Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Aug-2019 i Amateur Photographer

If buying second-hand makes you worry about chipped lenses, knackered camera bodies or payment headaches, this issue will help put your mind at rest. The second-hand market for digital cameras has really exploded, especially for gear less than a decade old, as you don’t tend to get many ‘bad’ products released these days. There are some great specialist retailers too. Sure, AF and ISO performance, for example, have come on in leaps and bounds, but you don’t need to be on the cutting edge to take great images. So in this issue, we reveal some of the finest pre-loved buys, while also helping you to save money with crafty pro tips. Another big highlight is our behind-the-scenes look at Intrepid Camera, a true British success story. Their cameras look fantastic…

If you’d like to see your words or pictures published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how: Something to say? Write to us at ap@ti-media.com with your letters, opinion columns (max 500 words) or article suggestions. Pictures Send us a link to your website or gallery, or attach a set of low-res sample images (up to a total of 5MB) to appicturedesk@ti-media.com. Join our online communities Post your pictures into our Flickr, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram communities or the gallery on our website.…

ACCESSORY maker Kenko – not to be confused with Kenro – has released a motorised flash head that automatically determines the optimum angle for bounce flash, like the Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI. The Kenko AB600-R incorporates an ‘AI' Auto-Bounce function to work out the best angle of light bounce from the wall (left or right side) or from the ceiling. ‘This function is invaluable for wedding photographers or anyone shooting portraits to a tight schedule,' says UK distributor, Intro2020. An Auto Lock function also remembers this angle when the camera is turned from horizontal to vertical format. The unit has a maximum guide number 60 (ISO 100 at 200mm), and the built-in radio transmitting and receiving unit allows a master flash to control the bounce angle of the slave flash remotely.…

Europe’s best products The winning cameras, accessories and lenses at the EISA Awards 2019-2020 Retouch with Photoshop Discover a host of tips & tricks for natural-looking portrait enhancements Second-hand classic We check out the remarkable Fujifilm X-T2, which can be bought for £549 today CONTENT FOR NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE On sale Tuesday 27 August…

JAZZ club… nice! Even if you don't remember The Fast Show or indeed 1994, you'll enjoy this issue from the archives, as there is a wonderful feature on Herman Leonard's hugely evocative shots of New York jazz clubs from the 1940s and '50s. This was part of a wider ‘darkroom special,' which analogue enthusiasts can still learn a lot from today. Even in the age of the digital darkroom, there is nothing quite like the black & white look you get from a master analogue technician, so it's really important these skills don't disappear (said darkroom special also generated one of the most pun-tastic headlines ever: ‘Lith, the universe and everything.'). And who remembers John Claridge? This giant of portrait photography also got a prominent slot in the issue, and…

Natural light I discovered this roosting butterfly during a late-evening visit to a local meadow. It was a cool, dull evening and the butterfly didn’t fly away when I set up my tripod and macro lens nearby. Owing to the overcast conditions, the image is quite dark and dull. It seemed like a great opportunity to get out the NEO 2. The light and camera were positioned approximately 60cm away from the subject. Front lit using NEO 2 I attached the NEO 2 to my camera’s hotshoe and switched the LED on. I adjusted the left knob to change the power, rotating it until I intuitively felt the brightness looked correct and natural. In this instance, an output of 75% illuminated the butterfly nicely, and I took a second frame.…

When you’re on a tight budget, it can be tough to justify buying more gear. But there are ways to upgrade your set-up without taking a massive hit to your bank balance. With MPB, you might be able to shoot with an out-of-this-world set-up sooner than you think. MPB specialises in used kit, which means our gear costs less. When you want to save money, choosing used is a no-brainer – but it’s only the first step in smart saving. Here are a few more of our tips. A rich history It’s no secret that retailers can be preoccupied with selling you the latest – and most expensive – products. As a used specialist, we have a seriously dynamic range of gear, spanning decades of releases. In fact, this means…

Tamron SP 60mm F/2 Di II LD Macro £239 like new condition AT A GLANCE Aperture range f/2-f/22 Filter thread 55mm Diameter 73mm Length 80mm Weight 350g It's easy, when recommending relatively inexpensive portrait lenses, to point towards camera manufacturers' 50mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8 primes, and forget everything else. But for users of APS-C DSLRs, this unusually large-aperture macro lens from Tamron is also well worth a look. As part of the firm's SP range it promises premium optics, while the 90mm equivalent view provides a flattering perspective for head-and-shoulders portraits. Best of all, when you've had enough of photographing people, it also offers life-size magnification for close-ups. It's available in Canon EF, Nikon F and Sony Alpha mounts. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II £379 excellent condition AT…

One of the ‘facts' commonly presented in online photography tutorials is that the perspective of a photo is affected only by the distance between camera and subject. I put ‘fact' in quotes because, in my opinion, this is not a fact but an unhelpful piece of advice for most photographers. It's not that the essence of the statement is wrong, it's just that it doesn't describe perspective. The fact being referred to is this: the relative apparent size of objects at different distances depends only on those distances, and not on the focal length of a lens. This is simple geometry, as the apparent size is determined by the angle subtended by the object at the lens, which is given by the arc tangent of the object's physical size divided…

THIS photo was uploaded to our Instagram page using the hashtag #appicoftheweek. It was taken by photographer Waldemar Matusik. He tells us, ‘I took this photograph at Portknockie on the coast of Moray Firth, Scotland. The waters here are home to dolphins and sea birds and there are many rock formations including the Bow Fiddle Rock. This was one of my final shots that May evening. In the foreground, I included those beautiful pink flowers called Thrift. I used a 2 stopper LEE ND filter, just enough to darken the sky, plus focus stacking. For the first shot I focused on the flowers in the foreground, and for the second on the rock to extend the depth of field.'…

Gill Prince, Milton Keynes Gill's love of photography began aged seven, when her father handed her an old Russian Zenit ‘that weighed a ton!' She has a particular love of landscapes and cityscapes, enjoying the thrill of chasing the perfect light. ‘I also love the way photography absorbs me totally. Whatever else is going on in my life, when I'm out with the camera, all of that fades away.' Gill's eventual aim is to start making a living from photography. ‘I'm always thinking about how I can turn my projects and my skills into something that pays the bills,' she says. See more of her work at www.gillprince.com. 1 Singapore Skyline Gill shot during the blue hour, and composed to include part of the Helix Bridge on the left, and…

The tolerant, welcoming, vibrant culture of the city of Brighton and Hove makes it a great place to live. One of its flaws, however, is its lack of decent employment. Vast swathes of the working population board commuter trains to London each morning, while many others are self-employed. And as for manufacturing, well… But one company is bucking that trend and creating a small beacon of light in the manufacturing wilderness. Nearly five years ago, recent graduate Max Grew found himself moving into a workshop in order to be able to service the orders from an unexpectedly successful Kickstarter campaign. The product? A simple but slick 5x4in camera made from high-quality birch ply and anodised aluminium, with bellows constructed from coated nylon. Called the Intrepid Camera, its launch was the…

In close-up photography, it is possible to reveal and highlight all kinds of incredible, miniature detail, colour and form that might otherwise get overlooked. However, it is a challenging genre for a number of reasons. Perceived depth of field appears much shallower when working at higher levels of magnification, while light can also be in very short supply owing to the short camera-to-subject distance. And things get even trickier if you are attempting to photograph something that can move, like an insect or reptile. In order to eliminate subject (and potentially camera) movement, you need a rapid shutter speed. However, the lack of light – and the desire to use a smaller aperture to extend depth of field – makes this difficult. One solution is to increase ISO speed to…

An LED device shouldn't simply be regarded as a method of generating supplementary light to create a faster, more practical shutter speed, or to aid the selection of a smaller aperture. Used well, a small LED light, like the Rotolight NEO 2, can be a powerful and creative tool. By adjusting the light's output, colour temperature and position, you can quickly and easily alter and enhance a close-up photo. In this instance, using a continuous light source was less intrusive than flash, and my subject wasn't disturbed at all while I took photographs nearby. I could preview the light's effect prior to taking the shot, ensuring that I positioned the light correctly to achieve the result I wanted first time. I often favour backlighting, as it really emphasises shape and…

Fujifilm X70 £469 excellent condition AT A GLANCE Sensor 16.3MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS II Lens 28mm equivalent f/2.8 Continuous shooting 8fps Rear display 3in, 1.04-million-dot fixed LCD Battery life 330 shots For a slightly different take on street photography, the X70 is closely related to the X100T, with a similar 16.3MP sensor and analogue control layout but a wider-angle 28mm equivalent lens. However it loses the hybrid viewfinder, instead gaining a tilting rear screen that can be used at waist level for discreet shooting. These changes result in a smaller, slimmer body that's easier to slip into a coat or jacket pocket. In excellent condition the X70 is likely to cost around £470, which actually makes it pricier than its notional successor in Fujifilm's line-up, the 24MP Bayer-sensor XF10. But…

Each week we choose our favourite picture on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter or the reader gallery using #appicoftheweek. PermaJet proudly supports the online picture of the week winner, who will receive a top-quality print of their image on the finest PermaJet paper*. It is important to bring images to life outside the digital sphere, so we encourage everyone to get printing today! Visit www.permajet.com to learn more. *PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY IMAGES MAY BE USED FOR PROMOTION PURPOSES ONLINE AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA…

Ever since the introduction of the Nikon F in 1959, the Japanese camera industry has been on a roll. Japanese manufacturers have led the way with new technologies and innovation and pretty much ruled the imaging market worldwide. The rapid spread of SLR cameras across the world in the 1960s saw a spate of new brands enter the market. Lens manufacturers also multiplied and thrived. The 1960s and '70s were the golden years of SLR cameras. Of course, like in any free market, competition between the brands was severe and several brands bit the dust - names like Miranda, Topcon, Petri among others ceased to exist. Similarly, lens manufacturers had multiplied to the extent that there were too many brands. Names like Sun, Sunagor, Panagor, Soligor and Kiron vanished by…

In the mid 1970s I was a student at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art studying Photography, Film and Television Production. I scripted and storyboarded a short film which never quite got made, but is always ‘on the back-burner' so there's still hope! The story goes thus: In the early 1970s I had summer jobs in my home town of Scarborough working in cafes. Holidaymakers were always leaving their cameras behind, and before they came back for them I would take some random shots of the bin shed with my workmates and we would undo our trousers, poke a finger out and take a photograph of that. The camera would go into the lost property box and was usually reclaimed by the holidaymaker. They would then have finished off the…

The Reader Portfolio winner chosen every week will receive a copy of Skylum Luminar 3, worth £65. See www.skylum.com Luminar is a fully featured photo editor for Mac and PC designed for photographers of all skill levels, blending pro-level tools with remarkable ease of use and an enjoyable experience. A new Library feature lets you organise, find and rate images easily, while over 100 editing features, plus a suite of fast AI-powered technologies under the hood, will make any image stand out. Submit your images Please see the ‘Send us your pictures’ section on page 3 for details or visit www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/portfolio NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RESIDENTS ONLY…

NEO 2 Rotolight’s smallest and most portable light, the NEO 2 is more than big enough to meet a close-up photographer’s demands. It can be mounted both on or off camera, and you can easily adjust the output and colour temperature of the light. Rotopod This handy mini tripod is ideally suited to using the NEO 2 off-camera, hands-free for illuminating ground-level subjects like wild flowers and some insects. Simply attach the NEO 2 and then position the Rotopod close to your subject. Macro lens To shoot frame-filling close-ups, you need a close focusing lens. Close-up filters and extension tubes can be used to convert standard optics, but a dedicated macro, optimised for close focusing, is best. A focal length upwards of 100mm is ideal. Low-level tripod You often have…

Canon EOS 7D £274 excellent condition AT A GLANCE Sensor 18MP APS-C CMOS Sensitivity ISO 100-6400 (expandable to ISO 12,800) Continuous shooting 8fps Video Full HD at 30fps Rear display 3in, 921k-dot Viewfinder Optical (100% coverage) Back in September 2009, Canon launched its flagship APS-C DSLR: the EOS 7D. Built around an 18MP APS-C sensor and two DIGIC 4 image processors, the EOS 7D combines a 19-point, all cross-type AF system with continuous shooting at up to 8fps. Initially, the buffer withstood 94 frames in large Fine JPEG mode, and up to 15 frames in raw, but a firmware update did eventually see this number increase to 130 large Fine JPEGs and 25 raw files. It can't compete with today's finest sports cameras when it comes to high-speed shooting, but…

Under £50 Spudz 6x6in microfibre lens cloth ● £8 ● www. phototeq.com Spudz microfibre lens cloths are available in different sizes. The cloth is attached inside a neoprene pouch complete with its own hook that allows you to easily attach it to a zipper or stow it away inside a pocket in your camera bag. Well suited to cleaning lenses, they're also great for cleaning screens and sunglasses. If it gets dirty or needs a clean, simply handwash it with mild detergent and hang it up to dry. You'll find various sizes available on Amazon, with 6x6in examples starting around £8 and 10x10in cloths costing around £14 Eneloop Pro rechargeable batteries ● £15 (pack of 4) ● www.amazon.co.uk Fed up of having to buy packs of fresh batteries for your…

It is of note that Martha Holmes, not a name as well known as it should be, was born in Kentucky. The American South of 1923 she was born into was a deeply divided and segregated society. A photographer, she began her education in art at the University of Louisville and started, while still an art student, working for the Louisville Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times . Initially an assistant, Martha Holmes swiftly became a full-time black & white photographer, as many of the paper’s male photographers had gone to serve in World War II. She was recruited to LIFE magazine in Washington DC, and by 1947 was one of three staff photographers. She covered the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, to investigate the entertainment industry and alleged communist propaganda.…