Innholdsfortegnelse for 08-feb-2014 i Amateur Photographer

ROGER Hicks, in his column this week (page 82), ponders the frequent criticism of photography that it gets in the way of enjoying places and experiences. That photographers are so busy viewing the world on their screens, or through their viewfinders, they miss the real thing. This reminds me a of a funny scene in the film Ocean’s Eleven (the George Clooney version) where one of the characters is watching a hotel demolition on TV while, out of the window right behind him, you can see the real building collapsing. I do think the critics have a point at music concerts, where you sometimes have to struggle to see the performer through a sea of raised camera phones all videoing the performance, but when it comes to street and travel…

OLYMPUS has added a ‘rifle’-style ‘dotsight’ to its new SP-100EE bridge camera, to help photographers accurately frame moving subjects when using its long zoom. Olympus claims that the red-dot sight makes the camera’s 50x optical zoom ‘ideal for spotting moving and distant subjects such as wildlife and planes, or for sports photography’. Dubbed ‘Eagle Eye’, Olympus says the pop-up sight is designed to be stowed away when not in use. The camera also houses a 920,000-dot EVF. The f/2.9-6.5 lens features a 24-1200mm (35mm equivalent) zoom, but the effective focal length can be extended further using the 100x digital zoom. Due out in March priced £349.99, the 16-million-dot SP-100EE carries a 3in, 460,000-dot LCD screen and lens-shift image stabilisation. Sporting a ‘DSLR look’, the camera also features a focus limit…

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 We take a hands-on first look at the OM-D E-M10 compact system camera with built-in Wi-Fi BURNISHED BRONZE Aaron Yeoman talks to Jon Stapley about his spectacular late surge to third in APOY 2013 NIKON D800E VS ALPHA 7R With both cameras having 36-million-pixel sensors, we compare and contrast the D800E and Alpha 7R ON LAND AND SEA David Baker talks about his ‘painterly’ studies of the UK coastline and countryside PENTAX *IST DL Ian Burley sees if modern software can breathe new life into an eight-year-old Pentax DSLR…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Wins a great shockproof, waterproof and dustproof 5-Proof Technology 16GB Samsung SDHC Plus memory card offering up to 48MB/sec transfer speed. www.samsung.com/memorycard BEST-EVER BIRTHDAY PRESENT I have a few comments to add to the review of the Nikon Df (AP 18 January). I have now been using my Df for about a month and have shot a few thousand images. Regarding build and handling: 1. After a few days of shooting, I no longer have to remove the camera from my eye to change ISO settings, shutter speed or shooting mode. 2. The review states that the camera is large. My first impression was how small and light it was – but then I’m coming from the D4. I find the Df a fantastic alternative to…

With its world-famous bridges, Newcastle’s historic waterfront is the ideal setting for our mid-winter landscape Masterclass as Tom Mackie shows fve readers how to get great architectural results on the river. Gill Mullins reports When you think ‘landscape’, your mind probably conjures up images of green felds, verdant woods, rolling hills, deep lakes and tumbling streams. However, there is another type – the cityscape. While they’re often not as obviously attractive as the countryside, cities offer an abundance of opportunities, and there’s surprisingly little difference between the equipment and styles with which you record them. For our Masterclass in Newcastle on a bleak midwinter’s day, it was the usual British order of damp, chilly and grey weather – although, to be fair, Newcastle is offcially one of the UK’s driest…

What I love most are the unexpected discoveries,’ says James. ‘For example, seeing sand deserts in China that are reminiscent of the Middle East, encountering sandy-haired, blue-eyed people in Central Asia and Afghanistan – many with East Asian features – or meeting a Mongolian girl in Ulan Bator with carrot-red hair and freckles. Then there are the 150cm tall Batek Negrito people in the Malaysian rainforest (left) who look African, and yet my European ancestors left Africa much more recently than theirs did. It is hard to defne my most memorable project, but it is the people I remember best.’…

Winter lingers. The ground has frozen over. Your breath mists in the air, and announcing that you’re going to walk to the shops makes you feel like Captain Oates. It is, put plainly, utterly freezing. It’s easy to give in to the temptation to put the camera away for these dark, chilly months, promising yourself that you’ll get back on it once the local duckpond has thawed and early spring fowers are making their frst shy appearance. It would be a shame, though, because shooting in winter can offer some unique opportunities to create unforgettable landscapes, with subjects that you simply don’t get at any other time of year. Martin Leighton is a photographer who has made it his business to wrap up warm and get those singular shots. Having…

In the next few weeks AP hopes to run the following equipment through the most rigorous testing procedures in the industry… Nikon D800E vs Sony Alpha 7R With both cameras having 36-million-pixel sensors, we compare and contrast the Nikon D800E and Sony Alpha 7R. AP 15 February Panasonic Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 Asph Power OIS We test Panasonic’s Leica-branded, ultra-fast micro four thirds lens that is ideal for portrait shooting. AP 22 February Fujifilm X-T1 We take a first look at Fuji’s new CSC, which marks an entirely new line in the company’s increasingly strong X-series. AP 22 February TESTBENCH: SIX OF THE BEST Used in everything from compact cameras to phones and tablets, we look at six of the best Micro SD cards. AP 22 February…

A REPLACEMENT for the NX20, the Samsung NX30 compact system camera features a 20.3-million-pixel, APS-C-sized CMOS sensor that is virtually identical to that found in the NX300, but with enhanced algorithms, so we should expect to see a slightly improved performance. Combined with the sophisticated DRIMe IV image processor, the NX30 has a broad ISO range from 200-25,600. The sensor also incorporates both contrast-detection and phase-detection AF to deliver a hybrid AF system. While I didn’t get a chance to shoot any moving subjects while handling the NX30, the speed in single AF mode was very good, delivering fast and precise focusing. Other elements of note are the NX30’s ability to shoot at 9fps, a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000sec, an Over Exposure Guide that warns of clipped highlights and…

ONE OF the more intriguing products at CES was the Samsung WB2200F bridge camera. The WB2200F has a dual-grip design akin to many of Nikon’s professional DSLR range, making it one of the largest bridge cameras we’ve seen for some time. Samsung claims the dual-grip design gives the camera a ‘professional appearance’, while making it ‘comfortable and easy to hold’. The company claims that a longer battery life is provided by the camera’s BP-1410 battery, although there were no exact figures available for this. The WB2200F features a 60x, 20-1200mm f/2.8-5.9 equivalent zoom lens, a 1/2.3in, compact-camera-sized, 16-millionpixel BSI CMOS sensor and has Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity. The price and availability of the Samsung WB2200F have yet to be confirmed. OLLOCLIP SHOWS OFF 21x MACRO LENS FOR iPHONE AT THE…

DPI This stands for dots per inch and has nothing to do with the resolution of a digital image, for the simple reason that digital images are made up of pixels (see last week’s Glossary), not dots. Instead, it refers to print resolution and the number of drops of ink laid down in a linear inch by a printer. Confusion often arises because ppi and dpi are treated as if they are the same, when they very clearly are not. The key thing to remember is that a digital image with a resolution of 300ppi does not have to be printed at 300dpi. Indeed, it would be very rare that the ppi of the image and the dpi of the printer match. A 300ppi image might be printed at a…

FUJIFILM claims the ‘ultra-fast’ electronic viewfinder on its new X-T1 compact system camera is ‘almost indistinguishable’ from an optical viewfinder. The 2.36-million-dot OLED EVF is designed to have a lag time of 0.005secs and 0.77x magnification. Boasting SLR-style handling and a weather-resistant body, the XT-1 also carries a claimed AF speed of 0.08secs and 0.05sec shutter lag. The 16.3-million-pixel X-mount model houses an APS-C-sized imaging sensor and a redesigned circuit board, enabling a top ISO of 51,200, says the firm. The imaging sensor is an X-Trans CMOS II type – borrowed from the X-E2 – that aims to help control moiré and false colours. It dispenses with an optical low-pass filter to help boost resolution. Engineers say the X-T1 uses around 80 seals to help protect against dust and moisture,…

OLYMPUS has launched a baby brother version of its OM-D compact system camera in the shape of the E-M10. The new CSC features the design and focusing speed of the OM-D E-M5, but in a smaller body with built-in Wi-Fi (for remote shutter release via a smartphone during long exposures, for example). Pitched against DSLRs such as Canon’s EOS 700D, the micro four thirds newcomer houses the same TruePic VI imaging processor as the top of the range E-M1, and delivers a performance close to a ‘mid-DSLR’, claims Olympus. Billed as the most compact of the threemember OM-D family, the metal-bodied E-M10 sacrifices the on-sensor phase detection (featured on the E-M1) and has no hotshoe-based accessory port, for example. A new image-stabilisation unit has been used to help make the…

In the Shadow of Tyranny By Edith Tudor-Hart. Hatje Cantz, £35, hardback, 192 pages, ISBN 978-3-775-73567-4 BEFORE she married an English doctor named Tudor-Hart, Edith Suschitzky was a photographer and photojournalist in 1930s Vienna, Austria, working in secret as a low-level communist agent even as the grip of fascism tightened in Europe. Wielding a medium-format camera at waist height, Suschitzky focused her attention again and again on the poor and destitute in the streets, shooting First World War veterans struggling to make a living selling toys from a cart or simply begging. We see political movements beginning to take root, with demonstrations and marches from fascists and communists as both groups grew and expanded. She is clearly a technically skilled photographer and has a particular line in a good portrait.…

DIGITAL imaging has transformed our hobby, allowing us to shoot more pictures, see instant results, learn from our mistakes and share our work more easily. Post-capture editing lets us improve our images and get closer to the vision that spurred us to pick up a camera in the first place. Doesn’t it? Perhaps, but I believe it also has a downside – it changes the way we think about the creative process and the kind of experience we value when looking at images. Scan through the winning entries for any AP competition and you will see images that jump off the page and are as visually pleasing as you could wish for. The ‘Photoshop effect’ on amateur photography has been that we strive for aesthetic perfection and expect to see…

Roger Macdonald ‘My photography is usually of the grandchildren and landscapes, particularly seascapes,’ says Roger, ‘but a recent trip to Greece inspired me to try some architectural shots.’ Paul Mason Paul says he normally shoots his kids and landscapes, and dabbles in wildlife, but hasn’t done architecture before today. ‘I’ve learned a few great tips and I even bagged a couple of images I’m really pleased with,’ he explains. Trevor Samson ‘I enjoy a mix of photographic subjects – anything that stays still, as I shoot with a Walker Titan 4x5,’ says Trevor. ‘I shoot in black & white and print my own pictures, and what I’m interested in today is looking at things with a fresh eye.’ Peter Strassheim A member of two camera clubs, Peter shoots a wide…

This beautiful backlit portrait of a friend’s daughter works really well for a number of reasons. There’s the eye contact and lovely sweet smile, while the soft lighting bouncing back onto the girl’s face balances nicely with the bleached-out background. It’s a cracking shot that I’m sure Ian’s friend is very chuffed with – Phil Hall, technique/features editor Ian Pettigrew Canada Ian is lucky enough to have most of his childhood recorded on film, thanks to his Kodachrome-enthusiast father. As he has spent 20 years working as an art director, photography has been an integral part of Ian’s life, and he considers it to be a natural extension of his creativity. ‘People have always fascinated me, especially their faces,’ he says. ‘That’s why I love portraits.’ Ian is currently working…

Martin’s all-time favourite shooting location is Llangollen in Denbighshire, north-east Wales. A constant source of inspiration, the area is the source of an image that he is particularly proud of. We asked him for the story behind this intriguing landscape. ‘I was struggling to fnd something to balance the top and bottom of the picture,’ Martin recalls. ‘I wanted to use the hill in the middle distance as the focal point, but it was very diffcult until I came across this set of trees and knew instantly that I could use one to frame the shot.’ It presented a challenge, however. The sunrise was beautiful but strong – there was no chance of being able to include it in the image as it was simply too bright. The tree presented…

Estonia is an up-and-coming destination for wildlife photography. The country boasts fantastic species such as European lynx, wolves, white-tailed eagles, wild boar and elk – all of which you may get the chance to photograph if you visit Estonia this winter. Visit Estonia, Estonian Nature Tours and Amateur Photographer are giving one lucky photographer the chance to visit Estonia this March to spend fve days alongside top wildlife photographer and AP contributor Luke Massey photographing white-tailed eagles. Spending two days in a specialist hide, you will have eagles feed in front of you throughout the day. Ravens, foxes and even wolves also visit the hide! When not in the hide, you’ll be exploring the local area hoping to fnd elk, beavers, owls and many other fantastic animals. HOW TO ENTER…

AFTER Sony announced that it was to drop the NEX branding from its compact system cameras, it was only a matter of time before the existing NEX range was replaced. The new Alpha 5000 replaces two cameras, the NEX-3N and NEX-5T, which was inevitable given that there are only slight differences between the two older models. KEY FEATURES While the Sony NEX-3N and Sony NEX-5T used a 16-million-pixel sensor, the new Alpha 5000, like the Alpha 3000 released a few months ago, has a 20.1-million-pixel, APS-C-sized CMOS unit. The new sensor can capture images at a maximum sensitivity of ISO 16,000, which is the same as the NEX-3N but 1EV less than the maximum ISO 26,000 setting of the NEX-5T. Aimed at the consumer market, the Alpha 5000 lacks an…

CANON, Panasonic and Sony are set to exploit the trend for smartphone ‘selfies’ by launching cameras that aim to make it easier to capture digital self-portraits. Canon unwrapped the PowerShot N100, a compact model that features a front and rear-facing camera. A spokesman said: ‘The rear-facing Story Camera features a wide 25mm lens that works simultaneously with the front-facing camera and is wide enough to capture a couple behind the camera. ‘The N100 records your expression as you shoot, as a movie or still image, and combines it with the scene you’ve captured – making it ideal for when your reaction is as important as the moment, such as watching a child’s first steps.’ The 12.1-million-pixel PowerShot N100 uses a 1/1.7-type CMOS imaging sensor and a front-facing, 5x (24mm wideangle)…

SOME photographers set their cameras to produce JPEG output, while others prefer to save a raw file and process it themselves afterwards. A number of people see this as a sign of capability as a photographer, but the real impact of processing raw files outside the camera is quite subtle. I am often asked whether a raw file produces a ‘better’ photograph and my answer is usually, ‘It depends.’ The point is that a raw file does not necessarily produce better-quality output than a JPEG. After all, a JPEG is really just a processed raw file, so in principle a JPEG should be able to produce the same quality as a processed raw file. The key to whether it is ‘better’ or not depends on whether the end result is…

Peterborough Photographic Society reflected on whether a £1 increase in its annual subscription may have had a negative impact by leading to a slight fall in numbers, AP reported this week in 1955. However, the group’s annual report concluded that the rise may have resulted in ‘separating the wheat from the chaff and was probably a good thing’. As the club announced that membership had stabilised, treasurer Mr Knibbs reported that it had a ‘satisfactory credit balance of nearly fifty pounds’. Meanwhile, a ‘new set of rules’ had been brought in, based on the rules of the EAF [East Anglian Federation], and with the intention of securing a suitable balance between ‘old hands’ and ‘new blood’ among the club’s officers. On a lighter note, summer outings were being planned for…

A PHOTOGRAPH captured by Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher, who was badly injured in a skiing accident in December, is among images to be auctioned for charity. Formula 1 racing drivers used Nikon Coolpix cameras to take photos that will be auctioned for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity on 7 February. The Coolpix S9500 models, signed by some of the sport’s top names, will also be sold to raise funds. Those taking part include Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and former Formula 1 drivers Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Sir Jackie Stewart. Nikon UK’s group marketing manager Jeremy Gilbert said: ‘It’s a fantastic project that gives us a glimpse into the lives of F1 drivers from a unique perspective, both on and off the track, while helping to…

● OUR BEAUTIFUL, FRAGILE WORLD by Peter Essick, £26.99 If you see the words ‘National’ and ‘Geographic’ in close proximity, then you can rest assured that you’re in for some good photography. Former National Geographic photographer Peter Essick’s vital and timely book delivers that in good faith, a soaring visual polemic on the wastefulness and irresponsibility that is endangering our climate. Essick reminds us of the urgent need for change – a lesson we’ve had hammered into us again and again and again, and yet seem incapable of learning. ● TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY by Steve Davey, £19.99 Steve Davey’s chunky and exhaustive guide manages to pack a huge amount of information into its pages, partly by dint of small pictures and a smaller font, but also by Davey’s economical writing style…

This image was taken on a wet and windy Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde. Weatherwise, it was one of those days when, as a landscape photographer, you hope for the best and usually receive the worst! I was on the coast, in a superb area of the island just south of Lochranza. This picture is called ‘Geophorm III’ – a play on the word ‘geomorphology’, which is the scientifc study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Due to the weather, I’d decided to get some intimate abstract-style shots, and this is one of a set of three that I took on the day. I think being able to react to circumstances is important for a landscape photographer. I’ve been most disappointed with my photography when…

Looking through James Whitlow Delano’s extensive portfolio, it is diffcult to pinpoint exactly when he shot his images. His grainy black & white photographs lend his work a timeless feel and very much echo the work of photography greats such as Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson and André Kertész. Indeed, it is these photographers who placed James on the path to becoming a highly successful documentary photographer. ‘I was studying physics at university and was, to put it frankly, bored,’ James admits. ‘I found photo books and prints by a number of photographers in the university library, and these immediately lit a fre in me and literally changed the course of my life.’ Thus began an alternative education, one not rooted in lecture halls but instead assisting in the studios of…

Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire Dave Benstead Olympus E-30, 17mm, 1/6sec at f/3.2, ISO 400 PHOTOGRAPHING the interior of a cathedral or similar building can be challenging, as you’ll probably be faced with a dimly lit interior and bright, backlit, stained-glass windows. Often, the dynamic range of such a scene will be too high for the camera’s sensor to record in a single image, causing the loss of highlight and/or shadow detail. One way around this is to shoot an HDR sequence, but a less involved option is to take your shot when the exterior light levels more closely match those of the interior – at dusk – which is what Dave has done here. The flip side to natural contrast control, however, is low light levels, and assuming a tripod wasn’t…

Flashgun softboxes Callum McInerney-Riley tests a selection of the best softboxes designed specifically to be used with hotshoe-mounted flashguns Rogue FlashBender Around £40 www.daymen.co.uk Rogue specialises in making accessories for flashguns. One of the company’s most popular products is the Rogue FlashBender, which is a flash reflector that uses two built-in manipulable rods to adjust the direction of light. The Rogue Softbox Kit includes the same FlashBender light modifier, as well as a diffusion panel that attaches to the FlashBender quickly using Velcro. The centre of the diffusion panel has an extra piece of material to further diffuse the light and spread it more evenly. When the diffusion panel and reflector are separated, they can be folded completely flat for great portability. The great thing about the FlashBender is that…

NIKON catered for both entry-level and professional photographers at CES, with the announcement of the D3300 (see AP 1 February) and the unveiling of the new top-of-the-range D4S. Few firm details about the new professional DSLR were revealed, with Nikon saying only that the D4S would have a new image-processing engine that would help to improve image quality, and an improved AF system compared to the original Nikon D4, which was revealed in January 2012. In an interview with AP, Jeremy Gilbert, Nikon UK group marketing manager, said that there was ‘no planned release date for the D4S’. However, he did say that the development announcement ‘comes ahead of a busy year for sport’, fuelling speculation that the camera will be released ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June,…

TWO KODAK-BRANDED lens-style cameras are set to go head-to-head with similar gadgets launched by Sony last year. Due for a UK launch in April are the 25x zoom Kodak PixPro Smart Lens SL25 (24mm wideangle) and the 10x zoom PixPro Smart Lens SL10 (28mm wideangle). Both models are said to carry a 16-million-pixel BSI CMOS imaging sensor, optical image stabilisation, six framesper-second shooting and full HD video. Made by USfirm JK Imaging, which already makes Kodak-branded cameras under a licensing deal announced last year, the PixPro SL10 and SL25 are to compete with Sony’s QX gadgets intended to turn smartphones into premium compact cameras. The SL10 and SL25, which were on show at CES, will be NFC and Wi-Fi compatible, and each will include a Micro SD card slot and…

ANY POINT TO MONOPODS? I’m very impressed by AP’s wholehearted endorsement of the Benro BRC38T monopod in AP’s Ultimate gift guide (AP 23 November 2013) and am tempted to buy one. However, nearly all of my Nikkor lenses have Nikon’s Vibration Reduction image stabilisation, which works very well. So, already having image stabilisation, would there be any benefit in acquiring a monopod as well? I know that image stabilisation should be switched off when using tripods and monopods, but are there any specific situations where a monopod is more useful than image stabilisation? A With the advent of in-camera and lens-based image stabilisation, it’s fair to say that monopods are now less useful than they once were. Stabilisation systems increase the ‘safe’ handholding range of a camera by maybe 3…

IT IS a commonplace that the world would be a strange and rather dull place if we were all alike. It should not therefore come as a surprise when we discover just how different we can be from one another. It often does, though. A particularly interesting example came up on the AP forum recently. I quoted an old friend who said something to the effect that if he couldn’t take a camera with him, he wouldn’t bother to travel. I asked who agreed. Predictably, some did and some didn’t. One of the least expected replies, as far as I was concerned, came from someone who said he didn’t feel the need to ‘validate’ his travel with photography. At first I thought, ‘Well, nor do I,’ but then I understood…