Innholdsfortegnelse for March 30, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

SOME people get very snobby about cameras, believing that to be capable of taking a picture worth looking at one has to spend a certain amount of money or buy a certain type of kit. I’m not sure things have ever been any different, because when I look back through the archives of Amateur Photographer there are stories of full-frame owners looking down on APS-C sensors, film junkies turning their noses up at digital cameras, medium-format carriers sneering at 35mm users and glass-plate fanatics giggling under their dark cloths at the idea of flexible emulsions smeared on nitrocellulose strips. All this wouldn’t matter so much except that those who do not own or use the snobs’ favoured type of equipment can feel more than a little intimidated by their supposed…

The Beatles: On the Road 1964-1966 By Harry Benson. Taschen, £44.99, hardback, 272 pages, ISBN 978-3-8365-3322-5 IN THE mid-1960s, Beatlemania was in full swing. The Fab Four had just come off their legendary performance on the Ed Sullivan Show and they were preparing for their first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night. Scottish photojournalist Harry Benson accompanied the Beatles for a couple of these chaotic years, and he captured some iconic images of the group on tour. The four are composing songs in hotel rooms on one page and being mobbed by their screaming public on the next, before disembarking a plane at JFK airport to hordes of journalists and photographers, most of whom must have been seething with envy at Benson’s superlative vantage point on the steps behind the…

IF I WERE a betting man, I would wager good money that almost every reader of Amateur Photographer can recall all the cameras and lenses they have owned or lusted after, and the reasons why. However much we try to deny it, we are all camera snobs and so willingly lay ourselves open to manipulation by marketeers, manufacturers and the media in an environment where cameras are increasingly viewed as fashion items rather than tools. My long-held thoughts on our predicament were confirmed during a visit to one of the smallest zoos in Britain last summer. The concentration of full-frame DSLRs almost outnumbered the animals and, at first, I was puzzled by such imaging potential to shoot a sneezy porcupine. Yet nonstalking observations led me to believe that their owners…

RENAN Cepeda frequently travels into the heart of Brazil to photograph its isolated people and cultures. On a recent trip, he encountered the Kalunga people of the Vão de Almas valley. The Kalunga are a group of Quilombolas – people of African origin who are descended from runaway slaves of centuries ago. The Kalunga are one of the oldest Quilombola groups, and it was only on Cepeda’s third trip to their home that they started to open up to him. When the head of the community consented to having a portrait taken, Cepeda had found a way in. ‘When my host, Albertino “Twist Legs” Bispo, the family chief, agreed to his portrait, I had an idea to win the trust of the rest of the group,’ says Cepeda. ‘At first…

HAVE you ever wanted to produce an image that was as sharp as sharp can be? Have you ever wanted photographs with really nice tonality and an inherent hard-todescribe quality? If you have, then perhaps large-format photography is for you. Large format refers to negatives measuring 5x4in or more, this being the smallest of the large-format sizes. They range upwards through 7x5in, 10x8in, 12x10in and 14x11in. Occasionally, there are larger cameras still, such as 16x12in, 20x16in and 24x20in. The most popular size, though, is 5x4in (or 4x5 as the Americans like to call it). Large-format photography is seen by many as the specialist end of photography. If you can take pictures with a large-format camera, you can take pictures with virtually anything. These cameras can produce images of exquisite quality…

Ding Zhao Hong Kong street scene Nikon Coolpix P7000, 18.1mm, 1/750sec at f/4, ISO 100 THIS looks like a very exciting place, what with so much going on and that amazing streak of light breaking between the buildings. Ding has seen that there is great potential nestled somewhere in the scene, and while he has paid attention to the right areas, his exposure hasn’t quite made the most of what was on offer. Overexposure is a common problem when we are dealing with patches of sunshine in a generally dark area, and here Ding’s camera has allowed the light area to burn out, leaving no detail in the crucial part of the picture. You can see from the screen grab of the Levels window, where the red area represents parts…

GOOD LIGHT Simply put, the higher-resolution Sony and Nikon cameras are able to resolve the most detail, up to the 24 marker of our resolution charts at ISO 100. The Fuji model just about reaches this point, while the lower-resolution Canon camera cannot quite compete. Unsurprisingly, when viewed at 100%, the detail in all the images produced by these cameras is akin to most models that use a compact-sized sensor – that is, slightly smudged rather than really crisp. Viewing images at a size smaller than 100% makes them look a little sharper, which is where the larger images of the higher-resolution cameras have the advantage. Once the image size is matched up, the higherresolution cameras, like the Sony, look a touch sharper when used in good light. When each…

CHOICE OF TELECONVERTER Q I am thinking of buying a 2x teleconverter that can be used with a Nikon D5000 (by my wife) and a Nikon D3S. As there are so many teleconverters on the market, I am confused as to which would be suitable for the kit that we have. I have just returned from a holiday where I met a keen photographer who was using a Nikon D800 fitted with a 70-200mm f/2.8 and a Nikon teleconverter. However, having looked at it, I found that while the converter would fit my camera bodies, it was not suitable for the lenses, which confused me. The lenses we use are a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX,…

Q When did you first become interested in photography? A I became interested in photography about three years ago after health problems. My camera was the best thing my husband bought me. It gave me a new perspective on all that is around us. It got me off the auto setting and I found a whole new way of taking photographs. It makes you look at things in a totally different way and gets the brain active. Having to take early retirement through ill health from a very busy job, I found it hard to wind down. Q What do you enjoy most about photography? A Photography gives such a boast to my confidence and lifts my spirits. I just love it! I don’t think we realise what goes on…

IT IS easy to forget how things used to be in our own lifetimes. In 1950s England, my parents used to buy most things at small local shops. Len Gulliver’s was the nearest, which was a combined grocer’s and greengrocer’s. Our meat came from Leverton’s Butchers, while Leverton’s Dairy delivered milk and cream (no dangerous foreign stuff like yoghurt) on one of those hand-controlled electric floats that followed the milkman like a huge, square, rattling dog. Leverton’s Dairy was also a general grocer’s with a small selection of sweets: I once bought a farthing chew there, because even at that age I could see that the farthing was on its way out. Inflation-adjusted, a 1950s farthing is worth about 2p today. Opposite Leverton’s Dairy was the ironmonger’s, and on the…

“The Nikon School will offer courses from beginner to advanced” A RARE Nikon F camera, believed to be the earliest black pre-production version of the company’s first SLR, has gone on sale in London for £250,000. The black Nikon F carries the serial number 6400077 and was one of around 100 pre-production units offered to photographers and journalists for testing, before being released onto the general market in 1959, according to Nikon dealer Grays of Westminster. Speaking exclusively to AP, the store’s founder, Gray Levett explained that the camera was discovered overseas by Japanese camera expert Toni Kowal. ‘It is an almost unbelievable find and, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest black body to have ever surfaced on the international market,’ said Levett. ‘Not only is it one…

● PHOTOCINEMA: THE CREATIVE EDGES OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM edited by Neil Campbell and Alfredo Cramerotti, £29.95 ‘Photocinema’ is a difficult concept to explain, and the editors state up front that this book does not offer a concrete definition. It could be said to be an exploration of the relationship between still and moving images, and the critical essays herein do go some way in that direction. If you’re willing to dive into a scholarly work, this could be worth a look. ● BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY FIELD GUIDE by Michael Freeman, £8.99 Although this guide is compact, Michael Freeman packs in plenty of information. The images are well sized considering the small pages – just large enough to suffice as visual aids. Freeman deals with the history of black…

THE ISSUE of people living with dementia is a subject that has interested me for a long time. As I worked in the field of social reportage for many years, I tend to look for issues that may not necessarily be widely discussed. The most difficult part of working in reportage, particularly as a freelance photographer, is finding stories to tell. Dementia stood out to me because it’s something that doesn’t just affect the person who has been afflicted by the disease – it touches everyone around them. We are all aware of dementia, but often we choose not to acknowledge it. Perhaps something about the nature of losing control of our own minds scares us. Dementia is not a popular theme to explore. It usually lies hidden within the…

ALTHOUGH Renan Cepeda now tends to focus on portraits, his first light-painting subjects were buildings, landscapes and architecture. ‘I started using my light-painting technique on abandoned houses in Brazil,’ he says. ‘A house is the first necessity of human beings. You spend most of your life in your house, protecting yourself from storms, sleeping with your dreams and establishing your family. The shape of a simple house is also one of the first drawings we make when we are children. It is a symbol – an emblem.’ Cepeda then progressed to photographing a series of Scottish and Spanish castles. While his techniques are similar to those he uses for his portraits, one key difference is that he introduces more colour to his shots of buildings with the use of filters…

Film holders These are often referred to as darkslides, but I reserve that name for the insert that covers the film. Holders will hold two sheets of film, so if you are planning to take, say, eight shots, you will need four film holders. The film is loaded one sheet at a time in total darkness. This is not difficult, but you will need to take care not to get sweat, fingerprints or dust on the surface of the film. The film holders need to be kept in a place where dust will not get into them. The inserts, which keep the film light-tight, are removed when the darkslide is in the camera. They have a black edge on one side, and a white, or sometimes silver edge on the…

Jellyfishphoto Emulsion Transfer €10 (around £8.60) http://www.jellyfishphoto.es THIS innovative emulsion system from Jellyfishphoto allows for the quick transfer of digital images onto paper. You send Jellyfishphoto your digital images, and then receive printed emulsions in the post, ready to be transferred. The transfer is intended to be simpler than other emulsion processes, requiring only a tray of cool water in which to place the emulsion and the receiving paper. The emulsion quickly comes free from its plastic base after being placed in water, and it can then be placed onto the paper as required. As with any emulsion transfer, the process requires careful handling, which becomes easier with practice, as it is difficult to smooth down the edges onto the paper and very easy to tear the emulsion. The aim…

OUR CURVILINEAR distortion chart has been photographed with each camera, and detail in ‘realworld’ images has been examined at 100%, looking for curvilinear and chromatic aberration lens distortions. At the wideangle 24mm setting, barrel distortion is evident in each camera, but none more so than the Fuji HS50EXR. The result is stretched detail, particularly at the frame edges where image sharpness tails off. The Nikon and Sony lenses most impressively hold sharpness from the centre of the frame to the edges, with the Canon lens following in the middle, while the Fuji optic shows disappointing edge detail. As for chromatic aberration, the Fuji camera is, conversely, the best at controlling this phenomenon, with virtually no trace in high-contrast edges. The Sony HX300 does a good job, too, while the Canon…

BAHoltPhotography asks I am thinking of saving for a Canon L-series lens for my EOS 1000D, but I’m not sure if it is worth the money. I am currently thinking of getting the 17-40mm f/4L. Has anyone used this lens? Snorri replies This is a good lens, no doubt, but if you are planning on staying with the APS-C-sized sensor (like your EOS 1000D) it would not necessarily be the best choice. Have you considered the EF-S 15-85mm? It’s not an L lens, but it’s sharper than the EF 17-40mm and has a much better focallength range. This lens will only work on APS-C cameras, but I have no doubt that if you ever go for full frame it would be easy to sell. GeoffR replies Good lenses are what…

CANON has an enviable reputation for producing quality cameras, lenses and a range of photo printers that includes both dye and pigment-ink models. The company has three A3+ Pixma Pro printers in its range, comprising the Pro-1 and Pro-10, which are both pigment-ink printers, and the Pro-100, which is a dye-ink printer. The recently announced Pixma Pro-100 replaces the Pixma Pro9000 Mark II. The Pro-100 uses eight ChromaLife 100+ dye inks, which include three monochrome inks (light grey, grey and black) for cast-free monochrome printing. The Pro-100 is aimed at the enthusiast and professional photographer who wants to reproduce the strong vibrant colours that are a hallmark of Canon’s dye-ink printers. SETTING UP The Canon Pixma Pro-100 comes supplied with a quick-start sheet that guides the user through the setting-up…

A Week of Photographic opportunity Wednesday 27 March EXHIBITION Iraq: Photographs by Sean Smith, until 2 February 2014 at IWM North, Manchester M17 1TZ. Tel: 0161 836 4000. Visit www.iwm.org.uk. EXHIBITION Places & Edges by Joachim Brohm, until 4 May at Brancolini Grimaldi, London W1S 4JJ. Tel: 0207 493 5721. Visit www.brancolinigrimaldi.com. Thursday 28 March EXHIBITION Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East, until 21 July at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh EH8 8DX. Tel: 0131 366 5100. Visit www.royalcollection.org.uk. 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. Friday 29 March EXHIBITION Thresholds, by various photographers, until 26 April at Belfast Exposed, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 2FF. Tel: 0289 023 0965.…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 4GB media card* GREAT GEL COMBINATIONS I very much enjoyed the article on using lighting gels (AP 9 March), and loved the tip about combining two gels to obtain a new colour, as this was something I had not considered. However, one thing the article didn’t mention was that you can combine two or more gels using different light sources to create complementary colouring effects. While probably not something you would want to try for portraiture, or indeed most still-life subjects, I’ve previously used this technique in combination with my high-speed photography set-up. I’ve found that certain combinations of lighting gel work very well together. In particular, I think the green…

IN PHOTOGRAPHY, light is everything. We have charts to tell us when the good light will hit, and we have equipment to let us compensate for the poor light. As technology and techniques advance, there are more and more ways that we make light work for us. Renan Cepeda, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1966, is a photographer who makes light his own. The portraits and architectural shots on these pages are all examples of his own brand of light painting. With patience, care and very long exposures, Cepeda weaves his portraits out of the night, coating his subjects in just enough light to create these beguiling effects. BEGINNINGS Cepeda had always been interested in photography, thanks to his father, a keen amateur photographer, but it became more…

Portraits in Artificial Light We had some great entries for the first round of APOY 2013, as we reveal the top 30 photographs from our Portraits in Artificial Light round Gary Burrows, of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, is the winner of our Portraits in Artificial Light round of APOY 2013. Gary will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 plus a Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 Asph lens, worth a total of £1,347.98. The G5 is a compact system camera with a 16.05-million-pixel, four thirds, Live MOS sensor. It has 6fps highspeed continuous shooting, a 3in, 920,000-dot articulated LCD touchscreen and a 1.44-milliondot EVF. The Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 Asph lens has a bright f/1.4 maximum aperture that provides superb image quality with minimum distortion, plus a beautiful soft focus. Our…

Set up the tripod, level it and lock all movements. Fasten the camera on the tripod and place it roughly in its position for shooting. Check that the camera is level. Position the lens and lens panel on the camera and open the shutter. Make your approximate composition and focus. Adjust the camera position if necessary. Make any adjustments to the camera if needed, such as tilt and/or swing. Check all parts of the image while under a darkcloth. Fine focus. Take a meter reading. Close the aperture down to the indicated setting. Close the shutter, set the shutter speed and cock the shutter. Insert the filmholder (one with the white edge showing outwards). Remove the darkslide. Fire the shutter, preferably with a cable release to reduce camera shake. Reinsert…

THE MARKET for bridge cameras, otherwise known as superzooms, is very much alive. We published an eight-camera round-up in AP 8 June 2012, but now, less than a year later, new flagship models are available from most of the main brands. Of course, a key appeal of bridge cameras is their wide optical zoom range - no other camera type has this covered quite so well. The four cameras in this test have pushed this range to new levels. The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS was the first camera with a 50x optical zoom (24-1200mm equivalent). The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 also has a 50x zoom of the same range, while the Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR and Nikon Coolpix P520 each have a 42x zoom (24-1000mm equivalent). These really are incredible specs. A…

OFTEN when we test flagship cameras from several manufacturers there is very little to choose between them. Here, however, there is plenty. For instance, only the Canon and Fuji cameras record in raw format. The pixel count also varies widely, with that of the Sony camera almost twice the count of the Canon. Likewise, in the hand, each feels very different from the next, with benefits and downsides to all. The Canon SX50 HS feels a touch basic and its LCD screen and viewfinder are the least clear. However, the camera does the job without fuss. The Nikon P520 is the most compact while offering a good handgrip, but its AF can be slow and it records in JPEG format only. The Sony HX300 is a good size while being…

TELECONVERTERS In principle, a teleconverter is a great way of expanding your range of focal lengths without investing in additional lenses. It fits between the camera and lens, and multiplies the focal length by a fixed amount – most commonly 1.4x or 2x, although a small number of 3x teleconverters are available. However, while useful, teleconverters do need to be used with care. For a start, they aren’t going to work with all lenses, and nor are they intended to be used with wideangle optics – they are really only designed to be used with telephoto focal lengths. Teleconverters are also best used with lenses that have a fast aperture, because they reduce the amount of light reaching the film or sensor in the camera by a number of stops…

Ivor Matanle recalls the only Rolleiflex lookalike that did not bend the film before exposure THERE have been many 6x6cmformat, rollfilm, twin-lens reflex cameras manufactured in the image of the post-Second World War lever-wind Rolleiflexes, and almost as many designs emulating the knob-wind Rolleicord. Most of the nearcopies of the Rolleiflex emanated from Japan, although there were some from Europe, including Britain’s MPP Microflex, a few from the USA and at least one from China. All but one of the many Rolleiflexderived models were designed to be loaded as Rolleiflex models were loaded. This involved the 120 film being inserted in the lower chamber of the camera, as seen with the back open, and the backing paper leader drawn across the bottom of the camera, through a right angle, then…