Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine

Our lives are full of ups and downs. Even more so over the past few years with all that’s been going on around the world. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times. It’s also easy to overlook just how beneficial photography can be to your mental health. Just getting out with your little Canon camera in the countryside or a local city for some fresh air can boost your mood, yet it’s the added mindfulness of focusing on photographing the scene or subject before you that can really improve your state of your mind. In this issue’s big guide, we look at how photography has a positive impact on all of our lives, with inspirational stories and images from professionals and amateurs. Start feeling better and lift your spirits by…

Who we are and our favourite Canon content in this issue… Peter Travers Editor • 5D Mk IV & R6 peter.travers@futurenet.com “I was proud to put together our big guide this issue, going in-depth into all the ways photgraphy can have a very positive impact on our mental health.” PAGE 28 Dan Mold Deputy editor • R & 7D Mk II dan.mold@futurenet.com “This month I made full use of the longer nights to create my own Halloween-inspired haunted house composite photo using a few fun light painting skills!” PAGE 52 James Paterson Technique writer • 6D Mk II james.paterson@futurenet.com “The perfect landscape image is often a merger of bracketed shots, so this issue I show you ways to use exposure blending, masking and HDR skills.” PAGE 46 Matthew Richards Technical…

Boost your self-esteem RESEARCH by SANE (a leading UK charity providing emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness) suggests that taking part in creative activities like photography can help people with depression, anxiety and PTSD by boosting self-esteem, reducing stress and combating loneliness. People don’t think twice about maintaining good physical health, so this month set aside a little time for a wellbeing workout. To start, simply pick up your camera… “Taking part in creative activities like photography can help people with depression” Alone but not lonely “I’VE BEEN working from home for more than 20 years now, so I was a bit ahead of the curve on that one. I mostly love it but there are times when my world feels very small – my home…

Lost in the moment ”WHEN I received my diagnoses of ME and endometriosis before the pandemic, I thought I wouldn’t be able to carry on with photography. Surprisingly, I have leaned into it even more, by adapting to my physical restrictions, focusing on personal projects to help with my mental health and using this time to print and exhibit work. Photography can help you to be present and focus on what’s physically around you, really making you take note of the environment you’re in and yet, at other times, it can distract you, getting lost in the moment behind the lens.” Siân Elizabeth, pro beauty & portrait photographer Shooting by the sea IT CAN be very relaxing witnessing sunrises and sunsets by the sea, you can almost feel your blood…

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dan.mold@futurenet.com Welcome… THIS month we have a plethora of photo projects and editing tutorials for you to sink your teeth in to. Starting on page 46, James runs through the differences between luminosity masks and HDR, so you can use the best techniques to improve your landscapes. On page 50, I show you how to practise your panning shots to inject motion into your sports and action images, making them even more eye-catching. Over on page 52, I’ve been getting into the Halloween spirit and show you how to shoot and edit together a fun spooky light painting image using your free start files. If you’d rather brush up on your editing skills, we have three great image-editing tutorials this month, starting with Sean’s RAW conversion using Lightroom Classic CC…

Based in London, Chris Priestley creates high-end commercial content for the social channels of major lifestyle, luxury travel and fashion brands. Having studied economics, Chris is entirely self-taught and watched YouTube videos to teach himself the fundamentals of photography, before deciding to turn it into a full-time job. He was previously the in-house director and cinematographer at British digital media company Jungle Creations, where he directed viral videos and print stills for household names such as Red Bull. One of his social-first video for Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort in Thailand received an impressive 3.6 million organic views. Today, Chris strives to make images and videos that work for both his client and the audience, and often works with lower-end production budgets while still trying to achieve big-budget…

It’s the perfect time of the year to flex your photography skills indoors. From still-life to pet portraits, there are lots of creative photo opportunities. But the lower light levels mean you’ll have to carefully consider your exposure. Indoor photography typically requires much longer exposure times. It’s easy to fail to spot the shutter speed has become too slow to take sharp shots, but there are options to avoid blurred results. First, you can choose a larger aperture to allow you to use a faster shutter speed. This reduces the depth of field so less of your picture will appear sharply focused. Second, you can increase the ISO. This is a good option when you don’t want to open up the aperture to the widest setting – or those situations…

Setting up next to a window allows you to make the most of natural light which can be flattering for food shots, close-ups and portraits. Bright but overcast days provide a soft, diffuse illumination that’s going to allow you to record delicate detail, whereas direct, unfiltered light will give you punchier, higher-contrast results. If you want to reduce the intensity of the light, tape some tracing paper or other diffusing material to the glass. Light coming from one side of the subject will create shadows on the opposite side. These can add definition, but a reflector placed on the shadow side can create more balanced results. This is where having a tripod is beneficial, as you’ll be able to hold a reflector where you need it. You don’t need to…

Often referred to as ‘the most available light’, a decent flashgun is amazingly versatile. It’s supremely portable and can make a huge difference to the quality of lighting in almost any scenario, from night-time and gloomy interiors to portraits on a sunny day. Indeed, filling in shadows under direct sun is one of the things flashguns do best. With TTL (through-the-lens) flash metering, dedicated flashguns can team up with your camera to enable correct exposures in all sorts of conditions. It works by using a pulse of light, fired by the flashgun prior to the exposure. This is reflected from the subject and passes through the lens, after which it’s measured by the camera’s metering system. The camera then communicates the correct setting to the flashgun, and the duration of…

The mid-range 430EX II was a top-seller, packing powerful performance into a compact yet robust build at an attractive price. The headline upgrade in the III-RT is that, like Canon’s more up-market EL-1 and 600 RT series, it adds a built-in RF (radio frequency) transceiver. So whereas the previous model could only act as a wireless slave with an infrared range of five to eight metres, the new model can act as an RF master or slave with a transmission range of 30 metres in master mode. That’s when using it in the camera’s hotshoe to trigger other RT compatible flashguns. Another key improvement is that the control panel and menu are redesigned and far more intuitive. Similarities to the Mk II include a motorized 24-105mm zoom head, with 0-90…

As mentioned on the previous pages, if you slot a flashgun into your camera’s hotshoe and fire it directly at the subject, you’re likely to create a harsh lighting effect with a hard quality of light. This is because the size of the illumination source is relatively small, considering the distance between flashgun and subject. A larger light source gives a softer quality of light, more flattering for portraiture as it tends to smooth out wrinkles and blemishes in the skin. All of the flashguns in our test group feature a bounce and swivel head. With the camera in landscape orientation, you can angle the head upwards in bounce mode to reflect the light off a white ceiling when shooting indoors. This effectively creates a much larger light source and…

Packed with high-end features and a built-in RF transceiver, the Modus 600RT boasts both RF and infrared master and slave connectivity, with a powerful Gn 60 maximum rating. On its own, the 600RT is great value, but the Wireless Kit is even better as it includes a hotshoe-mounting Hahnel Viper RF trigger with a 100m range. There’s also a Pro Kit, which includes two flashguns plus the same hotshoe trigger. Like a growing number of flashguns, it is powered by a rechargeable Li-ion battery pack. It has mighty stamina, enabling up to 600 full-power flashes and 1000 at half power. Recycling speeds are about twice as fast as from most flashguns that use AA batteries, at 1.5 seconds after a full-power flash and 0.7 seconds after half power, but it…

Sadly, Canon was unable to supply a review sample of its new Speedlite EL-5 in time for this Super Test, but we’ll be bringing you a full review as soon as possible. Following the current trend, it runs on a rechargeable Li-ion battery pack, rather than AA cells, and in fact uses the same LP-EL battery as the range-topping Speedlite EL-1. It has a powerful Gn 60 rating (ISO100, metres) at its longest zoom setting, which itself is generous at 20-200mm in full-frame terms. Further attractions include a secondary LED modelling lamp, wireless RF master/slave modes with a 30m range, and adjustable power settings right down to 1/1024. It can also take advantage of Canon’s new Multi-Function Shoe, featured on some of the latest EOS R system cameras.…

Choosing lenses Key factors to watch out for The main factors to consider in a lens are its focal length, maximum aperture, and if it’s full-frame compatible or not. We’ve categorized lenses by focal length range from wide-angle to telephoto. The larger a lens’s maximum aperture, the ‘faster’ it is. Zooms are more flexible than primes, but tend not to have such fast maximum apertures. Full-frame lenses will also work with ‘crop-sensor’ EOS DSLRs, but crop-sensor lenses aren’t compatible with full-frame cameras. For Canon EOS R mirrorless cameras the dedicated Canon RF lenses are best, but using Canon’s Mount Adapter EF-EOS R enables EF-S and EF lenses to be used on EOS R cameras. Contacts Canon www.canon.co.uk Peleng www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk Samyang www.samyang-lens.co.uk Schneider www.linhofstudio.com Sigma www.sigma-imaging-uk.com Tamron www.tamron.co.uk Tokina www.tokinalens.com Zeiss…

Letter of the Month I was reading the Photo Stories section of PhotoPlus issue 210, the story by Steven Kruit, when one of the Rabari Guard photos jumped out at me from the page. I was sure I had photographed the same gentleman (image number 3 – Rabari Guard) during a visit to India with my wife in November 2019. The photo (see right) of the Rabari Guard was taken at the entrance to Rawla Narlai, our hotel in the village of Narlai, Rajasthan. It’s clearly the same man! I used my Canon EOS 6D with an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, at f/5.6, 1/200 sec and ISO100. I was amazed by the coincidence! What are the chances of that happening do you think? Martin Littlemore, Ottery St Mary,…

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Drew Buckley Canon pro Drew heads for the hills with our Apprentice to capture the beauty of South Wales. PAGE 8 Chris Priestley Canon photographer and director Chris on how he gets attention on social channels with his work. PAGE 62 Naomi Reiter Canon photographer Naomi created a comment on modern life; a family split by social media. PAGE 27 Steven Christie Steven lives for live music and creates promo shots for his favourite bands and artists. PAGE 72 Nick Hanson Award-winning photographer Nick tackles his mental challenges by picking up his camera. PAGE 34 Marcus Hawkins This issue, learn how to improve your indoor photography with Marcus’s expert advice. PAGE 74 Siân Elizabeth Portrait photographer Siân battles ill health by focusing on photographic projects and exhibitions. PAGE 36 Brian…

1 My Menu Press the Menu button on your Canon EOS and head to My Menu. Drew has set up his My Menu with settings he needs quick access to, such as card formatting, interval timer, shutter mode and ISO sensitivity. 2 Shoot RAW JPEG images are compressed files and processed in-camera; to take full control, shoot in the RAW format so you can apply your own editing at your computer. 3 Carrying your kit Drew is a brand ambassador for F-Stop and uses a Tilopa 50 Duradiamond backpack to comfortably transport all of his kit when hiking long distances. 4 Battery grip Drew uses a Canon BG-R10 battery grip for his Canon EOS R5 camera, which enables him to load up two LP-E6NH batteries so he can shoot for…

“When I was 19 I developed ME and I have been chronically fatigued for almost 40 years. So, when the pandemic hit and the lockdowns followed, I could empathize with the problems many people were facing. I was determined to use my photography to bring people joy during the pandemic and started adding inspirational quotes to my photos – they’ve gone down a storm. My work means more to me than money – it’s my therapy, and the fact it also brings joy to other people is the icing on the cake. For my shot, The Lights, I spotted a full moon while driving home and decided to show all the light sources in the scene, including the full moon and both lighthouses.”…

Connect with a community PAUL Wareham, Marketing Director of Wex Photo Video, says: “Photography can be so much more than a hobby; it’s a powerful tool for conveying emotion. By giving those with mental health difficulties access to masterclasses, equipment and ongoing support, we want to connect them to a wider community; help develop their self-esteem and give them a channel for self-expression.” Three community groups have signed up to be a part of their programme including Arts Network in London, creativeShift in Bristol and START Centre in Greater Manchester. Wex Photo Video will host in-person photography masterclasses to educate participants about the art and the science of photography, develop their skills and techniques as well as show how photography can be used as a creative outlet to destress and…

Moscow, Russia. 15:44pm. 17 October 2006. In 2006, I made my first trip to St Petersburg and Moscow. The architecture of this country has always fascinated me, with its incredible palatial masterpieces like the Hermitage and St Basil’s Cathedral. When my wife’s school organized a trip to these fabulous cities, I was deemed responsible enough to accompany the group as an assistant – and I would also be free to pursue my own agenda. On arriving in Moscow, we stay in the popular Hotel Cosmos. It looks like it could also be a nightclub from the gaudy red strips of neon and mirror balls. The following day’s excursions are to ecclesiastical sites, ending with a trip to the GUM department store, which has some superb symmetry. I have planned a…

A tripod is just as handy for taking pictures indoors as it is when shooting landscapes from a windswept hill. While a tripod isn’t as convenient as shooting handheld – if not downright frustrating when you’re working in a confined space and trying to set the legs at the perfect angle – it’s worth persevering with a tripod for a number of reasons. For a start, it gives you more freedom to use the optimum camera settings. You can choose a low ISO for the best image quality and experiment with smaller apertures should you wish to do so. As long as the tripod or subject don’t move during the exposure, you’re pretty much guaranteed a sharp image. A tripod also provides an opportunity to consider the composition more closely.…

You have a number of creative options available when it comes to lighting a subject with a man-made light source. Continuous LED lights are widely available and easy to position; what you see is what you get, so you can make sure the shadows fall where you want them to before you shoot. Many of these lights allows you to adjust the colour temperature and the RGB colour too, making it easy to blend the light in with any existing ambient lights or bathe a subject in colour. Step up to a Speedlite though, and you get more power to play with and the opportunity to use that power in creative ways – such as a brief burst of flash to freeze a falling water drop. There are a vast…

You can download EOS Utility from the Canon support website. It’s free to use but that doesn’t mean it’s of limited value. What’s surprising is that many photographers have never even tried it. Firstly, it works with USB or wireless connections, though the cable is usually a little quicker. Set your computer to start EOS Utility when you connect the camera and you can be downloading images without even touching the computer keyboard, sorting them into the filing system that works for you. EOS Utility is the tool to update and set several camera settings, some only accessible when using the app. You can store your name in the camera and, unlike the copyright notice, it cannot be removed except by using EOS Utility. It can also synchronize the camera…

The new Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM is the full-frame Canon EOS R mirrorless lens successor to 2015’s Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM for DSLRs. Far from just a quick mirrorless update, the Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM makes full use of the RF mount – which opens up a whole realm of innovation in optical engineering. Indeed, this is the world’s first rectilinear zoom lens with a 10mm focal length and autofocus – making it, on paper at least, one of the best ultra-wide-angle lenses for those who like to shoot at the extreme end. We were able to compare our beta sample with the EF 11-24mm that it replaces, and looking at them side by side, the new lens is considerably more compact and portable, with…

Just about small enough to slip into a pocket, Canon’s baby EL-100 is still far more powerful than a pop-up flash. And for full-frame cameras without a pop-up flash, it’s a handy space-saving add-on, weighing just 190g. Although compact, the flashgun features a bounce head with 0-90 degrees of vertical movement, and 150/180 degrees of swivel to the left and right. But there’s no motorized zoom. Instead, a rudimentary push-pull manual adjustment gives alternatives to match focal lengths of 24mm or 50mm (38mm or 80mm for APS-C). There’s no wide-angle diffuser or reflector card, but it does come with a carrying pouch and stand. Wireless connectivity includes master and slave infrared modes, but no RF connectivity, like in the 430EX III-RT. On-board controls only really cater to channel and group…

Justifying its eye-watering price tag, no expense has been spared in creating Canon’s latest and greatest flashgun, aimed at pro photographers capturing unrepeatable moments when there’s no opportunity to “do it one more time”. As such, it runs on a rechargeable Li-ion battery with enough juice for 355 full-power flashes. With a more typical spread of flash power outputs, you can expect around 2350 flashes from a fully charged battery, with blisteringly fast recycle times of 0.1 to 0.9 seconds. What’s more, it features an active cooling system that enables you to keep firing in bursts of up to 170 full-power flashes. Similarities to Canon’s 600EX II-RT include a built-in RF transceiver with the same 30m range, and both RF and infrared master/slave modes. The Gn 60 power rating is…

Feature-rich flashguns tend to be hefty affairs that make for a top-heavy combination in the hotshoe of a fairly small mirrorless camera. The Modus 360RT redresses the balance with its compact, lightweight build. Even so, there’s a lot fitted in, including RF and optical wireless master/slave modes, high-speed sync and programmable stroboscopic modes, all powered by a high-capacity Li-ion battery pack. While the larger and pricier Hahnel Modus 600RT Mk II has a conventional red AF-assist lamp, the 360RT has a secondary LED lamp instead. Good news if you’re using a mirrorless camera that doesn’t work with red AF-assist lamps. You can also use the LED as a modelling lamp and even in its own right for close-up stills and video, with a range of power levels on tap. For…

It’s mostly great being able to soften a flashgun’s light quality by bouncing it off the ceiling, but with the light effectively pointing down from above, areas of the subject can be cast into shadow. In portraiture, for example, you can find that eyes look dull and lifeless because they’re in the shadow of the brow, and you might also spot shadows under the nose and chin. A common feature in all of the flashguns on test (except the EL-100) is a reflector card, or catchlight card, which can be extended from the top of the head. It works a treat for portraiture or any other time when you need to fill in shadows, by reflecting some of the light from the flashgun forwards. It’s particularly effective for creating a…

The Li-ion powered Godox VING V860III TTL gives you everything you might want from a top-end flashgun and more besides. It boasts a comprehensive feature set with a full complement of advanced operating modes, RF connectivity and a mighty power range, all at a very affordable price. Although pricier, the similarly feature-rich Hahnel Modus 600RT II is another great-value flashgun with pro-grade handling and features to match, although it lacks a secondary LED lamp, as featured in the more compact and lightweight Modus 360RT, which is a bit lacking in maximum flash power. The Nissin i60A is more powerful if you’re in the market for a compact flashgun. Of Canon’s models, the 430EX III-RT is our favourite. The EL-100 is lacking in on-board controls and power, while the discontinued 600EX…

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Achieving goals and improving skills PHOTOGRAPHY is a constant learning process and, even if you don’t realise it, you’re probably working towards a few goals right now. This might be a short-term goal like conquering Manual mode on your Canon camera for taking long-exposures of a seascape, or a long-term ambition like attracting your first paying client. Creative ambitions and overcoming your challenges can provide a sense of purpose when we’ve felt a little lost in other aspects of our lives. Increase your shots – and your steps! IT’S NO secret that creative activities can have a positive impact on mental health – and photography ticks the most mood-boosting boxes! Photography allows us to convey meaning, express feelings and immortalise special moments. This is hugely beneficial in itself. Plus physical…

Express yourself I’VE OFTEN felt that battling depression and living with ADHD is like watching your life spiral out of control – you often can’t stop it. Photography helped me find some sort of control that I needed, gave me a way to express myself and show the world how I saw it. It gave me a chance to step back and appreciate those smaller, more joyful moments. Whether that was in building a set or the simplicity of a blooming flower in spring. Tamara Raw, Canon portrait photographer and model It works wonders “TEN MONTHS ago my personal life turned upside down, however getting out with the camera has worked wonders. Sometimes I will go out for a walk with just the camera and one lens, and then there…

www.sane.org.uk Also see ‘photography has the power to improve our mental wellbeing’ at bit.ly/sane_photo Wex Photo Video Photography as a Therapeutic Tool https://events.wexphotovideo.com/photography-as-a-therapeutic-tool NHS Every Mind Matters www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters Samaritans www.samaritans.org “Call us any time, day or night – free from any phone, call 116 123. Or write us an email. Sometimes writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you understand them better. Email jo@samaritans.org. An email response may take several days.” Digitalcameraworld.com We have lots of inspiring articles about why taking photos improves your wellbeing at our brilliant website, such as this article via quick link bit.ly/dcw_wellbeing…

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As the nights draw in and the days become shorter, your window for shooting in daylight will, of course, be diminished, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get creative with your camera after sundown. The trick is to add your own lighting. Painting with light is a fun and popular technique in which you add your own lighting to a low-light scene, bringing it to life. Anything from a simple hand torch to a flashgun or LED panel works. In this project, we used a combination of the natural light, a flashgun with a red colour gel attached and some string wire to create the ethereal blue ‘fog’; more on those over the page. Therefore, with the longer evenings to play with over winter, the only thing stopping you…

01 BASE EXPOSURE Once you’ve set up on a tripod and nailed the focus, it’s a good idea to take a base shot without any light painting. This is useful because you can blend the light painting layers into your base photo in Photoshop and change their opacity to make them more or less vivid. 02 PAINT THE TOWN RED To stop the church appearing too dark in the image, we attached a red filter to a flashgun and fired a few blips of flash into the scene to light it up. You could instead paint your scene with a hand torch – tape a semi-transparent sweet wrapper over the bulb to change its colour. 03 ADD SOME SPOOKY BLUE FOG It took longer than our 15 secs shutter speed…

01 CHOOSE A PROFILE The Adobe Color profile that is set by default often gives a good colour rendition, but sometimes the camera has a Landscape mode or style. Click on the four rectangle icons to bring up the Profile browser. Hover on a thumbnail to see the effect. Click to select, then Close. 02 ADJUST THE SUN While the profile has helped the contrast and saturation, it has also exacerbated the white balance from the Auto setting that was set on the camera. Taking Temperature to 5700 brings back the yellow of the set sun, while still leaving hints of blue as a complementary colour. Taking Tint to -2 removes the purple shading. 03 ENHANCE THE TONE You can work on your image’s tone next. Set Highlights to -100…

While in Saudi Arabia with friends, we were exploring the ‘edge of the world’, what I can only describe as a cliff edge that continues as far as the eye can see, overlooking a bone-dry valley that had once been underwater. It was then that I took this portrait of my friend Lesley. She was wearing traditional Arabian clothing. I asked her to raise the blue cloth, to frame her eyes.…

RACHEL WATTS, AYLESBURY, SAYS… Quainton is a beautiful, privately owned windmill with a green in front of it, making for an easy view point. I’ve visited it several times and this is one of my favourite pictures of it. From this angle, I have to shoot uphill but it’s quite easy to correct the verticals in Lightroom. There was a thick telephone cable through the middle of the shot, so I used Lightroom to remove it. To me, this is a great summery scene. BRIAN SAYS… Indeed, this is a good shot of the windmill. Well done for exploring the different angles to find this view. The light and shadows indicate the photo was taken around the middle of the day, and this can create harsh shadows and bright whites,…

Canon’s RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM is a cutting-edge lens that reveals the benefits of the RF mount and pushes the envelope for ultra-wide-angle zooms. Compared to its EF 11-24mm f/4 predecessor, the new lens is lighter, more portable, less expensive and boasts a handful of genuinely useful upgrades (stabilization, Control Ring, custom button, STM), making it a no-brainer. Plus, while the £2579 price might seem pretty steep, it’s actually £500 less than the Canon EF 11-24mm’s RRP. PROS: Portable and light; perfectly balanced for gimbal and video; Control Ring and custom button; powerful stabilization; super-wide rectilinear angle of view. CONS: Pricey (but cheaper than EF predecessor); vignetting in RAWs at 10mm; no focus distance window; currently limited to using gelatine filters in rear filter holder.…

We test all available features for each flashgun, including flash exposure compensation and manual power settings, motorized zoom heads and advanced flash modes such as high-speed sync, rear curtain and, in some cases, strobe flash. To test power output, we use a Sekonic flash meter placed one metre from each flashgun. We check the complete range of manual power settings, in one-stop increments. Based on a sensitivity of ISO100, the figures correlate directly with the Gn (Guide number). The results are double-checked by taking shots with the appropriate lens apertures and using the camera’s histogram display in playback mode. This is done for flash zoom settings of 24mm, 50mm and 105mm (in full-frame terms), where available. We also check the accuracy and consistency of E-TTL (electronic-through-the-tens) flash metering (see opposite),…

The pro-grade 600EX II-RT is bigger, tougher and more powerful than any Canon Speedlite apart from the EL-1. It has a weather-sealed construction, complete with a weather-sealed mounting foot, and is designed to meet the expectations of professional photographers. It’s officially discontinued but still available if you shop around and makes a smart second-hand buy. Compared with the 430EX III-RT, there’s a more powerful Gn 60 rating. Upward tilt extends from-7 degrees to a fully upright 90, though that’s still less than the 120 of the EL-1, while all three enable a full 180 degrees of lateral swivel both left and right. There’s also a bigger zoom range of 20-200mm, in full-frame terms, beating that of the other three. As with the 430EX III-RT, the 600EX II-RT has built-in wireless…

This goes toe to toe with the Hahnel Modus 600RT Mk II, with a wealth of features and trick modes, all powered by a high-capacity Li-ion battery pack, but it only costs about two-thirds of the price to buy. The head has full bounce and zoom capabilities, with a downward-7 to rear-racing 120 degrees of vertical movement, a full 180 degrees of swivel to the right and 150 to the left. The motorized zoom range is also generous, equating to 20-200mm in full-frame terms, and a pull-out diffusion panel and catchlight card are included. Advanced modes include high-speed sync, rear-curtain flash and programmable strobe. Its RF transceiver enables full wireless master/slave connectivity over a range of up to 100m, and short-range infrared wireless options are also featured. It works well…

There are a few small, lightweight flashguns on the market that look equally at home on mirrorless compact cameras as on full-blown SLRs. But most only have a meagre maximum power output and rudimentary on-board controls, and often lack an LCD screen. This Nissin proves you can pack a lot into a small build, with a powerful Gn 60 rating, 24-200mm motorized zoom head and an elegant interface based around a colour screen. Bounce has 0-90-degree tilt and a full 180-degree swivel both left and right. Despite its small build, the Nissin even shoehorns in an LED light. It’s not particularly powerful but comes in useful for close-up shooting and video capture. Both infrared and RF wireless slave triggering are available, the latter working well with Nissin’s optional Commander Air…

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