Nominate Your Favourite Kit

[Damien_Demolder]

Last year's 'AP Forum Product of the Year' was a great success, so I'd like to run it again. For those who can't remember, and for the newbies, this is a new category in the Amateur Photographer Awards that the magazine holds every year at the end of January. At the awards ceremony in London we award the best products the technical team has tested throughout the last 12 months. Last year we introduced AP Forum Product of the Year, which was won by Adobe for Lightroom.

So this is how it works. Over the next two weeks (well until November 31) you can nominate the product launched this year that you feel is most worthy of an award. The product could be anything from software to a tripod to a DSLR, but it must be available now – i.e. not ‘pending’

Ideally you will own the product, or will have used one enough to know that it is good – but it is allowable to nominate a product you have not actually used - but you should have read enough about it to know that it is really what you want or that it really is a first class product.

Accompany your nomination with the reasons why you think your products are so good.

At the end of the nomination period the top ten most mentioned products will be reintroduced in a poll for one week, so that a winner, and two places, can be found.

Happy nominations – and yes you can nominate more than one product at this stage. Shall we say a maximum of 3?

damien


Oh, and did I mention this is my 1000th post? I'm catching up with the big boys now.

[Benchista]

Oh, and did I mention this is my 1000th post? I'm catching up with the big boys now.

Really?

I'm going to wait to nominate to see if the 5D Mk II makes it on the market before the closing date...

[daft_biker]

The Canon 50D for it's pixel density. It looks like it can record even finer detail than the 40D I have.

This probably isn't the best example as it was taken at an effective aperture of f/45 so isn't the sharpest of shots for pixel peeping (I probably should have sharpened it or something!). Even so if 10MP is good enough to make Frans say wow I've no doubt 15MP would be even better (Frans is something of an expert when it comes to springtails and has probably seen more photographs of them than I ever will)

[Hotblack]

Post deleted by Hotblack

[FujiSigmaNolta]

My votes go for:

1. Sony A900 - For amazing performance all the while dealing with so much data and for image quality.Also, for giving a progression path for Minolta and Sony users plus shaking the tree a bit for the big two.

2. Nikon D700 - For amazing performance and pushing the envelope for image quality right across the ISO range, build quality and features

3. Nikon D300 - Blazing fast performance, loads of features, build quality and again great image quality across the ISO range

[Matt_Hunt]

I'd go for the D700.

Although I have the D300 (and find it excellent), I am using higher ISO settings enough to seriously consider going for a D700 on that basis alone before considering that with a D300-related body, the build and ergonmics are very, very good.

[beejaybee]

3. Nikon D300

I don't think that was launched in the last year.

[AlexMonro]

Pentax K20D - for all the well thought out genuinely useful little features, from backwards compatibility with almost all Pentax lenses to focus trap.

[Dave_Cox]

Pentax K20D - for all the well thought out genuinely useful little features, from backwards compatibility with almost all Pentax lenses to focus trap.

Another vote for the K20d, not just for the features mentioned above; but value for money at todays prices it's punching well above it's weight (imho).

[spinno]

Pentax K20D - for all the well thought out genuinely useful little features, from backwards compatibility with almost all Pentax lenses to focus trap.

Another vote for the K20d, not just for the features mentioned above; but value for money at todays prices it's punching well above it's weight (imho).

you might guess that I'm in agreement...if only their marketing was better....

[TimF]

Ideally you will own the product, or will have used one enough to know that it is good – but it is allowable to nominate a product you have not actually used - but you should have read enough about it to know that it is really what you want or that it really is a first class product.

With the above in mind, here's my three allowed nominations.

1. The Phase One P65+ back. No, I don't own one sadly (!), but from what I've seen this just blows anything else out the water IQ wise. Hardly surprising perhaps with 60 megapixels, but a short video by photographer Drew Gardner suggests its a quantum leap over the company's P45+.

2. Adobe Lightroom 2, builds on the foundations of the original. Whilst some prefer other RAW developers, there's no denying that Lightroom does what it does (perhaps especially its cataloguing functions) brilliantly.

3. ColorMunki. A terrific one-stop-shop for profiling displays, printers and pretty much everything else at a not unreasonable price. The sole waver for me, is that the "installation CD" doesn't actually contain the program at all! The installer merely contains a link to the company's website, from where the current version of the software is downloaded.

I might have nominated the Leica M8.2, but as it's more a development of the 2006 camera than a new product, no. Likewise the Canon 5D II, which sounds terrific, but I'll hold fire until I see more tangible information.

[Scphoto]

Only one product from me:

Adobe Lightroom version 2 - I was very happy with version 1.4 until I tried the beta of version 2. This made me part with money for an upgrade. It expands on the qualities of the first edition with some added editing features (and a few other things, which are less relevant to me).

[FujiSigmaNolta]

3. Nikon D300

I don't think that was launched in the last year.

Ooops, that's right! But that camera stuck to my head since I reviewed it. I'll change that to the Leica S2 then.

[Benchista]

I'll change that to the Leica S2 then.

Don't think that counts either as it's not available yet.

[TimF]

Yup, next summer.

[Wheelu]

As a Canon and Pentax user it grieves me to have to nominate the Nikon D700. From what I have seen and read it provides excellent image quality, durability and some very useful features. Full marks to Nikon for not getting involved in the MP race and providing a camera that does what is required.

Did I mention the excellent image quality; nothing else matters really.

Oh, BTW it has excellent image quality and it is the Nikon D700

If I am allowed a second vote, and if it does become a reality this year, the Fuji folding film camera would be my next nomination. This, coupled with a few rolls of the new Kodak Ektar (assuming that appears in 120 format), could breath new life into film based landscape photography.

Which brings me to my third nomination, Kodak Ektar. It's great that Kodak have seen fit to develop a new product and I wish them every success. I have pre-ordered a couple of rolls to try and hope that it does as is claimed, with the performance of slide film but with the latitude of negative.

[Monobod]

My vote goes first to the Pentax K20D. Since I have recently purchased one, I am really impressed with the excellent image quality. The camera is well built and feels sturdy. The feature list speaks for itself really.

My next vote would go to the Canon G10, for the reintroduction of raw and for producing a camera that is feature rich and yet easy to carry around. Not really pocket size but convenient.

Third vote to Manfrotto for consistent high quality and inovation, nothing specific, just a well thought out range of tripods, monopods and heads.

[Nacnud]

I'd also like to nominate Lightroom 2.
I can think of no single product that has had so much impact on my photography.

The cost always put me off buying early versions, but Lightroom 2 introduced enough features for me to justify the purchase.
The Develop module is every bit as good as I had hoped for.
What I didn't expect is just how good the Library and Print modules are.
Lightroom 2 has completely transformed the way I store, process and print my images.

[Learning]

AF-S Nikkor 16-85mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED VR DX. This is close to the perfect general purpose lens for a D300
If I was a Sony user then I would have nominated the even better Zeiss 16-80

[Damien_Demolder]

Dear all.

We are roughly at the half way stage in our nomination process for Amateur Photographer Forum Product of the Year. I have listed the products nominated so far, but remember it will be the MOST nominated products that get into the short list for the voting – so nominate your favourites whether they have appeared already or not.

The nominations so far are:

Canon EOS 50D
Sony Alpha 900
Nikon D700
Pentax K20D
Phase One P65+
Adobe Lightroom 2
ColorMunki
Kodak Ektar
Canon Powershot G10
AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm 3.5-5.6 G ED VR DX
DT 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 ZA Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T*
Manfrotto generally (but we need a specific product name)

The most nominated products at the moment are Lightroom, the Pentax K20D and the Nikon D700.

So get nominating.