Innholdsfortegnelse for 18-Jul-2020 i Amateur Photographer

Are we too obsessed with sharpness in the digital age? Cartier-Bresson said ‘sharpness is a bourgeois concept’ but like it or not, pixel-peeping means we are all now painfully aware of soft shots, and it can be a deal-breaker for competitions, stock libraries or distinctions panels. Fortunately, modern image stabilisation systems in camera bodies and lenses can enable you to get crisp results handheld at leisurely shutter speeds– tripods haven’t all ended up at car boot sales yet, but aren’t quite so de rigueur. So, don’t miss Angela Nicholson’s guide to image stabilisation in this issue. We also have a first look at Canon’s EOS R6 mirrorless camera, which comes with a range of ground-breaking lenses. The release is another reason to be cheerful, and a sign that makers are…

H&Y Filters has announced a Kickstarter campaign for an interesting-sounding product called the RevoRing, which enables you to use the same filters across multiple lenses with different filter threads. The RevoRing is essentially a variably sized stepping ring made from aluminium, which uses a clever spring-loaded attachment mechanism, almost like an iris. The smaller RevoRing supports lenses with filter threads ranging from 46mm to 62mm, while the larger model supports lenses with filter threads ranging from 67mm to 82mm. In addition, H&Y has announced a RevoRing with a built-in variable ND filter and circular polarising filter. See bit.ly/revoringoffer for full details and early-adopter offers.…

LEADING used specialist MPB has announced that public voting is now open for its first ever Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame. The idea is to honour the best photo and video equipment made, either digital or film. MPB's experts have nominated 25 nominees across five awards categories: Classic, Game Changer, Iconic, Road Tested and Trendsetter. These cover 13 leading brands. As you'd expect, a lot of hugely influential gear has been nominated, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, the Nikon D810 and the Leica M3. ‘Being able to handle this range and calibre of kit week in and week out, we're honoured to be launching the Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame,' said Matt Barker, MPB's founder and CEO (right). ‘The kit you shoot with can…

Some cameras and lenses offer different IS modes. With Canon lenses, for example, Mode 1 enables the full range of compensation movement whereas Mode 2 is designed for use when panning to follow a moving subject. It switches off the IS correction for the panning direction and only corrects movement that is perpendicular to the panning. It's also often possible to specify whether the stabilisation system is active all the time or just at the moment that the shutter release is pressed to capture an image. Keeping it active means that you see a steadier image in the viewfinder, but limiting it to activating at the point of capture increases the degree of correction available during the exposure, which can mean the image is sharper.…

Why do you always seem to publish a really useful article shortly after I have spent ages doing the stuff and could have saved so much time, or just purchased the second best reviewed bit of kit. In future, please print this really useful information three weeks BEFORE it's written and not wait until after it has been created... Your excellent piece on sorting your photos with Lightroom is a prime example, as I have only just finished tidying up my collection and I could have saved many Covid hours if I had read your article first. However it did miss out one really useful facility in Lightroom. It's not obvious to find, so probably only owners of a Sony camera (like me) would have found it. It is possible…

WITH the ZV-1, Sony has made an interesting little camera that takes RX100-series technology and gives it a video-centric twist. Its new vlogging features generally work well, and appear cleverly targeted to its intended audience. But the flip side is that while it's perfectly capable of taking excellent stills, it's not a great choice for users who like to tinker with their settings on a shot-by-shot basis, or compose their images using an eye-level viewfinder. However one feature that might tempt photographers is the rare delight of getting a fully articulated screen on a pocket camera, which I've really enjoyed using. This is only found elsewhere on the Canon G5 X and G1 X Mark III, whose larger SLR-styled bodies aren't really pocketable. This highlights a gap in the current…

Mount point The device has a tiny 5mm (3/16 in) socket in its base, with an adapter supplied for the standard 1/4 in tripod thread. It’s all a bit clunky. Built-in USB A retractable full-size USB connector allows the device to be plugged directly into a computer for transferring files. Memory The LS-P4 boasts 8GB of built-in memory, which can be expanded using a Micro SD card up to 32GB in capacity. Rechargeable The included AAA-size NiMH battery promises 39 hours of recording, and is recharged by plugging the recorder into a USB power supply. ● £199 • www.olympus.co.uk WITH most new cameras now offering 4K recording, there's never been a better time to get into video. But you'll find that getting high quality sound is half the battle, and…

Of all the legends we’ve featured in these pages, it is perhaps Lee Miller’s that is the most fantastical, one so astonishing it would be too ridiculous to fabricate. As a creative force, Lee Miller is without equal in that she lived more lives than seem possible for a single person. Her life and career saw her labelled as a fashion icon, fashion photographer, photojournalist, war reporter, surrealist, farmer, feminist hero, muse and survivor. Those labels will at times seem contradictory but then Miller was a restless individual who understood the urgency of life. Miller was around photography from an early age. Her father was an amateur photographer who tirelessly captured images of his daughter from the age of eight to twenty. It was perhaps this constant presence in front…

Wimbledon Press by Victor Blackman A photographer leans back to get the perfect shot in the press box at The Championships, Wimbledon. This year's tournament was due to take place between 29 June and 12 July – but of course it's just one of the many sporting events that has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The well-known Daily Express photographer and former AP columnist, Victor Blackman, took this atmospheric shot 55 years ago. Blackman's weekly column in AP was very opinionated and despite the fact that he died more than 30 years ago, we still get letters from readers who were very fond of it. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic…

ON1 has released a free app for capturing raw images on your phone, if supported. ON1 Photo Mobile is designed to be an expert-level camera app that enables you to adjust a range of settings in real time. Built-in filters include black & white film grain, vignetting and enhancing local contrast. The app uses the raw processing engine found in the ON1 Photo raw application. ON1 Photo Mobile is available for iOS/iPad OS and Android. Also announced is ON1 360, which enables you to edit and synchronise images across a range of computers and mobile devices. Last but not least, ON1 has announced updates to ON1 Photo RAW 2020, which works as a standalone program or as plug-ins for Lightroom and Photoshop.See www.on1.com.…

‘More pixels only mean I'm going to need more storage space! I'll have to buy another 6TB hard drive just to get through the rest of the year!' You see comments like this all the time when a new camera with a higher resolution is launched. Yes, it's true that high-resolution sensors will obviously create larger files that are going to require more storage space, but my question would be ‘How many images of that sunset do you need?' The reality is that the vast majority of us take hundreds, probably thousands, of images that we will never edit or show another person. They'll remain unloved in the purgatory of F:/photos for the rest of our lives or until the hard drive fails (back up your images, people). They deserve…

The first stabilisation systems were only able to correct for movement along two axes but now five-axis image stabilisation is quite common. This means that a wider range of involuntary movements are corrected. Take some time to understand what these movements are. You can then be aware of how to minimise them when you're shooting. X-axis or horizontal This is a side-to-side movement in which the camera moves parallel to the subject. It's commonly a problem in close-up and macro photography, but it can also be an issue if you don't have a solid stance so you sway a little as you shoot. Y-axis or vertical This is movement is perpendicular to x-axis movement and is again an issue in macro photography. Sensor-based stabilisation usually addresses x-axis and y-axis movement.…

Silver Efex excellence Silver Efex Pro remains the gold standard for black & white conversion and editing, with a huge range of tools and some really powerful filters. Use Control Points with extra ‘structure' to bring out bags of texture and detail in key parts of your image. Analog with attitude Analog Efex Pro, which we also featured recently, is great for adding old-school effects. The interface takes some getting used to, but you can also add double exposure effects, create triptychs and much more. The options are almost endless. En Vogue Color Efex Pro, along with the other constituent programs, also gives quick access to the new En Vogue presets. We particularly like Blue Monday, which is a quick and effective way to add mood and atmosphere. Remember that…

Price £700 Sensor 20.1MP 1in sensor Output size 6000 x 4000 pixels Focal length mag 2.7x Lens 25-70mm equiv f/1.8-2.8 Shutter speeds 30sec – 1/32,000sec Sensitivity ISO 125-12,800 (extendable to ISO 64) Exposure modes PASM, Auto, Scene, Panorama, Movie Metering Multi, Centre, Spot, Average, Highlight Exposure comp +/- 3EV in 0.3EV steps Continuous shooting 24fps Screen 3in fully articulated touchscreen Viewfinder None AF points 315 phase detection Video 4K (3980 x 2160), 25fps External mic 3.5mm stereo Memory card SD, SDHC, SDXC Power NP-BX1 Li ion Battery life 260 shots / 45min video Dimensions 105.5 x 60 x 43.5mm Weight 294g…

I've had the Ensign E29 for many years, yet it never made it into my ten-year, 522 camera project. It's not that I've anything against box cameras, in fact I like their simplicity and solidity, but this one uses the long-obsolete E29 film, and somehow I never got around to devising a suitable workaround. E29 film is 50mm wide, putting it somewhere between the 46mm of 127 film, and the 60mm of 120. It was last made around 1950, and until recently I'd never come across a roll. Last year I picked up a roll of ‘Leeda'chrome for £5 at an antiques centre. It was unused and in its original box, marked ‘develop before 1938'. You would be forgiven for thinking that it's a colour film, as since the 1950s…

AP picture of the week Three Forths by David Queenan Fujifilm X-T3, 160mm, 1/420sec at f/8, ISO 160, tripod David Queenan is a freelance graphic designer and landscape photographer based in central Scotland. He explained to us how he came to capture this atmospheric shot, ‘Finding landscapes to shoot during lockdown has been a challenge but I managed to find this viewpoint of the three bridges reflected in a calm River Forth in the early-morning light. And it's only a five-minute walk from my front door.' You can see more of David's work on Twitter (twitter.com/ davidqueenan) and on his website www.dqphotography.com. Chosen by Nigel Atherton, Editor as our #appicoftheweek We also liked… Phenomenal Surf by Sian Monument Nikon D750, 24mm, 20sec at f/2.8, ISO 4000 Sian's striking shot is…

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 image stabilisation (IS) first arrived in photography in the 1990s it was lens-based and designed to help us get better results with telephoto lenses. It was about avoiding having to use very fast shutter speeds in low light. These days we have lens- and sensor-based image stabilisation systems, with some cameras making use of both, and they’ve developed to such an extent that they can even help with long exposures. But which is the best system and how do you get the most from it? Lens-based stabilisation Inside a stabilised lens…

The one that got away Anglers are known for their frequent tales of woe about ‘the one that got away' which makes me wonder if any photographers are prepared to admit to their missed chances. In my case, and in the days of film, I had to stop to reload while a motor race at Silverstone was in full flow. Sure enough, before the new film was in place and the camera back was closed there was an almighty shunt right in front of me involving five cars. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but prides were badly dented including my own that such an action-packed scene unfolded without a single shot being taken. My lesson thereafter was to have two loaded cameras and to wait until reload timings were better controlled.…

I’m sometimes commissioned to shoot portraits of people I really admire. Having in-depth knowledge about someone’s work often helps to form a rapport with them, but it also puts you in a slightly subservient position. Conversely, if you’re not a fan, you can’t win someone over through enthusiasm for their work, but you can look at them objectively and concentrate on getting a good picture. ‘At times, getting him to do what I wanted was like wading through treacle’ When I photographed Terry Pratchett in January 2001, it was an example of the latter situation. I was obviously aware that he was one of the UK’s best-selling authors, particularly well-known for his Discworld series of novels. But although his brand of fantasy and science fiction is very imaginative and clearly…

David Yeoman I bought an original X100 back in 2012, which along with subsequent Fujifilm mirrorless cameras replaced my Canon EOS DSLR system. By 2017 I found the original X100 was starting to show its age compared to modern cameras. After attending a Fujifilm Touch'n'Try Day in Liverpool with the ‘new' X100F, an order was placed soon afterwards in readiness for a forthcoming trip to Rome. With its updated sensor offering higher resolution, improved dynamic range, faster autofocus and the near silent leaf shutter, the X100F is an ideal companion as an everyday camera. Although capable of producing fantastic colour images, I have always been a fan of timeless monochromes, and here it excels either with the in-built ACROS film simulation or post processing conversion. The X100F gets under your…

DJI has improved just about every aspect of the Mavic Air for the Mavic Air 2, giving the aircraft and the controller a much more robust feel. With a 1/2-inch type sensor, the Mavic Air 2 can't match a DSLR or mirrorless camera for image quality, but the results are remarkably good and the stabilisation is excellent. It's also very easy to fly with the Quick Shot modes enabling even novice pilots to shoot great videos. The only downside is that the Mavic Air 2 won't be categorised under the incoming new regulations (now set for 31 December 2020), so unless you have an operational permission, you will have to fly it at least 150m away from residential, commercial, industrial or recreational areas.…