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The Sony A7 family has gained a new member, the A7s, an interchangeable lens, full-frame compact system camera with a top ISO of 409,600 The Sony A7 series appeals to photographers who demand full-frame image quality without the bulk of a traditional DSLR. The latest in the series, the A7s offers resolution of 12.2 megapixels so much lower than the A7 at 24 megapixels and the A7R at 36 megapixels. The benefits of cramming fewer, but larger pixels into a smaller area are superior noise performance, colour fidelity and better dynamic range. Its native ISO range is 100-102,400 and this can be expanded to 50-409,600.

The A7s is also the world’s first full-frame camera that can shoot 4K video with full pixel read-out via an HDMI interface and an external storage device.

The Sony A7s will be available later this summer. Its price has not been confirmed yet. π To find out more about the Sony A7s, go to www.sony.co.uk.

With the amateur winners of the Sony World Photo competition announced, we talk to World Photo Organisation MD, Scott Gray, page 16.

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Animal magic – 50 years of wildlife photography Wildlife Photographer of the Year: then & now

•N ikon D4s • Olympus E-M10 • Travel ’pods & bags Turn to page 23 for kit reviews you can trust

Issue 7 | Photography News

Photography News | Issue 7

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Latest photography news

Photo 24 encore!

Join us for a unique photo experience in London PN’s sister magazine, Advanced Photographer is hosting Photo 24 again. This year the plan is to kick off at 6pm on Friday 20 June at a meeting point in central London. This is an informal event and you are welcome to come along for a couple of hours; or

shoot on the Friday evening, adjourn to a hotel for a sleep and then carry on in the morning; or to shoot all night long – the choice is yours. You can come along and ‘buddy up’ on the night or group together with some club members for company.

π Please register your interest on http://bit.ly/1i8L7ot and we’ll keep you up to date with plans.

3 NEWS IN BRIEF STOP PRESS! As this issue was going to press, news broke of the Pentax 645Z, a 51-megapixel mediumformat DSLR that is due to sell for £7700 with a 55mm standard lens.

Full story next issue. ricoh-imagIng.co.uk AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN If you’ve not already discovered the joys of gear reviews in video and pros talking about their kit, as well as totally interactive lighting masterclasses and Lightroom tutorials courtesy of iPad only mag, Absolute Photo, now is the time. Treat yourself to the first issue for the princely sum of 69p. Yes, that’s right, issue 1 of Absolute Photo is currently just 69p. It’s bursting with delights, such as the fine art of low-light landscapes and the 12 most influential cameras of all time. So head over to the iTunes store, pay your 69p and download the issue – plus get free previews of other issues!

Samsung’s tough cards Faster, more rugged storage cards Look out in the shops for Samsung’s new advanced range of SD and microSD cards.

The PRO, EVO and Standard cards will be available from 4GB to 64GB sizes, identifiable by attractive colour finishes – silver for PRO, orange for EVO and blue for Standard. The PRO and EVO ranges support UHS-1 Grade 1

performance and offer read speeds of 90MB/s and 48MB/s respectively.

The new cards also offer reliable performance in challenging conditions and they are said to be waterproof, as well as resistant to magnets and X-rays. All models are guaranteed to survive 24 hours in seawater and work in temperatures from -13°F to +185°F. . π To find out more about the new cards, go to www.samsung.com/uk.

ADOBE LIGHTROOM FOR IPAD Lightroom Mobile offers the ability to work on your images even when your iPad is offline. Mobile is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photoshop Photography Program and for £8.78 per month you have access to Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC on your desktop and the mobile app on iPad. Right now, Mobile is for CC subscribers only, so not great news for everyone. www.adobe.com

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Issue 7 | Photography News

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Latest photography news NEWS IN BRIEF C’MON ENGLAND Two special edition PNY flash drives have been launched to celebrate the World Cup. Red and white for England and green and yellow for Brazil, these 16GB drives cost £9.99 each. www.pny.com OVER THE MOON Two Hasselblad Lunar cameras worth $14,000 in total reached $54,500 at a charity auction in Florida in aid of spina bifida, as two (presumably wealthy) photo enthusiasts bid against each other.

ACTION BRAUN The Braun Master Action camera is perfect for extreme sports fans.

It can capture videos and 16-megapixel still images with a 10x digital zoom and be used down to 100m underwater. It sells for £250. www.kenro.co.uk PANASONIC OFFERS Until 2 June 2014, get a deal on the GH4, GH3 or GX7. Buy a GH4 and you can claim a free battery grip and battery worth £300, or buy a GH3 and claim a free battery grip, battery and a Leica Summilux DG 25mm f/1.4 lens – that little lot is worth £800.

Buy the GX7 with its 20mm kit lens and you can redeem a 12-32mm zoom worth £300 or if you buy the GX7 with the 14-42mm kit lens, claim a free 20mm lens. www.panasonic.co.uk SAMSUNG TRADE-IN Until 31 August 2014, trade in your old digital camera (it still has to work!) for a new Samsung camera, such as the NX Mini, the Galaxy Camera 2 or the WB350F, or a lens. Find full terms and conditions on the website. www.samsung.com/uk HANG IT UP Users of Lastolite foldup backgrounds (or any brand with a metal rim) will be interested in this gadget, the Magnetic Background Support. It attaches to any standard lighting stand and holds the fold-up background in place, perfect for the location shoots. On its own it sells for £60 and is available as a kit complete with a lighting stand for £1078. www.lastolite.com

Photography News | Issue 7

Nikon’s latest Nikon’s 1 Series of CSCs has gained a new member.

And if you want a tiny CSC, the Nikon 1 V3 could well be the camera for you.

The V3 may be really compact, but it offers highspeed performance. Its sensor has a resolution of 18.4 megapixels and it works with the new EXPEED 4A image processor to give high image quality and the ISO range is 160 to 12,800. The V3 with the 1030mm f/3.5-5.6 PD zoom costs £800 and £1050 for the same kit plus an EVF and grip.

An AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens was also announced – 35mm format equivalent is 27-450mm. This compact lens costs £630 and will in the shops later this April.

π To find out more, go to www.nikon.co.uk.

SON OF BIG

STOPPER Olympus with style AND MORE FROM LEE The 16-megapixel Olympus SH-1 is a beautifully designed compact and is on sale for £350. But it offers much more than great looks. It’s the world’s only compact with five-axis optical image stabilisation, has a 24x integral zoom giving a 35mm focal length equivalent of 24 to 600mm and has a top ISO of 6400. It’s available from the end of April.

Due out in June is the Olympus Stylus Tough TG-3, also set to sell for £350. It’s aimed at the

adventurous photographer who is likely to face arduous conditions and the camera is waterproof, shockproof, crush proof and freeze proof. The 4x optical zoom gives a focal length equivalent of 25mm to 100mm and features an Advanced Super Macro function that offers Microscope, Microscope Control, Focus Stacking and Focus Bracketing modes. π To find out more, go to www.olympus.co.uk.

Wide Samyang A 12mm f/2 manual focus lens has been introduced

by Samyang for mirrorless APS-C formats. With 12 elements, three of which are made from extra low dispersion glass, in 10 groups and nanocrystal antireflective coating to optimise resolution, this lens could be a real cracker and perfect for fans of wideangle shooting.

Mounts available are Canon M, Fujifilm X, Samsung NX, Sony E and Micro Four Thirds. It should be in store by the beginning of May, priced at £350.

Lee Filters’ Big Stopper has been a huge success and it continues to sell well. The thing with the Big Stopper is that you don’t always need to lose ten stops of light, especially when the light levels are lower, so the Little Stopper only absorbs six stops. As with the Big Stopper, the Little Stopper is not truly neutral so either needs correction in post, or the white-balance adjusted in camera.

The Little Stopper costs £100.80 for the 100mm system and £68 for the Seven5 75x90mm system.

Speaking of the Seven5 system, designed with CSCs in mind, Lee has just added some new kits. The Deluxe Kit costs £468 and comes with a filter holder, circular polariser, 0.6ND grad soft, 0.6ND grad hard, 0.9 ND grad hard and a Big Stopper. All you need to add is an adaptor ring.

The other kits comprise just the filters and are tailored to specific subject areas so there is the Out of Town ND Filter Set, the Seascape ND Filter Set and the Urban ND Filter Set. Each set costs £168. . π To find out more, go to www.leefilters.com.

π To find out more, go to www.samyang.co.uk. www.photography-news.co.uk

Latest photography news

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Nissin flash & video light MARUMI UV FILTER The new series of Marumi Exus UV filters will stop excessive blueness spoiling your images and is perfect for protecting the front of your lens.

The anti-foul coating helps resist finger marks and dust as well as

making cleaning easier. Sizes from 49mm to 82mm are available with prices between £58.32 and £138. π To find out more, go to www. kenro.co.uk.

The Nissin 140 is a compact flashgun that also incorporates a video light. The unit weighs in at just 230g, takes four AA cells and costs £204.

It has a zoom head covering lenses from 24mm to 105mm with an integral diffuser giving 16mm lens coverage, while the LED video light has nine output levels. It also offers high-speed sync, wireless TTL and has a tilt/swing head.

It is available for Canon and Nikon to start, with models for Sony Micro Four Thirds and Fujifilm to come. π To find out more, go to www.kenro.co.uk.

Nest of bags The Nest Explorer range has grown with two lightweight top loading bags, the EX5 and EX10 costing £30 and £35 respectively, and two compact shoulder bags designed for CSCs and DSLRs, the EX25 and EX50, priced at £40 and £45. There is a range of

NEWS IN BRIEF

colours available, black, blue, green and orange.

Order any Nest bag from the website before 30 April and save 30%. .

FAST SCANNER Reflecta has introduced a high-speed 35mm film scanner. The x8-Scan costs £59 and has an optical resolution of 1800ppi. Each 35mm frame takes two seconds to scan. www.kenro.co.uk

π To find out more, go to www.neststyle.com.

Go Camo with Benro Benro’s latest photo rucksacks have a camouflage finish so they’re the perfect companion for the bird and wildlife photographer. Two sizes are on offer, the Falcon 400 and Falcon 800, costing £169 and £180 respectively. The roomy 400 will happily take a DSLR fitted with a 400mm lens, and both bags are made from water-repellent materials.

MANFROTTO WINNERS Manfrotto products have won six Red Dot Product Awards.

The Red Dot Design competition has been going for 60 years and its awards are internationally recognised. Among Manfrotto’s winners are the 190 aluminium tripod, the Befree travel tripod and the new X-PRO three-way head. www.manfrotto.co.uk

π To find out more, go to www.kenro.co.uk.

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Issue 7 | Photography News

6 © SEAN BATTEN, UK, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Latest photography news

Sony winners

Win £500 of photo kit Contact lens retailer GetLenses.co.uk is running a photo contest throughout 2014. Every three months, the winning image gets a £500 voucher for photography equipment to be spent at Amazon UK.

The sponsors want to see images of any subject or object that reminds the viewer of an eye and the more imaginative the better. So, get your imagination going because the next closing date is 16 May.

π To find out more about the competition, go to www.getlenses.co.uk/eye-competition.

Go learn with TFC Top American photographer Frank Doorhof is touring the UK offering four intensive one-day workshops this June.

With each course limited to 12, book your place very soon if you don’t want to miss out – one has already sold out! π To find out more, go to www. theflashcentre.com.

Photography News | Issue 7

Sean Batten has been named Britain’s best amateur photographer in the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. Sean’s portfolio featuring the London Underground was featured in Advanced Photographer (September 2012).

An exhibition of the Award winners takes place at London’s Somerset House, 1-18 May. As well as the winners and shortlisted entries from 139,000 entries, there is a collection of work from US photo journalist Mary Ellen Mark and some images from Sony ambassador William Klein’s latest commission.

Tickets costs £7.50 (£5 concessions) and can be booked at www.worldphoto.org/2014exhibition. π To find out more, go to www.worldphoto.org.

Or turn to page 16 for an interview with the MD of Sony World Photo Awards.

ABOVE The image that scooped Sean Batten a big prize in this year’s Sony Photo Awards.

NEWS IN BRIEF OLYMPUS FIRMWARE UPGRADE Firmware version v1.3 is available for the Olympus OM-D E-M1.

For upgrade details visit http://bit.ly/1dUqkjU BOB BOOKS APP The Bob Books app for iPad and iPhone is available from the UK App store. It enables users to make coffeetable quality books straight from their iPad/ iPhone. The app is free and photo books start from £16.99. www.bobbooks.co.uk

Outdoor UK courses Adventure holiday expert Exodus has launched UK landscape and wildlife workshops led by professional photographer Dave Stephenson. Courses cost £150 per

person and take place in Essex, Kent and Sussex.

π To find out more, go to www.exodus.co.uk/photographyworkshops.

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GITZO TRIPODS

Peak performance Gitzo’s Mountaineer tripod range has been redesigned – and it’s eXactly what you need Stability, usability and versatility. Those are the qualities you want in a tripod, so you know not only that you’ll get sharp images in any situation, but also that you can set up the shot quickly and comfortably while positioning your camera precisely from any height to achieve your creative vision. And those are the qualities that Gitzo has focused on in developing its latest all-purpose carbon fibre Mountaineer tripods.

The Mountaineer is Gitzo’s original model, and was the first tripod to use carbon fibre legs.

Twenty years after its first appearance, it’s no surprise that the Mountaineer is still leading the way, and the updated range includes the latest technology to meet the needs of the most exacting photographers.

The evolution starts with what made the Mountaineer stand out from the crowd in the first place – the carbon fibre. The new range improves on the previous Carbon 6X models with the introduction of Carbon eXact. This optimises the composition of the material for each tube size, with high modulus carbon fibre reinforcing the narrower tubes – this makes the legs stiffer

without needing to use more material, so there’s no disadvantage when it comes to weight. The tube dimensions have been optimised for stability too, and the lower leg sections have larger diameters. The result is a tripod that’s stiffer and stronger than ever, but still extremely portable.

Gitzo has also redesigned its signature G-lock leg lock system for the new Mountaineer tripods, which feature G-lock Ultra. This offers smoother, softer operation for greater comfort, while also maximising tripod performance and reliability.

The mechanism is fine-tuned to match the smaller differences in tube diameter between Carbon eXact leg sections, contributing to extra stiffness of the legs, and the design reduces the chance of debris entering the tubes and locking mechanism so you know they won’t seize up at the vital moment.

Getting your camera close to the ground has never been easier or quicker than with the new Mountaineer range either. With the new Ground Level Set system, simply unscrewing the ring below the centre column’s upper disc frees the column so it can be removed without having

IMAGES With new carbon fibre legs and improved locks, the Mountaineer looks set for another 20 years at least.

The evolution starts with what made the Mountaineer stand out from the crowd in the first place – carbon fibre to disassemble anything else, leaving the upper disc and head firmly in place. Once the column’s removed, you can sit the tripod with the legs in their horizontal position so the camera can get as low as 14cm from the ground. New leg angle selectors that are easier to get hold of and disengage make for comfortable adjustments to the leg angles too.

The new Mountaineer tripod range includes ten different leg sets, with prices starting at £479.95.

Three- and four-section models are available in sizes that range from the smallest Series 0 models, which weigh as little as 1.07kg and fold to just 53cm, up to the biggest Series 3 tripods with a maximum height of 178cm and top payload of 21kg. No matter what kit you have or how you want to use it, there’s a Mountaineer for you.

π To find out more, go to www.gitzo.co.uk. www.photography-news.co.uk

Issue 7 | Photography News

Camera clubs

Tell us your club’s latest news, email: clubnews@photography-news.co.uk

CLARE ACFORD

Duston does it again!

IF YOU’RE QUICK Nature pro David Goldstein is speaking at Bracknell Camera Club, Thursday 24 April, 7.30pm. The venue is Garth Hill College, Bull Lane, Bracknell and tickets costs £9 each. www.bracknell-cameraclub.co.uk AN EVENING WITH CHRIS WESTON Renowned wildlife pro Chris Weston has a presentation at the Earl Shilton Camera Club, Wednesday 21 May. The venue is the Earl Shilton Constitutional Club, Earl Shilton LE9 7GT. The show starts at 7.30pm and doors open at 7pm. Tickets costs £8 for adults, £5 for under 18s. For enquiries, contact John Smith on johnrsmith987@ btinternet.com or visit the website. www.earlshilton cameraclub.org.uk

NEXT ISSUE Issue 8 of PN is out on Monday 19 May.

Photography News | Issue 7

In the recent GB Cup 2014 PAGB Small Clubs Competition, 63 clubs entered and Duston Camera Club came out on top for the second time; they also came first in 2012, out of more than 80 clubs. They started entering the Cup to support the PAGB in 2011 when they came third.

“We have 43 members and keep going all through the year,” says chairman Graham Worley LRPS. “We have great respect from visiting speakers and we are always being told what a friendly club we are.”

Halifax Photographic Society’s first meeting was on 5 May 1914, and to commemorate its centenary this year, the society is holding an exhibition of prints old and new from 26 April until 7 June at the town’s Bankfield Museum. And 3-31 May, they’re hosting the Yorkshire Photographic Union Annual Exhibition and Assembly, with the prints and projected images displayed at Bankfield Museum. Leo Rich ARPS, president of the PAGB, will officially open the Assembly at Square Chapel for the Arts, Halifax on 3 May. On the evening of 3 May at Square Chapel there’s also a prestige lecture by David Ward, one of Britain’s most accomplished photographers, known not only for his beautiful photographs but also his philosophical thinking and writing. Tickets for this lecture cost £10 and are available from Philip Haigh on 01924 522542 or via the society’s website.

π To find out more, go to www. dustoncamera.org.uk.

π To find out more about the society and its centenary activities, go to www.halifaxphotographicsociety.co.uk.

Noton on tour Two chances to see pro landscape photographer, David Noton this May On 2 May, David Noton in Preston at the Greenbank Lecture Theatre, University of Central Lancashire giving his Chasing the Light talk. Tickets cost £10 each. Contact Dave Cope for tickets, contactppssecretary@gmail.com, or go to www.prestonphotographicsociety.org.

On 27 May, he’s at the Nottingham & Notts Photographic Society, at the Richard Herrod Centre, Nottingham NG4 1RL. The evening starts at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £13 from info@nnps.org, or go to www.nnps.org.

CLUB SPOTLIGHT Each month we focus on a camera club. If you want your club featured, write 200 words about your club and why it’s going places, then send the word document and up to five JPEG images from members to clubnews@photography-news.co.uk.

North Cheshire Photo Society Not content with winning awards, NCPS is also keen to expand, try new things and attract new members North Cheshire Photographic Society (NCPS) is an expanding club, attracting new members through a varied syllabus. And the club is no stranger to awards either. In fact, this year, NCPS will be one of the clubs representing the Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Union at the PAGB National PDI and Print competitions. We also enjoyed top 10 placings in both the recent PAGB GB Cup and the PAGB Nature Cup. The club hosts a three-day annual exhibition displaying over 300 prints and PDIs. The exhibition includes the North Cheshire Challenges, which sees over 20 clubs from the North West compete against each other. New clubs are always welcome.

We offer members mentoring to help and encourage them to further develop and enjoy their photography, all in a relaxed and social atmosphere. We meet in Poynton every Tuesday evening from September through to May and guests are always made welcome.

The club continues to expand its activities, such as developing a new programme of monthly trips. Our syllabus includes some keenly fought externally judged competitions, and our website features galleries, a blog and a Twitter feed keeps members up to date.

π To find out more about the North Cheshire Challenges, go to www.north cheshirechallenges.info. To find out more about NCPS, go to www.ncps.org.uk.

COMPETITION WINNERS Club and individual winners celebrate success at WCPF The Western Counties Photographic Federation (WCPF) held their annual Inter-Club Digitally Projected Image Competition in February. This hotly contested competition sends two top winners to compete in the main PAGB Inter-Federation Competition.

A total of 1100 images, from 55 clubs, were entered and judged in salon style

by Paul Keene, FRPS MPAGB EFIAP/p, Brian Swinyard, MA ARPS EFIAP/b DPAGB BPE3* PPSA and Maureen Toft, EFIAP/p MPAGB MPSA ABPE. After three hours of judging in front of an enthusiastic audience, Dorchester

Camera Club emerged victorious by a narrow margin of two points over Bristol Photographic Society, with the Zen Photo Group taking third place.

In the individual competition, Janet Haines from Dorchester won the overall prize with her image, The Sirens (above); with the silver medal going to Robin Gregory from Calne Camera Club with an image entitled Eve; third place was awarded to another member of Dorchester Camera Club, Penny Piddock for her underwater image Squid showing chromatophores.

π To find out more, go to www.wcpf.org.uk.

Get your club news heard

Rob Lea

ENTER NOW You have until 2 May to enter the Robin Hood Open Digital Exhibition.

There are six categories to choose from: Natural Colour, PhotoRealistic Colour, Creative (Colour and b&w), Nature, Monochrome and Landscape.

Prizes include elegant engraved glassware as well as BPE ribbons and PAGB gold medals. The Exhibition is run under the auspices of BPE and has PAGB Patronage. www.robinhood exhibition.co.uk

100 not out

JANET HAINES

NEWS IN BRIEF

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We welcome any aspect of club news. It could be a member’s individual success or it might be a great club shoot, maybe the club won a regional contest, has a special anniversary or exhibition coming up, or a big speaker due and you simply want to sell more tickets.

Whatever it is, if you want any items considered for Club News email them to clubnews@photography-news.co.uk before the deadline, 5 May. Deadline for the next issue is 9 May, out Monday 19 May.

NEWSLETTERS WANTED

If your club or society publishes a newsletter, please add us to the mailing list using this email address: clubnews@photography-news.co.uk

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EPSON PRINTERS

A winner on paper In the final stages of a photographic competition, the standard can be so high that often standing between an entrant and a gold medal is just the quality of the print There are many different types of photographer that make up any given camera club. You’ll have everyone from the amateur photographers fresh from buying their first compact system camera, to the naturally talented enthusiasts to the professionals who make their living out of photography. All have one thing in common though: a passion for photography. Gordon Jenkins’ dedication to photography goes above and beyond the average, having been involved with his local club, Chorley Photographic Society, for an astonishing 38 years. He’s been president, treasurer, member and is now about to take on the role of vice president. If there’s one person who knows about clubs, it’s Gordon.

“Established in 1896, Chorley is a normal camera club of 92 members. We weren’t formed just for competitions but we do like to enter them throughout the year,” says Gordon. Chorley members particularly relish putting their skills to the test in print competitions. “Some of the top workers in our club feel that when they enter digital competitions, they can never be certain of the quality of the projection that the competition organisers will afford their image,” he adds. By submitting prints,

Print quality isn’t important, it’s very important

BELOW Stalwart club member, Gordon Jenkins relies on an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 to print his outstanding images for competitions.

competitors are able to take complete control over what the finished piece looks like, ensuring it aligns with their vision.

“Although the projection is good, with a print you know exactly what the judges are going to be looking at,” explains Gordon. “They’re going to be looking at something you want them to look at, not a projected interpretation.” The majority of members at Chorley Photographic Society rely on Epson printers to produce their competition images because it’s a brand they’ve come to trust to deliver the results they require. “Epson printers are reliable and the quality is second to none. Epson is constantly improving its technology and inks and people are managing to achieve fine detail with their prints,” says Gordon.

Fine detailing is crucial when competitors reach

the final stages of a competition. The quality of a print could go as far as to make or break the image for the judges. “The judges initially look at the images for impact, but when they get down to the final awards, they look closely at the print quality,” he says. “The judges actually look to see if there is detail in the highlights and whether the shadow areas are blocked as well as looking at the tonal range. Print quality isn’t important, it’s very important.”

Epson’s Stylus Photo R2880 is a favourite among Chorley Photographic Society members and it’s also Gordon’s model of choice. It’s ideal for printing largeformat photos up to A3+ size, but not only that, it can also produce prints that for some are a qualitative equivalent to darkroom prints. “It can be difficult for the monochrome worker to actually get a print that would simulate a very good darkroom print, but that has been made entirely possible with Epson printers,” says Gordon. “If two prints were made, one in the darkroom and one using a top-quality Epson printer, I defy you to be able to tell the difference – without getting the glass on it and seeing the structure of the image itself.”

Chorley PS has been able to enjoy relative success at competitions throughout the UK, thanks in part to the quality of the prints submitted. They have also started branching out into digital international competitions achieving results that they were “quite chuffed at”. But print competitions will always be the pinnacle of their competition ventures. “Print competitions to a lot of the top photographers are really the endgame, that’s where they really like to win,” concludes Gordon.

To find out more about the entire Epson range of inkjet printers, go to www.epson.co.uk. www.photography-news.co.uk

Issue 7 | Photography News

Your opinions

What you think about… judging Speakers’ corner in issue 6 drew a huge response.

To recap, judge Colin Walls CPAGB suggested that judging club competitions should not be done ‘live’, but considered beforehand. Well, here’s what you think…

“I feel that I must respond on behalf of the many dedicated camera club judges, who undertake their judging assignments on a ‘cold’ judging basis.

Colin Walls felt compelled to label ‘cold’ judges as pontificating and lazy. How disappointing that a fellow judge and photography enthusiast should feel so arrogant and superior.

“I have personally been judging at club and federation level for five years. During that time I have worked hard on improving my knowledge and understanding of photography by visiting exhibitions, studying photographers and photographs and viewing as many club photographers’ images as possible. This knowledge has enabled me to deliver informed photographic critique at club competition evenings, even if I only have a limited time to preview all images entered on the night.

“I certainly do not feel that the criticism “lazy” and “pontificating” has any substance and does Colin no credit at all. I might question if his “five or six” judging assignments a year in any way keeps him up to date with current club photography in all of its varying guises, but I would never presume to criticise something about which I am not fully informed.

“In my experience camera club judges do their best, in their own time, to provide a valuable service to clubs and their members. Some are better than others, but that is a reflection on all aspects of life.

“It is disappointing that a fellow judge feels the need to criticise his colleagues when it would be much more productive if we worked together in developing our many skills to the benefit of camera clubs and their members. At the end of the day camera club judging is something that we all do through our enthusiasm and love of photography. Ill-informed criticism will only serve to stifle that enthusiasm to the detriment of all.”

Anthony Oliver LRPS, CPAGB “I have been a judge for 30 years and have used both methods in club competitions. If I have over 90 images I prefer to have them in advance. If however the numbers are lower, more often than not the clubs don’t get the entries until the night of the competition.

“I feel that with experience it is quite possible to make an informed judgment in the time available on the night. What I would normally do is mark the average and below and keep the higher scoring images until the end and then select a winner when the top images are together.

“Bearing in mind that most club evenings last at the most two hours and an interval of 20 minutes is taken out of that, this leaves 100 minutes to judge maybe up to 120 images which does not leave much time for long informed comment.

“And at the end of the night, it’s only ever the competition winner who really likes the judge.”

David Hollows CPAGB Photography News | Issue 7

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Give us your feedback, email: opinion@photography-news.co.uk

“I am not a judge but have years of experience listening to them. One memorable example of the pre-competition viewing method I had was listening to an experienced federation judge pontificating on how he would have taken the images rather than giving advice on how to improve them.

“Good judges, if they are worth their salt, can sum up an image quickly, get straight to the point and still give helpful and constructive comments.

Spontaneity is more refreshing. Sometimes one may disagree with a particular comment or mark, but after all, it is subjective. For more in-depth analysis we have in-house critique evenings.

“As a comparison, a music exam candidate is judged on the immediate performance as are other music competitions.”

William Norman “I have been a keen photographer for decades, but only joined a club (Park Street Camera Club) about a year ago, and have not yet entered one of their competitions. I have been highly impressed by the way that all the judges I have seen at the club have made constructive comments about most or all the photos presented to them during the evening.

“I don’t yet have much feel for how important winning the competitions is for club members, but I think the competition results have been far more appropriate than the random selection suggested, presumably tongue-in-cheek, by Colin.

“I agree wholeheartedly with Colin that judges would be better able to do their job if they devoted a weekend in advance to studying the photos, and I admire him for sticking to his principles and refusing to judge ‘cold’. But, having been surprised by the number of competitions Park Street Camera Club holds or enters, I wonder whether there are enough competent judges available, who would be willing to devote a weekend to each competition, to sustain such intensive judging for all club competitions.”

Chris Newman

First-hand experience Des Ward is media manager at Cheltenham Camera Club, and he read the Speakers’ corner article by Colin Walls CPAGB with interest as Colin had judged at the club in 2012. As part of his post, Des writes a members’ only blog, so he can say what he really thinks about visiting speakers without worrying. Here’s his blog entry commenting on Colin’s judging, followed by subsequent comments from Cheltenham CC’s members: “A rather unusual, perhaps even unorthodox judge. Unusual in that we got his history upfront to let us know where he was coming from (and I don’t just mean the Beacon Club, Malvern) but also his slant on assessment in preference to judgment and his love of seeing other people’s photographs. Also I believe unique in recent years in that he examined the prints for 1.5 days before Thursday evening. His presentation was undoubtedly unorthodox – reading his notes from an iPad. And finally he doesn’t accept expenses – he requests a donation to his nominated charity, SightSavers.

“So how did he do? Well I could be accused of bias as he gave a first place to my image, Divergence (although I got no change whatsoever with my mono images), but I thought his very careful assessment of the prints was excellent. I think we got a much better, more considered, more in-depth, more insightful and more concise assessment of the prints than we ever get when a judge is seeing them for the first time on the night.

“Colin gave us his ideas on how some of the images could be improved, mentioning a better crop quite a few times, and even an anti-crop – where there wasn’t enough space around the

Comments Judging at home and delivering your carefully considered assessment was normal when I first joined a club. Sadly around 1990 judges started insisting that they would only judge live.

The reality is that live judging is more difficult and some are better than others. However, the advantages of home judging were well displayed by Colin and quite a contrast. Well done Colin!” DH Good judging, great preparation and he kept on time!” DP

subject. I thought he was effective in telling us where the eyes go when looking at various pictures – and whether that contributed to the image working or not.

“He also made a number of very good points which I took note of: • The eye is automatically drawn to text, and if it is incomplete, you tend to spend more time on it, trying to work out what it really says – if the text is not the main point of the image then this essentially distracts from the subject.

• Simplicity is the art of taking away everything to leave only what’s essential.

I also particularly liked the way that the images which didn’t quite make it to the award giving stage got an honourable mention to let you know how close they were.

“Finally, you could argue that his style of reading notes from an iPad led to a less dynamic presentation than usual – and there are certainly judges who are more entertaining; but to be honest I think the level of detail we got from his full consideration of the images far outweighed that.

“In summary, another excellent judging; the time and care that Colin put in to prepare were self-evident and certainly paid off.

Thanks Colin.”

I liked the crisp summary of each picture given by Colin, so much better than the umming and so on that often accompanies the assessment.

The keeping to time was largely due to this delivery and was welcome. Sometimes I find the delivery we get from judges so laborious. I think we should invite this one back for sure.”

TP I agree entirely that the time he devoted to judging beforehand was beneficial. I think more judges should be encouraged to do this. It made for a much better, yet concise summary of each image’s good and poorer points.” IG

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Issue 7 | Photography News

12

GREG DU TOIT / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

Competitions

LUIS JAVIER SANDOVAL / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

JASPER DOEST / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

INTERVIEW

Wild for 50 years

Over the past 50 years, Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPOTY) has brought us some of the most iconic, poignant and creatively outstanding images of nature from around the world.

Communications officer Rosie Pook tells us more about WPOTY then and now Interview by Megan Croft WPOTY has been running for 50 years, tell us about the history of the competition.

The competition was founded in 1965 by what is now known as BBC Wildlife magazine, but back then it was simply called Animals. The first competition had about 500 entries in three different categories, but even then it was known as one of the most prestigious wildlife photography competitions in the world. The Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide combined forces in 1984 to take over the running of the competition and it’s really grown from there.

In the early years of WPOTY wildlife photography was mostly about documentation because, without the Internet, it was one of the only ways that people were able to see such a variety of wildlife. Then in the ’80s and ’90s, wildlife photography became more of a tool for conservation awareness, which resulted in a lot of images of endangered and rare species. Photography was really used to highlight the plight of wildlife in need.

Today, we want to illustrate the diversity on earth, challenge perceptions and inspire people to get more involved in wildlife and wildlife conservation.

One of our main aims is to get people to reconnect with the world so we focus a lot on urban wildlife and the immediacy of your surrounding environment Photography News | Issue 7

How many entries did you receive last year?

We received about 43,000 entries from 96 countries.

It’s grown into a global phenomenon. We are the largest wildlife photography competition in the world and are considered to be the most coveted.

ABOVE LEFT Essence of Elephants by Greg du Toit, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013. Greg used a slow shutter speed and filter to get his ghostly shot at a waterhole in Botswana.

Where do you receive the most entries from?

We see a lot of entries from the UK as it is a UK owned and run competition, as well as from Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia.

Predictably, most of our winners come from these areas too, but interestingly we’ve never had a grand title winner from Australia yet.

We are seeing more entries from Korea, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and Peru for example which is fantastic because that is where the fresh content and diversity of wildlife is coming from.

TOP RIGHT Dive Buddy by Luis Javier Sandoval, Behaviour: Cold-blooded Animals winner. Luis took his shot at Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a holiday resort, as well as a nesting site for endangered green turtles, who now regard people as part of the environment.

Is there a typical kind of person who enters WPOTY? Lots of wildlife photographers start out as scientists, guides or conservationists. They engage with the world around them and want to start documenting and showing the amazing wildlife they work with in a different light. Last year’s winner Greg du Toit started out as a wildlife guide himself, so lots of people come into wildlife photography from an

ABOVE RIGHT Snow Moment by Jasper Doest, Creative Visions winner. Fascinated by the effect of a cold wind at these Japanese hot springs, Jasper used a polariser and fill-flash to photograph this macaque.

because there is enormous biodiversity right on your doorstep, wherever you live in the world.

initial appreciation and want to share their story through photography.

Have you finalised the judging panel for 2014?

Yes, we have five judges now all with a range of expertise and experiences. Our chair again this year is Jim Brandenburg who is a legend in wildlife photography. He was a National Geographic photographer for 35 years and is incredibly successful and awarded but also has an amazing vision that really helps drive the competition. Jim wants to see those creative, fresh perspectives which helps push our entrants to achieve the best.

With Jim at the helm again, we’re confident that it’s going to be a really good year.

Can you give us an insight into the judging process?

We have an initial online judging session in which each of the 43,000 images is seen by at least two of our judges. Our final round of judging sees all our judges brought together in the Natural History Museum and about 10,000 or so images are projected onto a screen for discussion until they have been whittled down to the category winners and then grand title winner.

What makes a winning image?

Our judges come from all over the world and we draw from a big range of expertise: photo editors, www.photography-news.co.uk

SERGEY GORSHKOV / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

ISAK PRETORIUS / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

wildlife photographers, underwater photographers and a range of industry and technology experts.

The judges are looking more into how the image was taken, why the image was taken and what the story is behind the image rather than being wowed by anything extreme. An exciting entry is an image that makes you think, that provokes a response or challenges or moves you in some way.

They’re looking for a demonstration of technical skill but also vision and creativity. Creativity really underpins the whole competition. If an image is taken in a creative way, for one judge that could completely overturn the technical element. That’s why we can see images now that may not be technically perfect but can stop you in your tracks.

Why do you think that photographers want to win WPOTY in particular?

For lots of photographers when they win they say that the most important thing for them is getting their message out to so many people. Our competition message reaches about 800 million people and for Greg winning meant being able to get his message out about the importance and vitality of elephants that was so key for him, and it’s had a huge impact on his career.

Are there any names to look out for?

Photographers from our Eric Hosking portfolio, our young award for photographers aged 18 to 26, have gone onto great things. Bence Máté and Vincent Munier both won the category a few times and have gone on to be incredibly successful, Connor Stefanison won that award this year and I’m sure will go on to do really well, so photographers in that category are really the ones to watch.

Greg has entered before and now he’s made that jump to become one of the world’s best wildlife photographers; if you’d asked me a couple of years ago Greg would have been on that list.

WPOTY is redefining the categories for 2014; why and how?

For the 50th year, we’ve changed the category www.photography-news.co.uk

13

PAUL SOUDERS / WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2013

Competitions

TOP LEFT The Cauldron by Sergey Gorshkov, Wildscapes winner. When the Plosky Tolbachik volcano erupted for the first time in 36 years, Sergey took his Nikon D4 and lenses up in a helicopter.

ABOVE LEFT Sticky Situation by Isak Pretorious, Behaviour: Birds. When the seafaring lesser noddies head for land to breed, the redlegged golden orb-web spiders’s silken webs get in the way, holding them fast.

ABOVE RIGHT The Water Bear by Paul Souders. Animals in Their Environment winner. Paul scouted for three days before he spotted this young female bear.

An exciting entry is an image that makes you think, that provokes a response or challenges or moves you in some way

structure in order to better represent the diversity of life on earth. We’ve reorganised categories in terms of taxonomical organisation, so we’ve got a mammal category, a bird category, an invertebrate category and so on. We’ve done that in order to draw a diverse range of entries that we can curate to represent life on earth.

We’ve also introduced new categories to represent new technology, so for 2014 we have a category for time-lapse photography. Time-lapse allows us to see natural behaviour and movement that is otherwise hidden, so it opens up the competition to a different dimension. It’s also important for us to recognise technological developments in photography and film, and to represent this in the competition. Timelapse has been around for a while, but it’s now becoming more accessible and popular amongst wildlife and landscape photographers. We’re really hoping that it will drive some really interesting and different content for us because it will be the first time we’ve had moving images in the competition.

Do you have any predictions for imaging trends that will crop up in 2014’s entries?

Greg’s image was quite interesting because it focuses on African mammals, a subject that some people have stopped photographing as much because they think it has been overdone. So Greg’s shot proves that trends always come back around.

People are now increasingly going to different habitats such as the Russian Far East to photograph wildlife as they believe it hasn’t been seen as much.

What we would like to see more of is people documenting their immediate environment. Your back garden could be a huge farm in South Africa or it could consist of just a little garden pond – whatever it is, we want to see it!

Where does the exhibition tour?

We have two different versions of the tour, one is the light-panel exhibition that shows at the Natural History Museum as well as in Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore. We have another set of printed images that tours around the UK and the world.

A word from Greg du Toit, last year’s winner...

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a really special and unique competition because they themselves take it so seriously. For me, I think it’s just an incredible conservation tool because the way the exhibit is displayed you are just touched by our planet’s beauty. It’s a great education tool too because of the strong focus on endangered animals and how we are impacting our environment.

I was over the moon when I found out I had won. It came at a very good time for me in terms of my career because just the week before I had launched my coffee-table book AWE, African Wildlife Exposed. In the last five years I had two photographs highly commended so it wasn’t the case for me that I just got lucky, it was something I’d worked really hard for. I’m just so passionate about wildlife and photography so for me it’s a joy and a privilege to even be able to enter.

The one piece of advice I always give is to photograph whatever you’re passionate about and do it passionately. If you photograph what you’re passionate about then you’ll be able to capture photos that are special, unique and interesting and that will stand out.

Is there anything special planned to celebrate WPOTY’s half-centenary year?

We will definitely be having lots of celebrations around the 50th competition. We’re looking into a series of additional activities and live events, but that’s all I can say at the moment. π To find out more, go to www.nhm.ac.uk.

Issue 7 | Photography News

Photography News | Issue 7

www.photography-news.co.uk

Opinion

15

BEFORE THE JUDGE

Colin E Mill Each issue, a respected judge or exhibition selector shares their thoughts and experience with us. This month, judge and club member Colin E Mill ponders the science of judging

Colin E Mill: Colin started out taking photographs as a teenager with a Petri rangefinder before moving on to an Olympus OM-10 when he started work, but he didn’t join a camera club until he moved to Milton Keynes.

Home club: New City Photographic Society (Milton Keynes) www.newcityps.co.uk Years in photography? 31 Favourite camera: Linhof Technorama 617S

Favourite lens:

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS

Favourite photo accessory:

Manfrotto 055 ProB with 410 Junior Geared Head (although I’ve just bought the new Manfrotto 055 & X Pro three-way head)

Favourite subject:

Landscapes

Favourite photographers:

Colin Prior, David Noton & Tom Mackie

Awards won:

Aside from the LRPS I attained in 1999, which has now lapsed as I’m no longer an RPS member, I’ve also won a few ribbons in national exhibitions.

Words by Colin E Mill Judging may not be a definitive ‘science’ and if you were to put the same image before a number of judges in different competitions, in the company of different images each time, you are likely to get a range of scores, but judges do, or rather should, view an image with certain criteria in mind. So if you are going to enter club competitions how can you improve your chances of winning?

Before looking at this I think I should state that camera club photography is a hobby, the purpose of which is enjoyment, and this notion should exceed everything else. I wholeheartedly agree with the premise that we make photographs for our own enjoyment, and not to please the judges, but it makes me wince when I hear that phrase cited as an excuse for mediocre photography.

Competition entry & judging criteria For me, as a judge, basic image evaluation of a competition entry falls into three simple categories or stages: Impact, Creativity and Technical Competency.

Impact is probably the most important criterion and possibly the simplest. Here you should ask: Does this image have impact? Will it stand out from the crowd? Does it have appeal? Is the impact giving the viewer pleasure, or creating interest? Is it effectively communicating a message?

It is the strength of these attributes that are the main criteria for judging an image’s merit, and don’t forget that judges tend to only see each image for a brief period of time so if it doesn’t have immediate impact then no matter how creative or technically perfect it is, it’s already fighting a losing battle.

With the image’s impact in mind, consider its Creativity. Ask yourself what are the creative elements that make it work or, slightly more importantly, adversely affect its impact? There are numerous artistic rules or guides, and the judge may identify the use of some of these, but hopefully won’t judge it adversely for not using them, unless their absence specifically detracts from the image’s impact. It’s ok to break the rules, provided the result has impact and shows creativity.

Finally, Technical Competency. There are a number of technical elements that contribute to an image’s impact: exposure, selective focusing, print quality, sharpness, overuse of digital tools, etc. Here the judge will consider how well these were used to either enhance the image or detract from it.

Ultimately therefore images are best judged by their immediate impact rather than a ‘scientific’ overanalysis of creative and technical elements.

As a judge, what do you want me to look at?

Successful images have a clear point of interest www.photography-news.co.uk

COLIN MILL

MEET THE JUDGE

Having decided if the image has impact and is pleasing, the judge might hopefully support this by examining the use of creative and technical elements and from this point, may determine the degree of positive or negative reaction to the image.

So, if the image has impact and is pleasing, the judge may score it higher or lower by considering how the creative and technical elements were used.

Overanalysis is also an important issue, and one that really ticks me off! Because photography is an art rather than a science it is meaningless, and often laughable, for a judge to attempt to read into images presumptions about the author’s purpose, emotions, or even technical choices. Overanalysis often looks as if the judge is trying to demonstrate great skills rather than focus on the author’s work.

Optimally, judges apply logical, simple criteria, which relate to an image’s immediate appeal, impact and how well the image ‘works’. Here, the learning for the entrant is to understand what creative and technical attributes enhance or detract from the image. However, such comments should not be contrived, overanalysed or simply rigid adherence to the numerous ‘creative rules’ (better referred to as ‘guides’) commonly used by photographers.

Judges are oftentimes criticised for repeating the same phrases when appraising competition images, indeed certain phrases have achieved something of a mantra status: place the point of interest on the third, include diagonals to give the image dynamism, or try to convey a sense of movement, but leave space for the object to move in to. And don’t forget to watch out for those burnt-out highlights or blocked-up shadows. We may feel we know all this, and yet there is likely to be a reason why these oft used phrases reappear time and again.

As photographers, the expectation is on us to render a view within a frame on a two-dimensional surface with as much as possible under our creative control. Slight technical or compositional faults

may be forgiven, but the photograph must have enormous impact in its own right.

As a judge, what do you want me to look at? The most successful images have a clear point of interest and the background complements or enhances the image, or places it emphatically in context. This is why good wildlife photographs fare so well.

One of the main causes of ‘failure’ in competition images is a lack of sharpness of the main subject.

I have seen far too many photographs, be they print or DPI, that are simply not sharp. And this is usually due either to camera shake or inaccurate focusing. In portraits for instance the eyes, nose and lips should be sharp, even when presented as ‘soft focus’. Landscapes should usually be sharp front to back. Learn to focus effectively and sharpen the final image from foreground to background, selectively if necessary. At the same time, take care not to over sharpen an image and watch out for the ‘halos’.

Presentation of the final image also has a vital role to play in its impact. Print mounting can be a contentious issue, or rather the colour of the print mount. Do you recall the last time a judge complimented the colour of the mount? Very rarely will a coloured mount enhance competition prints so it is best to mount on black or white. If you like, add a narrow border around the image or use mounting board with a contrasting core to define the edges of the photograph. For DPIs it is advisable to add a key line to the image to define its edge. The size of key line is pretty much down to your own personal preference, though for me thinner is better, but it is best to avoid enormous borders on DPIs. So there you have it, a quick guide to what camera club judges look for. Ultimately, entering club competitions is a fantastic way to improve your photography, provided you are happy to accept the bad critique with the good, but the key is to have fun. π To find out more, go to www.colinemill.co.uk.

Issue 7 | Photography News

16

Competitions INTERVIEW

Best of both worlds

Run by the World Photography Organisation (WPO), the Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) attracts some of the most talented up-and-coming photographers from around the world. Managing director Scott Gray gives us a peek into the inner workings of the competition © SEAN BATTEN, UK, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Interview by Megan Croft How was the SWPA conceived?

The original concept was formed in 2005 when I was discussing potential events to be held in Cannes. I was looking into specific areas within the industry and looking at who the best photographers were.

Naturally, it was easy to find a list of the greatest and most iconic photographers, but I couldn’t find the current stars and the hottest prospects emerging within the various disciplines. There were plenty of awards out there such as the fantastic World Press Photo or specific national awards focusing on nature and wildlife for example, but there wasn’t an award that set a true international benchmark across all disciplines from fine art to reportage and was welcoming to both established professionals and emerging enthusiasts.

Having formed the idea, I started to build the foundations of the programme and then went to speak with the major camera manufacturers. Sony absolutely understood the project immediately and shared my passion for encompassing both a professional award and one for amateur enthusiasts as well as reaching out to students.

Together we launched the first award which ran in 2008 and Sony has partnered it ever since.

Can you give us an insight into your role as managing director of the competition?

I run the business and try and steer it in a direction that genuinely works for the industry and truly supports the photographers that engage with the programme. I do however have an absolutely amazing team of people that work at the WPO; they are all terrific and care passionately about the photographers and photography. We all work towards building the programmes under the WPO umbrella, developing them further and trying to reach more photographers in more markets whilst celebrating photography and encouraging more people to engage with it.

Where can we see the final exhibition?

We promote the winning photographers through all our channels across the world, from Canada to Australia, so it has quite a remarkable reach. The main exhibition of winners is shown in London at Somerset House, from 1 May through to 18 May. We then showcase the work in various places across the world, throughout the year.

How much has the competition grown since its founding year?

We had 70,575 entries in our first year and this year the awards welcomed 139,554 entries from 166 countries. Whilst we have almost doubled the number, the biggest difference is the quality, not Photography News | Issue 7

just amongst the winners, but the strength in depth of the shortlisted and commended photographers.

We receive a staggering number of photographs from all four corners of the world resulting in a wonderful collection to choose from, ensuring that the winning images offer such huge diversity.

ABOVE Sean Batten’s image took first place in the SWPA UK National Award.

What have been the significant changes within SWPA since it began?

Over the years we have tried to refine the competition structure, make it more accessible and easier for people to engage with. The fourth year saw us move the main awards night from Cannes to London but the main changes have really been in the activation of the awards and winners. We now do so many more initiatives around the world with local Sony offices, from exhibitions to workshops, which see a wider promotion of the programme and the photographers themselves.

How is SWPA’s judging panel selected?

The WPO’s creative director Astrid Merget selects the jury each year. She looks to choose a jury that

Photography has the ability to really capture an emotion and transport a spectator in an instant; to really engage with a viewer and evoke a response

has representatives from the commercial, reportage and fine art fields as well as representatives of the world with judges from Latin America, Asia, Europe and America.

How do the judges go about narrowing down the submissions?

The pre-screening starts immediately after the competition closes and the final stages see the judges locked away in meeting rooms for four days deliberating and discussing the various work. They are split into groups focusing on the areas that they are best qualified to judge. Selecting category winners presents difficulties but the criteria remain the same.

The judges always do an incredible job and each year they are absolutely committed to looking at everything that is there and selecting images, which, as a group, they think offer something special and unique.

The competition categories are so varied it must be difficult to select an overall winner.

How do the judges go about this?

The final day sees the judges all come together to choose the overall winner from the professional category winners. I think it is an increasingly difficult task and generally takes three to four hours as the various judges fight for their choices – it is a fascinating discussion! www.photography-news.co.uk

Competitions

17 © KYLLI SPARRE, ESTONIA, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

© SIMON MORRIS, UK, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS © ARUP GHOSH, INDIA, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS © HAIRUL AZIZI HARUN, MALAYSIA, 2014 SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Comparing the individual category winners and so judging between a beautiful landscape shot and a piece of reportage is incredibly hard.

By that stage all the bodies of work are good, but the discussions here, between the judges, are very interesting as they continue to look for something which is unique and really stands out as something of strength within itself.

What do you think makes a winning image?

The judging panel is different each year and therefore the approach is always slightly different.

In general they are looking to find an image that engages them, that offers something different. It may be something that is already portrayed but shot differently or it could be something quite unique. Photography has the ability to really www.photography-news.co.uk

TOP LEFT Simon Morris’s image took 2nd place in the UK National Award.

MIDDLE LEFT Arup Ghosh’s entry came first in Open People.

ABOVE LEFT The winning entry for Open Split-Second came from Hairul Azizi Harun.

TOP RIGHT Kylli Sparre’s photo won the Open Enhanced category.

capture an emotion and transport a spectator in an instant; to really engage with a viewer and evoke a response. At the base of it, that is what we are looking for in the Sony World Photography Awards.

Where do you receive the most entries from?

The entries are very much spread across the world.

This year we received the most entries from the UK but that only represents eight per cent of the total.

The other leading countries are USA, India, Italy, Russia and China. Our biggest success story this year was Indonesia, where we saw a 121% increase.

Where’s the most exotic country you’ve received submissions from?

This year we had our first entry from Vanuatu, a small island in the Pacific Ocean. I understand the population of Vanuatu is a little over 200,000 people. It looks like a beautiful country so perhaps I should visit on my holidays so I can meet the photographer!

Do you have a favourite SWPA category?

Photography is so broad that there is work in all the categories that I like, admire and respect. I do enjoy the Still Life and Architecture categories with a view to hanging work on my wall. I’m always phenomenally impressed and moved by the work submitted in the Current Affairs and Contemporary Issues categories.

There is both a Professional and an Open Amateur competition; is there much difference in the quality of entries?

The primary difference between the two competitions is the way they are judged. The

professionals are judged on an entire body of work, while the Open Amateur competition is judged on a single shot. Moving from taking great individual shots to creating a body of work that is both compelling and engaging whilst having a tight edit is certainly a large step forward.

That is not to say it is unattainable, as we have seen many enthusiasts shortlisted within the Professional competition, but it does require a quite different approach.

Are you looking to expand the competition to incorporate newer technologies?

We are always looking at new technologies to see if we can engage with them – we ran a mini timelapse competition last year, for example. However, I think the next thing for SWPA would be the incorporation of multimedia pieces. Photographers are working in video more and more and I think that this is something that will certainly be brought in for the future.

What are the future plans of the awards?

We will continue to try and raise the profile and awareness of SWPA and make it as accessible to everyone as possible. In doing so we will be able to find new and emerging photographers, exciting new talent and be able to generate further exposure for the photographers who are shortlisted and win the competition, which is the primary aim of the award. If we can continue to achieve this we will be able to further raise the profile of photography and get more people engaging with, talking about and appreciating this wonderful medium. π To find out more, go to www.worldphoto.org.

Issue 7 | Photography News

18

Profile INTERVIEW

Graham Armitage Founder of the UK arm of Sigma, Graham Armitage answers PN’s questions on everything from innovations in technology and design to the company’s controversial court battle over patent infringements Can you introduce yourself to PN readers please?

I am the general manager of Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sigma Corporation of Japan. I founded this company in 2001 but before that I’d worked with Sigma’s UK agent since 1978.

but there is always room to introduce more. I think a full-frame equivalent of the 18-35mm f/1.8 lens would be appreciated by the ever-growing number of photo enthusiasts who are using DSLRs with full-frame sized sensors, or a 24-200mm type lens with a fast aperture.

What have been some of the stand-out moments for you during your career at Sigma?

The first time I visited Sigma’s state-of-the-art factory in the beautiful volcanic region of Aizu Wakamatsu and saw the complete process of designing and manufacturing a camera lens. There have also been several technological advances that I enjoyed witnessing, such as Sigma developing the first minizoom lens, the 39-80mm, which heralded a huge change in standard lenses.

It seems some lens makers are less concerned about aberrations like distortion and fringing, expecting such problems to be cured in software – what’s Sigma’s view on this?

Sigma designers are putting even more effort into producing very well corrected lenses. We like to be open with our customers and supply lots of information and data on the lens construction of each of our lenses, plus MTF charts and graphs showing distortion and vignetting. The parent company is planning to supply much more detail on optical performance in the near future. Of course, modern post-capture software is very useful and can only improve things.

Sigma has remained relatively successful in an industry that has been hit by some particularly hard times. Why do you think that is?

As lens technology has become ever more sophisticated, the vast majority of our competitors have fallen by the wayside. Sigma has specialised in lens design and manufacture, has not been tempted off into non-photographic fields and has constantly invested in new technology and machinery. Nor has Sigma opened manufacturing plants elsewhere, but concentrated on one ever-expanding factory in the Fukushima prefecture employing only experienced and committed Japanese craftsmen. Over the years our market has become ever more niche but specialist and it is very resilient to general economic downturn in the market.

Your Art lenses have been well received by critics and consumers alike. What do you think the reasons for their success are?

Kazuto Yamaki, the son of our founder and former president, is now at the helm and his Sigma global vision concept has seen the introduction of a new era in lens manufacture. Our team of very talented lens designers has begun pushing out the barriers of what’s possible in three ranges: Art, Sport and Contemporary.

The 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM (Art) is the first fixed f/1.8 aperture zoom lens in the world but not only that, it seems to be universally accepted as an excellent and groundbreaking optic. The same designer is responsible for our 35mm f/1.4 DG (Art) lens and is currently working on a brand new 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM (Art) lens which we expect to set new standards of sharpness.

What’s the lens you would love to have in your range that you don’t already have?

We have almost 50 focal lengths in our range currently, Photography News | Issue 7

The dp Quattro is a radical step away from the traditional concept of a compact. What was the thought process behind this reinvention?

I believe that by designing tiny compact cameras we were in danger of sending a mixed message.

AGE: 61 YEARS IN THE PHOTO INDUSTRY: 38 CURRENT LOCATION: Letchworth Garden City LAST PICTURE TAKEN: Mount Fuji and a full moon from my hotel room in Shinjuku, Tokyo, early morning before flying home HOBBIES? Studying Ebenezer Howard and the Garden city movement (only joking! But I do seem to be unduly involved with his life’s work). Hill walking, reading, sailing, listening to music and eating out with friends WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GREW UP? I wanted to be an archaeologist but didn’t get a place at Southampton University. Phew, what a lucky escape!

DOGS OR CATS? Dogs TOAST OR CEREAL? Cereal EMAIL OR PHONE CALL? Phone call as I’m a slow typist.

Discerning photographers couldn’t believe that a tiny camera that looked like a point-and-shoot compact could produce such stunning results. The dimensions also caused our designers problems in cramming all the sophisticated and power-hungry components into such a limited space. The new dp Quattro design looks like nothing else on the market and handles just like an SLR. The design seems to have split opinion but at least people are talking about it and it does look business-like and capable of producing great quality photographs.

Sigma cameras feature the self-developed Foveon X3 sensor. This uses an entirely different method for detecting light [every pixel records red, green and blue light] compared with your competitors, what was the reasoning behind that decision?

Michihiro Yamaki (Sigma’s founder and former president) was a very keen photographer who believed that digital images were very ‘flat’ and carried none of the depth and emotion that film could capture. Meanwhile a like-minded team of experts at Foveon were working on a way to recreate the total three-colour capture, which leads to film-like qualities. They eventually decided to embed three layers of colour detectors in silicon and developed the Foveon X3 sensor. Sigma and Foveon worked together, each bringing their own special knowledge and expertise to the project.

Eventually Sigma bought out Foveon and the work to recreate the special film-like quality so loved by Mr Yamaki goes on.

Recently, Sigma has been ordered to pay $14.5 million in compensation to Nikon over a patent infringement on image stabilisation technology.

What will be the impact on Sigma’s ability to compete in that market?

Sigma is disappointed with the outcome of the court case as we would never intentionally infringe a competitor’s patent. It was a highly technical case open to different interpretations and we have won similar cases in the past but have chosen not to publicise these. The sum of ¥1.5 billion is only a fraction of the original claim and, whilst not a welcome expense, will not prevent us from continuing in our mission to supply superb lenses at affordable prices.

Sigma’s flagship SD1 Merrill has, unlike the majority of competing models, been designed without HD movie capabilities and Live View. Can you tell us why that is?

Our first priority above all else is to produce the very highest image quality from both our lenses and cameras. The SD1 Merrill is capable of producing breathtakingly sharp images but is not equipped with all the ancillary extras that most other DSLRs have today. We admit that our system is not the fastest or most convenient on the market, but if the photographer is truly dedicated to top quality pictures with a film-like quality then only the Foveon sensor can produce that.

BIOGRAPHY

The dp Quattro looks like nothing else on the market and handles just like an SLR. The design seems to have split opinion, but at least people are talking about it

With declining sales of DSLRs and CSCs, that means fewer cameras onto which to fit your lenses, so what’s the biggest challenge for Sigma?

The sales of both DSLRs and CSCs are considerably down in the UK but the truth is that it is the entry level in both categories that is suffering. Our customers however are enthusiasts who understand that lenses are a crucial component to improving their photography and therefore buy additional lenses for their more sophisticated cameras. These customers are not in decline, indeed our business has grown over the last two years.

What are your future ambitions for Sigma?

I would like Sigma’s unique position as a family owned company competing against huge corporations to be recognised. We are innovative, lean and proactive and punch far above our weight. Small doesn’t mean insignificant. Sigma has a great future. π To find out more, go to www.sigma-imaging-uk.com. www.photography-news.co.uk

www.photography-news.co.uk

Issue 7 | Photography News

20

Opinion

SPEAKERS’ CORNER

The support act Photographers often talk about being behind the lens, but what about the people behind the photographer?

Tanya Wrycraft is one of those ‘behind the photographer’, attempting to keep family life and her career going Words by Tanya Wrycraft The perception of a photographer’s life is that they wander about taking pictures and selling them – just like that. But as anyone who is a photographer or who lives with one knows, the reality is very different.

I was also guilty of assuming that stereotypical scenario. Then one day it all changed when I was introduced to a photographer. Things went swimmingly, and as I also have more than a passing interest in photography, we got on well. Several dates later and I’m starting to notice a few random patterns in his behaviour. It starts with responses to Facebook statuses and so on at 4am, hours with absolutely no response from phone or email – and by hours, I mean maybe 12-15 – and silence starting halfway through a conversation. Hmmm – all very odd! Again, at 4am there would be statuses posted about Photoshop, the fact it was getting light and that he hadn’t been to bed yet. By this time I’m seriously wondering what on earth is going on, and does this person actually have a life. A typical post would be: ‘Photoshop pizza for dinner again – whoops!’

It turns out that this was a regular occurrence: he would put a pizza in the oven for dinner, and then not hear the buzzer. In fact, he would often end up with the smoke alarms going off and his flat full of black smoke. ‘Dinner’ was black (again!) and the rest of the flats in his block were now awake… oops. Not to mention the hastily downed cold coffee and bags of M&Ms rather than break off from Photoshop to find real food to silence the grumbling tummy!

So I’m starting to spot a pattern here. He’d often be out taking pictures or doing shoots, and then also be running workshops for people. It slowly started to make sense. I’d arrive to visit for a weekend and wouldn’t be able to sit down for kitbags, tripods and backdrops cluttering up the sofa/lounge/bedroom – hazard of a small flat with a bulky hobby!

Full-time Fast-forward eight months, and life suddenly throws a few spanners in the works. What was a professional hobby is now a full-time career, complete with giving it everything we had between us. It also coincided with all that camera kit (and him, I hasten to add) moving in with me and my two children. Everything I’d experienced so far was just the warm-up.

Not only was the house suddenly full of two of everything as we combined our lives into one home, we suddenly had a ‘to do’ list longer than all our arms put together.

I quickly picked up a thousand new roles – assistant, secretary, diary-keeper, gopher, coffee maker, biscuit barrel filler, marketing manager, salesperson, support team… you get the picture.

Anyone who has relaunched a business will know what this takes. We had many months of very late nights: rebranding, building the website, ordering sample work, framing, developing a network and finally just getting the word out there. Thousands of leaflets were dropped – all of us traipsing the streets in the rain for several weekends – and endless hours spent on social media making sure everyone knew we had arrived.

You would also think this was the end of Photoshop pizza – instead it went to a whole new level. Just as it is for every family, the build-up to Christmas was an incredibly busy time. In the final run-up to the start of the festivities I asked him to take one of my many Christmas cakes out of the oven when the beeper went. It had 20 minutes to go. I was out for just over an hour. Yes, you guessed it – Photoshop Christmas cake. And a smoky kitchen served with a side order of grovelling apology.

Juggling family life and a photographer’s life is no easy feat, but despite the odd cremated cake and Christmas cards undelivered, we did it and came through it all smiling.

I quickly picked up a thousand new roles – assistant, secretary, diary-keeper, gopher, coffee maker, biscuit barrel filler, marketing manager, salesperson I am now used to the fact that a meal may be nearly cold before he appears to eat it, or that I can have a whole conversation with him and he won’t hear a word. But I also know how much this means to him. For all the sales we don’t win, I’m there with another coffee, quiet encouragement and dinner on the table. When he is exhausted and has got a deadline looming, I am there, bringing coffee, cake and moral support until the wee small hours. OK, I admit I may occasionally have to admit defeat and go to bed, but I know the children will be up in five hours and the whole thing starts all over again.

BELOW Photographer’s special menu item: Photoshop pizza. Hmm, tasty!

Rewarding role And then he gets a win; all the hard graft, late night tears, stress and general grumpiness melt away when I see that passion ignited in him. For those brief moments we’re walking on air… until we suddenly realise we’ve got kit to assemble, memory cards to format and batteries to charge.

Once he is dispatched to wherever the work has taken him, I breathe a sigh of relief and roll my sleeves up and get back to updating the website, cooking dinner, following up potential leads, sorting the kids…

At least I am ahead of the game on Christmas card writing for this year – they’re already written – well, for the neighbours anyway.

Yes, it’s hard work being a photographer’s support act, and I doubt I will ever get the photography tuition he promised me a year ago, but watching someone get excited about a genuine passion and natural talent is incredibly rewarding.

One of these days I might just find the time to go out with my camera on my own and quietly get the hang of it – but until that day, it’s business as usual and I wouldn’t have it any other way. π Tanya Wrycraft’s partner is Steve Jane. In addition to being a pro shooter he recently set up Warwick Camera Club. To find out more about the club, go to www.strobixphotography.co.uk.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? I’d arrive to visit for the weekend and wouldn’t be able to sit down for kitbags, tripods & backdrops Photography News | Issue 7

They say behind every talented man, there’s a very talented woman. Is that the case in your experience?

Maybe your support act is a guy, or are you out there alone with no support act… we want to know. Tell us about your personal experiences at opinion@ photography-news.co.uk.

www.photography-news.co.uk

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Issue 7 | Photography News

Photography News | Issue 7

www.photography-news.co.uk

Camera review

23

ON TEST

Olympus OM-D E-M10 They say that two’s company and three’s a crowd, so is the third OM-D muscling in where it doesn’t belong, or a worthy OM-D addition?

For an even more detailed report on the Olympus OM-D E-M10, see issue 44 of Advanced Photographer, on sale 8 May.

SPECS PRICE £529 body only CONTACT www.olympus.co.uk SENSOR 16.1-megapixel Live MOS with TruePic VII IMAGE DIMENSIONS 4608x3456 pixels ISO RANGE 100-25,600 (expanded) AUTOFOCUS MODES Single AF, continuous AF, AF tracking, manual EXPOSURE COMPENSATION +/-5EV in 1/2 or 1/3EV steps, AEB 2, 3 or 5 frames in 1/2, 1/3 or 1EV steps SHUTTER 30secs-1/4000sec METERING PATTERNS ESP, spot, centre weighted, highlight, shadows SHOOTING SPEEDS Single, sequential L, sequential H 8fps, selftimer 2 or 12secs LCD SCREEN 3in tiltable touch panel STORAGE MEDIA SD, SDHC, SDXC (UHS-I compatible) DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 119.1x82.3x45.9mm WEIGHT 396g (including battery and card)

Words by Ian Fyfe The original OM-D, the E-M5, had such success with professional photographers that Olympus responded by producing the E-M1, a higher-end model designed specifically to meet the needs of professionals – the trouble was that the price tag reflected this too. With the E-M10, Olympus is now catering for the other end of the market, and the new model slots in below the E-M5 at the bottom of the OM-D range, with a price little more than £500 for the body alone – very attractive to anyone who knows what an OM-D is capable of. In fact, taking a closer look at the specifications, it becomes clear that much of the E-M10’s specifications are a match for the E-M5 despite it being smaller and cheaper, and it seems that the bottom-of-the-range billing of the E-M10 may not tell the whole story.

Complete control The E-M10 is certainly small, and when it comes to holding it, perhaps too small. For me, it’s a little too thin, and the grip isn’t quite enough to get hold of – I could barely get two fingers on the front, and as a result my palm started to fold in under the camera, making my hand feel cramped. There’s a very good solution though – an accessory grip that gives you more to get hold of at the front and supports your hand at the side, and the camera feels much more balanced with this attached. Once I’d used this, it was almost impossible to go back – if you have smaller hands, it might not be a problem, but I’d say the grip is almost an essential accessory, and the only drawback is that it costs an extra £54.

Besides this, handling of the E-M10 is excellent. A small number of buttons gives you plenty of direct control, and it’s extremely flexible. Particularly good

Olympus has also taken on criticism of the E-M5’s controls and made many improvements www.photography-news.co.uk

is the incorporation of Olympus’s 2x2 control, seen previously on the E-M1 and E-P5. On those cameras, a lever changes the functions of the command dials from aperture and shutter speed to ISO and white-balance – on the E-M10, an assigned button can do this, and I preferred this to the lever since it leaves less scope for unintended changes.

In total, six buttons can each be assigned to one of 25 functions, including things like custom white-balance, HDR, bracketing and activating custom set-ups. You can also assign multi-function capabilities to one button, meaning it can be used to access highlight/shadow control, Color Creator, magnification and ISO/white-balance. Holding this button down while turning the back dial lets you switch between functions. Even the configuration of the command dials can be customised for each shooting mode independently. The OK button accesses the Live Control menu for any settings that aren’t assigned to a button – scrolling through this can be a little slow, but turning on the Live Super Control Panel in the menus rearranges Live Control into a panel interface, making things much quicker, especially if you take advantage of the touch control.

Olympus has also taken on criticism of the E-M5’s controls and made many improvements.

The buttons are much less fiddly and more positive, making for much nicer handling overall. The E-M10 is slightly more responsive than its bigger brother as well – with the E-M5, there’s a slight delay between turning the dials and on-screen settings changing, but this isn’t the case with the E-M10.

There are a couple of things I don’t like. One is the position of the on/off switch, bottom right on the back – it’s just not convenient for a fast powerup. The other is that the SD card slot is in the battery compartment on the bottom. To Olympus’s credit though, the accessory grip is designed cleverly so it can clip off to reveal the battery and card compartment without unscrewing the whole thing.

Talking of the battery, this is the same as in the PEN cameras rather than the other OM-Ds – this one’s smaller, but I got an impressive 800 shots out of it.

ABOVE The styling of the OM-D E-M10 is almost identical to the E-M5, but it’s a little smaller in all dimensions and the viewfinder housing at the top is not as tall. Control layout is very similar, but the buttons are much improved. BELOW The size of the OM-D E-M10 makes it ideal for street photography.

OM-D by nature The technology inside the E-M10 is simply a mix of elements from the other OM-D models, and in some cases even the PEN line. This is no bad thing though – in essence, it means you’re getting the same 16-megapixel sensor as the E-M5 and the same TruePic IV processor as the E-M1, but for less money than either.

Image quality from the previous OM-Ds has received a huge amount of praise, and with the same sensor as the E-M5, you’d expect the same from the E-M10. What you actually get though is slightly better image quality. It’s only a very small Issue 7 | Photography News

24

Camera review

difference, but in side-by-side comparison shots, images from the E-M10 were slightly sharper, with a little more definition. In JPEGs, this difference could be partly attributed to the newer processor, but there’s even a difference in Raw files.

Focusing with any Olympus is about as fast as it gets with mirrorless cameras, and the E-M10 again delivers. With the option of touch focusing, it’s also easy to move the focus area anywhere in the frame, and you can choose whether or not touch focusing also triggers the shutter. The focusing area of the E-M10 is smaller than that of the E-M5, and this is welcome – it’s easier to lock onto the correct subject. You can get even more accurate too, with the option to reduce the AF area size when touch focusing, and even to magnify this area by up to 14 times.

Despite the difference in price, the E-M10 in fact matches or betters the E-M5 in many ways – it has the same viewfinder but with adaptive brightness technology from the E-M1, a higher resolution LCD, a built-in pop-up flash, more focusing areas, the same metering system, focusing sensitivity down to -2EV instead of 0EV, integrated Wi-Fi, HDR, focus peaking – the list goes on. So you’re probably wondering why there’s any difference in price at all.

Photography News | Issue 7

Undoubtedly the most significant difference between the E-M10 and the other OM-D models is the image stabilisation – the others use 5-axis image stabilisation, while the E-M10 uses the 3-axis system from the PEN range. On paper, this means a 5-stop advantage in the E-M5 is whittled down to a 3.5-stop advantage in the E-M10, but in practice, performance is still good – using a focal length of 300mm, equivalent to 600mm with the crop factor, I could still get around 30% of shots sharp at 1/20sec shutter speed, a similar hit rate to using a shutter speed of 1/320sec with no image stabilisation. It’s worth pointing out though that this was when I had the accessory grip attached for a firmer hold – taking this off had a dramatic effect, and I could no longer get anything pin sharp at shutter speeds below 1/640sec.

ABOVE This shot needed -1.3EV exposure compensation to avoid overexposure. BELOW The image stabilisation is great for wildlife shots – the shutter speed here was 1/160sec at 270mm.

Despite the difference in price, the E-M10 in fact matches or betters the E-M5 in many ways www.photography-news.co.uk

Camera review HDR OFF

25 HDR 1

HDR 2

High Dynamic Range If you’re struggling with a high contrast scene and the subtle effects of the Highlight/Shadow control aren’t enough, the E-M10 has an HDR function. This takes four images of different exposure and combines them into one JPEG file – there are

two modes, the second giving a more extreme effect. It works very well, and even when I tried my luck at hand-holding for the four shots, image alignment and sharpness was fine. The alternative options available under HDR mode are automatic

The verdict

OLYMPUS OMD E-M10

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12,800

ISO 25,600

ISO performance The E-M10 has a sensitivity range equivalent to ISO 100-25,600. While this means it has the same top sensitivity as the E-M5, with the Low extended setting equivalent to ISO 100, it has an extra stop at the bottom end, useful in bright light.

We looked at performance in Raw files converted in Lightroom 5.4 and all noise reduction turned off.

There is a small amount of noise even at the bottom settings, but at ISO 400 www.photography-news.co.uk

bracketing for subsequent combining of different exposures in software. You can ask it to take three or five images with 2 or 3EV exposure differences, and even seven images with exposure differences of 2EV.

With the OM-D name comes high expectation, and there’s no doubt that the E-M10 lives up to this billing. There are reasons for it being at the bottom of the OM-D range – the lack of weather sealing, slower continuous shooting speed and less advanced image stabilisation all put it slightly behind, although the practical disadvantages of these depend on what you use the camera for.

Comparing the E-M10 with the E-M5, which sells for £650 body only so £120 more expensive, you get equal performance when it comes to the essentials – things like image quality, focusing and low-light performance. But with improvements such as the E-M1 processor, EVF adaptive technology and better controls, you could argue that overall the E-M10 is a better camera so represents great value for money, even with the extra £54 for the accessory grip.

At a price point well within the range of Olympus’s own less advanced PEN line and which puts it in the same ball park as other entry-level CSCs, it all looks like exceptional value. If you’re looking for an entry point into the mirrorless world and want an extremely capable camera for a good price, the E-M10 is an extremely attractive prospect.

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 FEATURES

23/25

HANDLING

23/25

PERFORMANCE

24/25

VALUE FOR MONEY

24/25

All the OM-D basics, more limited in places

and below, it takes some close inspection to see this. At ISO 800, there’s a fairly sudden change with a noticeable loss of contrast and fine detail, and ISO 1600 is about as high as you can go before it has a big impact on image quality. Above this, there’s a lot of noise, and severe detail loss.

Comparison with the E-M5 reveals a very slight advantage for the E-M10 in JPEG files at around ISO 1600, but at other levels and in Raws, there’s no difference.

Very good, but excellent with the accessory grip Picture quality at least as good as the E-M5’s A bargain price for an OM-D

OVERALL 94/100 More than a worthy addition to the OM-D line-up, with a very tempting price PROS Controls, focusing, image quality CONS Too small without grip, SD card in base

Issue 7 | Photography News

26

Camera review ON TEST

Nikon D4s

A new flagship DSLR brings with it plenty of glitz and glamour. We dig beneath the hype to see what Nikon’s flagship is capable of

SPECS PRICE £5199 body only CONTACT www.nikon.co.uk SENSOR 16.2 megapixels with EXPEED 4 IMAGE DIMENSIONS 4928x3280 pixels ISO RANGE 100-25,800 (50-409,600 expanded) AUTOFOCUS MODES Single point, 9-, 21- or 51-point dynamic area, 3D-tracking, group area, auto area

Words by Ian Fyfe Flagship DSLRs don’t come round very often, and when they do they create a stir. By their very nature, they push the boundaries to the limit, and showcase some of the best imaging technology currently possible. Their price tags put them beyond the reach of most enthusiast photographers, yet their power and speed mean that many of us aspire to owning one.

It’s no surprise then that the release of the Nikon D4s has been highly anticipated since its development was first announced in January, and now it’s here, it’s the talk of the technosphere. We couldn’t resist getting our hands on it to see what all the fuss is about.

DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 160x156.5x90.5mm

Technological evolution Although a new Nikon flagship signifies the pushing of boundaries, the fact that we have a D4s rather than a D5 indicates that this is more of a nudge than an allout shove. It’s designed specifically for professional sports, press and nature photographers, and updates from the D4 are more about practicalities for these users than technological prowess.

This means the D4s has a 16.2-megapixel fullframe sensor, as did the D4. So why still such a low resolution for such an advanced camera? Simply, speed. A 24- or 36-megapixel sensor would seriously slow the shooting rate and file transfer. Obviously this kind of pixel count is some way behind what we’re getting used to from Nikon, and it does limit resolution – if you want the kind of detail that the 36-megapixel D800 can deliver for example, then the D4s will disappoint. But that’s not to say the images are poor by any measure – in real-world photographs, resolution is superb, and let’s not forget that 16 megapixels is plenty for A3 prints.

WEIGHT 1350g (including battery and XQD memory card) ±

RIGHT Low-light performance means you can hand-hold for scenes like this without worrying about image quality – this was at ISO 12,800.

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION +/-5EV in 1/3, 1/2 or 1EV steps SHUTTER 30secs-1/8000sec METERING PATTERNS Matrix, centreweighted, spot SHOOTING SPEEDS Single, continuous L, continuous H 11fps, quiet shutter release, self-timer, mirror up LCD SCREEN 3.2in with 921k dots STORAGE MEDIA XQD, Type I CompactFlash (UDMA compliant)

Photography News | Issue 7

What really impressed in the D4s was the metering capabilities. The same 91,000-pixel RGB sensor as the D4 and D800 gives it the power to get almost every frame spot on with Matrix metering. Even extremely tricky lighting didn’t phase it – shooting directly into the sun with a dark subject in the foreground, for example, the scene was rendered almost as the eye saw it, helped by the fantastic dynamic range of the sensor. The D4s also has a new and very clever trick up its metering sleeve – face-detection in Matrix metering. When activated, this identifies a face and effectively spot meters from it without changing metering mode – it works very well.

The D4s includes the new EXPEED 4 processor, one generation ahead of the D4 and the rest of Nikon’s full-frame line-up – the benefits are wide ranging. It promises to improve image rendering in JPEG files straight from the camera, and it’s true

they’re of excellent quality. On close examination, Raw files still contain a touch more detail, but the difference is minimal. There’s more flexibility in your choice of file format too – you can record TIFFs, or Nikon’s new Raw S format, four-megapixel Raw images that are 13MB instead of 22MB. This may be great for journalists sending Raw images instantly over the Internet, but the files are only any good for on-screen use.

The new processor allows the D4s to reach new (dizzy) heights in ISO sensitivity with 1EV extra at the top end than the D4, and 4EV more than the D800 – see for yourself the stunning performance in the panel opposite.

This low-light performance is of great benefit to sports and nature photographers who need fast shutter speeds, and the other big talking point of the D4s for these genres is the increased top shooting speed – the D4 could manage 10 frames-

www.photography-news.co.uk

Camera review

27 ISO performance

ISO 100

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12,800

ISO 25,600

ISO 51,200

ISO 102,400

ISO 204,800

ISO 409,600

per-second, now the D4s can reach 11. If you make a living from shooting action, this extra frame could be the difference that puts the dinner on the table, but whether or not an enthusiast photographer, even of action, would benefit enough to justify the cost is another matter. If this kind of speed is what you’re looking for, then it’s also worth pointing out that Canon’s equivalent camera, the EOS-1D X, is still one frame faster at 12 frames-per-second.

The autofocus system in the D4s uses the same basic AF module as the D4 and D800, but it’s been tweaked. There are still 51 AF points, with 15 crosstype AF sensors, but acquisition is said to have been improved. In practice, it’s mostly as quick as you’d expect, but the peripheral non-cross-type points sometimes struggled. Tracking has also been improved, and there’s a new Group Area AF to help track fast-moving subjects. To help you track your subject better, there’s also a new mirror mechanism that reduces the blackout time in the viewfinder and increases focusing time between frames.

A big hand Just as the insides of the D4s are finely tuned for professionals, so the handling is optimised for use in the situations that sports, nature and press shooters find themselves in. It’s built to withstand hefty knocks and harsh conditions, with an all-metal weather-sealed body. It’s seriously big too – besides the obvious moulded vertical grip, it’s wider and deeper even than the already chunky D800. This gives you plenty to get hold of, although I thought it was a little too big for comfortable operation while hand-holding. The vertical ergonomics didn’t work for me either – there wasn’t enough to get your fingers round beside the lens mount, and reaching the back command dial in this orientation means a journey for your thumb to the ‘wrong’ side of the grip. None of this is such a problem if you’ve got the camera on a tripod or monopod because you don’t need to provide support while making adjustments. www.photography-news.co.uk

Perhaps the biggest talking point of the D4s is the astounding ISO range, extendable to the equivalent of ISO 50-409,600. We tried the full range to see the image quality in Raw files processed in Nikon’s ViewNX 2 software.

As you might expect, the top sensitivity is less of a usable setting than an indication of capability at lower sensitivities. Images are high quality all the way up to ISO 1600, at which point there’s the slightest loss of contrast that reduces detail. This becomes more much more significant by ISO 6400 if you’re looking at images full size. That said, all the way through to the Hi1 setting, equivalent to 51,200, noise is well controlled and there’s not much grain – if you’re using pictures at a smaller size, they’re perfectly acceptable, and considering the light levels that require such settings, this is quite a feat.

RIGHT One rare scene that needed negative exposure compensation with the D4s – Matrix metering dealt with almost every other lighting.

Literally every control you can think of is directly accessible at the touch of a button, and there’s plenty of flexibility – functions can be assigned to various buttons, both for a single press or in combination with the dials. It all means you can change your settings in a flash.

Tucked away behind the locking compartment on the right are dual memory card slots, one for CompactFlash and another for XQD as in the D4.

An interesting decision, since the XQD format isn’t compatible with any other camera and card manufacturers haven’t widely adopted the format, but it offers extreme transfer speeds and allows the D4s to take a continuous burst of up to 200 JPEG files at top speed – impressive.

The verdict As you’d expect, the D4s put in a brilliant performance in just about every area. It’s built for power, performance and speed, and that’s what it delivers. But perhaps its spectacular specifications and extreme price point make it all too easy to get swept away with the glamour of it. Like any other camera, it’s best suited to certain types of photography, and if you’re a sports or nature photographer, then there’s no Nikon camera that will do a better job for you. But if you’re a landscape or portrait photographer, for example, the D4s is simply not the best choice, even if money is no object. The D800 will give you more than twice the resolution, and it costs more than

£3000 less. Even the D610 might suit more sedate subjects better, and that’ll save you nearly £4000.

There are other things to consider here too. If you really need such speed and focusing performance, then the Canon EOS-1D X still has a one frameper-second advantage as well as an arguably more flexible AF system, and it’s the better side of £5000. And while the D4 is no longer available as new, the launch of the D4s will create a substantial second-hand market for its predecessor – if you’re not pushing it to its limit to earn your living, then this could be a way of getting performance that’s almost as good at a lower cost.

NIKON D4s FEATURES

25/25

HANDLING

22/25

PERFORMANCE

24/25

VALUE FOR MONEY

23/25

What hasn’t it got?

It’s big

Very little to fault

Obviously expensive, but it depends on what you need or want it for

OVERALL 94/100 Pushes the boundaries as it should PROS Low-light performance, metering, continuous shooting speed CONS Big and heavy, price

Issue 7 | Photography News

28

Accessory review ON TEST

Travelling light Less can be more, especially when you are wandering around busy towns and cities in search of great pictures. Here’s a selection of lightweight gadget bags and tripods walking around busy streets and fighting your way on and off public transport. Bulk can be a problem for you as well as those around you.

With that in mind, and with the boom in compact system cameras (CSCs), here is a selection of the latest camera bags and tripods that are more suited to photography on the busy streets.

Words by Will Cheung and Ian Fyfe Shooting in the urban environment places different demands on your photography and that includes your kit choice too. As an example, out in the open landscape you might be happy to lug a big tripod around, but size can be a problem when you are

Benro C1692TBO + BO head

SPECS CONTACT www.3leggedthing.com

WEIGHT 1.36kg (legs)

KEY FEATURES Carbon fibre, four leg sections, reversible three-section centre column, zip-off leg muff, detachable monopod

FOLDED LENGTH 50cm

WHAT’S IN THE BOX Bag, carry strap, tools, spring ballast hook

LOAD CAPACITY 8kg MINIMUM HEIGHT 13cm MAXIMUM HEIGHT 210cm (centre column fully extended)

This very versatile tripod is at the top end in terms of size for toting around the city and, in this selection of pods, also in price.

However, it is an excellent product made from 8 Core Stealth carbon fibre and looks great too. Stability is impressive even when fully

extended so perfect for those challenging days when there’s a bit of a breeze.

Handling is very good too. The twist grip legs are quick to use and lock securely with minimal effort. Speaking of legs, one of them detaches to give an instant monopod.

£109 legs only, £185 with MH1311-652

SPECS KEY FEATURES Carbon fibre, five leg sections, handgrip, one leg can be detached and combined with the centre column for a monopod, ballast hook

£299 legs only, £379 with Airhed 1

Giotto’s YTL 9383 + MH1311-652

£410 with B0 head CONTACT www.kenro.co.uk

3 Legged Thing Eric Evolution 2

SPECS feet, wooden knob with builtin compass

CONTACT www.giottos-tripods.co.uk

WEIGHT 1.49kg (legs)

KEY FEATURES Aluminium, three leg sections, innovative Y-section centre column for very thin overall profile, three leg angle positions, leg lever locks, 3D centre column lets you control the camera angle

LOAD CAPACITY 8kg FOLDED LENGTH 40cm MINIMUM HEIGHT 40cm

MAXIMUM HEIGHT WHAT’S IN THE BOX Bag with shoulder strap, tools, 156cm rubber/stainless steel spiked

The Benro Travel Angel 2 Transformer series is available in aluminium and carbon fibre.

The C1692TB0 is made from eight-layer high density carbon fibre, hence its hefty price tag, with magnesium alloy fittings. The Angel 2 kits come with a matching Benro ball head

and here you get the BO, a precision unit that accepts Arca Swiss plates.

Legs are locked in place with rubberised twist grips and these are rust/water-resistant.

Feet can be stainless steel or rubber and both are supplied as standard.

Manfrotto 190CXPRO4 + 496RC2 head

WHAT’S IN THE BOX Ballast hook, short centre column, tools WEIGHT 1.88kg (legs) LOAD CAPACITY 8kg FOLDED LENGTH 68cm MINIMUM HEIGHT 20cm MAXIMUM HEIGHT 183cm (with centre column)

The Silhouette series (it used to be called Silk Road) has a centre column with a Y-profile that gives the tripod a very narrow profile when it is being carried. It’s a simple idea but is truly effective and does make carrying it around more comfortable.

The complete Silhouette range includes aluminium (as featured here) as well as carbon-fibre models.

The company’s ball heads have also been revamped and from now on will accept the Arca Swiss plate.

Slik Sprint Pro II £65 including ball head

£360 legs only, £420 with 496RC2

SPECS

SPECS

CONTACT www.manfrotto.co.uk

WHAT’S IN THE BOX Just the tripod

CONTACT www.intro2020.co.uk

LOAD CAPACITY 2kg

KEY FEATURES Carbon fibre, four leg sections, 90° centre column mechanism that allows switching from horizontal to vertical alignment quickly without any need to disassemble

WEIGHT 1.85kg (legs)

KEY FEATURES Four leg sections, multi-angle position, foam handgrips, ball head with quick release mechanism

MINIMUM HEIGHT 17cm

LOAD CAPACITY 7kg FOLDED LENGTH 52.5cm MINIMUM HEIGHT 8cm MAXIMUM HEIGHT 160cm (centre column fully extended)

Manfrotto’s 190 family of tripods was recently revamped and the improvements have certainly been worthwhile. Models are available in aluminium and carbon fibre – the one featured here is carbon fibre. Setting up and taking down is very fast thanks to the Photography News | Issue 7

new Quick Power Lock (QPL) levers that let you release one section or several sections in one go.

The 90° centre column mechanism is really useful and lets you change column/ camera orientation without any tools.

FOLDED LENGTH 47cm MAXIMUM HEIGHT 161cm (centre column fully extended)

WHAT’S IN THE BOX Carry bag with strap WEIGHT 0.95kg

Slik’s tripods are renowned for their quality of construction and stability. The Sprint Pro II is a lightweight model ideally suited for travel use.

Given its diminutive stature, it won’t suit pro cameras and fast lenses, but it can be used successfully with APS-C and full-frame models

fitted with wide or standard lenses. Obviously it suits CSCs too. What is impressive is that it can be extended to 161cm with decent stability. The gearless centre column allows quick adjustments and the leg locks are fast to use too. www.photography-news.co.uk

Accessory review

29

Benro Smart 30 £48

Interceptor One Shoulder £50

Lightweight but spacious, this smart bag has plenty of room for the kit you need on the streets, but is still slimline and discreet. The interior dividers can be rearranged, and you can take them out for a soft-lined messenger bag. You can even slip a laptop or tablet in the dedicated pocket.

The advantage of shoulder bags is quick access – this one makes the most of it with a zip across the top so you don’t need to lift the flap to get to the main compartment. Perfect for the streets.

You’re never guaranteed dry weather on British streets, but this bag has it covered. It’s made from waterproof ‘Tarpaulin cloth material’ and the seams are welded for water tightness – it feels tough too. It doesn’t look like a camera bag at all, so no one will know what you’re carrying.

It holds a surprising amount, and the large zip on the main compartment makes everything easy to get to. The strap’s nice and wide too, and can be attached to be worn on either shoulder.

SPECS CONTACT www.kenro.co.uk

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Full-frame or APS-C DSLR with three lenses, flash and 12in laptop.

Unzipped front, back and side pockets COLOUR Black, yellow, chocolate or grey

CONSTRUCTION 1000*1000D PU coating material WEIGHT 0.8kg

SPECS CONTACT www.intro2020.co.uk

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Suits APS-C DSLR or CSC with 2-3 additional lenses. Large front

pocket and inner pocket for accessories COLOUR Black, pink or blue

CONSTRUCTION Plastic-coated nylon and polyester mix WEIGHT 0.78kg

Lowepro Transit Sling 250AW £80

Lowepro Urban Reporter 250 £114

This is a quality bag ideal for urban shooting and its carrying capacity is not too shabby either. It can take up to a full-frame DSLR (if it’s not deepbodied) and a couple of lenses. Add a couple of screw-in filters and a tablet and you are good to hit the streets.

The sling option gives very good, fast access to the bag’s contents while the bag is still across the body, and the UltraFlex fit system allows you to customise the interior.

The clue’s in the name with this one – the Urban Reporter is designed for the streets. First and foremost, its styling is discreet so no one will know you’ve got a camera tucked away in it. But it’s also secure – the flap is held in place by leather straps secured with poppers.

The space inside is plentiful, well padded and customisable. Big expandable pockets on the sides and an organiser pocket on the front also mean plenty of space for accessories

SPECS CONTACT www.lowepro.com

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Suits full-frame, APS-C DSLRs and CSCs. Pocket for a tablet on back,

front zipped pocket, and facility to take a compact tripod COLOUR Slate grey

CONSTRUCTION 600D polyester, 300D polyester WEIGHT 0.8kg

SPECS CONTACT www.lowepro.com

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Full-frame or APS-C DSLR body with 3-4 lenses, including

70-200mm f/2.8, 13in laptop. Side cargo pockets, front organiser COLOUR Black

Manfrotto Sling Bag 30 £119

Nest Athena A50 £70

Solid doesn’t quite cover the feel of this bag – its Exo-Tough exterior is very sturdy and should easily brush off knocks from city bustle. There’s plenty of internal padding too, and the dividers can be completely customised to suit.

Access to the main compartment is via one side only and a large opening stops things feeling cramped. A tripod can be strapped to the other side. The sling strap makes access quick, although you can’t choose your preferred shoulder.

The harness on this bag gives you the convenience of a sling bag arrangement in that you can swing it round to the front for access, but it has a quick release strap that secures it around your chest, taking some of the weight from your shoulder.

You can get at your kit from openings on either side, and the bright orange interior helps you find things easily. The camera compartment’s tight, but there’s more space in the top and two zipped pockets on the front.

SPECS CONTACT www.manfrotto.co.uk

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Full-frame or APS-C DSLR, 2 extra lenses, tablet, tripod

COLOUR Black CONSTRUCTION Exo-Tough multilayer construction

with internal camera protection system WEIGHT 1.26kg

SPECS

CONTACT www.nest-style.com

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Designed for a DSLR with lens attached and 2-3 extra lenses. Also

attachment loops and straps for tripod COLOUR Black or brown

CONSTRUCTION Twilled polyester with water-repellent coating WEIGHT 1.2kg

CONSTRUCTION 750D waterproof twill, 210D nylon WEIGHT 1.23kg

Tamrac Evolution 6 £118

Thinktank CityWalker 30 £120

Solidly built, this bag is all about versatility and quick access. Its unique harness system lets you wear it as a backpack or sling bag across either shoulder. The configuration is adjusted with strong metal clips, and the colour coding makes things simple. Unused straps tuck away nicely.

Openings on either side make for excellent fast access from the shoulder, and there’s a front pocket too. A top compartment for accessories or personal items and a rain cover top things off.

If you need to carry a lot of kit in a bag that’s still discreet and gives you quick access, then this could be the one for you. Its main compartment has plenty of space, and although the interior is well padded, the outer shell is soft so it’s comfortable against your body.

Security is good too, with a clip and large Velcro pads to hold the front flap down. If you want to be discreet though, silencer flaps can cover the Velcro to prevent it making a sound.

SPECS CONTACT www.intro2020.co.uk

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Up to a DSLR with 5.5in lens attached, two additional lenses and

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flash. Top compartment and tripod attachment system COLOUR Black or tan

CONSTRUCTION 600D PolyTek with ballistic nylon WEIGHT 1.65kg

SPECS CONTACT www.snapperstuff.com

WHAT IT WILL TAKE Standard DSLR, 3-4 lenses, flash, 15in laptop.

Holds 70-200mm f/2.8.

COLOUR Blue or black CONSTRUCTION 420D velocity nylon, 420D high-density

nylon, 600D brushed polyester, 250D shadow rip-stop polyester WEIGHT 1.4kg

Issue 7 | Photography News

30

Technique PHOTO SCHOOL

Camera class

Everyone has to start somewhere, even top pros, and in our regular Photo School feature we’re taking a close look at core techniques that every beginner needs to know. This month, in Camera class we look at how to counter the effects of digital noise from high ISO sensitivities, while Software skills demonstrates how to reduce noise in Lightroom Words by Ian Fyfe

Using a high ISO sensitivity is often unavoidable, and this can create digital noise that impacts on image quality. All is not lost though – here we look in detail at noise and how to minimise its effects. n What is digital noise?

Things like electrical interference, heat and sensor imperfections produce background electrical signals in a camera’s sensor. When there’s plenty of light and the ISO sensitivity is low, these signals are unnoticeable compared to the much stronger ones caused by light. However, when there’s little light and ISO sensitivity is increased, they become much bigger relative to the light-induced signals and interfere with images by creating digital noise – this appears as a combination of monochromatic and coloured speckling. n Can I prevent digital noise?

Without doubt, prevention is better than cure, so it’s best to do what you can at the capture stage.

This generally means keeping the ISO sensitivity as low as possible, but you can also improve things by making sure you don’t underexpose. Digital noise is

JPEG NR

worst in dark areas, so if you need to lift shadows in post-processing, you risk accentuating the noise. It’s better to err on the side of slight overexposure to avoid shadows that need lightening. n Can I reduce digital noise once it’s there?

If a high ISO, and therefore noise, is unavoidable, the best way to deal with it is shooting Raw and reducing noise in software post-capture. Adobe Lightroom does a fantastic job of this (see how in Software Skills below), but there are plenty of other good options – onOne Perfect Photo Suite, Corel PaintShop Pro and Noise Ninja to name a few, as well as your camera manufacturer’s supplied software.

ADOBE LIGHTROOM

Software skills

Part 7: Reducing digital noise Words by Will Cheung Shoot at high ISOs and your images can suffer from digital noise, a grainy, mottled effect that can look horrible in areas of even tone or shadow. Noise also turns fine detail mushy looking.

It’s true to say that the latest cameras suffer from noise less than those of a few years ago. A new DSLR shoots at ISO 1000 or more without much noise. However, cameras of a few years ago, even high-end models, can suffer badly. Software like Lightroom can help keep noise to acceptable levels.

There are two types of noise: luminance and colour. Both increase as ISO increases, and are more evident in low light. Luminance looks like film grain, while colour is splotches of colour, often red and green. Both types vary depending on the camera.

This image was taken at ISO 6400 on a Nikon D800 fitted with a 16-35mm zoom lens.

Photography News | Issue 7

JPEG UNPROCESSED

BEFORE Noise

reduction at zero in Lightroom 5

AFTER Using

Luminance and Color NR in Lightroom

RAW LIGHTROOM

RAW UNPROCESSED

n Is there anything I can do without software?

If you don’t have software, or don’t want to spend time processing Raw files, turn on the camera’s high ISO noise reduction. This applies noise reduction (NR) to JPEGs only at the time of capture, and you can usually select the extent of noise reduction to suit the amount of noise. Results vary between manufacturers and cameras, but you generally need to be careful because the processing can further impact on image quality. Experiment to find a level that has an effect without overdoing it. Usually, you can shoot Raw alongside JPEGs with NR turned on, so if you’re not happy with the camera’s processing, you can turn to the Raw and do it yourself.

STEP 1 Go to the Detail panel of the Develop module and click on the ‘switch’ in the top left corner to make the controls active – the feature is inactive if the words are greyed out. To make sure you are at the software’s default settings, hold down Alt or Option and the reset option is displayed.

STEP 3 The default for Color noise is 25. If your image has coloured grain increase this value. The default for its Detail is 50 but if moving the Color slider loses details move Detail to the right.

NEXT MONTH: All you need to know about whitebalance, in-camera and in software

STEP 2 Click on the black arrow to open a preview window. Click on the preview image and it zooms in to 100% or zooms out. It’s easier to see what is going on by displaying the image at 100% (minimum) in the main window. If you close the preview window, an exclamation mark shows in the top left. Click on this to show the image at 100%.

STEP 4 The Luminance default is zero and 50 for its Detail. If your image looks grainy don’t go too far with Luminance because fine detail suffers – moving the Detail slider right minimises this. www.photography-news.co.uk

www.photography-news.co.uk

Issue 7 | Photography News

32

Advertisement feature CAMERA JUNGLE

Second-hand with safety Buying used photo kit can be risky, but Camera Jungle takes the worry out of the second-hand wilderness

USED

NEW

A photographer’s shopping list is never-ending – particularly if you’re thinking of stepping up from an entry-level APS-C DSLR to more mid or top range gear. Top-quality kit isn’t cheap, and your bank balance isn’t endless, but there’s a shortcut to getting all the kit you want – buy second-hand.

Spending your budget on used gear means you can get a lot more kit for the same money.

Instead of a brand-new camera body, you could get a used body along with lenses, a flash and accessories like a tripod and bag – an entire

Photography News | Issue 7

Instead of a brand-new camera body, you could get a used body along with lenses, a flash and accessories like a tripod and bag from Camera Jungle set-up without spending any extra. It could take months or even years to build up the same kit list with all new equipment.

You might well be thinking that buying secondhand is too risky. And if you’re thinking of online auctions or cash-in-hand purchases, you’d be right. How can you know without seeing an item what condition it’s really in? And what happens if you spend hundreds of pounds on something that breaks after a week and the seller’s vanished?

Well, buying through online second-hand specialists Camera Jungle eliminates all the risk, leaving you with just the savings and a bunch of kit you know you can rely on.

Camera Jungle has a wide range of used cameras and lenses, ranging from beginner to professional level, all of which are fully functional.

They include standard accessories such as battery, charger and leads, and have been professionally cleaned. You can even see for yourself online what condition the products are in – the pictures on the site show multiple views of the actual items for sale, and rolling your mouse over the images gives you a magnified, high-resolution view so you can see the entire exterior in detail. If you want an even closer look, you can even visit the Camera Jungle store in Chessington.

Camera Jungle’s used range includes compact cameras, compact system cameras and DSLRs

from the likes of Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus and Fujifilm, as well as lenses and accessories like flashguns and battery grips. If you’ve got some old equipment yourself, then you can save even more by part-exchanging it for the kit you want to buy – this way, you get a Trade-in Bonus. Selling your old kit is as easy as 1, 2, 3: they give you a price instantly online; they collect your kit; you choose between cash and part-exchange.

Everything you see on the Camera Jungle site is in stock, and if you order by 2pm and you’re based in the mainland UK, it’ll arrive the next day.

What’s more, if you decide for any reason you don’t want your used item, you have seven days to return it – no questions asked. And all used products are covered by a six-month guarantee.

With Camera Jungle, there are none of the risks that you’d normally associate with secondhand equipment – you can just get all the kit you want within your budget, and with complete peace of mind.

To find out more visit www.camerajungle.co.uk. www.photography-news.co.uk

www.photography-news.co.uk

PNADS.indd 3

Issue 7 | Photography News

25/04/2014 16:33

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Photography News | Issue 7

Or you can choose a more advanced skill set such as multiple exposures, intentional camera movement, high key imagery, or slow shutter speed panning.

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

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Issue 7 | Photography News

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Issue 7 | Photography News

40

Prize wordsearch

Win Samsung memory cards Of the 20 words in the list below, only 19 appear in the wordsearch. To enter the prize draw, simply complete the puzzle, find the missing word and email puzzle@photography-news.co.uk with that word in the subject line. Winners will be picked at random from all correct entries received before the closing date of 18 May 2014.

Win Samsung 32GB Pro SDHC memory cards!

Three lucky winners will each receive a Samsung 32GB Pro SDHC card. Samsung’s SDHC cards provide ultimate levels of durability and are waterproof, shockproof, resistant to magnetic fields, X-rays and extreme temperatures. All Samsung Pro SD cards come with a ten-year warranty. π To find out more, go to www.samsung.com.

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Blade Blown Bright Diffuse Dots

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Photography News | Issue 7

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