The world's most lucrative photography contest has awarded its first prize ($200,000) to China's Liping Cao for his monochrome image of a distant wind farm on the shores of a freshwater lake in Australia (see below).
The judges at HIPA Sustainability, now in its 13th year, and which this year awarded a record $1 million prize to be shared among winners, chose Silent energyshowing a 2021 wind farm on a then-dry Lake George in New South Wales, Australia, as the overall winner.
The most surprising thing about Liping's feat is the camera he used to take the winning photo: a Canon DSLR.
The camera in question is not even one of the best DSLRs, but a 12-year-old Canon EOS 5D Mark III, a full-frame DSLR that you can get secondhand for around $300 from companies like KEH in the US or their surroundings. £325 from MPB in the UK, although you'll pay a little more if you want one that's in excellent condition.
Liping paired the EOS 5D Mark III with the EF 24-105mm F4L IS USM, a versatile zoom lens that in the past could be purchased with the camera as part of a kit, a combination that is easily affordable for enthusiasts.
The winning image was taken in color and then converted to black and white because it “shows more levels of detail and is more suitable for experiencing environmental impact,” Liping said.
DSLR for victory
Canon confirmed some time ago that it is no longer developing DSLR cameras and is instead betting on its mirrorless cameras, but Liping's winning photo, taken with a Canon camera that has been relegated to the past, reminds us that you don't always need the latest and greatest cameras to get the best results.
The full-frame EOS 5D Mark III includes a 22.9MP sensor, which virtually matches Canon's modern mirrorless equivalents in terms of detail, such as the EOS R6 Mark II, which takes 24MP stills and is much more expensive.
And while I recently appreciated the advances in mirrorless camera technology when I used my old Nikon DSLR for the first time in years, this win for Liping proves that there's still life in the old DSLR.
If you are interested in the best DSLR options, you can check out our guide to the best DSLRs. And if you're a newcomer and confused by the jargon, you'll want to read our explanation on mirrorless vs DSLR.
