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

The Gun and Flowers JATENIPAT KETPRADIT OVERALL WINNER Father and sons of the Suri tribe, the warrior holds his AK-47 rifle to protect his family. The introduction of firearms has generated a slew of issues for tribes. A weapon may be utilized to solve any problem. It can occasionally deteriorate into clan wars and guerrilla warfare. Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: 24-120mm f/4 Exposure: 1/160 sec, f/14, ISO200 Anthropogenic DANIEL TAVEIRA 1st Place (Environmental) Anthropogenic is the result of past actions resulting in the constant climate changes of the present, defining our uncertain future. Being a Brazilian and having lived where the Amazon starts, my heart knows the importance of this ‘lung of the world’. The image shows an indigenous woman trying to breathe; the anthropogenic effects. Camera: Nikon D810 Lens:…

The Mission – Capture a well-lit landscape with detail in the sky using a graduated neutral density filter Time – 30 minutes Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – ND grad filters and holder – Tripod VIEW THE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto142 The contrast range between the darkest and brightest parts of a scene may be beyond your camera sensor’s dynamic range (see Nikon Know-How, page 80 for an explanation). This is particularly likely during the golden hour (just before sunset or after sunrise), when the sun is low in the sky; you’re left with the choice of exposing for the sky, in which case the land will be plunged into shadow, or for the foreground, in which case the sky is likely to be an unpleasant blown-out wash of…

The Mission – Shoot and stitch a time blend by combining frames taken at different moments Time – 3 hours Skill level – Advanced Kit needed – Camera – Tripod – Photoshop CC – Affinity Photo VIEW THE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto142 How often have you shot a beautiful sunset, then later on had to lift the darker foreground to balance out the scene? We’ve all attempted a heavy-handed shift to the Shadows slider, but perhaps there’s a better way. How about time blending instead? This is simply a fancy term for shooting the same scene several times over a period of time, then blending the best bits. This way, we can choose the best frame for the sunset sky, and blend it with earlier frames when the landscape is…

My new exhibition of black-and-white images conveys the unique rhythm of a town devoted to horseracing – Newmarket. The images capture the atmosphere and emotion of moments rarely seen by those outside racing. They show the diversity, talent and dedication of those working ‘behind-the-scenes’ in the sport. The series evolved as a follow-on to achieving my Fellowship with The Royal Photographic Society in 2020 with a body of work titled ‘At the end of our garden’. This was a four-year project capturing life in and around the racing yard that sits behind our back garden in Newmarket. My success with the Fellowship prompted discussion with the National Horse Racing Museum, where I was invited to hold a solo exhibition from July to December this year. It was then a case…

Nikon’s NX Studio software has ‘exposure compensation’ tools that you can use to recover some extra highlight detail in Raw files, but Adobe Camera Raw goes further, with sliders for highlights, shadows, whites and blacks. 1 EXPOSURE Dragging this slider to the left or right will reveal extra highlight or shadow detail hidden in the Raw file, though reducing the exposure to recover highlights will have a knock-on effect on the shadow detail. 2 HIGHLIGHTS Dragging this slider to the left recovers highlight details without having an impact on the midtones and shadows in the image. It’s the best solution for shots where the overall exposure is fine and it’s just the highlights that are missing. 3 SHADOWS If most of the picture is fine but the shadows are a…

ACDSee Free is a powerful, quick and completely free Raw file browser and viewer for photographers. With ACDSee Free, your photos have never been easier to access and view directly from your hard drive. With the software you can view all file formats including Raw image files, or quickly scroll through tens of thousands of photos without needing to import a single file. It’s the easy way to keep track of your files, enabling you to effortlessly access a plethora of file types without the need to install extra plug-ins or extensions. Here are some of the features: View Raw files: Raw files can be viewed just the same as other image files, like JPEG or PNG. Quickly load thousands of photos: Importing photos is a thing of the past.…

Q I’m thinking of upgrading my Nikon AF-S DX 55-300mm f/4.5‑5.6G ED VR telephoto zoom for use with my D7500 and favour shooting handheld. What would you recommend? David Warden A The thing to consider is why you actually want to upgrade your lens. Are you after a lens with a similar zoom range but better performance, or a lens with a ‘faster’ aperture, or something with longer telephoto reach? For the first option, I’d go for the Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR (£629/$597), which has super-fast autofocus, 4.5-stop VR, and delivers superb image quality. For a faster lens, I’d pick the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports (£1179/$1499), which still gives an effective 300mm maximum focal length on your D7500. It’s a terrific, pro-grade lens, but relatively…

Features 1 The front element has a fluorine coating, while Nano Crystal Coat reduces ghosting.2 There’s a programmable rear L-Fn button and front cluster of four L-Fn2 buttons.3 Vibration Reduction is good for 5.5 stops, rising to 6 stops in conjunction with IBIS.4 The unusual f/4.5 maximum aperture is 1/3-stop slower than a ‘regular’ f/4 lens.5 At just 235mm long and 1245 grams, it’s Nikon’s smallest, lightest 400mm lens yet.6 The lens comes complete with a foot for better balance when shooting on a tripod. Specifications Mount: Nikon Z Lens construction: 19 elements in 13 groups Angle of view: 6.2 degrees Diaphragm blades: 9 Minimum aperture: f/32 Minimum focusing distance: 2.5m Maximum magnification ratio: 0.16x Filter size: 95mm Dimensions: 104x235mm Weight: 1245g £3299/$3247 The Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S…

For those of us living in the northern hemisphere, the evenings are definitely drawing in and we no longer need to wait until the middle of a very short night to shoot a starry sky. Even so, light is arguably the most important raw material for photography, so things get a bit tricky when there’s very little to play with. Shooting outdoors at night is particularly challenging, even when the subject in question is the Milky Way on a clear evening. To make matters worse, the night sky is not only very dimly lit, but it’s also very large and constantly moving. For good results, you really need to choose wisely when it comes to picking a suitable lens. We’ve picked out the best wide-angle prime and zoom options with…

£559/$549 This night owl even has fluorescent markings The Irix 15mm is available in Firefly and Blackstone options. They’re optically identical, but the Blackstone has a magnesium alloy rather than plastic casing, four weather-seals instead of three, and fluorescent engraved markings for easy reading under very dull lighting. As a manual-focus lens, the focus ring has a typically smooth and precise operation with long rotational travel. Its focus distance scale includes markers for depth of field and hyperfocal distance at various apertures. A secondary ring enables you to lock the focus ring at any position. Another nice touch is that you can fine-tune the focus ring so that the distance scale is exactly calibrated to your camera body. Performance Image quality is mostly excellent, with minimal lateral and spherical aberrations,…

£1149/$1047 A typically appealing S-line lens While it naturally doesn’t give such an ultra-wide viewing angle as the other FX format lenses on test, it matches that of the DX format Viltrox 13mm and can take in a broad expanse of starry sky. As with other Nikon Z-mount lenses, it takes advantage of the greater diameter of the mounting flange and its closer proximity to the camera’s image sensor, enabling greater quality, right to the corners. The lens features comprehensive weather-seals, fast and virtually silent autofocus based on a stepping motor, and a customizable control ring. High-quality glass includes three aspherical and three ED elements, along with Nano Crystal Coat. It can focus right down to 0.2m – great for exaggerating perspective in close-ups, less so for shooting the night…

With a generous viewing angle and superb image quality at its widest aperture setting, the Samyang XP 14mm f/2.4 manual-focus lens ticks all the right boxes for astrophotography. The Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art is a whole f-stop faster, but coma and astigmatism are clearly noticeable towards the corners of the image frame. That said, the Sigma gives similarly negligible aberrations when its aperture is narrowed to f/2.5. The Irix 15mm f/2.4 fares less well, giving similar ‘wide-open’ coma and astigmatism to the Sigma, despite its narrower maximum aperture. In other respects, it’s an excellent lens and great value at the price. For F-mount zoom lenses designed for full-frame DSLRs, the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art leads the field, with best-inclass image quality and overall performance, along with…

After a long, hot summer, the days are getting noticeably shorter, the nights chillier and once-lush-green foliage is turning vibrant russet shades. Autumn has arrived, and to celebrate landscape and wildlife pro Ross Hoddinott shares his top tips for capturing the most photogenic season of them all. Our apprentice, meanwhile, heads to a stage of the Woodpecker Rally to capture souped-up Subarus power-sliding around gravel hairpins on a forest track on the Anglo-Welsh border. And this issue’s interview is with award-winning plant portrait pro Carol Sharp, whose flower photos have graced everything from Chelsea Flower Show posters to Royal Mail postage stamps. In our Gear section, we reach for the stars with a selection of eight fast, wide lenses that are perfect for astrophotography. We also put the new Nikon…

The Mission – Use an entry-level Nikon to capture motion in a still image by panning Time – One hour Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Telephoto or super-telephoto lens VIEW THE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto142 On the one hand, motor sport photography is extremely accessible. You buy a spectator ticket, find yourself a decent spot with a low fence and fire away. But on the other hand, the long lenses and beefy cameras that many professionals and enthusiasts swear by cost a pretty penny. So, what if you’re working on a tight budget or you want to find out if motor sport photography’s your thing, before investing in top-tier kit? This issue, we took a Nikon D3400 and a Nikon AF-S DX 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II to…

The Mission – Get to grips with Black and White adjustments and Gradient Maps in Affinity Photo Time – 10 minutes Skill level – Easy Kit needed – Affinity Photo VIEW THE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto142 Black and white can be a beautiful effect, but sometimes a subtle colour tint can elevate things to another level. In this project we’ll show you how to apply classic tinting effects in Affinity Photo. From vintage sepia treatments to classy cobalt finishes, we’ll explain how to craft a host of different treatments. And if you’d rather jump straight in and start applying these classic analogue finishes to your images, you’ll find 16 free presets amongst the project files, ready to be loaded into Affinity Photo and tested on your own photos with just…

The only camera manual you’ll ever need… If you’ve ever taken a shot in sunlight, or any other situation where the brightness range is high, the chances are your camera will have lost some detail in the darkest parts of the picture, the brightest parts, or both. This is because the difference between the brightest and darkest areas is so great that you can’t find a single exposure setting that can capture them both. Digital camera sensors can capture a wide range of brightness values, but there is a limit: the camera’s ‘dynamic range’. If you’re faced with a scene that has a wider dynamic range (or brightness range) than the camera’s, you may well have a problem. HOW DO YOU CHECK? Your camera’s histogram display is a good way…

1 Switch to manual In M mode you can note down exposure readings and choose how you interpret them, rather than relying on the camera’s ideas about correct exposure. 2 Set an aperture If you select a specific aperture, you only need to change one variable – the shutter speed – to work out the best exposure. Let’s go for f/8. 3 Swap to spot Select the spot metering mode. This takes an exposure reading from a small area around the selected focus point only – so switch to single-point AF mode. 4 Brightest area Position the AF point over the brightest area (but not the sun) and adjust shutter speed to centre the exposure bar; here it’s 1/500 sec. 5 Darkest area Now do the same for the darkest…

1 Go to www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-free to download the installer (note that the software is available for Windows only). Click the Free Download button. After a few seconds, your download will begin. 2 Open the acdsee-free.exe installer, which downloads and installs the full software. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation, which may take a few minutes. 3 Click the ACDSee Free icon in the Start menu. When you first run the program, you will need to register with the Sign Up button to create a User ID and password (you can also register using your Microsoft or Google account, should you have one). 4 Next, select the folder that ACDSee Free opens at startup. By default, it’s This PC>Pictures. Click Next. 5 You can also select which folders ACDSee Free…

From £80/$90 3leggedthing.com Features 1 A spring-loaded adapter lets you screw on a camera directly or a 3/8-inch tripod head.2 There is no head (unless you supply one) – your camera screws directly to the top.3 Three leg locks enable the monopod to extend to a lofty 2.02 metres.4 The orange collar can be screwed down to lock the ball joint in a vertical position.5 You can remove the rubber foot to unscrew the optional Docz2 feet, if needed. This no-fuss monopod from 3 Legged Thing’s ‘Punks’ range is more affordable than the company’s premium products, but effective nonetheless. As well as being useful for sports and wildlife, a monopod can give you a more stable platform for everyday shooting, especially video. It will eliminate any vertical movement and a lot…

£355/$429 A rare Z DX format fast prime Nikon doesn’t make any Z DX format fast primes yet. Viltrox makes four, all with fast f/1.4 aperture ratings. They’re all fully tricked-up autofocus lenses with full electronic camera-lens communication, and all feature an aperture control ring. The 13mm is the most wide-angle and there are also 23mm, 33mm and 56mm lenses in the series, the collection having classic ‘effective’ focal lengths of 20mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. We’ve been thoroughly impressed with all of Viltrox’s Z DX lenses, but the 13mm is the latest and greatest. The optical path is quite complex, featuring 14 elements in 11 groups. It includes two aspherical elements, plus four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) and two HR (High Refractive index) elements. The front element is oversized to…

£899/$749 A starstruck lens from the premium range From Samyang’s stable of premium ‘XP’ manual-focus prime lenses, this 14mm f/2.4 is a perfect fit for astrophotography. Up-market, high-tech glass is neatly built into a really solid casing with sublime handling. The rubberized manual focus ring gives an assured grip and has an unusually long rotational travel with a fluid feel for high-precision focusing. One minus point is that there’s no weather-seal ring on the mounting plate to guard against the ingress of dust and moisture. To be fair, if you’re photographing the Milky Way, you’ll need dry and dust-free conditions. Performance Image quality for astrophotography when shooting at the widest aperture is markedly better than from the Irix 15mm and Sigma 14mm prime lenses on test. Spherical and lateral chromatic…

£1269/$1299 The leading wide-angle F-mount zoom This Sigma lens matches the own-brand Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 F-mount zoom for maximum viewing angle and aperture, while undercutting it on price. Sigma also makes a wider 12-24mm Art zoom, but that one has a slower aperture rating of f/4 that’s less ideal for astrophotography. Build quality and handling are excellent in both Sigma lenses on test, but the zoom gains a full set of weather-seals. Again, the front element has a keep-clean fluorine coating. Both lenses are compatible with Sigma’s optional USB Dock. Performance Even when shooting at the shortest focal length with the widest aperture, the lens delivers excellent sharpness right across the frame and into the corners, easing ahead of the Tamron. Vignetting is remarkably minimal and, in real-world shooting rather…

Autumn is my favourite season for many reasons: it’s the beginning of the end for the hay fever season (thank goodness!), Halloween is the perfect excuse to sit by a roaring fire and lose yourself in a classic Gothic horror novel, and the festive season is just around the corner. But what I look forward to most – of course – is the season’s dazzling array of reds, oranges and yellows, and its seemingly endless photographic potential. All the leaves are brown There really is nothing quite like wrapping up warm and heading out to photograph the season’s dazzling display of russet browns, golden yellows and vibrant oranges. I’m particularly fond of importing a dull Raw file into Adobe Camera Raw and using the software’s colour-editing tools to gradually ignite…

Stunning scenery, airborne dirt particles and unprecedented trackside access make rallying one of the most photogenic forms of motor sport. But it’s also incredibly difficult to shoot. Stages stretch for miles, making it difficult to identify the best vantage points, erratic subjects are tricky to frame at high speeds, and plumes of dust can confuse even the best autofocus system and coat optics in a thick layer of grime. Alex and Stuart met at Radnor Forest in Wales to photograph the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally. THE PRO NAME: Alex Denham CAMERA: Nikon D750 Alex’s motor sport journey started entirely by chance. Her petrolhead mum suggested she photograph a race for a college project and the budding photographer knew then and there, she’d found her calling. A year later and she…

Ross is a multi-award-winning professional photographer with a lifelong love of nature and the outdoors. He’s a Benro Ambassador, LEE Master and Nikon Alumni, and is also the author of eight books. www.rosshoddinott.co.uk It is that time of year again when the hours of daylight are growing shorter and there is a crisp, cool bite to the air each morning. The landscape is changing, with an array of fiery colours replacing the fresh, green foliage of spring and summer. The light is more attractive thanks to the sun’s lower position in the sky, and moisture in the atmosphere produces glistening dew and eerie mists. The weather is generally less predictable, resulting in dramatic skies and gorgeous transient light. Berries, seeds and the fruits of autumn are everywhere, along with toadstools,…

The Mission – Capture images of deer using a series of creative tips and tricks Time – Three hours Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – Telephoto lens VIEW THE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto142 We often speak of the new ‘Big Five’, when referring to the world’s most popular animals to photograph, but if we were to have a British Big Five then the red deer would almost certainly be featured. Britain’s largest land mammal is a wildlife photography favourite, thanks to its magnificent features, and it is synonymous with autumn. Autumn plays host to the red deer rut, one of the UK wildlife calendar’s headline events. Not only is the landscape looking its beautiful best, but so are the deer. Magnificent bucks sport full heads of antlers as they…

Carol Sharp Profile • Carol Sharp began her life as a professional photographer soon after graduating from Brighton Art College with a first-class degree in visual communication.• Since then, her plant photography has been widely published, including Chelsea Flower Show posters, two sets of Royal Mail stamps and the book series From Bud to Seed.• Carol’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibition across the UK as well as in Barcelona and New York, and most recently at London’s Coningsby Gallery.• She is a winner of the Association of Photographer Awards, Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and the Pollux Awards.• Carol is passionate about the importance of plants for people’s health and the planet, and donates a percentage of her income to support education, conservation and awareness of plants and…

Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Exposure: 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO200 MISSION: Photograph a kingfisher every single day, in search of that elusive perfect image PHOTOGRAPHER: Neil Greenhalgh LOCATION: Middlesex KIT USED: Nikon D500, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM I C FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/3KieENC INSTAGRAM: @neilsie88 Lockdown encouraged me towalk more and explore the green spaces in my area. Each day, my dog and I would set off for our allotted period of exercise in a local park. I live in Ruislip and the park we often chose has a very pretty stream running through it, known as the Yeading Brook. This made for a particularly pleasant walk along the bank. It was during one of these excursions that I was lucky enough to spot an unmistakable flash of blue…

Low contrast In a low-contrast scene, there’s not much difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the picture. This shows up in the histogram, which fits easily within the dynamic range of the camera sensor. Exposure for low-contrast scenes Because the histogram is narrow, there’s plenty of exposure latitude. If you change the exposure, the histogram will shift left or right, but you could make quite large adjustments before any clipping might occur. High contrast With a high-contrast scene, there’s a huge difference between the brightest and darkest parts. This produces a much wider histogram, which could quite easily be wider than the camera’s own dynamic range. Exposure for high-contrast scenes If the brightness range is too much for your camera and you don’t want to use HDR techniques,…

1 Menu options The Batch tool processes multiple photos at once. Slideshow cycles through images using various transitions. SendPix shares shots via email. Use Quick Search to find files by filenames and folder contents. 2 View mode Double-click an image (or the View tab) to examine it in detail. As well as zooming in and quickly rotating images, a filmstrip allows you to navigate the files in the current folder. 3 Dashboard Use Dashboard mode to assess all manner of handy camera, file and database statistics at a glance. The information here is based on files that have already been catalogued. 4 Navigation tools In Browse mode, you navigate to your files in the left-hand panel using a folder structure similar to Windows File Explorer. Below this is a preview…

1. Golden Light Lancia BY CHRIS GURTON This Lancia was captured at Silverstone and is a panning masterclass. The front portion of the car is in focus and tack sharp, while the vehicle’s high speed – paired with a shutter speed of 1/125 sec – has created streaks of motion blur. If that were not enough, a flame has been captured from the exhaust and the image has been shot at sunset, resulting in beautiful pink hues and golden light. Camera: Nikon D2X Lens: 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Exposure: 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO100 2. Cricket in the Fog BY LONETREEPHOTOGRAPHY This candid minimalist composition is proof that sports images don’t always have to be action-packed. This black-and-white photograph of a fielder at a cricket match might be devoid of action, but it’s…

Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD £TBA/$TBA www.tamron.com The release of a Z-mount version of Tamron’s T 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD lens will offer an affordable telephoto option to owners of the Nikon Z 5 and Z 6II, filling a huge gap in the full-frame Nikon Z line-up. Nikon’s own telephotos are pricier pro-spec constant aperture designs that may appeal to owners of higher-end Nikons like the Z 7II and Z 9. The new Tamron is also an interesting option for Nikon’s APS-C Z-mount models, including the Nikon Z 50, Z fc and Z 30. On these cameras it will offer an equivalent focal range of 105-450mm, making it a pretty powerful long-range telephoto. However, Nikon does already make the Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR for these cameras at…

£219/$310 www.gitzo.com Features 1 Roll-top compartment boasts plenty of room for non-camera essentials2 Gitzo’s G-Cushion technology helps to protect camera equipment3 Substantial multi-link straps can be used to secure tripods and other accessories4 Removable internal camera insert allows bag to double as an everyday backpack5 Protection is provided by water-repellent fabric, rain cover & coated zippers/bottom This premium rucksack is built specifically for use on the trail, and boasts ample storage for both camera gear and hiking essentials. It features a wealth of compartments, and the internal dividers can be removed so that the Adventury doubles as a generic hiking backpack too. There’s a choice of 45L and 30L variants. We tested the latter, which measures 30.9x 18.9x48cm (12.2x7.48x18.9in) and weighs 2.05kg (4.52lbs). The camera insert alone measures 23x16x37.9cm (9.06x6.3x…

£359/$439 A fully manual Z-mount lens This Samyang is entirely manual. As such, you need to set both the aperture and focus distance using the lens’s on-board control rings, and there’s no electronic communication with the camera body whatsoever. No lens-related EXIF information can be captured and stored within image files. On the plus side, the 14mm focal length and f/2.8 aperture make the lens ideal for astrophotography. Indeed, manual focusing generally works best for shooting the stars. Handling is very good with a silky-smooth action to the long-throw focus ring. The construction feels solid and includes weather-seals. High-quality glass includes aspherical, hybrid-aspherical, ED and HR elements. Performance Sharpness is very good across the entire image frame, even when shooting wide-open at f/2.8, along with minimal coma and astigmatism, so…

£1099/$1299 Tamron’s second-generation ultra-wide zoom Unique in this group, the Tamron sports an optical stabilizer or ‘Vibration Compensation’ system. Moreover, it’s an upgraded version in the G2 edition of the lens, with increased 4.5-stop effectiveness. That’s useful when shooting at dusk or indoors, but of no benefit for long exposures in astrophotography. There’s little change in the optical line-up, although the G2 gains an additional anti-glare coating and a more durable fluorine coating on the front element. The integral hood protects the bulbous front element and there’s no filter thread. Unlike competing Nikon and Sigma wide-angle lenses, the Tamron has a large zoom ring at the front and a relatively small focus ring at the rear. Performance It shows noticeable barrel distortion and vignetting at its shortest focal length, but…

£1399/$1599 A go-faster lens in every way This prime lens is a full f-stop faster than the Irix 15mm and Samyang 14mm F-mount lenses on test. And whereas the other two are manual-focus lenses, the Sigma adds speedy ring-type ultrasonic autofocus. The wide aperture comes at a price, however: not only because the large-diameter elements are more expensive to manufacture, but since they result in a comparatively big and heavy build. Indeed, it’s about the same size and 20g heavier than Sigma’s 14-24mm f/2.8 zoom lens on test. The ultra-wide viewing angle and fast aperture are a winning combination for capturing the night sky with minimal star-trailing. Performance Image quality is fabulous even when shooting wide-open, at least in terms of sharpness, contrast, colour rendition and the absence of spherical…