can make for interesting close-ups with expansive backgrounds Sony Alpha 7R IV, 20mm, 1/320sec at f/6.3, ISO 100 Sigma 20mm F2 DG DN | C Does Sigma’s new compact 20mm lens really manage to avoid compromising on optical quality? in 11 groups. These include three Angela Nicholson has been shooting with it to find out aspherical elements to help maintain image quality into the A s one of the aluminium, plus weather-sealing L-mount for Leica, Lumix and corners of the frame while company’s for greater durability. It makes for Sigma cameras, or Sony E mount. keeping the overall size down, Contemporary lenses, a pretty enticing-sounding lens, one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) the new Sigma 20mm but does it really deliver on all With a focal length of 20mm, it element to reduce chromatic F2 DG DN | C is claimed to that promise? falls into the ultra-wideangle aberrations and one FLD (F Low deliver uncompromised optical category and its large maximum Dispersion) element. The F Low performance while maintaining a Features aperture means it could be of Dispersion element isn’t actually compact and lightweight form. Sigma has designed the 20mm interest to astrophotographers as made of fluorite, but it’s claimed And as one of the firm’s I series F2 DG DN | C for use on well as landscape, interior and to have very high light optics, it also has an all-metal full-frame mirrorless cameras and event photographers. transmission and to perform to barrel made from precision-cut it’s available with either the the same level as a fluorite Inside the aluminium barrel element without the same there are 13 elements arranged www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 47

With the aperture closed down, the lens resolves plenty of detail across the frame Sony A7R IV, 20mm, 1/200sec at f/6.3, ISO 100 expense and fragility. bright light source. looks and feels like a high-quality operating with my thumb and According to Sigma, the Focusing is achieved using a precision-engineered optic. In forefinger when my left hand is fact, there’s a refined military air supporting the camera from lens’s optical design suppresses stepping motor which operates to it. It’s nice to see the deep underneath. From the aperture sagittal coma flare, which can internally so it doesn’t change knurling on the aperture and ring, it’s only a short reach make small points of light such length during focusing. In manual focusing rings matched forwards to the manual focus as stars look triangular. As a addition, the L-mount version is on the petal-shaped metal lens ring, which sits right at the end result, it could be an especially compatible with Sigma’s USB hood. I used the lens on the Sony of the lens immediately behind good choice for night-time Dock UD-11, which is sold Alpha 7R IV and it makes a great the lens hood. photography. Sigma has also separately, to enable firmware pairing. The size and weight are applied its Super Multi-Layer updates and facilitate setting just right so it feels well-balanced. Both the rings have a nice level Coating and Nano Porous Coating customisation. of tension, so you don’t feel like to minimise flare and ghosting, The aperture ring is located you’re going to rotate them by which can be an issue when Build and handling almost half-way along the lens accident but they don’t require shooting directly towards a The Sigma 20mm F2 DG DN | C barrel, perfectly positioned for too much force either. While the focus ring moves wonderfully Shooting up-close with a smoothly, the aperture ring has large aperture can give some click-stops at every 1/3 stop, degree of background blur with whole stop markings running Sony A7R IV, 20mm, 1/160sec at f/2.8, ISO 100 from f/2 to f/22. The click sensation is distinct, but quite soft and strangely satisfying in use. However videographers will be disappointed to learn that there’s no option to turn it off. There’s also an ‘A’ setting which, when selected, enables the aperture to be adjusted via the camera. Although there isn’t a lock mechanism for this setting, the movement between it and the nearest aperture setting is about twice that of a full-stop adjustment and is therefore quite noticeable. Combined with the well-judged tension of the ring, 48 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

LENS TEST Testbench Verdict Some vignetting is visible at I PARTICULARLY enjoy wideangle larger apertures when in-camera photography, and probably because I shoot in aperture corrections are disabled priority mode much of the time, Sony A7R IV, 20mm, 1/640sec at f/2.8, ISO 100 I also like lenses with an aperture ring. So this lens immediately this means that it’s fairly unlikely wanted, but occasionally it blur the background very grabbed my attention when it was that it will be moved away from needed a little help in the form effectively. True to Sigma’s word, announced and I was hooked in the A position accidentally. of focusing on something a little the bokeh is very attractive and further by its all-metal barrel. I’m further away, then recomposing small highlights are round or happy to report that it has not Sigma has given the lens a the shot and focusing on the bright pinpoints. disappointed. Yes, there’s a touch focus switch which sits close to intended subject. of focus breathing, it would be where your thumb is likely to rest If the in-camera optical nice if the aperture ring could when you support the camera. If you adjust the focus from corrections are turned on, or de-clicked and I’d like a distance This means you can switch infinity to the closest focusing they are applied to the raw files scale, but the image quality is quickly from auto to manual point, the angle of view changes in Adobe Camera Raw or another excellent. With the inevitable focus mode if necessary, a little, as if you are zooming in. processing software package, exception of f/22, there’s a without having to dip into the This focus breathing could be an straight lines appear straight. fabulous level of sharpness camera’s menu. issue for videographers tracking However, without the correction across the frame and both flare a subject moving towards or profile on, there is noticeable and chromatic aberration are kept Unusually, Sigma supplies two away from the camera, or for barrel distortion. in check extremely well. lens caps with the 20mm F2 DG anyone using focus stacking. DN | C. One is the regular plastic Whether the in-camera The build quality is also very type with a spring-loaded Image quality correction is on or off, there’s good, which means that the lens attachment, while the other is The Sony A7R IV is a 61MP strong vignetting apparent at the feels nice and robust in your metal and magnetic. The metal camera which means it’s widest apertures when you’re hands, yet is also compact and cap is a nice addition, but it’s capable of recording a lot of shooting, but this corner relatively light in weight. It’s great quite awkward to remove if the detail. However, the 20mm F2 darkening is removed by the to know that it’s sealed against lens hood is attached ready for DG DN | C proves up to the correction profile. In fact, it’s a moisture and it feels designed to use, because you then have to challenge and the level of detail little excessive which means last a lifetime. reach inside and hook a in the images captured using it the corners of the images can fingernail under the edge of the is excellent. From wide-open to sometimes look a bit too This is a lens that I would cap. Consequently, I stuck with around f/11, the level of bright, so you may wish to use happily slip into my camera bag the plastic cap. sharpness from the centre to the the processing software’s on a regular basis. It’s just a corners of the frame is very vignetting control to bring them shame that it’s only available in Autofocus impressive. There’s a slight dip down a tad. two mounts. It would be good to As I mentioned earlier, I tested in the corners at f/16 and by see it in Nikon Z and Canon RF the Sigma 20mm F2 DG DN | C f/22 they look quite soft if you When I was shooting in bright mounts as well, but that’s on the Sony A7R IV and this has pixel-peep or make large prints. sunshine, it didn’t take long for probably more of a legal issue a superb autofocus system. Fortunately, the short focal me to realise that the lens than a technical one. Fingers Consequently, I found I was able length means that you’re unlikely controls flare extremely well. crossed that Sigma can resolve it to get most subjects sharp very to need to use f/22 very often I tried to introduce it into my sooner rather than later, and offer quickly. It was only when the as there’s extensive depth-of- images on many occasions by this fine lens to a wider audience. subject was close to the nearest field at wider apertures. angling the lens so the front focusing point of 22cm that the element had sunbeams Data file lens started to hunt – but that’s That said, if you go fairly close scudding across it, but it not unusual. In most cases, it to your subject and shoot with handled it with apparent ease. Price £649 Diameter 70mm was able to deliver the result I the aperture wide-open, you can Chromatic aberrations are similarly well controlled. Filter diameter Weight 370g 62mm Lens mount Lens elements 13 L-mount, Sony FE Groups 11 Included Diaphragm blades accessories Lens 9 caps (including a Aperture f/2.0-22 second metal front Min focus 22cm cap), lens hood Length 72.4mm GOLD www.amateurphotographer.co.u9k c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9 49

Testbench ACCESSORIES Deity V-Mic D4 Duo Andy Westlake examines a dual-directional microphone ● £67.49 ● www.deitymic.com IF you want to capture the best possible audio for Shock Fitting video, you’ll generally need an external microphone. mount Most on-camera mics are of the shotgun-type, and The mic is designed for concentrate on sounds from in front of the camera. A custom Rycote Lyre hot-shoe use, but can also Mono mics are ideal for a presenter talking to shockmount helps isolate be mounted on a tripod or camera, while stereo presents a wider sound stage. the microphone from the stand via its 3/8in thread With its V-Mic D4 Duo, Deity has identified camera’s operational and supplied 1/4in another scenario. What if you’re behind the camera, noises. adapter. but want to describe the scene in front of you while capturing the ambient sound, or talk to somebody Windshields Recommended in front of the camera? Deity’s solution is to place two microphones in one unit, one facing forwards Two furry windshields are and the other backwards. supplied, for the front and rear mics, to suppress wind At first sight, the V-Mic D4 Duo looks much like any other compact on-camera mic, such as the noise when recording Rode VideoMicro. But it’s distinguished by a second outdoors. grille at the back for the rear-facing capsule. This means that the 3.5mm stereo audio output cable Mode plugs into the side. Meanwhile, a switch on top switch selects between two operational modes. In its forward position, the unit works as a conventional A small switch on top shotgun mic, capturing audio from in front of the camera and outputting it as dual-channel mono. selects between using Pull the switch backwards and the rear microphone comes into play, with its signal directed to the right either both mics, or audio channel, while the front mic goes to the left. Deity has also included a 3.5mm input on the side the front one only. of the device, allowing a Lavalier or wireless ALL PRICES ARE APPROXIMATE STREET PRICES microphone to be used in place of the rear unit. At a glance ALSO CONSIDER But does it work? Even a cursory test reveals that ● Hot-shoe video microphone Deity also makes a more the second, rear-facing capsule allows noticeably ● Forward and rear-facing mics conventional on-camera mic, the clearer audio to be recorded from behind the ● Switchable shotgun/dual V-Mic D4 Mini. It’s distinguished camera, compared to conventional shotgun mics. from similar models by having an However, this doesn’t come free, as in return you modes input for a Lavalier or wireless get false stereo effects, which means that the ● Uses Plug-in Power (no mic, that’s routed to the right audio recorded by the camera can sound rather channel. As its name implies, it’s odd, especially when listening on headphones. So battery required) also much smaller than the you may need to convert to mono after shooting, for V-Mic D4 Duo. It costs £46. a more natural soundtrack. Audio quality is very creditable, and the windshields do their job well enough. Unsurprisingly, though, they can still be overwhelmed in particularly windy conditions. Verdict Deity’s V-Mic D4 Duo is a classic example of product that identifies and addresses a particular need. It’s good at what it sets out to do, just be aware that the audio recorded by the camera may need additional processing. 50 9c236b28-87c3-40e9-b0fe-88f40b5739e9www.amateurphotographer.co.uk