Claire Gillo and the AP team pick the best instant cameras and printers on the market, from Polaroid, Fujifilm Instax, Kodak and more. With the best instant cameras and printers, you can capture a little analogue magic with your photography. There’s a reason that Polaroid instant film cameras have been popular for decades – they’re terrific knockabout fun, with a lo-fi charm that just can’t be replicated with pixels and screens. Making instant prints is a fantastic way to give your image-making a little physical presence – all the rarer in the digital age. We love instant photography at AP, an ..read more

A recent opportunity to use the flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra has convinced deputy editor Geoff Harris that it’s set a new benchmark for high-quality smartphone photography. Apple, Samsung and Google take note. Xiaomi has been in the news a lot recently, using the recent Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona to officially launch its two latest phones, the 14 and 14 Ultra. The company is well known in its home market of China, producing much more than phones, but less so in western markets. Xiaomi is now undertaking a big push to become a better known name in US and European markets dominated by A ..read more

Kingsley Singleton speaks to three pro photographers about how they handle aperture, shutter speed and ISO to achieve the best results when taking photos. Professional photographers, Terry Donnelly, Brian Lloyd Duckett and Alan Howe share their insights into using aperture, shutter speed and ISO below. Aperture Pro sports and portrait photographer Terry Donnelly opens up about aperture, exposure and depth of field Terry Donnelly With a wealth of experience, Terry Donnelly shoots professionally in top-flight sports, editorial, PR and portraiture, and regularly features in national and internat ..read more

The Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year competition 2024 is now open for entries. The Royal Meteorological Society is inviting all photographers, amateur and professional, to submit their photographs for free by 18 June 2024. There are three categories: Main prize, Smartphone and Young for photographers aged under 18. Plus, a new Climate Award introduced for 2024, which will go to a photograph that best tells a compelling story about the impact of climate change.    From the Royal Meteorological Society, London, 15 April 2024 – The Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the ..read more

Amateur Photographer verdictA great alternative for the better known brands out there. It is easy to set up and use, runs Adobe software smoothly and proves itself to be extremely useful for retouching photos Pros Great accuracy Easy to use Lots of short-cut keys Low cost Cons Could be brighter The Huion Kamvas Pro 16 2.5K is what’s known as a Pen Display. Rather than it being a blank tablet that detects your pen motions and transfers them, like a mouse, to the screen of your computer, a Pen Display actually shows your working window, so you can use the pen directly on the image.&nbs ..read more

Why do we use tripods at all? Traditionally, it’s been to keep the camera steady during the exposure so that we don’t get blurry shots. However, over recent years there have been huge improvements in camera sensors and high-ISO image quality that allow much faster shutter speeds in low light. Not only that, many cameras now have in-body stabilisation to reduce the effect of camera movement, so that camera shake can be eliminated even with slower shutter speeds. What this means in practice is that there are almost no everyday circumstances in which we can’t expect to get a sharp, good-quality h ..read more

The film printing process isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. A makeshift darkroom can be set up in a bedroom, cellar, attic, shed, end of a garage – even under the stairs! All that is needed is an enlarger, three trays, a power socket and a red light. The stop and fix you used to process your film can be used for printing, but a different developer is needed for the paper. The developer can be any standard paper developer, which might come as a powder or a liquid concentrate that is mixed to the correct strength before use. Many manufacturers offer darkroom paper, but the brand I recomme ..read more

Insta360 has announced their latest flagship action camera for enthusiasts and content creators, the Insta360 X4. The new camera is capable of shooting the much-anticipated 8K 360° degree video. The founder of Insta360, JK Liu, said: ‘8K will be transformative for creators as reframed video now holds its own alongside footage shot on regular cameras. But X4 isn’t just about image quality, it’s designed to be the most robust, easy-to-use 360° camera ever, no matter your experience. This idea was at the heart of a lot of the changes we made’. The camera is supported by a 5nm AI chip and bo ..read more

Amateur Photographer verdictThis wideangle zoom delivers excellent images in a relatively portable package. But the short zoom range is creatively limiting and it’s expensive compared to third-party alternative Pros Impressively sharp at all settings Relatively compact and lightweight Built-in aperture ring Fast and silent focusing Weather sealed construction Cons Very limited zoom range High price compared to third-party alternatives Over the past few years, we’ve seen the camera market shift heavily towards full-frame mirrorless systems. But there’s also a clear demand from users f ..read more

Sony has announced a relatively compact and affordable large-aperture full-frame wideangle zoom, the new Sony FE 16-25mm F2.8 G. By reducing the zoom range relative to the top-end Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM II, the company has produced an alternative that’s 2cm shorter and three-quarters of the weight, at 409g. It’s also just a little more than half the price, at £1250. Sony FE 16-25mm F2.8 G at a glance: £1250 Large-aperture wideangle zoom lens For Sony E-mount cameras 18-24cm minimum focus distance 67mm filter thread 91.4mm long, 74.4mm diameter, 409g Just like the recent Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 ..read more