Innholdsfortegnelse for 09-Apr-2016 i Amateur Photographer

It seems that a drone story appears in the papers almost every day, and by and large it is mostly bad news. However, the overwhelming majority of negative stories are not the result of any drone malfunction – they can simply be put down to poor piloting. Cars are also dangerous, but drivers need licences and insurance. There are rules for even casual drone pilots, and insurance should be mandatory for drones over a certain weight. Common sense on when and where to fly should be a pilot’s first thought. So let’s educate people about the rules, and make some mandatory, but let’s not see the word ‘drone’ as a negative, especially when in the right hands the potential for fantastic images and video, such as those by Anders Andersson…

Simply Electronics’ customer experience manager Adrian Baldesimo told AP that the firm reimburses customers if it can validate such a counterfeit claim. Asked if Simply Electronics sources products through the grey market, Baldesimo replied: ‘We buy products internationally from a wide range of suppliers in order to bring the best deals.’ Pressed to outline measures the firm takes to prevent counterfeit products being sold, Baldesimo added: ‘We only buy from registered businesses that have sizeable presence in their respective countries and they, like ourselves, will be liable for fraud and prosecution if, indeed, goods are counterfeit. We raise this point from time to time with our suppliers to confirm, and have built trusting relationships.’ Simply Electronics says it refunds customers in full if the product turns out to be fake…

NIKON'S optical division has pledged to strengthen its marketing checks after a poster, displayed at an opticians, showed what appeared to be a Fujifilm FinePix X100 by mistake. The gaffe was first spotted by freelance photographer David McDonald, who shared a photo on Twitter of a poster on display at an opticians in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Nikon Optical said: ‘This was an oversight on our part and the poster has since been removed from the store. ‘We are taking measures to strengthen the review process of our marketing materials.. Nikon Optical apologises for any confusion caused... and we thank Mr David McDonald for bringing this to our attention.' For the latest news visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk…

THE WIDEANGLE view of this scene (shot at 29mm) is interesting enough and the reflections of the colourful sky in the calm water are effective. However, the composition is a little busy and there are some untidy distractions on the left of the frame. The same scene shot at 160mm is much more dynamic; the distracting elements are kept out of the frame and the distant boats become much more prominent, providing a stronger focal point. There is also much more impact from the dawn colour, as it now fills the frame, providing a striking backdrop for the scene.…

A reminder to judges Recently we had a rather obnoxious camera-club judge at one of our competitions. And no, it is not a question of sour grapes as I had nothing entered in the competition. First, he had a number of letters after his name that are only applicable in the camera club world, which I gathered accounted for his arrogance, bearing in mind this was just an internal club competition with many amateur beginners as well as experienced hands. The judge started with tongue-in-cheek caustic comments regarding the beginners' section, then it got worse when he publicly humiliated a number of the entrants with such comments as, ‘I don't know why you bothered to enter this rubbish!' At the end of the evening he selected a depressing seascape as…

Maxell Portable Wireless Reader £48 Boasting a 2,500mAh power capacity with a 1A output, the Maxell Portable Wireless Reader has many similar features to the Kingston MobileLite. SanDisk Connect 32GB Wireless Media Drive Hub £69.99 This 32GB Wireless Media Hub has an SD card reader so you can preview, download and transfer images from it. There’s 32GB of internal storage, but no way to connect a hard or flash drive. Western Digital My Passport Wireless 1TB £134.99 Although far less portable than the Kingston MobileLite, the WD My Passport Wireless 1TB can read SD cards, is wireless and works with the WD My Cloud app. You also get a huge 1TB of storage space.…

Resolution The X-E2S produces an identical level of detail to the X-E2, with 3,200l/ph being resolved at ISO 100. There’s a drop to 3,000l/ph between ISO 400 and ISO 1,600, but detail holds up well up to ISO 6,400. The JPEGs at ISO 12,800 don’t resolve the same detail as raw files at lower sensitivities, and with a drop to 2,200l/ph at ISO 25,600 and ISO 51,200 they’re best avoided. Dynamic range It’s no surprise to find that the dynamic range results are comparable to other X-series models that use the 16.3-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS sensor. There is plenty of latitude to return detail to shadow areas at lower sensitivities, with the X-E2S recording 11.5EV at ISO 200. Pushing up to ISO 6,400 sees a drop to 6.4EV – a very…

LAUNCHED 1953 PRICE AT LAUNCH £36 18s 2d (£36.91) GUIDE PRICE TODAY £120 LEIDOLF was established in 1921 to make microscope lenses and began making cameras after the Second World War. The original1953 Lordomat had a coupled rangefinder, a 50mm f/2.8 interchangeable Lordonar lens, double-exposure prevention, and a Prontor SVS shutter, automatically cocked as the camera was wound with a two-stroke lever wind operating from the front to the back of the camera. A range of interchangeable Lordomat lenses with the 40.5x0.5mm screw thread appeared from at least two different manufacturers. From Schacht Ulm came a 35mm f/3.5 Travenar wideangle, a 90mm f/4 Travenar and a 135mm f/4 Travenar. There were also Lordomat lenses from Enna of Munich. The 50mm f/1.9 Lordonar was probably sourced from Schneider. Leidolf marketed a…

Sometimes a beautiful image can mask a deeper and far more contentious truth, as in this image from photographer Sunil Ghosh. What appears to be a regular bonfire is in fact a huge garbage fire located in Noida, India. Just like any city, the area is subject to rampant pollution in part caused by the burning of waste. The authorities will now penalise anyone caught in the act. The municipal corporations have decided to impose the maximum fine stipulated by the National Green Tribunal to curb the rampant practice of garbage and green waste burning. The east and south Delhi corporations say they will now levy a fine of 20,000 rupees or 1 lakh, depending upon the circumstances.…

LEICA has launched a 35mm f/1.4 Asph lens for the Leica T compact system camera. Weighing under 500g and measuring 123x81mm, the Leica 35mm Summilux-TL f/1.4 Asph is designed to be compact. Delivering the 35mm equivalent of a 50mm optic, the lens features a 12-element-in-8-groups build and a close-focusing distance of 0.4m. Leica claims that the newcomer produces ‘maximum sharpness and superb resolution and colour reproduction when shooting wide open, throughout its aperture range, and at all distances…' The Leica 35mm Summilux-TL f/1.4 Asph is due out now, priced £1,650. However, when the lens was first announced last year, it was expected to cost £300 less. Subscribe to Amateur Photograher SAVE 35% * Visit amateurphotographer subs.co.uk/15W (or see p 30) * when you pay by UK Direct Debit…

Location choice Higher viewpoints work well, especially with several clear planes of view – for example, looking across a range of hills. The compression effect of shooting from a distance with a long lens can create a strong link between foreground and background. Depth of field Be creative with depth of field. With landscape photography, it's tempting to try to maximise depth of field, but you can also exploit the inherently narrow depth of field of longer lenses for creative effect, by throwing the foreground out of focus, for example. Shoot silhouettes Telephoto lenses are great for isolating individual features. If there is a colourful sky, then you can meter for that, deliberately underexposing the subject, to create a bold silhouette. This technique works best with identifiable subjects, such as…

At the station Anthony Jackson Ricoh GR Digital IV, 6mm, 1/2000sec at f/9, ISO 320 THERE is a common misconception that impact can be injected into a photograph by ramping up the contrast. However, in most cases doing this simply creates more of the brightest and darkest tones, murdering those around the middle of the scale. The result is one or more extreme tonal values – and Anthony's shot is an example of this. While the whites and blacks of the image attract our attention, there are no midtones to tell us what is going on. We are blessed that our eyes can adjust quickly to varied lighting conditions in the day-to-day, so we rarely see extreme tones, but we are very keen on using them in our pictures. I…

THE X-E2S reminds us of all the things we liked about the X-E2, but the changes and modifications that have been made are minor rather than revolutionary. The new model resolves the same level of detail and performs identically to the X-E2 through its sensitivity range, yet focuses perceptively faster, is better suited to tracking moving subjects and allows those who'd like to use wider apertures in bright lighting conditions to do so by making use of the electronic shutter's 1/32,000sec limit. It's great to see Fujifilm offering the same perks to existing X-E2 users, and if you own the older model you'll be thankful for the boost in performance without needing to spend any money to get them. To save a few pounds, there's nothing to stop you buying…

FZ1000 remote cable Q I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000 and am looking for a remote cable to take pictures of the fish I catch. This needs to be operated by foot or knee as I will have my hands full. Any advice or links would be appreciated. Simmo55 A Unfortunately, there’s nothing specifically designed for the FZ1000 that meets these requirements. It’s possible to release the shutter using a smartphone over Wi-Fi, or a push-button radio release, but neither is much good when your hands are holding a fish. Here’s one possible option though: an old-fashioned bulb air release, with a bracket to hold it in place over the shutter button: www.amazon.co.uk/www.amazon.co.uk/Shutter-release-bracket-cameras-Release/dp/B00DIARE4EShutter-release-bracket-cameras-Release/dp/B00DIARE4E. This is a mechanical release that’s activated by pressing an air-filled bulb, which can be done using…

GH4 gets Post Focus Panasonic has added Post Focus and improved 4K functionality to the Lumix DMC-GH4 via a firmware update. Post Focus, which allows users to select an in-focus point after shooting, is already possible on the DMC-GX8, DMC-G7 and DMC-FZ330. The update also adds three dedicated 4K modes to the GH4: 4K Burst; 4K Burst (Start/Stop); and 4K Pre-burst. Firmware update version 2.5 is out now, at panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc. Magnum ace tribute Tributes have been paid to Magnum photographer Peter Marlow, a former president of the famed photographic agency, who died recently aged 63. Peter was regarded as one of the most enterprising British news photographers. He died following a battle with bone-marrow cancer. Former Magnum president Stuart Franklin said he was ‘part of an essential glue that has…

AN AP reader has warned of the dangers of buying cheap grey-market camera gear after he was told his £1,500 Canon EOS 7D was a fake. Tristan Findley was among those responding to an AP survey about counterfeit kit, launched in conjunction with BBC consumer rights show Fake Britain (see News , AP 5 March). ‘I always buy from authorised sellers now,' said Tristan, who unwittingly bought a counterfeit Canon EOS 7D digital SLR in 2010 from Simply Electronics. Tristan, 31, paid nearly £1,500 for his18-millon-pixel 7D, saving more than £200 on the list price. As it was a genuine camera, the DSLR had been working fine. It wasn't until he had used it for nearly a year that he discovered its serial number had been tampered with. As a…

‘Many think of their photography as secondary; to support their real passions’ The other day I was chatting with Neil Old, the CEO of Jessops. He made an observation about his customers that I found intriguing. While many are self-declared enthusiasts with a passion for photography, he said, many others think of their photography merely as a secondary interest; something useful that supports their real passions, rather than a pursuit in its own right. Whatever the interest – their music performances, their crafts, their motorcycle restoration, or their gardening – they take lots of photographs and often buy quite expensive kit and learn how to master it. But, according to Neil, they still don't think of themselves as photographers. Maybe they should. Perhaps their pictures are already brilliant, but under-appreciated.…

Tripod It is essential to keep everything as steady as possible, especially at the slower shutter speeds usually associated with landscape photography. You need a tripod that is sturdy enough to support heavy lenses. Good tripod head A decent tripod head is often overlooked, but a sturdy tripod is no good without a decent head. Make sure yours has a load capacity that is greater than your camera/lens combination. Telephoto zoom These lenses are much more flexible than primes; a telezoom will allow very precise framing for long-lens photography. A zoom in the region of 70-200mm is ideal. Tripod collar Mounting the lens to the tripod via a tripod collar provides much more stability than mounting the camera to the tripod, as well as reducing strain on the lens mount.…

You answered A Yes, I successfully fixed my camera 31% B Yes, I was unsuccessful fixing my camera 17% C No 52% What you said ‘I answered no because I haven’t actually had to do a “repair” as such, but I did resurrect my old Canon EOS 600 when the rain got in. A month in a bag of rice in a warm place did the trick!’ ‘It depends what you mean by “broken”. I have done minor running repairs to small glitches, but I know my limitations and would never touch a modern DSLR’ ‘In general, I view modern cameras in the same way I view modern cars. They have so much reliance on electronics that they must be professionally repaired. Back in the day, students running a car…

Visual perception Kate Hopewell-Smith demonstrates how the rules of composition can improve your images Sony Alpha 6300 Richard Sibley puts Sony’s 24.2-million-pixel compact system camera through its paces Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Ultra Andy Westlake tests a back-up drive that’s ideal for photographers…

One-touch back up Once connected to your smartphone, you can back up any files stored on your phone or tablet. SD card slot Users can preview, download and view their files on a smartphone or tablet wirelessly via the card slot. Readable formats include SD, SDXC, SDHC and Micro SD (via an adapter). Hard-drive formats The MobileLite only works with hard drives using the FAT, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT formats. Some Mac-format hard drives may not be compatible. 2A USB output Using the high-powered 2A, 5V USB output, users can fast-charge their smartphones or tablets from the MobileLite’s built-in battery. Kingston MobileLite Wireless G3 and Pro • £91 • www.kingston.com Callum McInerney-Riley has a close look at a wireless file transfer and access system that also works as a USB…

1 Lee filters I have Lee 0.9 and 0.6 hard grads, and 0.75 and 0.9 soft grads. I stack three Lee filters for long-exposure seascapes – a hard inverted across the frame, a hard to hold back the sky and a soft to soften glare on the sea. 2 Canon EOS 5D Mark II I love my Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I bought it second-hand for £700 from a wedding photographer friend when I took the full-frame plunge three years ago. 3 Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 I’m very fond of this little lens. It’s inexpensive, as light as a feather and great fun for detail shots at f/1.8, as well as for landscapes. My shot above was taken with this lens and I don’t often leave home without it.…

I have sometimes wondered whether the kind of technical content I put into this column is of more than academic interest. I would hope that understanding the theory and science behind photography would at least, in some cases, change one's practice of photography. I have just found one example of this and thought I'd share it with you. One of the topics I have written about most frequently is noise, which most photographers would rather do without. I was recently going through some raw files taken with my old Canon EOS 5D, which at low ISO settings was a very noisy beast – although it did, and still does, have some other very desirable aspects. The noise to which the 5D was subject was caused by two separate issues. The…

‘Why do some people dismiss stuff they don’t like? They are not content merely to dislike it, or even to question the taste’ Many of us lack the courage of our convictions. We see something that all but cries out to be photographed, and we don’t take the picture because, well… um… we think, ‘It’s not really a photograph, is it?’ Others among us have too high an opinion of our own talents. We take a cursory glance at this picture and say, ‘Oh, I could do that.’ Then there are those who will dismiss it as ‘muddy’, secure in their conviction that a black & white picture must incorporate all, or almost all, of the tones that the paper is capable of recording, preferably including pure whites and pure…