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BITS AND PIXELS The great tech turnaround
WIN! A 512GB Samsung memory card Samsung’s updated Pro Ultimate cards allow you to shoot more, faster. Stunningly fast U3, Class 10 rated read/write speeds, now up to 200 and 130MB/s, let you smoothly take and transfer masses of photos. The cards boast six-proof protection from water, extreme temperatures, X-rays, magnets, drops and wearout, plus they come with a ten-year limited warranty. Complete the word search below – comprising 20 essentials you might find in your kit bag, and you’ll find one word in the list that’s not in the grid. Email us on puzzle@photographynews.co.uk with that word in the subject box by 9 September 2025 and the card will be yours if your name is drawn at random from all the correct entries received. Only entries from UK residents will be accepted. Congratulations to Rosemary Blower from Loughborough – our winner from issue 120. The missing word from issue 121 was ‘patterns’. WNSWFLWLQTO EREFLECTORG BQAYNNDANF I KEZSCSRLUCM CFDDOCAXGOB AMGTNACRHQA PORRVPSSSHL KNE I EYKAAAE COTPRQBCLRR APEOTPAEFDE BOMDEOTYPDS ODTCRTTEHRU S E H A R P E C J I F TNGBQARUPVF RQILSLYPIEI AJ LEBOJWRED PPRETL IFGEF YWBS IQAERZU
Ten innovations we used to mock but now simply can’t live without
Photographers are creatures of habit. Introduce anything new,
and you’re likely to hear calls of: ‘This will ruin photography!’ But time can be a great healer – and it turns out some of those loathed features are actually brilliant. Here are ten bits of photo technology that went from reviled to revered. Well, mostly… 1 Autofocus When AF first arrived in the eighties, many declared it a lazy gimmick. Fast-forward to now, and modern eye- tracking AF can lock onto a sparrow’s eyelash while you’re jogging. Manual focus is still fun – but AF is a gift we’ve learned to accept. 2 Electronic viewfinders Once labelled soulless TV screens for your face, early EVFs were grainy, laggy and battery-hungry. But today, they’re crisp, colour-accurate and let you see exposure, white balance and peaking in real time. Some even prefer them to optical finders. 3 The rear LCD screen When digital cameras first included rear screens for image review, some people turned up their noses. ‘You should know your exposure,’ they scoffed. These days, everyone chimps with pride. It’s not cheating, it’s digital enlightenment. Which leads us to…
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4 Touchscreens Touchscreens were once deemed fragile and unprofessional. Now we can’t stop tapping on our screens. Touch-to-focus, image review and menu navigation are all much faster and feel like second nature. 5 Auto ISO A tool once dismissed as unnecessary, auto ISO is now a trusted companion, especially when paired with shutter and aperture priority. It means never having to choose between blown highlights and motion blur when the light changes unexpectedly. 6 In-body image stabilisation Purists claimed it encouraged sloppy technique. But when handheld 1/4sec shots turn out pin-sharp and gimbal- like video becomes possible without a rig, suddenly everyone’s walking around like they’ve got the steadiest hands in town.
8 Cloud backup Photographers trusted their hard drive to store their work, shortly before disaster struck. Now, auto-backup to the cloud is the hero of many a shoot. And it leaves lots of space on your desk. 9 Artificial intelligence We were sceptical, especially looking at bad deepfake images. But tools like AI-powered processing have saved countless images and made good ones even better, faster. Is it black magic? Maybe. Do we care? Not really. 10 Instagram In the early days, it was all lo-fi filters and ‘no real photographer would share their work on an app!’ Now, it’s a global portfolio, a business platform and a creative community. We still miss the chronological feed though.
Here’s some things we loved but kind of regret now…
7 Mirrorless cameras Dismissed as toys for years –
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particularly by professionals – these cameras are now dominating the market. Quiet, compact, increasingly powerful and extremely fast, mirrorless cameras have become the new normal – and even the professionals have finally come around.
1 Pop-up flash Once a selling point, now
more of an emergency beacon. Harsh, direct light and red eye. Use with extreme caution. 2 HDR everything In the 2010s, no image was safe from aggressive HDR. Over-processed clouds, glowing trees and electric skin tones. 3 Overcomplicated menus Deep customisation once sounded exciting. Turns out, most of us just want to change ISO and white balance without having to solve a puzzle.
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