Innholdsfortegnelse for 08-Jun-2019 i Amateur Photographer

There are a multitude of rules of thumb about photography and camera kit, covering everything from focusing to choosing a shutter speed. Some of them hark back to film days and no longer apply, while some were never true. This week Andy Westlake takes out his sharpest pin to pop some of the most popular misconceptions in photography. Free yourself from the limitations that some of these myths have imposed. Another misconception we challenge this week is the notion that you need a multi-light set-up to shoot good studio portraits – Amanda Thomas shows what you can do with just one light. Finally, the myth that amateurs are not as good as pros is utterly destroyed by some of your fantastic entries to the mono round of APOY 2019 (page…

Foto Fest returns Fotospeed’s Foto Fest event is returning to the University of Bath on 8 September for the fourth year running, with Martin Parr named as the festival’s main speaker. The popular Foto Fest Market, which gives guests the opportunity to get exclusive deals from leading brands, is another fixture. See fotofest.co.uk. STC clip-in filters now for Olympus STC, a Taiwanese maker of filters which clip over your camera’s sensor, has announced it now supports Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras. The system was originally designed for Sony full-frame sensors. See a video demonstration of how to use the clip-over filters at youtu.be/zFnw5Qc_5Rc. For more information on the clip filters, visit stcoptics.com/en/clip_filter. Leica’s in the (Bau)haus Leica has released a special-edition Leica CL camera to celebrate the 100th anniversary of…

WHILE the wider compact market may be struggling, tough/waterproof cameras designed for families and travellers remain a resilient niche and Olympus has now released its latest flagship ‘tough' compact, the TG-6. As with its predecessor the TG-5, it has a 12MP, 1/2.3-inch sensor, and a 25-100mm equivalent lens with a maximum aperture of f/2-4.9. The new camera is said to be dustproof, waterproof to 15m, shockproof to 2.1m, crushproof to 100kg, and freezeproof to -10°C, so a family beach holiday or backpacking trip shouldn't faze it too much. The TG-6 shares the TruePic VIII image processor with the Olympus OM-D E-M1X, and also offers raw capture. Other attractions beyond the tough build include an upgraded 1.04-million-dot LCD to make it easier to compose and review shots underwater, a built-in digital…

The GFX100 also features an impressive video specification. 4K recording is available at 30fps using the full width of the sensor, with each frame down-sampled from 50MP, which promises exceptional levels of detail. Footage is recorded at 10bit 4:2:2 externally and 10bit 4:2:0 internally, using the H.265/HEVC codec. Fujifilm has included its cine-optimised Eterna Film Simulation mode, while F-log allows greater flexibility for grading in post-production. Hybrid Log Gamma is also available for recording HDR footage.…

FUJIFILM is keen on emphasising the sensor-size advantage of its GFX cameras over full-frame models, to the extent of inventing different names for its 44 x 33mm format and trying to make them stick. Last September, at Photokina 2018, the firm rather cheekily suggested super-full-frame, which has a certain charm. However at the GFX100's launch event in Tokyo, it moved on to declaring the camera to be ‘large format' – a term that it's also used on its website. The problem is that film-savvy photographers consider this to mean something completely different, which potentially risks confusion. Hopefully, though, any photographer willing to spend £10,000 on a camera body will understand this.…

A minor revolution has been sweeping through the TV and video world – HDR, or High Dynamic Range, telly. It brings improved dynamic range, higher brightness levels and richer colours to the production process, from the camera generating the footage, through to the editing software on the device you're using. If your TV screen, phone, laptop or tablet supports HDR, you see a much better picture. Stills photographers are missing out, though. Most stills photography kit and software uses standards, like sRGB, that are close to pre-HDR TV in terms of colours, brightness and dynamic range. However fancy your camera's sensor, or the screen you're viewing your images on, your pictures look hobbled. The old standards are well suited to vintage LCD screens but not to the latest displays. Even…

Profoto D2 Air I use Profoto lights for everything I shoot. I like this one as it has the air remote and I can control power and modelling light remotely, which makes life easier. Profoto 1x6 RFi Softbox Strip I’m a huge fan of this softbox, and I like to use it in portrait and beauty shoots. The grid is quite deep and pulls the light in, making the spill tighter, and creating a darker fall-off of light from the model. Canon EOS 5D Mark III I’ve been shooting with Canon for several years now, and I like the functionality of the camera and the menu systems. Canon 85mm f/1.2 I love this lens. Depending on the brief I will shoot with it wide open, as it creates this magical…

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connectivity The FZ1000 II is equipped with built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity that allow you to pair it with a smartphone or tablet using Panasonic’s Image App, which is free to download via Google Play and the Apple App Store. Optical image stabilisation The FZ1000 II is equipped with 5-axis Hybrid OIS image stabilisation technology, which can be relied upon to keep images sharp when shooting handheld at long focal lengths. 16x optical zoom Without doubt one of the star attractions of the FZ1000 II is its 16x optical zoom. While 25-400mm is by no means the largest zoom range in the superzoom market, it’s a generous range. Maximum aperture is a usefully fast f/2.8 at 25mm, dropping to f/2.9 by 26mm, f/3 by 30mm, f/3.2 by 45mm, f/3.5…

BRIDGE cameras occupy a curious place in today's digital camera market. While they used to plug the gap between regular compacts and DSLRs, that space has now been largely claimed by mirrorless cameras. One way that manufacturers have fought back against this is by equipping their latest models with as many useful tools and features as possible. This has helped to ensure that bridge cameras remain a viable option for those seeking a one-size-fits-all camera that can cover just about any eventuality without the need to reach into a camera bag to swap lenses. The FZ1000 II is a classic example of this approach and is generously well-equipped with a wide range of features. That said it takes some getting used to, with an extensive menu system and many customisation…

Resolution The results from our Applied Imaging tests tell us the lens gets sharper in the centre when it’s closed down from f/2.8 to f/4. There’s a gradual increase in corner sharpness between f/2 and f/5.6, with the test results at the edge reaching their peak at f/8. Corner sharpness lags some way behind centre sharpness and the best edge-to-edge performance is around f/5.6. Push beyond f/11 and you’ll notice diffraction starts to reduce overall sharpness. Shading Vignetting isn’t anything to be too concerned about, with the shading correction that’s built into the file metadata doing a good job of correcting corner shading in raw files when we processed our images through Adobe Lightroom. The corners appear approximately 0.5EV darker than the centre when the aperture is set wide open.…

When I studied photography back in the 1960s the exposure triangle hadn't been invented. It first appeared only in 1990, in Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure, under the name ‘the photographic triangle.' The three sides of the triangle were aperture, shutter speed and film. There was no graphic to support the written description. By the time of the book's second edition, in 2004, the ‘film' side had changed to ‘ISO, presumably in response to the development of digital cameras, which had an ISO control. Subsequently, the triangle has become a digital-age phenomenon, with the majority of introductory tutorials on photography deploying this device somewhere or the other. It has become so ubiquitous that I have seen it referred to in articles as part of the fundamental theory of photography. It…

IN THE same week as Chinese smartphone behemoth Huawei faced tough sanctions from the USA, its sub-brand Honor debuted its latest flagship smartphone at a global launch event in London. The Honor 20 series – which features three models and price points – is designed to appeal to a younger audience, and features similar camera tech to those found in the Huawei P30 series. As the flagship, the Honor 20 PRO gets the best specifications, with four different cameras on the rear. As well as the ‘Main' 48-million-pixel device, there's also a 16-million-pixel super-wideangle camera, an 8-million-pixel telephoto camera offering 3x zoom, and a 2-million-pixel macro camera. The main camera has an f/1.4 lens, which is the widest aperture available on any smartphone that's currently on the market. Other interesting…

Having spent a day shooting with the GFX100, what impressed me the most is how little it feels like a medium-format camera. It's easy to shoot handheld, while the autofocus is strikingly quicker than the current GFX 50R and 50S models. Fujifilm has, however, made some uncharacteristic errors with regard to the handling. The control dials, buttons and joysticks are all tiny, and I suspect will be very difficult to operate with gloves. The main grip is nicely sculpted with a thick rubber coating, but the vertical grip is just a slim slab of bare metal, making it distinctly uncomfortable to hold. And if you want to shoot with the LCD tilted upwards as a waist-level finder, you'll first need to remove the EVF, as it overhangs the back of…

Mandy Barker's images are beautiful – artfully arranged splashes of colour on a rich black background, full of movement and depth. These pictures suck you in, urge you to look closer, but once you do they deliver a slap in the face. What appeared to be pleasing shapes and colours turn out to be pieces of marine debris: bags, footballs, balloons, knots of fishing rope, bottles, straws, throwaway items that for one reason or another have ended up in the ocean. Mandy was raised on the east coast of England in Hull, and as a child spent much of her time collecting bits of shells, natural objects from the shoreline and driftwood. Years later, during return trips to the city to see her parents, she was shocked by the amount…

1 Resolution and file format For optimal production, use the highest resolution available and don't scale your photo up or down. Don't worry about whether the resolution is too low: the WhiteWall configurator only offers sizes the resolution of your photo is sufficient for. Ideally, you don't want to compress your image at all. Save it with 8-bit colour and an sRGB colour space. Whether you use TIFF or JPG format, you can upload multiple pictures up to 1GB in size at once. 2 Colour and brightness WhiteWall can optimise your file for the best possible quality. Keep in mind that colour and brightness can appear different on a monitor compared to on a print. There are two reasons for this. First, a monitor is illuminated and paper is not.…

1 Shoot tethered if you can. This will enable you to see everything in greater detail on a screen. Test and measure and shoot again. 2 Allow plenty of time. Experimenting with new ways of lighting takes time and patience; make sure everyone you are working with is on board. 3 Ensure you have plenty of space. Clear out the furniture or use an empty room, and remember to keep in mind that you will need vertical space too. Softboxes and stands take up a lot of room. 4 You don't need lots of kit to experiment. I suggest you work with what you have and see how you can use it differently. Move the lights around and see how the light falls on the subject. 5 One light can…

The XF16mm F2.8 R WR joins the ever-expanding stable of X-mount lenses. Its metal exterior and excellent build quality matches Fujifilm's other small f/2 primes, and though the XF16mm F1.4 R WR is better in terms of sharpness and the super-shallow depth of field it creates wide open, this lens presents a few advantages of its own. Those who'd like to keep their set-up as light and compact as possible when travelling or walking around with a camera and single lens will love its petite size. Then there's the cost, which at £349 represents good value and offers an attractive £480 saving over the XF16mm F1.4 R WR. Add this lens and the excellent XF50mm F2 R WR to your shopping basket and you'll still spend less than if you…

If you’d like to see your work published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how to send us your images: Email Email a selection of low-res images (up to 5MB of attachments in total) to appicturedesk@ti-media.com.CD/DVD Send us a disc of high-resolution JPEG, TIFF or PSD images (at least 2480 pixels along its longest length), with a contact sheet, to the address on page 14. Via our online communities Post your pictures into our Flickr group, Facebook page, Twitter feed, or the gallery on our website. See details above.…

THE VOIGTLÄNDER Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical lens for Sony E-mount has now been unveiled, after it was first announced at the CP+ camera show in Yokohama, Japan, back in February. This wideangle prime has built-in electronic contacts, so shooting data can be recorded in the EXIF data, and it can support in-body 5-axis image stabilisation. The minimum shooting distance is 25cm, which offers a maximum image magnification of 1:7.5. An aperture click switching mechanism helps to ensure that no aperture ring operation sound is picked up during movie recording, and the lens weighs 560g. The new lens is set to go on sale in June for ¥165,000, and the UK pricing is yet to be confirmed. For more on the lens, visit the Voigtländer website at www.cosina.co.jp/ seihin/voigtlander/index.html.…

Top-plate LCD This large screen can show detailed exposure information, a virtual ISO/shutter speed dial display or a live histogram. A button alongside cycles through these display modes. Two SD cards The dual high-speed UHS-II SD card slots can be used simultaneously or sequentially, or you can record JPEGs to one and raw files to the other. Power The integrated vertical grip has allowed Fujifilm to include two NP-T125 batteries, as also used in the GFX 50S and 50R, promising a combined endurance of 800 shots. Connectivity Wi-Fi and Bluetooth allow connection to a smartphone or tablet, while tethered shooting is available via the USB-C port, using Fujifilm X Acquire or Capture One Pro. HAVING first teased it at Photokina last September, Fujifilm has officially launched its flagship medium-format camera,…

BOOK Sony World Photography Awards 2019 £34.99, 216 pages, hardcover, ISBN 978-09572010-8-8. worldphoto.org If there's one thing I admire about the Sony World Photography Awards, it's the diversity of images. Not everybody – myself included – will like every image in this book, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you didn't get to visit the exhibition at Somerset House during its short run in London earlier this year, picking up the book is a great way to familiarise yourself with the work. Highlights include the overall winner, Federico Borella, for his moving project, ‘Five Degrees'; Brent Stirton's ‘Akashinga' series; and a selection of work from Nadav Kander, recipient of this year's Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award (see our feature in next week's issue). If you're not sure where…

I understand the point that David Richard makes in his ‘Level playing field' letter in Inbox (AP 13 April) and minimising the impact that computer software now has on a final image. Unfortunately, this idea of making post-processing software available that only replicates what could be achieved pre-digital is nonsense. If we go down that route then should we not also ban cameras that can take better-quality images than those of the pre-digital era? Super-fast autofocus should be banned; no camera shall have more than 11 focus points; no camera shall have more than a 6MP sensor. After all, we don't want technology to be taking control of our images. What about lenses? I have a bag of lenses that were produced from the 1970s to as recently as 2018.…

When did you first start taking photos and why? When I was nine, my family and I went to France. I was bored looking at monuments and statues, so I asked my mother if I could use her camera. I found it fun to view the monuments in a different way. At 13, I got my own camera and haven’t stopped taking photos since. What draws you towards travel photography? The reason I like travel is that I see things and in my mind automatically picture the scene as a photograph. I like to tell a story with a single shot and share it with people who aren’t there. I also like the challenge of not having a lot of time to take a photo – you have to decide…

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details With its 1-inch type 20.1MP sensor we'd expect the FZ1000 II to produce better results than the smaller 1/2.3-inch sensors that are common to many cheaper bridge cameras, and indeed this is confirmed by our lab tests. The FZ1000 II is fitted with an optical low-pass filter, although this doesn't prevent it from producing sharp results – especially at lower sensitivity settings. Likewise, in-camera JPEG image processing is generally quite kind to images at low ISO settings, although cranking up the sensitivity does quickly lead to a drop-off in overall image quality. Resolution JPEG images captured at the lowest native sensitivity setting of ISO 100 are capable of resolving up to 3,200…

● Worth £210 ● www.billingham.co.uk WE WOULDN'T usually review a limited-edition product that's not actually available to buy, but just this once, we're making an exception. That's because this one is different. It's a collaboration between premium bag-maker Billingham – probably the best-loved British photography brand – and Olympus, to celebrate the latter's centenary year. This sort of thing doesn't happen every day. While this is a special edition of Billingham's best-selling bag, in truth the tie-in with Olympus has changed very little. A white tag declaring ‘Olympus 100 Years' is sewn in beneath the green Billingham tag, but otherwise it's a standard-issue Hadley Pro. Olympus initially gave the bag away to buyers of the OM-D E-M1X and E-M1 Mark II at The Photography Show 2019, but tells us it…