16th-22nd April
Welcome back to another of my Weekly Photography News Roundups! We'll be looking at the stories that caught my eye this week and as always, I'd love to hear about any that you might have seen!
2018 Pulitzer Prizes for Photography Announced
Ryan Kelly won the Breaking News Photography category for the above photo (strangely enough, on his last job for 'The Daily Progress' as a professional photographer!) The amazing image captures the horrific scene and, in the words of the jury - "reflected the photographer’s reflexes and concentration in capturing the moment of impact of a car attack during a racially charged protest in Charlottesville, Va"
The Pulitzer for Feature Photography went to the staff of Reuters for their images of the Mayanmar refugees. These are a series of images that capture the harrowing ordeals faced by these people, demonstrating more than just exceptional photography.
Canon Releases IVY Printer
Canon's IVY is essentially the same as we've seen from HP, Polaroid and a few other brands all using the ZINK paper technology. Zink was actually originally a branch of Polaroid, before becoming a fully fledged company independent from Polaroid in 2005. The IVY sits at the same $129 price point as the HP Sprocket and is likely to grab a few sales. That said I really think Canon are - once again - late to the game here. As much as I love Canon it's hard to ignore the fact that the hugely popular HP Sprocket prints images in under 40 seconds compared to the IVY's 'under 50 seconds' for the exact same image size and dpi.
I'll have to wait and see when it comes to image quality and colour reproduction, but at the moment I'd be inclined to stick with the tried and tested Sprocket or grab a bargain from Polaroid.
Sony World Photography Award Winners Announced
Looking through the winners gallery for this years Sony World Photography Awards I was stumped when it came to a header photo. I know, awards usually steer us towards one or two headline images, but it always seems that those same images get used on every announcement and news site. Personally I always think this means that those few photos get really well known, while all of the other equally important/impressive/deserving images get left behind.
The World Photography Awards are always an interesting viewing, showcasing exciting talent and - as usual for awards - the odd head scratcher. But that's what awards are all about, they aren't REALLY the 'best images in the world', just a few people's opinion of what the 'best images in the world [out of the entered images]' are! That's not to lessen the achievement of these incredible photographers, purely to say there is no right and wrong, better/worse. Head over to the winners galleries here - https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-galleries/2018-1 and decide for yourselves!
Venus Optics Release a Host of New Lenses
Venus optics first popped up on my radar sometime last year with their increasingly impressive line up of Laowa lenses, specifically their mirrorless models which first caught my eye. They recently announced a slew of new lenses starting with the 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom - 'The widest Zoom lens available for Sony Full Frame E-Mount cameras'. Impressively the lens weighs in at under 500g and protrudes less than 4 inches. As usual for Laowa this one is an impressively handy lens designed mainly for travel.
The 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO doesn't have any particular USP other than - presumably - price, offering a decent 2:1 magnification and compatible with Canon EF, Nikon AI / Pentax K and Sony FE mount systems. The 13mm equivalent 17mm f/4 GFX Zero-D is the widest lens currently available for Fujifilm G mount and represents what Laowa do so well - reasonably priced lenses that offer optical ranges usually financially inaccessible to amateur and semi-professional photographers. The final lens to be announced - the 4mm f/2.8 Fisheye - designed for Micro 4/3rds sensors is further testament to their business plan. The tiny looking lens, boasting a brain warping 210 degree field of view!
[Another] Attack of the Clones
It seems Chinese clones are everywhere nowadays, in the cycling world we see 'Open Mould' carbon fibre bikes and components available at rock bottom prices. Gadget's and gizmo's aplenty fill Ebay and Amazon, some of which are as good as the real thing while others are no more than poor imitations.
It seems recently we've had a string of Canon replica type lenses, the latest of which is Meike's 85mm f/1.8. Without pricing it's hard to say too much, but I would imagine this will be yet another temptingly cheap lens. Up to now it seems that most of the Canon/Nikon clones have been a long way from competing with their branded competitors, but sooner or later we're bound to see one of these little lenses really shine. Whether that's a particularly unique look or good old exceptional image quality (such as the extremely low Coma that makes the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 so highly regarded in the Astrophotography niche).
I've yet to see anything other than sample images from the Meike (which I never read too much into!) but I'll be interested to see how this one stacks up against the already exceptional (and affordable) Canon 85mm f/1.8