Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/4/24 i Amateur Photographer

7 daysA week in photography JUNE 6 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the biggest seaborne invasion in history. Robert Capa, a founding member of Magnum Photos, was the only photographer there at the first wave of landings and took a series of iconic images, known as the Magnificent Eleven. Only 11 of 106 images survived owing to a darkroom processing error; although some historians dispute this, questioning whether Capa really took that many images, nobody is denying his courage for continuing to shoot in the midst of all the chaos and carnage. See bit.ly/capashots for more.…

7 days A week in photography LANDSCAPE photographer and AP contributor Michelle Cowbourne has opened a shop selling her images at the bottom of Glastonbury High Street in Somerset. Michelle began her photographic career in 2018, with AP deputy editor (and fellow Glastonbury resident) Geoff Harris acting as a mentor. Since then, her images – shot on and around the town’s iconic Tor – appear regularly in the national press and get shortlisted in major competitions. Michelle, whose website is www.visionsofsomerset.co.uk, said, ‘Glastonbury has given a lot to me as a photographer, so I’m really excited to be sharing my photographic passion for the town with this new shop. As well as high-quality prints, there’s a wide range of photo gifts too.’ Do drop by if you have tickets…

You’re probably wondering what’s the point of manual focusing when your camera has astonishing autofocus skills at your fingertip? Literally! The simple fact is that even the best AF systems are fallible, so being prepared to lend a helping hand means no shots are missed. The other compelling reason for going manual, whether with an AF lens or a manual model, is that it involves you intimately in the picture-taking process for an even more satisfying photographic experience. Manual manoeuvres The lens market is constantly evolving with new products seemingly being introduced every week, and it’s what’s happening in the arena of manual focus lenses that’s exciting. At the top end we have brands such as Irix, Leica, Meyer Optik, Voigtländer and Zeiss and at much more affordable prices there’s…

Testbench SMARTPHONE TEST The Vivo X100 Pro is the firm’s flagship phone, with a massive emphasis on the cameras, which are made in collaboration with Zeiss. Purely in terms of camera specs, it looks like one of the best smartphones for photography. The catch is that it isn’t officially on sale in the UK, although it’s available in other regions including Europe and India. But we got our hands on one anyway to find out how it performs, and are there any weaknesses? Features and design Whilst other brands like Google and Samsung are making waves with AI photography, Vivo is making bold moves with hardware, with a 1in-type sensor on the main camera, and a 4.3x periscope camera which gives macro features. There’s an ultra-wideangle camera as well. All…

7 days A week in photography THE SIMERA 35mm F1.4 and Simera 28mm F1.4 lenses from Chinese manufacturer Thypoch are now available in Nikon Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X and Canon RF mount (previously they were only available for M-mount). These two new manual focus lenses now feature a crescent-shaped tab to make it easier to focus. The Simera 35mm F1.4 and Simera 28mm F1.4 for Z/E/X/RF mounts cost approximately £560, which includes a square lens hood. The Z mount glass is available now, while the X/E/RF mount lenses will be available from mid-June. See thypoch.store/products…

7 days A week in photography £49.95, Reel Art Press, hardback, 272 pages, ISBN: 978-1-909526-94-5 David Hurn is arguably one of Britain’s most influential living photographers. A member of the elite Magnum agency for nearly 60 years, he has photographed everything from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to the making of the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. He has also had a major impact on documentary photography through setting up the School of Documentary Photography at Newport in 1973. Unusually for a man who’s soon to celebrate his 90th birthday, he is also a success on social media. Hurn has more than 70,000 followers on Instagram, which he began to use in 2016. Over the years it has been a vehicle for him to show images both old and new…

What bokeh means The word ‘bokeh’ is typically mis-used, misunderstood or simply mispronounced. There’s a tendency now to equate ‘bokeh’ with background blur, but they are not the same thing. Blur is blur. You can have a lot of it or a little, and that’s all related to depth of field, but that doesn’t tell you anything about the visual appearance or quality of that blur. What this blur looks like is ‘bokeh’. You can have ‘good’ bokeh or ‘bad’ bokeh. Good bokeh is typically creamy and soft and buttery, while bad bokeh is ‘busy’ and there are diffuse halos and outlines around out-of-focus objects that overlap in a messy and visually confusing way. If that sounds like a vague description, then welcome to the world of bokeh. It’s one…

When I purchased my first SLR camera in the late 1970s, at the tender age of 14, the kit lens was a 50mm prime. There was no choice back then, no zooms that did everything, it was a standard lens, the 50mm prime. Your only choice was to buy the body with no lens, but as a young naive schoolboy who was just getting into photography, a 50mm ‘standard’ lens it was. Primes ruled the roost back then and although zooms were available the image quality could not match that of a prime lens. Over the years camera technology has come along in leaps and bounds, especially in the past decade or so with the advent of mirrorless. This in turn has allowed a complete rethink in optical design. Both…

Nikon Edyta Rice Nikon Z 14–30mm f/4 S-line Edyta Rice is an award-winning landscape photographer based in the Lake District. Her aim is to create visually and emotionally captivating photographs, and Edyta strives to use her atmospheric vision to inspire people. Her photography has been featured in prestigious photography magazines. She is a brand ambassador for NiSi UK and Fotopro Tripods UK. www.edytaricephotography.com In the realm of landscape photography, the choice of lens can make all the difference between a good shot and an exceptional masterpiece. Among the arsenal of my lenses, one stands out for its impressive sharpness, portability, and versatility: the Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S-line. This lens boasts unparalleled sharpness, capturing every detail with stunning clarity. The Z 14-30mm is also smaller and lighter than…

TestbenchLENS TEST Sony’s FE mount lens range has now reached the stage where the key needs of photographers have all been met, and more niche lenses are entering the playing field. One of these is the Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 G. It only has a very modest focal length range, begging the question of who and what this lens is for. Firstly, this £1,149 lens covers three classic focal lengths: 24, 35, and 50mm. That gives our first hint at who this lens is for; it’s a general-purpose zoom, weighted towards landscapes, documentaries and people. Not going to 70mm keeps the lens smaller than a 24-70mm would be, which is useful for travel. It also covers the most popular focal lengths on smartphone cameras, tapping into the needs of a…

7 days A week in photography LEICA has announced the D-Lux 8 compact camera, a successor to the D-Lux 7, which comes in at a relatively affordable price compared to the majority of Leica products. The new camera appears to use the same lens and sensor as the D-Lux 7 and the near-identical Panasonic LX100 II. So you get a Leica DC Vario-Summilux 10.9-34mm F1.7-2.8 ASPH lens (equivalent to 24-75mm in 35mm terms) and a 21MP Four Thirds sensor. Other features include simplified and ergonomically repositioned controls, with the top and rear control layout echoing Leica’s popular Q series of premium compacts. The D-Lux 8 can also shoot DNG raw files, a first for the D-Lux series, but the rear screen remains fixed. Additional accessories include an automatic lens…

Fugue by Lydia Goldblatt £45, GOST, hardback, 192 pages, ISBN: 978-1-915423-40-5 When it comes to a body of work, I often like to look at the images before reading about them. The images here, by Lydia Goldblatt, hint at snatched moments and insights, all imbued with a dreamlike subtlety. The juxtapositions are cleverly executed: such as a child’s chickenpox-covered back positioned next to a similarly detailed and coloured vignette of cherry blossom. Children play, interacting with their environments in a way only children can, while adults are rarely seen. The images are intimate, emotional, involved. And filled with love. Yet, in many ways, it’s not a book about children – though it is about family. Fugue came about following the death of Goldblatt’s mother, and in spending time with it…

Photographers typically strive to produce the sharpest pictures possible using fast shutter speeds, optimum apertures, image stabilisers and tripods. Throw in great ISO performance, high megapixel counts, detail-enhancing software and expensive glass, and all the ingredients for razor-sharp pictures are available. But there’s a problem, if we can call it that. Perhaps everything is a little too perfect and while bitingly sharp pictures obviously have their place, what they lack is character, a certain extra quality that sets them apart from the crowd. Of course, with software or the right app it is easy to inflict damage on your wonderfully sharp pictures. Enter a great opportunity. Why sit in front of a screen when you could be out there, taking pictures and having fun with the many optical options to…

When was the club founded? 1958. What does your club offer to new members? We aim to make new members very welcome and as such we do allow non-members several drop-in sessions before they have to join. In this way, they can see the different sessions we offer. We also hope to offer new members a wide range of photographic knowledge, both from our current members and from presentations by guest speakers. Our club also holds a number of practical evenings to show members various aspects of taking different types of photo. We also try to encourage our members to better themselves and achieve diplomas and photographic distinctions. Describe a typical club meeting Our meetings are weekly, on a Monday evening, from September to the end of April. Members turn…

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 On the whole, each manufacturer uses its own proprietary lens mount. Notable exceptions are Micro Four Thirds, shared by Olympus and Panasonic, and the full-frame L-mount that’s used by Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.…