Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

SHOOT RAW Jason says… My photos aren’t heavily edited, but I still want the most pliable and high-quality files possible. That’s why I always shoot Raw and set my colour space to Adobe RGB, which boasts a wider colour gamut than sRGB. This allows me to use my camera to its fullest potential. ISO SENSITIVITY Jason says… This option in the Shooting Menu allows you to set a max ISO sensitivity and minimum shutter speed. This ensures that Auto ISO doesn’t deliver unusable, high levels of noise and that the shutter speed doesn’t dip into camera shake territory. I typically use ISO1600 and 1/160 sec. MIRROR SLAP Jason says… Mirror-up mode is invaluable, because it reduces the possibility of mirror slap. If you don’t have a remote shutter release, use…

Winter Mountains CRAIG MCGOWAN Taken from an aircraft flying at 10,000 feet, the Mount Cook/Aoraki National Park, on the South Island of New Zealand, was covered in dense, scattered clouds, with the snow-covered mountains below coming in and out of view. Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: 70-200mm f/4 Exposure: 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO64 Foggy Dubai SAJEESH SHANMUGAN This image was taken early one morning from the rooftop of a 74-storey building in Dubai. The dense cloud of fog that rolled over the city was perforated by lights from buildings and highways, and combined with the golden glow of sunrise to create a magical effect. Camera: Nikon D7100 Lens: 11-16mm f/2.8 Exposure: 6 secs, f/9, ISO100 Star Adventurers II F XAVIER CUVELIER The NOEMA observatory, located at the Plateau de Bure in…

You need to be setting up before the rain stops and ready to press the shutter the moment the light bursts through 1 AFTER THE RAIN Clearing showers can produce some of the most striking lighting conditions: the air is clear and visibility excellent, and as the sun breaks through, spotlit features on the landscape stand out dramatically against heavy skies. Conditions change rapidly, which means that you need to be setting up before the rain stops, ready to press the shutter the moment the light bursts through. So as well as wearing waterproof clothing to protect yourself, you’ll need to take care of your kit, too. Make sure you’ve put the right lens on the camera before you head out into the showers and protect the camera with a…

13 CLIFFTOP FLOWERS Wild flowers don’t just grow in woodlands and fields. There are plenty of colourful flowers on the clifftops, too. In particular, bright pink thrift is a common sight on coastal clifftops in May. They make a fantastic foreground for big vistas, so you’ll want to get as close as possible with a wide-angle lens. This will make depth of field a bit of a challenge, but fortunately, many modern Nikons feature focus bracketing, where the camera can be set to automatically take a series of shots focused at different points throughout the scene, which can then be blended together in Photoshop to create a single image that is sharp from foreground to background. Go to the Photo Shooting Menu, select Focus Shift Shooting, and set the desired…

Photographing the Milky Way can be a tricky pursuit. But when the stars align (literally), the reward is worth it. Your Nikon can see and capture far more than your own eyes, and I still get excited every time I see my camera’s rear screen light up with the surreal colours and textures of outer space. But to capture a successful Milky Way core requires a bit of planning and a few key techniques. Thankfully, digital photography – and its ability to capture seemingly endless exposures – has made, what was once an extremely difficult genre on film, far more accessible. With astro, practice makes perfect – even if conditions aren’t ideal – so boldly go to the facing page and discover the crucial tips that will guide you towards…

Retouching is usually associated with portrait editing, but it can be equally effective for landscapes. Often a little tidying up can go a long way towards achieving the perfect image. Here we have annoying electricity wires on the left side, the large ships on the right are a bit of an eyesore and the shrubs sprouting up in the foreground interrupt the flowing curve of the river. The busy image would be stronger without the distracting details. Affinity Photo offers a host of useful retouching tools. In this project we’ll look at two of the best, the Inpainting and Clone tools. Inpainting works by automatically filling in areas you paint over, based on the surrounding pixels. The Clone tool, on the other hand, simply lets you copy pixels from one…

1 Shoot at the beach A beach, lake or any body of water will be ideal for your splashing light painting. Even a large puddle would do. The water creates attractive colourful reflections. We shot our scene on sand with shallow rivers of seawater at low tide. In strong coastal winds, weigh the tripod down with a camera bag. 2 Stay safe Safety is paramount whenever you’re taking pictures around water, especially when it’s dark. A shallow expanse of water like this is the best option. Of course, shallow water is preferable in chilly weather as you won’t have to get too wet! Keep your camera and lenses away from sand as much as possible too. 3 Set up a tripod We need a tripod to keep the camera still…

The Warp command in Photoshop is fantastic for reshaping layers into any form you like. To initiate it, go to Edit > Transform > Warp (or, instead, right-click while transforming a layer to access the Warp feature). There are a few crucial controls. First, the grid at the top left lets you set how many segments your warp box has. The more segments, the tighter the changes you can make. As well as choosing from a standard grid like 3x3, you can also Cmd/Ctrl-click to add your own anchor points on the layer. Then you can either drag a single point, or hold Shift and drag a box to highlight several anchor points then move them all at once. If you’re after more pixel-pushing controls, head to the Liquify command…

Switch to Live View Some Nikon’s have an ‘Lv’ button, others have a lever to activate the Live View mode – you’ll hear the mirror flip up and the shutter open. Move the AF point You have a choice of focus modes. This is Wide-area AF, which gives a larger focus area. You can use the multi-selector to move the focus point. Zooming in If you need a closer look, use the zoom button on the back of the camera to magnify the Live View image. There’s a limit to how far you can zoom in, however. Magnified focusing Use the multi-selector to pan around to different sections of the image. The focus point travels, with you staying in the centre of the frame. Switch to manual It’s easier with…

Q I’m after a fast, really wide-angle prime for my Nikon Z fc. Is there anything available in native Z DX mount or will I have to use an FTZ adapter? Jeannie Payne A I’m a big fan of Viltrox autofocus lenses for Nikon Z DX format cameras. The company followed up on its trio of fast AF 23mm, 33mm and 56mm f/1.4 lenses last year with an AF 13mm lens. The initial three lenses are pretty much identical in size and weight, and the 13mm is slightly larger but retains the same fast f/1.4 aperture. With the same ‘effective’ focal length as using a 20mm lens on a full-frame camera, the lens gives a generous 94.1-degree viewing angle, while its bright aperture makes it ideal for freezing movement in…

When we reviewed the Nikon Z 9, we called it: “Simply the best camera ever!” And now, together with Nikon UK, we’re giving you the chance to win the flagship Z camera. It’s an incredible prize that’s worth a whopping £5299/$5499. All you have to do is enter any of the 12 rounds of NPOTY 2023 to be in with a chance of taking Nikon’s most advanced camera home and being crowned N-Photo’s Photographer of the Year 2023. Mirrorless behemoth The Nikon Z 9 features some truly ferocious specs, as you’d expect from a pro-grade, full-frame, flagship camera. It boasts a stacked 45.7Mp CMOS sensor and runs via Nikon’s EXPEED 7 image-processor. It also packs Nikon’s most advanced AF system and can shoot bursts at an astonishing 120fps, making 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…

A constant-aperture 70-200mm f/2.8 ‘trinity’ zoom is often the go-to telephoto lens for enthusiast photographers, but they tend to be big, heavy and expensive, and they’re certainly not the only option. The 70-300mm zoom range is something of a classic, stretching back to the 35mm film era. These lenses have a slower, variable aperture range, typically of around f/4-5.6 but give more powerful reach on an FX (full-frame) camera, going further still on DX (APS-C format) bodies, with an effective range of around 105-450mm that stretches into super-telephoto territory. Further advantages are that ‘budget telephoto lenses’ are relatively compact, lightweight and easy to live with, especially for action, travel, sport and wildlife photography, when you might want to shoot handheld for long periods of time, without resorting to using a…

£296/$347 Nikon’s AF-P DX 70-300mm is the least expensive zoom lens in the group but it’s the only F-mount lens designed for DSLRs that lacks optical VR (Vibration Reduction). Considering that the effective maximum focal length on a DX format body is 450mm, this makes it a real challenge to get consistently sharp handheld shots, unless you’re under bright sunlight and can bank on shutter speeds of around 1/500 sec or more. Apart from the lack of VR, this lens is identical to the other AF-P DX 70-300mm on test. They were launched simultaneously back in 2016, as Nikon’s first telephoto zooms to feature AF-P stepping motor autofocus systems. The two lenses look pretty much identical apart from the addition of a ‘VR’ legend on the stabilized edition. The lenses…

£379/$377 Like the now obsolete AF-S 55-200mm zoom for DX format DSLRs, this Z-mount lens for the Z 50, Z fc and Z 30 has a retractable design. At 74x110mm and 405g, it’s about a third longer and heavier than its F-mount predecessor, but stretches longer to a 250mm rather than 200mm maximum focal length, albeit with a narrower f/6.3 aperture rating at the long end. That’s certainly not uncommon in lenses that are designed for mirrorless cameras that try to keep the size and weight to a minimum. The lens has a particularly powerful 5-stop optical VR system built in, as well as a virtually silent yet super-speedy pulse stepping motor autofocus system. As with the other DX format Nikon lenses on test, there’s one ED element in the…

£699/$699 Sigma dropped its longstanding stabilized and non-stabilized 70-300mm lenses years ago and replaced them with this 100-400mm zoom from the Contemporary category of its Global Vision line-up. As such, it’s designed to offer strong all-round performance while keeping size and weight to easily manageable levels. The Sigma actually measures 86x182mm and weighs 1160g, making it shorter but marginally heavier than the competing Tamron 100-400mm lens on test. Build quality feels robust and includes weather-seals but there’s no optional tripod mounting ring. The optical path has four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements, autofocus is of the fast yet whisper-quiet ring-type ultrasonic variety, and the 4-stop image stabilizer has a switchable panning mode, which works when panning in any orientation. Dual-mode switchable autofocus can give priority to AF or manual override,…

For handheld shots, it’s often said you should use a shutter speed that’s at least the reciprocal of the focal length of a lens (‘effective’ focal length for DX cameras). That equates to 1/300 sec at 300mm on a full-frame body, or 1/450 sec with a DX camera. This can be hard to achieve but image stabilization enables sharp results.…

Spring is springing! After the long, grey winter months, buds are blossoming, bare branches are beginning to bear leaves and once-barren ground is erupting in an explosion of colour. So this issue, pro landscape photographer Mark Bauer shares a selection of his hand-picked tips to help you take your best-ever shots of the new season. Keeping with the regrowth theme, our apprentice gets expert tuition from plant photographer Jason Ingram, as he learns to take professional-standard pictures of gardens and all that grows in them. In these tough times, we check out a selection of sensibly priced telephoto lenses. Typically stretching from 70-300mm (though we also include 50-250mm and 100-400mm variations), these lenses are considerably cheaper than classic ‘pro’ 70-200mm glass, albeit with a slower variable aperture that shrinks as…

STAR-STUDDED SHOTS Jason says… Open your images in Adobe Lightroom CC by heading to File > Import Photos and Video. Use the Library module to star rate any images with potential before opening the Develop module to gain access to the Basic panel. This is where I make the majority of my global edits. GLOBAL EDITS Jason says… My aim is to enhance my photographs in post-production, while replicating the colours as naturally as possible. This example was warmed using the Temperature slider (4700K), the Exposure was increased (+0.20), the Highlights and Whites brightened (+20), and the Blacks darkened (-20). CLONE IT OUT Jason says… I try to avoid cloning, but will remove elements that detract from the subject, such as an encroaching petal or unwanted spot on the background.…

Look out for cow parsley, primroses, daisies and gorse, among many other species growing in open countryside 5 WILD FLOWER FRAMES The months of March, April and May are well known for wild flowers. Look out for primroses, daisies, cow parsley and gorse, among many other species growing in open countryside. These flowers all make excellent subjects if you shoot them with a macro lens, but can also make excellent foreground interest for wider views of the landscape. Get in close with a wide angle lens and fill the bottom of the frame with the flowers. With your Nikon in Aperture Priority (A) or Manual (M) exposure mode, select a small aperture such as f/16. To maximize depth of field, focus at double the distance of the nearest object in…

17 TRY INFRARED Infrared landscapes have an otherworldly quality, with black-and-white shots, in particular, being especially haunting. Foliage turns a ghostly white and blue skies are rendered almost pure black. With so much pure green in the landscape, this time of year is the ideal time to give it a go, and subjects such as woodland, ruined buildings and churchyards make ideal studies. Real IR enthusiasts have cameras especially converted to block out visible light and only record infrared, but this isn’t strictly necessary; you can use infrared filters such as the Hoya R72. Not all cameras work well with these filters, but Nikons do. Just be aware that with most of the visible light not reaching the sensor, exposure times will be extremely long – comparable to using a…

The legendary Gjon Mili captured a stroboscopic image of drummer Gene Krupa back in the 1940s and, working with Rich Westley, I tried to replicate this effect with modern tech. I combined a dark room, bursts of flash and a long exposure to create a dynamic multiple-exposure effect in a single image. 1 Blackout To create stroboscopic images you need a dark photo studio. Mine wouldn’t do – it’s an old mill with roof windows – but Rich’s drumming studio has heavy black curtains for sound proofing, which darkens the space. I set up a solitary modelling light to give me just enough illumination to lock focus. 2 Camera gear Set your camera on a tripod and place a flashgun in the hotshoe. I used my Nikon D5, Speedlight SB-5000…

Actions are custom scripts or mini-programs that automatically stack a bunch of image adjustments or filter commands together, and execute them in lightning-fast time. Stylized treatments and imaging effects that could take ages to create and fine-tune manually can be conjured up with one mouse click. Actions have several advantages for the times when you want to give a photo a new look, or take it in a new creative direction. The benefit of working with a complete set that’s ready-made is not only the joy of applying a broad variety of different effects really fast, it’s also the chance to generate new looks you’d simply never have thought of. On this issue’s download is a set of custom-made Actions called Retro Chic. As the name implies, they will take…

1 Prepare the light Unless your light source is waterproof, you’ll need to prepare it by placing in a watertight bag. We chose to use a battery-powered disco light, you can buy these for a few pounds on Amazon or similar sites. We placed the light inside two clear plastic bags, tied tightly to a piece of string so that we could swing the light around and create colourful curved patterns. 2 Set an interval timer If you’re shooting this solo then you won’t want to be going back and forth to the camera. It’s better to set the camera firing at intervals so that you can continue shooting for a few minutes while you produce the light painting. Use the interval timer to shoot continuously as you paint. 3…

Manual focus Focus peaking is designed as an aid to manual focusing, and so you’ll need to switch to manual focus while in Live View mode to activate it, either via the in-camera menu of the AF/M switch on the lens barrel. Edge highlights Areas of contrast in the image that will be in acceptable focus are highlighted. As you narrow the aperture to increase the depth of field, the highlighted area will also increase in size – and vice versa if you widen it. True colours You can change the highlight colour so that it shows up better against the colour of the subject you’re shooting. On the D850, go to Custom Settings > Shooting/display > d8 Peaking Highlight Color. A sensitive subject Press the i button and then…

Most Nikon DSLRs offer four different Live View autofocus modes: Face-priority AF, Wide-area AF, Normal-area AF and Subject-tracking AF (Some also offer ‘Pin-AF’, with a ultra-precise focus area.) You change between them using the interactive display or by pressing the AF mode button to the left of the lens mount and turning the front command dial. 1 FACE-PRIORITY AF This works just like the face-detection systems on compact digital cameras or mobile phones. Our Nikon has instantly identified the face in the frame, which doesn’t have to be in the centre. 2 WIDE-AREA AF Wide-area AF is usually recommended for shooting landscapes and other non-portrait subjects, because it’s designed for focusing on broad areas rather than individual details. 3 NORMAL-AREA AF This is much more precise, using a smaller focus…

Q I’ve bought a used Z 6 body. Can you recommend a good secondhand standard zoom to go with it? Damien Marshall A Matthew recommends… I’d look no further than the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S. Although supplied as a ‘kit zoom’, it’s a great lens in its own right and a standout secondhand bargain. Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S SMALL BUT MIGHTY, IT’S A SUPERB S-LINE LENS FOR Z-SYSTEM FULL-FRAME CAMERAS RELEASED: 2018 PRICE NEW: £1049/$997 SECONDHAND PRICE: ‘Excellent’ £289/$379 ‘Good’ £249/$339 It’s not often we feature lenses still in production as secondhand superstars, let alone ones that are less than five years old. This is an exception, and definitely exceptional in terms of value and performance, delivering top image quality. It’s wonderfully compact, thanks to a retractable construction. It…

Apple Mac Mini M2 From £649/$599 www.apple.com Utilitarian isn’t an adjective you’d often associate with Apple. After all, Cupertino wrote the book on fashionable tech. But left within the shadow of Apple’s sleek-looking Macbooks and colourful iMacs is the aesthetically unremarkable – yet no less powerful – Mac Mini. Two years ago, the miniature computer received a much-needed update in the form of Apple’s coveted M1 silicon chip and now it’s back with, you guessed it, the M2. What nobody could have predicted though, is an even more affordable price tag. The Mac Mini M2 starts at £649/$599, that’s £50/$50 cheaper than the last-gen. Compared with the Mac Mini M1, the new M2-loaded version is said to offer 50% faster filter and function performance in Adobe Photoshop CC, and 2.4x…

£209/$229 Think super-tele primes and you’re probably thinking of big, weighty and hugely expensive lenses. This Tokina bucks the trend in being small, lightweight and cheap to buy. Indeed, it’s the most inexpensive lens in the group by a considerable margin. But there’s a catch. As a reflex or ‘mirror’ lens, it has just six optical elements, three of which have mirrored surfaces that bounce the light backwards and forwards within the relatively short barrel. This enables a long focal length in a small build. As a ‘dumb lens’, there’s no electrical connection to the host camera. The same lens is actually sold with a variety of different mounting plates to suit various cameras, including both Nikon F and Nikon Z, making it a native fit for both DSLRs and…

True to form for telephoto prime and zoom lenses, most of those in this test group keep a tight rein on distortion. There’s typically almost no distortion or very minor barrel distortion at the short end for zoom lenses, and fairly little pincushion at mid to long zoom settings. Like many recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras, the distortion performance of the Z 50-250mm VR is flattered by auto correction that can’t be disabled, whereas the Tamron Z-mount lens has the worst distortion in the group, when uncorrected in-camera.…

£629/$597 The previous FX format Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR was one of our all-time favourite budget telephoto zooms. It packed ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and effective VR into a robust casing, delivering very good handling and performance. But the latest AF-P edition is a major step forward. The optical path is upgraded with the aim of delivering better sharpness throughout the zoom range. Additional weather-seals are fitted, along with a new ‘Pulse’ (stepping motor) autofocus system that delivers incredible speed and is silent, plus the aperture is electromagnetically controlled. Exposures tend to be more accurate and consistent when shooting in high-speed continuous drive mode. A downside of both the AF-P autofocus system and ‘E’ (electromagnetic) aperture control is that they’re incompatible with a number of older Nikon DSLRs. There…

Colour fringing in telephoto lenses is generally most apparent as lateral chromatic aberration, which tends to show up around high-contrast edges towards the edges and corners of the image frame. A typical example is dark leaves and branches or the edges of buildings against a bright sky. Current and recent Nikon cameras correct for this automatically but, when disabled for lab tests, control over colour fringing is relatively poor for both Nikon AF-S DX 70-300mm lenses on test, especially towards the long end of the zoom range.…

£799/$799 Nearly twice the weight and a third longer than Tamron’s Z-mount 70-300mm lens on test, this one goes toe-to-toe with Sigma’s 100-400mm zoom. Both of these full-frame compatible F-mount lenses have ring-type ultrasonic autofocus systems. That’s good news for stills, as autofocus is fast and snappy, as well as being whisper-quiet, but it’s relatively poor for video. The Tamron and Sigma 100-400mm lenses both have 4-stop optical stabilization, with switchable panning modes. A neat feature of the Tamron is that the ‘Limit’ position on its AF/MF focus mode switch enables you to limit autofocus either side of the current focus distance setting. As with the Sigma, an optional USB docking station is available, but the Tamron lacks additional Custom modes available via a physical switch on the lens barrel.…

Polarizing filters are mostly known for the effect they have on blue skies, but they are just as useful for vibrant woodland 9 BOOST SPRING GREENS Polarizing filters are used to boost colour saturation but are mostly known for the effect they have on blue skies – turning them into a deep, rich hue. A lot of photographers aren’t aware that they are just as useful when photographing woodland. Polarizers cut through surface glare, thus restoring natural colour situation as foliage generally has quite a sheen. Remove this sheen and the colour becomes pure and saturated. Spring woodland then looks incredibly fresh and vibrant. Polarizers are easy to use – simply rotate the filter while looking through the viewfinder. You’ll see reflections and glare come and go, and colour saturation…

Technically, true macro photography is when you magnify your subject via a ratio of at least 1:1, but people commonly refer to any close-up image as macro photography. If you’re interested in pursuing this fascinating genre, you need to have the right gear. The most important tool, of course, is a dedicated macro lens, but that’s not the only solution – and it certainly isn’t the cheapest. If you’re on a budget, you may prefer to try extension tubes, close-up filters or the reverse-lens technique. The best time to photograph insects is very early in the morning or late in the evening when they are roosting and therefore relatively inactive. This means you can take your time and work around them, while creating as little disturbance as possible. How to…

There are numerous of reasons to go to the beach, but flinging around a disco light in the dark is probably among the more unusual pastimes. However, while it might get you a few funny looks, it can lead to wonderfully vibrant photos. In this project we’ll look at how to create stunning long-exposure light paintings with a combination of shooting and Photoshop skills. This process begins with an after-dark shoot, during which we swing a torch or other suitable light source around to create swirling patterns. The beach setting isn’t essential – it can be done in your back garden, a darkened room or any dim setting. But to add extra sparkle to our light painting we headed to the coast and splashed around in the shallows with our…

1 Position the shape Open a frame of the empty scene. Next, open an image of the shape you want to use – we chose a water lily. Grab the Move tool and drag the shape into the empty scene to copy it over. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform, then resize and position the shape to fit. Go to the Layers panel and reduce the opacity so it’s just visible. 2 Choose a painting Find a suitable flowing line in your set of newly-shot images that roughly mimics part of the shape. Make a rough selection of it with the Lasso tool then copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C) and Paste (Cmd/Ctrl+V) it into the empty image. Grab the Move tool and position the image roughly in place. 3 Warp the painting Set the layer…

Information off This is perfect if you just want to see your subject, your camera settings and nothing else. You can cycle through this view and all the others by pressing repeatedly on the ‘Info’ button. Information on In this mode an extra line of shooting information is added at the top of the screen to show your autofocus settings, Active D-Lighting status and the current Picture Control settings. Framing guides These grid lines make it easier to check that the objects in your picture are perfectly horizontal or vertical, and can be useful for checking the spacing and distance from the edge of the frame. Virtual Horizon This is another way of checking that the camera is level, using a kind of electronic spirit level overlaid on the screen,…

Live View isn’t restricted to the LCD display on the back of the camera. Professional photographers often shoot ‘tethered’, where the image is fed via cable to a desktop PC or laptop, which can be used to adjust camera settings and fire the shutter. It’s also possible to get external monitors that plug into the camera’s HDMI socket. Nikon cameras with Wi-Fi also have the ability to transmit a live image direct to your mobile phone and control the camera remotely using Nikon’s Snapbridge app.…

1. Golden Fairytale BY SOLLENAPHOTOGRAPHY This cinematic still has conjured up ample storytelling potential. The model gazes past the viewer, directing her magic towards something beyond the frame. Golden light pulls the subject from the dark background and the viewer is drawn to her clearly defined and pin-sharp eyes. The fiery sparks and glow complement the overall warm tones. A magical portrait and a deserved winner! Camera: Nikon D610 Lens: 50mm f/1.4 Exposure: 1/160 sec, f/1.8, ISO100 2. Blind Spot BY ELENA PARASKEVA It’s hard not to stare at this surreal image in contemplation. But move past the subject matter and you’ll find a masterclass in light and colour. Soft lighting complements the figure, while cool greens and cyans, and warm oranges and reds, provide a colour palette that both…

£320/$379 The Yongnuo YN85mm f/1.8 DF DSM was originally designed for Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras and is now also available in a Nikon Z mount. The popular focal length and aperture combination of 85mm and f/1.8 form a compact and lightweight build, while giving a short telephoto field of view and tight depth of field on full-frame cameras, ideal for portraiture and still life. As such, it goes head to head with the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S, but at around half the price. Key features We’ve seen plenty of fully manual lenses for Nikon Z system cameras from the likes of 7Artisans, Laowa, Samyang and more besides. Most deliver good image quality but are comparatively short on features. This Yongnuo lens is altogether different, with a feature set that…

£379/$397 This is the stabilized edition of the cheaper, more basic DX 70-300mm lens that’s also featured in this big test. The optical design is essentially the same, based on 14 elements in 10 groups, along with the inclusion of an ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element. Neither of the lenses have an autofocus scale, typical of stepping-motor autofocus lenses, nor any onboard switches. Selection of auto/manual focus and VR on/off are therefore relegated to in-camera menus, the latter of which isn’t available on some older cameras, so VR remains active all the time. The look and feel of the lens are well suited to Nikon’s more recent DX format DSLRs, and it’s small and lightweight for a 70-300mm lens, at 72x125mm and 414g. That’s 14g heavier than the non-VR edition, pinpointing…

Naturally, you can use both DX and FX format lenses on a DX format body. Either way, the smaller image sensor of a DX camera results in 1.5x crop factor, or focal length multiplier. This equates to an ‘effective’ boost in telephoto reach, by the same amount. This pair of trackside shots demonstrates the difference.…

£699/$999 Originally developed for Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, this Tamron lens is now available in a Nikon Z-mount option. The biggest difference between the two is the price, the Z-mount edition is very much more expensive. Plus points include a tough, lightweight construction based on an aluminium-magnesium alloy barrel and plentiful weather seals. Autofocus is fast and precise, thanks to a linear stepping motor. A minus point is that the lens doesn’t feature optical image stabilization. You could argue that the in-body stabilizers of Nikon FX mirrorless cameras should suffice, but optical stabilization is often featured in the telephoto lenses, as it tends to be more effective. And if you shoot a Nikon DX Z system camera, you end up with no image stabilization at all. Handling feels pretty good…

The Nikon Z DX 50-250mm is a smart buy for mirrorless cameras but it’s of no use to you if you have a DSLR. A similarly compact and lightweight tele-zoom for DX format DSLRs is the Nikon AF-S DX 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II. The only problem is it’s been discontinued. That’s not an insurmountable hurdle, however, as the option of buying used camera kit is becoming increasingly popular. Like the Z DX 50-250mm, the older F-mount DX 55-200mm has a clever retractable design, so it takes up very little room when packed away – just 71x83mm when retracted and it weighs a mere 300g. Used examples in excellent condition start at around £150/$120.…

Naturally, when choosing a ‘budget’ telephoto lens, price is an important consideration as well as performance. Nikon’s latest FX format 70-300mm lens ticks all the right boxes, especially considering that the price has dropped significantly since its original launch. It’s well built, delivers ultra-fast and silent autofocus, highly effective image stabilization and excellent image quality, while also being fairly compact and lightweight to carry. Overall, it’s our top choice for both DX and FX format DSLRs, as well as for mirrorless cameras, via an FTZ mount adapter. The Nikon Z DX 50-250mm VR is a better option for DX format Z system cameras, if you want to keep size and weight to a minimum, and the same goes for the Tamron 70-300mm for Z FX bodies. For greater telephoto reach,…

CROP-SENSOR DX DSLRS NIKON D3500 IT’S GETTING HARDER to find the D3500 in stores, but it’s worth the effort. With a classic design making it easy to learn, it’s a perfectly capable camera with fantastic image quality that makes a fitting choice for people looking to take their first steps into the world of DSLR photography. Bundled with 18-55mm kit lens. TESTED IN ISSUE 95 • £550/$650 Sensor 24.2Mp, DX (6000x4000) Processor EXPEED 4 Viewfinder Pentamirror, 0.85x, 95% ISO 100-25,600 AF 11-point (1 cross-type) LCD 3-inch, 921k Max burst (buffer) 5fps (16 Raw) Memory card One SDXC UHS-I NIKON D7500 AN ADVANCED DSLR that’s easy to use, the D7500 delivers superb performance and image quality, plus great value. The D7500 steals most of the best bits from the now-discontinued pro-grade…