Innholdsfortegnelse for 05-Oct-2019 i Amateur Photographer

Most new cameras and lenses being released these days are mirrorless. Every major brand, apart from Pentax, has now switched the main focus of their product development to their new mirrorless systems, and DSLR launches have become relatively thin on the ground. While this is clearly in response to market demand for smaller cameras and lenses and the advantages mirrorless cameras offer, there are still many loyal DSLR users who have no intention of giving up the mirror and pentaprism just yet. Pros in particular are still largely loyal to their DSLR systems. We talk to a few of them and discuss the reasons for their reticence. We also look at some great 35mm film SLRs from the 1990s, when they reached the zenith of their technological evolution. JOIN US…

AT ITS recent X Summit in Tokyo, Fujifilm announced the development of the X-Pro3: successor to its X-Pro 2 flagship mirrorless cameras. The camera is made of titanium for more durability, has redesigned viewfinders and a large rear LCD sitting on the back of a hinged panel. As well as black, the X-Pro3 comes in Dura Black and Dura Silver. These feature new coatings, which means the camera is 10x more resistant to scratches than stainless steel, Fujifilm claims. Fujifilm also revealed that the optical and electronic viewfinders are redesigned for greater clarity and detail, with the EVF also delivering a much greater colour reproduction. According to Fujifilm, the repositioning of the LCD was designed to keep photographers ‘looking through the viewfinder,' rather than compulsively chimping. As well as the…

Desktop HD The most obvious backup solution is to use a desktop hard drive where you can save a second backup of your images that’s separate from your computer’s hard drive. There are many options available, and these days a model with at least 4TB of storage can provide large enough capacity for years of use. NAS drive Network-attached storage is a hard drive, often with two or more drives organised in a RAID configuration, which means the drives will save the same information in case of one drive failing. Usually via Wi-Fi or another network, the drives can be accessed wirelessly or off-site. Portable SSD Portable SSDs are the perfect backup solution for memory cards/computer when away from home. They are small, lightweight and more robust than a mechanical…

AEOS This disc-like LED can be used in the studio or on location. It offers both powerful constant LED illumination and High Speed Sync (HSS) flash with a runtime lasting up to two hours on a 95 w/h battery. NEO 2 The NEO 2 is the most portable light in the Rotolight range (weighing less than 500g). Like the AEOS, it also offers a combination of bright, constant LED illumination and HSS flash. Rotolight softbox A softbox diffuses and softens light, smoothing shadows and evening out contrast so it’s the ideal modifier for headshots. We used the softbox on the AEOS light in our set-up. 85mm lens Chris was shooting with the lovely Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens that is the ideal length for portraiture and headshots.…

Photojournalism succeeds because of its apparent veracity. We know images can be ‘Photoshopped' but our expectation is that those using cameras as documentary tools resist manipulation beyond dodging, burning, and cropping. However, a drip, drip, drip of revelations about hitherto iconic images is steadily unsettling long-standing expectations. Robert Capa's shots of the D-Day landings on Omaha beach stand at photojournalism's pinnacle. They made Life's cover within days of the invasion and continue to shape our understanding of that battle. Steven Spielberg's 1998 D-Day epic, Saving Private Ryan, owes much to Capa's imagery. However, new research casts doubt on the story of Capa's iconic shots of the beach landings. AD Coleman's detective work deserves to be read in full (see bit.ly/ddaycapa). His revelation is that Capa captured not the first bloody…

I've always had an interest in photography. From putting homemade Sellotape filters over the tiny lens of my 110 cassette film camera to purchasing my prized OM-10, I'd enjoyed the process of taking pictures – though my family didn't always appreciate the time I took to get things perfectly framed. As my own children were growing up, a variety of cameras had always been around to mark events, though they've tended to lend themselves more to ease and function, rather than to satisfy any creative need. So, having stretched my last buy, an Olympus XZ-1, to its creative limit (and in low light its Zuiko lens is still amazing), I purchased a second-hand Sony A6000 with two primes: 19mm and 50mm. Bearing in mind this camera was first produced in…

Janet Miles enjoys using Lightroom and Photoshop to explore the creative side of photography, and has given a number of talks on her approach. Photography brings a variety of benefits to her. ‘I have a stressful job and am currently being treated for breast cancer, so I love that photography is all-absorbing,' she says. ‘I see it as my version of “mindfulness”. If I am trying to capture a beautiful bug or a flower, my attention is totally in the here and now rather than worrying about other things.' You can see more of her work at www.jmilesimages.weebly.com.…

Around 10 years ago you may have read an article like this in a photography magazine and DVDs were offered as a suitable backup solution beyond your hard drive. Back then, hard-drive capacity was much lower than what is available now; hard drives were also much more expensive and camera/sensor resolution was generally much lower. This made backing up images to a number of 7.5GB DVDs a highly cost-effective option. These days, the humble DVD as a storage solution isn't worth considering; storage of the disks, risk of damage and even cost when you consider the fact it would take 137 DVDs to save 1TB of images make their use prohibitive. In fact, that many DVDs wouldn't cost that much less than a 1TB 2.5in hard drive, and with free…

When, in 2008, Panasonic launched the Lumix G1 – the first Micro-Four-Thirds-mount mirrorless camera – few could have predicted how it would go on to revolutionise the camera market. Now, 11 years on, all the major manufacturers have mirrorless ranges, with new additions and upgrades being added at a rate of knots. However, for many photographers, especially professionals, the headline benefits of the mirrorless system actually work against them, not for them. Compact size? For those with bigger hands, that can service to make a camera more fiddly to use. Light in weight? For photographers loyal to their DSLR workhorses – be that a Nikon D850 or a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – knowledge that their camera will do exactly what they want it to, when they want it…

Some of my best portraits happen at serendipitous moments during a shoot. If I had set out to create them deliberately they probably wouldn’t have worked so well. One of those moments happened when I photographed Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1920-2014). ‘Deborah came out and abruptly asked, “How long’s this going to take?”’ Deborah was the youngest of the aristocratic and often controversial Mitford sisters, who included Nancy, the novelist, and Diana, who became the wife of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. Deborah married Lord Andrew Cavendish in 1941 and later played a major role in the management and commercial development of her husband’s ancestral home, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. In September 2003, I was commissioned to shoot a portrait of Deborah for the Observer Food Monthly. She…

Block the light To make the shadows darker and more refined Chris placed a piece of black card over to the right hand side of Theo's face. This was simply pegged to a stand that could be swung in and removed when needed. The black card absorbs the light and thus creates darker shadows on one side. Reflect the light A reflector is a handy piece of kit in the studio to bounce subtle light back in the shadows and lift detail. As there was no assistant to hand, Chris asked Theo to hold it in place. Theo's instinct was to grab each side, but this made his shoulders wider. Chris asked Theo to hold the reflector like a pizza instead, which kept his body in a more natural pose.…

The winner of Round Eight – After Dark can pick products of up to £1,000 in value (based on Sigma's RRP) as their prize. If the winner's choice of lens is above this amount, they can choose to pay the difference. The SIGMA 28mm F1.4 DG HSM | A (RRP £1,099.99) has a wide aperture that's perfect for working in low-light conditions. It stands up to poor weather, too, with its dust-and splash-proof design, and received 4.5 stars when reviewed in AP. The Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | S (RRP £1,349.99) has a versatile zoom range that makes it a great all-rounder. It features Intelligent OS and high-speed autofocus.…

Lab results Andrew Sydenham’s lab tests reveal just how the camera performs Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details While the RX100 VII sports the latest generation of Sony's 20MP 1in sensor, this doesn't bring much obvious change in terms of image quality. So just like the RX100 VI, it delivers highly detailed images at low ISO settings, while keeping noise fairly well under control at sensitivity settings up to ISO 1600 or so. This means it has no significant advantage over other compact cameras with the same size sensor. Instead the main image-quality differentiators between these cameras will be the lens, and for JPEG shooters, the in-camera processing. Resolution In raw the RX100 VII captures lots of detail,…

Guarantee The bag comes with a five-year guarantee for peace of mind. Colour combinations It’s available in six colours, including the Sage FibreNyte/ Chocolate leather finish as supplied for review. Rear pocket This is large enough to hold A4 documents and features a water-resistant zip. British made The Hadley Pro 2020, like all Billingham bags, is handmade in the West Midlands. ● £240 ● www.billingham.co.uk THE EVOLUTION of small system cameras and ever-growing popularity of mirrorless has seen Billingham's Hadley Pro become the best-selling model in the company's portfolio. So how has the manufacturer gone about making its most popular shoulder bag even better, I hear you ask? After listening to its customers and taking feedback on board, a few subtle tweaks have been made. New features include a leather…

Quick switch between landscape and portrait Q I'm becoming something of an avid landscape photographer, spending many of my recent weekends traversing peaks and wandering around the coast in the hunt for locations. One thing that annoys me is having to spend time resetting my tripod when switching between landscape and portrait orientation for shots. Surely someone must have thought of a solution by now? Trevor Noah A Indeed someone has, Trevor! L Brackets (sometimes called L Plates) are accessories that replace your standard tripod plate and allow your camera to be mounted to a tripod head in either portrait or landscape orientation, enabling you to switch quickly between the two without having to readjust the tripod. This set-up also reduces the downward strain on ball heads when shooting a…

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.…

WHEN a new Huawei smartphone is announced, the focus is usually on what the phone comes with, rather than without, but less so with the new flagship Mate 30 Pro. Although the new phone has a four-camera set-up, it doesn't include the Google Play Store and core Google services such as Gmail, Google Maps or YouTube – blame the US/China trade war for that. How much of an issue this will be for buyers remains to be seen, but Huawei is offering plenty of other features. For photography, that four-camera arsenal comprises a 40MP super-wideangle camera with a bigger 1/1.7-inch sensor and f/1.8 aperture. Another 40MP wideangle camera offers an f/1.6 aperture, along with an 8MP telephoto f/2.4 camera offering 3x zoom and a ‘time-of-flight' sensor for adding a 3D…

This book was originally printed in1992 by Cornerhouse Publications and was notorious Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden's first major book. It's been out of print for some time, but is recognised by many as a ‘classic, so it's great to see it reproduced here for fans of Gilden, of New York, black & white photography, or the street genre in general. ‘Bruce has a fascination with the human condition and wants to show us as we really are’ Bruce Gilden has a lot of admirers. But he probably has just as many detractors. His ‘in your face' style is confrontational and harsh, but many would argue that it's also realistic, with his subjects having nowhere to hide. Lots of the images in this book are far from technically perfect, but that's…

WHIZZING back to 1955, we find an engrossing feature on how to get good results indoors using a Kodak Box Brownie. While it now seems as antiquated as a penny farthing, the Brownie was a still-sprightly 55 when this issue came out, and as author S D Jouhar points out, you can get surprisingly good results with this very basic device. Indeed, we have been considering sending out modern digital photographers with a Box Brownie to see how they get on. You can pick up well-used examples of the Brownie at car boot sales or antique fairs for about £20. If you want minimalist, the Brownie is certainly the way to go, as it has a fixed aperture and only one shutter speed. Elsewhere in the issue, editor A L…

The Adobe DNG converter is free software that's easy to use and allows you to convert your raw files to the more standardised Digital Negative format, which is claimed to be a more future-proof file type that's suitable for archival purposes. DNGs are generally smaller in size than manufacturer raw files thanks to the lossless compression they employ, and they also allow you to select ‘fast load data' which stores a preview in the DNG for faster loading. Other features include the ability to select the version of Camera Raw the DNGs are compatible with, which means that raw files from current cameras can actually be used with much older versions of Photoshop. If you use Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop, then you can use these to convert…

‘I love the way the camera becomes part of me when I put it to my eye and view the world through it, and that satisfying “clunk” as I capture what I can see.' Joe Costigan ‘For me, it's mainly a business decision and I don't want to switch just because mirrorless is the new big thing. I'm also very comfortable with my DSLR and don't want to have to get used to something different right now.' Matt Zamarron ‘Sony has brought out so many cameras in quick succession, it makes me nervous to invest for the future. I'm very happy with my Nikon D750, which is proven.' Carol Yates Clark ‘I have a mirrorless and it's lovely, but nothing replaces the feeling of holding a DSLR. I have a…

When it comes to taking headshots, you’ll be pushed to find someone better than photographer Chris Bailey. Based in the town of Frome in Somerset, Chris has photographed many actors and celebrities including Samantha Womack, Star Wars actor Alan Harris, David Warner and Jane Merrow to name a few. Chris conducts his practice from his independent studio, and invited AP along for the day so he could try out our Rotolight kit. For this photo shoot we armed Chris with three Rotolight lights: two powerful AEOS lights and a smaller NEO 2 as well as accessories. Modelling for us was professional actor Theo Walker, who at the young age of 22 is just starting out in the industry. His aim from the shoot was to come away with approachable headshots…

WITH the RX100 VII, Sony has done what it does best, and crammed an astonishing amount of technology into a tiny package. Somehow it's fitted a 24-200mm equivalent zoom, electronic viewfinder, tilting screen, 20fps shooting and 4K video recording into a body that you can slip into a jacket pocket. Its new autofocus system is a genuine advance too, especially if you regularly shoot erratically moving subjects such as sports or children. This is, without doubt, the most accomplished pocket camera on the market. Unfortunately, though, the RX100 VII is also a glaring example of Sony doing what it does worst, and cramming complex features into an interface and body design that's ill equipped to integrate them. Sometimes it's merely unpleasant to use, but at other times it feels actively…

If you already own a DSLR with a few lenses, and provided that the lenses are compatible, it makes sense to buy just the body of your chosen film camera. If you still own an older manual focus film SLR, it's also worth knowing which of the later models will accept its lenses. Here's a quick guide to which fits what and why. Canon EF lenses, introduced in 1987, are compatible with all EOS cameras, digital or film. The later EF-S and EF-M lenses are not compatible with film. Canon's older manual-focus FD lenses from before 1987 will not fit EOS cameras. Minolta Konica merged with Minolta in 2003 and their technologies were acquired by Sony in 2006. Sony A-mount lenses fit Minolta's A-mount, but many will only focus manually.…

Rhino ROV PRO Everyday Slider Fit this motorised slider to your tripod, affix your camera, and boot up its app on your smartphone to take total control of your device's movement and speed along its rail. The Rhino ROV PRO will enable you to slide devices of up to 2kg a distance of 8in for dynamic tracking-style shots. It also has options for producing motion time-lapses and a huge 24-hour battery life that will keep you shooting all day. £359 ● 8in motorised slider ● 24-hour battery life ● 2kg maximum payload Feiyu Tech AK4500 Gimbal The electronic gimbal is one tool for stabilised motion that's taken the content-production world by storm. Cancelling out unwanted shake for faultlessly stabilised footage with its clever gyroscopes and algorithms, the AK4500 can support…