Innholdsfortegnelse for March 23, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

I’M NOT a fan of restricted consumer choice or of limited competition, and, as a rule, I dislike a single brand dominating its market. While scale can bring cost benefits to the end user, and better function via a consolidation of resources in research and development, the phrases ‘stranglehold’, ‘gunpoint’ and ‘over a barrel’ on occasion enter the conversations between customers. In our industry, names such as Canon and Nikon might first come to mind when we think about monopolies, but at the moment at least all we can see is their competition keeping prices, if only of entry-level camera bodies, down rather than up. Their size allows significant research to take place, which ultimately is advantageous to us all. The same is probably true of Adobe – that its…

ALTHOUGH Nikon already offers an enthusiast compact in the Coolpix P7700, the Coolpix A is a different proposition entirely. It marries a 16.2-million-pixel, DX-format sensor – the same as that used in Nikon’s D7000 DSLR – with an 18.5mm (28mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens, and manages to do so in a surprisingly small form. It’s not the first compact camera to offer such a combination, but it is, by some margin, the smallest yet. Unlike similar models with an APS-Csized sensor, such as Fujifilm’s X100S, the Coolpix A should fit into a jacket or jeans pocket with little bother. Yet, with its minimal styling, Nikon clearly intends for the new model to satisfy the needs of a different user: one who requires the flexibility of raw shooting and manual control, but…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 4GB media card* THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD In Backchat AP 9 March, Ian Shore suggested that we should all start creating ‘real’ images and that the latest generation of photographers would not know what to do with a Nikon loaded with Fujichrome Velvia. He explained that as a semi-professional he was taught film photography, but alas, now all the current generation do is push the auto mode button and then head for Photoshop. I am sorry to note that he has had to learn a new technique, a problem caused by changing technology. Would he prefer to go back to the wet-plate process? What is wrong with progress? Let us…

IF YOU’VE ever gone into your back garden to look at the assorted little creatures that live there and wondered how you can create more exciting macro photos, then the work of Vadim Trunov should serve as inspiration. The Russian photographer uses insects, slugs and snails as his subjects in his staged macro shots. For him, having control over his subjects in these staged situations enables him to create standout images that intrigue viewers. ‘Some of these creatures can move really fast, so they are very difficult to capture,’ says Trunov. ‘But if you know about their behaviour beforehand, you can make adjustments for this, which is a great help when shooting. And if you spend time planning the shooting angles and trying to get the light, the photos will…

ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH I PHOTOGRAPHER I CAMERA Le Brusc Martine Franck’s most famous photograph is a masterpiece of timing and composition, writes David Clark IN THE summer of 1976, Belgian photographer Martine Franck was commissioned by the Fondation Nationale de la Photographie in France to shoot a series of images documenting the French on holiday. It was an ideal year for shooting bright, sunshine-filled images, as the summer of 1976 in Europe was one of intense heat waves and long-lasting drought. Franck was 38. She had been married to one of the world’s most famous photojournalists, Henri Cartier-Bresson, for six years, but was also a respected photographer in her own right. After taking up photography at the relatively late age of 26, she quickly became successful in documentary and reportage work.…

SOFTWARE AS A DIGITAL ZOOM While I think your review of the Fujifilm X-E1 in AP 8 December 2012 was great, this camera still represents a lot of money to me. Bearing in mind how easy it is to use photo-editing software and its high pixel count, would it be logical for me to simply buy the Fuji X100 and use my PC to create zoomed photos? Graham Arnold AFrom the flurry of questions received recently, it seems that the Fuji X-E1 (and indeed the Fuji X series as a whole) has piqued the interest of quite a few AP readers looking for a new camera. However, this question is slightly different. If I’m understanding you correctly, Graham, you’re asking if you could get similar-quality images to a Fuji X-E1…

THE ADVANTAGES of a travel compact camera are that it offers a wide optical zoom range, numerous features and various shooting modes, all in a body small enough to slip into a trouser pocket. Panasonic’s TZ series has long been at the forefront of this market, so we were keen to get our hands on the company’s latest flagship TZ model, the Lumix DMC-TZ40. A cursory glance at the TZ40’s specification reveals a number of new features not present on its predecessor, the TZ30, which was launched last year. This latest travel compact could well be the model, then, to keep Panasonic at the forefront of this market. FEATURES New travel compact camera models usually feature improvements in the zoom range or the pixel count with each generation, and in…

“The Lunar will be officially launched in April” THE HIGH street seems far from dead. The London Camera Exchange (LCE) is eyeing up expansion as it reports buoyant trade in the wake of Jessops’ vanishing act – with less than 1% of its sales online. Formed in the 1950s, LCE operates 28 stores across the country from Manchester to Plymouth in Devon. It is now the largest photographic chain in the UK, in terms of store numbers. LCE managing director Nick Richens said the chain has reaped huge benefits from the recent demise of Jessops, which, at the time of its collapse in January, operated 187 shops. Despite recent success, however, LCE has not been tempted to bid for any former Jessops stores and is treading carefully concerning any future…

Contemporary Photography from India and South America: The Tenth Parallel North Edited by Filippo Maggia, with Claudia Fini and Francesca Lazzarini. Skira, £34.95, hardback, 192 pages, ISBN 978-88-572-1249-4 THE LATEST ‘Contemporary Photography’ book in the series turns its attention to India and South America, featuring the work of 22 photographers. Street photography, computer graphics, portraits of twins, charcoal on paper, a sea anemone – you can never be quite sure exactly what you’re going to find as you jump from artist to artist. Many push the boundaries of photography, such as Rosângela Rennó with her uncanny photo painting. Some artists get shorter shrift than others – many pages are devoted to Laura Glusman’s images of an overgrown island, while Claudia Andujar’s political work gets barely a look in. You may…

PETER was my local camera dealer. Worldly wise, peering over old specs, a ciggy with a teetering cap of ash and a look heavenwards as he sought respite from the terminally stupid. Consulting some mental back catalogue only he could see before retreating into a world of crammed cupboards, he emerged grasping a replacement for the ‘irreplaceable’ adapter, converter or cable you’d lost or broken. His back-shop Tardis held not only the latest gear but also anything that had ever been the latest gear in the previous three decades! Peter’s place is long gone, but I offered silent thanks for his part in my photo education as my wife embarked on choosing her new camera at Christmas. Sadly, the exciting task became a frustrating chore. Peter moaned but couldn’t do…

Grant Glendinning Glasgow Grant first encountered photography through his interest in astronomy. ‘I always wanted to photograph the night sky, and after buying my first DSLR in 2003 I was able to do that,’ he says. From that moment, Grant’s interest in photography greatly expanded, and he began shooting the Scottish landscape with the kind of excellent results seen on these pages. Grant also enjoys photographing wildlife, and in the future he hopes to visit the Hebridean Islands. To see more images from Grant, visit his website at www.glendinning.ws. Loch Ard jetty 1 The downwards slope of the treeline complements the shape of the loch in this shot Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 17-40mm, 1/6sec at f/16, ISO 50, 0.6ND grad, polariser Rannoch Moor 2 The three main elements of…

LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series (1TB) £204.99 www.lacie.com The main feature of the LaCie Rugged hard drive is its durability. It is designed to be as accident-resistant as possible – with a removable shock-absorbing rubber sleeve and aluminium shell casing. This makes it by far the toughest drive on test, and ideal for rough travel. Over a USB 3.0 connection, the Rugged achieved a write speed of 94.4MB/s and a read speed of 99MB/s, both taking 10secs to transfer 1GB of data. When testing the Thunderbolt connection on a MacBook Air, we found the gains in speed were actually not that significant, with write and read speeds of 98MB/s and 106MB/s respectively, Western Digital My Passport From £54.99 www.wdc.com The My Passport from Western Digital offers up to a…

Night-time shots Dslrdude asks I have been asked by a local organisation to produce some images for a road-safety poster, so can anyone give me any advice on night-time shooting? I plan to do some shoots with my son lying in front of my car with the headlights turned on, and most of the shots will be done at night. AlexMonro replies Well, the answer is ‘it depends.’ It depends on how you envisage the shot and exactly what the lighting conditions are. It also depends on whether you want to go in close with a wideangle lens for a dramatic effect, or do a wide shot from a distance, showing the whole street to give context? Or how about a telephoto shot to compress perspective or a shot from…

SERIF, the software company that produces low-cost alternatives to high-end publishing and graphics packages, has added a new version of its image-editing software, PhotoPlus X6, to its portfolio. This is a feature-packed application with an entry-level price of £71.48, which should satisfy users with various levels of expertise. PHOTOPLUS X6 APPLICATION On first launching PhotoPlus X6, you are presented with a ‘To Do’ window from which you can select the Create, Open, Learn and Organizer applications. Under Create, you can start a new image, animation or HDR merge. Open will display a list of previously edited images, while Organizer shows you how to manage your photos. Finally, the Learn section is a tutorial on how to use the other applications. The PhotoPlus default interface colour is light grey, which is…

A week of photographic opportunity Wednesday 20 March EXHIBITION Conflict and Costume by Jim Naughten, until 13 April at Margaret Street Gallery, London W1W 8SW. Tel: 0207 323 0140. Visit www.margaretstreetgallery.com. EXHIBITION Tom Wood: Photographs 1973-2013, until 16 June at the National Media Museum, West Yorkshire BD1 1NQ. Tel: 0844 856 3797. Visit www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk. Thursday 21 March EXHIBITION The Tannery, until 23 June at Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter, Devon EX4 3RX. Tel: 01392 265 858. Visit www.rammuseum.org.uk. DON’T MISS Format 13 International Photography Festival, until 7 April in Derby. Tel: 01332 290 606. Visit www.formatfestival.com. Friday 22 March EXHIBITION Places & Edges by Joachim Brohm, until 4 May at Brancolini Grimaldi, London W1S 4JJ. Tel: 0207 493 5721. Visit www.brancolinigrimaldi.com. EXHIBITION 24: 2013, an outdoor exhibition…

● WHY ART PHOTOGRAPHY? By Lucy Soutter, £19.99 While anyone can form an amateur opinion on a fine-art photograph, it takes dedicated study to actually immerse oneself in the criticism surrounding it. Lucy Soutter offers a primer for those wishing to dip their toe in the murky waters of contemporary art photography, and her book is as accessible as it should be, if perhaps wanting for a few more images to illustrate her points. ● MASTERING THE FUJIFILM X-PRO 1 by Rico Pfirstinger, £22.99 The author aims for this guide to complement and build on the information provided by the X-Pro1’s official manual. This means that a certain level of competence is assumed in the reader – not a vastly advanced one, but you’ll need to be familiar with basic…

As A wildlife photographer, the one question I am asked more than any other is, ‘Which is your favourite image from all the photographs you have taken throughout your career?’ It’s a question that is almost impossible to answer, as there are so many that I return to time and again. However, this image of an arctic wolf is one that never fails to make me smile, and it is perhaps my favourite image from my career. This photograph was taken in around 1986 on Ellesmere Island, which is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. What’s interesting about this shot is that I was actually in the area shooting a North Pole expedition and following a dog team on assignment for National Geographic. It was…

KEN GRANT’S documentary work, which is based mainly around working-class communities in the north-west of England, displays a rare kind of intimacy. His pictures capture people off guard and often pensive or preoccupied, but the way his subjects are portrayed shows that he is a trusted member of the groups he photographs. His long-term projects have included studies of football supporters at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium and people trying to make ends meet by foraging on rubbish tips. These projects gradually take shape over a period of years, sometimes even decades, as Grant repeatedly returns to particular locations. His pictures don’t tell a chronologically structured story, but explore similar situations from both past and present. ‘I’ve always been suspicious of photography that’s neat and tidy,’ says Grant. ‘I don’t think…

FOCAL lengths that sit in the 90-105mm range have always been the most popular for macro photography, and there have been some classic lenses that fall into this bracket. Many contemporary versions are based on the older designs, so there are a number of models from which to choose. Virtually every camera manufacturer offers a macro lens in the 90-105mm range, but for this review we will be comparing three third-party models: the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro; the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD; and the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro. Each is very highly regarded, with the Sigma lens recently winning AP’s coveted Fixed Focal Length Lens of the Year award for 2013. The Tokina 100mm lens is…

DIGITAL ZOOM There was a time when digital camera manufacturers would produce models with seemingly incredible zoom ranges, claiming a 40x zoom range in an attempt to wow potential customers. However, closer inspection would often reveal that the lens (or optical zoom) only accounted for a small amount of the zoom range, with the rest attributed to a ‘digital zoom’. To a certain extent the same thing continues to happen today, although it is noticeable that the manufacturers no longer shout quite as loudly about the digital portion of the zoom range, perhaps because consumers have come to realise that it’s actually not that great. The reason a digital zoom isn’t the Holy Grail in terms of focal-length extension is down to the way it works. In most instances (and…

FREEDOM of the press is generally well regarded. It is written into the American Constitution in the First Amendment, and it appears in Article 10 of the European Declaration of Human Rights. Admittedly, there are plenty to whom such freedom is anathema, such as paranoid dictatorships, politicians who secretly (or sometimes openly) yearn for paranoid dictatorships but cannot muster either the necessary votes or the necessary army brigades, and readers of the sort of newspapers that are aimed at the hard of thinking. On balance, though, and at least in the abstract, freedom of the press enjoys massive support. Freedom of art is more controversial. Even so, it is generally recognised that although art can sometimes upset people, this is a small price to pay for an increased understanding (albeit…