Innholdsfortegnelse for November 16, 2013 i Amateur Photographer

I HAVE been around long enough to remember the launch of the Canon PowerShot G1; announced on the first of my birthdays this century. It was a surprising camera in that it took on a great deal of SLR-like controls and squished them into a compact camera body. It had a hotshoe for the EX range of SLR flash units, a top-plate exposure mode dial, and it took the same BP-511 battery cell as the digital EOS models of the time, notably the D30. It was a true DSLR user’s companion, and it stood supreme in the compact market. Although there have been misses as well as hits through the generations that have brought us to the G16, the PowerShot G range has maintained that air of being a serious…

BOOK American Colour 1962-1965 By Tony Ray-Jones. Edited by Liz Jobey. Mack, £20, hardback, 80 pages, ISBN 978-1-907-94655-4 IF YOU’RE familiar with Tony Ray-Jones, it’s probably because of his black & white work. The Only In England exhibition currently showing at the Science Museum’s Media Space celebrates his most famous works from the 1960s, photographing Britain and British life. Before that, however, he embarked on some colour work in the US, which has been brought back to life by Liz Gobey in this small, rough but beautiful book. How fascinating it is to see a nascent talent finding its feet like this – Ray-Jones’s flexible, mercurial style of street photography suits the vibrancy of places like New York. Every frame feels spontaneous. Even the more sedate images have energy to…

It took me a long time to work out what was missing. I knew that digital photography was going to be different – everyone said so. You had to change your workfow, get used to a new way of thinking about exposure, forgetting – to a large extent – the idea of getting it right frst time in the camera. No, it was something even more fundamental. It was only when I went back to flm for a short project that I noticed. When I dug the Nikon F5 out of its cosy resting place, it looked for all the world like the Nikon pro DSLRs that replaced it. Not surprising, since the body of the top D-series Nikons is still basically the same chassis. I fed it some new…

STARTING a photo essay can be a daunting task. How do you come up with an idea that is original, engaging and achievable? And why would you want to do this rather than shooting single frames anyway? Ilya Pitalev has achieved recognition for his ‘Personality and Society. Reality vs Illusions’ photo essay, taken during a visit to North Korea in 2012, when the country was celebrating the 100th anniversary of state founder Kim Il-Sung’s birth. As part of these celebrations, photographers and journalists from around the world were invited to attend the events hosted by the usually shut-off country. As a photographer for RIA Novosti, a Russian and international news agency, Ilya visited North Korea and decided this would be his next essay theme. However, to make a photo essay…

Gomite Tiltpod Mobile 4/4S $14.99 (around £9) www.gomite.com WITH the expanding market of camera-phone technology and apps, it’s no wonder that there is a huge range of related accessories. Gomite’s Tiltpod for Apple’s iPhone 4/4S is yet another example of a stand for the device aimed at the snapshot holiday photographer or those who make video phone calls. The Tiltpod comes in two keyring-attachable pieces – a stand and a curved magnetised mount, which is very strong and allows the Tiltpod to move through a variety of angles. The iPhone 4/4S slides directly into the mount. The phone is very secure in landscape orientation, but when taking portraits I found that it has a tendency to slip out of the mount or topple over the base. Gomite’s Tiltpod could easily…

RRP £529 Sensor 1/1.7in CMOS with 12.1 million effective pixels Output size 4000 x 3000 pixels File format JPEG, raw or raw + JPEG Compression Fine, Normal Colour space sRGB Shutter speeds 250-1/4000sec (total range – varies by shooting mode) Max flash sync Up to 1/4000sec Lens Canon 5x zoom lens, 6.1-30.5mm (28-140mm equivalent) f/1.8-2.8 ISO ISO 80-12,800 Exposure modes Smart auto, hybrid auto, program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual, C1, C2, scene (7 modes) creative filters (10 modes) and movie Metering system Evaluative, centreweighted average and spot (can be linked to the active AF point or face detection) Exposure comp ±3EV in 1/3EV steps White balance Auto, 8 presets, plus 2 custom Drive mode Single, auto drive, continuous, continuous with AF, self-timer LCD 3in (7.5cm) PureColor II G LCD…

TELECONVERTER FOR X100 Q I have a Fujifilm FinePix X100, which is a great camera. It looks good, is solidly built, handles well and has an excellent lens. I have been hoping in vain for some time that Fuji would produce a teleconverter for the X100 that is of a similar standard to its wideangle converter, but I have now given up. Are there any other teleconverters that would fit and give reasonably decent results? I realise that if there are any they would not be completely in tune with the X100, but it’s a case of almost any port in a storm! Ken Hadingham A Unfortunately, Ken, although you’re not the only person who is keen to extend their X100’s focal-length range, I think you’re going to struggle here.…

When we look back at the cameras launched in 2013, this year seems to have been something of a turning point. We have seen a huge growth in compact system cameras, and the rise of the premium compact camera. Threatened by the rise in camera phones, manufacturers have streamlined their compact camera line-ups and introduced more premium compact cameras with large sensors. This year, Ricoh, Nikon and Leica have all released their premium compact cameras, while Sony has introduced the Cyber-shot DMC-RX1R, a modified version of its RX1 that has no anti-aliasing filter. Such is the importance of this new wave of cameras that we have added them to our annual supplement, which until now has contained just DSLR and compact system cameras. Speaking of CSCs, we have seen more…

THE KEY new feature of the Canon EOS 70D is the 20.2-million-pixel CMOS sensor. Although this may not seem too much of a leap in resolution from the 18-million-pixel sensor found in the Canon EOS 60D, it does have some interesting new technology. Although the resolution of the camera is 20.2 million pixels, it actually has 40.4 million photodiodes, with each photosite consisting of a pair of photodiodes that are covered by a single micro lens. By analysing the light level between each diode in the pair, the EOS 70D can detect whether the lens is focused correctly. Essentially it is a form of on-sensor phase detection. In terms of the EOS 70D’s image quality, we found that there was a little too much colour noise in JPEG images, although…

BUILDING on the success of the Nikon D7000 was always going to be a tough job, but with the D7100, Nikon should have another success on its hands. A 24.1-million-pixel sensor with no low-pass filter, a sensitivity of ISO 100-25,600, dual SD card slots, 51-point AF system, 2,016-zone metering system and 3.2in LCD screen make the D7100 a highly specified camera. However, it is image quality that is most important, and here the D7100 excels, managing to resolve our entire resolution chart when shooting raw images. In terms of detail resolution, at ISO 100-200 the D7100 is the best DSLR with an APS-C-sized sensor that we have tested. The D7100 does suffer a little more from noise at higher sensitivities, but between ISO 100 and ISO 800 images look detailed…

FOR A long time, Pentax has had to play second fiddle to Canon and Nikon in the DSLR market. While the cameras the company has produced, such as the K-30 and the K-5, have been excellent, there has often been very little difference between models. The K-3 was announced last month and heralds a significant leap forward for Pentax. The new model’s 24.3-million-pixel sensor with no anti-aliasing filter matches the equivalent Nikon DSLR, while it betters comparable Canon cameras. The AF system is also improved on its predecessor’s, with a new 27-point AF system, 25 points of which are the more sensitive cross-type points. And as is typical of Pentax, the K-3’s body is made of magnesium alloy, and weather-sealed to prevent rain and dust entering and damaging the camera.…

THE FUJIFILM X-M1 has all the retro charm you would expect from a Fujifilm X-series camera, but it is more affordable than other models in the range. It uses the same 16.3-millionpixel X-Trans sensor as the X-Pro1 and is capable of shooting at sensitivities of ISO 100-25,600. Even more affordable is the X-A1 – the least expensive camera in Fujifilm’s X system. It has a very similar specification to the X-M1, but uses a standard 16.3-million-pixel bayer-pattern sensor, rather than the X-Trans filter array. The result is that images from the X-M1 should reveal more detail. Both cameras have a 256-zone metering system and Wi-Fi connectivity. In our test of the X-M1, we found that it produces superb images. However, with a polycarbonate, rather than a magnesium-alloy body, and no…

THOSE photographers who would have preferred the Nikon 1 V1 to have been styled more like a DSLR found their wish came true when the Nikon 1 V2 was launched. A new body style with an added handgrip helps the camera feel a lot more familiar and comfortable, and an added built-in flash gives the V2 more shooting versatility than its predecessor. The little camera, which weighs just 337g with card and battery, boasts the powerful Nikon Expeed 3A processor. This allows the V2 to shoot at a frame rate of 15fps while the camera is autofocusing, which is tremendously impressive for a compact system camera. The resolution has been upped from the 10 million pixels of the previous generation to 14 million pixels. It’s not a huge increase, and…

THE OLYMPUS Pen E-P5 retains many of the best features of the Pen series range of cameras, while also bringing plenty of interesting new things to the table. The five-axis image-stabilisation system, which is a stalwart feature of the Pen series, makes a welcome return in the E-P5, promising up to 5EV of stabilisation range and increasing the capacity for the user to wield the camera handheld. It upgrades the 12-million-pixel sensor of the E-P3 to the 16.1-million-pixel sensor that we saw in the OM-D E-M5, and marks itself out as the first Olympus compact system camera to offer built-in Wi-Fi. Using a smart device, it is possible to control the camera remotely, log geotag points, and import and edit photos. We were pleased with the performance of the E-P5…

THE PANASONIC Lumix DMC-G6 sits above the G5 in the range, and as you would expect, many of the key features remain the same. Both the G5 and the G6 have the same 16.05-million-pixel sensor, although the sensitivity in the G6 has increased 1EV to ISO 25,600, partly due to the new camera using the latest Venus processing engine. Other new features include Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows quick connection between the camera and a smartphone or tablet via Wi-Fi. The G6 boasts a fast AF system and low-light performance is slightly improved over the G5. With a shooting rate of 7fps, the G6 is no slouch, although it can be a little noisy in operation. Thankfully, Panasonic has fitted a silent mode that switches to an electronic shutter…

SITTING above the Q10 in the Pentax Q family, the Q7 boasts a 12-millionpixel sensor that Pentax claims has a signal-to-noise ratio that has been improved by 60%. This should boost image quality, especially at high ISOs. A new imaging processor, referred to as the Q Engine, speeds up the camera, trimming the start-up time down to 1sec, compared to 1.8secs on the Q10. The shake reduction that featured on the Q10 has also been refined, with the Q7 offering a 3-stop advantage compared to the Q10’s 2 stops. The Q7 also has a number of new controls on its body, including a customisable Quick Dial to which the user can assign five functions. The camera is compatible with Eye-Fi memory cards, which allows the use of Wi-Fi and boasts…

COMBINING the 20.3 million-pixel, APS-C sized CMOS sensor of the Samsung NX300 compact system camera and the 4.77in 1280x720-pixel LCD screen, plus Wi-Fi and 3/4G connectivity of the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, the Galaxy NX is the first interchangeable-lens camera to feature an Android operating system. This enables photographers to capture and edit images, then share them, using a single device. In our test of the Galaxy NX, we found that the image quality is as good as the NX300, with a fair amount of detail resolved from the 20.3-millionpixel sensor. However, JPEG images suffer from heavy compression. The main issue, though, is the handling of the Galaxy NX. The camera is too reliant on the touchscreen to make changes, and for a camera that costs over £1,000 enthusiast photographers…

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, and to maximise the detail that can be resolved Sony has decided not to use a low-pass filter. Underlying the Alpha 7R’s premium status is a weather-sealed, magnesium-alloy body, while the Alpha 7 is built from a combination of magnesium and polycarbonate. The Alpha 7 uses a 24.3-millionpixel, full-frame sensor that features the same 25 contrast-detection AF points as the Alpha 7R. However, it combines these with 117 on-sensor, phase-detection AF points. Sony is calling this system Fast Hybrid AF. Both cameras have built-in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity and 3in, 921,600-dot tilting screens, but more importantly, they each have a 2.36-million-dot electronic viewfinders. Each camera uses the…

LEICA fans may have been expecting a miniature version of a Leica M camera in the run-up to the X Vario, but what actually arrived was a larger X-series camera. The X Vario is a large-sensor compact, one of the first to feature a fixed zoom lens, in this case an 18-46mm f/3.5-5.6. This is a relatively small maximum aperture, especially compared to similar-specification cameras on the market. The Leica X Vario is capable of shooting at a shutter speed of up to 1/2000sec, with bursts of 5fps possible for up to eight frames when shooting JPEG and DNG raw. While the Leica X Vario produces great images, the biggest frustration comes in the form of its price. This camera is for the enthusiast with deep pockets. AT A GLANCE…

FOLLOWING the success of the popular RX1, Sony returned to the field with the upgraded RX1R. A compact camera with a DSLR-sized sensor and no low-pass filter, the RX1R was released for the same price as the standard RX1. It boasts the same full-frame Exmor sensor and Bionz processor, which allows for a native ISO range of 100-25,600 that can be extendable to ISO 102,400 by use of multi-frame noise reduction. An important feature of the RX1R is its fixed Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens, which works with the sensor to produce superb pin-sharp images. The lack of a low-pass filter did mean that we found an increase in moiré, although only when we put the camera in moiré-prone situations. If you’re shooting landscapes you’re unlikely to encounter much moiré,…

‘Retro’ trend sparks move • Film ‘new’ for digital generation “Attackers accessed Adobe IDs and encrypted passwords for around 38 million active users” FILM ‘COMEBACK’ TRIGGERS LONDON DARKROOM PLAN A ‘GROWING trend’ for film-based photography is behind plans to open a new London darkroom to the public, say organisers. The new darkroom – located at Kensington and Chelsea College and initially only open to students – comes as film photography ‘makes a comeback’, according to college bosses. ‘The photography department has a view to making it bookable to the public in future, although they don’t have a date for when that will happen,’ said a college spokesperson. The move comes amid what the college describes as a growing trend towards more film-based photography, allowing a ‘more organic approach with slightly…

● THE DESIGN AGLOW POSING GUIDE FOR FAMILY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY by Lena Hyde, £14.99 The term ‘family’ is used in this guide to mean the standard nuclear configuration of two parents and 2.4 children under the age of about ten. There are, for instance, no tips on how to coax a surly teen into providing a natural smile or how best to arrange a single-parent household. Other than its somewhat narrow focus, Lena Hyde’s guide has some decent tips. ● SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME by Harvey Benge, £24 Harvey Benge apparently once said he photographs ‘the urban social landscape’, and this description gives you a general sense of his photography without really capturing any of the flavour. His images sometimes contain people, sometimes don’t. He may capture…

ANDREW SANDERSON A renowned photographer, tutor, author and Ilford Master Printer, Andrew Sanderson offers practical tips on working with film and traditional darkroom techniques BRINGING YOU ESSENTIAL EXPERT ADVICE EVERY WEEK SOMETIMES when we go out as photographers looking for a certain kind of shot, fate conspires against us. When we want sunshine, we get clouds. When we need clear views, we get fog. When we are looking for wilderness, we get tourists. Often, our planned shoot turns into an exercise in anger management. I know this because it has happened to me many times. Yet this kind of situation doesn’t have to be interpreted as stress, but rather an opportunity for another kind of photograph. The shot here was taken in a wonderful area of woodland about ten miles…

Eric Begbie Clackmannanshire In 1958, at the age of 13, Eric sold his electric train set to buy a Halina A1 TLR camera – and he’s been taking pictures ever since. Eric converted to digital in 2005 and his favourite photographic subjects are landscapes, wildlife and travel as they satisfy his love for the great outdoors. ‘I thoroughly enjoy being a member of Stirling and District Camera Club and learning from amateur photographers with much more skill than I possess,’ he says. In the future, Eric is determined to become more proficient in post-processing so he can further expand his photographic creativity. Teton sunset Eric’s subtle use of HDR brings an otherworldly quality to the colour of the sky Nikon D800, 28-300mm, three bracketed exposures at f/11, ISO 100, tripod…

Technical writer THE CANON PowerShot G16 has a similar specification and fulfils much of the same criteria as the Nikon Coolpix P7800, which I tested in AP 9 November. Canon’s G and Nikon’s P-series cameras have been in direct competition for many years, with both seeing numerous changes with each new addition. The Canon G series has a rich heritage, with the first camera appearing more than 13 years ago. With recent models, Canon decided to remove the 2.8in, 461,000-dot, vari-angle LCD screen of the PowerShot G11 and G12, and replace it with a 3in fixed monitor with double the resolution. It is this screen that is used on the new PowerShot G16, although the camera has a few new features, including Wi-Fi and a new processor that enables a…

Buddhist scribe Aidan McCarthy Canon EOS 5D, 28-300mm, 1/125sec at f/7.1, ISO 3200 I LOVE the offbeat composition in Aidan’s photograph of a Buddhist scribe, which creates an eccentric relationship between the figure and his environment that doesn’t quite abide by the conventional rules. In this situation it would be very tempting to get closer to the figure to produce a much tighter shot, as demonstrated in the accompanying example. There would be nothing wrong with this, of course, but a broader view allows us to see much more of the scribe’s surroundings. However, Aidan hasn’t simply zoomed out or stepped back to show us more – he’s also turned the camera away from what we would usually expect to be ‘the subject’ (in this case, the figure). As a…

AT THE beginning of the 1970s, rollfilm SLRs were principally used by professional photographers. Bigger and heavier than 35mm SLRs, most were too expensive for amateurs. The dominance of the Hasselblad 500C modular design in the professional market caused most competitors to emulate it to greater or lesser degrees – think Bronica, Mamiya RB67, Rollei SL66, Mamiya 645 and Bronica ETRs. Yet several manufacturers from 1955-1980 produced rollfilm SLRs that were essentially enlarged 35mm SLR designs that accommodated 120 or 220 film. These did not have interchangeable film backs or the Hasselblad’s ability to synchronise with studio flash at shutter speeds of up to 1/500sec, since most had focal-plane shutters synchronised only at speeds of 1/30sec or 1/60sec. The manufacturers assumed that travel photographers, who rarely worked in a studio…

PHOTOGRAPHERS will often say that they want the image quality and handling of a DSLR, but not its size and weight. While a compact system camera may be heralded as the answer, a CSC can handle very differently to a DSLR, while features like focusing can be slightly compromised. With the EOS 100D, Canon has worked within the limitations of the EOS system to pack as much of the SLR mechanism – the mirror box, prism and shutter – into the smallest body it can, without compromising handling. At the core of the EOS 100D is an 18-million-pixel, APS-C-sized sensor. This features on-sensor phase-detection AF, which is useful for focusing with live view or when shooting video. In our test, we found that the Canon EOS 100D is a great…

THE EOS 6D is Canon’s attempt to make full-frame DSLR photography more affordable. Body only, it is around £700 cheaper than Canon’s leading enthusiast full-frame DSLR, the EOS 5D Mark III, although the EOS 6D does have a slightly lower-resolution sensor and only 11 AF points, compared with the 61 points of the EOS 5D Mark III. However, the EOS 6D does introduce some interesting new features to the Canon DSLR line-up, including built-in Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity. In our test of the camera, we found that its intuitive handling, compact size, and light yet solid build, made the EOS 6D a pleasure to use. The image quality also matches our expectations, and although the resolution may be a little less than some of its competitors, the camera’s low-light performance…

THE TWO latest cameras in Pentax’s K-series range are remarkably similar. In fact, they’re practically identical – two entry-level DSLRs with the same sensors, build and features. The key difference between the two is that the K-50 has a weather-sealed body and its AF points are visible in use in the viewfinder. Other than that, the two cameras are identical. The key feature in both cameras is the 100% viewfinder, which is an impressive inclusion in a camera costing only around £500. Pentax has a tradition of including extensive customisation options in its DSLRs and the two new K-series cameras are no exceptions, with fine-tunable AF and the option to adjust how the auto white balance responds to tungsten light. There are also a lot of small but significant features…

ALTHOUGH the Sony Alpha 58 is targeted at entry-level users, it has a respectable specification. This is largely due to its 20.1-million-pixel, Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor and its translucent mirror technology, which allows the Alpha 58 to have an impressive continuous shooting rate of up to 8fps with continuous AF. While the 1.44-million-dot electronic viewfinder is bright and clear, and has a high resolution, the rear articulated screen is only 2.7in compared to the 3in screens generally found on cameras. At only 460,800 dots, the screen resolution is also comparatively low. Another negative point is that the Alpha 58 uses a plastic lens mount, which may be of concern to those who want to use heavy telephoto lenses. The Sony Alpha 58 produces good images at lower ISO sensitivity…

AS WITH other Fujifilm X-series cameras, the latest Fuji X-E2 takes all the best features of its predecessors and refines these based on user feedback. Some of these new features are obvious, such as using the same 16-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS II sensor as found in the X100S advanced compact. This sensor has the same X-Trans 6x6 filter array as the sensor used in the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and X-E1, but more importantly the second generation of this sensor has on-sensor phase detection. Combined with contrast-detection AF, Fujifilm can claim that the Fujifilm X-E2 has the world’s fastest phase-detection system. Another obvious new feature is the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity, along with focus peaking, split-image focusing and a larger 3in screen. A few of the less obvious improvements include an increase in…

WHILE the Nikon 1 V2 (above) could hardly be called bulky, just a few months after its release the company brought out the J3, which is essentially the same camera as the V2 but pressed into an even more compact body. The J3 does away with a viewfinder, anti-aliasing filter and handgrip all in the name of staying compact. While this means that it can take some time to get used to where the functions are located, it makes the J3 a very portable camera indeed. The Expeed A processor provides the same kind of fast operation as enjoyed on the V2, with responsive AF and an impressive frame rate. There are also plenty of high-speed shooting modes, including drive modes of up to 60fps with continuous AF for up…

ALTHOUGH speculation around the OM-D E-M1 was feverish in the run-up to its announcement, the successor to Olympus’s E-5 turned out to be more conventional than expected. The E-M1 is a micro four thirds system camera that can mount four thirds lenses via the use of an MMF-3 adapter. However, the camera’s features are rather interesting. Olympus has removed the anti-aliasing filter from the 16.3-millionpixel Live MOS sensor that appeared on the E-M5, allowing it to take full advantage of the resolution. The E-M1 uses a combination of contrast and phase-detection AF to deliver fast autofocus with both four thirds and micro four thirds lenses. The phasedetection AF is actually built onto the sensor, which greatly improves the speed of autofocus when using four thirds lenses via the adapter –…

PANASONIC’S Lumix DMC-GM1 is quite a feat of engineering. Somehow, its engineers and designers have crammed most of the features of the DMC-GX7 into a camera that is around the same length and height as a packet of playing cards. Like the GX7, the GM1 has a 16-million-pixel four thirds sensor with no anti-aliasing filter and a maximum sensitivity of ISO 25,600. The GM1 can use all existing micro four thirds-mount lenses, including the new smaller lenses, specifically designed for the camera. To help keep the camera body small, the GM1 uses a new shutter unit that is 80% smaller than the GX7. The shutter is now a hybrid unit that uses an electronic sensor-based first curtain, while the mechanical shutter curtain ends the exposure. With built-in Wi-Fi and all…

PENTAX Q-series cameras are ultracompact in size, and the 180g Q10, successor to the Q, continues this tradition. The secret to the tiny size of the Pentax Q is its compact sensor, which puts it more on par with a consumer compact than other compact system cameras. While the Q10 retains a sensor with the same resolution as the Pentax Q at 12.4 million pixels, it has been tweaked and improved for sharper image quality. The Pentax Q10 packs a huge number of features into its slender frame – basically, everything an enthusiast photographer could want. These include JPEG and DNG raw images, a full range of manual-exposure modes, spot metering and interval shooting modes. The range of lenses offered is also interesting, including among the standard primes and zooms…

FOR THOSE people looking for an entry-level compact system camera, the Sony NEX-3N is appealing. It uses a 16.1-million pixel, APS-C sized CMOS sensor that is capable of capturing images at ISO 200-16,000. Also, for those more used to compact cameras, there is the NEX 3N’s Power Zoom switch. This can control the zoom of compatible lenses, just like the control found on a compact camera. To keep the camera as unintimidating as possible, it has few controls on the rear, relying instead on on-screen menus, although this may put off more advanced users. Images taken with the Sony NEX 3N show all the detail you would expect from a camera with a 16-million-pixel sensor, and the dynamic range allows for a good balance between highlight and shadow detail. Overall,…

ALTHOUGH branded ‘Alpha’, the Sony Alpha 3000 shares a lot of common ground with Sony’s NEX series, the main difference being that it is housed inside a compact DSLR-style body. The Alpha 3000 has an Exmor APS HD CMOS-type sensor measuring 23.2x15.4mm, Sony’s Bionz processor that allows for shooting at 2.5fps at full resolution. It incorporates the multipleinterface hotshoe from Sony’s HX50 and RX100 II, which is a special hotshoe that allows for advanced communication with the camera and thus supports a wide range of accessories, such as microphones and external flashes. Unusually for an Alpha camera, the Alpha 3000 uses E mount rather than A mount, although A mount lenses can be attached through the use of an LA-EA1 or LA-EA2 adapter. We judged the Alpha 3000 to be…

UP AGAINST the Fujifilm X100S and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1, pressure was on the Nikon Coolpix A to deliver in light of the increasing turmoils suffered by the compact camera market. Although it looks reminiscent of the Coolpix P330, the Coolpix A is, in fact, a very different prospect. The APS-C-sized 16.2-million-pixel sensor that has been crammed into the slim body is the same as that featured in the Nikon D7000 DSLR, and the removal of the low-pass filter allows the camera to make the most of its sharp image quality. As you might expect, the image quality is excellent, with edge-to-edge sharpness and supreme low-light performance. There are features lacking that some may have welcomed – a built-in viewfinder or EVF, for instance, although this would no doubt have…

WHEN you hold the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1 in the palm of your hand, you realise what a remarkable feat of electronic engineering it really is. To all intents and purposes, the new micro four thirds system camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 in a lighter and much smaller body. In fact, the body is so tiny that Panasonic has boasted that in width and height it is around the same size as a playing card. This makes the camera about the same size as the Sony Cybershot DSC-RX100, but with the option to change the lens sitting in front of the 16-million-pixel, micro four thirds-sized Live MOS sensor. The pocketable GM1 is designed for those who like to carry a high-quality camera around every day, with Panasonic identifying its target…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a 20-roll pack of 36-exposure Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 35mm film or a Fujifilm 8GB media card* FIREWORKS INSPIRATION I enjoyed reading Andrew James’s article on how to shoot fireworks (AP 26 October). I had a go at the same location that was featured in the lovely shots of Smeatons Tower at Plymouth Hoe in Devon. Above is one of my images (including the tower) of this wonderful location. Colin Sargent, Devon SWEPT AWAY WITH DIGITAL I was reassured to read your news report in AP 7 September that photography enthusiasts put resolution at the top of their priority lists when buying a digital camera. As a film user, I have never been happy with the performance of digital cameras in this respect, and can…

THE TERM ‘split toning’ comes from a traditional black & white darkroom process, where through the use of chemicals you can colour-tone the shadows and highlights separately. It was a messy, not to say smelly process! The digital version is a lot simpler and a lot more versatile. It means you can reproduce almost any kind of chemical toning effect. Lightroom users will easily find various Lightroom Develop module presets available for download that can be used to apply custom effects. The Balance slider in the Split Toning panel allows you to fine-tune a split-tone effect by offsetting the effect between the Shadows and Highlights settings. What is also interesting is that even when the Hue and Saturation sliders are set the same for both the Highlights and Shadows, adjusting…

ONE OF the most daunting aspects of street photography is taking photos of strangers. Some people get around this with a long lens and a secretive shooting style, but not Peter Zelewski. Armed with his Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens, Peter gets up close and personal to capture his signature portraits of the people of Soho, London. Started in 2011, his project ‘The People of Soho’ was designed to capture what Peter saw as the ‘essence’ of the area. From stylish shop assistants and arty media types to street-savvy students and casual passers-by, the people Peter photographed were the ones he felt made Soho the unique and vibrant place that it is. ‘Since my arrival on these British shores many years ago, Soho has always been, for me, the…

SIMPLE pop-up flash units can produce some good results, but they have their limitations. Often the resulting images can look quite flat or there is simply not enough flash coverage to light the subject evenly. However, the Canon PowerShot G16 features a hotshoe that is compatible with the same flashes as used on the range of Canon EOS DSLRs. For many Canon users, this is very useful as full E-TTL flash works with EX-series Speedlites, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX, Canon High Powered Flash HF-DC1 and HF DC2. I simply attached a Canon Speedlite 580 EX II to the hotshoe and was able to shoot with the flash pointed upwards with the bounce card up to achieve nice lighting on the subject. In addition, I was able…

THERE are few photographic accessories that can be hailed as ‘classic’ in the same way as a camera can be, especially when that item is a tripod. Nevertheless, there are some tripods whose product designations cause photographers to share a knowing nod when they are talked about. One such tripod is the Manfrotto 190. Designed more than 20 years ago to be lightweight, compact and sturdy, the 190 is an extremely popular tripod for those who like to get out and about. In particular, the 190CXPRO4 is made from carbon fibre and has four-section legs to make it as small and light as possible. Manfrotto has now redesigned its 190 tripod range, attempting to retain the essence of the older models while adding some useful new elements. FEATURES At first…

ELI LOOKS relaxed, lounging on the steps of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, when I arrive. Every other Sunday we meet here for a project we’re working on, shooting the landmark through the seasons. We walk around the grounds, shooting it from all angles, then amble down to the riverside where we usually end up in a favoured local watering hole and head home when it’s technically Monday morning. Today, though, Eli looks disengaged. His mind is elsewhere. ‘You ready?’ I ask. He makes a face. ‘I was thinking maybe we could just go straight to the pub,’ he says. ‘What about the shoot? It’s the start of autumn and one of the most important shoots.’ Eli looks uncomfortable. He shifts in his seat, and it’s then that I notice he…

RATHER than a raft of new features, the latest Canon EOS 700D builds on the success of the Canon EOS 600D and 650D. Actually, the EOS 700D has only very slight changes from the EOS 650D. The 18-million-pixel, APS-C Hybrid CMOS sensor remains. This sensor features on-sensor phase-detection AF, which, like the EOS 100D (above), allows for phase-detection AF during live view or video. When using the optical viewfinder, the EOS 700D, like the EOS 650D, has a meagre nine AF points, although all these are the more sensitive cross type. Thanks to the 1.04-million-dot screen being touch sensitive, the focus point can be selected in live view by simply touching the articulated screen. So what is new? Well, the EOS 700D has a new finish in the form of…

WITH a 24.1-million-pixel, APS-C-sized sensor, the Nikon D5200 was always going to be a popular mid-range DSLR camera. It has 39 AF points, nine of which are cross type, a 5fps shooting rate and a 3in, 921,000-dot vari-angle screen. When we tested the camera we found that the sensor’s high resolution allowed it to capture fine details. However to really get the full potential from the camera required a far better optic than the 18-55mm kit lens, and adjustment to the raw images was needed. Overall, though, the D5200 combined some of the best technology found in Nikon DSLRs in a fairly small and light body Then, in October, the successor to the D5200 was announced, called the D5300. The new DSLR has largely the same specification, but to get…

EVERYONE loved the Pentax K-5 when it was released in January 2011, with many photographers claiming it had the best overall image quality of any DSLR with an APS-Csized sensor, and the K-5 II was eagerly anticipated when it made its debut. There is plenty to like about the K-5 II. It has excellent dynamic range and image quality, and offers not only high ISO noise reduction but also slow shutter noise reduction, dealing with image noise that only occurs during long exposures. It also offers a comprehensive range of sensor-cleaning functions, including dust alert, dust removal and pixel mapping, which checks for defective pixels. The excellent live view can display grid, info overlay, histogram and bright/dark areas. While the K-5 II is an excellent camera in its own right,…

ON PAPER, the Canon EOS M looks like a fairly competitive compact system camera. It has an 18-million-pixel, APS-C-sized CMOS sensor capable of ISO 100-25,600. Images taken on the EOS M resolve about the same amount of detail as we have seen from other Canon DSLR cameras with the same resolution sensor. As we have found with most Canon cameras, including the EOS M, JPEGs are generally a little soft, although you can get a lot more information from the raw files. The EOS M’s sensor has on-sensor phase detection that combines with the more standard contrast-detection focus found on most compact system cameras. We hoped that this would make the EOS M’s AF extremely fast, but overall it was disappointing, regularly hunting for focus. The focusing has since been…

THE KEY new feature of the Leica M (Type 240) is the switch from an 18-million-pixel CCD sensor to a 24-million-pixel CMOS sensor. The previous 18-millionpixel CCD sensor was renowned for being extremely sharp and full of detail. However, the switch to a CMOS sensor means a lower power consumption and higher sensitivity shooting, while a faster readout speed means that live view and video capture are available in a Leica rangefinder for the first time. There is also the option to add an electronic viewfinder, which along with the live view preview, allows a 100% view to be displayed. Although the build quality and handling of the Leica M (Type 240) is not in question, we found that the image quality didn’t quite live up the lofty expectations that…

THE NIKON 1 AW1 is surprisingly conventional to look at. No one would assume you were carrying an underwater camera if they were to pass you shooting with it in the street. It is, however, waterproof to a depth of 15m, freezeproof to -10°C, shockproof from heights of 2m and dustproof. This protection is thanks to rubber sealing around the camera body that prevents ingress of water. When we got our hands on the AW1, we tested it by submerging the camera in a fishtank and dropping it onto hard floors. It held up faultlessly on both occasions. The AW1 was billed as a camera for ‘active people who go on adventures’ and its features reflect that. It has GPS location tracking, a similar system from Russia called GLONASS, an…

THE PANASONIC Lumix DMC-GF6 brought a number of new features to the GF series, not least of which was a shootingmode dial. Noticeably larger than its predecessors, such as the GF5, it resembles the more sophisticated GX1. It sports the same 16-million-pixel sensor as the GX1, which is still among the highest offered by a micro four thirds system camera. While it does not offer a viewfinder, the GF6 does have a tiltable LCD screen that is clearly visible in most conditions and can be used to control the camera via touch sensitivity. We particularly admired the touch metering and AF functions. The fact that the camera can be controlled from a smartphone via Wi-Fi is a bonus and helps round the GF6 out into a solid package. Easy to…

PANASONIC’S Lumix DMC-GX7 was a ‘back to the drawing board’ kind of camera, following the release of the rapidly outclassed GX1. It sports a redesigned sensor with photodiodes of increased size, a new micro-lens structure and the Venus Engine first seen on the Lumix DMC-G6. All this new power gives the GX7 improved light-gathering capabilities, broader dynamic range and a 25% improvement in signal-tonoise ratio, as well as an ISO range of 100-25,600. It also comes with a new EVF and a huge range of body-mounted controls. When we tested the GX7, we found it to be a fantastic compact system camera in its own right. While the image quality couldn’t match that of its APS-C rivals, it was still the best we’d seen at the time from a micro…

THE IMPROVEMENTS made to the NX300 over its predecessor, the NX210, may seem subtle, but when using the camera it becomes apparent how many changes have been made. Its APS-Csized sensor may boast the same resolution as the previous model, but it has been reengineered to perform better in low light and work in tandem with the new DRIMe IV image processor. There are 105 phase-detection pixels built directly into the sensor that create a hybrid AF system similar to that found in the Canon EOS 650D. The big news is the built-in Wi-Fi, which may seem like a standard feature in cameras now, but it deserves mention for the number of possibilities it opens up in the NX300. Autoshare is a new feature, which automatically loads images to a…

ALTHOUGH it may lack the 24.3-million-pixel sensor used in the NEX-7, the 16.1-million-pixel Sony NEX-6 shares many of the same features with the top-of-the-range NEX camera. Thanks to the excellent dynamic range of the sensor, the NEX-6 produces excellent images, with a sensitivity range of ISO 100-25,600. The sensor also features 99-point phase detection, which allows for a hybrid contrast/phase-detection autofocus system that we found to be very fast in good light, although a little sluggish when the light is more subdued. The 2.36-million-dot EVF is excellent, as is the articulated 921,000-dot rear LCD screen. Using the camera’s built-in Wi-Fi allows for control of the camera or the transfer of images. New shooting and picture modes can be added to the camera by downloading new Sony apps and installing them…

FUJIFILM’S X100 fixed-lens camera with its APS-C sensor was big news when it was released in 2011, and interest was at a peak for its successor, the X100S. Wisely keeping the retro-styled look that proved so popular on the X100, Fuji made improvements to the interior of the X100S. The upgraded X-Trans sensor is the same as can be found in the X-Pro1 and X-E1, and puts the X100S in good company when it comes to image quality The X100S uses the same single fixed-focal length lens as its predecessor – a 23mm (35mm equivalent) f/2 optic. While this does mean it lacks some flexibility, this is a good all-rounder that lends itself well to street photography. A WCL-X100 conversion lens can also be employed to shorten the equivalent focal…

PENTAX’S Ricoh GR burst onto the market with one feature that made everyone sit up and take notice – its price. At £599 it was (and still is at around £570) a modest asking price in the advanced compact market, especially given the camera’s heritage in the venerable and well-regarded GR series. The main feature of the Ricoh GR is its 16.2-million-pixel, APS-C CMOS sensor, a considerable upgrade on previous GR compacts. For the GR, Pentax has removed the low-pass filter so as not to interfere with the sensor’s sharpness, and the result is wonderfully crisp images. An 18.3mm f/2.8 lens complements the sensor, and these two features make the Ricoh GR a cheaper equivalent of Nikon’s Coolpix A. The shutter button offers a ‘full-press snap’ function, allowing the user…