Innholdsfortegnelse for 13-Dec-2014 i Amateur Photographer

A week in photography ANYONE who woke today from a ten-year coma would be surprised at how Samsung has transformed from a second-tier brand best known for cheap microwaves into a prestige manufacturer that’s a market leader in the TV and mobile sectors. Yet despite having shifted container-loads of point-and-shoot compacts, the company has so far failed to gain a foothold with serious photographers. However, the new Samsung NX1 (tested on pages 46-51) may just change that, with a formidable spec sheet and a performance that impressed our technical team. At the other end of the scale, I love Cary Norton’s Legotron camera (pages 34-36). I’ve spent many happy hours playing with those coloured bricks with my kids and often pondered the possibility of building a working camera out of…

Shoot mono If you’ve ever shot black & white film, you’ll know that creating a good mono image requires a set of skills entirely separate to colour. Most modern DSLRs now feature a built-in black & white mode, which enables you to shoot mono images straight out of the camera. Activating this oft en-overlooked feature is actually a great way to challenge your photography skills, as it takes away any reliance on bright colours to help make a shot interesting. Colours are transformed into tones, which forces you to look at scenes in an entirely different manner. So, this weekend, why not test your photography skills by stripping away the colour from your photos to capture some raw and gritty mono imagery. 1 With all colour stripped away, you’re going…

WILTSHIRE Longleat Festival of Light Europe’s largest-ever display of Chinese lanterns lights up Longleat at night throughout December as part of the Christmas celebrations. Here’s a chance for some low-light shots with a difference. Until 4 January 2015, www.longleat.co.uk/christmas LONDON Winter Festival For the Southbank Winter Festival with NatWest, London’s Southbank Centre lights up, with displays, markets and a programme centred around the theme of giving. The best shots are likely to be found in the evenings. Until 11 January 2015 www.southbankcentre.co.uk/winter CARDIFF Artes Mundi 6 A range of disciplines and art styles come into play for the Artes Mundi 6 exhibition at Ffotogallery. Sanja Ivekovic appropriates glossy magazine adverts to make political critique, while video installations are delivered by Ragnar Kjartansson. Until 21 February 2015 www.ffotogallery.org EAST SUSSEX Christmas…

Cameras are one of the most popular gifts at Christmas, but whether you’re buying one as a present or treating yourself, it is important that you walk away with the right model. ‘These days cameras are so different, and so are photographers needs,’ says Pantiles Camera’s David Podbury. The staff in every Sony Alpha Centre of Excellence are trained in the latest cameras and accessories. ‘Whether it is the style of camera, or essential features for sharing such as Wi-Fi or NFC connectivity, or capturing the Christmas lights, we can find the right camera for the customer,’ says David. ‘We can demonstrate exactly how to use these key features on Sony cameras, so that after making their purchase customers are ready to use the camera immediately.’ David’s recommendations this Christmas…

Email amateurphotographer@timeinc.com and include your full postal address Write to Inbox, Amateur Photographer, Time Inc. (UK), Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU LETTER OF THE WEEK Hit them where it hurts I write regarding your news item on Rob Riach (AP 15 November) - yet another photographer challenged by security staff in a public place, this time the Princes Quay shopping centre in Hull. I am an occasional transport affairs writer and about six years ago, while photographing some newly delivered buses operating into the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, I too was challenged by two overzealous PCSOs, who came rushing to see me after I was obviously spotted on CCTV in the centre's bus station. I was told that photography was not permitted without written management…

Woman on the bridge Pessoa Neto I LIKE this shot very much indeed. I hope it is easy to see why I like it, with those wonderful leading lines that have at least eight attempts at grabbing our attention and fast-tracking it directly to the part of the picture we are supposed to be looking at. Pessoa's low angle works perfectly for lifting the lady just above the greyness of the bridge into the light tones of the foggy sky. The tonal contrast that exists between her and the sky makes her stand out just enough to justify the dramatic fashion in which the lines took us to see her. There is also just enough light tone around her legs and coat that we can separate her from the background…

At a glance ● 28.2-million-pixel BSI APS-C sensor ● 4K video recording in camera ● 15fps burst mode with continuous AF ● Hybrid AF with 205 points ● Magnesium-alloy frame ● 3in, 1.04-million-dot LCD touchscreen ● Price £1,299 (body only) Andy Westlake, AP’s technical editor, described the Samsung NX1 as one of the stars of the show at Photokina 2014, and after handling it myself I agree that on first impressions it appears to be a very exciting camera indeed. The past 12 months have seen the introduction of some fantastic cameras in both the DSLR and compact system camera categories, including the Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4, Sony Alpha 6000, Fujifilm X-T1 and Olympus OM-D E-M10. Given this competition, Samsung must do something special to save…

Looking for a lightweight travel tripod for less than £100? Andy Westlake assesses some lesser known options to see which offers the best value Sirui T-005X ● £90 ● www.sirui.eu/en/home The Sirui T-005X is the smallest tripod in the group when folded, thanks to five-section legs, a two-section column and a slimline head. However, the T-005X extends to 139cm, helped by rather narrowly angled legs and a long centre column. Unfortunately, these features make it a little wobbly, and it’s noticeably more stable with the second column section retracted, giving a 124cm height. The centre column can be unscrewed completely, and the head platform attached directly to the legs for low-angle shooting. The tripod is very quick to set up, with clever sprung-angle selectors and twist leg locks that can…

BLAST FROM THE PAST Ian Burley looks at Canon’s flagship digital compact camera from 2002 LAUNCHED September 2002 PRICE £600 GUIDE PRICE TODAY £70 IN 2002, the PowerShot G3 was Canon’s flagship digital compact camera, offering a 4.1-million-pixel CCD sensor, raw file support, a vari-angle LCD and ISO sensitivity down to 50. You even had the use of a built-in intervalometer. It was a reassuringly chunky design, as opposed to a slim, pocketable one. What’s good You get manual and auto control over exposure and you even get manual focusing with a magnified view. An ND filter is available if the conditions threaten to max out your shutter speed. A wireless infrared controller was included – yes, selfies aren’t as new as you might have assumed. Overall image quality for…

Untitled by Matt Franklin MATT Franklin, also known as Onform1, uploaded this image to our Flickr page. ‘This photograph of my son was taken from outside looking in through my patio door,’ says Matt. ‘I took a couple of photos that day with the same set-up, but I love the look and feel of his breath and nose up against the glass. ‘I always try to create images that have something different or original in them. I’m always intrigued by shadows and reflections, and although inspiration usually comes from Amateur Photographer or Flickr, I’m heavily influenced by the beauty and realism of modern wet-plate collodion photography.’ Why not upload your favourite shots to our Flickr, Facebook or website gallery pages? You could win a digital subscription. Win! Each week we…

This busy image comes from Getty photographer Chung Sung-Jun. Sung-Jun’s image shows more than 2,000 South Koreans making kimchi – a nutritious meal that will be donated to the poor in preparation for the cold months of winter. The workers gathered at the City Hall of Seoul, in South Korea, on 14 November 2014, to make the national dish – around 250 tonnes worth. Kimchi is a traditional Korean meal of fermented vegetables, usually mixed with chilli or a variety of seasonings, and eaten with rice or served as a side dish to a main meal. There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi, which can use napa cabbage, radish, spring onion or cucumber as a main ingredient. Words & numbers I don’t want anyone to appreciate the light or the…

If you long to shoot film and develop your own prints but don’t have the means to do so, then Ilford’s Local Darkroom scheme could be for you When, a generation or so ago, left home for the world of work, I really missed my darkroom. Over the decades, I've made the occasional enquiry about darkrooms to rent, but they were usually far away from my Birmingham home. I still hanker after the analogue printing process: the manual shading and burning in under the enlarger; and the thrill of seeing an image emerge in the tray under the glowing amber light. Ironically, digital technology could provide the solution. Just as the internet encourages the sharing of accommodation through Airbnb and cars through Zipcar, Harman Technology, which owns Ilford, has created…

Colin Roberts A specialist in landscapes and nature, Colin Roberts turned professional in 2005. He has received a number of awards for his nature images, including International Garden Photographer of the Year and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Photographer of the Year. Visit www.colinrobertsphotography.com 1 Leafless trees in mist or fog Many deciduous trees have a stark beauty in their leafless form, and make worthy landscape subjects throughout the winter. Those trees growing on hilltops and ridges are usually framed against the sky, so they can be photographed in almost any weather. However, trees that grow in valleys or parkland can be difficult to photograph in isolation, especially if there are buildings or other trees close by. The answer to this is to shoot them in a misty atmosphere, when the…

What do we mean by the term 'minimalism', particularly as it applies to the field of photography? Quite simply, it refers to a style or technique that is characterised by extreme spareness and directness. Casting your eye over the portfolio of Slovakian photographer Zoltan Bekefy is like witnessing a masterclass in just how this idea can be applied to a visual medium. Zoltan's bare-bones black & white landscape images are notable for the nothingness that pervades them. Armed with a combination of digital and film cameras, Zoltan stalks throughout the landscape and trains his lens on the empty spaces of Ireland, Norway and any other territory that happens to fit into his idea of a lonely planet. By Zoltan's own admission, this minimalism that infects so much of his work…

Navitas Generation Parka • £120 • navitasoutdoors.com Callum Mclnerney-Riley tries out a weatherproof jacket for all generations At a glance • Wind and waterproof COMING from a background of extreme sports, fishing and hiking, Navitas manufactures a wide range of outdoor clothing designed to be both functional and stylish. The Generation Parka is a rifle-green parka-style jacket that is windproof, waterproof and breathable. The outer shell is made from 100% nylon and all seams are taped to ensure they are water-sealed. A 5,000mm breathability and waterproofing rating means this jacket is suitable for up to moderate rainfall. Importantly, the breathability helps to prevent perspiration turning into moisture and making the wearer feel damp - a particular problem when carrying heavy camera gear over long distances. The seven pockets provide plenty…

WITH its 28-million-pixel, backside illuminated sensor, the NX1 offers some of the very best image quality we’ve seen from an APS-C camera, particularly at low ISOs. With no optical low-pass filter to sap the sharpness, it offers exceptional levels of detail, and while it’s not dramatically ahead of its rivals with 24-million-pixel sensors, it’s still probably the most detail we’ve seen from an APS-C-sized sensor. Increasing the ISO naturally results in more noise, but the NX1 still compares quite well with other APS-C cameras, offering perfectly usable images at sensitivities up to about ISO 1600 before noise starts to have a serious impact. The next couple of settings – ISO 3200 and 6400 – are still quite acceptable, but the highest ISOs start to look very noisy indeed and should…

Wired cable release Q I am looking for a wired cable release for my Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RXIO. In AP 1 November, John Gibson asks about a wired cable release for his Sony Cyber-shot DSCHX400V and Andy Westlake recommended the JJC MA-F2, which is fitted with a 'Sony Multi interface' connector. Would this fit my RX10? Ideally, I would like the cable to fit directly into the thread in the shutter button, with a short cable length of 12-14in. B Winstone A I n principle, the JJ C MA-F2 release should work with your RX10, although it seems you'll need to have the latest firmware on your camera for it work properly. This is Version 2.00, which can be downloaded from Sony's website at www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/dsc-rxlO. However, this cable doesn't attach to…

PHOTO HACKS WHILE strip lights are used to provide a narrow strip of light to illuminate the length of a subject, they have also been used by portrait photographers for decades. Placing two strip lights either side of a subject’s face creates a classic lighting style, with each side illuminated. Using a long cardboard box or tube, some aluminium foil and paper, you can create a strip light for your existing flashgun. What you will need ● Long cardboard box or tube ● Aluminium foil ● Scissors ● Craft knife ● Glue ● Paper HOW TO MAKE YOUR LIGHT 1 Create a hole for the flashgun Draw around the head of your flashgun at one end of the box and cut out this shape. This is where the flash will…

Star performance A rare set of Beatles photographs has sold for £180,000, shattering an estimated auction price of £50,000-£70,000. Captured by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, the ‘out-takes’ were sold alongside the final cover shot chosen by Paul McCartney for The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. The set of Beatles photos sold to an unnamed private overseas telephone bidder. Sony lens revamp Sony has revamped its 70-300mm A-mount telephoto lens. The 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II is built to be suitable for sports and wildlife photos, as well as portrait and tele-macro shooting. Features include ‘4x faster’ AF tracking, a moisture and dust-resistant design, and a Nano AR coating to help cut flare and ghosting. The lens is due out in March 2015. Park pics for free Leica Fotopark offers 10GB of…

At a glance 24.3-million-pixel, full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor Bionz X processor 2.36-million-dot OLED viewfinder 3in, 1.23-million-dot tiltable TFT LCD with WhiteMagic technology ISO 50-25,600 (extended) Supports XAVC S and S-Log2 gamma Price £1,500 body only, £1,700 with 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 OSS lens 5-axis in-body image stabilisation THE ALPHA 7 II is both the first camera with a full-frame sensor to feature 5-axis stabilisation, and the first with an in-body system that can work in concert with lens stabilisation. In addition to the usual pitch and yaw compensation, the 5-axis system corrects for vertical and sideways motion, along with rotation around the lens axis. This improves stabilisation for close-up shooting and long exposures. Sony claims shutter speeds 4.5 stops slower than usual can be used without blurring from camera shake. The image…

Landmark: The Fields of Landscape Photography By William A Ewing, Thames & Hudson, £39.95, hardback, 256 pages, ISBN 9-780-50054-433-4 THE landscape genre is a densely populated field. The geography of our planet – both natural and man-made – not only provides photographers with a means of exploring the beauty of the world, but also offers a valuable dialogue about our political and cultural agendas. Landmark is a defining survey of contemporary landscape photography and includes 230 images from 100 photographers, many of whom concern themselves with how the landscape is a fluctuating and effervescent projection of our modern concerns. Bucolic landscapes share space with those displaying the scars of human intervention. All communicate the idea that landscapes can be so much more than pretty pictures. In the right hands, they…

While it’s still a youngster compared to Amateur Photographer, National Geographic magazine has been going since 1888, only nine months after the US National Geographic Society itself was founded. It’s odd, then, that a compilation of classic National Geographic covers has only just been published. The new book is called National Geographic: The Covers – Iconic Photographs, Unforgettable Stories, and we caught up with Bill Marr, current creative director, to find out why it’s taken so long. ‘Various compilations of photographs from the magazine have been published, but we decided to do a cover compilation in 2013, during the 125th anniversary celebrations,’ Bill explains from National Geographic’s head office in New York. ‘A lot has obviously changed since 1888. Until 1999, the magazine was subscription only, for example, so you…

Lego is one of those products that transcend cultural and national boundaries, and the colourful bricks have occupied generations of bored kids since being introduced in 1932. While Top Gear co-presenter James May made a full-sized house from Lego, US photographer Cary Norton has put the bricks to more creative use by making a working Legotron camera. But why, exactly? 'I loved Lego since before I could remember,’ Cary explains from his base in Birmingham, Alabama. 'I got interested in photography while at college, and had the idea of making a camera from Lego in August 2009, during the second year of a 'shoot every day, post every day' project. I'd started shooting large format in the previous couple of years, so I decided to try to build a large-format…

Western Digital My Passport Ultra Metal Edition From ￡60 (1TB) www.wdc.com WESTERN Digital's My Passport range has just received a makeover in the form of the new Ultra Metal Edition. The external hard drives come in three metallic finishes of champagne, silver and blue, with each drive available in either a 1TB or 2TB capacity. Measuring just 80 x 110 x 13.5mm for the 1TB version, and 18.8mm high for the 2TB version, the Ultra Metal Edition drives are USB 3.0-compatible, giving the fastest possible transfer rates of up to 5Gb/s, which equates to 625MB/S. We formatted a 2TB version of the drive from NTFS to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), so we could test it on the latest MacBook Pro, and found that the write speed was around 115MBs, with…

At a glance Price: £1,499 Mounts: Canon, Nikon, Sigma Lens construction: 24 elements in 16 groups Diaphragm blades: 9 Maximum aperture: f/5-6.3 Minimum aperture: f/22 Minimum focusing distance: 260cm Filter size: 105mm Dimensions: 121 x 290.2mm Weight: 2,860g As I place my order for a bacon sandwich and try to overcome my disappointment at leaving my Thermos flask at home, I prepare for the day ahead and attach the brute that is the new Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | S to the front of my Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Anxious about resting the padded lens cover nose-down in thick mud, I crouch down, upturn the lens, and secure my Arca Swiss plate to the lens’s permanently attached tripod collar before returning the heavy combo to my backpack.…

HOW IT WORKS I am your MY REPUTATION didn’t get off to a very good start and I have been around for longer than you might realise, but I am widely regarded as the key to the future of camera evolution – I am an electronic viewfinder. I have been in existence for several decades, initially developed for video cameras and only relatively recently for stills cameras. Electronic viewfinders, or EVFs, started to become widespread in stills cameras in the early to mid-2000s, primarily with bridge-type cameras. However, resolution and image quality were generally poor, exacerbated by small views, flicker and lag. This all changed in 2008, when Panasonic started the ball rolling with its Lumix mirrorless system cameras and the introduction of the first micro four thirds camera, the…

Roger Hicks considers… Thelonious Monk (1965) by W Eugene Smith This is the sort of picture we all wish we could take of our friends. Well, those of us with certain kinds of friends, anyway. To call it ‘laid back’ suggests a considerably higher degree of frenetic activity than is evident here. And yet, behind that relaxation there is a kind of concentration; and, of course, because we know that we are looking at a portrait of one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, we think we can see the energy there, too, even in repose. But note the phrase ‘think we can see’. We are bringing a lot of our own baggage to the picture, a lot of our expectations. At least I am, and I am…