Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-Feb-2020 i Amateur Photographer

When you shoot on auto it’s a bit like being a passenger in a car. Switching to manual is like sliding over to the driver’s seat and grabbing hold of the wheel. This week’s cover story is all about taking back control, which is very topical right now! Features on saving money are always popular so this week we look at getting the best from the free software that comes with your camera, starting with Nikon. We also pay tribute to one of Britain’s finest photographers, Tom Stoddart, who has been in the business for an astonishing 50 years. And finally, two amazing opportunities: a chance to win a fabulous Nikon Z 50 twin lens kit (see page 23) as well as a chance to join us for a special…

The trend towards multiple lenses on camera phones is one of life's more positive developments. You're no longer stuck with the moderately wide 28mm-ish equivalent view of the world which was standard fare on most phone cameras for years. Though not the first to branch out, Apple did a good job of establishing the movement with the successful iPhone 7 Plus of 2016. Its so-called ‘telephoto' was actually more of a standard lens, with its 56mm focal length, but nevertheless enabled you to isolate details, and achieve a more natural perspective on portraits without having to endure the loss in quality inherent in a digital zoom. Similar telephoto options were soon taken up by Samsung, OnePlus, Huawei and others on their higher-end models. My personal hope was that any third…

Card trouble Like Michael Topham I will not buy a full-frame body that does not have dual card slots (Viewpoint, 1 February). Last Easter I took photos on holiday. When downloading the files at home I found nothing after the middle of a rainy city shoot. I tried rescue software but there were no more photos to be found on the card. Then I remembered my Nikon D750 has twin cards and I had set up the second as back-up. Problem solved, to my great relief. No Z 6 or Z 7 for me – Nikon, please rethink! Martin Shepherd Drones I read with interest Peter Miller's comments on drone operators (Inbox, 1 February), basically blaming them for all the current licensing laws. I have flown and built model aircraft…

Angela Nicholson Photographer and journalist Angela Nicholson started reviewing cameras for Amateur Photographer in 2004 and was our Technical Editor before leaving for new pastures in 2010. Last year she founded SheClicks, a community for female photographers. squeezymedia.com When you buy a new Nikon camera the instruction manual directs you to the download centre of the company’s website to get any software you might need. After selecting the type of camera that you have, the site automatically reveals the software that’s compatible. The main packages are Capture NX-D and ViewNX-i. Capture NX-D is the image editing package while ViewNX-i is useful for downloading, browsing and sharing images. In addition, Picture Control Utility 2 is useful for creating a look that you like and that you can reproduce at a later…

The lack of optical low-pass filter plays its part in a maximum of 3400/lph being resolved between ISO 80 and ISO 400. Resolution takes a slight hit at ISO 800, dropping to 3,200l/ph. At ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 the figure remains above 3,000l/ph. Users who push the X-Pro3 beyond ISO 6400 will be very impressed by the level of detail that’s resolved at ISO 12,800 (2,800l/ph). With the ISO dial set to its ‘C’ setting, we pushed up to ISO 25,600 and ISO 51,200 where the level of detail dropped to 2,600l/ph and 2,400l/ph respectively. Here we show details from our resolution chart test pattern (above). Multiply the number beneath the lines by 200 to give the resolution in lines per picture height (l/ph).…

● £149 ● www.instax.com YES, IT has a really stupid name. Indeed it's far from obvious how it's supposed to be pronounced. But look beyond the awkward portmanteau of ‘live' and ‘play', and the Instax mini LiPlay is quite an entertaining device. Just don't mistake it for a ‘serious' camera. In essence, this is a small printer for Fujifilm's Instax mini film, with a cheap digital camera tacked on the front, and a screen on the back. Neither are much good – the camera uses a tiny1 ×5-in 5MP sensor, which means that it's probably worse than your smartphone's, while the 2.7in LCD offers just 230k-dot resolution. But the advantage of this design is that it allows the device to be far smaller than Fujifilm's analogue Instax mini cameras, so…

Valentine’s Day by Keystone IN THIS amusing image from 1964, we can see the secretary of the Beatles fan club, surrounded by hundreds of Valentine's cards sent to the group by adoring fans. By this time the band had become international stars and Beatlemania was in full swing. A week before this image was taken, more than 4,000 fans had gathered to wave the boys off at Heathrow as they embarked on a trip to New York – where a further 3,000 fans greeted them at JFK Airport. Approximately 73 million Americans (roughly a third of the population at the time) would watch their debut US television performance on The Ed Sullivan Show . The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins…

The meeting between photographer Bill Brandt and the sculptor Henry Moore first took place in the Second World War, as both men created images (photographs and drawings, respectively) of civilians sheltering from the Blitz in the London Underground. Organised by the Yale Center for British Art, in partnership with The Hepworth Wakefield, this major new exhibition comprises over 200 works, while an accompanying book is also published by Yale University Press and edited by Martina Droth and Paul Messier (£50, hardback). ‘Little-known photo collages from Moore himself are also featured showing a new side to the artist’ The aim of the show is to highlight the relationship between sculpture, photography, drawing and collage, which are revealed through Brandt's and Moore's shared interests in the subjects and themes of labour, society,…

#appicoftheweek A Voice in the Crowd by Rob Scamp Nikon D810, 50mm, 1sec at f/8, ISO 64, tripod Rob has a passion for landscape photography, and woodland images in particular. As he says, ‘I live in a heavily wooded area and the opportunities for images right on my doorstep is fantastic. This was taken in Sned Wood, North Herefordshire. I was up early to go to work but the conditions I could see from the house were perfect for woodland photography – heavy fog, light rain and low-lying cloud. I decided to go out with the camera and make up the time at work later! I have been to this area of the woods before – a pine forest with a clearing at the top peppered with broad leaf trees.…

Meets Weekly from late September to early May Membership £45 per year Contact progsec@weymouthcameraclub.co.uk or via the ‘contact’ facility on the club’s website Website www.weymouthcameraclub.co.uk passing them around and talking about them. Even though we still look back at that experience and cringe, the ladies loved it and have invited us back twice and both times the projector has worked and we've been able to show them the images that we had to just talk about on the first occasion! What are the club's goals for the future? We would love to have some more members. We would like to continue to welcome a diverse selection of judges, speakers and presenters but our hands are a bit tied because of our limited budget. We would like to stay up to…

The X-Pro3’s sensor puts in a strong noise performance. Shoot between ISO 80 and ISO 800 and you can expect clean images free of noise. A small amount of luminance noise starts to creep in at ISO 1600, however it’s so well controlled at this setting, as well as at ISO 3200, that it’s of no real concern. Applying some noise reduction to raw files captured at ISO 6400 is beneficial and the same can be said for ISO 12,800. Though detail does drop off slightly at ISO 12,800, it’s not a setting that users will shy away from using. Results at the extended ISO 25,600 aren’t horrendous and could be used in an emergency, however ISO 51,200 is worth avoiding.…

DJI SELLS the Mavic Mini with everything you need to fly for £369, however, an extra £90 buys you two extra batteries (each with a claimed maximum flight time of 30 minutes), two extra sets of spare propellers, a two-way charging hub, propeller guards and a neat semi-rigid case that carries everything apart from the propeller guards. The charging hub is handy because it can hold all three of the batteries in the kit and charge them in succession, so it's easier than loading batteries in and out of the drone.…

Feisol TT-15 Mark 2 ● Approximately £76 inc postage ● www.feisol.eu IT'S ODDLY difficult to find a genuinely strong, small tripod that can readily support a high-end camera on the kind of rough, uneven surfaces commonly found outdoors. But such a device is ideal for low-level macro work. The TT-15 Mark 2 is Taiwanese firm Feisol's smallest model, with a 15cm maximum height. Essentially, it's a miniaturised version of a high-end tripod, with single-section legs made from carbon-fibre rods. Each leg can be set independently to three click-stopped positions, which gives a degree of height adjustment, while the lower angles also provide greater stability with heavier loads. Sturdy and really well made, as a no-compromise mini tripod this is difficult to beat. Andy Westlake, originally reviewed 5 January 2019 X-Rite…

The first article I wrote for AP concerned the question of dynamic range (DR). It was occasioned by the release of the Nikon D7000, a camera with exceptional DR at is lowest ISO setting. Back then, most photographers were unaware of DR and didn't care much about it. With some justification, Canon cameras have historically had lower DR than most of their competitors, but that has not prevented them from being phenomenally successful in the market place. The reason for this is quite simple: in the majority of photographic situations DR is not something that affects the quality of the final result for photographers that manage their exposure settings in the normal manner. It's interesting that in the time since that article DR has become quite a thing among photographers.…

LEADING used camera and lens dealer MPB has stepped in to help a Grimsby student who fell victim to a scam on Gumtree. Jay Stocks, 17, thought he was selling his old Canon EOS 700D to a genuine buyer on the site, and posted the parcel at Grimsby's post office. To his horror, Jay later found he'd been scammed, realising the emails he had thought were from PayPal were actually from the fraudsters – and no money had ever been sent to Jay's PayPal account. Receipt in hand, the student went to the post office the next day and asked for the unsent parcel back, only to be told by counter staff they were not allowed as it was now the Royal Mail's property, not his. His next stop was…

EXHIBITION Street Fusion: Bristol in 2019 by Hans Eijkelboom Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol. Wednesday-Saturday 11.00-18.00. Admission free. Runs until 14 March 2020 SHOT over 11 days in July 2019, this new work by Dutch photographer Hans Eijkelboom shows a recent snapshot of the city. It forms Eijkelboom's first solo exhibition in the UK. It is both a continuation and departure from his existing People of the Twenty-First Century project in which he captured pedestrians on the streets of cities over a period of 20 years. For these images, Eijkelboom picked a busy pedestrian area in Bristol. He observed passers-by before recognising a common type or thread, including types of clothing, common accessories and popular brands. This latest show is the first in an ongoing series of new work by photographers…

Ian Lloyd-Graham, Gloucestershire Ian's love of photography was initially born out of using the school darkroom as a place to have a sneaky cigarette. Before long, the fascination of seeing images appear in the developer took hold and his new hobby was assured. He tries to shoot a variety of subjects and, via his wife's business offering vintage hairstyles and make-up, often photographs 1940s re-enactors at events. He really enjoys the challenge of trying to capture the character and feel of a day out. Toddington 1 Ian took this wonderfully expressive shot at a re-enactment event. ‘Laurel & Hardy’ are pushing the car. Sony Alpha 7 III, 24-205mm, 1/80sec at f/6.3, ISO 100 Kemble Airfield 2 ‘I wanted to try and capture this aircraft in an authentic environment without too…

Anyone mulling over the idea of upgrading from the X-Pro2 will reap the benefit of the back-illuminated sensor, which handles noise slightly better when the sensitivity is pushed to its extremes. Testing the sensor and comparing results to the X-T3 revealed a comparable set of results. The real highlight of the X-Pro3's image quality performance is the way the sensor handles noise across its native range (ISO 100-12,800) whilst preserving very impressive detail. Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details…

WE'VE been eagerly awaiting the X-Pro3's arrival to find out how Fujifilm's eccentric idea of doing away with a traditional rear screen has affected what it is like to use. It's a camera that has been subject to much controversy and certainly has the ‘Marmite' factor. There will be some users who love it and some who hate it. If you're a purist who craves the rangefinder-style shooting experience, fancies an attractive-looking, highly robust, camera that isn't a Leica and knows the absence of a conventional screen won't leave you wishing you'd chosen an X-Pro2 instead, you're likely to enjoy using the X-Pro3. This being said, quirks such as not being able to access the Quick Menu via the sub-monitor and losing the slot-in magnifier in the OVF may put…

THE PRICE and weight of the Mavic Mini make it a good buy for first-time pilots and anyone looking for a drone they can take on their travels. It connects quickly with the controller once they're both powered up and although there were a few ‘low signal' messages during my flights, it remained under control. The footage is impressively steady and there's enough detail to create videos with ‘wow' factor. The stills are similar but the dynamic range isn't huge so it's wise to take care with the exposure.…

1 ST  PRIZE € 1500 & EISA Maestro Trophy 2 ND  PRIZE € 1000 & EISA Maestro Trophy 3 RD  PRIZE € 750 & EISA Maestro Trophy HOW TO ENTER Provide 5-8 photographs on the theme of ‘Movement’. All entries must be in digital format (camera or scanned film originals) and must be taken by you for the purposes of this competition. Existing portfolios are excluded. UK DEADLINE:1 MAY 2020 AP has teamed up with Photocrowd to host the contest. To enter, go to: www.photocrowd.com/maestrouk The top three will be chosen by the AP team and published in a July issue of AP. The winner will receive a one-year subscription to AP and go forward to the international round of the contest. INTERNATIONAL JUDGING: JUNE 2020 The…