Advanced Photographer

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FIRST LOOK

PENTAX 645Z Wh this Why thi 51-megapixel 51 i l medium-format DSLR is a bargain at £6800

TECHNIQUE

Compose yourself Add punch to your images with our knockout advice

SCENIC SPECIAL

How to make beautiful images of beautiful places PANASONIC LUMIX GH4: GREAT AT VIDEO, WHAT ABOUT STILLS? AP46-001 (COVER)hb.indd 1

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Contents

10 INSPIRE: Beside the seaside

The cover story...

BOTALLACK MINE, CORNWALL This month’s cover image comes from Colin Whitehouse. His brilliant portfolio of coastal images starts on page 10. “This was late afternoon at Crown Mines in Botallack. I used a Lee Big Stopper to give the water movement and set up on a ledge opposite the houses using the white rock to give some foreground interest.”

Nikon D700, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm, 52secs at f/16, ISO 200, Lee Filters Big Stopper

WWW.EVANESCENTLIGHT.CO.UK

50

LIGHTING ACADEMY: Low-key

SEE PAGE 78 FOR DETAILS

31 CAPTURE: Creative composition

Inspiration, technique, opinion 6 UPFRONT More lens launches than you’ve had packed lunches this month, plus updates, diary dates and wet weather gear.

10 MAKING WAVES: INSPIRE Leaving the city for the sea, Colin Whitehouse heads to the coast, grads at the ready, to create calming, pastel-hued seascapes.

18 WATER WORLD: INSPIRE Tutor, holiday leader and pro shooter, John Gravett doesn’t restrict his photography to his work; he even takes his camera on the school run. You could say landscapes are his life.

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26 OUTWARD BOUND: CAPTURE Roused to shoot the beauty of land, sea or lake? Then read this while your camera batteries charge, and be prepared – in both mind and kit.

31 COMPELLING COMPOSITION: CAPTURE Location? Check.

Kit? Check. Forecast and tide times? Check. Now brush up on your composing skills.

38 TOP SPOT If the watery world isn’t for you, consider our urban destination. Not just for architecture shooters, Chester is also full of ye olde worlde charm.

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19/06/2014 17:26

Contents

57

GROUP TEST: Top-end CSCs

18

INSPIRE: Landscape lover

72

FULL TEST: Panasonic GH4

38

TOP SPOT: Chester

Photo Kit: the latest gear tested 43 EXPOSED Committed?

Did someone call editor Cheung committed? Well, if the cap fits…

50 LIGHTING ACADEMY

57 CSCS ON TEST

Master low-key lighting and make images full of drama.

44 TRAINING DAY It’s

must be won.

Dr Fyfe just couldn’t resist another mega test. So we’ve got ten mirrorless models over three issues: this issue, APS-C and full-frame models.

never too late to learn, but where are the best places to do so? We have the answers.

This issue, we’re in the Dales with Steve Gosling.

49 WIN A Samsung NX300.

71 WIN Two NiSi filter kits 78 SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS Grab yourself a bargain: 5 issues for £5.

106 NEXT ISSUE AP has

a brand spanking new look!

72 PANASONIC GH4 Its 4K video capability has grabbed all the headlines, but there’s certainly more to this CSC than movies… We find out exactly what.

51-megapixel mediumformat, CMOS newcomer – a bargain at under £7k.

86 GITZO MOUNTAINEER GT2532 Is the latest Mountaineer tripod king of the hill?

88 SAMSUNG CARDS Rugged, reliable SDs put to the test.

90 ZEISS TOUIT 50MM

Want to read Advanced Photographer on your iPad?

82 NISI FILTER SYSTEM

Getting to grips with an f/2.8 macro for CSCs.

Is this an alternative to Lee and Formatt-Hitech kits?

93 GOSSEN DIGISKY

Save up to 35% by subscribing at the App Store today!

84 PENTAX 645Z We

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take a first look at the

For digital shooters, a flash meter isn’t essential, but it is useful.

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20/06/2014 16:52

INSPIRATION

Making waves Landscape special

FROM THE SEASHORE Living in landlocked Birmingham hasn’t put Colin Whitehouse off pursuing his passion and he treasures every moment spent capturing the coast WORDS MEGAN CROFT PICTURES COLIN WHITEHOUSE

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INSPIRATION

Making waves

HAPPISBURGH BEACH, NORFOLK “I travelled to Happisburgh in North Norfolk to take some images of the sea defences at sunset. After taking quite a few images of the collapsing wooden structures I was going back to the car but decided to take one last shot of the groyne. I placed it to the right of the image using a two-stop ND filter to extend the exposure and a three-stop ND grad to balance the light.” Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 lens at 14mm, 8sec at f/16, ISO 200

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INSPIRATION

Landscape special

COME RAIN OR SHINE There isn’t a day when landscape shooter John Gravett is without a camera. Never one to miss out on a day’s shoot because of the weather, he’s developed a bit of a knack for turning rainy days into exquisite exposures WORDS MEGAN CROFT PICTURES JOHN GRAVETT

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19/06/2014 17:33

INSPIRATION

Landscape special

CREPUSCULAR RAYS AND HAIL OVER CAUSEY PIKE “I never travel without a camera. This was taken on the return from my school run, collecting my son from Penrith. We were travelling back to Keswick along the A66 and I saw this, I drove past it at first, but had to turn the car round to go back, find a parking spot and get the picture. It is looking towards Braithwaite, and apart from a touch of clarity (and I mean touch) and converting to black & white, it’s a perfectly straight shot.”

Nikon D700, Nikon 70-200mm f/2,8 lens at 150mm, 1/500sec at f/9, ISO 400

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INSPIRATION

Landscape special

ENJOY THE VIEW

Scenic photography is as popular as ever and while it’s easy getting a sharp, accurately exposed image, it’s much more challenging capturing pictures worth a second look. But it can be done, as we explain

WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

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© WILL CHEUNG

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TOP SPOT

Chester

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TOP SPOT

Chester

Chester Chester has a rich history dating back to Roman times and is now one of the best-preserved cities in the country. It certainly has plenty of potential, especially if you enjoy shooting architecture WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

Chester has plenty of ye olde worlde charm to enjoy but frame carefully to avoid any obvious giveaways to the city’s modernity. Nikon D800, 24-120mm f/4 lens, 1/100sec at f/8, ISO 100

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LIGHTING A C A D E M Y

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Part 46

LIGHTING A C A D E M Y

LIGHTING A C A D E M Y

Low-key lighting is the antithesis of bright, shadowless high-key, giving pictures that are rich in dramatic highlights and shadows.

As always, light and reflector position can make all the difference…

WORDS & PICTURES KINGSLEY SINGLETON

Low-key is a style to use when you want to inject a feeling of drama into your lighting and, as such, it’s a staple of creative portrait photography. Whereas highkey lighting (see last issue) seeks to banish shadow and create even, low-contrast lighting, a low-key look is defined by a greater contrast between highlight and shadow areas. This relationship is easy to describe via a contrast ratio, so while high-key lighting approaches 1:1, with the light on the subject very balanced, lowkey lighting could be around 1:8 or lower, with one light much brighter than the other (or commonly no second light at all).

The roots of modern low-key lighting can be traced back to German expressionist films, and later, film noir. It’s also used in horror and suspense films where the deep shadows it provides give both greater impact and a sense of unease. In that sense, it can be used to emphasise facial contours and textures, and give effects that might be considered unflattering, but the general principles of a low-key set-up can also offer simple and elegant looks.

WITHOUT A REFLECTOR

While high-key uses as many lights as possible, low-key often uses just a single light, naturally creating more shadows. Low-key set-ups also often use a second, low-powered fill light, hair light or a reflector, so that the contrast isn’t overwhelming and to add definition to the subject.

The position of the main light is important in creating a low-key effect, and more oblique angles are used than in high-key lighting, again making it easier to create shadows. If the subject is lit too broadly, contrast is more difficult to achieve, and the choice of modifier is important too; diffusers like softboxes and umbrellas are less useful as they tend to eliminate shadows, while snoots, grids and honeycombs make high contrast easier to achieve.

A low-key look is defined by a greater contrast between highlight and shadow areas

OPPOSITE The single light, an Elinchrom D-Lite RX, was camera right and slightly behind the subject to give a very glancing, rim-lit effect.

Camera left and in the opposite position to the light was a silver reflector which acts as a subtle fill-in.

With the background composed of a dark material and the light directed away, it's easy to keep it dark and provide the high-contrast, lowkey effect desired. If the second light was used in place of the reflector, contrast would be lower and the effect less striking.

The exposure was 1/160sec at f/11, ISO 200.

LEFT When a reflector isn’t used contrast is increased and the picture becomes even more low-key.

However, the lack of even minor fill light means that detail is lost and the subject can lack separation from the background, so it’s a set-up that should be used with caution. As an alternative to a lowpowered light or a reflector, you can try a subtle spot light effect by tuning a second light onto the background. Make sure it’s bright enough to add a silhouette effect on just the shadowed side of the subject, which will add the separation, but avoid lighting too much which will lower the contrast and reduce the impact.

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20/06/2014 16:10

Photo Kit

INDEPENDENT REVIEWS OF ALL THINGS PHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT IS naturally very important to advanced photographers and therefore it’s also very important to Advanced Photographer magazine – so every month we’ll be reviewing a wide variety of the latest photo kit.

We’ll be including items that are relevant to the main technique features in each issue so cameras and lenses will feature heavily, but so too will accessories and software.

BEST IN TEST

Look out for this badge of honour in our comparison tests

57 CSCs ON TEST Dr Fyfe

just couldn’t resist another mega test.

So we’ve got ten mirrorless models over three issues: this issue, APS-C and full-frame models.

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72

PANASONIC GH4 Its 4K video capability has grabbed all the headlines, but there’s certainly more to this CSC than movies…

We find out exactly what.

82 NISI FILTER SYSTEM Is this an

86 GITZO MOUNTAINEER

84 PENTAX 645Z We take

88 SAMSUNG CARDS Rugged,

alternative to Lee and Formatt-Hitech kits?

a first look at the 51-megapixel medium-format, CMOS newcomer.

90

GT2532 Is the latest Mountaineer tripod king of the hill?

reliable SDs put to the test.

ZEISS TOUIT 50MM

Getting to grips with an f/2.8 macro for CSCs.

93

GOSSEN DIGISKY For digital shooters, a flash meter isn’t essential, but it is useful.

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COMPETITION

NiSi filters

WIN A 100MM NISI SQUARE FILTER HOLDER AND FILTERS Every photographer wants a quality filter system in their kitbag, and this is your chance to win one from NiSi

SO HOW DO YOU WIN? Just email your answer to the question below, and we’ll enter all the correct entries into a prize draw.

Which metal is the NiSi Square Filter System holder made from?

Email your answer with NiSi in the subject line to win@advancedphotographer.co.uk by 31 July 2014 – don’t forget to include your contact details in case you win. Two winners will be picked at random, and each will win a 100mm filter holder with filters.

I

f you’re serious about your photography, then a quality set of filters is a must-have in your kitbag. To shoot with wide apertures in bright light or use long exposures for creative effects, you need neutral density filters, while a circular polarising filter is essential for shooting reflective buildings, water, or to saturate blue summer skies. And of course for landscapes with impact, you need neutral density graduated filters to capture all the drama in the sky.

New to the UK this year, introduced by photo accessory distributor and retailer UKphotodistro, the NiSi Square Filter System offers all of these options, with high-quality optical glass filters that have an anti-reflective and waterproof coating on both sides. These slot into a holder that’s made from aviation grade aluminium, finished in matte black to

prevent reflections, and can be attached via adaptor rings to lenses with filter threads between 67mm and 86mm. The filters also have an EVA gasket design to prevent light leakage. It all adds up to an effective, sturdy and durable system.

The filter system is available in two sizes – the standard 100mm width, or a wider 150mm version for extreme wideangle lenses. For each size, the full range of filters includes ND8 (3 stop), ND64 (6 stop) and ND1000 (10 stop) neutral density filters, a circular polarising filter, as well as soft, hard and reverse 0.9 graduate neutral density filters.

With a NiSi Square Filter System in your kitbag, the creative options are endless – and we are giving two lucky readers the chance to bag themselves a 100mm holder along with a selection of NiSi filters.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS The winner will be notified by email/phone and the results may be published in the magazine.

This competition is open to UK residents only. All entrants must be at least 18 years old. Employees of Bright Publishing and UKphotodistro Limited and their immediate families and agents may not enter. Entries must be received by 31 July 2014. Entries not in accordance with these rules will be disqualified: by entering the competition, competitors will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules. The filters included in the prize are entirely at the discretion of UKphotodistro Limited. The prize must be taken as offered with no alternative. In the event that the prize cannot be supplied no liability will be attached to Bright Publishing. If you do not wish your data to be shared with UKphotodistro Limited, please state NO DATA in the email’s subject line. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.bright-publishing.com.

WWW.UKPHOTODISTRO.CO.UK

UKPHOTODISTRO LTD ARE A UK BASED PHOTOGRAPHIC ACCESSORY DISTRIBUTION AND RETAIL COMPANY Our product range has just been enhanced by the high quality manufacturer, SIRUI. These fantastic products can now be seen on our website. We also have some of the most innovative photographic accessories available in the UK and Europe, and we strive to provide an excellent service whilst keeping the cost of our products competitive.

CARBON FIBRE GIMBAL HEAD

QUALITY BALL HEADS

CARBON TRAVEL TRIPOD (30CM FOLDED)

at www.ukphotodistro.co.uk | 0845 287 0710 Charged National Rate Our prices include VAT & Delivery to the UK mainland

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20/06/2014 10:19

Photo Kit

PANASONIC GH4

Panasonic GH4 If you’re into videos, then Panasonic’s new flagship CSC must have caught your eye. But what about if you just want to take pictures?

WORDS & PICTURES IAN FYFE

KEY FEATURES £1299 BODY ONLY 16.05 MEGAPIXELS QUAD-CORE VENUS ENGINE ISO 100-25,600 (EXPANDED) 12FPS PANASONIC.CO.UK

FLEXIBILITY The GH4 has a total of ten programmable Fn buttons, five of which are physical buttons on the body, while the other five are virtual buttons accessible on the touchscreen. Each button can be set to one of at least 50 functions, which by our calculations means a total of more than 10 billion different configurations. In reality, you’re more likely to want to pull out specific functions that you want to use but are otherwise buried in the menus.

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TRACKPAD The LCD is hinged so it flips out and swivels, and with the GH4 this isn’t just useful for awkward compositions. When you’ve got your eye to the viewfinder, the display turns off, but the touch functionality doesn’t and you can still use it to change the focus area or even follow focus on a moving subject with your finger. If you don’t want to use this though, you can turn this trackpad functionality off without sacrificing touch AF functions entirely.

CURTAINS As with most CSCs, there’s no shutter curtain in front of the sensor when you take the lens off the mount, but a physical focal plane shutter operates when you press the release – it’s been tested to 200,000 actuations.

However, you also have the option of an entirely electronic shutter in any situation, and the higher read-out speed of the sensor minimises artefacts associated with electronic shutters. It’s entirely silent too, so very discreet.

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20/06/2014 10:31

Photo Kit NISI FILTERS

NISI FILTER SYSTEM We get our hands on a filter system that originates from China and offers an alternative to Lee Filters and Formatt-Hitech, so how does it fare?

WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

In all probability you will have heard of Cokin, Formatt-Hitech and Lee Filters.

But have you heard of NiSi? I must admit I hadn’t until a little package landed on my desk recently.

A Chinese brand, NiSi has been going since 2007, and now UKphotodistro is importing its products into this country.

NiSi makes high-quality screw-in and slot-in filters, and it’s the latter I’m concentrating on in this review.

Like those previously mentioned wellknown creative filter brands, the heart of the NiSi system is a slotted filter holder.

This attaches to an adaptor ring which screws into the lens’s filter thread.

In this review we look at the company’s 100x100mm system but a 150x150mm system is also available for wide-angles such as Nikon’s 14-24mm f/2.8 and the Zeiss 15mm f/2.8.

Both filter holders are made from aluminium and the 100x100mm holder accepts filters of the same size from Lee and Formatt. The holder itself is very well machined from aviation grade aluminium and nicely finished in matte black to avoid any reflections. It has two slots and

ABOVE Made with aviation grade aluminium the NiSi holder is a wellmachined piece of kit, with slots for two filters and spare parts for a third.

It has a nano coating and claims low colour cast, high definition and ultra-low reflections

ND 3.0 white-balance test Shooting with a Nikon D800, I took a series of images to test the whitebalance. I actually felt the camera’s AWB

did a capable job and while the image is warm, it’s not too strong. If you don’t mind its gentle warmth, you could leave

the camera in AWB. If you want to try a kelvin preset, I’d start at around 5500K and see how you get on.

4760K

5000K

5260K

5560K

5880K

6250K

6670K

7140K

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Photo Kit NISI FILTERS

ABOVE Taken with the NiSi 100x150mm soft-edged ND graduate filter. It showed very good flare resistance and good all-round optical skills.

AT-A-GLANCE SPECS PRICES 100mm filter holder £65, adaptor ring £18, ND8 £85, ND64 £90, ND3.0 £95, ND0.9 soft-edged £90, ND0.9 hard-edged £95, 100mm square circular polariser £90, 150mm filter holder £95 CONTACT www.ukphotodistro.co.uk

extra components are provided in the box should you want a third slot. It’s claimed that a three-holder adaptor can be used on an 18mm lens on full-frame without vignetting problems. On a Nikon 16-35mm f/4 at 18mm, there was no cut-off, but I can’t speak for other wide-angles.

The supplied 77mm adaptor ring is made from copper with black nickel coating and the holder is held in place by two lugs towards the base of the holder and by a spring-loaded retaining pin. This retaining pin is good in that the spring is quite taut, but the knurled grip knob could be slightly bigger to make it easier to grip.

By the way, the Lee holder fits on the NiSi 77mm adaptor ring, but the NiSi does not fit the Lee 77mm adaptor ring.

Along with the holder came two 100mm fit filters, the ND1000, an long exposure ND3.0 (1000x or 10EV), and the Soft GND 0.9, a soft-edged neutral density graduate.

Let’s start by looking at the soft graduate, which measures just 100x150mm.

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It is a 2mm optical glass filter so unlike the resin versions from Formatt and Lee. Being glass of course brings one potential disadvantage compared with the resin filters, ie. it might not survive being dropped. The filter itself has a nano coating and claims low colour cast, high definition and ultra-low reflections. It’s certainly a quality product – you can see the nano coating when the filter is viewed at an angle and when it’s held obliquely, you can see minimal distortion.

The 100x100mm ND1000 extreme long exposure filter, like the grad, is also made from glass with a foam gasket on one side to prevent light leakage during long exposures.

The asymmetric foam gasket means there is a right and a wrong way to use it. If you find yourself forcing it into the filter holder, rotate it 90° and try again. It features a waterproof coating and the same optical qualities as the grad. It’s more than a little reminiscent of the Lee Filters Big Stopper.

I tested it on a Nikon D800, first shooting using AWB and then using the camera’s manual Kelvin settings to determine which value gave the most neutral results. I also tested its filter factor, by taking a manual reading and then making a selection of exposures at a range of different shutter speeds, giving an effective bracket of ±1EV in 0.3EV steps. I also tried metering through it with a Gossen Digisky light meter. In both cases this sample of the 10EV filter was just about spot on.

THE VERDICT The NiSi filter system is a very welcome addition to the list of options for creative filter users. Product quality is very high and I was certainly impressed with the optical quality of the filters and the filter holder itself. My one concern with the soft grad is keeping it in good condition when using it in the field as I’m used to handling resin grad filters, which can survive being dropped.

In the case of the ND3.0 extreme long exposure filter, it produced an acceptable result even using AWB and its filter factor is pretty much spot on.

HOW IT RATES FEATURES

22/25

The choice in filters isn’t great right now

HANDLING

23/25

Slightly larger locking knob would be nice

PERFORMANCE

25/25

All good in this regard

VALUE

23/25

Competitively priced creative system

OVERALL 93/100 A quality piece of kit

PROS Build quality, optical quality, coated filters

CONS Limited filter range currently, expensive glass ND grads

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20/06/2014 10:42

Photo Kit PENTAX 645Z

PENTAX 645Z

If ultimate image quality is something you aspire to, going medium-format is an option to consider – but you need the budget. The 645Z body only is £6800 so still a lot of money but not that far away from top-end 35mm DSLRs. Here we get our hands on one WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

The Pentax 645Z is priced at a level and has a specification that could easily tempt photographers who want amazing image quality but without spending a fortune. It has 51 megapixels and sells at £6800 which, of course, is a small fortune.

Not every photographer wants to shoot medium-format and it’s true not every photographer can afford or needs the image quality of medium-format – and it has been like this for years. But there has been a great many photographers who want the best image quality they can attain and are not afraid of digging deep to pay for it.

So let’s start by talking about the elephant in the room, the 645Z’s price: the Pentax 645Z sells for £6800 body only or £7700 with the 55mm lens. That compares with the full-frame Nikon D4S at £5200 body only and the Canon EOS-1D X at £4845. Of course, that’s comparing apples

ABOVE A deep handgrip, well thoughtout layout and substantial controls make the 645Z a clever piece of kit.

It is clear that where the Pentax 645Z does score highly is in its value for money

ISO performance test This ISO series was shot using a tripod mounted 645Z with a Pentax 90mm macro lens with each shot activated by the self-timer – the camera flips up the reflex mirror at the beginning of the countdown. An aperture of f/16 was used and the lighting was the modelling lamps from two Profoto flash units fitted with

softboxes. The Adobe DNG Raw files were processed in Adobe Lightroom 5 with no noise reduction or sharpening.

From this quick test you can see that digital noise is minimal at ISO 800 and not really an issue even at ISO 3200, although colour noise is visible.

With some noise reduction applied in

Lightroom, the colour noise on the ISO 6400 and ISO 12,800 images can be minimised effectively. By the time you get to ISO 25,600 it’s noticeable and by ISO 204,800 it’s pretty hideous. Why anyone shooting medium-format digital wants to use ISO 204,800 is anyone’s guess but the fact remains that it is there.

ISO 100

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12,800

ISO 25,600

ISO 51,200

ISO 102,400

ISO 204,800

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U UPGRADING YOUR CAMERA? TURN YOUR OLD CAMERA INTO CASH AT CAMERAJUNGLE.CO.UK C

ABOVE The full frame image of the base ISO 100 shot from the ISO performance test opposite. Please note all images were taken using a camera with beta version firmware, not the final version.

with pears so let’s look at rival mediumformat cameras. The 50-megapixel Hasselblad H5D-50c you can currently buy for £22,400, while the 37.5-megapixel Leica S is £12,500 and there’s the PhaseOne 645DF+ that is £23,994 with an 80mm lens and IQ250 digital back.

Price is not everything but it can’t be ignored and we wanted to give context to a camera market that not every photographer will have an abiding interest in, but it is clear that where the Pentax 645Z does score highly is in its value for money.

You get a resolution of 51.4 megapixels from a 14-bit 43.8x32.8mm Sony-made CMOS sensor and an ISO performance that is more in keeping with the 35mm full-frame world and knocks its mediumformat rivals into a proverbial cocked hat with ISO 6400 being the closest on offer.

I spent an hour with a pre-production sample and I was impressed enough to be in line to try a finished test sample when they arrive in the UK this summer.

The ergonomic handgrip is excellent and deep so holding the camera single-handedly is no problem. You could probably shoot like this if you had no choice, although that’s not a great idea because it is still quite a weight. Many of the key controls can be adjusted with the right hand. Adjusting ISO or setting exposure compensation is easy with the right forefinger and thumb doing the work. With so many controls for the right thumb, it is a digit that is kept very busy on this camera. Control design and layout is first-rate. Everything felt positive and assured so no issues here.

The Pentax menu system is similar to most brands with tabs (shoot, custom etc.)

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running across the top and specific items running down. With four tabs for camera functions, four for set-up functions and five for custom functions, it will take a little while to get familiar with it but generally seems straightforward enough.

The 645Z has so many commonly used functions controlled by buttons (some are customisable too) and switches on the body that there is no need to go into the menu structure too often. The monitor itself is big and clear – and unlike its predecessor, the 645D, it’s tiltable. It is not touch sensitive.

The 645Z’s sensor can record JPEGs at differing quality levels and Raw – you can record both together or individually. In Raw you have the choice of Pentax’s own PEF format or Adobe DNG. It’s good to see that Pentax is enlightened enough to continue to offer the open standard DNG format.

Using a PNY Pro-Elite Plus SD card (by the way, the camera has two SD slots) with the camera in continuous shooting mode and with Adobe DNG Raw and the biggest JPEG file set, I got five shots at 3fps before the camera buffered and then it took around 20 seconds for the buffer to completely clear. The 645Z is not designed for high-speed 11fps shooting nor will its potential users want it so this shooting / recording speed is perfectly good.

In terms of card space, our test JPEGs averaged around 30MB each, while the Adobe DNG Raw files ranged from 64MB up to 93MB. Summary An hour’s acquaintance and a handful of exposures does not a great camera review make, but in this case neither does it rule

Photo Kit

PENTAX 645Z

AT-A-GLANCE SPECS STREET PRICE £6800 body only, £7700 with the 55mm lens CONTACT www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk SENSOR 51.4-megapixel, 43.8x32.8mm CMOS with a primary colour filter FILE FORMAT Raw (PEF/DNG), TIF, JPEG, DCF2.0 compliant SHUTTER SPEED RANGE 1/4000sec30secs, Bulb ISO RANGE 100-204,800 METERING -1 to 21EV, compensation ±5EV in 1/3 or 1/2EV steps AUTOFOCUSING SAFOX 11, 27 AF points, 25 cross-type SHOOTING SPEED 3fps MOVIE Full HD VIEWFINDER COVERAGE 98% MONITOR 3.2in, tiltable TFT colour, approx. 1037k dots DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 156x117x123mm WEIGHT 1.55kg including battery & card

out the possibility that it’s a great camera.

Initial impressions are certainly very favourable and I look forward to spending a longer, more leisurely time getting to know the 645Z because its potential is clear. It delivers high-quality files that withstand critical assessment and its very wide ISO range outguns its medium-format rivals readily, although it’s fair to say that aspect is unlikely to be too influential in this market.

Of course, what is key is image quality and right now with only a handful of shots to examine and without making direct comparisons, that aspect we’ll reserve judgement on for the time being. The signs, though, are very promising.

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Photo Kit

GITZO MOUNTAINEER GT2532

GITZO MOUNTAINEER GT2532

AT-A-GLANCE SPECS STREET PRICE GT2532 £660, the four-section GT2542 £710 CONTACT www.gitzo.co.uk LEG SECTIONS Three KEY FEATURES Reversible centre column, removable feet, ballast hook, adjustable leg angle, G-lock ultra legs, ground level set mechanism, made from carbon eXact MAXIMUM LOAD 18kg MAXIMUM HEIGHT (no head) 166cm MINIMUM HEIGHT (no head) 16cm FOLDED LENGTH (no head) 65cm WEIGHT 1.67kg

There is absolutely no point spending a great deal of money on expensive glass and shooting with a high resolution camera if you then compromise it all with a budget tripod. If you value quality, investing in a top-end tripod will pay for itself WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

Today, carbon-fibre tripods are commonplace, but back in 1994 there was only one brand selling them and that was Gitzo. The brand, founded in France but now based in Italy, has always been synonymous with quality and the original Mountaineer tripod range set new high standards and so the tripods became the first choice for many leading professionals. Of course the Mountaineer range has seen various incarnations over the intervening time and earlier this year, the latest collection was unveiled.

The range includes ten tripod leg sets and three tripod and head kits. Gitzo groups its tripods according to their size and weight, so Series 0 comprises the lightest and shortest tripods, perfect for travel and CSCs, while Series 3 features the heaviest models ideal for studio use, when using extreme telephotos and for

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medium-format. In between the two extremes there are Series 1 and Series 2, both standard height tripods.

All series are available in three- or foursection versions. Here we test the threesection Series 2 GT2532 that comes with a street price of £660.

Out of the box you can’t help but be in awe of the Gitzo’s handsome looks. The tripod shoulder, or spider as Gitzo calls it, is beautifully machined and the centre column lock and leg angle locks work very smoothly and securely. The same can be said of the twist-grip leg locks that don’t take much effort to lock securely.

The leg locks use Gitzo’s G-lock system that is comfortable to use and designed to minimise dust and debris entering the legs.

And check out those gorgeous legs crafted from Gitzo’s eXact carbon fibre leg tubes that are stiffer than previous versions of the material and help to achieve larger-diameter lower section legs to promote stability.

Twisting the tripod’s shoulder while the pod is at its maximum extension reveals

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Photo Kit

GITZO MOUNTAINEER GT2532 THE VERDICT

ABOVE There’s no questioning that this is one good-looking tripod, made with Gitzo’s own eXact carbon fibre legs, which are even stiffer and more stable than in previous models.

IMAGES The GT2532 does its job perfectly: it’s stable, substantial and this threesection model is a good standard height with or without maximum extension of the centre column.

minimal movement. It’s impressively ely stable. Speaking of maximum extension nsion without using the centre column, it’ss not that tall, so if you are tall and like shooting ooting at full head height, a larger Gitzo will suit you better. But then the GT2532 goes high enough for me and I had no fears using the centre column. The centre column itselff is not that long and that must help promotee stability because you can’t overextend it and risk wobble.

I used this Gitzo with an Arca Swiss ball head and it made for a great combination. It is comfortable to carry, quick to set up and, most importantly, it’s very stable. I did some extreme long exposure shots and had no problems with camera movement.

While the GT2532 lacks some features seen on other models – for example, it can’t be reconfigured to shoot at 90° for shooting straight down – it does have the ability to shoot at a very low level.

To do this, the base plate is unscrewed to allow the centre column to be removed from below before replacing the base plate onto the tripod. Splay the legs out at 90° and that’s your super low camera position – getting the Gitzo ready to shoot in this position is quick and straightforward.

On several occasions I left the centre column off, which lessened the weight slightly, because rarely do I use a tripod at head height.

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There is a very special, although intangible, quality about using first-class kit and there is no doubt I certainly felt that using this Gitzo tripod. It even looks fabulous and is worth every penny of its price tag.

It’s true that you get more bells and whistles with less expensive models. No foam leg grips, for example, and if you look at the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO4 we tested last month, it has innovative powerful leg locks and the ability to shoot at 90° and, of course, its ability to hold a camera steady is comparable.

But this Gitzo still has something special, an B aaura that makes it worth a close look.

Of course, the Gitzo GT2532 costs a considerable amount of money but you can’t con define the cost of pin-sharp pictures, making defi most of your high-megapixel camera and the m exotic glass lenses and in that context it’s undeniably good value. unden

HOW IT RATES HO FEATURES FEATU

21/25

It’s got all most people need

PERFORMANCE PERFO

25/25

It’s a rock steady ’pod

HANDLING HANDLIN

24/25

Everything smacks of quality

VALUE FOR FO MONEY

22/25

bu quality costs It’s pricey but RIGHT The G-lock leg system is comfortable to use and effectively helps stop harmful debris making its way into the mechanism.

OVERALL

92/100

There is much to love about this Gitzo PROS Quality, sstability, kudos, built to last CONS Exp Expensive, lacks features seen in cheaper rivals

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Photo Kit

SAMSUNG SD CARDS

ABOVE Samsung’s new card range includes SD and Micro SD cards at three speeds and in a range of sizes.

SAMSUNG SD RANGE Samsung has recently updated its range of SD and Micro SD cards.

We got the SD cards in for a group test AT-A-GLANCE SPECS WORDS & PICTURES WILL CHEUNG

We all know how important it is to use high quality, reliable storage cards and it’s a good idea to refresh them regularly too. The reliability of flash memory is excellent but things can still fail, either mechanically or electronically, and some productive photographers replace their memory cards every year or so. It makes perfect sense, especially if you are shooting professionally.

Samsung’s latest collection of SD and Micro SD cards features three levels of read/write performance, indicated by their colour. Emerald blue is for Standard, orange represents EVO and silver indicates PRO range. A full range of sizes is on offer suitable for users of all levels from family snap shooters to dedicated videomakers – the 64GB PRO card can record around 670 minutes of HD video.

The PRO and EVO ranges both support UHS-1 (Ultra High Speed).

All Samsung’s new cards offer a rugged performance. They are all waterproof (up to 24 hours in seawater), temperature proof within a range of -25°C to 85°C, magnet proof and unaffected by X-rays.

The SD cards can also withstand the force of a 1.9 ton vehicle driven over them.

For its SD cards, Samsung also claims durability of 10,000 mating cycles –

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inserting and removing the card. If you do the maths, ie 10,000 divided by the 365 days of a non leap year and assuming one mating cycle a day, that gives the cards a life of over 27 years. In other words, card durability is excellent.

Our test here was a mix of theoretical and practical in normal conditions, so we resisted the temptation of driving over the cards ourselves.

For the theoretical test we used a freeware called CrystalDiskMark (see panel) and for the practical used a Nikon D800. At 36.3 megapixels resolution, producing 14-bit compressed Raw files of around 40MB, the D800, which supports SDXC, UHS-1 and CF UDMA 7, seemed the ideal test vehicle.

The camera was set to continuous shooting and 16 consecutive frames were exposed before the stopwatch started.

The clock was stopped when the camera’s green write light extinguished. Sixteen frames took up 650MB memory so this was divided by the time recorded to determine a practical MB/s speed.

Read speed was tested with an Apple iMac Mini with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i7 processor and a PNY USB 3.0 card reader.

The test 16 frames were copied to the iMac and the upload time noted.

SAMSUNG STANDARD SDHC

PRICE 4GB starting from £5.50 ACTUAL CARD TESTED 4GB £5.50 SIZE AVAILABILITY 4-64GB SPEED CLASS Class 6, SD2.0 CLAIMED SPEED Up to 24MB/s transfer speed CRYSTALDISKMARK WRITE SPEED 8.34MB/s CRYSTALDISKMARK READ SPEED 21.68MB/s TESTED WRITE SPEED 7.64MB/s TESTED READ SPEED 22.63MB/s OPERATING TEMPERATURE -25°C to 85°C DURABILITY 10,000 mating cycles WARRANTY 5 years

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Photo Kit

SAMSUNG SD CARDS

AT-A-GLANCE SPECS

AT-A-GLANCE SPECS

SAMSUNG SDHC EVO

SAMSUNG SDXC PRO

PRICE 16GB starting from £10.99 ACTUAL CARD TESTED 16GB £10.99 SIZE AVAILABILITY 4-64GB SPEED CLASS Class 10 UHS-1 CLAIMED SPEED Up to 48MB/s transfer speed CRYSTALDISKMARK WRITE SPEED 14.25MB/s CRYSTALDISKMARK READ SPEED 34.45MB/s TESTED WRITE SPEED 13.26MB/s TESTED READ SPEED 39.09MB/s OPERATING TEMPERATURE -25°C to 85°C DURABILITY 10,000 mating cycles WARRANTY 10 years

PRICE 16GB starting from £23.99 ACTUAL CARD TESTED 64GB £71.99 SIZE AVAILABILITY 16-64GB SPEED CLASS Class 10 UHS-1 CLAIMED SPEED Up to 90MB/s transfer speed. Write speed 80MB/s with UHS-1 CRYSTALDISKMARK WRITE SPEED 31.73MB/s CRYSTALDISKMARK READ SPEED 34.38MB/s TESTED WRITE SPEED 19.11MB/s TESTED READ SPEED 41.61MB/s OPERATING TEMPERATURE -25°C to 85°C DURABILITY 10,000 mating cycles WARRANTY 10 years

THE VERDICT Samsung’s latest range of products is a worthwhile update from its predecessors and the repackaging gives the collection a much more contemporary look. If you’re shooting lots and lots of consecutive big files then write time is a consideration and these Samsung cards might not be ideal. Of course few of us shoot in such a manner so that’s not an issue and you have to look at other qualities of the card. In this case, the enhanced ruggedness and reliability of these Samsung cards certainly has an appeal and they represent good value for money, in particular the EVO range that performs fast enough for most of us.

HOW IT RATES FEATURES

25/25

Designed to perform in tough situations

PERFORMANCE

23/25

Write times could be better

HANDLING

25/25

No mating problems experienced

VALUE

23/25

Rate highly in this respect

OVERALL 96/100 A welcome addition to the SD market

PROS Rugged characteristics, good value, looks

CONS Faster SD cards are available

These Samsung cards certainly have an appeal and they represent good value

Samsung SD card test: How we did the test We checked the theoretical read/write speeds of each card using a benchmark software. CrystalDiskMark is a free Windows software from http://crystalmark.info and checks theoretical performance of storage cards. You can use it to SAMSUNG SD STANDARD

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SAMSUNG SD EVO

check the speed of your existing cards if you suspect you own a fake and it can also be used for checking speeds of conventional hard drives and SSDs too. Download the freeware and give it a go.

SAMSUNG SD PRO

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