For years Point101 has been telling its customers not to fuss too much about buying megapixel-heavy cameras. “After a certain point it doesn’t make much difference” we’ve been saying.

Which is why we feel a bit bad about drooling over the upcoming Sigma DS1, a 46 megapixel sensor-packing beast. But we can’t help it. Imagine blowing up your images as king size perspex prints and getting every bit of detail in their in your panoramic landscape shot!

The classically 35mm-styled camera – which is due for release in Japan on 10th June – has a light-weight magnesium alloy body and a Foveon 23.5×15.7mm APS-C X3 direct image sensor. But all those megapixels don’t come cheap. The DS1 is due to sell for around £6,000.

A spokesperson for Sigma said: “Incorporating a 46 megapixel 24×16mm APS-C X3 direct image sensor, the SIGMA SD1 is Sigma’s flagship digital SLR model.

“Adopting a lightweight yet solid magnesium alloy for its body and O-ring sealing connections to make a weather-resistant design throughout for use in harsh conditions.”

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canon

Leica and Apple are two brands famed for the quality of their commercial design and ability to produce iconic products.

And with this in mind, the good folks at design house Black Design Associates have taken it upon themselves to imagine what would happen if the two combined forces to create a new product.

The result is the ‘LEICA i9 for iPhone4′ a Leica camera add-on for the iPhone4 which appears to snap around the popular phone making a lot more suited to taking quality photographs that you can turn into canvas prints with Point101 of course!

Designers using the i9 would instantly activate optical zoom, dedicated aperture and shutter dials, flash and light meter — all features any photographer would love to see added to their iPhone.

However, while we would love to see the i9 make it to market, something tells us we could be waiting for some time. Neither Leica or Apple are normally too keen on this sort of partnership.

cameras · leica

If there’s one lens we couldn’t do without, it’s out trusty 50mm, it seems to spend about as much time on our DSLRs as all of the other lenses combined.

And Nikon have just confirmed their decade old ‘nifty fifty’ is about to get a makeover making it a great option for the millions of people who have bought a DSLR and are still struggling with the bundled kit lens.

That’s because the upcoming 50mm f/1.8 will include a built-in autofocus motor meaning it can be used with the entry level DSLRs which don’t have the motor inside the body which was required to drive its predecessor.

If you haven’t used a 50mm prime before, you can expect some of the sharpest images you have ever taken along with the ability to isolate subjects with the shallow depth-of-field and low-light abilities allowed by the f/1.8. Great for when you get your giclee printing done with Point101 of course!

Zurab Kiknadze, product manager of lenses, at Nikon Europe said the 50mm would be the, “ideal second lens for curious digital SLR enthusiasts wanting to venture beyond the kit lens and explore the creative possibilities that a fast aperture can offer.”

The new Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime is expected to go on sale in June for around £200.

lenses · nikon

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the “street photography” or “real life reportage” style that has influenced generations of photographers that followed.

Cartier-Bresson exclusively used Leica 35 mm rangefinder cameras equipped with normal 50 mm lenses or occasionally a wide-angle for landscapes.[6] He often wrapped black tape around the camera’s chrome body to make it less conspicuous. With fast black and white films and sharp lenses, he was able to photograph almost by stealth to capture the events. No longer bound by a huge 4×5 press camera or an awkward two and a quarter inch twin-lens reflex camera, miniature-format cameras gave Cartier-Bresson what he called “the velvet hand [and] the hawk’s eye.”[citation needed] He never photographed with flash, a practice he saw as “[i]mpolite…like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand.”[7] He believed in composing his photographs in the viewfinder, not in the darkroom. He showcased this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation. Indeed, he emphasized that his prints were not cropped by insisting they include the first millimetre or so of the unexposed clear negative around the image area resulting, after printing, in a black border around the positive image.

Cartier-Bresson worked exclusively in black and white, other than a few unsuccessful attempts in color. He disliked developing or making his own prints.[citation needed] He said: “I’ve never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing.”[citation needed]

Cartier-Bresson is regarded as one of the art world’s most unassuming personalities. He disliked publicity and exhibited a ferocious shyness since his days in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although he took many famous portraits, his own face was little known to the world at large (which presumably had the advantage of allowing him to work on the street in peace). He dismissed others’ applications of the term “art” to his photographs, which he thought were merely his gut reactions to moments in time that he had happened upon.

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If you’re serious about your amateur photography you’ll be interested to know that the British Journal of Photography are holding their 4th International Photography Awards right now. Also, the prizes are worth a combined total of £13,000, so it’s definitely worth entering if you think you have what it takes.

With this 4th annual awards, the contest has been changed slightly from previous years. In the past if you wanted to enter you’d have to submit an entire portfolio of work, whereas this year you can submit a single photograph.

Prizes for the contest include a Canon EOS 5D camera, worth £3,520. As well as the rather impressive prize, the winners will also have their pictures shown at a London photography gallery, plus they’ll be featured in the British Journal of Photography.

If you’re interested in entering, the last date for submissions is September 20th.

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Paul McCartney isn’t the only famous Macca in his household, his younger brother Mike is an accomplished and skilled photographer who this week unveiled his latest exhibition, Liverpool Life, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mike McCartney stated about the exhibition:

It’s the story behind the story of that magical era.

The exhibit is already receiving excellent reviews. Combining his unique photography style with his gift for being in the right place at the right time, Mike McCartney’s work is a celebration of artists who played in Liverpool over the years. He also was on hand to take some stunning shots of his brother’s band ‘The Beatles’ as they were first starting out on the road to success in Liverpool.

Included in the exhibition are shots of such legends as Jerry Lee Lewis and the Hollies. Sadly the images of the Beatles are not included in this exhibition.

The exhibition will be running until September 21st and is part of the city’s ‘Liverpool City of Culture’ theme that is running for 2008.

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Just to show that not all exhibited photographers are professionals, an exhibition at the end of the month has been scheduled to celebrate two amateur photographers from Southampton. ‘Through the Lens’ is an exhibition of the amateur photographers Phil Green and Helen Plant. Both photographers are members of the Camera Club in their hometown of Southampton.

Usually to become a professional photographer you’ll need to complete a degree in a course such as documentary photographer or photo art, and will be required to possess at least a 2.1 or 1st, holding a Bachelor of Arts. However neither Helen nor Phil have any such qualifications, as they are both self-taught photographers. They have both been awarded the Distinction from the Photographic Alliance of Britain though.

Helen Plant talks about her passion for photography.

I am fascinated by the shapes, colours and textures of nature in close-up as well as on occasions a more abstract approach to the wider landscape.

My preference is for subtle colours and lighting and relatively simple compositions.

Phil Green’s love of taking pictures came about through his use of a traditional SLR film camera, though both Phil and Helen now use digital cameras.

Most of my photographs are of nature subjects taken within twenty miles of home. I cover my local patch with an emphasis on the welfare of my subject. This is a major factor and one of which I am fiercely proud.

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Photography has always been considered a visual medium. It’s a process by which light interacts with chemicals upon film, creating an image that can be seen when printed out onto photographic paper. It uses light to create imagery using tone and colour.

However a process of photography has just been invented that allows the blind to enjoy the beauty of photography as well. Using a new piece of software the photographic image can be traced, and then outputted with an embossed finish allowing the viewer to feel the lines of the picture in a form of Braille.

This allows the blind to enjoy photography in much the same way as everyone else, allowing them to feel the imagery with their fingers.

An exhibition for the new form of photography has just been launched in the Ukraine, and pictures from the exhibition can be seen on the BBC website here.

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