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Photography News | Issue 64 | photographynews.co.uk
Awards
Gear of the Year Photography News Awards 2018 The competition is over, the votes have been counted and the results are in. Discover what Photography News readers consider to be the best imaging kit available over the next three pages. It’s a top gear fest! WINNERS
Photography is very much about workflow – and the Photography News Awards 2018 reflect that accordingly. We beginwith the capture categories, which includes the expected cameras and lenses, but also covers memory cards, tripods, filters, bags and lighting. Once you have your images, you need to do something with them, so we recognise that with our categories for software, colour management kit and monitors. After you have worked on your images, you need to output them. We all know most pictures stay on hard drives or get posted online, but there is nothing like holding a lovely print; thus we have awards for printers and inkjet media.
Fromumpteen product categories, it doesn’t seem fair to highlight any particular winner, but we’re going to anyway. The Innovation Award went to the L-Mount Alliance between Leica, Panasonic and Sigma. Major brands collaborating isn’t especially innovative and it probably happens all the time at some level, but we just don’t know about it. The L-Mount alliance with two major brands such as Panasonic and Sigma adopting the lens mount of another, Leica, is less usual, but it makes sense. Panasonic has already announced two mirrorless full-frame cameras (the Lumix S1R test is in this issue) and Sigma has recently unveiled an 11 prime lens line-up
using the L-Mount (see page 3). It would be a major surprise if L-mount products don’t figure prominently in the 2019 awards. Medium format digital is never going to be massmarket, but there is no doubt Fujifilmhas made the joys of bigger images more affordable than ever with its GFX system. This year’s winning medium format camera is the GFX 50R and, while its sensor and processor are known quantities, packaging it in a different and more compact body and with handling reminiscent of its old roll-film cameras has definitely attracted plaudits. Enjoy, and thank you for supporting the awards. It is, as always, massively appreciated.
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