Photography News Issue 50

Photography News | Issue 50 | photographynews.co.uk

16

CameraClubof theYear in associationwith

Our huge contest, open to the UK’s camera clubs and photo societies, is up and running. Here are the results from Theme 1 and the key info for entering Theme 2 Camera Club of the Year 2017-18

Words byWill Cheung

There are plenty of contests, salons and challenges for camera clubs and photographic societies and they get huge support, and rightly so because they challenge their members and there’s the chance of glory. Our Camera Club of the Year contest is a serious challenge, and those five clubs that qualify for the final shoot-out in the spring of next year will face something very different if they are to walk off with the title. ‘Daunting’, ‘stressful’ and ‘scary’ were some of the words usedby themembers ofNewCityPhotographic Society, before going on towin last year’s shoot- out, capturing images with a range of Fujifilm camera equipment. To win, your club has to qualify for the final by coming top of the pile in one of the five monthly rounds. Once we know the five finalists, the details of the shoot-out will be released simultaneously to them. Your club’s competition secretary (or whoever is going to enter each month) must sign up at photographynews.co.uk. Terms and

conditions are also available on the website. Any club or group is eligible to enter so long as there are at least five members. Online groups, internal company clubs and those clubs not affiliated to the PAGB are eligible to enter. Once you have signed up, go to ‘Members’ on the top menu bar and you will see ‘CCOTY’ (Camera Club of the Year 2017-18) on the drop- down menu. Select that, then register your camera club and followtheupload instructions. JPEG files should be at least 1500 pixels on the longest dimension and, preferably, in the sRGB colour space. A club can only enter one set of five images and the five images must be from five different members. Failure to enter five shots will mean the missing shot(s) scores zero points, so it is crucial to enter the full number of images. After the closing date, each picture will be scored out of 20 points by the experts at Photography News and the highest scoring club will qualify for the final. In the event of tied scores, for those two clubs we will ignore the

highest and lowest scores and average out the three remaining scores – the club with the highest averaged score wins. If scores are still tied, all five scores will be averaged out. When the issue with that month’s result is published, the scores for every picture entered will be published on the website and each member can see howwell they have done. There is no monthly prize apart from qualifying for the final shoot-out, and once a club has qualified for the final it need not enter again. Of course it can do so for the challenge and pictures will still be scored, but there is no

reward for winning in this instance. In effect, because each monthly contest is self-contained, ie. it is not a league systemover the period of the contest, you do not have to enter every month – perhaps it is a theme the club is less strong at. Clearly it makes sense to give yourself as many winning chances as possible, however. So, good luck. Read the entry details again, check out the theme and start gathering your entry. Qualify for the final and your club could be joining us for a very special photography event, with the title of Camera Club of the Year 2017-18 to be won.

About Fujifilm

but built into a more compact body, making it ideal as the camera to have with you at all times, and of course perfect for travel. Despite its size, the X-E3 is packed with features including the X-Processor Pro image processor that helps maximise autofocusing speed, fast start-up time and a very short shutter lag of just 0.05sec. The X-E3 is available as a kit with the delightfully compact XF23mm f/2 lens, which is priced at £1149 or if you fancy it as a back-up, the body price is a competitive £849. If you prefer the idea of going bigger, Fujifilm offers that, too – its GFX system has shaken up the world of medium format. The GFX 50S 51.4-megapixel camera is in the shops at a very competitive £5999 and this compact, mirrorless camera offers great handling as well as stunning image quality; the system already offers six lenses, with more promised. For more information on all these Fujifilm cameras and lenses, please go to the website.

Mirrorless camera systems are big business now, yet just a few years ago such cameras were perceived to be second-rate citizens compared with the much longer established SLR systems. You could argue that sea change started around six years ago when Fujifilm introduced its X Series camera system. The first model, the X-Pro1, offered a classic rangefinder shooting experience and Fujifilm set its stall out from the get-go by introducing three top-specification prime lenses, including the XF 35mm f/1.4, which is still one of the most popular lenses in the X Series range today. Now the X Series owner has the choice of 14 prime lenses, nine zooms and two teleconverters with the promise of more to come in 2018, including an XF8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR

GFX 50S

X-T2

and XF200mm f/2 R LM OIS WR. There are plenty of options when it comes to picking a camera, too. At the top of the range there’s the X-T2 and X-Pro2. They share the same 24.3-megapixel X-Trans CMOS III sensor and Fujifilm’s latest X-Processor Pro for very fast start-up, minimal shutter lag, super-fast file processing and highly responsive autofocusing. Both have a native ISO range of 200-12,800 with the option of expansion to ISO 100, 25,600 and 51,200 – all available in Raw as well as JPEG. The latest arrival in the range is the X-E3, which is tried and tested in this issue. This shares the same excellent 24.3-megapixel X-Trans CMOS III sensor

X-E3

fujifilm.eu

Powered by