Innholdsfortegnelse for 11-Jul-2020 i Amateur Photographer

A highlight of this issue is our review of the most exciting new camera to come out so far in this challenging year, the Fujifilm X-T4. Featuring ‘incredibly effective’ image stabilisation, a highly versatile vari-angle screen and bags of speed and processing power, the X-T4 oozes class, so it’s no surprise that retailers are already reporting brisk sales. We also share some essential tips for sharper shots (page 12), reveal how to shoot great portraits at home with just a camera and one lens (page 34), and reveal the winners of our Stay at Home Challenge competition (page 28) which proves again what a creative lot you are. With our comprehensive DSLR lens buyer’s guide as well, you’ve got another week’s worth of essential reading. I hope you enjoy the…

Best sharing sites I'm a regular subscriber and was intrigued by the letter from Matt Wackett about photo sharing sites. I used to upload my portraits, landscapes and cityscapes onto Flickr, until it inexplicably deleted all my 24,000 photos and wouldn't tell me why. If any of my images went against its guidelines, I would happily have deleted them, but no, it deleted absolutely everything! I would never trust Flickr with my images again. I now use the 500px and Viewbug photo-sharing sites, which I recommend. I have an Instagram account but find it odd that one cannot upload from a computer, only from a smartphone (unless I'm missing something). Facebook is also a good platform for photo sharing. I have uploaded over 2,500 photos to my Facebook account. Thanks…

WINNER The winner, Drew Buckler, wins a £100 voucher to spend on anything at CameraWorld. With three branches in London, Chelmsford and Stevenage, CameraWorld prides itself on being a good old-fashioned camera shop staffed by experts and keen photographers with over 40 years of experience. Specialising in both new and used equipment it offers competitive prices and, if you shop on its website, free delivery on orders over £150. It has won numerous awards including the prestigious Amateur Photographer Good Service Award. RUNNERS UP Our five runners up each win a Benro PP1 Pocketpod Tabletop Tripod worth £14.99, courtesy of CameraWorld. Usable as a mini camera tripod or a handgrip for smartphones the PP1 stands 17.6cm high and weighs just 160g. It features an all-metal ball head, non-slip runner feet,…

Dual battery charger Fujifilm has made an additional dual battery charger (BC-W235) for the X-T4. It costs £59 and is capable of charging a pair of NP-W235 batteries at the same time. As well as revealing battery status, it displays the percentage readout of the current level on a LCD. Shutter durability The X-T3’s shutter was rated to have a life expectancy of 150,000 cycles. This has doubled on the X-T4. This longer shutter lifespan is reassuring for professional sports and wedding photographers who shoot high numbers of images on a daily basis. White balance The X-T4 features new White Priority and Ambience Priority white balance settings. As its name suggests, White Priority prioritises the reproduction of white, with Ambience Priority prioritising the ambience of the light source in any…

I’ve eaten an omelette at this table. It was sometime in the early ’90s while I was studying photography at the Derby School of Art. It was cooked for me by the wise old sage of the photography world, John Blakemore. John was my tutor at Derby. The omelette was good. But I also remember the light and the tulips. At that time, John had moved away from working in the landscape, for which he had become well known, and immersed himself in the world of tulips, making sublime images for series such as Tulipa Dissections, Tulip Celebrations, and Tulipa Still Life. I remember him showing me a recently made print called (I think) ‘Garden of Earthly Delights Number 2’ – the sumptuous tonality was intoxicating. Using an MPP 5x4…

Toffs and Toughs by Jimmy Sime A group of local boys look on with curiosity and amusement at Harrow schoolboys Peter Wagner (left) and Thomas Dyson in their formal uniform at the Eton vs Harrow cricket match on 9 July 1937 at Lord's cricket ground, London. The photograph was first published on 10 July 1937 on the front page of the News Chronicle. Another image from the same reel also appeared in a photo essay published in Life magazine. It went on to be widely reproduced as the perfect example of the British class system, though it is thought the name attributed to it, ‘Toffs and Toughs', is a more modern attribution. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the…

Lorraine Milligan With 16 years’ experience as a celebrity hair and make-up artist, former dancer and choreographer Lorraine Milligan picked up a camera and started photographing her subjects. Her USP is creating the entire creative package in the comfort of her sitters’ homes or place of work, capturing the real essence of their personalities. www.lorrainemilligan.com For 16 years as a high-fashion hair and make-up artist, I worked closely with the top talent in the photography world. I spent my days watching how photographers navigated their subjects and the importance of my role in the artistic process. Many projects then were still being shot on film and I loved the raw images that had that cinematic feel. Yet I also appreciated the ‘colour pop’ of digital and the possibilities felt endless.…

Sensor 26.1MP X-Trans 4, 23.5 x 15.6mm Output size 6240x4160 Focal length mag 1.5x Lens mount Fujifilm X-Mount Shutter speeds 15min-1/8000sec (mechanical) 15min-1/32,000sec (electronic) ISO 160-12,800 (80-51,200 extended) Exposure modes PASM Metering Multi, spot, centre-weighted, average Exposure comp +/-5EV in 1/3 steps Drive mode 15fps (mechanical shutter) 30fps (electronic, 1.25x crop) Screen 3in, 1.62m-dot articulated LCD Viewfinder 3.69m-dot, 0.75x magnification AF points 117 or 425 Video 4K up to 60p, Full HD up to 240p External mic 3.5mm stereo Memory card Dual SD slot (UHS-II compatible) Power NP-W235 Li-ion battery Battery life Up to 600 shots in economy mode Dimensions 134.6x92.8x63.8mm Weight 607g with battery and card…

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industry-standard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details The X-T4 is Fujifilm's second X-T model to be equipped with a 26.1-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and X-Processor 4. With the same sensor and processor combination as the X-T3, image quality, as you might expect, is on an equal playing field. A key strength of the X-T4's is the way it handles noise and preserves fine detail up to its native ceiling of ISO 12,800. Shooting in raw is recommended for the finest image quality, but the X-T4's JPEGs are excellent and I found it beneficial to dial down the high ISO noise reduction a touch to -2 or -3 in low-light conditions. Resolution The lack of optical low-pass filter contributes…

AS MENTIONED earlier, Sony has some stunning lenses in its lineup. Though the FE 20mm F1.8G isn't a G Master lens, don't let this fool you into thinking that it's not one of Sony's finest. As I found out during a lengthy period of testing, it excels in all the key areas a wideangle prime should, providing fast and quiet focusing, mesmerising sharpness at wide apertures in challenging low-light conditions and advanced aperture control for stills or movie shooting via an aperture ring with a clever ‘de-clickable' switch. In my opinion, it's deserving of G Master status. It isn't out of its depth when it's paired with Sony's high-resolution cameras either. Close-ups are possible, contrast is excellent and it complements the fit and finish of high-end mirrorless cameras like the…

One of the reasons people are attracted to smaller sensor formats is the idea that they provide greater depth of field than larger sizes. Is this true? The answer is ‘not exactly' and I will try to explain by looking at the most demanding scenario for depth of field – macro photography. Previously I showed how depth of field is effectively determined by the path of rays in the ‘object field' – the space in front of the camera. The camera itself can therefore be treated as a ‘black box'. It is not necessary to know the technical details within the box, as long as you know the parameters that affect the image in object space. These are angle of view, focus distance and aperture – the diameter of the…

AP picture of the week Bouldered by Mike Tonge Nikon D750, 24mm, 221secs at f/11, ISO 50, 10-stop ND filter, tripod Mike is a keen amateur photographer based in Lancashire and took up photography as a hobby when he retired. He currently has two Nikon cameras and enjoys taking landscapes and wildlife images. This striking image was taken at the small cove of Porth Nanven in Cornwall. He tells us, ‘I had intended to get there at sunset but when I arrived it was already pretty dark and very cloudy. I therefore decided to go for a long-exposure shot to smooth out the sea, which was pretty rough. Having raced down to the water's edge in the ever-dimming light over very treacherous boulders, I saw some lovely looking granite rocks…

Forsyth fan Great to see the Legends feature on Bert Hardy. Photos of the commonplace fascinate me and always have done. I love Bert's work, but wondered if another hero of mine, Jimmy Forsyth, might rate a feature sometime? I doubt there is a body of work anywhere that does a better job of recording a community, now long gone, than the thousands of photos Jimmy took of his neighbourhood in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1950s and '60s. There are several books of his photographs, but a glance at Scotswood Road should give you a flavour of why I love his work so much. Martyn Gaunt Editing excess I'm a keen amateur who took my first photo on my parent's box camera back in the…

The rules were simple: pictures must have been taken at home between 23 March and 31 May, and uploaded to Instagram, Flickr, Twitter or Facebook. They could be of anything, but we’d award a £100 CameraWorld voucher for our favourite image, (chosen by a panel from AP and CameraWorld) and five Benro mini tripods for the best runner-up pictures of a person, a pet, an object, something edible, and a view through a door or window. We had some great entries, and here are our top 20... Vinny Jasmin White Canon EOS 5D Mark lV, 1/250sec f/2.8 Jasmin is clearly a versatile photographer, having taken two of our favourite pictures in completely different genres: pets and food. ‘The last few months have been difficult for us all,' she admits. ‘When…

THE X-T3 was a super speedy performer. Fujifilm has taken this to the next level on the X-T4 by introducing a new focal plane mechanical shutter that's capable of shooting continuous bursts at up to 15fps in continuous high (CH) burst mode. Like the X-T3, the X-T4 doesn't need a power booster to shoot at its fastest speeds either, meaning users get to shoot rapidly without adding any additional bulk or weight to the body. At 15fps the X-T4's buffer can handle 35 uncompressed raw images, or 110 JPEGs before it requires a breather – figures that should suffice most high-speed shooters' needs. Select the X-T4's electronic shutter and you're able to shoot faster at up to 20fps, or 30fps with a 1.25x crop of the sensor. Select one of…

THE ADDITION of IBIS is significant. It's extremely effective at stabilising handheld shots and video footage, plus it has been implemented without negatively affecting the size or weight of the body. The marginal increase in body size actually improves the handling characteristics of the camera in my opinion and its deeper grip is welcome when it's used with larger, heavier lenses. There's no denying the X-T4's vari-angle screen is an improvement in terms of the manoeuvrability it provides, however some will find that it's not as fast to flip out and will wish Fujifilm had kept with the existing design that didn't obstruct access to the side ports. The control offered by the touchscreen and responsiveness when it gets wet are two other areas for improvement. Some moviemakers are also…

Strap connectors  Wandrd has fitted no fewer than nine external attachment points, so you can carry a tripod underneath or on the front using optional straps. Pop-up camera  The camera holder in the bag’s base can be folded out of the way when you don’t need it. Stretch pocket An elasticated side pocket can be used to carry a water bottle, umbrella or small tripod. Trolley pass-through This allows the bag to slip over the handle of rolling luggage, and has a secure zipped passport pocket hidden inside. • £200 • eu.wandrd.com WANDRD is a young company that's building up a reputation for its thoughtfully designed camera and travel bags. Its latest offering, the Duo, is an everyday backpack that can provide protective space for carrying a camera, via a…