Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

CAMERA SETTINGS Kieran says… Interior photography is mostly about composition and observation – the camera settings are relatively simple. I use Manual mode and apertures that are generally f/10 or f/11. ISO100 is fine when you’re shooting on a tripod as the exposure can be as long as you need it to be. LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Kieran says… I use the Virtual Horizon as a guideline, but predominantly rely upon my own judgement. This is because interior elements aren’t always perfectly level, particularly if they’re in a period property. If the floor and ceiling don’t match up, use your eye to frame what looks best. REVIEW IN-CAMERA Kieran says… Review compositions in Live View and Playback, and zoom in for a closer look. This is how you’ll spot things like…

Outdoor photography is by nature very diverse, with a never-ending list of possibilities in the creation of different images, at different locations, of different subjects or genres, in different light and by using a wide range of camera techniques. But whatever your subject preferences, outdoor photography has key ingredients that are essential for producing striking images: starting with the essentials of effective composition and your use of natural light. These may determine, for example, whether your shot is most effective in colour or monochrome; you will see in this article how all these characteristics of your images are interdependent and rarely seen in isolation. In fact, you’ll see that many of my tips overlap and many of the same principles apply. Let’s get cracking… Nigel Forster Nigel is a landscape and…

“Try to look at your local environment and see how you can utilize its colour emphasis to influence the style of your images 11 FEATURE STRONG SINGLE COLOURS IN SHOTS To work as an effective colour photography image, colour should be a key feature. I often look for a strong dominant colour against a grey or neutral backdrop, often taken on an overcast day in clear light with good visibility. This type of light is excellent for bringing out natural colours. Both our rural and urban environments offer fantastic opportunities to find these colours. If you live in a rural area, for example, try your hand at shooting yellow oil seed rape fields or a field of poppies against a dark grey sky. In industrial landscapes, such as the slate…

When photographing landscapes, the sky is usually much brighter than the land below, leading to an underexposed foreground or blown-out sky. In this situation, it’s common practice to make use of a graduated ND filter: dark at the top and transitioning to clear at the bottom, they’re used to balance the exposure levels in the scene so that both the land and sky are properly exposed. But when shooting at sunrise or sunset with the sun appearing in the shot, the brightest part of the scene is actually the horizon itself, with the sky above it markedly darker, so when faced with this situation, a different type of ND grad is called for. We used a NiSi Reverse GND8 (0.9) Filter. This specialist 3-stop reverse ND grad is clear at…

As anyone with a printer will know, it’s nice to see your images on paper. But gazing upon an entire wall of your own creation takes things to a whole new level. Wall murals are becoming increasingly popular in offices, restaurants and homes, and thanks to healthy competition between printers they’re more affordable than ever. So why not create your own whopping wall display? Over the next few pages we’ll look at how it’s done, from shooting the image to making the mural. And even if you don’t fancy making a floor-to-ceiling photo, you’ll find plenty of useful advice on creating ultra-detailed images. Of course, deciding to turn an entire wall into a photo display is a big commitment, and something you might have to live with for years to…

1 Make a selection Take a photo of the wall that you intend to use for the mural. Open it in Photoshop and then grab the Polygonal Lasso tool. Click to plot a selection around the edges of the wall, then hold Alt and click around the windows to exclude them. Continue until the wall is completely selected. 2 Copy the wall Go to Select>Select and Mask and use the sliders to improve the selection edge. Increase the radius to expand the area of refinement along the edge. Set Output: New Layer and hit OK. Next press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the layer, and Cmd/Ctrl+L for Levels. Increase the contrast with Levels. 3 Clip the image Open the wall mural image. Grab the Move tool and drag it to the other…

1. Improving the lives of foster children and at-risk animals In 2014 Tamara Lackey and her husband started Beautiful Together – a charity that aims to improve the lives of children in foster care, orphanage and group housing. Six years later, they expanded their charitable work and opened the Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary for at-risk animals and those living in inhumane conditions. https://bit.ly/3DhCwPa 2. Skylum calls for photogs to come to the aid of Ukraine Skylum is known across the world for its innovative AI-powered photo-editing software, but perhaps less well known is the fact that it was established in Ukraine. The company may have since spread out beyond its base in Kyiv since the releases of products like Luminar AI and Luminar Neo, but a number of its employees…

No matter what camera or exposure mode you use, there are just two main ways to regulate how much light reaches an image sensor. One is shutter speed, which we’ll examine next issue. The other is aperture… Aperture has an important effect on depth of field, which we explored in issue 134, but can impact on the sharpness of images in other ways, too. It’s also directly related to the working distance when you’re using flash, and maximum aperture is an important factor in differentiating lenses. Yet the concept of aperture can be confusing. For example, it’s described by irregular numbers such as f/2.8 and f/5.6. And in topsy-turvy fashion, big figures relate to small apertures and vice versa. So what is aperture anyway? Well, it’s not just a bit…

It’s important to note that any light travelling through your lens does so in wave form. When it passes through the aperture, it spreads out before hitting the sensor. This spreading effect is called diffraction. With wide apertures it’s minimal, but with smaller ones it gradually becomes more severe. At the very smallest apertures it can be so severe that it creates a fuzzy image on the sensor. We recommend sticking to f/11 or f/16 or below on APS-C/full-frame Nikons.…

Often, the aperture setting we choose is limited by external factors. For example, you need a small aperture to boost depth of field and a wide one for fast shutter speeds. However, there are many occasions when depth of field isn’t really an issue – if you’re photographing flat surfaces face-on, for example. When your subject’s stationary you can try a wide range of speeds safely, especially if you use a tripod. At such times, you’re free to think about which aperture setting gives the best results from the lens you’re using. However, this can vary between lenses, so this issue’s assignment is to find out the optimum aperture for each lens you own. Here’s what to do… 1 Find some paper with fine-printed type – try a phone directory…

1 Folders and Results Use the Folders view to see where the photos you’ve added to Excire are located, then click Add to bring in more shots. Click Results for a list of the searches you’ve done recently, so you can repeat the search. 2 Toolbar Change the image thumbnail size to see more or fewer photos at once. Use the toolbar underneath to favourite, tag or flag photos; filter photos taken on a chosen date; or sort the order in which photos are shown. 3 Find photos Excire Foto and Excire Search 2 offer four types of search: find by keyword; find by face type; find a specific person; and find photos of a similar style. Just click the relevant icon to get searching. 4 Collections & Groups Collections…

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…

The Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S fills a small gap in Nikon’s line-up of Z-mount standard zoom lenses, slotting in between the more compact Z 24-70mm f/4 S and hefty Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S ‘trinity’ zoom. It’s sure to find favour with Nikon photographers shifting to mirrorless from a full-frame DSLR, who have long enjoyed the versatile 5x zoom range of the AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. The F-mount edition is still highly popular to this day, not just as a kit lens option with full-frame DSLRs like the D750 and D780, but in its own right as a walkabout zoom for everyday photography. Compared with the F-mount lens, the new Z-mount counterpart ditches optical VR. That’s not really an issue for full-frame Nikon Z-series cameras, all of which have…

For anyone buying a superzoom as a ‘holiday lens’ for casual shooting, it makes sense to keep the price down. With the smallest price tag in the group, the Tamron 18-200mm is relatively inexpensive and, at 400g, it’s also lightweight. As the second edition of Tamron’s 18-200mm lens, it adds VC (Vibration Compensation) and boasts an upgraded autofocus system. It’s still based on an electric motor, but with an integrated gear train that runs more quietly than in the original lens. As with the Sigma lens on test, the focus ring rotates during autofocus and doesn’t enable full-time manual override. The lens is 30g lighter than its predecessor, despite being a little larger. This is due to the fitment of a plastic rather than metal mounting plate, but at least…

Following on from the now-discontinued Tamron 16-300mm lens, which offered an extra-wide viewing angle, Tamron’s latest superzoom goes extra-long instead. Stretching to 400mm, it beats every other superzoom on the market for telephoto reach. To keep the size down and the quality up, the optical design includes two moulded glass aspherical elements and one hybrid aspherical element, along with three low-dispersion elements. Autofocus is driven by an HLD (High/Low torque-modulated Drive) motor, which is quick and quiet. However, the focus ring rotates during AF and there’s no full-time manual override. Build quality is good and features weather-seals, including one on the metal mounting plate. Performance It’s a big ask to deliver good sharpness at 400mm from such a relatively compact lens, but the Tamron doesn’t do too badly. Centre-sharpness is…

The extra quality enabled by an FX camera comes at the cost of extra weight and increased price. With a bigger image circle required to fill a full-frame sensor, this lens has a larger diameter and is heavier than any other lens on test, weighing 800g. That includes the FX format Z 24-200mm, which only weighs 570g. Tamron used to make a competing 28-300mm FX format lens. The Nikon isn’t much more expensive, yet has a faster aperture rating at the long end, a faster and quieter ring-type AF system, and a dual-mode optical stabilizer. It’s the same VR II generation fitted to the Nikon 18-200mm lens on test, with Normal and Active modes. Performance Helped by the inclusion of three aspherical elements and two ED elements, plus Super Integrated…

We all love getting out and about with our cameras, and this issue pro landscape and architectural photographer Nigel Forster has come up with no less than 25 must-read tips and tricks for shooting natural and urban environments, guaranteed to have you thinking creatively, rather than merely snapping the scene. Our apprentice, meanwhile, stays inside the house, learning to shoot stylish interiors of properties that say ‘home sweet home’ in a characterful holiday cottage in Cornwall. In our interview, we speak with Tianna J-Williams, whose maternity photography has graced many a mantelpiece of mums-to-be, while music photog Tracey Welch shares the story behind her strobe project. Plus have our usual mix of shooting and editing projects, including removing crowds from scenes, shooting the blue hour, using reverse ND grads and…

Kieran says… Rooms can look a little sterile if they’re empty. The viewer should aspire to visit the property and this can be encouraged by strategically placing a few appropriate items around the space and even omitting a few. I’ll set dining room tables, add throws to beds and books to bedside tables to help convey comfort and sell the idea of living in the space. But I’ll also avoid framing things like fire extinguishers and remove washing up products because nobody wants to be reminded of safety concerns and chores when they’re on holiday!…

Mycena Swirl TONY NORTH 1st Place, The World of Fungi A group of Mycena mushrooms adorned with water droplets and illuminated by a light panel; Tony created the swirly rain effect by using a water spray. Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: 105mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/160 sec, f/8, ISO1000 Fern Silhouette RORY MCDONALD Commended, Abstract Views Rory created interest in this shot by capturing multiple layers of ferns. He then converted the original photograph to black and white in post-processing to further enhance the delicate layering of the fronds and backlighting. Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: 24-120mm Exposure: 1/2000 sec, f/5, ISO1000 Summer Palette JACKY PARKER Finalist, The Beauty of Plants This alluring mixture of colours was created with a beautiful blend of luscious pink Echinacea purpurea (coneflowers) planted alongside blue Eryngium (sea…

“Before shooting, ask yourself, ‘Why am I taking this picture?’ What has inspired you to pick up your camera in the first place? 1 WHY AM I TAKING THIS PICTURE? A question I’m often asked is, ‘My images look flat; how can I make them stand out?’ Think about capturing an image as a thought process. Before shooting, ask yourself, ‘Why am I taking this picture?’ What has inspired you to pick up your camera in the first place? Think about capturing an image as a thought process. Before shooting, ask yourself, ‘Why am I taking this picture?’ What has inspired you to pick up your camera in the first place? As a general rule of thumb, the simpler the better, this will result in pictures that communicate your intentions…

“A key objective of black-and-white and long-exposure photography is to achieve the minimalist approach. So why not use them together? 16 UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS An image in black and white can result from contrast in natural light. This may be on a sunny day that creates light and shadow, or on an overcast day where (usually) darker subject matter contrasts with lighter sky or water tones, for example. Images can vary from simple silhouettes to shots with a range of shades of grey on the greyscale. It’s also a good idea to learn how colours can translate to light/dark/black and white tones. Doing this will enable you to control your post-processing. All colours translate to greyscale tones that can be made more or less prominent in your image by using…

If you’re shooting a popular location after hours you might have to share the space with a fellow photographer or two, but with a little common sense it’s not difficult to work around each other. However, visit a popular location in the middle of the day and you’ll often have to contend with crowds of sightseers. If you’re intent on capturing a deserted scene you have two options: wait and hope for a lull in the flow of day trippers or remove each and every offender in post. The former is preferable if you’re happy to wait, but during the hour we spent at Glastonbury Tor the flow of visitors never let up. The obvious remedy in post is to use Photoshop’s Clone Stamp or Healing Brush to sample existing…

Some image effects take mere seconds to create. But it’s usually those that require a little more work that are all the more rewarding for it… In this project we’ll look at how to transform a portrait into a series of striking geometric shapes. Unfortunately we can’t just run a filter over the image, we have to create each individual polygon shape. But this makes the overall impression completely unique, rather than the generic look that you often see when filters are used. Each triangular shape in the face and hair here has to be plotted out by hand, which will take time and patience. Thankfully there is a way we can speed up the process. Macros are a handy Affinity Photo feature that let us record a set of…

1 Choose your subject The most important consideration is the type of image you want for your wall. Colours and tones are as important as subject matter, so think about what kind of mood you want the room to have. Natural scenes with recurring colours and shapes, like the bluebells here, tend to work well. 2 Use a tripod Any camera shake will be noticeable at large print sizes, so a tripod will help to keep shake to a minimum. By using a tripod, we don’t have to worry about using slightly longer shutter speeds, so we’re free to use the lowest possible ISO for maximum quality and narrower apertures for greater depth of field. 3 Shoot for a panorama By shooting several overlapping frames for a panorama you can…

JARGON BUSTER Depth of field A lens can only focus precisely on one point, but there will be a ‘zone of apparent sharpness’ in front of and behind the subject. Depth of field describes how far this zone extends. Graphic reminders All Nikon cameras show what aperture you’re using (f/11 in the example here). However, D3xxx and D5xxx-series Nikons can also give you a graphical depiction of the aperture on their information displays. If you’d like to see this, go to the Setup menu, select ‘Info display format’ and check Graphic. The diagram shows roughly how wide the aperture is set and is a reminder that bigger numbers relate to small apertures.…

Choose a scale Most Nikons give a choice of aperture scales, in steps of 1/2EV, 1/3EV or 1 EV. To switch scales, go to the Custom Settings menu. Step up or down Look for the menu item ‘EV steps for exposure cntrl’. Scroll to make your choice, then press OK. 1/3EV steps gives you the finest degree of control. Look on the back You can see which aperture setting you’re using on the viewfinder. Half-press the shutter button to see an f-stop number, left of centre. Have a look on top Mid- and high-end DSLRs and Z-series Nikons also have a top-plate LCD that gives a handy readout of your exposure settings, including aperture. Make changes The easy way to control aperture is with Aperture Priority (A) mode. Rotate the…

One of the biggest changes from the era of film photography to today is that we all take so many more photos than we used to. But this freedom is a double-sided coin, and the flip side is that it can be really difficult to find a particular image in your collection. Excire is purpose-built to address that problem. As you add photos you’ve taken to its interface, it uses artificial intelligence to analyse each shot, then creates searchable keywords based on its contents – it can recognize even the smallest details. It also looks for techniques you might have used when you took the shot, like bokeh or high contrast, and adds keywords for those, too. Now you can search for your pictures using any combination of these keywords,…

Q I’m currently using a D500 and Sigma 150mm macro lens to take focus-stacked close-ups, manually changing the focus distance. Can the Z 6 and Z 7 automate this? Les Allan A The Z 6 and Z 7 (as well as the Mark II editions) have a particularly elegant ‘Focus Shift Shooting’ option in the Photo Shooting Menu. It automates the process of adjusting the focus distance throughout a sequence of shots, so you can merge the results into a single image with extended depth of field, ideal for macro shooting. You can select the number of shots in the sequence, up to a maximum of 300, the amount by which the focus distance is changed from one shot to the next, the time interval between them, and whether the…

Apple Studio Display From £1499/$1599 www.apple.com Studio Display, the perfect complement to Mac Studio, also pairs beautifully with any Mac. It features an expansive 27-inch 5K Retina display, a 12Mp ultra-wide camera with Centre Stage, and a high-fidelity six-speaker sound system with spatial audio. Studio Display brings a stunning all-screen design with narrow borders and a refined, all-aluminium enclosure that houses an advanced set of features. Its built-in stand allows the user to tilt the display up to 30 degrees. To meet the needs of a variety of workspaces, Studio Display also offers a tilt- and height-adjustable stand option with a counterbalancing arm. A VESA mount adapter option is also available, and supports landscape or portrait orientation for even more flexibility. Studio Display features a 27-inch 5K Retina screen with…

Whether you’re taking casual shots on a walkabout or travelling to the ends of the earth, nobody really wants to be weighed down by a big bag of lenses. A so-called ‘superzoom’ lens offers an all-in-one solution, typically covering everything from useful wide-angle coverage to powerful telephoto reach at the twist of a zoom ring. As well as enabling you to adapt to pretty much any shooting scenario you can think of, it also ensures that you won’t miss any definitive moments because you were changing the lens on your camera at the time. Most superzoom lenses are designed for DX format (APS-C) cameras, and typically kick off with an 18mm focal length. The long end of the zoom range is a more moveable feast and, naturally, greater maximum telephoto…

Until recently, Sigma marketed both this 18-300mm and a smaller 18-200mm superzoom, but the latter has been discontinued. The 18-300mm is physically only 16mm longer at its minimum zoom setting, but has a focal length that stretches 50 per cent further. The length stretches considerably at the long end of the zoom range, but it has a manageable weight of 585g. The build employs Sigma’s TSC (Thermally Stable Composite) material that’s resistant to size fluctuations during temperature changes. The mounting plate is made from metal but doesn’t have a weather-seal ring. As with other Global Vision lenses, it’s compatible with Sigma’s USB Dock. Speciality glass includes four topgrade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and one SLD element. Performance Typical of motor-based ultrasonic systems, the one in this lens isn’t particularly…

This Z DX lens doesn’t quite have the extravagant zoom range of most superzooms, but still delivers a useful ‘effective’ 27-210mm in full-frame terms. It’s a mirrorless makeover of Nikon’s AF-S DX 18-140mm VR kit lens for DSLRs but with a smaller, more lightweight build. It has a plastic mounting plate and no weather-seals, but build quality feels good. Given that the DX format Z 50 and Z fc don’t feature in-body stabilization, the highly effective 5-stop optical VR is a major bonus. Handling is refined and alternative functions can be assigned to the manual focus ring when in autofocus mode. However, there are no physical auto/manual focus or VR on/off switches, requiring settings to be changed via in-camera menus. Performance The stepping motor-based AF is fast and near silent,…

It’s only natural to compare this Z-mount superzoom for mirrorless cameras with the Nikon 28-300mm for DSLRs, also on test. The Z 24-200mm naturally gives you a greater maximum viewing angle, but loses out for telephoto reach. Build quality is very good, featuring plentiful weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. Premium glass includes two ED elements, one aspherical ED element, and two further aspherical elements. Top-quality ARNEO Coat is applied to minimize ghosting and flare. Performance of the 4.5-stop optical VR system is enhanced when used with the in-body stabilization of FX Z-mount cameras, and is even more essential when mounted on the Z 50 or Z fc, where it gives a useful effective zoom range of 36-300mm. Performance Along with fast and virtually silent AF, the…

Golden light poured through the front windows of The Count House as Kieran and Nathan exchanged pleasantries before stepping inside the character-rich Victorian property. It was barely 8am, but the photographers were keen to capitalize on the soft morning light. “I don’t tend to use photo lighting,” said Kieran. “Nothing’s moving and I always use a tripod so the exposure is as long as it needs to be. Let’s start by doing a quick recce.” The pair moved from room to room observing the natural light and quickly concluded the living room was the place to start. “As the sun moves, other rooms will come into play. For now, we want to capture this room before we lose the light.” Nathan asked Kieran what lens he should use, but because he didn’t…

STRAIGHTEN VERTICALS Kieran says… No matter how hard you try to capture straight verticals in-camera, they sometimes require a helping hand in post. Camera Raw’s Geometry tab features a useful Vertical slider so you can easily straighten edges. It even provides a faint grid overlay so you can line everything up. LIGHT A VIRTUAL FIRE Kieran says… Fires are cosy and welcoming so I often add them in post. I simply use Photoshop’s Pen tool to cut out and remove the firebox and then import an image of a flame on a black background. This is resized and position using Free Transform and then set to the layer below the base image. CLONE UNTIDY OBJECTS Kieran says… You can get carried away with removing unwanted objects if you’re not careful.…

“Try going out with few preconceptions and adapt your photography to suit the type of weather and lighting conditions 6 METEOROLOGY AND PHOTOGRAPHY We all recognize that the weather has a huge effect on the look and feel of our outdoor photographs. Whether a stormy landscape with dramatic light or mist over a rural landscape, it’s important to have some grasp of meteorology, perhaps beyond the depth of analysis to be found within our weather forecasts. In particular, the effect of the weather on the quality of light is heavily influenced by whether we are in a cyclonic (low pressure) weather system, often producing wind, heavy cloud and rain, air movement and clear, quickly changing light. While an anti-cyclonic (high pressure) system often produces clear skies, mist and still conditions,…

21 ENHANCE THE IMPACT OF YOUR IMAGE THROUGH POST-PROCESSING This comes back to my first question, ‘Why am I taking this picture?’ The primary aim of your post-processing workflow should be to maximize the impact of your image and the effect that you’re looking to achieve. It’s often a fine balance, but my starting point is to try to replicate what I saw with the naked eye. This is subjective, of course, as the camera doesn’t record data in the way that the eye does. But then I’ll see if it has the visual impact that I’m looking for – this is where the fine balance comes in! Many of my old photographs have had the Vibrance slider overused on them… Oh and a little bonus tip for you: use…

We’re willing to bet there isn’t a landscape photographer in all the land who doesn’t love to photograph sunset. But this jaw-dropping spectacle isn’t the be-all and end-all of landscape photography. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen fellow photographers pack up once the lion’s share of the gorgeous golden light has gone, only to trudge back to their cars during the encore: blue hour. Blue hour occurs before sunrise and after sunset, and tends to last less than 30 minutes. This incredible phenomenon happens during civil twilight, when the sun is between four and six degrees below the horizon. The longer wavelengths of red light fly into the Earth’s atmosphere and out the other side while the shorter blue wavelengths hit the atmosphere and scatter, shrouding the…

In this digital age, there are two schools of thought in photography. One says you use your skill and judgement to capture a single moment in time in-camera, while the other says you use all your skills and judgement to create the best possible image. With these two extremes, most of us are on a sliding scale somewhere between the two: even a photo purist will push the adjustments in Raw conversion software to eke out the best version of what they got in the can. You’ll find that the Sky Replacement tool in Adobe Photoshop CC definitely pushes you out towards the second school of thought: it presents an opportunity to import a sky taken at a different time and place to create the best possible image. Although this…

Shoot for an HDR Bracket your shots for each ‘segment’ of the panorama, as this gives you the option to merge your photos for an HDR image later. By creating an HDR image we can ensure the maximum detail without under- or over-exposure, which is especially useful in scenes with bright highlights or deep shadows. Panorama tips Check that the horizon is level at the start and end point of your panorama. Focus on a point a third of the way into the scene then switch to manual focus to lock it in. Overlap each segment by one-third, using natural markers in the scene. Consider shooting it in two or more rows for even greater detail. Merge HDRs Open your images in Adobe Bridge, highlight them all, right-click and ‘Open…

Less than five years ago, Tianna J-Williams was working as a midwife in a busy maternity ward delivering the newborn of Birmingham. Then, in the summer of 2017, she went back to general nursing, but instead of caring for patients in hospital wards, Tianna visited people living at home with debilitating health and medical issues. Her employer was a private company contracted by the Department of Work and Pensions to reassess the health issues of people claiming living support benefits from the government. In their eyes they were not patients, but claimants. It was a distinction that Tianna found hard to reconcile with her personal ethics and values. “These were people that had lived with a condition for a long time and they were being reassessed for whether they needed…

Write our star letter and you’ll win a copy of the amazing Affinity Photo* for Mac or PC from Serif. This feature-packed software is just as powerful as programs that retail for many times its price – and all without having to pay a monthly subscription fee. With full support for Raw files, layers and ‘professional’ features such as Curves and live filters, it also boasts top-class focus stacking, HDR merging, panorama stitching and batch processing. Affinity Photo is available for Mac, PC and iPad, and files can be easily shared between devices so you can continue editing on the move. It opens Photoshop files, too. www.affinity.serif.com *Winners will need to create an Affinity user account to download the app. The prizes are issued in accordance with the standard Affinity…

While the concept of aperture can be tricky to grasp, the physical side of it is incredibly simple. Here’s what’s going on inside your lens barrel, where a motor keeps aperture under control……

The number of blades forming the aperture diaphragm has a big effect on how out-of-focus, or ‘bokeh’, areas appear. Bokeh is most clear on subjects with bright highlights, such as city lights at night. With a lens’s maximum aperture, these will look perfectly circular. At middling settings, they’ll mimic the aperture shape – hexagonal with six blades and so on. Many Nikon lenses have seven or nine slightly curved blades, so bokeh is more circular. At very small apertures, bokeh is star-shaped, with the number of points per star equal to twice the number of diaphragm blades, great for creating ‘starbust’ highlights.…

Q I’m looking for a standard prime lens that features optical stabilization to use with my D750. Any ideas? Gordon Watkins A Matthew recommends… The Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD unusually combines a fast aperture rating with optical stabilization. It’s been phased out of Tamron’s line-up but makes a great used buy. Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD HIGH-END FEATURES, BUILD QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MAKE THIS AN ATTRACTIVE PRIME RELEASED: 2015 PRICE NEW: £649/$599 SECONDHAND PRICE: ‘Excellent’ £300/$250 ‘Good’ £250/$210 With almost the same viewing angle as a more conventional 50mm prime, this Tamron beats most f/1.8 examples of the breed. It has a robust, weather-resistant build and a fast ring-type ultrasonic AF system. It also has 4-stop optical stabilization for sharp handheld shots. Optical highlights include two…

CFexpress is now the memory card format of choice for professional cameras, as the best CFexpress cards are significantly faster than even the zippiest UHS-II SD cards. Evolving from the XQD card format, CFexpress Type B cards share the same outer design as XQD cards, but pack faster memory inside, making them some of the fastest memory cards currently available on the market. Almost all cameras that originally supported XQD cards have now been firmware-updated to also work with CFexpress Type B cards, so cameras such as the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 are, thankfully, no longer restricted to XQD cards alone. Holding all the cards The Type B CFexpress format is based around the same super-fast PCI express Gen3 interface and NVMe 1.3 technology as the best portable…

Any zoom lens represents a bit of a compromise in image quality, compared with a fixed focal length prime lens. It’s only natural that the bigger zoom range of a superzoom lens tends to result in a greater compromise. However, recent designs aim to capitalize on tech advances, maximizing performance as well as versatility. The use of ‘aspherical’ elements is a key factor. Instead of having the natural curve of a section of a sphere, these moulded or ground elements have irregular shapes. A single aspherical element can replace multiple spherical elements, reducing the size and weight of a camera lens. Given that Nikon DSLRs and DX format Z-series mirrorless cameras don’t feature sensor-shift stabilization, optical image stabilization is all but essential. Indeed, the Z 24-200mm designed primarily for FX…

A refresh of Nikon’s original 18-200mm lens, this one gains a zoom lock switch but retains the same optical design and image stabilizer. Nikon subsequently launched two 18-300mm superzooms. The bulkier one is now obsolete and the other (on test) is more basic, with no focus distance scale nor a supplied hood. For image quality and performance, the 18-200mm remains our favourite Nikon F-mount DX superzoom. There are three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements in the optical path and the second-generation VR system has switchable Normal and Active modes. The first of these includes automatic panning detection, while the second counteracts increased physical vibrations. Performance Sharpness proved better than either of Nikon’s subsequent 18-300mm superzooms, throughout the albeit more limited zoom range. Overall image quality is impressive and a weather-seal ring…

Compared with Nikon’s first and now discontinued 18-300mm superzoom, this one has a slightly slower aperture rating but is more compact and lightweight. Indeed, while the aperture rating of the older lens narrowed to f/5.6 at the long end, instead of f/6.3, it was about 50 per cent heavier. The latest lens’s optical path includes three aspherical elements and three ED elements. Build quality feels good overall and, as with most Nikon lenses, the metal mounting plate comes with a weather-seal ring. In other respects, however, the lens feels basic compared with the Nikon 18-200mm on test. There’s no focus distance scale, no ‘Active’ VR mode, and the hood is sold separately. Performance It’s a game of two halves when it comes to sharpness, which is very good at the…

It’s only natural to think that if you max out on megapixel count with a Nikon Z 7 or Z 7II, it would be ludicrous to compromise its resolving power by coupling it with a superzoom lens. The reality, however, is that the Z 24-200mm is versatile and delivers superb results with these cameras, as well as with Nikon’s more modest FX mirrorless bodies. It also works a treat on the Z 50 and Z fc, the ‘effective’ 36-300mm still giving great scope and flexibility for everyday shots. For DX DSLRs, or for Z DX mirrorless cameras via a mount adapter, the Sigma 18-300mm wins out for delivering a mighty zoom range with minimal compromise in image quality, although handling could be better. If you can live with a more…