Innholdsfortegnelse for January 12, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

I’M HOPING that the acquisition of Pentax by Ricoh last year will soon produce some definable outcomes. So far, all we’ve seen is Ricoh going quieter, the GXR system sliding into history and Pentax going about its normal low-key business. It feels as though there is pent-up pressure and a host of new cameras will soon burst onto the scene, but that could just be wishful thinking on my part. The question comes to mind now as we review Pentax’s latest SLR, the K-5 II (pages 41-46). It is one of those rare cameras that is both remarkable and unexceptional at the same time. It fails to generate particular excitement because we are all looking to see how it differs from the model it replaces, which it hardly does, and…

Painting and Photography 1839-1914 By Dominique de Font-Réaulx. Flammarion, £50, hardback, 252 pages, ISBN 978-2-08-020132-4 THIS thorough study of the formative years of photography, from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th, in an exhaustive work and impressive feat of research by author Dominique de Font-Réaulx. The book focuses on emergent photography’s place in the art world at the time, as a curious, uncertain new blend of art and science. It thoroughly explores photography’s relationship with painting, and discusses the forms of artistic expression that sprang from it, such as portraiture, nudes and tableaux vivant. This is a work of serious academia, and the tone, length and cover price are reflective of this. It isn’t for casual browsers, but scholars and academics may find this rich tome a…

HAS THE techno-babble pertaining to all things digital caused us to lose our sense of vision and perception as far as our photography is concerned? Nobody seems to want to talk about images any more, and the seeing and making aspects relating to them. All the talk is about pixels, resolution, colour management, HDR, and so on. Yes, we do need all of that, but is it enough for us to be able to create fine images? A lot of people are under the misapprehension that modern cameras think for themselves. Wrong – you, as a creative photographer, have to think for them. The same delusion applies to being a wizard with Photoshop. Modern cameras are technologically marvellous, but having the latest all-singing, all-dancing camera does not make you a…

FOR THIS type of work, it’s better to use manual focus rather than auto, as complete control over your shutter speed and aperture will allow you to experiment more. ‘Getting to grips with manual mode may seem daunting to begin with, but once you have mastered it, it can be a brilliant tool,’ says Massey. Plus, he adds, when you’re shooting through fencing as we are at the Trust, you don’t want AF locking onto the fence or locking onto the background. As for aperture, Massey suggests trying around f/2.8 so the background is nicely defocused. If you have a depth of field preview button, use it before taking the shot to ensure you are happy with the effect. The wire fencing enclosing the wolves has small holes cut into…

I DON’T know whether it’s a desire to bring back some craftsmanship, or just nostalgia, but the Zone System has a new following among digital photographers. The system was invented by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in the 1930s as a way of coordinating exposure and printing for high-quality black & white photography. The key concept, which remains valuable even with digital processing, is the division of the tonal range of a scene into ten zones. There are variations of the system that use nine and 11 zones, but we don’t need to go into those here. Photographing by the Zone System involves three actions. The first is to form a mental picture of how the final print should look in terms of brightness and contrast. The second is placement,…

Over the next few pages we present this week’s equipment tests, reader questions and technique pointers Stealth Gear Double beanbag Street price from around £25 www.stealth-gear.com Stealth Gear specialises in well-made, durable and waterproof outdoors products, making it a popular choice with wildlife photographers. The company has a couple of beanbag camera supports in its range, with the Double beanbag the more versatile of the two. The beanbag is large enough to support up to a professional DSLR camera with telephoto lens attached, which rests securely on the top thanks to the beanbag’s non-slip material. Once filled with bird seed (or rice), the beanbag can weigh up to 5kg, so it is just as well that there is a shoulder strap to carry it comfortably. SteadePod Street price around £13…

RRP ￡799.99 body only, ￡869.99 with 18-55mm WR lens Sensor 16.3-million-effective-pixel CMOS sensor Output size 4928 x 3264 pixels Focal length mag 1.5x Lens mount Pentax KAF2 File format 14-bit PEF or DNG raw, JPEG, raw + JPEG simultaneously Compression 2-stage JPEG, 3-stage raw Colour space Adobe RGB, sRGB Shutter type Electronically controlled focal-plane shutter Shutter speeds 30-1/8000sec in 1∕3EV or 1/2 EV steps plus bulb Max flash sync 1/180sec ISO ISO 100-12,800 (expanded to ISO 80-51,200) Exposure modes Auto, program, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, sensitivity priority, shutter and aperture priority, bulb. Metering system 77-segment metering, centreweighted and spot. Exposure comp ±5EV in 1∕3EV or 1/2EV steps White balance Auto, 10 presets, custom setting, Kelvin and WB fine adjustment White balance bracket Yes, over 3 images Drive mode 7fps…

PERMAJET’S PermaPROtect is a fast-drying, waterbased varnish that is applied to the printed canvas. The clear varnish offers protection against ultraviolet light, handling, abrasion and airborne pollutants, as well as increasing the lightfastness of the canvas. The varnish also has the benefit of increasing the colour saturation and density of blacks. PermaJet claims that ‘the varnishes will not discolour or change over 85 years.’ This claim is based on independent tests by a well-known UK laboratory. The varnish is available in gloss, matt and satin finishes in 250ml pots and 2.5-litre cans. There is also a custom foam-roller kit (sold separately) for applying the varnish, which has very fine pores to ensure an even application. Don’t be tempted to use a roller from your local DIY store as these are…

DCF-COMPLIANT JPEG Michael Gardner’s Sony TV-related query (left) may well be due to the fact that his edited JPEG images – saved in Photoshop Elements – aren’t DCF-compliant, but what is a DCF-compliant JPEG? DCF stands for ‘Design rule for Camera File system’. Essentially, it’s a digital ‘standard’ developed by the Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association in 1998 to – somewhat ironically in this instance – make it easier for images to be used on and by a range of devices, be they cameras, printers or televisions. At its simplest level, the standard sets out the file structure, or hierarchy, with tight ‘rules’ on how folders are named and organised. For example, a folder with a name starting ‘DCIM’ (Digital Camera IMages) is the main folder, and within this are…

MANY years ago, a friend of mine used to paint what he called ‘wallpaper’ – big, attractive paintings, sold through a very upmarket furnishing store in London, designed to complement whatever the store had decided were the ‘must-have’ colours for the season. They paid him a few hundred pounds a painting: nearly 40 years ago, this had the purchasing power of a couple of thousand pounds or more today. His private work had much more of an ‘edge’ and was more interesting for it. It was consequently harder to sell, principally because it was not designed merely to be easy on the eye. Whenever I stay in a hotel I think of him, because all but the cheapest hotels habitually use ‘art’ to break up large expanses of dull wall,…

Whistleblower to sign movie contract • Has money trail gone cold? OLYMPUS SCANDAL FILM DEAL IMMINENT AS WE went to press, Olympus scandal whistleblower Michael Woodford was poised to sign a deal with a company that makes John le Carré spy novels into movies. However, Woodford told AP he has yet to sign up with Ink Factory Films, amid interest in his story from other parties. Woodford was speaking to AP ahead of the launch of a book he has written about the crisis (see News, AP 5 January). Called Exposure, the book tells the story of how fraudsters masterminded a complex scheme to cover up massive losses that Olympus had racked up on investments. They disguised them through a series of multi-million-dollar ‘Mickey Mouse’ company acquisitions and a record-breaking…

● GIL ELVGREN’S PRIVATE STOCK by Tony Nourmand, £29.95 This book follows the discovery of more than 350 slides from the collection of pin-up painter Gil Elvgren, who worked in the nude glamour heyday of the 1930s to the ’70s. It is a window into the culture of glamour photography, as well as the different social standards of the time. ● THE SWINGING SIXTIES: AN ICONIC DECADE IN PICTURES edited by Ian Petherby and Caroline Watson, £7.99 This thick little book of the 1960s charts the decade’s cultural milestones, including the rise of The Beatles, Mods and Rockers, and more. Focusing on the youth and pop culture of the ’60s, the book’s appeal will likely be skewed towards those who remember the decade for themselves, and they will be in…

BRINGING YOU ESSENTIAL EXPERT ADVICE EVERY WEEK I TAKE a lot of photographs of still-life subjects, and many of my images are of objects that I’ve found because I’ve liked their particular character or shape. More often than not I’ve been attracted by an arrangement of shapes or light and shadow. However, this image is a little different because it is obviously set-up. I used to live above an old antiques shop. In the cellar there was a workshop and within that I discovered an old jam jar that had been used to store paint. If you look at the image carefully, you can see some dried paint that has dribbled down the side. There was something about this jar that I really fell in love with and I knew…

The Editor’s Choice wins a Vanguard GH-100 3-in-1 pistol grip ball head worth £129.99* Combining the smooth precision of a ball head with the impressive ergonomic control of a pistol grip, the award-winning GH-100 enables you to position your camera exactly where you want it. The ball head has an anodized centre ball and friction-control switch, while the pistol grip enables you to position your camera or spotting scope effortlessly. The GH-100 also has 360° of panning movement, with 72 clicks of 5°. www.vanguardworld.co.uk How to submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/spotlight Clive Smith Bath Clive is an avid explorer of the great outdoors and, as such, has developed a keen interest in landscape photography. Having enjoyed…

The traditional Zone System practice is to first make your own zone scale and then use this, held in front of the scene, to be photographed. Some Zone System users prefer their zone scales to have some texture to make the tones seem more solid and recognisable. It’s important not to take the division into solid tones literally. The tonal range grades smoothly, and dividing it into blocks is for convenience only. For example, Zone III (textured shadow) shades are from around 25% brightness to a little less than 40%. Finally, the zones are always easier to judge in monochrome and with a monochrome image. Zone 0 Solid, maximum black, 0,0,0 in RGB. No detail Zone I Almost black, as in deep shadows. No discernible texture Zone II First hint…

Deputy technical editor AS ITS name suggests, the Pentax K-5 II is a direct replacement for the Pentax K-5, which was tested in AP 15 January 2011. The camera received a high score in the review, and praise has been heaped on it ever since. Many photographers have claimed that it has the best overall image quality of any DSLR with an APS-C-sized sensor, so the K-5 II has a lot to live up to. In the two years between the K-5 and K-5 II, there has been very little movement in enthusiast DSLR section of the market. The two-year-old Nikon D7000 is still current, as is the three-year-old Canon EOS 7D. We have seen many new cameras and steps forward in imaging technology in other areas, though, particularly professional-level…

Technical editor HELPED BY an expensive TV campaign, Nikon’s 1 series has proved to be very popular among photographers wanting a very small system camera with equally small lenses. However, some enthusiast photographers have a few concerns with the first generation of cameras – the Nikon 1 J1 and V1. The sensor size is smaller than APS-C and four thirds, and the sensor resolution is only 10 million pixels. Both of the original 1 system cameras are slim compact-style models. However, many enthusiasts would have preferred the more advanced V1 to be styled like a DSLR. With the new Nikon 1 V2, some of these points have been addressed. Obviously, the sensor size remains the same, but it is now a higher resolution. A handgrip has been added to the…

IN SEARCH OF A MACRO CONVERTER Could you give me some information about the Raynox DCR-250 macro converter? I am interested in macro photography and would like to know what it can do, how much it costs and where I could obtain it. I am 81 years old and do not possess a computer, so I deal in phone numbers, not email. T Armitage The Raynox DCR-250 (pictured) is essentially a close-up dioptre designed primarily for compact-style cameras. It is similar in application to the close-up lenses you might attach to the front of a DSLR camera lens like a filter, but the eight dioptre rating is higher than most close-up lenses, allowing extremely high levels of magnification. In terms of use, it has a 43mm threaded mount, but comes…

SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-RX1 We test Sony’s latest compact camera with its impressive 24.3-million-pixel full-frame sensor REPORTAGE WINTER IN CALIFORNIA Documentary photographer Matt Black reveals his personal journey to photograph rural poverty in the US ON TEST CANON POWERSHOT SX50HS We test this 12.1-millionpixel camera with 50x optical zoom (24-1200mm 35mm equivalent) WILDLIFE THE BIRD MAN Bob Croslin discusses his studiobased images of rescued birds…

Wednesday 9 January EXHIBITION Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, until 17 February at National Portrait Gallery, London WC2H 0HE. Tel: 0207 312 2463. Visit www.npg.org.uk. DON’T MISS Ice Rink at Canada Square, until 13 January at Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB. Tel: 0844 847 1546. Visit www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Thursday 10 January EXHIBITION Orthodox Eros by Lea Golda Holterman, until 12 January at Fred (London) Ltd, London W1W 7DS. Tel: 0207 323 0344. Visit www.fred-london.com. EXHIBITION Retrospective by Czech-born photographer Jitká Hanzlová, until 3 February at Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh EH2 1JD. Tel: 0131 624 6200. Visit www.nationalgalleries.org. Friday 11 January EXHIBITION The Rickerby Show by US photojournalist Arthur B Rickerby, until 16 February at Daniel Blau, London N1 6PB. Tel: 0207 831 7998. Visit www.danielblau.com. DON’T MISS Neolithic New Year…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 4GB media card* A BETTER WAY? I was a keen amateur photographer in the 1980s using a Canon A-1. When my children arrived, photography took a back seat, except for taking quick snaps as they grew. Now, having retired through ill health, I have the time to return to my hobby, albeit in a digital world. So I immediately looked at Canon again for my new kit, then Nikon and finally Sony. With the Canon and Nikon digital models there are no more heavy motordrives to advance the 35mm film, but there is still the clunk-click as a mirror flips up and down. Surely in this digital age there must be…

BRITISH wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1760s after centuries of persecution, their reputations unfairly tarnished with myths of savagery and man eating. The last wolf on these islands may have died hundreds of years ago, yet their sharp intelligence, sheer physical strength and beauty still fascinate us. And, of course, their presence is woven inextricably into folklore and fairy tales. It was to dispel such myths and support wolf conservation throughout the world that the UK Wolf Conservation Trust was established by the late Roger Palmer and his wife Tsa in 1995, after many years spent keeping wolves privately. Today, the 50-acre site in Beenham, Berkshire, is home to eight North American and European wolves, and three young Arctic wolves. It’s a first for Masterclass leader Luke Massey,…

PERFECT for capturing all those festive moments as they happen, the Nikon 1 J2 is speedy enough, clever enough and creative enough to capture the fun in your world without missing a beat. Designed to act fast, the intelligent Nikon 1 J2 interchangeable-lens camera ensures you stay a click ahead of the action. Ultra-portable and simple to operate, it has all you need to capture great photos and movies. The bright LCD screen offers crystal-clear shooting and playback, and functions like the innovative Motion Snapshot and the easy-touse Creative Mode allow you plenty of creative ways to record your life. For more information about the Nikon 1 range, visit www.nikon.co.uk. For your chance to win one of these fantastic cameras, visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/competitions and upload up to five pictures of your…

Shamil Khairov Girl at the window Nikon FM, Kodak T-Max 400 YOU REALLY cannot beat window light for portraits. I spent a fortune on studio lighting when I first started out, just so I could replicate what comes free through most windows, although artificial lighting is more flexible and controllable. This portrait by Shamil shows us just what can be done with glass and net curtains, and a little imagination. It is a lovely scene. Shamil’s exposure is a little dark, though, and with all that white around I can’t help feeling that we need a more low-contrast and brighter atmosphere. My first move towards achieving that was to open Levels so I could brighten the midtones and create a greater percentage of blacks – which I then lightened to…

IN ITS standard setting, the ISO range is 100-12,800. However, this range can be manually extended through the custom menu to a class-leading ISO 80-51,200. Unlike some other camera systems, the expanded settings are available at full resolution and in raw and JPEG capture. Impressive as its performance may be in low light, noise is evident at the high ISO settings. In the high ISO NR menu, one can choose between low, medium, high and auto NR. What is particularly useful, though, is the custom NR setting. With this setting selected, the low, medium, high and auto NR settings can be individually selected for each ISO setting. This eliminates the need to fiddle with the NR settings for JPEG files every time one changes the ISO setting.…

PERMAJET is one of the market leaders in high-quality papers, offering a large range of inkjet papers and canvases. The company’s range includes digital photo papers, fibre-based papers, smooth and textured fine-art papers, and canvases. Canvas has been around for hundreds of years and is a popular artists’ medium. It is also a favourite with portrait and landscape photographers who want to give a fine-art or artistic look to their work. Printing on canvas is no more complicated than standard inkjet printing, although there are a few extra steps. Here I am testing two of PermaJet’s latest products, the Mercury Ultra White Matt Canvas 405 and PermaPROtect canvas varnish. FEATURES Mercury Ultra White Matt Canvas 405 is a textured, heavyweight product (405gsm) with a brilliant-white surface that is ideal for…

Lightmeter help bREEMmachine asks I’m looking for a lightmeter to help me take portraits. I don’t want to break the bank, as I am still a novice, so does anyone have any advice? PeteRob replies There are several applications of a lightmeter, so it depends what you want to do with it. In particular, when taking portraits, do you want the lightmeter for normal lighting or for flash? I had a small Sekonic meter (the current model is L308S) for use with my medium-format camera, which I found very good for incident-light measurements. I traded it for a Sekonic spot meter (the current model is L758) to better understand metering, but I have found I mostly use it for incident measurements. In fact, I’d have been better off sticking with…

IN MY last two articles (AP 10 November and 8 December 2012), the topic of discussion has been exposure, which is defined as the illumination of the sensor x the time for which it is illuminated. Exposure determines the density of light incident on the sensor over the whole exposure time, and thus the number of photons that make up the image. From that number of photons is derived the photon shot noise, the major noise in an image, so that exposure directly controls image noise – and the greater the exposure, the less noisy the image. Thus, if the photographer’s aim is to produce images with as little noise as possible, which would be a common view of what constitutes the highest ‘image quality’, then the aim will be…