Cameracraft magazine – Taking your practical photography further
This low resolution version is free to read!
To receive higher resolution PDFs notified to you the day each new issue is published, subscribe to Cameracraft for only £15 a year.
To order a digitally printed copy (£10+postage, UK) from Mixam click https://bit.ly/40yYObQ
10 March 2025
London Camera Exchange (LCE) has announced the winners of its LCE Photographer of the Year 2025 competition, which attracted entries from around the world, submitted in 14 diverse categories. This year’s contest featured a new ‘Emerging Talent’ category for photography students, with a prize awarded to both the individual photographer and their university or college.
First prize winner: Capri McPherson-Noel
The overall first prize winner is London-based Capri McPherson-Noel with her exceptional portrait ‘Sunkissed Boy’, captured last year in the UK. Commenting on the photograph, Capri said, “I wanted to create the connection between humans and nature. The way the sunlight bounces off the sunflowers for growth is similar to the way the sun beams off the model’s skin tone. As humans, we gain energy from the sun, just as the flowers do.”
British-Caribbean Capri was raised in Ireland and moved back to the UK ten years ago. She currently works in the television industry, but aims to make photography her full-time career, and has a passion for all things creative. “I am a big believer in showcasing stories, especially in my work. I am outgoing and love to meet people. Hearing about different walks of life has always been intriguing for me and this has definitely contributed to my view as a photographer. I try to see the best in everything and live life to the fullest.” Sunkissed Boy was shot on a Canon EOS 90D in summer 2024. Capri received £3,000 in LCE vouchers as the top prize winner.
Category winners (£500 vouchers each):
A standout winner in the Emerging Talent category caught the judges’ attention. Simply entitled ‘Abigail’, the photo was also chosen as a runner-up in the Music category, and portrays charismatic singer Abigail Morris from British indie rock band The Last Dinner Party. The image was captured on the group’s tour in October 2024 at the Eventim Apollo, by student Martina Aguirre Torres, who is studying fashion photography at the London College of Fashion. Martina commented, “Editing photos from this gig is what made me find my editing style. Before, I was a bit lost, as I’m sure a lot of young photographers are – but after playing around in Lightroom and Photoshop, and then seeing the final result, I felt like I could cry! I’m super proud of this photograph because of that.”
Also of note is overall runner-up (and Action category winner) ‘Blowing the Cheeks’ by Lester Woodward, which was taken at the 2023 British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship practice sessions, featuring Dutch champion and Paralympics gold medallist Jiske Griffioen. Lester said, “I think this image really highlights the dedication and effort put in by the athlete, and felt the practice sessions were a lot harder than the match. I was lucky to have great lighting on the day.”
Lee Harasyn, managing director of LCE, commented, “The calibre of entries this year was outstanding, and it took the judges many, many hours to agree on the shortlist, as the standard generally was so very high. Submissions in the ‘Emerging Talent’ category for photography students blew us away with their diversity and creativity. We are particularly thrilled to present this new award, celebrating up-and-coming photographers and providing a platform for their work to be in the spotlight. On behalf of the LCE team, I’d like to congratulate the all the winners and thank all the entrants for making the second year of our competition such a triumph.”
The awards were presented at a special ceremony at The Photography & Video Show on Sunday 9 March 2025 at Excel, London. All the finalist images were displayed in an exhibition at the four-day show and have been published in a commemorative book. Winners received a share of the £10,000 prize fund and an impressive trophy.
Open to entries from October 2024 to January 2025, the LCE POTY competition received more than 10,000 submissions. The prize fund was generously supported by major photo industry brands including headline sponsors Canon, Nikon and Sony, plus partners Fujifilm and OM System. The judging panel included Chris George, content director at Future Publishing, street photographer Peter Dench, journalist and SheClicks founder Angela Nicholson, and Lee Harasyn, Managing Director at London Camera Exchange.
The Panasonic Lumix S1R II, just announced, features a new 44.3MP sensor offering high-resolution imaging with a wide dynamic range (14-stop V-Log/V-Gamut) and impressive low-light performance.
Powered by the latest L2 engine, it balances high resolution with low noise, offering a flexible ISO range of 80-51,200 (expandable to 40-102,400). It’s equipped with advanced 779-point phase-detection AF and AI-driven subject recognition. The camera also offers a 177MP high-resolution mode and supports 8K video recording, as well as 6.4K 30p 10-bit Open Gate, making it a powerful tool for both photographers and filmmakers.
It is priced at £2,999 body only, £3,799 with 24-105mm f/4 Macro OIS lens.
We are happy, a month after paying subscribers received their link or were sent printed editions, to make the download of the latest issue Retina resolution PDF free for your midwinter reading.
Just use this link: https://cameracraft.online/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CCNovDec2023-app.pdf
It is now over a month since Cameracraft September/October 2023 went out to printed edition subscribers and was released in the App and Pocketmags, and to our digital-only subscribers who received the link to download in a September 1st email.
With main features previewing the season we are now most definitely in – Autumn or Fall – it’s only fair to let the world see the issue with the informative New England Fall article by Jeff Folger, and the introduction to wonderful Welsh waterfalls at this time of year from Jon Rees. And as usual it’s an edition with plenty to read as well as great photography. Please subscribe to our worldwide digital delivery £15 a year to get future issues on the day they are published, or choose the printed edition sent out by mail at the same time. Just click on the cover for the download link to read this edition free!
What does this mean? Well, it means that unless Tamron – the undoubted OEM of this lens just as they are the OEM of the Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 – have redesigned the lens to differ in the rear mount baffles and design from their 70-180mm for Sony E-mount, a 2X converter for the Sony SHOULD be possible despite Sony’s long-standing ban on any third party 2X.
Here is the Sony rear mount.
Below is the Nikon Z-TC2 converter, which has an unusually slim intruding optical tube.
The Nikon Z mount has a register (back focus) of 16mm compared to Sony’s 18mm, which is a fairly neutral aspect as there is more room for the length of a converter barrel, but with the optical design of the Tamron and Nikon counterparts being identical the Sony rear group is 2mm closer to the bayonet mount. This should not affect how a suitably sized optical tube could be positioned.
Sony’s mount is however very much smaller in diameter than Nikon Z, a mere 46.1mm compared to 55mm. That’s nearly 9mm. so looking at the Sony rear mount photo and comparing it with the Nikon can be deceptive. That optical tube is 29mm is diameter, and the rear baffle in the Tamron E-mount would limit any intruding tube to 22mm. However, a modified Tamron E-mount with its rectangular baffle replaced (perhaps a Mark 2?) could have enough clearance with provision for the contact bezel .
We should not forget that Tamron invented the modern teleconverter with the Twin Tamron 135mm f/4.5/225mm f/7.7 (not a 2X, but a 1.7X) launched in 1958 – the lens which pretty much started Tamron’s journey to where they are now.
– David Kilpatrick
All of our direct digital download subscribers have now been sent their link to get a high-res PDF of the latest edition – and all those subscribing through Pocketmags or reading on Apple, Amazon or Google devices are enjoying their favourite photographic title.
Every picture tells a story, and we ask our photographers to tell the stories connected with their images. Faye Yerbury explains how someone copied her work by shooting over the shoulder, Paul Hands reveals his best-selling ever jigsaw – a perfect Christmas scene in Olde England! We visit the Beamish Living Museum of the North and a night time shoot with a World War II bomber, see how the Sony A7IV shapes up with major firmware updates, try Tamron’s lovely little 20-40mm f/2.8 zoom, and make prints for D-I-Y photo books and greetings cards using doubled sided inkjet papers
To subscribe on Pocketmags (currently they have a sale on) just go to https://pocketmags.com/f2-cameracraft-magazine
We also have printed copies ready to post – we don’t keep a large stock of back issues so move fast! New subscriptions taken out in November will start with this issue.
Your compact environmentally friendly photo magazine is less than 10% advertising and every printed copy reaches a reader – no ‘returns’ or landfill from the news trade, subscription only! Sign up here and join our readership helping create a truly independent mag. The digital edition is even better for the environment, you can get it as a top quality PDF download to keep (on this site) or an App from Pocketmags for Kindle, Apple, PC and all devices – https://pocketmags.com/f2-cameracraft-magazine
The latest issue, September/October 2022, takes us to the end of summer with a preview of The Photography Show (Sept 17-21) and tech tests of the £5,000 Leica Q2, Tamron’s £239 24mm f/2.8, the 7Artisans 50mm f/0.95 and the Rogue Round Flash kit which makes ordinary old camera-top flash work like circular reflector systems. It goes lives at 1.00am on September 1st, after our copies go out in the August 30th mail.
We kick off with Danny and Ted’s amazing adventure – our rock photographer’s encounter with heavy metal’s Ted Nugent. Kevin Wilson takes Sigma’s 105mm f/1.4 to Sicily for his daughter’s long-delayed wedding – Iain Poole shoots cars and bikes on the sands of the Yorkshire coast. Kenny Martin pushes the value of learning and training, while in Boston USA we meet Jaypix Belmer and her Hiphop and street culture projects.
Ian Knaggs perseveres despite creating images which he doesn’t like. Mark McNeill’s new book on Amazon, Britain by Night, gets four pages with a following feature on dark sky astro photography from Kate Hughes. Tim Goldsmith wonders which of today’s cameras will ever be as legendary as the Nikon F – and we show the results of our second Assignment, plus a Rearview Gallery devoted to black and white.
| ExpoImaging, Inc., creators of the Rogue FlashBender speedlight modifiers, today announced new Rogue Round Flash Magnetic Modifiers for popular round flashes and rectangular speedlight flashes including Godox V1, Godox R100, Godox HR200 head for AD200, Geekoto GT 250, Geekoto GTR, and Westcott FJ80. Compatibility with Profoto A1, Profoto A1x, and Profoto A10 flashes requires the Rogue PF Adapter. Photographers want their speedlight modifiers to be easy-to-use, lightweight, and durable, and the new Rogue Round Flash Modifiers are all those things. Each modifier component is made from impact-resistant materials to withstand drops and conveniently stack together, whilst the white silicone dome collapses to save space in your gear bag. Rogue Round Flash Modifiers stay put because each magnetic component incorporates six custom-designed neodymium magnets, which provide a strong attachment force to the flash. The custom design safely and securely keeps the magnets within the modifier ring. Rogue Flash Adapter has a stretchy silicone mount that enables a quick attachment to speedlight flashes using a metal ring mount to attach other magnetic modifier components.  Small adapter is compatible with Godox TT350, Canon 430, Nikon (SB600, SB800), Nissin (i40, i60A), Sony F32, and other similar sizes. The larger standard adapter is compatible with Canon 580, Godox 685, Nikon SB900, Nissin Di700A, Sony F60, and other similar sizes Rogue Flash Gel Lens Enables users to attach colour gels to circular flashguns by placing gels between the magnetic Gel Lens. Unlike other magnetic modifiers, the unique design safely captures the neodymium magnets and keeps them in place.  Compatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter (sold separately) to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10)Can be used with rectangular speedlight flashes when combined with the Rogue Flash Adapter (Standard or Small) Rogue Flash Grid 45 The Rogue Flash Grid 45 provides a popular grid angle for spotlighting control when shooting classic portrait or commercial product photography. Use alone to create a circle of light with a 45-degree spread or stack together to create smaller light circles.  Compatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter (sold separately) to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10)Use with rectangular speedlight flashes when combined with the Rogue Flash Adapter Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome Great for wedding, event, and portrait photography, the Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome snaps securely to the flash and softly diffuses the light from shoe mount flashes.  Attaches directly to the flash with the Rogue Flash Gel Lens included in its baseCompatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10) Rogue Round Flash Gels Place Rogue Round Flash gels between any two magnetic modifier components to add a colour correction or vibrant colours for your portrait photography. Available in two sets including the Ultimate Portrait Collection and the Colour Correction Collection.  Enhance your portrait photography with multiple shades of flash gelsGel diameter of 71.5mm fits other round flash modifier systemsCompatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80 Bundle Kits for Round Flashes and Rectangular Speedlight Flashes The new Rogue Round Flash Modifiers are also available in kits with the most popular modifiers bundled for round flashes or rectangular speedlight flashes. For photographers exclusively using round flashes, the Rogue Round Flash Kit comprises the essential light modifiers, including the Rogue Flash Grid 45, Rogue Flash Gel Lens, Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome, 3-Gel Sample Set, and a storage pouch. This kit allows for the modification of two round flashes simultaneously using the grid or diffuser dome with the included sample gels. For photographers using round flashes and rectangular speedlight flashes, the Rogue Round Flash Kit + Rogue Flash Adapter bundle includes the Rogue Flash Grid 45, Rogue Flash Gel Lens, Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome, 3-Gel Sample Set, storage pouch, and a Rogue Flash Adapter (standard or small). This bundle allows for the modification of 2 flashes simultaneously (round flash or rectangular speedlight flash) using the grid or diffuser dome with the included sample gels. Rogue Round Flash Magnetic Modifiers Compatible with Rogue FlashBenders v3 The Rogue FlashBenders v3 design is compatible with the new Rogue Flash Magnetic Modifiers. Previous versions of the Rogue FlashBenders are not compatible with the new magnetic modifiers. Further information: Lumesca Group, UK distributors – https://www.lumesca.com; Expoimaging, manufacturers – https://www.expoimaging.com |
