Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

BUSHWALK Accompanied by an armed ranger, the pair walked across the plains for a look at the flora and fauna – and poo. “There’s so much to learn from checking the droppings; not only can you learn what’s been around by its appearance, but how long ago they were last here. Animals don’t instantly run from slow-moving humans either, enabling you to get closer shots of creatures like zebra. COMMUNITY Ol Pejeta is involved in many projects to support the local communities; in a country where much of the population lives below the poverty line, it’s vital to work with the locals so that they understand the value of conservation and benefit from it. One project involves creating energy-efficient ovens that use less fuel and funnel away smoke efficiently, making…

Copper Bracelets DAVID NAM LIP LEE In Ethiopia, the children of the Suri tribe are often over-protected by their families. David said that these bracelets could symbolize a jail with a Suri child inside. Young kids are the hope of the Suri culture, but is the over-protection too much? Migrating ROIE GALITZ A mother Polar bear and her two young cubs attempt to migrate north in this image, however, the sea ice melts much quicker than in previous years and makes the journey increasingly precarious. Acatenango Volcano FLORENT MAMELLE This picture of the Fuego volcano was taken from the summit of the Acatenango volcano. At 4000m, the sky is captured beautifully clearly with the Milky Way sat comfortably in the upper-left corner of the photograph. Agave Americana JAVIER HERRANZ The…

The Mission – Understand focal length and apply it to your own photography Time – 30 minutes Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Any lens Focal length is something you might be familiar with, but be honest: do you actually know what it is and how it’s measured? Focal length is used to determine a lens’s angle of view, which is what you see when you look through your camera’s viewfinder. It’s measured from the point where rays of light converge within a lens (the point of convergence) to the camera’s sensor (and film) and is calculated while the focus is set to infinity Lenses with fixed focal lengths are known as prime lenses and lenses with varying focal lengths are zoom lenses. Understanding the angle of view is…

The Mission – Turn day to night in Affinity using a Gradient Map adjustment and layer masking skills Time – 15 minutes Skill level – Easy Kit needed – Affinity Photo Like Photoshop, one of the biggest benefits of using Affinity Photo is the layers feature. Layers enable you to combine a range of images and effects to completely transform the look of your photos. We can even change day to night. In this tutorial we’ll look at how this is done with a simple combination of layer skills. We’ll begin by making a tonal adjustment to transform the bright blue sky into a moody night-time backdrop, altering the colours to cool things down and darkening the midtones to plunge our subject into darkness. We’ll use the Gradient Map tool…

The Mission – Shoot a portrait and blend it with toy blocks for a fun composite Time – Two hours Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Whiteboard– Toy blocks– Tripod– Photoshop CC or Elements– Flash kit (or window light) The best composites are often those that are photographed specifically with the final result in mind. This means that rather than attempting to merge a disparate array of unconnected images, we can instead combine a set of carefully composed, consistent frames that look like they belong together. What’s more, the work done in-camera makes the Photoshop technique much easier and simpler than you might think. We’ll explain how it works here, with careful lighting and positioning of the different elements that make up our playful block face composite. After photographing…

01 OPEN YOUR PHOTOS When Photolemur starts, you can drag one or more images into its mini-window to get started. While you’re editing your shots, click Open More to bring more photographs into the Photolemur interface. 02 CHOOSE A PHOTO You can open Raw images from most cameras or JPEG files in Photolemur. Simply click on any photo from the selection you’ve opened to bring it into the main editing window and start restyling. 03 BEFORE AND AFTER Watch while Photolemur analyses your photo, then view the result. The Before & After slider is a simple and fun way to compare your original with Photolemur’s enhanced version: move the slider to see the changes. 04 CHOOSE A STYLE You can select editing treatments with Photolemur Styles. Click the Style you…

MISSION: Photograph old and new aircraft at Thunder Over the Boardwalk air show, Atlantic City. PHOTOGRAPHER: Max L Lieberman LOCATION: New Jersey, United States KIT USED: Nikon D7100, Nikon D7500, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO, Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Photography has been a hobby of mine for 64 years, and I also have a life-long interest in aviation. During high school I was a member of the Civil Air Patrol and after college I served as an officer in the United States Air Force for four and a half years. In mid-August, Atlantic City hosts the annual Thunder Over the Boardwalk air show. My in-laws have a 21st-storey apartment in the nearby city of Ventnor. This year, they allowed my friend and I to use their balcony…

Q A couple of issues ago, you recommended the Nikon AF 10.5mm f/2.8 G ED fisheye as a good DX Secondhand Superstar. What’s the best choice for a new FX-compatible fisheye lens? Graham Watts A There are some good Samyang and Sigma fisheye lenses, but I’d look no further than Nikon’s recently launched AF-S Fisheye 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED. It’s pricey at £1229/$1247 but you effectively get two lenses in one. The biggest conundrum when buying a fisheye is whether to go for a circular or diagonal. A circular fisheye produces a relatively small image circle that uses only the central region of the sensor, but delivers a mighty 180-degree viewing angle in both horizontal and vertical planes. A diagonal fisheye gives more modest ‘curvilinear’ effect with less pronounced barrel distortion,…

I grew up in Brazil and our life’s work – my photography and Patrick’s writing – has been dominated by the Brazilian Amazon, which we have visited many times over more than 30 years, and especially by the indigenous tribal people who live there. In 2007 we won the Neville Shulman Award from the Royal Geographical Society for our Heart of Brazil expedition. We spent six months travelling the 2500km length of the Xingu River in an aluminium boat. The river runs right through the geographical centre of Brazil, but it is very remote – one of the last truly wild places on Earth. We visited tribal indigenous villages and the people we met asked us to explain their cultures, their lives, their hopes and the threats they suffer to…

Small in size yet big in features and surprisingly affordable, Nikon’s mirrorless for the masses has arrived in the shape of the DX-sensor Z 50 Nikon’s first stab at producing interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras didn’t exactly set the world on fire; the 1-series’ relatively small, low-resolution 1-inch CX sensor – with a 2.7x crop factor – quickly fell behind its mirrorless rivals. Nikon needed something revolutionary, and the Z mount, introduced a little over a year ago, was just that; completely rethinking the humble lens mount from the ground up. With no clunky mirror assembly to get in the way, the sensor could be placed closer to the mount opening, and a greater diameter of 55mm resulted in optical performance that far exceeds traditional SLR mounts. The first two Z…

£529/$549 The same but a little bit different Although it’s full-frame compatible, this 24mm has an ‘effective’ focal length of 36mm when used on a DX body, ideal for street photography. It bears more than a resemblance to the Samyang 35mm lens on test, and the Nikon F-mount edition has the same electronics to enable PASM shooting with camera-driven aperture control, plus illumination of focus-assist/confirmation lamps in the viewfinder. A little smaller and lighter than the Samyang 35mm, the 24mm has an additional optical element, taking the total count to 13. Whereas the 35mm has a glass aspherical element and two HR (High Refractive index) elements, the 24mm doubles up on aspherical elements and features four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements. Both have Samyang’s Ultra Multi Coating to reduce ghosting and…

£669/$677 A good fit for DX bodies Like the Samyang and Sigma 24mm lenses on test, this Nikon is full-frame compatible but gives a virtually identical viewing angle to a 35mm, when mounted on a DX body. With an f/1.8 rather than f/1.4 aperture, it’s smaller and more lightweight, which is a bonus for street photography. Build quality doesn’t feel as good as in either of the competing 24mm lenses in the group, but at least the Nikon features a weather-seal on its mounting plate. Compared with the Nikon 35mm F-mount lens on test, the 24mm has a similar optical layout with one aspherical element and one ED element. Again, there’s a seven-blade diaphragm but the 24mm lens gains Nano Crystal Coat for better reduction of ghosting and flare. Performance…

£749/$847 An expensive but high-tech lens This Nikon Z-series lens is the most expensive here, despite having a modest f/1.8 aperture. However, it’s more high-tech than Nikon’s F-mount lenses, taking the count of aspherical elements from one to three and doubling on ED elements. It features both Super Integrated Coating and Nano Crystal Coat, for effectively minimizing ghosting and flare. The stepping motor-based AF system is fast and virtually silent, while enabling smooth and precise manual focusing via its electronically coupled control ring. When in AF mode, you can customize the function of the control ring. Typical of most stepping motor lenses, there’s no focus distance scale. However, directional focus assist lamps and a focus peaking option are available in Z 6 and Z 7 cameras. Performance Image quality is…

We can all appreciate a good landscape shot when we see one, but actually creating that image in the first place is another matter entirely. Travel and landscape pro – and regular N-Photo columnist – Tom Mackie tells you how to ‘read the scene’, and convert the stunning vista that you see with your eyes into a compelling photograph. This issue’s Apprentice goes on the trip of a lifetime – on an African safari in the shadow of Mount Kenya – where she captures so much more that the Big Five, under the expert tuition of Ian Aitken. Norwegian nature photographer Roy Mangersnes sits in the interview hot seat, and tells of shooting wildlife the world over, from the frozen Svalbard to the steamy jungles of South America. We round…

Ian says… I carry an extensive first aid kit on safari to keep clients safe and well. As well as bandages and plasters for nicks and cuts, I have treatments for everything from dehydration to diarrhoea. I even carry a set of syringes and clean needles; while the facilities close to Ol Pejeta are pretty good, that’s not always the case, and local medical facilities can be somewhat basic… and I know that these needles are sterile. At the end of the day, you don’t want the treatment to make you even less well!…

Debbie’s own camera is a Nikon D3400 with 18-55mm kit lens and 70-300mm telephoto zoom, but she decided to hire some more advanced gear for this trip to capture the animals in their glory. As well as renting a pro-level Nikon D850, she also hired a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 OS | S super-telephoto to get close to the wildlife. A super-tele-zoom gives much more flexibility then a prime as you can zoom in for frame-filling shots of far-away animals, or pull back when in close proximity to larger creatures.…

Once a vast cattle ranch with a somewhat colourful history, Ol Pejeta lies slap-bang on the equator in the shadow of Mount Kenya. As well as boasting all the Big Five – amongst other African wildlife – it’s dedicated to preserving and conserving endangered species. It is home to the last two surviving northern white rhinos on the planet (and is instrumental in attempting to bring the subspecies back from the brink of extinction) as well as the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, which rehabilitates orphaned chimps back into the wild. It also works with many other charities and organizations dedicated to the protection of such animals. In addition to conservation work, the conservancy runs programmes with local communities, ensuring that the locals see the benefits of preserving these endangered species. For…

Locations are so important to the landscape photographer that we likely spend more time seeking them out than we do shooting them. A large amount of brilliant images you see in the media, and especially social media, were not taken by chance – even though there is an element of luck involved – it all comes down to planning. With each location, whether it’s the rural countryside, mountains, seascapes, cityscapes or woodlands, prep is paramount to reduce the variables in order to come away with stunning shots – failing to plan is planning to fail. Researching locations is just as much a part of the image-making process as the end result. It’s not the same if someone gives you all the vital information about a location so all you have…

The Mission Photograph and blend an impressively sharp focus stack Time – One hour Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Tripod – Wide-angle lens – Photoshop CC Depth of field is often one of the first things we learn about when we start taking photographs. It regards the relationship between narrow or wide apertures and how much of a shot is in focus. Wide apertures like f/1.8 will produce a shallow depth of field and are often favoured by portrait photographers, who seek a crisply defined subject and a soft blurry background. Landscape photographers tend to favour narrower apertures like f/11. These create larger depths of field, allowing more of the image to appear in focus. However, when using very narrow apertures, beyond around f/11, an optical anomaly called…

The Mission – Enhance skin with a simple smoothing technique Time – 10 minutes Skill level – Easy Kit needed – Photoshop CC The most successful portrait retouching tricks are those that let you enhance the subject – so that they look their best – without resulting in hyper-real or unnatural effects. Here we’ll look at how to boost your portraits with a technique in Photoshop CC for smoothing out skin tones. A cunning combination of filters and blend modes is employed to create the effect. The best thing about it is the results are not over-the-top – plastic-looking skin, devoid of detail and texture, is one of the worst sins of retouching. With this trick, we can avoid this by smoothing out blotchiness while retaining the texture. The other…

Editing your images can transform them, bringing out the vivid colour and incredible detail you saw in person while you were taking the shot. But photo-editing skills take time to learn, meaning that more time is needed to get the best from each of your images. Photolemur takes a different approach, doing all the hard work for you. Just drag and drop a photo onto the Photolemur mini-window, then watch as it analyses your shot in a dozen different ways before producing a brilliant result. Photolemur adds all the enhancements needed to make your images pop. Go beyond initial results with Photolemur Styles, which enable you to choose different looks for your photograph. Photolemur is being offered free of charge until 31 December by Skylum. Other great programs in the…

MISSION: Capture the joyful nature of dogs through the power of photography PHOTOGRAPHER: Ria Putzker LOCATION: Austria KIT USED: Nikon D850, Sigma 135mm f/1.8, Sigma 85mm f/1.4, Sigma 35mm f/1.4 WEBSITE: www.rp-photography.at INSTAGRAM: @riaputzker I have been taking photographs for almost half my life. I started when I was about 11 and my father, who is also a photographer, inspired me. He always let me borrow his gear. First I photographed everything that crossed my path: flowers, insects, buildings and so on, but I soon found my passion for animal photography. I started with zoos, but slowly began to focus more on pets, especially dogs. For the past four years, I’ve mainly photographed dogs. You hardly see me without my camera nowadays! The first photo [1] was taken during a…

Q I use zoom lenses practically all of the time. What would be a good, cheap 50mm f/1.8 standard prime for occasional use? Alison Baxter Matthew recommends… A ‘Nifty fifty’ lenses are reasonably priced, including Nikon’s latest AF-S 50mm f/1.8G (£199/$197) and AF-S 50mm f/1.4G (£395/$407). The older AF 50mm f/1.8D is still available and is even cheaper if you buy it secondhand. Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8D THIS OLD-TIMER IS AN ICONIC LITTLE LENS WITH RAZOR-SHARP IMAGE QUALITY RELEASED: 2002 PRICE NEW: £129/$132 ‘EXCELLENT’ £69/$79 ‘GOOD’ £39/$59 Originally launched for 35mm film cameras, this AF-D type lens enables light metering and automatic exposure control with all Nikon digital SLRs. However, it lacks an internal autofocus motor, so only manual focus is available on entry-level cameras like the D3xxx and D5xxx…

Star Letter Time for reflection Having read the article ‘Through the Crystal Ball’ in N-Photo 102, I took some inspiration from this when I spotted some water droplets on a Dahlia plant in our back garden. The sun was glistening off the droplets so I grabbed my camera and my macro lens and went out. The first shot is of a water droplet suspended from one of the leaves. There was a hint of sunburst on the droplet and a slick thread of spiderweb. The second was taken in the opposite direction when I spotted a film of water between leaves. After I got them onto my computer I zoomed in and was surprised by what you could see. I then produced a close-cropped picture, copying what I saw when…

Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR • £329 A little wider in focal length and not as telephoto as the classic 18-55mm kit lens, what’s unique about this is its size. With an equivalent focal length of 24-75mm in full-frame terms, the lens retracts to barely extend beyond the lens mount and weighs just 135g. Minimum focus distance is just 0.2m, enabling close-up shooting. With no IBIS in the Z 50, the lens has built-in VR, which is rated for 4.5 stops, enabling shake-free low-light shooting. As with the previous Z lenses, the manual focus ring can be programmed for other functions when the camera is set to AF mode. The f/6.3 maximum aperture is somewhat slow, even for a kit lens, but with impressive ISO performance the Z 50…

With the introduction of the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S, Nikon has given the Z system a classic workhorse short-telephoto lens that’s perfect for portrait, fashion, wedding and events photographers. With a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture, this lens delivers beautiful shallow depth-of-field and allows you to capture photos in low-light conditions. While a maximum aperture of f/1.8 is respectable, we wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few photographers feeling a little disappointed that this offering doesn’t go down to f/1.4, as in Nikon’s pro-level AF-S 85mm f/1.4G F-mount lens (£1479/$1597). However, being able to achieve such a wide aperture also typically means a big increase in size and weight, and the reality is that lenses with apertures of f/1.4 can be pretty unwieldy if you’re not working in a…

£479/$477 Cheap at half the price? Compared with Nikon’s new Z series 35mm for its mirrorless cameras, this F-mount lens is smaller, lighter and much less expensive. Indeed, the Z 35mm costs 50 per cent more in the UK and is nearly twice the price in the USA. Both lenses have the same f/1.8 aperture rating. The ring-type ultrasonic system is quick and quiet, as well as enabling full-time manual override. There’s a focus distance scale, but it’s of limited benefit for manual focusing, as there are no markings between 0.7m an infinity, and rudimentary depth of field markers for f/16. Optical highlights include one aspherical element, one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element and Super Integrated Coating. Performance This lens is less than half the weight of the competing Sigma and…

£629/$849 Shorter but wider, in every way With a downsized 24mm rather than 35mm focal length, this lens gives a wider viewing angle and is also physically wider than the other Sigma Art on test. Both lenses have the same weight, but this one has a larger 77mm filter thread, due to its wider front element. Oddly, the 24mm is cheaper than the 35mm in the UK, but more expensive in the USA. The look and feel of both Sigma lenses is virtually identical, with similar ring-type ultrasonic AF systems. The 24mm lens adds an extra pair of depth of field markers for f/8, instead of just f/16. And while both lenses feature two aspherical and four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements, the 24mm bumps up the number of top-spec…

THE APPRENTICE NAME: Debbie Paddison CAMERA: Nikon D850 Wildlife fanatic Debbie first went on safari back in 2003 for the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to the astounding Serengeti. But on returning she vowed that it wouldn’t to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Especially fond of big cats, she is a passionate supporter of the Big Cat Sanctuary (BCS) in Kent, UK (https://thebigcatsanctuary.org), and inspired by BCS’s support for Kenyan wildlife conservancy Ol Pejeta, she signed up for Ian’s photography safari, where N-Photo joined her. THE PRO NAME: Ian Aitken CAMERA: Nikon D750 Ian started out as a commercial photographer, shooting big-budget campaigns for clients worldwide. His love of travel saw him shooting for magazines and guidebooks such as Rough Guides, among travel-orientated clients. Born in Tanzania to British parents, Africa –…

RAW QUALITY Ian says… Debbie had only ever shot JPEG before, but I insisted she switch to Raw, as this gives more leeway in post. It can salvage badly exposed shots, and bring out hidden details. I also suggested she set the Colour Space to Adobe RGB as this holds more data than the default sRGB mode. AUTO ISO Ian says… It’s crucial you set a fast shutter speed to avoid blur, and on these big lenses that means at least 1/600 sec, ideally more, so I suggested Debbie start in Shutter Priority mode. Whichever exposure mode you’re in, set Auto ISO too. This will increase the ISO automatically for a good exposure. FOCUSING Ian says… Set a Dynamic Area Focus mode with 25 AF points, so if an animal…

The Mission – Take stunning food photos with a handmade base and natural light Time – One hour Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – Tripod– Reflector– Food and props – A suitable surface/base Social media was once teeming with dodgy food snaps, but grainy pictures of beans on toast are now few and far between. Instagram is awash with perfectly lit images of fresh produce, neatly arranged atop quaint kitchen counters. But if you’re at all intimidated by your lack of studio lighting, culinary skills or attractive kitchen space, don’t be – it’s often a cleverly concealed ruse. In this project we’ve decided to shoot a tantalizing flat lay in natural light. The trick is to shoot the food-themed still life on a lightweight base that can be moved…

Where to get Capture NX-D IT’S MADE FOR NIKONS, AND IT’S COMPLETELY FREE! – As new Nikons are introduced, Capture NX-D should be the first software to support them. Another advantage is that it replicates Picture Controls and other settings. Capture NX-D is available as a free download from the Nikon website at http://nikonimglib.com/ncnxd When shooting landscapes you can try and capture an evenly exposed scene by setting your Nikon’s metering mode to Matrix. This mode helps your camera set an average exposure to reveal detail in a bright sky and a darker landscape. But this approach can still lead to overexposed highlights that are hard to recover, especially if you’re working with a JPEG. Fortunately, Capture NX-D has a collection of selective tone-tweaking tools. These enable you to recover…

It’s incredibly easy to become overwhelmed in the alluring Dolomites, as there are so many awe-inspiring mountain peaks within this relatively small region of Italy. The temptation to click away at every turn and every pretty peak is all too great. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for the grand vista and I’ve made a living from capturing the money shots, but I think it’s often too easy to fall into the trap of just taking images of these astounding vistas. I always try to push my creative boundaries by looking to make images that are more intimate in nature, images that I have to ‘see’ instead of them being presented to me on a silver platter. Besides, it’s much more satisfying to be able say I ‘made’ that…

Hard sun, big silk, beautiful light. Pretty simple. Take a nuclear blast of sunlight and tame it by interfering with its blazing, destructive path with a simple swatch of white material, and it arrives at your subject’s doorstep (face) as cuddly and friendly as a golden retriever puppy. Get fancy and add a simple white fill card to bounce a small amount back and up into the face and you got dead-bang gorgeous, wrap-around light. Now, I dealt myself a pretty easy hand of cards here, having Rae Stoetzel in front of my lens. Easy-going guy, great face, fun to work with, patient beyond. (Just like all of our photo subjects, right?) But easy-going was the watchword of our workshop up on Prince Edward Island, at Dave Brosha’s beautiful, patina-laden…

Most likely the comment that most photographers like to hear is, ‘that’s beautiful’, whether it’s a landscape or a portrait of a wedding couple. We’re all hardwired to search out and enjoy the good-looking (and-tasting and-sounding and so on) things in life, and as photographers it seems natural to find the best and shoot it in its best light, so to speak. If you work in any way commercially in photography – weddings, advertising, fashion, food, interiors – then your career generally depends on your ability to make the subject look great, and no client ever complained that the photograph looked better than the real thing – at least not yet anyway. So it might sound counter-intuitive to deliberately look for subjects that are far from their best, even decayed…

As brilliant as current cameras are, point even the best pro DSLR at a high-contrast landscape scene and you’ll often have to choose between a burnt-out sky or an underexposed foreground. A graduated neutral density filter (ND grad) is an effective solution. Clear at one end and grey at the other, the darker section can be positioned to cover a bright sky, restricting light transfer by several stops, so the foreground has time to expose correctly without the sky becoming a burnt-out whitewash. Most filter manufacturers offer ND grads with hard or soft transitions between the clear and tinted sections. Hard grads are great if your scene has a straight, defined horizon. But when the landscape is less uniform, with objects like buildings or trees scattered on the horizon, you’ll…

Street photography is all about reacting to your environment, anticipating events as they unfold and capturing the definitive moment. More often than not, classic street images will include people set against urban surroundings, photographed candidly as they go about their lives. You’ll therefore need a camera and lens combination that you can use fairly discreetly, and that enables you to shoot with next to no setup time. 35mm prime lenses for full-frame cameras have been the most popular option over the years. They give a comfortably wide viewing angle and a natural perspective, while avoiding any time lost to zooming in and out. For DX (APS-C format) SLRs, a 24mm lens gives almost exactly the same effective focal length and viewing angle, thanks to the 1.5x crop factor. There aren’t…

£489/$499 Not entirely a manual lens Also known as Rokinon in the USA, this manual-focus Samyang is available in a variety of mount options. Most have no built-in electronics, so you can’t control the aperture from the camera body. Instead, you need to use the lens’s own aperture ring, and the viewfinder image gets progressively darker with those narrower aperture settings. However, the ‘AE’ version available in Nikon F-mount now enables camera-driven aperture control, and thereby a full range of PASM shooting modes. Typical of manual-focus lenses, the focus ring has a long rotational travel and operates with smooth precision. Zone focusing is enabled by the focus distance scale and depth of field markers for apertures of f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11, f/16 and f/22. This is a real bonus for traditional…

£649/$699 A large lens that’s big on quality Although smaller and lighter than the competing Samyang f/1.4, this Sigma is still about twice the weight of the own-brand Nikon lenses. Typical of Sigma’s Art primes, it features a fast, quiet, ring-type ultrasonic AF system. For manual focusing, the reasonable rotational travel of the focus ring enables precise adjustments, although depth of field markers are only available for f/16, which makes zone focusing rough. The high-tech optical path includes two aspherical elements, one FLD (Fluorite-grade Low Dispersion) element, and four SLD (Special Low Dispersion). Build quality is excellent, but the lens isn’t weather-sealed. Performance Image quality is epic and the Sigma retains fabulous sharpness for an f/1.4 lens when shooting wide-open, right across the frame. As you’d expect, things get better…

£699/$599 An F-mount lens with street smarts Like the Nikon lenses on test, this Tamron is two-thirds of an f-stop slower than the Samyang and Sigma lenses, but that shouldn’t present any problems for street photography. An upside is that it is reasonably small and lightweight, although it’s still rather weightier than the Nikon lenses on test, at 480g. The Tamron is the only lens in the group to feature optical stabilization, with an effectiveness equivalent to about three f-stops, which can be a big bonus under dull lighting. Rain needn’t stop play either, as the lens has extensive weather-seals and a fluorine coating on its front element. It focuses closer than any other lens in the group as well, right down to 0.2m, where it delivers a generous 0.4x…