Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/18/2023 i Amateur Photographer

7 days A week in photography Alongside the Alpha A6700, Sony has also released a new full-frame telephoto zoom, in the shape of the FE 70-200mm F4 Macro G OSS II. Designed for such things as nature, portrait, sports, and action photography, it’s a replacement for one of Sony’s very first full-frame E-mount lenses, the FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS. Major updates include much-improved close focusing and a smaller, lighter design. Optically, the lens employs 19 elements in 13 groups, including three Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass elements, along with one each of Super ED, aspherical, and advanced aspherical elements. As a result, Sony is promising higher resolution corner-to-corner compared to the older lens. A 9-blade circular aperture is onboard for attractive bokeh, providing settings down to f/22. Four XD…

7 days A week in photography THIS atmospheric image, ‘Burning Leaves’ by Andy Linden, is featured in the RPS Summer Exhibition, which can be enjoyed at the society’s headquarters in Bristol until 28 August. The show features 80 images from RPS members worldwide, and includes a diverse range of subjects, styles and capture techniques. Admission is free but you are advised to book a place to avoid disappointment. Visit rps.org/opportunities/rps-summer-exhibition-2023/…

IF YOU are able to get to Brands Hatch on Friday 28 July, major retailer CameraWorld is holding CameraWorld Live at the famous Kent racetrack. ‘It’s a mixture of a camera show and an experience day, with keen photographers and motor racing enthusiasts coming together,’ CameraWorld director Jake Helman told AP. Special show deals will be available, while an Exhibitor Showcase enables visitors to get their hands on the latest cameras and lenses, including the acclaimed Nikon Z 8. Brand ambassadors from Canon, Nikon, Sony, 3 Legged Thing and Tamron will also be running educational sessions. Other highlights include a trade-in desk for you to sell your used equipment, plus there’s a prize draw, and a varied range of photo walks, where you can hone your motor sport photography skills…

The camera world used to be dominated by compact cameras and millions were sold every year; they probably kept the world of photography solvent. All that has changed with the inexorable rise of the camera phone and most of us rely on them to record our lives, for visual notetaking, to feed social media streams and for family snaps. Absolutely nothing wrong in that and it makes perfect sense because they are hugely capable imaging devices, and the latest high-end models are amazing with multi-lens systems, high resolution and computational photography features. That said, for keen photographers a phone is a great backup, but there is nothing to beat a fixed-lens compact camera, or – for those aiming to be a little more adventurous – a bridge camera with a…

Testbench IN THE FIELD At a glance £1299 ● 180mm equivalent macro lens● 0.25m minimum focus● 2x maximum magnification● 4x magnification with MC-20 2x teleconverter● Built-in optical stabilisation, up to 7 stops● Weather-sealed to a rating of IP53● Weight 453g, length 136mm, diameter 69.8mm● 62mm filter diameter When OM Digital Solutions (formerly known as Olympus) announced the new OM System M.Zuiko ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO, I had been already been working with a loan copy for a few weeks and had been able to put this flagship lens through its paces. Since going from full frame to Micro Four Thirds five years ago, I have absolutely loved the sharpness of the tiny Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro. But I was keen for a lens with a longer working…

7 days A week in photography PROLIFIC South Korean lens maker Samyang has joined the L-Mount Alliance, which currently consists of Leica Camera, Sigma, Panasonic, DJI, and Ernst Leitz Wetzlar. Although it’s an alliance, members of the group develop and market separate compatible cameras and lenses under their own brand names. The L-mount is now available on 12 cameras and over 60 lenses. ‘[It] unifies photo and video applications in the best possible way and allows for innovative optical designs due to the shallow flange depth,’ said Leica’s Stephan Schulz. ‘With Samyang, we welcome an agile lens maker that has developed within a short period of time an impressive lens portfolio for photography and cinematography.’ Joining the alliance at the same time as Samyang is Astrodesign Inc, a professional…

7 days A week in photography CHINESE smartphone maker Honor has launched its Honor 90 handset, featuring a 200MP main camera with a 1/1.4in sensor, as well as a 12MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP depth camera and a 50MP front camera. The smartphone comes with an upgraded Portrait mode, and uses AI for video denoising and helping users to generate 15-second videos for social media. Other features include 4K video recording on the rear camera. The handset costs £449 for the base 8GB/256GB model and you can get 5% off with the code AUKH905 – making it a reasonably priced option considering the imaging power on tap. As part of this early bird discount, which ends on 18 July, Honor is throwing in an Honor Pad X8 tablet for an…

UKRAINE PROJECT As I consumed some great ravioli made by Viktor’s mum in her and her husband’s fourth-floor modest Soviet flat in Kyiv, she told Maria and I how she woke up the night before and heard a Russian missile pass overhead. ‘It made a “swoosh” noise, and I rushed out of bed into the hall to be away from the windows, but the siren soon sounded the all clear,’ she recalled in a matter of fact way, so common to those Ukrainians we met on our project. They have almost normalised the lethal consequences of this heinous invasion. In another part of the country 25 people were killed that day. We are in Kyiv to complete our photographic and video project, ‘How do you dance in a war zone?’…

Propellers The propellers are user-replaceable, but a screwdriver is required. At a glance £349 no controller £429 with RC-N1 controller £569 with DJI RC controller ● Drone with integrated camera● Take-off weight 248g● 12MP/48MP 1/1.3in CMOS sensor● 4K (3840x2160) video at up to 30p● 24mm (equivalent) f/1.7 lens● 3-axis mechanical stabilisation DJI’s Mini series includes the company’s most budget-friendly drones and the Mini 3 is the latest introduction. It offers many of the features of the Mini 3 Pro but skips a few to make it more affordable. You don’t get the Mini 3 Pro’s object-avoidance system or the ability to track subjects, for instance, but the Mini 3 has the same camera hardware. That means there’s a 48MP 1/1.3in CMOS sensor behind the 24mm equivalent lens with a fixed…

DSLR Lenses Interchangeable lenses come in a huge array of types for shooting different kinds of subjects IN GENERAL, the easiest way to expand the kinds of pictures you can take is by buying different types of lenses. For example, telephoto lenses let you zoom in on distant subjects, while macro lenses enable close-ups of small objects. Large-aperture lenses allow you to isolate subjects against blurred backgrounds, or shoot in low light without having to raise the ISO too high. Meanwhile, all-in-one superzooms cover a wide range of subjects, but usually with rather lower optical quality. Lens mounts Each manufacturer has its own lens mount and most aren’t compatible with one another. For example, a Canon DSLR can’t use Nikon lenses, although you can use independent brands if you get…

At a glance £1450 body-only £1550 with 16-50mm lens £1800 with 18-135mm lens ■ 26MP BSI-CMOS sensor■ ISO 100-32,000 standard, 50-102,400 (extended)■ 11 frames per second shooting■ 2.36m-dot, 0.7x OLED EVF■ 3in, 1.04m-dot fully articulated touchscreen■ 4K video recording at 120fps Sensor This is the first A6000-series model to surpass 24MP, with its 26MP APS-C BSI-CMOS sensor. Controls Updated control elements include a front dial, large AF-ON button, and still/movie/S&Q selector switch. Screen The A6700 gains a side-hinged 3:2 fully articulated screen, along with a full touchscreen interface. Autofocus Sony’s latest real-time subject-detection AF system is on board, powered by its own AI processor. While Sony tends to release a couple of new full-frame cameras every year, its APS-C line-up receives rather less love and attention. As the first new…

7 days A week in photography A HEARTBREAKING image of an elephant fatally wounded by a freight train in Gabon has won this year’s Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award. The winning image was taken by Jasper Doest from the Netherlands. ‘I am haunted not only by the tragedy that occurred – as the elephant needed to be killed after the accident – but mainly by the larger story of human greed that underlies it,’ he explained. ‘There is a railway that runs through a national park, primarily for the purpose of transporting a valuable mineral.’ On a brighter note, the category Change Makers: Reasons for Hope depicted some conservation success stories. The winning image, by Marcus Westberg, shows elephants being transported between national parks in…

When was the club founded? Punctum Photographic was founded in 2017 and is based in the Mendips, Somerset, although the border with the neighbouring county of Wiltshire is not too far away. What does your club offer new members? New members are welcomed into the group and beginners are offered encouragement. The club invites members to really think carefully about their photographic journey with regard to their vision and the execution of the finished result. The fundamental aim of the club is to develop, critique, nurture, challenge and support the photographic development of its members. Describe a typical club meeting A typical club meeting starts at around 7.30pm with members logging in to an online Skype meeting. We changed to meeting this way during the pandemic and have continued as…

Testbench SOFTWARE TEST At a glance £135 for three lifetime licences £69 upgrade ● Mac and Windows compatible● U point technology● New Control lines tool● New last used edits feature● Integrates with Photoshop, Lightroom and Affinity Photo● 30-day free trial available● dxo.com DxO Labs is renowned for its optical correction modules, with over 80,000 camera/lens combinations in its database. But it also has an impressive software portfolio: PhotoLab, a capable editing app; PureRaw, a cutting-edge denoising program for camera raw files; and the Nik Collection, a suite of powerful creative and technical apps. DxO acquired the Nik Collection from Google in 2017. But its history goes back further to 2009, when software firm Nik bundled its imaging plug-ins Dfine, Viveza, Color Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro and Sharpener Pro into…