Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

SONY DOES FULL-FRAME CSC DOUBLE SONY has unveiled two full-frame E-mount compact system cameras (CSCs) it claims have a faster AF than the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, under certain conditions. However, the firm insists it has no plans to pull out of the A-mount camera market and says it will announce a ‘mid-highclass’ model in 2014, currently ‘under development’. The Alpha 7R (which has no low-pass filter) and Alpha 7 are due this month. Aimed at advanced amateurs and professionals, the Alpha 7R contains a 36.4-million-pixel imaging sensor and will cost £1,600, while the 24.3-million-pixel Alpha 7 will come with a £1,300 price tag. Identical in size, the magnesium-bodied, ‘palm-sized’ models are targeted at the DSLR market, not the mirrorless arena. Sony officials told AP that the company is…

AFTER the release of the Sony Cybershot DSC-RX1 full-frame compact camera, rumours of a full-frame Sony compact system camera began to surface. Now, after much anticipation, two new full-frame CSCs – the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R – have been released. The most important feature of these two new cameras is their sensors. The Sony Alpha 7R has an extremely impressive 36.4-million-pixel, full-frame sensor, no doubt similar to that used in the Nikon D800. However, Sony claims it is a newly developed ‘gapless’ design with no space between the micro lenses. These micro lenses focus the light reaching the sensor onto the photodiodes, so this should help to improve dynamic range and noise levels. The gapless micro lenses are also arranged in such a way as to aid light gathering…

ANDREW SANDERSON A renowned photographer, tutor, author and Ilford Master Printer, Andrew Sanderson offers practical tips on working with film and traditional darkroom techniques If you would like to read more about paper negatives, Andrew’s book Paper Negative Photography is available from www.blurb.com, price £15 BRINGING YOU ESSENTIAL EXPERT ADVICE EVERY WEEK IT MIGHT seem strange talking about snow since we haven’t had any yet, but it’s always worth thinking about scenes that will look great once the snow has settled so you can go back and take that winning shot. By scouting locations in the autumn, when the snow does fall you will already know what you need to do to capture a great shot. This landscape of an old gate covered in snow was taken in 1983, but…

WWW.PANASONIC.CO.UK Round ten ENTER TODAY! Round 10 of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year competition is Under the Weather (autumn and winter weather). It can be all too easy to let the cold weather get you down. As summer slips into autumn, the temperature drops and people huddle in front of the fire. However, any photographer worth his or her salt will see the weather as a challenge, throw on a scarf and face the elements, camera in hand. Some of the most striking location shots can be found in the autumn and winter, so we want to see what you can find on your travels. Just remember to wrap up warm. We have thousands of pounds’ worth of fantastic Panasonic camera equipment up for grabs, as well as…

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 Jo Garbutt Norfolk Jo has been interested in wildlife since she was a young girl, when she would bring injured birds home to try to…

THE OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 caused quite a stir when it was unveiled to the public last year. Looking like a digital version of the classic 1970s Olympus OM SLR – with the modern conveniences of a smaller body, LCD screen and electronic viewfinder – the OM-D E-M5 marked a sharp turn in direction from the small rangefinder-style Pen series of compact system cameras the company had so far been producing. While the E-M5 was praised by photographers and journalists alike, many Olympus DSLR users felt abandoned, with the E series looking more and more like a lost cause as the company concentrated its efforts on its micro four thirds system. It has now been more than three years since the release of the E-5 DSLR, a camera that, even on…

Twisted flower T John Foster Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, 90mm Pentax macro, 1/5sec, ISO 400 THE FILTERS found in an imageediting program can be grouped into three categories: those that are essential (sharpening, for example); those that are useful (blur filters); and those that are better avoided. In the latter category I would place extreme distortion filters such as Photoshop’s Twirl, Pinch, Wave and Ripple, as the results they produce are so unnatural. There are exceptions to any rule, though, and I think this is one of them. The ‘closeup of the centre of a flower’ is a macro photography staple, so creating something different can be extremely challenging. In this instance, a filter (I’m assuming a Twirl filter) adds a fairly obvious and literal ‘twist’ to T John Foster’s shot.…

IN MY September column (AP 7 September), I wrote about a film format that is well and truly dead. The Instamatic 126 cartridge was introduced 50 years ago and billed as a foolproof way for snapshot photographers to avoid wasting film and photo opportunities by screwing up the loading and unloading of their cameras. Ten years later, the ‘Pocket Instamatic’ or 110 cartridge was launched, and until last year it seemed that its lifespan would be even shorter than its bigger brother. All production ceased, and it looked as though supplies would dry up as what was left was randomly fished out of the ever-diminishing supply pool. Then the people at Lomography decided to pick up the format and run with it. Now there are at least four different emulsions…

A DECADE on the front lines of contemporary art photography has resulted in a book of breathtaking ambition. Eyemazing magazine’s publisher Eyemazing Susan (AKA Susan Zadeh,) has curated the work of 130 photographers into a book the weight of a good-sized breezeblock. It’s impossible to convey the breadth of photography included here – most of the names will likely be unfamiliar to the casual reader, but that’s just providing more impetus to get stuck in. There are the ghostly enigmatic pictures made by Michael Ackerman that elevate image grain to an art form (above left), the harshly stylistic portraits of Sandro Miller (top left) and the high fashion work from Lillian Bassman and Paul Himmel of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue respectively (above right). Written contributions from Karl E Johnson, Steven…

HOW MUCH IS THE QUOTE? Regarding the news article in AP 12 October (Photographer wins £20K rights payout), I remember a great quote from photographer David Walsh. I think it was: ‘Protect your image rights as every picture you take is worth something. One company didn’t take it seriously and the settlement I got from their mistake covered the downpayment on my house!’ Fuzzypiggy LETTER OF THE WEEK LIGHTING THE WAY Thank you for the LED torch free with last week’s issue (AP 26 October), but you neglected to mention one use to which it can be put – namely, watching the frame numbers through the small red window of an old folding camera in low light. I have a collection of such instruments that I like to use from…

MARTIN EVENING Martin Evening is a Londonbased advertising photographer and noted expert in both photography and digital imaging. As a successful photographer, Martin is well known in London for his fashion and beauty work, for which he has won several awards. In 2008, he was inducted into the NAPP Photoshop Hall of Fame. Martin has worked with the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom engineering teams over many years and is one of the founding members of Pixel Genius, a software design company producing automated production and creative plug-ins for Photoshop. His recent books include The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book, Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers, as well as the Adobe Photoshop for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop series, which he co-wrote with Jeff Schewe. THESE firework photos were all shot with…

It’s a very British thing to complain about the weather. When it’s hot, it’s too hot. When it’s cold, it’s freezing. However, there is a small section of society that craves the extremes: the photographer. As a photographer, you must be adaptable and willing to keep your eyes open to any possibility. Extraordinary scenes don’t all have to be shot in bright natural light. As we mentioned on the previous page, autumn and winter can offer the photographer some genuinely beautiful and atmospheric scenes. Rain, snow, mist and even the dreaded hail can give your photography a dramatic edge. But don’t just think in terms of landscapes – your images can be taken anywhere, as you’ll see on the next page. The urban environment can offer as much to these…

ROBERT Capa’s famous maxim, ‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough,’ is one that he often passed on to photographers starting out in the profession. His belief, that you need to be closely involved with your subject to capture it well, is borne out by his work. Capa’s reportage images, such as his pictures of the Spanish Civil War and D-Day landings in 1944, take us to the centre of the action. He wasn’t primarily concerned with making these pictures aesthetically pleasing or technically perfect – his aim was to record the raw reality of war. This work, combined with his short but eventful life, has made him a legendary figure in photographic history. There were many sides to Capa’s restless character. He was a keen poker…

AS THE new Olympus OM-D E-M1 is the successor to the Olympus E-5 DSLR, many photographers will want to know exactly how their four thirds lenses will work with the MMF-3 four thirds to micro four thirds mount adapter. In the past, using the four thirds to micro four thirds mount adapter on micro four thirds cameras has produced rather mixed results. While some fixed-focal-length, large-aperture lenses focused almost as quickly as their micro four thirds counterparts, zoom lenses tended to be very slow and jittery, making them useful only as a last resort. Of course, the E-M1 features a new sensor that provides phase-detection AF when using a four thirds lens via the adapter. If the E-M1 is to be taken seriously as a successor to the E-5, then…

NIKON SOFTWARE AIn AP 7 September, your advice on acquiring a Nikon scanner included a caveat that the Nikon software would not work out of the box with Microsoft’s 64-bit Windows operating systems. While this is true, the fix is trivial and I have a Nikon Coolscan V ED running on Windows 7 (64-bit) with Nikon Scan 4. I hasten to add that the fix was not mine, but one that I found on the Exposed Visions website. I hope that this information will help others who, like me, felt let down by Nikon. Robert Coombes A Thanks, Robert. I’m sure this will indeed help people looking to upgrade their operating system and keep their scanner running with Nikon’s software – the website in question is at www.exposedvisions.com/Win7%20Scans.htm. However, note…

● THE BRITISH OAK by Archie Miles, £35 Archie Miles demonstrates a breadth and depth of knowledge regarding the history of the British oak tree that frankly beggars belief. This tome should sate even the most voracious oak enthusiasts, as Miles charts the progression of the oak in industry and other human endeavours throughout history. There’s plenty of photography too: Miles reportedly has amassed what has to be the most comprehensive collection of arboreal images in the country, if not the world, and it’s deployed to great effect. ● TRAVELLERS’ CHILDREN IN LONDON FIELDS by Colin O’Brien, £10 A chance encounter with Travellers in London Fields in 1987 led Colin O’Brien to make the series of portraits for this self-explanatory book. Focusing on the children, O’Brien creates a soulful black…

MY WIFE loathes garlic, so woe betide anyone who gets too close to her after eating it. I love it, so life can get rather awkward. It’s called freedom of choice, and it’s something that applies to photography as much as anything. Yet I never cease to be amazed at just how someone’s opinion of a specific camera can be totally at odds with that of other photographers. Wishing to replace my recently stolen Nikon D90, I checked out a few online reviews of the Nikon D3200. The first almost had me reaching for my credit card. In the pros and cons department there were pros galore, yet, amazingly, not a single con. Wow, I thought, this must be one hell of a camera. Was it too good to be…

WILDLIFE Photographer of the Year (WPOTY) is one of the world’s best know competitions. Currently in its 49th year, it attracts entries from professionals and amateur photographers alike. This year saw photographers submit 43,000 entries from around the world. Co-owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide, the event is judged by a panel of professional photographers who look for images that display creativity, artistry and technical complexity. The judges are well-known names in the wildlife and photographic arenas and include Jan Vermeer, Koji Nakamura and Tui De Roy, with Jim Brandenburg as chair of the judges. Over the next five pages, Jim, as a non-voting member, describes each of the photographs showcased here and explains why they were shortlisted from the thousands of entries. ‘You only needed to…

WEATHER CONDITIONS As already stated, it isn’t just spring and summer conditions that can make great images. Autumn and winter have their own unique charms. For example, the rusty brown of autumn leaves can offer you a beautiful foreground that leads into the mist-enshrouded skeletal woodland that lays beyond. Or you could take the approach of Paul Broadbent (above). His shot says so much about winter. Playing in the snow when you’re a child is one of the most exciting things in the world and here we see our subject with one of the greatest inventions known to man – the sledge. It’s a nicely composed image that makes great use of the mist in the background to ensure that the main subject stands out in the foreground. The fact…

Metroprint app Free www.metro-print.co.uk METRO IMAGING is a London-based company providing high-end film and digital prints. This free app for iOS and Android allows users to print square-format images from their Instagram accounts. It is straightforward to use: the user simply connects the app to his or her Instagram feed, and then selects the type and number of prints required. There’s a choice of matte or gloss paper for the 5x5in prints. The prints that come back are of good quality, especially given the price of just 42p per unit (although you’ll need to factor in the cost of postage). However, there is one important point to note – as mentioned previously, the service is tied to the user’s Instagram account. Instagram is a site that prioritises server space over…

Your photo guides will be landscape photography expert Jeremy Walker and What Digital Camera editor Nigel Atherton Join us on a bespoke photo tour to Canada, accompanied by photo experts and a local guide for an opportunity to view and capture the breathtaking Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, and the Rocky Mountains’ natural wonders. This is a tremendous-value, interest-packed, escorted photo tour. First, you’ll fly west to Calgary, gateway to the Rocky Mountains, and spend two nights in Banff. You will have time to capture images and benefit from inspiring advice for achieving amazing photos. There will be optional-extra excursions too! Then, you’ll journey by coach past beautiful Lake Louise and along the Icefields Parkway into Jasper National Park, to stay overnight in Jasper. From here, you’ll journey east to…

UNLESS you are a fan of action sports, the chances are you won’t have heard of photo manufacturer XSories. Based in the heart of the European surf community in Biarritz, the company makes camera accessories and handy gadgets with the action and extreme sports market in mind. However, most of the accessories it produces are as useful to the everyday photographer as they are to those who are hurtling down the Alps on a snowboard. The XSories Weye Feye is one such product. It is a device that can remotely control a DSLR using its own Wi-fi signal that allows live view and full manual control for up to 80 metres, via an app on a smartphone or tablet. FEATURES Inside the Weye Feye box is the Weye Feye controller…