Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

SHUTTER PRIORITY Darren says… I use Shutter Priority to have full control over my shutter speed. Aperture doesn’t matter much, because the focal plane is so tight. I usually shoot a propeller plane at 1/60 to 1/80 sec – Wayne started at 1/125 sec to give him room to adjust to the movement and vibrations in the plane. METERING & EXPOSURE Darren says… I tend to use Matrix Metering so I can expose for the whole frame, which helps ensure the clouds don’t get blown out. I use exposure compensation to refine my exposure, which comes in particularly handy when shooting a dark plane like the Pitts or if I encounter a mirror finish. FOCUSING Darren says… I use single-point AF to be able to precisely focus on the cockpit.…

Darren says…What constitutes a photo plane depends on the subject I’m shooting. We often use a Piper Super Cub for slower aircraft, while I had to shoot from a jet to keep up with the Avro Vulcan. Today we used a Dornier Do-28A-1, which is often used as a photo plane for several reasons. Its many windows provide excellent visibility, the left-hand window slides open, so I don’t have to use my LENSKIRT and it has a decent speed range so it can match the airspeed of a wide range of subjects.…

We’re looking for future Apprentices! So if you would like to appear on these pages and get top one-to-one professional tuition into the bargain, send an email headed ‘Apprentice’ to mail@nphotomag.com and make sure that you include the following information: your name, address, a contact phone number, the camera and kit you use, and the subject that you’re interested in shooting.…

WORTH £64.95 Keep your photo gear and tablet protected and organized in this lightweight, weatherresistant backpack Customizable, well-padded main compartment and roomy front pocket has plenty of storage Zippered outer pocket has space for bits and pieces while padded shoulder straps adjust for a comfortable fit Your special Christmas offer • FREE Lowepro Tahoe BP150 backpack worth £64.95• Enjoy 12 months of N-Photo for just £49.99 – that’s just £3.84 an issue!• Receive every issue delivered direct to your door• A thoughtful gift that keeps delivering throughout the year Go Premium for £69 a year and you’ll get… • Digital + print edition• Magazine binder• Expert PDF handbook• Photography Show entry Order the gift keeps on delivering http://www.magazinesdirect.com/nph-xmas OR CALL 0330 333 1113 AND QUOTE BCG2 *Terms and conditions: Offer closes…

Even those who claim not to be cat lovers can’t resist kittens. But as lovable as these playful bundles of fur are, they grow up extremely fast. It makes sense then to preserve this fleeting period of your feline’s life by photographing them. However, if your cat isn’t old enough to venture outdoors, or is an indoor cat, it can be challenging to photograph them. It’s even been reported that black cats are being shunned by the social media obsessed, simply because they are harder to photograph. As our images of pretty kitty Maggie proves, photographing a black cat indoors really isn’t that difficult. And if you’re a dog lover, the techniques in this project are entirely transferable, so your pet pooch needn’t feel left out. It’s thought that the…

Bold colours can help your portraits to pop, but you might not always find the colours you want while shooting. Thankfully, recolouring parts of a scene is easily done in post-production. We’ll use simple Photoshop tools here to change the backdrop to a bold blue tone. You can adapt this technique to change the colour of pretty much anything you like. At the time of the shoot here we found a convenient red wall next to a large window, so ideal for portraiture. But after the shoot the reds seemed somewhat overpowering, especially as the skin tones and hair also have slight varying shades of red. So instead, we isolated and recoloured the background in Photoshop. Shifting colours is a fairly simple task. As usual with Photoshop, there are a…

The rain was persistent all day, which was odd as I came to Yosemite National Park in January expecting fresh snowfall. It didn’t look like I would be getting the camera out for a while, which didn’t matter as I was having a few days’ break with good friends from LA. We were reminiscing about the times we came to Yosemite over the years and how it’s changed. Late in the afternoon the rain stopped and the clouds began to part, so we went up to Tunnel View to capture a high view over the valley. This location was immortalized by Ansel Adams. It’s said the best photos are only a few feet from the road, so it’s ironic this shot was made from the car park. Three of the…

1. Asim the Sumatran HIREN VEKARIA The intensity of this photograph is palpable as Hiren has landed the focus square on this tiger’s eyes. It’s almost chilling how the giant feline stares down the barrel of the lens with such concentration. The colours all work together as well! 2. Chilean Flamingo MELISSA CORMICAN Taken at the LA Zoo, Melissa capture this photograph with a blacked-out background, thanks to the shade that the flamingo was hiding away in. The subtle textures and colours complement this simple-but-effective frame. 3. Melbourne DILLON MONOPOLI A quintessential fall photo with divine colours and composition – thanks to the tram falling smack-bang in the middle of the frame, with the tracks leading our eyes straight to it. We just hope that Dillon was behind it, not…

Q I’ve been wondering for a while now whether to upgrade from my DX format D7100 to an FX DSLR. What are the pros and cons? Carolyn Wilding A For any given megapixel count, the larger surface area of an FX image sensor enables larger photosites, which equate to individual pixels. This results in greater light-gathering, so you can expect low-light images captured at high ISOs to be less noisy. Another advantage of full-frame sensors is that you get a tighter depth of field for portraiture and still lifes, where you want to blur the background and make the main subject stand out. The flip side is that the 1.5x crop factor of DX format (APS-C) Nikon cameras gives you greater ‘effective’ telephoto reach. This can work well for sports…

1. The Sea Monster BY JUDITH STEWART This stormy seascape has been timed to perfection. The wave has been frozen right at its peak and is crisply defined, thanks to the fast 1/1000 sec shutter speed. The framing has ensured that the lighthouse in the distance isn’t obscured and the relatively flat, overcast sky doesn’t detract from the detail of the wave. This is monochrome seascape photography at its finest. Camera: Nikon D750 Lens: 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Exposure: 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO250 2. The Dragon’s Eye BY DONALD YIP The aptly named Dragon’s Eye at Uttakleiv in Norway’s Lofoten Islands is a photography hotspot, and even so this beautifully composed image stands out. The sweeping lines in and around the rock pool lead the eye out to sea, and invites it…

Lab tests explained Sharpness A chart with multiple sharp boundaries is photographed, the extent of blur at the centre, mid and edges showing how many line widths per picture height the lens can resolve. Simply put, the bigger the numbers the sharper the lens. Fringing Chromatic aberration is visible as purple or green fringing around high-contrast boundaries, caused by different wavelengths being focused on different areas of the sensor. The larger the number, the worse the score. Distortion A lens that bulges towards the edges of the frame produces barrel distortion, shown as a negative score. Pincushion distortion produces a positive score. A score of zero indicates no distortion. Our awards in a nutshell The best performance, design and value A product that gives you more for your money The…

We all know the value of using a tripod for shooting landscapes. Not only does it keep your camera rock-steady through the duration of an exposure, but it’s also a vital composition aid, enabling you to carefully compose your scene, then wait for the opportune moment just before firing the shutter. Jobbing pros also know that to maximize the sales potential of their shots, they have to shoot in both landscape and portrait orientations, so that their images are suitable for both double-page spreads and covers. But tripods are primarily designed for shooting horizontally. While most tripod heads can be tilted by 90 degrees to flip the camera into a vertical orientation, this shifts the position of the camera to the side of – and often below – the original…

Considered one of the essential ‘trinity’ zooms, 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses are favoured by professional and enthusiast photographers for wideranging shooting scenarios. They’re great for sports, wildlife, wedding and event photography, and more besides. The combination of a telephoto zoom range and fairly fast, constant aperture enables quick shutter speeds for freezing the action, and a tight depth of field for blurring the background. There’s no escaping the fact that wide apertures need relatively large-diameter lens elements, so 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses tend to be quite hefty, usually tipping the scales at about 1.5kg. As such, they tend to come complete with tripod mounting rings, for balanced shooting on a tripod or monopod. If you’re willing to limit your aperture aspirations to f/4, Nikon and Tamron offer 70-200mm or 70-210mm lenses respectively,…

There’s no problem using FX fast tele-zooms on a DX body. But by designing a lens specifically for cameras with APS-C image sensors, Sigma has been able to produce a lens that’s faster, at a decent price of £949/$1099. The Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM | A gives an ‘effective’ zoom range of 75-150mm, not quite matching that of a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. The Sigma weighs in at 1490g and measures 93.5x 170.7mm, so it’s physically in the same ball park as most 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses for full-frame cameras. Sharpness and contrast are good, even when shooting wide-open at f/1.8, and bokeh remains soft when stopping down to f/2.8, where sharpness becomes more impressive. The only real issue is that its AF system isn’t particularly speedy.…

With exotic features and a wealth of upgrades packed into its metal barrel, this Tamron G2 lens feels every inch a pro-grade lens. Its optical design has been refined to increase sharpness and contrast, while reducing colour fringing, ghosting and flare. The AF system is uprated for faster, more accurate performance, and the VC (Vibration Compensation) system boasts 5-stop effectiveness with three switchable modes. The third stabilization mode gives an unadulterated viewfinder image. Along with a full set of weatherseals, the lens has a fluorine coating on the front element. It’s noticeably smaller and 330g lighter than the Sigma, and its tripod mount collar is completely removable. Performance As advertised, AF is fast and operates with precision. Image quality is less sharp than with the Nikon and Sigma F-mount 70-200mm…

We’ve seen some spectacular zoom lenses in Nikon’s growing Z-mount stable, but the 70-200mm f/2.8 is one of the best yet, along with the Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S standard zoom. Both have a similar design ethic and handling characteristics, along with class-leading all-round performance and image quality. If you’re a Z-series camera owner in search of the best telephoto zoom, look no further. The flip side is that most of us still shoot with a Nikon DSLR. Top-flight professional photographers are likely to go for the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, but the newer Sigma ports competitor matches the Nikon in pretty much every aspect of handling, performance and image quality. That’s no mean feat considering that the Sigma is little more than half the price to buy. The similarity…

We dive straight into this issue with one of the world’s foremost marine photographers Alex Mustard, who shares the secrets behind his stunning sub-aqua shots, and explains how you can take your first steps into underwater photography. This issue’s Apprentice goes to the other extreme, and takes to the skies above this green and pleasant land to photograph a vintage biplane in an amazing air-to-air shoot. In our Big Test, we put a selection of fast telephoto zooms through their paces, with constant f/2.8 or f/4 apertures beloved of pros. We also look at L brackets, and explain what they are, when you’d use them and compare a selection of models from under £20 to over £150. In the N-Photo interview we speak with Kenyan-born wildlife photographer Gurcharan Roopra, who…

Darren says… There’s a lot of vibration and turbulence in a plane, not to mention airflow when your camera and lens are poking out of the window. I favour using a handheld gyro stabilizer over standard image stabilization. This specialist piece of kit is made in the US by Kenyon and houses two fast spinning gyros that work to resist movement. The gyro attaches to my lens collar and comes with a fairly sizable battery attached too. It’s most definitely a pro-grade item of kit as it costs the best part of £5000. It isn’t essential, but when flight time is limited and you’ve precious few moments to capture that cover-image-worthy shot, it’s an invaluable tool for your arsenal.…

Darren says… I need to know everyone is on the same page. I’ll sketch out a rough storyboard of each shot so the pilots can see what angle I want the subject plane and where I want the horizon. We’ll then discuss what’s possible weather-wise, how long we’ll be flying for and any landmarks we might try to capture in the background. The pilots will discuss where in the sky they’ll meet, the speeds they’ll be flying at and what frequency they’ll be using to communicate. Although nobody likes to talk about planning for the worst, we also plan for an emergency. We take safety very seriously; you must never get complacent.…

Few places are as exciting to take photos as in the underwater world. Beneath the surface of the deep blue sea, we have the chance to shoot subjects and scenery that many people have never seen for themselves, ranging from shipwrecks to aquatic life. That life is far more varied than on land, ranging from intricate invertebrates, seemingly precision engineered for our macro lenses, to the most massive animal that has ever lived, the blue whale. This biodiversity should be no surprise, given that the evolution of multicellular life in the ocean had more than a billion years head start over land! And as a photographer in this realm, we can move freely in three dimensions. We have the freedom to hover above a coral landscape and to soar through a…

Sometimes the scene you see with the naked eye just can’t be replicated by your camera’s sensor. If there are very bright and very dark areas, it will be outside the dynamic range that can be captured in a single shot. Take our shot of the Lake District here. After hiking high into the hills above Lake Windermere, we were presented with this majestic scene; the sun peeking behind the clouds to illuminate select patches of the landscape below with its golden ‘god rays’. But shooting towards the sun at our Nikon’s recommended exposure, the sky is horribly blown out. The camera just can’t capture detail in both the bright sky and in the shadows cast by the hills and rocks. The solution is to increase the dynamic range by…

You’re spoilt for choice if you’re looking to add an editing suite to your smart device’s library of apps, and at first glance Pixlr Mobile’s vibrant overlays, effects and templates might look a little too gimmicky for serious photographers. But the app’s wide range of templates is a great asset for those who don’t possess any graphic design experience, and the ability to make attractive collages from a series of images will appeal to the social media savvy. And yet beneath these headline features is a robust bread-and-butter image editor. Beyond all the usual adjustment tools you can dodge and burn, heal unwanted anomalies and more. Adjustments are masked automatically, which allows you to apply selective edits on the go. The free version of Pixlr is feature rich and will…

Let’s face it, if you had grand plans and hopes at the start of 2020, they were kicked into the long grass by the end of March because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a personal example, I was supposed to travel to Kenya in late August to meet Gurcharan Roopra and other photographers as we covered the great migration for a week in the Maasai Mara. This would have been our first meeting since the launch in London of the book Remembering Rhinos, in 2017. Back then, Gurcharan’s photograph of a southern white rhino, silhouetted on a misty plain beneath the sun’s white orb, was one of ten competition winners for inclusion in this fundraising book published for the Born Free Foundation. When we finally do see each other again,…

In Amiata, a mountain between Maremma and the Val d’Orcia hills, one of the most beautiful Tuscan areas, there are a lot of traditional artisan trades that are slowly being lost to make way for more modern activities. The abandonment of these ancient crafts produces enormous cultural damage, depriving the historical centres of traditional references. So I have tried to freeze these figures over time to prevent them from being forgotten. The goal is to safeguard and enhance traditional trades at risk of extinction, possibly by stimulating the hope of a generational change through the transfer of the acquired skills by the artisans themselves during their lives, avoiding losing value of these ancient crafts. All the images were shot on the locations these tradespeople carry out their work. Their habitat…

MISSION: To photograph Porches against interesting and unusual backgrounds. PHOTOGRAPHER: Paul Barlow LOCATION: Aberdeen, Scotland KIT USED: Nikon D3300, Nikon D7500, Nikon AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR WEBSITE: www.barlow.org.uk FACEBOOK: @plbphotosuk I started taking photos in the mid ’70s, so I could follow my children as they grew up. This expanded into various other interests and hobbies over the years. The most recent passion is for cars, and Porsches in particular. I think lenses are key when investing in camera kit, especially if you have no control over where and when a photo opportunity will present itself. My 18-105mm offers great versatility, because space restrictions and the distance of the subject can be easily overcome by simply varying the focal length. The scenic route Motoring journals are typically crammed…

Q I’d like to step up to an FX format DSLR but I’m on a really tight budget… Denis Walton A Matthew recommends… I’d go for the D610. It’s an excellent camera with great handling characteristics and is capable of superb results. There are plenty out there that have had only fairly light use. Nikon D610 A SMART FX FORMAT DSLR THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PICK UP FOR A GOOD PRICE RELEASED: 2013 PRICE NEW: £1115/$1496 SECONDHAND PRICES: ‘Excellent’ £575/$575 ‘Good’ £475/$465 This 24.3Mp camera followed hot on the heels of the D600. It has a 39-point AF system including nine cross-type points, seven of which are available at f/8. Fairly lightweight and compact for a full-frame DSLR, it’s nevertheless solidly built with magnesium alloy top and rear…

DxO PhotoLab 4 From: £112/$129 www.dxo.com The main claim to fame of PhotoLab 4 over previous incarnations is that it’s built around DxO’s DeepPRIME, an advanced process that combines Raw image demosaicing and denoising into a single ‘holistic’ process. Its Smart Workspace now organizes tools into palettes based around correction types, and can be configured to show the user’s favourite palettes or show only those containing active corrections. A new History palette doesn’t just list all the editing changes, but their values too. PhotoLab 4 also makes it easier to copy settings from one image to another, as you can now do this selectively, choosing just the settings you want to apply, such as lighting, colour, detail, geometry or local adjustments. You can also embed text or image watermarks. The…

This telephoto zoom from Tamron stretches to a slightly longer focal length than the competing Nikon f/4 lens, but has a virtually identical size and weight. The design looks relatively basic, with no autofocus range limiter switch, nor switchable stabilization modes. There are only two switches on the lens barrel, for VC on/off and AF/MF. Despite the no-frills appearance, build quality is good, elegant handling and the inclusion of weather-seals. The lens is compatible with Tamron’s latest teleconverters and TAP-in Console, for fine-tuning, customization and the application of firmware updates. Performance Driven by dual microprocessors, the AF and stabilization systems are very effective, the former being quick and accurate, the latter delivering 4-stop performance. However, stabilization during panning proved less effective in our tests. Centre-sharpness is very good at mid-zoom…

This lens is shorter and slimmer than f/2.8 contenders and only about half the weight. Even so, it packs plenty of high-end features. Unlike the competing Tamron f/4 lens, the Nikon has a more sophisticated control system. 4-stop VR (Vibration Reduction) comes with switchable Normal and Active modes, the former featuring auto panning detection. An AF range limiter switch is also fitted. The optical line-up includes three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements plus an HRI (High Refractive Index) element, aiming to boost sharpness and contrast while reducing chromatic aberrations. Nikon’s renowned Nano Crystal Coat is also applied to keep ghosting and flare to a minimum. Performance Levels of sharpness are highly impressive, even when shooting wide-open at f/4, throughout the entire zoom range. The autofocus system is fast and unerringly accurate,…

This Z-mount 70-200mm zoom has a stellar optical design that includes two aspherical elements, six ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, a fluorite element and an SR (Shortwavelength Refractive) element. Dual coatings include both ARNEO and Nano Crystal Coat. AF is rapid yet virtually silent, based on two synchronized stepping motors. There’s highly effective 5-stop optical VR, based on voice coil motors, which works a treat on the DX format Z 50. Trick features include an OLED display for viewing various shooting parameters, along with dual customizable L-Fn (Lens function) buttons. As well as zoom and focus rings, there’s a third stepless control ring, which is also customizable. Performance It’s the sharpest lens in the group, by quite a margin, not only in the central region of the frame but right into…

Darren says… Prop blur is crucial when shooting propeller-driven aircraft. The plane needs to look alive, not like it’s just stalled, so you want the motion of the propeller to form a complete disc. This means you have to select a shutter speed that’s slow enough to blur the propeller, but fast enough to avoid camera shake. This can be around 1/60 to 1/80 sec, but it’ll depend on how fast the propeller is. For example, a WWI-era Avro 504k has a slower propeller than the Pitts we shot today.…

Great Crested Sunrise JOSE LUIS RUIZ JIMÉNEZ After hours up to his chest in water in a lagoon near Brozas, in the west of Spain, Jose Luis captured this moment of a great crested grebe family. In soft light and muted reflections, Jose Luis was able to reveal the detail of these birds. Camera: Nikon D4S Lens: 600mm f/4 + 1.4x teleconverter Exposure: 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO500 The Last Bite RIPAN BISWAS When an ant colony went hunting for small insects on a dry river bed in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, a tiger beetle began to pick off some of the ants. In the heat of the midday sun, Ripan lay on the sand and edged closer. “The beetle kept pulling at the ant’s leg,” says Ripan, “trying…

There are many ways to avoid lens flare. You can attach a lens hood, alter the angle of your shot, block incoming light or choose to shoot at certain times of day to mitigate this often unwanted phenomenon. But used intentionally, lens flare can be an effective way to spice up your outdoor portraits. The stylized aesthetic is particularly useful if you want to obscure a boring or overly busy background, or make use of harsh, unflattering sunlight. You don’t need any specialist kit to produce great lens flare portraits, but zoom lenses are known to cause more lens flare than primes. It also stands to reason that lenses without top-notch anti-reflective coatings will be more susceptible to flare, but how intense you want the effect is a matter of…

Replacing a backdrop is a fun way to transform your photos, and it’s a fairly straightforward task with Affinity Photo’s clever selection tools. Whether you want to transport your subject to a faraway place or simply make an accurate cutout, this technique will give you results in minutes. We’ll begin here by selecting the bird using the handy Selection Brush. This can lock on to the edges of the figure, enabling us to isolate it with a few clicks. Once done, we can improve our selection using the Refine control, which lets us knock out all the messy, fine bits of background that show through the bird’s feathers. Automated tools can only get us so far and, as such, we may need to finish off our cutout manually by painting…

For this month’s Big Project we’ll look at how to craft a colourful dancer image from a series of photos of paint. This involves a combination of shooting skills and Photoshop techniques. First, we’ll get set up to shoot vibrant photos of paint by capturing the colours as they travel through water. Once done, we’ll progress into Photoshop where we’ll warp the photos into the shape of our springing dancer. As such, this is effectively two skills in one. So if you’re mainly interested in capturing beautiful paint abstracts, then you can follow along with the first part, and if you’d rather work on the Photoshop skills, you can skip the shooting part and use the supplied images to craft your own painterly figures. For the shoot, we need a…

MISSION: Capture the pure energy and fleeting moments of magic on stage and in the crowd PHOTOGRAPHER: Julie Voyer LOCATION: Québec City, Canada KIT USED: Nikon D5600, Nikon 85mm f/1.8, 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5, 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 WEBSITE: metaluniverse.net INSTAGRAM: @thepicturalist and @show_tripping I love music and I love photography. Being able to combine both is a dream come true for me. It started in the summer of 2016, when I attended a metal music festival with my son. My mind was transported by the energy of the bands and the crowd, but I was also watching the photographers. It resonated with me and that’s when I thought: that’s what I want to do with my photography. My work was featured in a webzine a year later, and I’ve since…

Woodland: land covered with trees is the definition maybe, but it’s so much more than that! Pulling on my wellies is a familiar feeling, although new too this year as I’ve upgraded to a nice pair of neoprenelined boots, that I can already feel the benefits of! The ground is wet underfoot, and as I drag my bag from the back seat of the car, I catch a glance of the trees above, flush with the autumnal colours. Strolling down the main path of my local woods, it’s amazing how quickly everything you’re thinking or worrying about fades away. Unusually, my bag is rather light today, a welcome treat as I’ve pulled my shoulder, maybe too much time dragging a super-tele about, who knows…? But today it’s instead filled with…

Nikon Winter Instant Savings Save today! www.nikon.co.uk/promotions Nikon’s new Winter Instant Savings promotion offers decent discounts across some of its most desirable kit, including mirrorless cameras and DSLRs, selected lenses for both systems, as well as its range of bridge cameras. There are handsome savings to be had on newly launched cameras such as the Z 5, Z 50 and D780, as well as longerestablished models, like the Z 7 and D850. The Instant Savings promotion means that all discounts are applied at the point of purchase, and are on top of any discounts that Nikon authorised retailers may already be offering, rather than traditional – and rather convoluted – cashback schemes that require redemption by the buyer. This promotion is available at the Nikon Store and participating retailers (see…

The Laowa 11mm f/4.5 FF RL is the latest in Venus Optics’ long line of exotic lenses. This ultra wide-angle offers an impressive 126° angle of view for full-frame mirrorless cameras, in an optic that’s just 63.5mm long and weighs just 254g. This affords full-frame shooters the kind of extreme focal length that’s typically reserved for crop sensor systems, even among the very best wide-angle lenses – though, it doesn’t boast the manufacturer’s Zero-D designation, meaning that distortion isn’t as well controlled as something like the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D. Like all Laowa lenses it’s also fully mechanical, with no electrical contacts to communicate EXIF data or facilitate aperture or autofocus control. So is this a must-have lens, small enough that everyone can keep an ultra-wide in their camera bag,…

VIBRATION REDUCTION Optical stabilization is great to have in handheld telephoto shooting. It’s a feature of every lens in this test group, including the Z-mount Nikon. TRIPOD MOUNT COLLAR No tripod collar is supplied with the relatively lightweight f/4 lenses on test. They’re available as optional extras but are typically pricey to buy. WEATHER-SEALS Most of the lenses on test feature weather-seals, which are useful for sport, wildlife and event photography in the rain. The Nikon 70-200mm f/4 at least has a weather-seal on its mounting plate. FIXED LENGTH All of the lenses on test have fully internal zoom and focus mechanisms, so the physical length remains fixed at all available settings. TELEPHOTO REACH 70-200mm is the classic range for fast telephoto zoom lenses but it’s not the only choice.…

Sigma’s long-running 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM lens was a popular, budget-friendly option. The replacement Sports edition is completely redesigned, with a new optical path that features 24 elements in 22 groups, incorporating nine FLD elements and one SLD element. There’s also a well-rounded aperture, based on 11 diaphragm blades. The AF system can be switched to auto-priority or manual-priority modes, and has three customizable AF-hold buttons on the barrel. The new optical stabilizer has switchable static and panning modes, the latter working in landscape, portrait and even diagonal orientation. Performance Sharpness and contrast are fabulous throughout the zoom range, even when shooting wide-open at f/2.8. Autofocus is rapid and consistently accurate, and while stabilization isn’t quite as effective as in the Tamron G2 lens for static shots, it proved…

When launched, this F-mount 70-200mm f/2.8 lens from Nikon became our favourite telephoto zoom. Compared with the previous edition, it has an uprated optical design that features a fluorite glass element, six ED elements, one HRI element and the bonus of Nano Crystal Coat. The revised dual-mode VR system has automatic panning detection plus a ‘Sport’ mode that doesn’t interfere with the viewfinder image and avoids a slowdown in continuous shooting. An electromagnetic diaphragm is also added, to ensure greater exposure consistency in rapid continuous drive mode. A dual-mode AF system gives priority to automatic focusing or manual override, and there are AF on/lock buttons on the barrel. Performance Sharpness and contrast are legendary, throughout the zoom range. Again though, the Sigma Sports lens goes toe-to-toe with the Nikon for…

t’s a big ask to deliver 50 per cent more telephoto reach than a 70-200mm lens while maintaining a constant f/2.8 aperture. The result is a big lens that weighs in at almost 3.4kg. That’s more than twice the weight of most top-flight 70-200mm lenses. The first launch in Sigma’s Sports line, this lens features a Custom modes switch. Autofocus speed, autofocus limiter distance and stabilization effects for these modes are customizable via the optional USB Dock. It was also Sigma’s first lens to feature weather-seals, although it lacks the 70-200mm Sports lens’s fluorine coatings, dual switchable autofocus modes and AF-on/hold buttons. Both lenses have an SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element, but this one only has two top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements, whereas the 70-200mm lens has nine. Performance…

For seven years, the Sigma 120-300mm has been an exclusive, combining a long telephoto zoom range with a fast and constant f/2.8 aperture. Nikon has now gone into competition with its own F-mount lens, which offers an identical zoom range and aperture rating, but at near four times the price. Optical highlights include an ED element, two fluorite elements and one SR (Short-wavelength Refractive) element, along with Nano Crystal and ARNEO coatings. There’s a fast and near-silent ring-type ultrasonic AF system, an electromagnetic diaphragm and a 4-stop VR unit with switchable Normal and Sport modes. Solid build quality includes a full set of weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. Performance The Nikon 120-300mm lost out to the competing Sigma for sharpness at all zoom and aperture settings,…