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

CAMERA SETTINGS Nic says… Lisa used 1/200 sec, whether she was using flash or ambient light, since it’s fast enough to freeze most kitchen movements. She then selected her preferred aperture and adjusted her ISO accordingly. She also used burst shooting in the kitchen – essential for a fast reaction. FLASH IN THE PAN Nic says… I use both flash and natural light. I tend to set my flash power to around 1/16 or 1/32 and then boosting or lowering it accordingly in conjunction with my ISO. I often only use a single flash, since more lights would get in the way and I’d rather not fill in all the lovely shadows. LOOK AT IT LIVE Nic says… I like to see exactly what I’m shooting through my D850’s optical…

Intruder ANIRBAN DUTTA Before the start of the Indian monsoon, termites swarm in what is known as nuptial flight. A black drongo bird spent 20 minutes swooping through thousands of termites. Three frames, of varying shutter speeds, were combined in-camera. Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 Exposure: From 1/5 sec, f/32, ISO800 Fields of Dreams J FRITZ RUMPF I picked up this mushroom in Arizona but it was not one of the two varieties I was certain was edible. I put it back on the ground and noticed the incredibly beautiful colours, textures and patterns. I used the back of my photo bag as a base and created several photo stacks. Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Macro Exposure: 1/13 sec, f/11, ISO100 Curious GUSTAV PARENMARK The scorching…

This shot was captured in Marbury Country Park, Cheshire. It’s a good location for fungi. I chose this elegant cluster of milking bonnets as it provided just the right number of mushrooms and a range of sizes. I added impact via LED lighting and a water mist to create the rain effect and droplets. 1 Keep it clean Arguably the hardest aspect of fungi photography is finding a photogenic subject. Many species are not attractive, and most specimens are half eaten. Subjects need a clean background too, not surrounded by busy patches of vegetation or other elements that could detract from the image. 2 How low can you go? Most nature subjects look best at their own level, so set up your tripod and camera at the same height as…

Starbursts can be a wonderful addition to your landscapes and night scenes. Set a narrow aperture, like f/22, point your lens towards any small, bright highlight, such as the sun or a street lamp at night, and it can become a beautiful star shape. But the technique poses a dilemma. The narrow aperture results in diffraction, wherein light spreads out along the aperture blades, causing the pinpoints on the star – known as ‘diffraction spikes’. So in this instance, diffraction is our friend, but more often than not, it’s the enemy, because it also results in a softening of fine detail. So do we capture the starburst and settle for a softer scene, or prioritize image sharpness? With a bit of simple image blending we can have the best of…

1 Open into layers We took four frames here – an f/22 frame, two f/8 frames focused on foreground and background, and a shot with our hand blocking the sun. Make initial changes in Camera Raw or Lightroom to the set of photos. Once done, highlight them all and go to Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. 2 Stack the focus Once open, Cmd/Ctrl-click on the four layers to highlight them, then go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers, choose Auto and hit OK. Next, highlight just the two f/8 layers (excluding the starburst layer) and go to Edit > Auto-Blend Layers, choose Stack Images and hit OK. This combines the sharp parts from each layer. 3 Blend the star Next we can blend the sunburst layer. Drag…

The Fn button Aside from the D3500, all Nikon DSLR and mirrorless cameras have one or more Fn buttons, which can be assigned to a number of functions. Some other buttons can be customized, too. Custom controls On the Z 6II, you can customize various buttons under Custom Settings > Controls > f2: Custom Controls. Highlight the button you would like to change and press OK. The BKT option We’ll select the Fn1 button, which is set to alter the White Balance by default, and change it so we can easily set auto bracketing instead. Scroll down to the BKT and press OK. Bracket exposures Now hold the Fn1 button and rotate the rear control dial to set the number of shots in your bracketed sequence, and hold Fn1 and…

Your camera’s ‘firmware’ is the equivalent of the operating system on your computer. It controls the camera’s functions and its behaviour, and from time to time Nikon will release a firmware update to fix any issues or improve performance in certain areas. Firmware updates are free, and you can download them yourself from the Support section of the Nikon website. 1 DO YOU NEED AN UPDATE? You can find out the current firmware version by opening the camera’s Setup menu and scrolling down to the bottom. Compare the version displayed here with our table. 2 DOWNLOAD THE UPDATE Go to the Nikon website’s Support section, then type your camera model and ‘firmware’ into the search box, for example ‘D7500 firmware’. Any firmware updates should now appear, but before you download…

1. Heron on a Stick BY LIGHTBROOM This striking minimalist exposure has made use of high-contrast lighting and a dark background by exposing for the highlights and rendering everything else near black. The result is a low-key lighting effect that required little attention in post, beyond a mono conversion and a dash of contrast. It’s made all the more impressive when you consider that it was shot from a moving boat. Camera: Nikon Z 9 Lens: 600mm f/4 Exposure: 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO1400 2. Wild Spirits BY DONALDHYIP Shoots don’t always go to plan. When clear skies spoiled the sunset over the Stokksnes Peninsula, Iceland, Donald turned his attention to a team of Icelandic horses. Using the creatures as the main subject and foreground interest has mitigated the lacklustre light on…

1. A full-frame Nikon Z fc could be on the way for hipsters Hipster photographers, brace yourselves: it sounds like Nikon is preparing a full-frame version of its uber-popular Z fc retro camera. The Nikon Z fc has been a runaway success with style-conscious photographers and content creators who want the latest retro cameras, but with all the modern conveniences of the best mirrorless cameras. https://bit.ly/3YMSGcA 2. Paul and Linda McCartney were the camera couple Did you know that legendary Beatle Paul McCartney’s first wife was a professional photographer? And a great one. Linda McCartney – born Linda Eastman – was the first female photographer to shoot a cover image for Rolling Stone magazine, with a photo of Eric Clapton. She was a renowned photographer on the New York doo-wop…

Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN | Contemporary £TBA/$TBA www.sigma-imaging-uk.com At long last, Sigma has joined Nikon’s mirrorless revolution! The long-established lens-maker has announced its very first Z-mount lenses in the form of three super-fast primes: this 16mm f/1.4, along with 30mm and 56mm f/1.4 lenses (see across the page for a more in-depth look.) While these are DX lenses designed for Nikon’s growing roster of APS-C Z-series cameras – the Nikon Z 50, Nikon Z fc and Nikon Z 30 – they should be compatible with FX Z-series cameras too, which will automatically crop to work with the smaller field of view. While we’re awaiting detailed specifications for the Nikon-fit versions, the trio of lenses are already available in a wide variety of other manufacturers’ mirrorless mounts – and the…

£278/$308 With many DX-specific Sigma and Tamron ultra-wide lenses having been discontinued, this own-brand Nikon lens is the obvious choice for recent DX format DSLRs, and it’s also a good fit for DX Z system cameras via an FTZ or FTZ II mount adapter. If you’re clambering over tricky terrain in pursuit of landscape photo opportunities, the last thing you need is a bag of heavyweight camera kit. This remarkably compact ultra-wide zoom weighs just 230g, employing a plastic rather than metal mounting plate, but it still packs in some useful features. Unlike Nikon’s older and heavier AF-S DX 10-24mm lenses, it adds 3.5-stop VR that can save a lot more weight, avoiding the need to lug a tripod around with you. Autofocus is based on a stepping motor that…

You can expect some barrel distortion with ultra-wide-angle lenses, but it tends to become less with zoom lenses through the zoom range. This chart shows the relative amounts of distortion for prime lenses and zooms at their shortest focal length. The DX format Nikon 10-20mm and FX Nikon 16-35mm are among the worst offenders. Many Nikon Z lenses rely heavily on automatic in-camera correction, increasingly common with recent lenses for mirrorless cameras.…

£1214/$1347 For full-frame mirrorless shooters with a Nikon Z-series camera, the main choice of ultra-wide-angle zoom is between this lens and the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, also on test. The latter is undeniably spectacular with a fully tricked-up set of features and has a faster aperture, but the Z 14-30mm is half the price and still has a lot going for it. Thanks to a retractable design, the Z 14-30mm is remarkably compact at just 89x85mm and weighs a mere 485g, yet matches its bigger sibling for maximum viewing angle. As an S-line lens, it’s well-built with plentiful weather-seals and has a high-end optical layout. This includes four aspherical elements, four ED elements, Nano Crystal Coat and a fluorine coating on the front element to repel moisture and grease,…

£600/529 Available in F mount to suit Nikon’s DX format DSLRs, Tokina offers a desirable atx-i 11-20mm f/2.8 CF, which delivers an ‘effective’ 16.5-30mm zoom range, complete with a fast and constant f/2.8 aperture rating. There’s also a similar Tokina atx-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF which naturally doesn’t stretch as far at the long end of the zoom range but retains the f/2.8 constant aperture design and is more inexpensive at £419/$399. N-Photo Verdict Both deliver solid performance and impressive image quality, while the atx -i (atx-interactive) label implies a ‘mutual communication between photographer and lens’. This boils down to Tokina’s typical push-pull focus ring mechanism for switching from autofocus to manual focus.…

£1399/$1599 We’ve been highly impressed by Sigma’s wide-angle prime and zoom Art series lenses over the last few years. This one combines an ultra-wide-angle focal length with an unusually fast aperture of f/1.8. This makes the lens particularly suitable for freezing movement in low-lighting conditions, as well as for astrophotography. To help track movement, the lens features a super-speedy ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system. A downside of a short focal length with such a wide aperture is that the necessarily large-diameter elements are expensive to manufacture. They also result in a comparatively big and heavy build. Indeed, it’s about the same size and 20g heavier than both of Sigma’s zoom lenses on test. The optical layout includes three FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements, which have similar performance to top-grade fluorite glass,…

£1619/$1749 Like Nikon’s newer Z 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, this F-mount lens has an identical zoom range and constant f/2.8 aperture rating, with build quality geared to professional and enthusiast photographers. The AF-S lens is comparatively lacking in handling exotica and fancy frills but features two ED elements and Nano Crystal Coat. N-Photo Verdict Performance and image quality are good overall but the lens loses out to the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 on test for sharpness and control over distortion and colour fringing. The Sigma is also more comprehensively weather-sealed, whereas the Nikon only has a rubber seal on its mounting plate. When it comes to edge-to-edge sharpness, the newer Nikon Z-mount 14-24mm zoom leaves the older F-mount lens trailing in its wake.…

On the face of it, a filter is the simplest of accessories. With no electronics nor precision optics, they’re essentially flat pieces of tinted glass that you slap in front of your lens. However, as filter aficionado Ross Hoddinott explains in this issue’s lead feature, they can have a dramatic effect on your images: turning choppy seas into a dreamy mist; adding punch to boring wispy skies; removing glare to reveal nature’s true colours; and bringing out the best of sunset and sunrise. And if that’s not enough food for thought (please excuse the tenuous link), we head to a bustling restaurant to document its lunch service, from prep to plate, with food photographer Nic Crilly-Hargrave. In our Big Test, we compare a selection of wide-angle lenses, both zooms and…

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The beauty of dance is that it can convey so much emotion from a single pose and, when paired with a stunning setting, a photo of a dancer can become a story. Dance photography is an incredibly challenging niche. You will experience many moments when you curse yourself because of one bit of motion blur on a pointed toe or that single passerby who walked into the shot. Patience is vital, even the most seasoned dance photographers can spend hours trying to get the best shots. But even a seemingly perfect image could be rejected by the dancer on technical grounds, because of their hand or foot placement… Communication is imperative. Get it right and the shoot will flow as fluidly as the dancer’s graceful movements. How to photograph dancers…

One of the best features of Affinity Photo is layers. They’re helpful for all kinds of image-editing tasks, from retouching to making tonal changes with adjustment layers. Best of all, we can use layers to bring different images together for all kinds of creative results. This is easier than it looks. All we need to do is copy one image on top of another, so that they each occupy a different layer, then we can position the top layer so that it works in harmony with the layer below, and add a layer mask to hide the parts of the layer we don’t want, thereby creating a seamless blend between the two images. The key to success is in knowing how layer masks work. They perform a simple yet highly…

1 Sunny day You’ll need a sunny day for clear star bursts. Haze or clouds around the sun can make things more difficult. Don’t look directly at the sun through the lens, instead engage Live View. Don’t worry about the sun damaging your sensor, this only tends to happen when shooting with longer lenses and wider apertures. 2 Tripod We need a tripod so that we can take a series of frames in alignment. But even if you just want to capture starbursts without using the frame blending technique described here, a tripod is still a good idea because the narrow aperture required for creating starbursts often means that a slower shutter speed is necessary. 3 Starburst settings Start by shooting a frame for the starburst. Set your camera to…

Starbursts show up brilliantly at night, thanks to the darkness around the bright points of light. The main difference between shooting starbursts during the day and at night is the necessity for a long exposure. Typically, if you want to use a narrow aperture of f/22 and ISO100, then you’ll need a shutter speed of around 30 secs, although this will depend on the strength of the lights in the scene. Your metering can struggle in the dark, so rather than using Aperture Priority, you’re usually better off with Manual mode. After shooting a frame at f/22, you can set an equivalent exposure at f/8. Simply count the number of clicks on the front dial it takes to go from f/22 to f/8, then reduce the shutter speed by counting…

Your Nikon DSLR or mirrorless came from the factory set up to work in a particular way. Nikon’s engineers have spent a lot of time thinking about how cameras are used and how to make more advanced options accessible and easy to apply. However, we don’t all take pictures in the same way, and the default settings can sometimes seem counter-intuitive. For example, when you turn the command dial to apply exposure compensation, do you keep turning it the wrong way by mistake? If you think it’s the wrong way round, you’re not the only one! And when you use the Auto Exposure Bracketing feature, does it annoy you that the camera shoots the ‘correct’ exposure first and then the ‘over’ and ‘under’ shots? You can change both these behaviours…

Date and time Always set the date and time on your camera. If you don’t, your images will be labelled with incorrect dates, and there may come a point in the future where you need this information, for example if you’re looking for a photo of an event. If you sort your pictures chronologically later on using image cataloguing software, they’ll be displayed in the wrong order, too. File number sequence Your Nikon will assign consecutive numbers to your images’ filenames, but in one of two ways. It can either reset to zero each time you take a batch of pictures (File Number Sequence Off), or it will remember the last number used (File Number Sequence On). Our tip is to keep this on always, otherwise you may end up…

Q I took some holiday shots recently with my Nikon D80 and 18-55mm kit lens, but there’s severe vignetting in some of them. What’s the cause and can they be corrected? Andy Cutting A Such problems are always a pain with the kind of shots that can’t be retaken easily! One possible cause is using a non-genuine round-shaped rather than petal-shaped hood. That said, earlier versions of the 18-55mm had a round-shaped hood, sold as an optional extra, but it didn’t cause vignetting. The other main possibility is filter stacking, for example using a circular polarizing filter in addition to a UV filter, the latter of which you might have fixed on the lens permanently to protect the front element. Especially at wide-angle zoom settings, like the shot you supplied…

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…

£325/$299 Think ‘portrait prime’ and you’re probably thinking of an 85mm lens with a fast aperture rating, at least when it comes to full-frame cameras. The Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.4Z gives you virtually the same effective focal length on an APS-C format Nikon Z DX body, due to the 1.5x crop factor. Key features The 56mm focal length and f/1.4 aperture are definitely key features for portraiture and still life photography. This combination makes it the ‘longest’ in the trio of Viltrox 23mm, 33mm and 56mm f/1.4 prime lenses for Nikon Z mirrorless cameras. Despite the difference in focal lengths, all three lenses are a very similar size and weight, and feature a 52mm filter thread. Further similarities between the three lenses include a fast and virtually silent linear stepping…

We judge the overall performance by taking real-world testing and lab tests into account. To test real-world performance, we use lenses in all sorts of lighting conditions, for indoor and outdoor shooting scenarios. We check for good build quality and handling, smooth and precise operation of all controls, and we test the speed and accuracy of autofocus. We typically test full-frame compatible lenses on a range of FX and DX bodies, whereas APS-C format lenses are just tested on DX cameras. These include DSLRs like the D850 and D7500, and mirrorless cameras like the Z 7 II and Z fc. In-camera and Raw processing corrections for chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting are disabled where possible, throughout lab-testing, to better reveal the true optical performance of each lens. In our lab,…

£1034/$1047 This lens doesn’t give such an ultra-wide viewing angle as the other lenses on test, but it still gives a considerably wider field of view than using a 24-70mm zoom at its shortest focal length. That alone makes it a worthy addition to many a photographer’s kit bag, but that’s not the whole story. When speed is of the essence, this lens rewards with an f/1.8 aperture that’s much faster than with any of the zoom lenses on test. It’s ideal when you want to freeze the motion of subjects with a fast shutter speed under low lighting conditions, and also makes the lens a great choice for astrophotography. The lens features complete weather-seals, fast and virtually silent autofocus based on a stepping motor, and a customizable control ring.…

£458/$459 If you have a Nikon Z 30, Z 50 or Z fc camera, you’ll no doubt be aware that Nikon doesn’t make any ultra-wide-angle lenses in Z DX format as yet. Viltrox has stepped in to fill the gap with this AF 13mm F1.4 Z prime lens, which gives an ‘effective’ focal length of about 20mm in full-frame terms, coupled with a super-fast aperture rating of f/1.4. N-Photo Verdict Despite its budget price, the lens is beautifully made with a metal barrel, aperture control ring and fast autofocus. Two aspherical elements, four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and two HR (High Refractive index) elements help to deliver excellent image quality. Viltrox also offers high-performance yet very reasonably priced 23mm, 33mm and 56mm autofocus lenses for Z DX format cameras.…

£1269/$1299 We’ve long been fans of Sigma’s ultrawide 12-24mm lens, with its extreme maximum viewing angle. Following on from the latest ‘Art’ edition, the 14-24mm has a more modest maximum viewing angle but is an f/stop faster, thereby fulfilling the ‘trinity’ f/2.8 brief. The standard of build quality is exemplary, with a tough yet very refined feel and a full set of weather-seals. Optical prowess benefits from a large-diameter, ultra-high-precision moulded glass aspherical front element, which teams up with three top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements. Autofocus is of the ring-type ultrasonic variety, which is speedy, precise and whisper-quiet. Typical of ultra-wide full-frame compatible lenses that have focal lengths of 15mm or less, there’s an integral lens hood to protect the protruding front…

We absolutely love the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S. Sure, it lacks the faster f/2.8 aperture of a ‘trinity’ zoom but it nevertheless has a constant f/4 rating throughout its generous zoom range. The retractable design enables it to pack away small, while it certainly goes large in terms of image quality and overall performance. Money no object, the Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S is a fabulous lens that’s rich in handling exotica but it’s nearly twice the price of the Z 14-30mm, so you really have to feel the need for that faster aperture and extra handling refinement. The Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S is a superb prime lens with a really fast aperture, if you can live without a more extreme viewing angle and zoom versatility. In the…

Interested in film stills photography, but don’t have access to detailed movie sets, ultra-realistic props and an army of actors? Toy photography might be a suitable way to scratch your movie-making itch – it’s a great way to create and shoot otherwise unattainable, cinematic sci-fi and fantasy-themed worlds from the comfort of your own home. Our space blizzard scene – inspired by The Empire Strikes Back’s infamous Battle of Hoth – might look like a fairly involved process, but it was created using a few Lego models, rocks found in the garden and a bag of flour. You don’t need to be a master model maker to create a convincing scene, since you only have to worry about what the camera sees. Add a few in-camera special effects – including…

Even though Photoshop has offered video tools for several years, many users still don’t know they exist – and those who do may assume that Photoshop is unsuited to editing videos. But not only is it possible to edit video in Photoshop, it can also be a sensible way for photographers to work with moving images. The great thing about using Photoshop for video is that you can take lots of the things you already know about editing photos, and apply them to video in a similar way. Your can use brilliant tools like the Camera Raw filter to tone your footage, and even add layer effects like blending modes to combine videos in creative ways. All that being said, just as many of us are photographers who dabble in…

1 Curved or straight The starburst effect can vary dramatically depending on the aperture blades in your lens (these are the pieces that slide together to form the aperture). There are two key factors. Firstly, whether the blades are curved or straight. Straight-edged blades make a boxy aperture and tend to create sharper rays in your starburst. With curved blades, the star is more mushy. 2 Blades and spikes The second factor is the number of aperture blades in your lens. If it’s an even number of blades then you’ll get the same number of rays. If it’s an odd number, like the nine blades inside the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens used here, you’ll get double the number of rays, giving an 18-point star. 3 Block the sun When shooting…

Sports/action For sports and action photography, you need the camera’s autofocus system to respond quickly and predictably and in the way that you’re used to. The autofocus options are in the first, ‘a: Autofocus’ group of custom settings. The Focus Tracking with Lock On option, for example, can improve autofocus reliability with subjects moving against a distant background, and you can set the camera up to use ‘back button’ focusing using the AF-ON button – it’s the preferred method for pro photographers. Tricky lighting Your Nikon offers a choice of metering modes so that you can choose the one best suited to the conditions and your way of working. But it doesn’t stop there. In the b: Metering/Exposure section you can change the size of the central area in centre-weighted…

Locking the focus When you half-press the shutter button, it locks focus. This is useful for off-centre subjects, as you can reframe and press the rest of the way to shoot. Lock exposure too Most cameras lock both the focus and the exposure when you half-press the shutter. Set up your Nikon to do this with the shutter release AE Lock option. AE-L/AF-L button Usually, though, you would use the AE-L/AF-L button to do this. Pressing and holding it will lock both settings so that you can reframe the picture and shoot. Lock focus only You can also reconfigure this button to lock one or the other. Here, we’ve used the Buttons option to set the AE-L/AF-L button to AF Lock Only. Lock exposure only Or you can pick the…

Q I’d like a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom for my Z 6 but can’t afford the Z-mount lens. Is there a good budget alternative? Necati Demiral A Matthew recommends… Even secondhand options for the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S tend to be very pricey. I’d buy an F-mount lens for use via an FTZ or FTZ II mount adapter. Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports THIS TOP-PERFORMANCE LENS IS GREAT VALUE NEW AND AN EVEN BETTER BUY SECONDHAND RELEASED: 2018 PRICE NEW: £1179/$1499 SECONDHAND PRICE: ‘Excellent’ £899/$1099 ‘Good’ £799/$999 A major overhaul of Sigma’s previous 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom, the ‘Sports’ edition is a fully pro-grade lens with a tough, weather-sealed magnesium alloy build, high-end handling characteristics and spectacular performance. Image quality gets a boost from the inclusion of no…

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 human eyes are wonderful things and, working in tandem, give a huge field of view. Put one of them to a camera viewfinder, however, and you can feel short-changed. The viewing angle of most lenses gives you a much more blinkered outlook, insufficient for shooting a rolling landscape vista, expansive cityscape or an architectural interior. Thankfully, you can use the right tool for the job by mounting an ultra-wide-angle prime or zoom lens to your camera body. There are plenty to choose from, including optics for Nikon DSLRs and mirrorless Z system bodies in both DX and FX formats. ‘Faster’ ultra-wide lenses with an aperture rating of f/2.8 or wider that pull in more light are also ideal for starry nights in astrophotography. Not just for cramming more into…

£1034/$1097 The chunky Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED might seem the most obvious contender for an ultra-wide landscape zoom for FX format DSLRs, but we prefer the equivalent Sigma Art lens. Compared with both of those, Nikon’s 16-35mm lens naturally has a less generous maximum viewing angle and aperture rating, but does makes amends. It’s relatively compact and only about two-thirds of the weight, with the bonus of optical VR. It’s also less pricey and has a detachable hood that enables the inclusion of a 77mm filter attachment thread. That can be a major plus point when you want to use a circular polarizer and ND grad filters in landscape photography. The optical path boasts three aspherical elements and two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, along with high-tech Nano Crystal Coat…

£359/$349 The generous viewing angle and f/2.8 aperture rating matches those of ‘trinity’ wide-angle zooms but the Samyang is a prime lens that’s vastly cheaper to buy. It’s full-frame compatible and available in a native Nikon Z-mount option. While handling is good overall, it’s a fully manual lens. As such, as well as needing to focus manually, the aperture can only be adjusted via the lens’s onboard control ring, rather than from the host camera body. N-Photo Verdict Image quality is good overall with impressive sharpness at apertures between f/4 and f/11, although barrel distortion is quite heavy and has an irregular shape, making it difficult to correct when editing images.…

£1269/$1299 Sigma’s 12-24mm Mk II lens gained an excellent reputation for maintaining very good image quality and handling with an incredibly wide maximum viewing angle. The newer ‘Art’ edition from the company’s Global Vision line-up retains the same zoom range but adds many improvements. A standout upgrade in the new lens is that it has a constant rather than variable aperture rating. The revamped optical path incorporates an extra-large diameter aspherical element and five premium FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements, and the mounting plate is weather-sealed. The makeover also includes an uprated autofocus system. It’s still an ultrasonic ring-type arrangement but with increased torque for greater speed. Furthermore, the new lens is compatible with Sigma’s optional USB Dock for applying…

Colour fringing caused by lateral chromatic aberration can be annoying, especially in architectural and landscape photography. It’s caused by different wavelengths of light being focused at different points across a plane perpendicular to the path of light through the lens. It tends to most noticeable around high-contrast edges of objects that are reproduced near the edges and corners of the image frame, for example dark tree branches against a bright sky can cause this problem.…

£2249/$2497 The fully pro-grade trinity Z 14-24mm f/2.8 zoom is full of features and handling exotica, including a tertiary customizable control ring, a customizable Lens-Function button and a multifunction OLED display. Optical highlights include three aspherical elements and four ED elements, along with high-tech Nano Crystal Coat and ARNEO coatings that keep ghosting and flare to an absolute minimum. Build quality is robust and fully weather-sealed. The lens is refreshingly compact and lightweight for such a fast, wide-angle zoom. It comes complete with two alternative hoods. One gives maximum protection against peripheral light, while the other enables the attachment of filters or a filter holder. But the attachment thread is uncommonly large at 112mm, making the range of compatible filters somewhat limited and Nikon’s own brand filters for the lens…

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…