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Saturday 18 January 2020

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Passionate about photography since 1884

David Yarrow The world’s leading fine art wildlife photographer talks about his stunning images

How to preserve your legacy Top tips for digitising your print and slide archive for future generations FIRST LOOK

Nikon D780 Mirrorless tech in a high-end full-frame DSLR

NEW SERIES

Canon DPP tutorial Get more from Canon’s free software

The greatest glove of all Mitts for ‘togs compared

Plus Tim Walker ● Harold Feinstein ● Benro Slim Tall tripod kit on test

S R M D

P E E D A N D E S O L U T I O N A K E A L L T H E I F F E R E N C E

Experience the powerful combination of high speed and resolution. Possessing an impressive 45.7MP back-illuminated FX CMOS sensor and 9* fps shooting, the full-frame D850 unlocks amazing possibilities. Whether it’s weddings, landscapes, commercial, sports or fashion, capture it all with optimised imaging performance – thanks to ISO 64-25600, a class-leading optical viewﬁnder, 153-point AF, silent mode shooting, long battery life, 8K time-lapse** and 4K UHD video. Equip your D850 with your prized NIKKOR lenses for perfect integration and stunning results. Learn more at Nikon.com * Requires the optional MB-D18 Multi-Power Battery Pack and EN-EL-18a/b battery. ** Requires Interval Timer settings and 3rd party software.

7days

A week in photography

COVER PICTURE © DAVID YARROW

I love it when a picture stops me in my tracks and David Yarrow has done that to me a few times, so I’m delighted that we’ve tracked him down for an interview this week. You may recognise his group portrait with a wolf in a bar (page 28) – I chose it as my favourite image of 2018. Of course there’s little point in creating work as good as David’s, or any pictures that hold

This week’s cover image

This superb image by David Yarrow is called ‘The Old Testament’ and was taken at Dinokeng Game Reserve, South Africa in 2017

In this issue

value to us, if they’re left in a cupboard. I have thousands of prints and negs from pre-digital days that are, quite literally, in cardboard boxes, and I’m fairly sure that you probably do too. It is one of my New Year’s resolutions to start digitising these, and this week John Wade presents a few options for how best to do this. Finally, we present our verdict on Nikon’s most affordable Z system camera yet, the Z 50. Nigel Atherton, Editor

Contribute to Amateur Photographer If you’d like to see your words or pictures published in Amateur Photographer, here’s how: Something to say? Write to us at ap@ti-media.com with your letters, opinion columns (max 500 words) or article suggestions. Pictures Send us a link to your website or gallery, or attach a set of low-res sample images (up to a total of 5MB) to appicturedesk@ti-media.com. Join our online communities Post your pictures into our Flickr, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram communities or the gallery on our website. amateurphotographer. co.uk

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This week in 1965

TREASURES FROM THE HULTON ARCHIVE

3 7 days

14 It’s good to share 16 Preserving your legacy 23 Inbox 26 Wild at art 32 Photo stories 34 Canon DPP tutorial 38 One to watch 40 Join the club 43 What’s in my bag 44 Nikon Z 50 50 Gloves for photographers 54 Accessories 57 Tech talk 66 Legends of photography

Sleeping on the Job by Express THIS amusing picture from January 1965 shows the legendary news photographer Terry Fincher taking a nap in the offices of the Daily Express and Evening Standard. Note his clever use of a stack of newspapers as a pillow, but the smile on his face perhaps suggests all is not as it seems. To date, Fincher still holds the record for the number of times he won British Press Photographer of the Year, taking home the prize in 1957, 1959, 1964 and 1967. He was also a runner-up in 1968. During the 1950s and 1960s, he photographed every major war, including five tours of Vietnam. Those who knew him described his quickthinking, competitive spirit and foresight, which kept him ahead of his game.

8 First Look: Nikon D780

The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic Company in 1854, today it houses over 80 million images spanning the birth of photography to the digital age. Explore it at www.gettyimages.com.

NEWS ROUND-UP By Geoff Harris and Andy Westlake

Firmware update for Nikon Z 6 and 7

A firmware update from Nikon now enables the Z 6 and Z 7 full-frame mirrorless cameras to output raw video to an HDMI-connected device. The video stream, which is compatible with the Atomos Ninja V external recorder, is captured as ProRes raw. The firmware also enables the cameras to use Type B Sony CFexpress memory cards. Z 7 users can get the firmware at bit.ly/344sGNj, and it’s available for Z 6 users at bit.ly/2scY52T

Major Bruce Davidson show

Photographs of the UK in the 1960s, some rarely seen, by Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson are on display in his first solo UK exhibition in nearly a decade. Davidson, from the US, arrived in 1960 on commission for The Queen magazine. As well as landscapes, his subjects included Britain’s emerging youth culture. The exhibition runs until 14 March at the Huxley-Parlour Gallery in London.

Leica M10-P takes a turn to the white

Leica has released the M10-P White, a special edition of the rangefinder camera limited to 350 units. As well as a classy white paint finish, the silver control elements on the body feature white engravings, which match the silver chrome version of the supplied Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 lens. You also get a white leather strap and lens case. The bundle costs £12,750 from authorised Leica stores.

Tamron has confirmed the 20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 lens for Sony E-mount is available now for £399. The lens supports Fast Hybrid AF, Direct Manual Focus (DMF) and Eye AF as well as being compatible with in-camera lens corrections and firmware upgrades. It sits alongside Tamron’s 24mm and 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD lenses for E-mount.

Top NatGeo shooter hit by airport theft

Luggage theft at an airport is never great, but it’s been even more devastating for National Geographic wildlife photographer Joel Sartore, as he lost three hard drives containing images of some of Indonesia’s rarest species. The shots were on three blue Silicon Power drives, which disappeared at Bali airport. Call +62 812 9829 8109 if you have any information. 4

Tamron conﬁrms 20mm lens price

BIG

picture

Incredible black & white image of rabbits wins Nature Photographer of the Year TAKEN by Hungarian photographer Csaba Daróczi, this beautiful image of two rabbits jumping was chosen by the jury for its atmosphere, timing, beautiful light, perfect sharpness and composition. Chair of the jury – former AP Editor Keith Wilson – said, ‘This photo is proof of the fact that you don’t have to get extremely rare or extraordinary species in front of your camera to be able to

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Words & numbers

There’s no more important mission, because it’s folly to think that we can doom wildlife to oblivion and believe humans will just be fine Joel Sartore

SOURCE: TERUSHI SHIMAZU, SONY

create a great nature photo. If you have a vision and a creative mind you can create a great shot close to home.’ The photo was taken in Kiskunság, near the village of Bócsa in Hungary. The photographer spent more than 70 mornings during 2018 taking thousands of photos in order to get the one he wanted. The 2019 competition attracted more than 14,000 entries from 73 different countries, which is a new record for the competition. For more information, and to enter the 2020 contest, visit naturephotographeroftheyear.com.

The number of hours a day Sony factories are running to keep up with demand for smartphone sensors

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Last call for Garden Photographer of the Year

CANON has announced details of its upcoming professional sports and action DSLR, the EOS-1D X Mark III. This latest model boasts a 20.1-million-pixel full-frame sensor that teams up with a Digic X processor to offer an ISO 50-819,200 sensitivity range. It’s capable of shooting at 16fps, or 20fps in live view, with AF tracking and a vast buffer of over 1,000 raw frames. For viewﬁnder shooting, it features an all-new 191-point AF system, with 155 cross-type points and its own dedicated Digic 8 processor. A new AF Smart Controller allows the focus area to be repositioned by using thumb movements across the AF-On button. Still images can be recorded in the 10-bit HEIF format, as a higher-quality alternative to JPEG. The camera is capable of recording 12-bit raw video internally at either 4K or 5.5K resolution, using dual CFexpress cards. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE and GPS are built in, along with a high-speed ethernet port for transmitting images. The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III is due to go on sale in February for £6,499.99.

Canon reveals full details of EOS-1D X Mark III

THE ROYAL Horticultural Society’s Garden Photographer of the Year competition is one of the biggest and most inclusive of the photographic year, but you only have until 31 January to enter. Professionals and amateurs can enter their work across nine different categories including Urban Gardening and Welcoming Garden Wildlife, so there is much more to it than close-ups of tulips. Last year, overall adult winner Richard Caldwell triumphed with an aerial photograph of a meticulously organised community garden in Laguna Woods, LA, (right). At the other end of the scale, the overall winner in the under 18’s category, Jake Kneale, won with an ethereal image of a spider’s web. ‘January is the perfect time of year to get outside and capture atmospheric and beautiful photographs,’ says Chris Young, chair of the judges. ‘There is plenty to inspire people to get out and to get photographing.’ The overall winner gets £5,000 while the overall winner of the under 18’s

Richard Caldwell’s winning image was captured using a drone

category receives £750 in Wex Photographic vouchers. Category winners will also go on show at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show in

London (17-18 April) and later in the year at RHS properties in Surrey, Devon, Yorkshire and Essex. Full entry details at rhs.org.uk/photocomp.

Nikon P950 adds raw support and 4K

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NIKON has updated its P900 bridge compact by releasing the P950. This latest superzoom inherits some of the features we’ve seen previously on the Nikon P1000, but holds onto the 83x optical zoom (f/2.8-6.5) covering a focal length range of 24-200mm found on its predecessor. At its heart lies a 1/2.3in 16-million-pixel CMOS sensor offering an ISO range of 100-6400 that works with Nikon’s dual detect optical vibration reduction system. Welcome additions include 4K 30p video (Full HD at up to 60p) and the option to shoot still images in the raw

(NRW) format for greater control during post processing. Its 3.2in, 921k-dot vari-angle screen is larger as is its new 0.39in 2,360k-dot OLED electronic viewﬁnder. Another welcome addition is a hotshoe for attaching accessories such as speedlites, a microphone or Nikon’s DF-M1 Dot Sight – a foldable scope that helps track the fast-moving subjects. Like the recently announced D780 (see page 8), the Nikon P950 will be available from early spring, priced at £799 – £340 more than the Nikon P900. The166x Dynamic Fine Zoom digitally extends the upper limit to an 4000mm equivalent

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Buy. Sell. Trade. Change gear.

Nikon D780

Michael Topham looks at how Nikon has improved upon one of its most popular full-frame DSLRs – the D750 Dual card slots

Battery

There are dual card slots for backup purposes, both of which support UHS-II type cards.

The D780 accepts Nikon’s EN-EL15b battery, which supports USB charging.

Silent shooting

Switch to live view and the D780 can shoot silently at up to 12fps.

Availability

The D780 will be available to buy from early spring and will cost £2,199 (body only).

At a glance

£2,199 body only £2,619 with AF-S 24-120mm f/4 G ED VR lens ■ 24.5MP full-frame CMOS sensor ■ Nikon F mount ■ ISO 100-12,800 (ISO 50-204,800 extended) ■ Hybrid AF system ■ 3.2in, 2,360k-dot tilting touchscreen ■ 12fps burst shooting in live view ■ In-camera USB charging 8

WHEN Nikon announced the Z 50 at the end of last year, the manufacturer was keen to stress that its strategy going forward would be to run its DSLR and mirrorless systems in tandem. The reason for this we’re told is that Nikon firmly believes photographers see advantages of both systems – with DSLRs continuing to be the first choice of those who prefer an optical viewfinder and having longer battery life, and mirrorless cameras becoming increasingly popular with those who are more conscious of size and weight. Nikon has now backed this up by releasing a new DSLR for a new decade that’s designed to have all-round appeal with enthusiasts and professionals. You

could easily be mistaken for thinking the new D780 might mark the end for the much-loved D750, but Nikon has conﬁrmed that it’ll remain in the line-up for quite some time, with the D780 slotting in between the D750 and Z 6 in the company’s product line-up. Perhaps most interesting is the way Nikon has taken some of its learnings from mirrorless and applied it into the D780, which it says is the company’s most versatile DSLR ever.

Features Although the pixel count is similar to the D750, the D780 introduces a new full-frame CMOS sensor with a resolution of 24.5 million pixels. Like the chip used in the Nikon Z 6, the D780’s sensor features a low-pass filter and benefits from a backside-illuminated structure to maximise its light-gathering capabilities. By effectively implementing the same sensor and on-chip phase detection as the Z 6, users get the same 273-point phase-detection autofocus in live view, alongside the same 51-point autofocus system with 15 cross-type points as the D750 when focusing via the optical viewfinder. This is the first time we’ve seen a Nikon DSLR borrow an AF system for live view from one of its mirrorless models and suggests the same approach could be repeated with other DSLRs that are due a refresh in the future. Users can expect focusing in live view to perform just as it does on the Z 6, with the added benefit of eye-detection AF

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Caption Ut eosa pereium, as et es maximi, sum nos asped magnis

New Nikkor zooms for 2020 are released Unlike the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7, the D780 presents dual card slots – a feature demanded by the enthusiasts and pros the camera is out to target

and the option to select which eye the camera focuses on. Users get all the respective DSLR/mirrorless AF-area modes one could expect and the detection range of the AF system spans all the way down to -6EV in its low-light mode. The 51-point phase-detection AF system is sensitive down to -3EV. By uniting Nikon’s EXPEED 6 image processor with the sensor, the D780 can shoot at 12fps in live view, however this does drop to 7fps when it’s used in SLR mode with the optical viewﬁnder. The buffer allows up to 28 raw ﬁles to be recorded continuously (or 100 JPEGs) before its limit is reached. Comparing the D780’s specs to the D750’s also tells us it offers a wider ISO range. Whereas the D750 has a range of ISO 100-12,800 (expandable to 50-51,200), the D780 shoots between ISO 100 and 51,200, expandable to ISO 50-204,800. Shifting our focus to video, the D780 is capable of in-camera 4K recording at up to 30fps using the full width of the sensor. Those wishing to experiment with slow motion can do so at Full HD at up to 120fps. Videographers will be pleased to receive helpful aids such as a peaking display for accurate manual focus, and zebra patterns to avoid overexposure, while microphone and headphone sockets are also built in and are located at the side of the body next to the mini HDMI, USB Type C and accessory ports. In-camera charging via USB, dual SD

card slots (both UHS-II compatible) and wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) round off the D780’s comprehensive set of features.

Viewfinder and screen Very few changes are found at the rear. The button layout is very similar with a line of five buttons arranged down the left of the screen, a four-way controller within easy reach of the thumb and a live view button encircled by a stills/video switch. It inherits the 0.70x optical viewfinder from the D750 that offers 100% coverage and the screen remains the same size (3.2in) and is the tilting type. It’s good to see touchscreen functionality added, which the D750 lacked, and the screen resolution being increased from 1.229k dots to 2.360k dots. As for its build quality, it has a dust- and water-resistant magnesium alloy body. This makes it just as tough as the D750 and those with eager eyes will notice a facelift to some of the dials and controls on the top plate. In all other respects the D780 shares much of a likeness to the D750 and thanks to its deep handgrip, it feels very well balanced with small, lightweight lenses or larger, heavier telephoto zooms. Nikon has confirmed that existing D750 users who might own a MB-D16 battery grip won’t be able to use it with the D780 as it’s not compatible. Regarding battery life, users can shoot up to 2,060 images on a single charge.

First impressions THE D780 is a blend of what we liked about the D750, with innards adopted from the Nikon Z 6 and a few other improvements added for good measure. Having spent some time with it during a press briefing, we can confirm its focusing in live view performs exactly as it does on the Z 6, while out of live view it behaves and focuses just like the D750. For Nikon users who’ve invested heavily in F-mount lenses, aren’t ready to commit to mirrorless, but need a new, reliable and very capable workhorse, the D780 should fit the bill nicely. The improvements to focusing in live view, the addition of touchscreen control and option to charge the battery in-camera address the criticisms we made when we reviewed the D750 in 2014. First impressions suggest it has the potential to be one of the best all-round DSLRs we’ve ever tested. subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

The120-300mm is aimed at Nikon professional users

AT THE same time as announcing the D780, Nikon has released a pair of new zooms. The latest arrival in the F-mount is the Nikkor AF-S 120300mm f/2.8E FL ED SR VR – a pro-spec zoom designed for sports and action photography with high-end DSLRs like the forthcoming Nikon D6. Its arrival ties in with this year’s Olympic games where many pros shooting Nikon will require a fast medium telephoto zoom in demanding low-light situations. It features a complex construction of 25 elements in 19 groups and in addition to Extra-low dispersion (ED) glass, special short wavelength spectrum (SR) glass is used to combat blue fringing that traditional lenses typically have a hard time correcting. Claimed to offer a prime-like lens performance, it’s fully weather-sealed, has built-in Vibration Reduction (VR) that’s effective to four stops, works with all of Nikon’s 1.4x and 2x tele converters and features an integrated tripod

foot. It will go on sale from early spring and will cost £9,499.

Nikkor Z 70–200mm f/2.8 VR S The second lens – the Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S – has been included in Nikon’s Z lens roadmap for a while. It strengthens Nikon’s lens portfolio for its Z-series cameras and presents a construction of 21 elements in 18 groups. Nikon’s special short wavelength spectrum (SR) glass is used in addition to ARNEO and fluorine coatings. Other features include a weather-sealed construction, 9-blade aperture, control ring, Fn button to which 21 different functions can be assigned, and a 1m minimum focus distance at full telephoto (0.5m at 70mm). It accepts filters and adapters via a 77mm thread and it weighs 1,360g without the tripod collar, or 1,440g when it’s fitted. The lens will be sold for £2,399 when it arrives in the early spring.

The Z 70-200mm f/2.8 will feature an OLED display panel

Tim Walker Wonderful Things

The largest-ever exhibition on photographer Tim Walker includes over 150 works. Amy Davies finds out more EXHIBITION Tim Walker: Wonderful Things - Runs until 8 March 2020 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Tickets cost £15. Daily opening hours 10.00-17.45, until 22.00 on Fridays. Vam.ac.uk

Below: Pen & Ink Duckie Thot, Aubrey’s shadow. Fashion: Saint Laurent, London, 2017

im Walker is widely thought of as one of the world’s most inventive photographers, and a visit to this exhibition is to be lost inside Tim’s fantastical imagination. The exhibition celebrates his contribution to photography over the past 25 years, with the heart of the exhibition featuring ten new photographic projects which have been directly inspired and influenced by treasures in the V&A’s vast collection. To prepare for the exhibition, Tim visited object stores and conservation studios, met with many of the museum’s curators, conservators and technicians and scoured the museum’s 145 public galleries. On top of all that he also scaled the roof of the 12-acre site in South Kensington and explored the labyrinth of Victorian passages below ground level. During his explorations he found luminous stained glass windows, vivid Indian miniature paintings, jewelled snuffboxes, erotic

illustrations, golden shoes and a 65-metrelong photograph of the Bayeux tapestry (the largest in the museum’s collection). Speaking about the exhibition, Tim says, ‘To me, the V&A has always been a palace of dreams – it’s the most inspiring place in the world. Many of the objects that I saw during my research at the museum made my heart swell and I wanted to try and create a photograph that would relate not only to the physical presence and beauty of that object, but also my emotional reaction to it.’

Influential In total, more than 300 items can be found in this extensive show, including the photographs and the objects that inspired them. There are also short films, scrapbooks and sketches. At the start of the exhibition is a collection of more than 100 images from Tim’s previous projects. Here you’ll find portraits of some seriously influential figures, including Sir David Attenborough, Margaret Atwood, Kate Moss and Grayson Perry to name but a few. Allow a few hours to take in the variety on display and come away feeling uplifted and inspired. The exhibition is also accompanied by a book of the same name, which you can purchase from the museum shop.

Above: Cloud 9. Radhika Nair. Fashion: Halpern and Dolce & Gabbana Pershore, Worcs, 2018

Left: Why not be oneself? Tilda Swinton. Fashion: Gucci, Marc Jacobs. Jewellery: Lisa Eisner Jewelry, Vela, Uno de 50, A Brandt + Son Renishaw Hall, Derbs, 2018

Right: Handle with Care. Karen Elson, Sgàire Wood & James Crewe. Fashion: The Row, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, Daniela Geraci, Sarah Bruylant and Molly Goddard, London, 2018 18 January 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Also out now The latest and best exhibitions in the world of photography © WARREN MILLAR

EXHIBITION

Live Performance Black and White Portraits by Warren Millar The Studio, Widnes, Cheshire. Contact the venue for opening times. Thestudiowidnes. wordpress.com

TO CELEBRATE ten years of The Studio in Widnes, this exhibition by its official photographer Warren Millar, brings together a selection of his music photography. Warren’s ongoing project, Live Performance Portraits, was named as such after he looked back at his archive and realised that many of his images tended to have a similar style. They all tend to be spot lit, giving them a studio-type quality – hence the title referring to official portraits. Believing them to look better in black & white, he uses Silver Efex Pro2 to make the conversions. If you like the genre, his images will give you a masterclass in how to achieve emotion, work with available (and often tricky) lighting and show off a breadth of creative talent on the stage. The Studio is a not-for-profit community endeavour which celebrates music, theatre and the arts. Amy Davies © TIM WALKER STUDIO © TIM WALKER STUDIO

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EXHIBITION

Steve McQueen Year 3

Runs until 3 May at Tate Britain, London. Open Monday-Sunday 10.00-18.00. Free. THIS project is described as one of the most ambitious portraits of citizenship ever undertaken in the UK. Steve McQueen – the Oscar-winning ﬁlm-maker and recipient of the Turner Prize for art – invited every Year 3 pupil in London to have their photograph taken by a team of Tate photographers. Children included in the project came from state primaries, independent schools, faith schools, special schools, pupil referral units and home-educated pupils. The results are seen in this large-scale installation which captures tens of thousands of Year 3 pupils – with special trips planned for those pupils found within it to visit the show. It’s an all-encompassing project that feels a bit like it will be more useful in years to come as a record or snapshot of childhood, but it’s also a fascinating look ahead at the next generation. Amy Davies 11

In next week’s issue

Viewpoint

On sale Tuesday 21 January GETTY IMAGES/EYEEM

Amy Davies Photography is a hobby not a competitive assault course. There’s nothing wrong with wanting an easy ride

up in time for sunrise doesn’t mean quite such a painful awakening and a cup of cocoa at 8pm the night before. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider – and reframe (if you’ll excuse the pun) – exactly what we’re willing to go through to get the shot. Perhaps it’s time to take ownership of the photos that inevitably look like somebody else’s – so what if they do? They’re still your photos, a record of an experience that belongs to you even if they don’t break any records or go on to win plaudits and accolades. If it’s just a tick in the box to say that you’ve collected a particular shot or genre – that’s ﬁne, too.

Isn’t this hobby meant to be about the practice of taking pictures, not just about beating everybody else and proving how dedicated you are to the craft? I wonder if other leisure pursuits are viewed with the same level of competition and oneupmanship. Humans are naturally inclined towards competitiveness, but I’m not sure there’s too much in the way of extreme knitting for example, with crafters determined to make a scarf the like of which nobody has ever laid eyes on before. I await the letters that will no doubt contradict me. Anyway, for all the photographers out there who’d rather catch a few extra minutes’ (hours’) sleep, don’t feel the need to wander too much further than the car park and are happy to capture their images using whatever equipment they have to hand (yes, even your phone), know that you’re not alone. Get out there and enjoy taking pictures, but don’t punish yourself if you don’t get something unique, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Amy Davies is Amateur Photographer’s Features Editor, and previously has spent many years writing for various photography titles.

Do you have something you’d like to get off your chest? Send us your thoughts in around 500 words to the address on page 23 and win a year’s digital subscription to AP, worth £79.99 12

Our tips prove there’s no such thing as bad weather when it comes to photography

Fighting wildlife crime CONTENT FOR NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Enjoy your photography and don’t worry that a view may have been captured many times

Love bad weather

Enough of the one-upmanship

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS COLUMN ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER MAGAZINE OR TI MEDIA LIMITED

‘How often are we encouraged to get up at an ungodly hour’

s someone who spent years with a fairly intense hatred of the period between about October and February, it feels strange to be writing this – but as a photographer, I love winter. There seems to be a school of thought pervading photography that the quality of your output is directly related to the amount of pain and suffering you went through to get it. Although I make my living through photography, it’s also supposed to be my hobby. Presumably as a reader of this magazine, it’s yours, too. Yet, how often are we encouraged to get up at an ungodly hour, lug vast bags of back-breaking equipment to remote locations in all manner of weather and above all else, ensure we don’t get a photograph that comes anywhere close to anything anybody has ever captured before. And if we don’t do all of the above, we’re made to feel somehow ‘less’ of a photographer, or that the images we produce are inadequate. For what is intended to be a leisure pursuit, all of the above feels like an extraordinary amount of effort and about as far removed from my idea of fun and relaxing as you can get. What’s worse, capturing something truly unique might not be impossible, but it’s pretty damn difﬁcult after 180 years of photography. So, more often than not you’re setting yourself up for a failure anyway. Which brings me back to my opening statement. At least in the winter getting

Keith Wilson tells us how a new photo book is making a big difference

Prints charming Our guide will help ensure that what you see on screen is what you get in print

Sony Alpha 6600 Andy Westlake gives Sony’s ﬂagship APS-C mirrorless model a full test

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Repeat Winner of the TIPA Award – 2013/2017

‘Best Photo Lab Worldwide’ Awarded by the Editors of 29 International Photography Magazines

Transform treasured memories into memorable wall art. Mounted under acrylic, framed, or as large-format photo prints. Made in Germany by people who love photography. We are the proud recipients of over 100 awards and recommendations! Simply upload your photo and create custom works of art – even from your smartphone.

The best pictures on social media this week

#appicoftheweek Cobbled Lane by Tony Tooth Nikon D600, 105mm, 1/250sec at f/9, ISO 160

*PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY

‘I SPECIFICALLY went out to take photos of St Edward’s church, the churchyard, and Brough Park, Leek, while it was still very foggy, but with the sun starting to break through. This is Church Lane and I just had time to take the shot opportunistically as the people walked over the brow,’ says Tony, who uploaded this image to our Flickr page using the hashtag #appicoftheweek. Tony is retired and lives in Leek, Staffordshire, where he likes to spend his time taking photos and playing the guitar. See more of his images at Flickr at www.flickr.com/ photos/tonytooth. Picked by Nigel Atherton, Editor, as our #appicoftheweek

Each week we choose our favourite picture on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter or the reader gallery using #appicoftheweek. PermaJet proudly Win! supports the online picture of the week winner, who will receive a top-quality print of their image on the finest PermaJet paper*. It is important to bring images to life outside the digital sphere, so we encourage everyone to get printing today! Visit www.permajet.com to learn more.

We also likedÉ Grey seal pup with its mother by Sophia Spurgin

SOPHIA took this photo on a beach in north Norfolk where thousands of grey seals come Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 100-400mm 1/200sec at f/7.1, ISO 640 up onto the beach in the winter to give birth. She used a long lens for this shot to keep her distance and to avoid disturbing the seals. ‘I love that landscape photography makes you look for great light, wildlife photography gives you moments of joy and macro photography makes you look at the detail,’ says Sophia. She uploaded it to our Instagram using #appicoftheweek. For more of Sophia’s images see her Instagram feed @DaughterUpTree. Picked by Geoff Harris, Deputy Editor 14

Chilbolton Chill by Craig Harvey Nikon D850, 24mm, 1.3sec at f/11, ISO 64 CRAIG is a landscape and astro photographer based in Hampshire and uploaded this image to Twitter. ‘Dense fog accompanied by frost is unusual in my patch of Hampshire. The fog

resulted in a fairly balanced exposure, meaning I could forgo my filters and still shoot the scene with some movement in the River Test. I liked how the frost-covered grass guides the eye to the river, which leads you to the fading trees and cottage,’ he explains. See Craig’s Instagram @lightonthelandscape. Picked by Michael Topham, Reviews Editor

Vintage Bandstand by Darrell Godliman Nikon D7200, 11mm, 1/320sec at f/14, ISO 200

DARRELL is a semi-pro travel and architectural photographer based in Oxford who enjoys visiting new places. He explains, ‘I’m always on the lookout for unusual compositions of well-known landmarks and was struck by the way this recently refurbished Victorian bandstand in the foreground frames the view of Brighton’s increasingly dilapidated West Pier.’ It was taken at midday in August and he made the most of the high-contrast conditions by converting it to a sepia monochrome image. See more of his work at www. flickr.com/darrellg. Picked by Amy Davies, Want to see your pictures here? Post them into our Instagram, Twitter, Flickr or Features Editor Facebook communities or the gallery on our website. See page 3. 15

Technique

DIGITISING OLD PRINTS

Preserving your legacy

Thought about digitising your archive of old prints or negs? Follow John WadeÕs expert tips and advice on how best to go about it

John Wade

Regular AP contributor John often scans old prints and slides to illustrate magazine articles and books. And yes, that is him in the 1970s wedding picture and playing the recorder, age ten, on the right of the damaged black & white print. Find him these days at www.johnwade.org.

ALL PICTURES © JOHN WADE

very family has its history, and every history has its photographs: old colour prints, vintage black & white prints, negatives from both, slides or transparencies. If that sounds like you and your family, isn’t it time you dragged those photographic archives into the 21st century? By digitising them you’ll give them a new lease of life, turning them into digital images that are easy to improve upon, categorise and locate when you need them.

Shot on a table, using an iPhone and lit by a desk lamp, seen reflected in the print (left) and again, under the same conditions, using the PhotoScan app (right) 16

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KIT LIST ▲

Tripod

One enabling you to extend the camera above the subject or that allows mounting and operation of the camera beneath the legs under which you can put a print or slide on a lightbox.

▲

Lightbox or similar

Find old-fashioned types on eBay, find modern equivalents on Amazon.

▲

Spirit level

Small versions can be found in do-it-yourself stores, used to keep the camera level and parallel with the print or slide being copied.

▲

Fine-hair brush

The type used for cleaning lenses is also useful for removing dust and hairs from negatives and slides before digitising.

▲

Family pictures faded and discoloured by time take on a new life in the digital world

Use your phone Simply using your phone’s camera to copy an old photograph rarely gives the best result. The image is likely to be distorted because you haven’t held the phone straight and, because old photos are usually glossy, you can end up with unwanted reﬂections and glare. Using a dedicated scanning app will help to correct both. PhotoScan by Google Photos

Flatbed scanner

Perfect for digitising colour or b&w prints of all sizes, be they small oldtime snaps or 10x8in or A4 prints. A scanner with a scanning hood is useful for slides or negs from 35mm up to 6x7cm.

is free to download. First a picture is taken in the normal way. The photo you are copying then appears on the phone’s screen with four large spots and a white circle in the centre superimposed over it. Moving the phone so that the circle covers each of the spots in turn causes the camera to make another four exposures, each from a different angle. The software then combines all the versions to remove reﬂection

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and glare, while automatically correcting colour casts and distortion. Check out your app store to ﬁnd other suitable apps.

Camera or scanner? One up from holding your phone over a picture is to suspend your camera over it, using a suitable tripod. You’ll need a macro lens to move close enough, and the camera must be kept

▲

Dedicated film scanner Mostly for copying 35mm negs and slides and turning them into digital images. Cheap versions produce low-res scans. Pay extra for higher resolution and more faithful colour rendition.

Technique

DIGITISING OLD PRINTS

A flatbed scanner is best for prints, but can be used for negatives and slides; an inexpensive film scanner is useful for slides or negatives only

The preview screen that is displayed when scanning prints with options for colour depth, resolution and more

parallel to the subject. Lighting can be provided by a desk lamp or, better still, two desk lamps, one on each side of the subject. Natural light from a nearby window also works. In this way, colour or black & white prints can be copied. To use the same set-up for slides, the desk lamps can be swapped for some form of light box. Scanners make a better method of copying old pictures. With a ﬂatbed scanner, a print is placed on a glass table beneath a hood and, using the dedicated software, a preview

scan is made. From this, a suitable crop of the image is selected, along with the required resolution and colour depth, then the ﬁnal scan is made. A scanner with a scanning hood enables a similar process to be used for scanning negatives and transparencies. A ﬁlm scanner is used for negatives and transparencies only, usually 35mm, although some models do allow larger sizes. The negatives or slides are fed into the scanner in strips and scans made of each frame in sequence.

Colour balance If you copy an old photograph using artificial light then the resulting image might have a yellow/orange colour cast. This is because your camera will be calibrated for shooting in normal daylight, whereas artificial light is warmer in tone. A camera’s auto white balance setting should correct the cast automatically, but you can optimise the result by setting the white balance manually. Colour temperature is measured in degrees kelvin. Daylight and electronic flash are both 5,000°K.

Incandescent light (normal room lighting) is more like 2,700-3,000°K. So go to the manual white balance setting in your camera’s menu and reset it accordingly. Another option is to use daylight bulbs, which ﬁt into normal lamp holders, but emit light at 5,000°K. Adobe Lightroom also has a handy option for changing colour temperature of an image after it has been taken.

Resolution & colour depth When using a scanner, the resolution you set in the

FAST SLIDE COPYING WITH AN ILLUMITRAN Bowens Illumitran

In the days before digital, the Bowens Illumitran was king of the slide copiers. Back then they cost around £300, the equivalent today of more like £900. Right now you can pick one up on eBay for £50-60. They make a fast way to digitise old slides of any size from 35mm up to 6x7cm.

Fitting a DSLR

Though made to accept 35mm SLRs, the Illumitran can be equipped with a DSLR like this Nikon D70. It fits to the top of the Illumitran bellows via a T-mount. An old enlarger lens is fitted to the bellows and the Illumitran’s flash sync cable is attached to the camera.

Toggle switch

With a slide placed on the carrier that sits on a ground-glass screen, the Illumitran is powered up and a toggle switch set to its focus mode. This lights twin bulbs in the base of the unit to illuminate the slide for focusing.

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software depends on the size of the original and the use to which you aim to put the scanned images. The software will measure the resolution in dots per inch (dpi). If you decide that all you need is a digital image to show on your computer screen or digital projector, its size needs to be no more than around 600x800 pixels. That means scanning a 35mm negative or slide at 600dpi, while a larger A4 size print needs only 72dpi to fulﬁl a similar pixel count. If you intend to make quality prints from your scans, then you will need a higher resolution of more like 3,500x2,500 pixels. That equates to scanning a 35mm

negative or slide at around 2,500dpi, but only 300dpi when scanning an A4 print. Scanning software also offers colour depth options such as 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit and 48-bit colour. Bit depth refers to the amount of colour information stored in an image. The higher the bit depth, the more colours it can store – which translates as quality and accuracy of colour rendition from the original to the scan. For most practical purposes the 24-bit setting is ﬁne.

Simple way to retouch There are a few easy-to-master Photoshop techniques that even the newest of newcomers to the software can utilise to make the most of a

Colour cast induced by copying under incandescent light (left) and corrected by adjusting the camera’s white balance (right)

Digitising early images HOW FAR back do your archives go? If photography has been in your family for generations, you might find the odd daguerreotype or ambrotype lurking at the back of a cupboard. Before the days of digital both were notoriously difficult to copy. Ambrotypes were made on glass and so are fairly reflective. Daguerreotypes are worse, made on silver-plated copper with an almost mirror-like surface. Using a camera to shoot a copy of one of these it’s easy to end up with reflections of nearby objects, bright spots around the room, or even your camera lens in the image. What old-time photographers could never have envisioned, however, was digital technology. Both daguerreotypes and ambrotypes can be copied using a flatbed scanner in the usual way. Scans of daguerreotypes in particular, however, might be a little flat and need their contrast boosted.

Even ancient daguerreotypes from the late1800s can be digitised today

Finding exposure

Expose mode

Image size

A meter cell is swung over the slide and a knob on the front of the Illumitran is turned. This raises and lowers the bulbs inside the unit as a needle on the front swings across a dial. When the needle is centred, the exposure is correct. Experiment with apertures either side of f/16.

The meter cell is swung aside and the toggle switch set to its expose mode. This turns off the focusing bulbs and readies an electronic ﬂash tube that’s between them. Press the camera’s shutter release: ﬂash is activated and the exposure made to be reviewed on the camera’s LCD.

The D70’s 6MP sensor is still capable of turning out a 2,000 x 3,000 pixel image. Naturally, more modern cameras with more sensitive sensors will give larger images. In this way, about 30 copies can be made in around ﬁve minutes.

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Technique

DIGITISING OLD PRINTS

Ten tips for better digitising 1

digitised archive. Sometimes the copying procedure increases contrast too much. Other times, you need to get a decent image out of an old low-contrast print. Either way, the contrast tool (Image> Adjustments> Brightness/Contrast) can be employed to reduce or increase contrast as required. Old photos from simple cameras are often a little blurred. That can be improved, though not completely corrected, by use of the unsharp mask tool (Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp mask).

Gather your old photos and sort them into categories: family and its different generations, forgotten holidays, creative pictures you shot for camera club contests years ago, pets, kids, cars, days out, etc. Sort them into years, people, places or any other category that is appropriate to your particular hoard of memories.

Separate pictures of good enough quality to be digitised straight from those which are going to need some manipulation to get back contrast, counteract fading, repair damage and other minor faults.

Fading and colour balance Ultraviolet in natural daylight affects the chemical make-up of old colour prints, breaking down the chemical bond in their picture dyes. As a result, old colour prints fade with time. Also, because some colour layers are affected more or less than others, old prints take on a colour cast usually with a predominance of magenta. Fading can be adjusted with Levels (Image>Adjustments>Levels) while the colour balance tool (Image>Adjustments>Color balance) can be used to correct colour casts. Simply dial up the colour that is the complementary of the particular colour cast. Green is the complementary of magenta, cyan is the complementary of red, and yellow is the complementary of blue. If you are digitising an old torn or cracked print, your best friends are the Photoshop clone tool and healing brush. The clone tool allows you to manually copy pixels from one area of the image onto another

Decide on your digitising method: camera with macro lens or scanner.

A mono print, scanned in colour, converted to greyscale, sharpened, contrast adjusted and cracks repaired with Photoshop’s healing brush and clone tools

If you have a choice of scanning a print or a neg, go for the negative – there’s likely to be more detail in it.

Use a scanner whose software incorporates digital Image Correction and Enhancement (ICE) technologies. Following the initial scan this uses infrared to identify scratches, dust and ﬁngerprints. The software then compares the two images and removes the defects.

If you don’t have a lightbox, invest in a lightpad, used by artists for tracing or stencilling. (Find a selection on Amazon.)

7 An old and faded1970s colour print is restored with Photoshop levels and colour balance tools

An iPad or similar tablet can be used as a makeshift lightbox when copying slides 20

4 5

area. So the pixels immediately next to the tear or crack can be painted over the problem area. The healing brush works by sampling the pixels around the tear or crack and automatically picking what it thinks is the most appropriate for replacing the problem area. Follow these various techniques and the images in your digitised archives will often be better than the originals ever were.

An iPad or similar tablet equipped with an app such as Lightbox Trace, that provides a pure white screen, can double as a lightbox.

Scan everything in colour. You can convert black & white images to greyscale later, though it’s often worth retaining the sepia or similar tone of an old monochrome print.

Carefully remove any dust and hairs from negatives or slides before copying or scanning. Use a soft cloth to clean the table of your scanner to remove dust, hairs and ﬁngerprints.

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Shutter counts when buying used

Editorial team Group Editor Nigel Atherton Geoff Harris Deputy Editor Andy Westlake Technical Editor Michael Topham Reviews Editor Amy Davies Features Editor Technique Editor Hollie Latham Hucker Jacqueline Porter Production Editor Chief Sub Editor/Features Jolene Menezes Acting Chief Sub/Features Amanda Stroud Sarah Foster Art Editor Steph Tebboth Senior Designer Andrew Sydenham Studio Manager Photo-Science Consultant Professor Robert Newman Hollie Bishop Ofﬁce Manager Special thanks to The moderators of the AP website: Andrew Robertson, lisadb, Nick Roberts, The Fat Controller

Advertising Head of Market Liz Reid 07949 179 200 Senior Account Manager Samuel Shaw 07970 615 618 Production Coordinator Chris Gozzett 0203 148 2694 Chief Executive Officer Marcus Rich Group Managing Director Adrian Hughes Managing Director Kirsty Setchell Printed by Walstead UK Limited Distributed by Marketforce 5 Churchill Place, London E14 Telephone 0203 787 9001 Editorial Complaints We work hard to achieve the highest standards of editorial content, and we are committed to complying with the Editors’ Code of Practice (www.ipso.co.uk/ IPSO/cop.html) as enforced by IPSO. If you have a complaint about our editorial content, you can email us at complaints@ ti media.com or write to Complaints Manager, TI Media Limited Legal Department, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. Please provide details of the material you are complaining about and explain your complaint by reference to the Editors’ Code. We will endeavour to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days, and we aim to correct substantial errors as soon as possible. All contributions to Amateur Photographer must be original, not copies or duplicated to other publications. The editor reserves the right to shorten or modify any letter or material submitted. TI Media Limited or its associated companies reserves the right to re use any submission sent to the letters column of Amateur Photographer magazine, in any format or medium, WHETHER PRINTED, ELECTRONIC OR OTHERWISE Amateur Photographer® is a registered trademark of TI Media Limited © TI Media Limited 2020 Amateur Photographer (incorporating Photo Technique, Camera Weekly & What Digital Camera) Email: amateurphotographer@ ti media.com Website: www.amateurphotographer.co.uk. TI Media Limited switchboard tel: 0203 148 5000 Amateur Photographer is published weekly (51 issues per year) on the Tuesday preceding the cover date by TI Media Limited, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, London E14. ISSN 0002 6840. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval or transmitted in any format or medium, whether printed, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the editor. This is considered a breach of copyright and action will be taken where this occurs. This magazine must not be lent, sold, hired or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated condition or in any authorised cover by way, or by trade, or annexed to any publication or advertising matter without first obtaining written permission from the publisher. TI Media Limited does not accept responsibility for loss or damage to unsolicited photographs and manuscripts, and product samples. TI Media Limited reserves the right to use any submissions sent to Amateur Photographer Magazine in any format or medium, including electronic. One year subscription (51 issues) £155.50 (UK), e259 (Europe), $338.99 (USA), £221.99 (rest of world). The 2015 US annual DEU subscription price is $338.99, airfreight and mailing in the USA by named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc, 156 15, 146th Avenue, 2nd floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Amateur Photographer, Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc, 156 15, 146th Avenue, 2nd floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscriptions records are maintained at TI Media Limited, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.

LETTER OF THE WEEK W NS A SAMSUNG EVO PLUS M CROSD CARD NOTE: PR ZE APPL ES TO UK AND EU RES DENTS ONLY

Publishing team

I like to keep improving my work and, from time to time, upgrading my gear, but with limited funds I have to rely on used equipment. Wouldn’t it be helpful if all camera makers included a simple shutter count into their products? This way it would make buying used less of a gamble. I recently purchased a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark ll. Luckily the seller had provided the shutter count certiﬁcate, which was less than a third of its expected life. It is an awesome beast. But trawling through the used ads I found it a rarity where anyone provided this. So come on you manufacturers, help us out here. Terry Robinson I completely agree with

Mac Catalina With Nikon the shutter count is under File Info>Raw Data

you: camera manufacturers should offer within the menu the ability to view the shutter count. With Nikon cameras you can ﬁnd this number by opening an image in Photoshop, going to ‘File Info>Raw Data’ and scrolling down to where it says Image Number. For most other cameras you can download a free program called

EXIFTool which can tell you, or you can upload an image ﬁle from any camera to a website such as MyShutterCount.com or ShutterCounter. com. Some secandhand camera retailers (including Ffordes, Park Cameras and MPB) usually list the shutter count for each camera on their websites – Nigel Atherton, editor

Win!

I found the comments of Tim Dawson in Viewpoint (AP, 14 December) interesting, and a matter that at least one organisation that I am involved in is having to contend with. Under the publication of the photo of a bus from Tim’s friend’s collection is the caption “Who knows what value an

ordinary shot of a bus might have in years to come?” Let me introduce you to The Bus Archive – (www.busarchive.org.uk) ‘a registered charity dedicated to the collection and preservation of records, photographs, publications and publicity for the road passenger transport industry.’ The Bus Archive emerged from The

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My MacBook Air keeps prompting me to update. I currently use Mojave 10.14.6. I note that some online sites are advising that if you use Adobe Lightroom, some versions will not work once Catalina has been downloaded and is not reversible. I use Lightroom 6; it is only about 18 months old, and was downloaded from a store, hence no box or instructions. Have you experienced any difﬁculties regarding this, and if so any useful advice would be much appreciated? Gerald Peppiatt If any readers have encountered this and have a solution please let us know – Nigel Atherton, editor

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On the bus

information results in an appeal to fellow enthusiasts to see if the vehicle, operator, location and timeframe can be identiﬁed so that the photograph can form part of the archive available to transport students and historians for their future studies. Oh, and the photograph in AP? This is a London Transport trolleybus, already a part of transport history as the last trolleybus ran in London in 1962 – 57 years ago! Dr Mike Walker

Chasing rainbows Kithead Trust, set up some years ago by two industry professionals, and the archive of The Omnibus Society, an enthusiast’s organisation, now a charity, which has just celebrated its ﬁrst 90 years. The Bus Archive regularly receives bequests of photographs from deceased enthusiasts, where insufﬁcient

The letter from Karin Tearle in the 30 November edition about the differing experiences when using digital SLRs and mirrorless cameras struck a chord. I have used both viewing systems for some time now but I recently attended a ploughing contest with my Nikon SLR and managed to capture a scene containing a rainbow and a complete one 23

YOUR LETTERS

mirrorless world is there a future for Micro Four Thirds? If so, why? Jay D’Arcy We have no idea whether there is any truth in such rumours but I suspect not. There’s an entire industry of people spreading disinformation on the internet these days, with the sole purpose of stirring up Jay has an Olympus and asks about the future of the format trouble, dissent and unease. Indeed it seems at that. However, which said: ‘No other to be Russia’s biggest during post magazine does more than export. Personally I think processing I couldn’t help we do to promote free there will always be a thinking that the rainbow and cheap photography.’ demand for a system was actually much brighter How you see ‘cheap’ is whose lenses are as than in my photograph. I open to interpretation small and light as the asked a renowned because it can project a cameras, but these are colleague in my local negative feeling. tough times for all photographic federation Some time ago I was camera manufacturers, about the effect and she sharply admonished for for various reasons, and explained that the image I using cheap as a term, and there are no guarantees remembered was created told that ‘low cost’ was far that any of them will still in my brain and was not fairer and more fitting. be around in 2030. But necessarily the same as Maybe there is a point here if the worst comes to the the real image captured by and certainly for those worst the second-hand the sensor. So I guess that working on a tight budget market is vibrant and the image in an electronic who are keen to find a there are people still viewfinder is exactly the good deal when they can. using cameras that were same as that recorded by Count me in – my favourite made decades ago the camera while the prism camera still in use cost me – Nigel Atherton, editor viewfinder does not a fifth of the original price. guarantee the same effect. Now that is low-cost. I really enjoy the columns Perhaps Professor J Lawton by Tony Kemplen and John Newman could enlighten Wade in AP and the article us about this. Have I made a terrible Best of British (AP, 4 Ken Croston mistake? I recently gave January 2020) was a away my heavy DSLR and fascinating read. In the It’s true that an lenses and, having greatly section on the Aptus electronic viewfinder enjoyed an Olympus Ferrotype, however, there (EVF) does provide a OM-D E-M10 Mk ll, which is an error: one cannot use more accurate I used when needing to a magnet to pick up a representation of what travel light, I spent a small piece of tin! Magnets only the camera will record, work on iron, or alloys rather than what you are fortune on an Olympus E-M1 Mk ll plus two Pro containing iron. In fact, the seeing with your eye name ‘tin type’ was a – Nigel Atherton, editor lenses. Since then I have read of nickname for the process more lightweight mirrorless which created photographs Bullseye! Nigel Atherton’s cameras, with full-frame on thin sheets of iron. They Viewpoint in the cracking sensors, heading for the are more properly called Christmas issue (AP 21-28 market and rumours that melainotypes or, more December 2019) brought Olympus may pull out of commonly, ferrotypes, seasonal joy in plenty. His consumer photography. I hence the name of the no-nonsense delivery of think we are all aware that camera. They were truths about kit envy could denials of ‘closure’ or a popular with seaside not have been bettered. As company sale are often photographers who could he rightly said: ‘For most actually confirmation that take and sell an image people, the only reason for something is afoot. So within a short period of buying a new camera is should we Micro Four time, hence the integrated because they want it.’ Thirds shooters be development system However, there was one worrying? Here is the employed in this camera. point that made me wince, question: In a full-frame Kris Lockyear

Tintypes

Olympus worry

Low cost

Back in the day

A wander through the AP archive. This week we pay a visit to January 1986

1986

THE POOR model on the cover of this week’s issue was clearly so excited about showing off her new SLR necklace that she completely forgot to put on her bra. Inside, a reader describes how the barn next to his new house makes a great studio for photographing local girls who, coincidentally, had also forgotten their bras. Well it was the ’80s. The main feature was a guide to bagging a bargain in the sales – illustrated by a wholly unconvincing picture of a shady-looking teenage boy in Raybans pulling a vintage folding bellows camera out of his inside pocket in front of a movie poster for ‘Sex in Sweden’. All very odd. For really lazy readers, the ‘Motor Drive’ feature was a guide to street photography without getting out of your car. ‘If possible, be a passenger and get someone else to drive,’ it helpfully advised. Quite. But then this was an era when driving home after ﬁve pints down the pub was not considered unusual.

Features on bagging a bargain and shooting from your car

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Wild at art

David Yarrow is one of the world’s leading fine art wildlife photographers. Steve Fairclough caught up with him to discuss his latest book and his career so far

t the beginning of his career David Yarrow was photographing sports stars and not wildlife. Aged just 20, he shot an iconic image of footballer Diego Maradona holding the FIFA World Cup aloft after Argentina had won the 1986 final against West Germany in Mexico City. But, despite naming his early photographic heroes as legendary British sports photographers Eamonn McCabe and Chris Smith, Yarrow quickly realised he was in a crowded field. He explains, ‘I remember being at an Olympic Games… I thought I’d got a good shot and then there were six other adjoining photographers that had exactly the same image. That was only going to go one way with motordrives, digital, frames per second, improved telephoto lenses and improved resolution in low light. 26

With sports photography, even back in 1990, I worried that it was going to become a space characterised by over-supply of imagery.’ Yarrow took a break from taking pictures for a living to go into the world of finance. He didn’t return to it with gusto until around 2003, after his marriage fell apart, when photography became an ‘escape’. With a refreshing candour he reveals his path to photographing wildlife and warns some of his views might be ‘unpalatable’. He notes, ‘There are four or five genres of photography that take up about 85% or 90% of the population of photography… so you’ve got sport, female form, landscape, wildlife and still life.’ Yarrow explains, ‘Female form photography is f***ed, but it’s only really been f***ed in the last three years because of MeToo, the sense of

Top: Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2019

female empowerment and the gratuitous use of the female form. If someone is going around with a camera photographing naked women I think the world is increasingly questioning why they’re doing it, because they can’t be doing it for commercial gain.’ He dabbled in landscape photography but chose not to

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DAVID YARROW

pursue it, ‘Because how can you take a picture better than Ansel Adams did at Yosemite?’ Yarrow continues, ‘War photography is for the brave and I have huge admiration for those [photographers]. So I was left with very few choices. I felt that I’m not a wildlife photographer, I’m a photographer, but I sensed that

maybe wildlife was an area that maybe had been done down a bit, that people were using these long lenses to be lazy but that [approach] cuts the emotion.’

A journey into fine art Yarrow’s epiphany about the potential of creating fine art wildlife imagery came after a financially

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Above: The Untouchables, Amboseli, Kenya, 2017

unrewarding trip to shoot great white sharks in South Africa. ‘I got obsessed with sharks and spent a lot of time in Cape Town trying to get a great white predating in False Bay. When I finally did I got a £16,000 cheque from Getty, but it cost me £18,000 to take the picture. It’s clearly not a very good way to earn money if I’ve lost £2,000 27

DAVID YARROW

taking that picture. Then a lawyer from Houston called me up and said, “Are you the kid who took the photograph of the shark?” and I sold him $20,000 worth of a print. That was when the penny dropped.’ He adds, ‘Nick Brandt and Peter Beard were the two photographers I’d watched who had turned wildlife photography into art. People point to that Jim Brandenburg picture of a wolf behind the tree [as being art] and I felt that there was opportunity there. But I knew it was going to take an awful long time to get to a brand we’ve got now where people pay, bizarrely, $100,000 for an image.’

Notably, each image in the 368-page book comes with a detailed description of how it was shot. He explains, ‘I think there’s a lot of strong work there. There’s 65,000 words and it was important to me to talk about behind-the-scenes and give context to every image.’

Long-term Nikon user

Yarrow is a diehard Nikon user, as well as being a Nikon Ambassador, yet he confesses, ‘I have used Hasselblad. I did a book with Hasselblad and I tried to work with their new series of cameras not too long ago, but they’re just not robust or quick enough for me. I think it’s the better the devil you know. The Close-ups and humour D850 [camera] was made for me. Diamonds in the Sky, Alaska, USA, 2018 The latest fruits of Yarrow’s shoots Because we print so big, the are showcased in the new book resolution on it is fantastic. It’s a Americas, Africa, Antarctica, Arctic, camera that I think has helped my Asia, Europe. It primarily features career enormously in the last three his trademark close-up images of or four years.’ wildlife – often shot with remote On the optical side of things Yarrow gear that’s sometimes scented to reveals, ‘I don’t use zoom lenses but attract certain animals, such as I can understand why people use lions and polar bears – interspersed zooms for convenience and cost. But, with more humorous work featuring ultimately, when you’re blowing a models and animals. picture up to the size of a snooker Yarrow reveals, ‘The key thing table it does tend to show. At the about this book is our team stayed in margins some of the Nikon zooms are Verona for two-and-a-half weeks with getting better but 99% of my work the printers getting the print work to is on their primes and it’s the almost a photographic [print] quality. 58mm, 35mm, 105mm; the 200mm I think you can see it in terms of the f/2 is a great lens as well.’ tonal range of the prints. It [the book] He adds, in characteristically also needed to be big. My images are forthright fashion, ‘I can never huge when they’re in galleries, so it understand amateur photographers The Usual Suspects, Montana, USA, 2018 would be silly not to have a big book.’ that go club class to Nairobi [to White Horses, Iceland, 2018

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The Old Testament, Dinokeng, South Africa, 2017

photograph wildlife] and then have a shit camera. Why don’t they just go economy and get the D850?’

help my relationship with people like the Kenyan government.’ The issue of access to animals is a double-edged sword for Yarrow. Behaviour of wildlife He explains, ‘If you’ve got an animal As his career has progressed Yarrow that it’s easy to get access to, it then admits he has become more adept becomes challenging to get at understanding animal behaviour. something that’s different ‘Photographing animals is a bit like [pictorially]. With an animal that’s photographing people in that you hard to get access to, the difficulty can do better the more you know comes in getting that physical them. It’s not just the animals; it’s encounter; just getting yourself in the people on the ground who know the position to take the those animals. Some of the work we photographs.’ do with big elephants I could never Yarrow continues, ‘Tigers and have done five or ten years ago polar bears usually I’d spend the because I didn’t have the best people least amount of time with; who knew me and trusted me to do probably 1% of the time you’ve got a the kind of things that we’re doing.’ camera with you. I think you have He continues, ‘It’s partly knowing to have failures. If it was easy to the animal and partly being in a get the work that we get then I’d position to work with people on the have a lot more competition to ground who want to help you worry about! Success is 99% because they trust you and know failure and it’s by failing that you that you give back to conservation. learn how to succeed. The great This year we gave two million quid joy that photographers have is that back and that obviously is going to they can be very tough on their subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

edit. I take a lot of very bad pictures, but the world doesn’t need to see them.’

Influencing conservation Yarrow’s involvement in conservation charities includes being an affiliated photographer for the Tusk Trust and an ambassador The book Americas, Africa, Antarctica, Arctic, for WildArk and the Kevin Richardson Foundation. Alongside Asia, Europe, by David his latest book he has a travelling Yarrow, is published by exhibition that, at the time of Rizzoli Books (ISBN: writing, was due to be shown in 24 978-0-8478-6477-5) with cities around the world. Despite an RRP of £72.50. To find such widespread exposure for his out more go to www. work Yarrow remains modest about rizzoliusa.com. how his work has influenced To see more of David’s conservation issues. He replies, ‘It would be wrong of work go to www. me to say that we have had a huge davidyarrow. influence but we can give it our very photography. best shot. We had a show in Monaco recently and I saw a girl coming out of this big gallery crying; that makes me feel emboldened and empowered in what I do.’ 29

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Photo Stories

Prize haul

We take a closer look at some of the winning entries from Fotoholics Photographer of the Year 2019, which is now available to buy as a book her winning image in the young category (page 38), Daisy Blythe won a Fujifilm X-T30 and XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens, plus a Manfrotto Manhattan Speedy 10 Messenger Bag. Other category winners include Ryan Cole, who was named Fotoholics Street Photographer of the Year and took home a Fujifilm X100F, Les Forrester who won Fotoholics Landscape Photographer of the Year, who was also awarded a Fujifilm X-T3 and 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens, and Tony Sellen, who won Fotoholics Black and White Photographer of the Year and was awarded a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF 23mm f/2 lens.

Community spirit Early days It was only the competition’s second year in 2019, but it still attracted entries from a wide range of photographers across many genres and styles. The competition was judged blind (whereby the judges don’t know who has taken the images), and with a very high standard, it was an extremely tough job to narrow down the entries to the four overall adult winners, and the young winner. Across these pages you can see all of the category winners, but there were also some fantastic highly commended and runners-up. All of those images can be seen in the book, which is available to buy via Kickstarter, and is called Fotoholics of the Year 2019. The competition had some fantastic prizes, supplied by sponsors Fujiﬁlm, Manfrotto, LEE Filters, Formatt Hitech, Digitalab and others. Coltrane Koh took home the overall title for his image (bottom right) that won him a Fujiﬁlm X-T3, XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 lens and a Manfrotto Befree Advanced Carbon Tripod. For

Founder of Fotoholics Matt Hart, said, ‘Through the Fotoholics community I have been provided with a unique opportunity to encourage photographers of all abilities and to create images that tell a story. ‘I’m particularly delighted that in this year’s competition, we have seen some particularly outstanding work submitted by younger people, with some of the entries coming from children as young as six. ‘My thanks to everyone that entered the competition, the judges for their hard work and the competition sponsors and supporters for their commitment to Fotoholics.’ In order to fund a book showcasing the best work from the competition, a Kickstarter campaign was launched. Within days, it smashed its initial target and at the time of writing it stood at almost 200% with more than two weeks to go until it ﬁnished. Looking to the future, for the 2020 competition there will be an exhibition and prizegiving event in Blackpool.

n October 2019, the winners of the Fotoholics Photographer of the Year Competition were announced at HipFest in Hull. The competition featured four adult categories (Street, Landscape, Black and White and an overall winner), while the Young Fotoholics Photographer or the Year winner – Daisy Blythe – can be seen on page 38 in a special One To Watch interview. The competition, which is organised by the Fotoholics team, had three experienced judges – Matt Hart, the founder of Fotoholics, Kevin Mullins, the noted wedding photographer, and our own Amy Davies, Amateur Photographer’s Features Editor.

More information about the upcoming competition will be revealed in due course via the Fotoholics Facebook group. To buy the book, visit bit.ly/fotoholicsbook 32

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Les Forrester’s image won Fotoholics Landscape Photographer of the Year

Fotoholics Black and White Photographer of the Year was Tony Sellen with this graphic image

This beautiful shot by David Queenan was the runner-up of the Landscape category

Dean Holland’s amusing capture was named as the runner-up in the Street category © RYAN COLE

Fotoholics Street Photographer of the Year was won by Ryan Cole

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Technique

USING YOUR CAMERA’S SOFTWARE

Canon Digital Photo Professional PART ONE

Welcome to our new guide to the software you get with your camera. We kick off the series with Canon’s useful editing tool Angela Nicholson

Photographer and journalist, Angela Nicholson started reviewing cameras for Amateur Photographer in 2004 and was our Technical Editor before leaving for new pastures in 2010. Last year she founded SheClicks, a community for female photographers. squeezymedia.com

ll camera manufacturers provide software with their cameras, and for those photographers who eschew third-party software such as Adobe Lightroom or DXO PhotoLab, or don’t have the latest versions, it’s essential for processing the raw files and getting images just as you want them. Canon supplies a collection of software packages with its EOS and PowerShot cameras but Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP4) is the image editor and this gives you lots of control over images, even enabling customised black & white conversions. Here’s a taste of how it works.

GETTING STARTED The first time that you open DPP, you won’t see any images, you need to select a folder of images first. To do this, simply click on the arrows next to the storage drives and folders shown in the right column near the top of the screen to reveal their contents and find the folders that contain your images. As soon as you click on a folder of images, thumbnails appear in the middle of the screen - unlike with Lightroom, there’s no need to import anything. Bookmarking a folder adds it to the Bookmark tab, making it easier to find in the future. Right click on the folder concerned and select ‘Bookmark’ in the box that appears.

The Bookmark feature is handy if you have lots of stored images 34

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REFINED IMAGE SELECTION Controls at the bottom of the screen let you adjust the size of the image thumbnails and reveal more or less information about them. You can also rate your images with numbers and/or stars just by selecting one or more shots and then either clicking on the rating bar at the bottom or tapping 1-5 on the keyboard. The filter control at the top of the screen allows you to narrow your image selection by applying up to three filters. Set the filter to ‘On’ then click on the down arrow next to one or all of the filter types to select the parameter (rating, aperture, ISO etc). Next, select the filter you want to use in the box below. Filter controls make it even easier to track down images

ADVANCED EXPOSURE AND CONTRAST ADJUSTMENTS

Opening an image reveals a fuller range of tools and options in Digital Photo Professional

Whle it’s no alternative to Adobe CC, there are basic exposure adjustment tools

Double-click on an image to open it and see the adjustment panel which opens on the Brightness Adjustment tab at first. If you’re adjusting a raw file you can change the Picture Style to adjust the colour, contrast and sharpening in one go. The histogram at the bottom of the panel gives you some control over the brightness of the shadows, mid-tones and highlights, but for

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greater freedom, click on the Tone Curve tab. This shows a histogram with a tone curve that you can click on to add points and change the curves shape to manipulate the brightness and contrast. Pushing a point up brightens pixels in that area of the curve while pulling it down darkens them. For a quick exposure adjustment, this works well. 35

Technique

USING YOUR CAMERA’S SOFTWARE

PERFECT WHITE BALANCE

GREAT COLOUR AND MONO CONTROL

The white balance drop-down box of presets in the Brightness Adjustment panel is the easiest way to change an image’s white balance and there are fine-tuning sliding controls. However, the Dropper tool is very useful if there’s something that should be neutral in your scene. Just select the Dropper and click on the neutral target to apply the adjustment. If you have several images taken in the same light, tap ‘Register’ and save the adjustment to the custom values (1,2 or 3). Be sure to click on the Dropper tool to deselect it when you’re finished. Then, when you open an image from the same shoot, click on the custom preset to get the white balance just right.

The Color Adjustment panel gives control over the hue (H), saturation (S) and lightness (L) of the eight colour channels. You can make the yellows a bit greener, for example, and boost their saturation or brightness without changing the blues or reds. This panel is also perfect for making black & white conversions. Clicking on the ‘Monochrome’ button makes a basic black & white conversion by reducing the all the colours’ saturation to zero. Then you can use the L (lightness) sliders of each colour to adjust the brightness of the corresponding areas in the original image. Sliding the L control of the green channel to the left, for example, darkens green areas in the image while sliding it to the right brightens them. It is not as sopshisticated as Photoshop or Lightroom but it does the job.

Digital Photo Professional enables you to fine-tune white balance for the colour temperature you need

Use the Color Adjustment panel for basic but effective mono conversions

CREATE AND USE RECIPES DDP allows you to save many of the key adjustments as a ‘Recipe’ that you can apply to other images to get the same look. The next step is to copy the adjustment settings and the best way to do this is via Edit>Save Recipe in File. This allows you to save everything with a memorable file name in a folder of your choosing so you can recall it at a later date. When you want to apply a Recipe to another image, just select it in the browser and click on Edit>Read and Paste Recipe from File. Then find the file you want to use in the box that appears and click on ‘Open’ to apply the edits. 36

Left: Recipes enable you to quickly access adjustments for a consistent look

Above: Recipes are stored in a dedicated folder for easy retrieval

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NEW TALENT

ONE TO WATCH

Daisy Blythe Thirteen-year-old Daisy has a CV to be envious of. She’s already published two books and won Fotoholics Young Photographer of the Year twice I don’t actually remember taking my ﬁrst proper photograph. But my dad has a video of it. He was making a video at a music festival (that I was presenting) and because we had media passes my dad sent me into the press pit to photograph a couple of bands. It was for a jokey bit of the video. But I must have really enjoyed it, because for the next couple of summers I ended up shooting bands whenever dad was making a video at a festival.

What draws you towards the kind of photography that you do? My real love is street photography because it tells a story, and it’s about people and a moment frozen in time. What really interests me is people interacting with each other. I like capturing the moment, because it’s something special and unique. When I was younger I used to get upset whenever I missed a shot, but now I’ve learned to really enjoy how special each successful shot is. I like to shoot architecture too, I’m interested in the shapes and patterns. That is what I focus on rather than the whole building. I’ve also just started doing

still life recently. I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think I was any good until someone offered to buy one of my prints. I like trying out any type of photography really, but I would say that I am a street photographer.

Have you had any training? I’ve not really had any training, we don’t have photography as an option as school. I’m part of HIP Club (based at the Hull Independent Photography Gallery), so I spend most weekends doing photography. I learned the basics there, about aperture, exposure and all of that. But mostly we spend our time taking photos and trying different styles and techniques. I also go on big shoots most school holidays, usually visiting at least one new city. My ‘training’ has been taking lots and lots of photographs and working out what is good and what isn’t. I’m also a member of gurushots.com, a competition website where we vote for each other’s photographs. I have often voted on literally hundreds of images in a single week. It really helped me discover what is good and bad. I’ve also realised how many photo clichés there are!

Daisy won Fotoholics Young Photographer of the Year again in 2019 with this shot 38

When did you start photography?

This photograph saw Daisy crowned as Fotoholics Young Photographer of the Year for the first time in 2018

What have been your biggest photographic obstacles to date? I’ve been lucky that my family are very supportive, and my dad is happy to take me out on photoshoots whenever he can. But being so young I am limited when and where I can go on my own. Sometimes I get asked to move when I’m supposed to be one of the official photographers!

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Who are your biggest influences? Because I’m a member of the HIP Gallery I’ve been able to meet and see the work of lots of amazing photographers. I can’t say that any single one has influenced me, but maybe they all have in some way. The one photographer that has really influenced my colour photography is Peter Dench. I saw him speak at the HIP Festival a couple of years ago what he said about colour photography really influences the way I use colour. I think I have seen every one of his exhibitions over the last three years.

What equipment do you use? Thanks to winning the Fotoholics competition, I now have a Fujifilm X-T30. I like shooting with a prime lens so I have just got the 35mm f/2 prime, which I really love. Fujifilm sponsored the HIP Club when it first started, by giving us some X30 cameras. I really like using it, especially on long photo trips when I don’t want to be carrying too much equipment. I have a film camera too, a Pentax MV with a 50mm prime. I love the sound it

makes and the feel of winding on the film. I’m strictly rationed though, as it is so expensive to shoot film. We sometimes go on photo trips with just a single roll of film each. You have to be sure the shot is worth it when you are limited to 36.

What are your hopes for your photography in the future? I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if I want to be a professional photographer, but I can’t see myself ever giving it up. A lot of the local photographers that I meet at the gallery are great photographers but they also have other jobs, and I quite like that idea.

Do you have a dream photographic assignment? I’d love to photograph at some huge world-famous event, but be allowed to photograph what I want. Whenever I photograph a public event I focus on the people attending, the workers and what is happening behind the scenes. It would amazing to be somewhere world famous

and to capture the people enjoying it, and especially those that make it happen.

How did it feel to win Young Fotoholics of the Year? Especially to win it for a second time? Amazing. I was really pleased with both images when I took them, but it’s hard to know how good your own photo really is. But it really raised my confidence knowing that other photographers thought they were good too. I really didn’t expect to win a second time though.

What advice would you give other young or aspiring photographers? It really doesn’t matter what camera you have. The image that I won Young Fotoholics with this year was taken on a cheap second-hand camera with a 40-year-old lens, and it could have been taken on my phone just as easily. Just keep taking photographs; the more you take the better you get, it’s that simple. And try every type of photography, even when you find a style you love.

You can see Daisy’s current exhibition, My Generation, at the HIP Gallery, Princes Quay, Hull until 15 February 2020. Entrance is free. subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

1 Double Arch by Douglas McEwan These rich red rocks create a visual feast for the eye – there’s no shortage of interest in this wonderful landscape shot.

2 Horn of Plenty by Dallas Carter The use of black & white and a low angle highlights the sculptural form. The shot is also well framed against the cloud-filled sky.

5 Gatsby Style by Linda Greenhill This elegant pose and careful styling is a superb reflection of the F Scott Fitzgerald era.

6 Trees by Margaret Dewar The combination of trees, water and golden light has been put to good use in this well-thoughtout shot.

Join

Club the

Discover more about this small, friendly club 40

When was the club founded? The club has had several names over the years but has been in its current format since 1980. It can, however, trace its origins back to 1896 and, among excerpts from the local newspaper The Motherwell Times there is an account of a meeting held on 9 October 1896 at which the members spent a pleasant evening ‘comparing negatives and prints’ taken during trips to Peebles and Millburn. What does your club offer to new members? The club is open to everyone no matter their level of experience. The season runs from September to April and has a varied syllabus including club competitions (judged by an external judge), guest speakers, instructional

classes, practical nights, day trips, inter-club competitions and social evenings. Describe a typical club meeting. The official start time is 7:30pm and, after being welcomed by the club president, the main session starts. It may be a guest speaker or a judge critiquing the competition entries or a practical night. Halfway through the evening we stop for a refreshment break before continuing with the second half. The usual finishing time is 9:30pm. Do you invite guest speakers? Yes. We have had some excellent speakers over the years. If it is a person of note we issue an invitation to neighbouring clubs to join us for the evening.

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YOUR PICTURES IN PRINT

3 Blue Explosion by John Millar This portrait engages the viewer in many ways. You want to know more about what’s going on. 8

Club essentials

Motherwell Photographic Society

7 Leather on Leather by William Graham Good lighting emphasises the various textures of material and skin in this striking portrait.

8 Bird’s Nest Hair by Andrea Fraser With such strong eye contact this image is wonderfully engaging, leading the eye to the incredible hairstyle.

Do members compete in regional or national competitions? Yes, and we have had some successes over the years. In the 2018-2019 season some of the members had eight entries accepted in the Scottish Photographic Salon Portfolio. One of them was awarded a Gold Medal for the Best Contemporary Projected Image in the exhibition. How many members do you have? We are a fairly small club, currently we have around 25 members. Are any residential trips or outings planned? We tend to have day, rather than residential, trips. Over the years we have visited

9 Spring at New Lanark by Brian Saberton It’s all in the detail. A studied capture of the relationship between flora and fauna.

Holytown Community Centre, Stevenston Street, Holytown, Motherwell, ML1 4RG Meets Every Thursday evening at 7:30pm in Holytown Community Centre. During the summer months there are informal evenings and day trips. 4 Shaken not Stirred Membership Contact the club via its website or by Dominic Smith This Facebook page. is beautifully timed and full of energy; dog owners Website www.motherwellphotographicsociety.co.uk everywhere will certainly www.facebook.com/MotherwellPS relate to this motion shot.

Lindisfarne, The Isle of May (where we photographed seabirds, including pufﬁns), Bamburgh Castle and Ingleton Waterfalls. Do you have any funny stories about the club? It seemed like a good idea. A pleasant boat trip off the Firth of Forth to the Isle of May to photograph the bird life – what could possibly go wrong? When our group boarded the boat with the other passengers, they found that the sea was choppy, with water coming over the sides and onto the deck. Whilst on the island a couple of members went down to the beach to get some better shots. Unfortunately, they hadn’t taken into account the strength of the breakers and they, and their equipment, ended up getting soaked. On the return journey the

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sea was even rougher, and the boat struggled to make any headway. It was so bad that some of the passengers suffered from seasickness. Once moored up at the harbour the captain told us that, had he known how bad the weather was going to be, he would have cancelled the trip. The response from the very wet photographers is not recorded. What are the club’s goals for the future? We have been part of the community for 123 years and wish to remain so. We feel that the club has a lot to offer, especially as it is a means of bringing people together through a mutual interest.

Want to see your club featured on these pages? Drop us a line for more information at ap@ti-media.com 41

Testbench

YOUR KIT

What’s in my bag Norfolk-based Dibs McCallum spends his time documenting landscapes, decay and the history of locations An ambassador for Formatt-Hitech filters, his work has been widely exhibited and won prizes worldwide

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3 23

30 26

1 Fujifilm X-T2 My camera of choice. It’s light and produces amazing detail. Average used price £550

2 FXF 10-24mm lens The first lens I bought when I switched to Fujifilm in 2016. Average used price £575

3 XF 16-55mm f/2.8 My most used lens. It’s nice and wide with a good reach too, Average used price £599

4 XF 50-140mm f/2 Longer-reach lens for those

tighter compositions. Average used price £850

5 GoPro HERO7 Black For my blogging work and just generally a fun camera to have. Average used price £220

stop soft grad; 4 stop soft grad; 2min exposures in all seasons. Reverse grad; Firecrest 6 stop ND, 10 stop ND, 13 stop ND and 10 Slik PBH-635AS Head 16 stop ND; Circular polariser Smooth, compact and light ball head. Great for hiking.

8 Lowepro Whistler 450 BP AW II backpack

By far the comfiest camera bag

6 Formatt Hitech 100mm I’ve used. It gets covered in Aluminium filter holder mud but just washes off. It’s Takes the 100mnm wide glass type filters. I’ve used this for years. It is big and chunky, so great when wearing gloves.

7 Formatt-Hitech filters Including: 2 stop soft grad; 3

weather-resistant and stands up to being knocked about.

9 Slik PRO CF-635 Carbon Fibre Travel Tripod Lightweight but as stable as they come. No issues shooting

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11 3 Legged Thing Iggy For holding the GoPro, and my mobile phone for behind-thescene shots. A very sturdy bit of kit that is always in the bag

12 Basic Amazon flash I shoot manual flash and my gear, if not weatherproof, gets trashed. This light cost me £60 and it has lasted very well.

ALSO PICTURED

13 Rode VideoMicro 14 GoPro Pro 3.5mm Mic Adapter 15 Screwgate Carabiner 16 Spare batteries for the X-T2 17 Lens cleaning fluid and cloth 18 Ledlensor P7 torch 19 Formatt Hitech 100mm adapter rings 20 Spare torch batteries 21 Matin Hurricane Blower 22 Dry Sacks. To keep my kit dry 23 16GB memory cards 24 Remote shutter release 25 Business cards 26 First aid kit 27 Length of Paracord. 28 Housing for GoPro 29 Extendable grip stick for the GoPro 30 30 Filter Holder Pouch 31 Ibuprofen

Testbench

CAMERA TEST

Nikon Z 50

The Z 50 inherits many things we admired about Nikon’s fullframe mirrorless cameras and presents them in a smaller, lighter package. Michael Topham tests Nikon’s first DX-format mirrorless camera For and against Fantastic handling for such a small camera Fast and responsive focusing Highly portable (fits jacket pocket with 16-50mm kit lens) Good sensor performance up to ISO 12,800 Limited number of DX-format Z-mount lenses available

ALL PR CES ARE APPROX MATE STREET PR CES

Rolling shutter distortion in silent mode and when using electronic front-curtain shutter Doesn’t support the USB Type C interface Eye AF isn’t supported in video mode 44

At a glance

£849 body only ● 20.9-million-pixel full-frame CMOS sensor ● EXPEED 6 image processor ● ISO 100-51,200 (expandable to 204,800) ● 11fps continuous shooting with AE-AF ● 0.39in, 2.36-million-dot EVF ● Single SD card slot

Data file 20.9-million-pixel fullCMOS sensor 5568x3712 pixels Output size Focal length mag 1.5x Nikon Z-mount Lens mount Yes, 3.5mm stereo External mic Shutter Speeds 30-1/4,000sec, bulb 100-51,200 (expandable ISO to 204,800) Exposure comp +/-5 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments 11fps (4fps in low-speed Drive Mode continuous) 4K (30/25/24p), Full HD Video (120/100/60/50/30/25/24p) 0.39in, 2,360k-dot OLED EVF Viewfinder 3.2in, 1,040k-dot tilting Display touchscreen SD (single slot) Memory Card EN-EL25 Li-ion battery (300 Power shots) 126.5x93.5x60mm Dimensions 450g with battery and card Weight Sensor

mera turer es a new system, just as Nikon did towards the end of 2018 with its Z-series, it immediately asks questions about what models might follow in the future. With rumours suggesting a higher resolution or sports-focused Z-series camera (possibly a Z 8, or Z 9) might be next to arrive, it came as something of a shock when Nikon took wraps off a smaller, more affordable model. The Z 50 that shares the large Z mount, is Nikon’s ﬁrst shot at creating a DX-format mirrorless camera with an APS-C size sensor. Its release echoes the message that Nikon sees a bright future in APS-C cameras, especially the kind that appeal to people who like to pursue photography as a hobby and fancy a small system they can grow with that doesn’t come with the same outlay of buying into full frame. To offer a better idea of the

Z 50’s positioning, it sits below the Z 6 and Z 7, presenting a Nikon D7500-like feature set with usability closer to that of Nikon’s advanced entry-level DSLR, the D5600.

Features Study the Z 50 from the front and you’ll notice it shares similarities with the Z 6 and Z 7 in terms of its look and styling. The sensor that’s located directly behind the large Z mount is closely related to the 20.9-million-pixel APS-C CMOS chip that’s been used before in the Nikon D500 and D7500. It has a low-pass ﬁlter and teams up with an Expeed 6 image processor that sees it shoot across an ISO range of 100-51,200, which is expandable to ISO 204,800. With on-chip phase-detection pixels and an AF working range of -4 to +19 EV, expectations of its hybrid focusing system are high. In total there are 209 phase detection AF points, which cover

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This photograph of Ightham Mote in Kent was taken using the Z 50’s Natural Light Auto White Balance mode Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR, 1/1600sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

90% of the frame horizontally and 100% vertically, with the option to select every other point for faster AF point repositioning across the frame. Like the Z 6 and Z 7, users get five AF-area modes. These include pinpoint AF to aid with precise focusing on small subjects in the frame, single-point AF, the choice of two wide-area AF modes and an auto AF mode that works in conjunction with the face/ eye detection modes when photographing portraits and groups of people. Nikon wasn’t able to keep the body small and deliver the Z 50 at under £1,000 without forgoing something though. That something is in-body image stabilisation (IBIS). Instead, Nikon has opted for optical stabilisation in the form of Vibration Reduction (VR) technology built into its new Z-mount APS-C lenses. Shutter speed ranges from 30sec to 1/4000sec with a flash sync of 1/200sec. The Z 50’s

silent shooting mode automatically engages the electronic shutter, which true to its word eliminates the slap of the mechanical shutter when you’d like to shoot discreetly. Like the Z 7 and Z 6 there’s the option of manually selecting the electronic first-curtain to eliminate blurring caused by shutter shock, but users will find that this does limit the top end shutter speed to 1/2000sec. The Z 50 is no slouch when it comes to the speed it shoots at. With three settings – low-speed continuous (1 to 4fps), high-speed continuous (5fps) and high-speed continuous extended (11fps), all of which can be used with continuous AF, it’s 2fps faster than the Z 7 and just 1fps slower than the Z 6. Turning our attention to its video capability, it captures UHD 4K video at frame rates of 30,25 and 24p. Dropping the resolution down to Full HD allows you to shoot movies at up to 120fps and there’s a 3.5mm input for plugging

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in a stereo microphone. As to be expected on a model at this level, a headphone port isn’t featured. Videographers and those who like to focus manually will also be grateful for manual focus peaking, which has three sensitivity levels and four colours to choose from. Rather than accepting XQD cards, the Z 50 accepts SD cards (UHS-II compatible) via a single slot that’s positioned next to the battery. An all-new rechargeable EN-EL25 battery provides power to the Z 50. This is smaller than the battery used by the Z 6 and Z 7, but still manages to offer a 300-shot stamina on a single charge. Keeping on the subject of power, the Z 50 doesn’t feature a USB Type C interface like you get on Nikon’s full-frame Z-series models, though it does facilitate in-camera charging via its Micro USB port at the side for times when you might not have access to mains power. Anyone who’d like to use the

Z 50 with a wired remote release will need to make sure it’s accessory-port compatible – Nikon’s MC-DC2 (£35) being one such example. The alternative is to trigger the camera wirelessly using the remote shooting function within Nikon’s SnapBridge app that connects via the Z 50’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. Pairing the camera to a smartphone is extremely easy and so is the way you download images, either at their original size, or a reduced 2MP resolution. The latter helps to speed up transfer times and save on valuable storage space.

Build and handling Rather than starting from scratch, Nikon looked at the success of the Z 6 and Z 7’s design before setting about making its smallest Z-series camera to date. Having gained an excellent reputation for the way the Z 6 and Z 7 fit and feel in the hand, the pressure was on to ensure the Z 50 offered a 45

A low-light handheld shot taken while testing the effectiveness of the optical stabilisation built in to the kit zoom Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR, 1/30sec at f/3.5, ISO 800

similarly pleasing handling experience. Nikon has done a sterling job of ensuring the handling is right up there as the best of any small mirrorless model on the market. Some cameras feel great from the moment they’re picked up and the Z 50 is one of them. Photographers with large hands or those who work in cold climates with thick gloves will prefer the feel of the Z 6/Z 7’s deeper, more muscular grip, but for its target audience you can’t fault it. Part of the Z 50’s excellent feel comes down to the fact it has a magnesium-alloy top and front chassis that gives it added strength and robustness. Nikon says it has some level of weather resistance, though we’re told it isn’t made to the same weather-resistant standard as the Z 6 or Z 7. Viewed on its own, it’s hard to gauge its size. When you view it alongside the Z 6 or Z 7, you can clearly see the difference and make out that it’s much leaner. One of the things I’m particularly fond of is its rubberised grip. This stretches right around the side to its thumb rest at the rear, making it very comfortable and secure to hold in just your right hand when working with lightweight lenses. Compared to Nikon entry-level DSLRs, it’s also dinky enough to fit it into an average-sized jacket pocket with the 16-50mm lens attached and retracted. Better still, the 50-250mm zoom fits snugly 46

into a jacket pocket too, meaning you can head out without having to lug a bag around – something that will appeal when you’d like to travel light on day trips, city breaks or short getaways. The smaller body has had its say in the arrangement of its buttons and controls. The mode dial shifts across to the right where the top plate LCD screen is on the Z 6/Z 7. It’s easily rotated using your thumb when your hand is wrapped around the grip, but without a lock I found it can be inadvertently nudged or knocked. Around it you’ll find a switch that’s used to enter video mode or revert to shooting stills. Behind the shutter button, which in typical Nikon fashion is encircled by the on/off switch, you get three dedicated buttons to start/stop video recording, change ISO or adjust exposure compensation. It’s also good to see a front command dial complementing the rear command dial, which has always been lacking on Nikon’s entry-level DSLRs. With limited space at the rear of the camera, Nikon has opted to add permanent touch buttons down the side of the touchscreen. These are used to magnify images on screen and cycle through the various display views, which include a histogram and electronic level. Below the thumb rest, Nikon has opted for a four-way controller in favour of a joystick and the ‘i’

menu button just below it is useful for pulling up frequently used settings and saves time navigating the main menu. This ‘i’ menu is customisable just like the two function buttons at the front of the body around the lens mount, that are inherited from the Z 6/Z 7. Switching our focus to the new DX-format Z-mount lenses, there’s a clear difference in build quality between them and Nikon’s more expensive full-frame Z-mount lenses. You’ll immediately notice they have a much more plasticky finish, but by choosing to use plastic instead of metal, such as for the lens mount, it has allowed them to be made incredibly lightweight – the Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR for example adds just 136g to the weight of the Z 50. Although it’s fair to say the build quality of the DX lenses isn’t a match for the build quality of the Z 50’s body, it’s good to see Nikon introducing control rings to them, which can be customised to control focus, aperture, ISO or exposure compensation on the fly.

Viewfinder and screen A 0.39in, 2.36-million-dot electronic viewfinder is what we’d expect to find on a camera of the Z 50’s pedigree. It doesn’t match the 3.6-million-dot resolution of Nikon’s Z 6 or Z 7 cameras, but displays a crisp image, with very good rendition of fine detail in a

scene. It displays all the shooting information you could wish for against a black background on strips above and below the preview image, however don’t expect these to rotate when you switch between landscape and portrait format. If you shoot with the viewfinder raised to your eye most of the time you can use the button on the top left shoulder of the body to change it from automatically switching between the EVF and screen to viewfinder only. Likewise, you can do the same if you’d prefer to lock out the EVF and only view the screen. The 3.2in, 1,040k-dot screen The Z 50 has eight picture control styles and 20 creative picture control styles. This was taken in the Standard picture style Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR, 1/500sec at f/6.3, ISO 200

CAMERA TEST

It’s only when you get out and put a camera through its paces that you really start to find out their strengths and foibles. The good news with the Z 50 is that the pros far outweigh any cons, of which there are very few. I started my testing trying out the permanent touch buttons, which have the same responsiveness as the screen and can be tapped or held to inspect images in playback or magnify the live view feed. My only criticism is that they’re not illuminated, which would help when working at night. The fact they’re also totally flat means they’re not particularly easy to locate when your eye is raised to the viewfinder. A small dimple would solve this. The only other

Focal points Here we take a closer look at some of the other yet-to-be-mentioned features on the Nikon Z 50

USB charging

Although the Z 50 doesn’t feature a USB Type C interface like you get on the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7, it does support USB charging via its Micro USB interface located behind a separate cover below the 3.5mm microphone port. A small orange LED illuminates to indicate when the battery is charging.

Image size

The Z 50 offers two reduced image size options when shooting in the JPEG format. Change the image size from large to medium and the Z 50 will record 11.6-million-pixel files (4176x2784pixels). The small setting reduces the resolution to 5.2-million-pixel files (2784x1856 pixels).

Scene modes

Rotate the mode dial to its SCN setting and you can use the rear dial to scroll through a selection of common scene modes such as landscape, portrait, sports, party/indoor, beach/snow, sunset, pet portrait and food.

60mm

Performance

points I’d make regarding the ergonomics is that the mode dial could do with being a bit stiffer and I’d also like the option to assign silent mode to the function buttons, however this can be set to the quick-to-access ‘i’ menu. The electronic viewfinder really impressed on test. Comparing it to the EVF on the Sony A6600 that happened to be in the office at the same time, revealed it displays a sharper image, with clean edges and no nasty jaggies or colourmoiré. The viewfinder doesn’t feel cramped or small, but the main menu could be presented larger in the EVF and users will quickly pick up on the fact that it doesn’t use the full width of the display. Very importantly, both the screen and EVF faithfully display exposure, white balance and colour so you can be confident that what you’re seeing is a true representation of how the image will look. For day-to-day shooting users can rely on the Z 50’s matrix metering mode to deliver accurate exposures. When I wanted to meter precisely for the highlights, I found highlight-weighted metering particularly effective. The great thing about this metering mode is it takes the colour of the light source into account to prevent overexposure, even in highlights that feature a strong colour cast. Auto white balance has come on a long way from Nikon DSLRs of the past, which had a tendency to render a rather cool feel to images straight out of the camera. On the Z 50 you’re given three auto white balance modes, with A0 reducing warm colours, A1

i-menu

Provides access to 12 commonly used settings. This function is integrated with the touchscreen and is fully customisable meaning you can pick and choose what you want access to.

Self-portrait mode By activating selfportrait mode, you engage a two-second self-timer that can be useful when rotating the screen through 180 degrees and photographing oneself.

AE-L/AF-L button

Set to the right of the screen, the AE-L/AF-L button enables you to lock focus and exposure settings when you shoot in auto exposure and autofocus modes. Head to the Custom controls and you can customise it to AF-ON to perform back-button focusing.

93.5mm

on the Z 50 is different from the ones we’ve seen on Nikon cameras before in that it can be tilted down beneath the camera as well as up for low-angle shooting in the landscape format. It has clearly been designed with those who like to take the occasional selﬁe in mind, but its use as a selﬁe screen is hindered if the camera is mounted to a support. Its response to light touches is on a par with today’s smartphones and for those who shoot at night, the option to switch the information display from dark on light to light on dark to help minimise the glare of the screen is invaluable. Spraying the screen with water to simulate raindrops and navigating the menu by touch revealed moisture has no effect on the response of the touchscreen.

Testbench

126.5 mm 47

This river scene was captured with the 50-250mm kit lens, which is prone to exhibiting chromatic aberration along high-contrast edges Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f4.5-6.3 VR, 1/500sec at f/4.5, ISO 400

keeping the overall atmosphere of a scene and A2 accentuating warm lighting colour. For photographers who work outdoors and want to resolve colour as the natural eye sees it, Natural light auto white balance mode is the recommended choice. The optical stabilisation that’s built into Nikon’s DX-format lenses and is activated via the camera rather than a switch on the lens suppresses shake remarkably well to the point

that with the 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 lens attached I achieved sharp handheld shots at 1/15sec at full telephoto. Coupling the 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 kit zoom to the Z 50 and repeating a similar test at the wide end resulted in sharp images down to 1/5sec. The thing to factor in here of course is that when the Z 50 is used with full-frame Z mount lenses without VR built-in, there’s no form of compensation at all. This puts greater demand on pushing the ISO

DX-format lenses SO FAR Nikon has released two DX-format Z-mount zooms for the Z 50. The NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR is a compact retracting zoom that adds very little weight (135g) to the camera and is equivalent to 24-75mm in 35mm terms. Its Vibration Reduction is effective to 4.5 stops, it has a minimum focus distance of just 20cm and it accepts ﬁlters and adapters of the 46mm variety. The second zoom – the NIKKOR Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR – has also been made small and light (405g). It covers a 35mm equivalent range of 75mm375mm and has a silent control ring and plastic lens mount just like the 16-50mm zoom. Its Vibration Reduction system is 48

effective to ﬁve stops, with ﬁlters and adapters being attached via a 62mm thread. Studying Nikon’s lens roadmap tells us the next DX-format Z-mount zoom to arrive will cover a focal length of 18-140mm (equivalent to 27-210mm). It should also be pointed out that there’s nothing to stop Nikon’s full-frame Z-mount lenses being used with the Z 50, but there is the 1.5x crop factor to take into account. The cheapest full-frame Z-mount lens at present is the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S (£349), which is equivalent to a 75mm f/1.8 prime on the Z 50. Nikon’s FTZ mount adapter is compatible too should any Z 50 users wish to use older F-mount lenses as they build up their Z-mount collection.

higher so fast shutter speeds can be used to compensate for shake, which does come at the expense of increased noise. When the Z 50 is used handheld to shoot subjects that move quickly or unpredictably, you’ll want to remember to switch the optical VR from Normal to Sport mode so the image in the viewﬁnder is as stable and smooth as possible. My experience of the Z 50’s focusing is that it’s on a similar playing ﬁeld as Nikon’s full-frame Z-series cameras. This is hardly surprising given that it shares the same image processor and hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF arrangement, albeit with fewer onsensor AF points. Subjects were quick to snap into focus in single AF mode when shooting outdoors in bright lighting conditions, but both DX zooms weren’t averse to showing signs of a little hunting when used in low-light scenarios. A bright green AF beam can be used to help shed some extra illumination on nearby subjects in low light. The Z 50’s eye detection is very quick to detect eyes looking towards the camera, even at long distances when the face isn’t particularly big in the frame. You can choose which eye you’d prefer it to focus on too, although there were instances when it failed to recognise eyes of a model looking off camera. Eye detection can be used in continuous AF, however it’s not available when shooting movies so you have to make do

with Face Detection. Those hoping to capture sport, action or wildlife will find the combination of continuous AF and burst shooting up to 11fps yields a high success rate of sharp shots provided that the most appropriate AF-area mode for the subject is chosen. Loaded with a fast SDXC UHS-II card capable of a 280MB/s read and 250MB/s write speed, the Z 50 rattled out 37 12-bit raw files at 11fps before its buffer was hit. Switching the image quality across to Fine JPEG saw the number of recorded frames increase to 92. With 14-bit raw selected the burst speed drops to 9fps. With 14-bit Raw and Fine JPEG selected, users can expect to record 30 frames at 9fps before it requires a breather, rounding off what is a respectable buffer performance for its intended audience. Nikon’s SnapBridge app didn’t have the best of reputations in its infancy, but after many updates it’s now much better. Once set up, the always-on Bluetooth connection and Auto link successfully sends images across to SnapBridge one at a time. Wireless transmission continues in the background even when the camera is switched off and on average it takes about 15 seconds between firing the shutter and a 2MP version of the image you’ve taken appearing in the app. In the future I’d like to see Nikon relay the ‘i’ menu options when shooting remotely.

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CAMERA TEST

Lab results

Verdict

Andrew Sydenham’s lab tests reveal just how the camera performs

Our cameras and lenses are tested using the industrystandard Image Engineering IQ-Analyser software. Visit www.image-engineering.de for more details Fujiﬁlm offers high-resolution models in the APS-C market, with the X-T30 sharing the same 26.1-million-pixel X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor as the X-T3. Though the Nikon Z 50’s chip can’t quite match its closest rival in terms of the ﬁne level of detail it resolves, the 20.9-million-pixel APS-C CMOS sensor it uses is not to be sniffed at. As we discovered when we tested the D500 and D7500, which use a version of the same sensor without on-chip phase-detection pixels, users can push up to ISO 12,800 before noise starts to severely degrade image quality.

Resolution The Z 50 resolved as much detail from our resolution charts as we could realistically expect from a 20.9MP sensor. At its lowest ISO setting of 100 the Z 50 resolves around 3,500l/ph, which is upheld to ISO 400 before dropping to 3,200l/ph at ISO 800. Its high ISO RAW ISO 100

capability is impressive, with 3,000l/ph and 2,700l/ph being recorded at ISO 6400 and ISO 12,800 respectively. Detail starts to go downhill beyond this point with 2,600l/ph recorded at ISO 25,600 and 2,400l/ph at ISO 51,200. RAW ISO 3200

RAW ISO 25,600

RAW ISO 204,800

Here we show details from our resolution chart test pattern (above). Multiply the number beneath the lines by 200 to give the resolution in lines per picture height.

Noise A close inspection of the way the sensor handles noise tells us shots captured at ISO 1600 are almost as flawless as those captured at ISO 100. It’s possible to trace a little noise starting to creep in at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 when you inspect images at 100% magnification, but both settings are very usable. If you’re prepared to apply some noise reduction in post processing, very acceptable results can also be achieved at ISO 12,800 and ISO 25,600 at a push. By the time you reach ISO 51,200 colour noise and a The crops shown below are taken green tinge to shots becomes more pronounced. The extended ISO 102,400 from the area outlined above in red and ISO 204,800 settings produce such poor results they’re worth ignoring. RAWISO100

RAW ISO 800

RAW ISO 3200

RAW ISO 12,800

RAW ISO 51,200

RAW ISO 204,800

Testbench

GOLD Rather than rushing into mirrorless, Nikon has stuck by its strategy of releasing a pair of full-frame cameras and building up its range of full-frame Z-mount lenses before turning its focus towards APS-C. By preserving the look, styling and excellent handling of the Z 6 and Z 7 in a lighter, more compact body, it has created a sublime little camera that’s a delight to use, produces very fine images and presents very good value for money. The excellent electronic viewfinder and responsive touchscreen make for a very enjoyable shooting experience, and with 11fps continuous shooting and a responsive autofocus system, the Z 50 rarely feels out of its depth when challenged by fast-paced subjects. Whether it’s used to capture stills or snippets of video, the Z 50 produces satisfying results, however I would like to see Nikon evolve Eye AF so that it can also be used whilst recording video, much like we’ve seen recently on Sony’s latest cameras. So what’s not to like? The only thing really holding back the Z 50 at the moment is the limited number of DX Z-mount lenses. The 16-50mm and 50-250mm kit lenses are perfectly adequate for amateurs, and their retractable designs complement the size of the camera when space is limited or you’d like to travel light. What’s needed to make the Z 50 as big a hit with enthusiasts as it’ll be with amateurs is a wider range of lenses, including some fast and affordable primes. Just as Nikon blew us away with the introduction of the Z 6 and Z 7, they’ve done the same with the Z 50. It’s a marvellous little camera that you can’t fail but fall in love with when you use it. We’d choose it ahead of the Sony A6400 and Panasonic Lumix G90 in a heartbeat, but Fujifilm’s X-T30, which can be picked up for £839 body only or cheaper with cash back offers, just about has the edge on the Z 50 when you take price and the selection of lenses that are available for the system into account.

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9/10 10/10 9/10 8/10 10/10 8/10 9/10 10/10 49

Testbench

ROUND-UP

Gloves for photographers Keeping your hands warm while having complete control of your camera is essential during the cold winter months. Michael Topham reviews six pairs Size

Always measure your hands in accordance with the company’s size chart before purchasing.

Finger openings

These let you poke the tips of your fingers through for improved operation and touchscreen control.

Grip

Look for a glove that offers a non-slip grip to ensure a safe and secure handling of your camera.

Extra features

Some gloves offer a handy pocket to store a hand warmer, SD card or lens cloth.

Dexterity

Magnets

Gloves with a high dexterity allow you to work precisely and accurately with excellent control.

Some gloves feature magnets to hold the finger openings back when they’re in use.

Data file The North Face Etip gloves Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Sporting gloves Nikon photographers gloves Vallerret Markhof Pro 2.0 Photography gloves MacWet Climatec Sports gloves The Heat Company Heat 3 Smart

Finger Double Touchscreen Pockets openings layered compatible Price

Available sizes

Available colours

XS, S, M, L, XL

Black, Black/Silver, Black/Blue, Black/Yellow No

Yes

£35

S, M, L, XL, XXL

Black/Olive Green

Yes

£55

M, L

Black

Yes

£70

XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL

Black, Black/Grey

Yes

£65

14 sizes available from 6cm to 12cm Black, Brown, Green, Navy

Yes

£33

8 sizes available from 6cm to 13cm Black, Beige, Brown, Grey, Green, Tarmac

Yes

£120

The North Face Etip gloves

Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Sporting Nikon photographers gloves gloves

● £35 ● www.thenorthface.co.uk

● £55 ● www.sealskinz.com

● £70 ● www.store.nikon.co.uk

THESE gloves from The North Face are thinner and lighter than some of the other options that we’ve gathered in this round-up. Though they wouldn’t be our first choice for an expedition to the Antarctic or locations where you could find yourself shooting in sub-zero temperatures, their stretch-to-fit fleece material ensures they fit the hand well while allowing unrestricted finger movement. Choose the right size from the five different sizes available (XS, S, M, L, XL) and you’ll find dexterity isn’t too dissimilar to when you operate the camera barehanded. The good thing about this is that they allow you to control buttons, dials and switches across a camera body and lens with little fuss, including small buttons and ports that can be hard to press or access with thicker gloves.

SEALSKINZ offers 23 different kinds of all-weather gloves in its range, but it’s the waterproof all-weather sporting glove we’re taking a closer look at in this round-up. Designed to offer precise control with a balance of warmth and breathability, these gloves are considerably thicker than The North Face Etip gloves, but not as big as those made by Nikon or The Heat Company.

IF YOU’RE a Nikon user and you’d like your gloves to match the make of your camera, these double-layered gloves that can be purchased via the Nikon store might be of interest. Available in two sizes (medium or large), they differ to others in this round-up in the way they feature separate inner and outer gloves. Designed to be worn together, I found they provide excellent warmth and a high level of protection against frostbite in extremely cold environments. The inner gloves, which can be worn on their own when the extra thickness of the outer glove isn’t required, are made from a stretch fabric that hugs your hands. This allows full movement of your fingers and thumbs and there’s a conductive material on the thumb and index finger to enable touchscreens to be operated. The tips of the thumb and index finger are quite long and pointy though, which doesn’t help dexterity. As a result, users shouldn’t expect touchscreen control to be as accurate when the gloves are worn as when they’re not.

Good but not perfect

Available in an attractive olive green and black colour in five different sizes (S, M, L, XL, XXL), they feature an extremely soft goat suede palm and elasticated wrist strap that fastens by Velcro. The three-layer construction and pre-curved fingers provide a warm, comforting place for your hands and from the moment Best for mild temperatures you slip them on you sense they’re well made They’re named Etip gloves for good reason. and should create a strong barrier against The conductive tips on each finger let you challenging weather. There are no irritating operate a touchscreen, be it on your camera or seams on the inside of the gloves, but the mobile device, without having to remove them. fingers are quite chunky. This prevented me I did find however that I occasionally selected being able to open compartments such as the the wrong setting from the camera’s menu or battery door or ports at the side of my camera typed incorrect letters when writing messages without flipping back the thumb and index and emails on my smartphone, so you do need finger openings. These play a crucial role in to take a bit more care than usual. In terms of precise camera operation and accurate grip, the dimpled silicone that spreads across touchscreen control. They do feature magnets the thumb, index finger and middle finger to keep them held back, but they aren’t very prevents the camera slipping in your grasp and strong and have a tendency to release when I took precise control of the focus and zoom you clench your fist. The idea of thumb and rings on my lens with no problem. finger openings is that they allow the tip of your Heading out and using the gloves on a finger to poke through the glove, but I found bitterly cold day highlighted their biggest the index finger opening exposes too much of weakness though, which is that they’re not your finger to the cold. Outdoor testing particularly warm. If you’re going to be working revealed they provide excellent grip when in mild, spring-like temperatures and want they’re wet, and with the finger openings shut, good dexterity they’ll probably be adequate, they did a fine job of protecting my hands but for demanding outdoor photographers, for against bitter wind chill. whom warmth is hugely Buyers should note that the important, you’d be better gloves come up a bit small off putting your money so you’ll definitely want to towards a thicker pair of measure your hands and Recommended gloves that will offer refer to the online size superior insulation. guide before purchasing. subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

Protection against the bitter cold The good thing about the design is that when the inner gloves are paired with the outer gloves and your thumb and index finger are poked through the finger openings, no skin is exposed to the elements. That being said, it lacks magnets to hold the finger flaps back. The outer glove extends a long way past your wrist and a drawstring is used to pull it tight around your forearm. The way the index finger is separate from other fingers on the outer glove does look a bit peculiar, but this allows you to trigger the shutter easily enough without having to always reveal the inner glove through the finger opening. Though not perfect, these double-layered gloves offer the grip that’s needed to keep your camera secure in the wet, while keeping your hands protected from the coldest of winter weather you might come up against. 51

Testbench

ROUND-UP

Vallerret MacWet Climatec Markhof Pro 2.0 Photography gloves Sports gloves ● £65 ● www.photographygloves.com

● £33 ● www.macwet.com

The Heat Company Heat 3 Smart gloves ● £120 ● www.macwet.com

ALTHOUGH these MacWet sports gloves aren’t as thick as some of the other pairs in this test and wouldn’t be our first choice for shooting in the extreme cold, they do perform well in milder climates, or when you might come up against rough or wet conditions. The Aquatec fabric they’re made from is purposely designed to encourage efficient exchange of air through the material and drive moisture away from the hand to ensure maximum grip is attained at all times. Compared to MacWet’s Micromesh gloves that are intended for warmer days, these Climatec gloves are fleece lined, water resistant and windproof. You can choose from a short cuff that finishes at the wrist or long cuff that extends a little further. MacWet offers as many as 14 sizes and helpfully there’s a clear sizing guide on the website that instructs you to measure across the palm of your hand just below the fingers to establish your required size. If you’d prefer a different colour they’re also available in brown, green or navy.

IF YOU know you’re going to be photographing in ferociously cold temperatures, opting for a thick mitten glove that provides a high level of comfort and warmth is one of your best options. These Heat 3 Smart gloves are similar to Nikon’s gloves in that they feature two layers for maximum insulation. The integrated liner that’s stitched inside the mitten is extremely soft and as you slide your hand into the glove your fingers naturally slip into their respective finger sections. When you want to operate your A high level of grip camera, it’s a case of unzipping the mitten and The Markhof Pro 2.0 gloves we’re looking at flipping it back to reveal your fingers, which are intended for everyday use in mid winter remain protected against the elements by the and feature a pre-curved design and 100% integrated liner. A strong magnet helps to keep merino wool liner with thinsulate insulation and the mitten flap folded back and the same is weather-proofed fabrics. These high said for the thumb finger opening, which has its performance materials contribute to a very own flap to lock it shut and prevent any cold or warm and comfortable feel as soon as they’re wet weather creeping through. The dexterity of worn. Intended to fit your hand snugly, there’s the inner liner is hard to fault and with the option of choosing from six sizes (XS, S, M, conductive silver tips on the thumb, index and L, XL, XXL) and two colour variations – an middle fingers you can take control of any all-black version or grey and black like the pair touchscreens easily. I rarely selected the wrong we were sent. With a jersey cuff, they can be menu setting on my camera, but did find Excellent dexterity slipped on and off in a matter of seconds, and myself being slightly more watchful when As you’d expect from a glove that’s designed to typing messages on my smartphone. to ensure your camera never feels like it’s going to slip from your hands, they offer a quite be tight fitting, the level of dexterity is very Ultimate warmth in the bitter cold high. I experienced no difficulty pressing small excellent non-slip grip that stretches right The goat leather material that’s used on the across the palm and fingers. There’s more too. buttons or accessing ports at the side of the camera, however I did find them to be a bit hit palm of the mitten is extremely durable and a You get finger openings on the thumb and leather balm is supplied to guard the leather and miss when it came to navigating my index finger that allows you to poke just the camera’s touchscreen. The same could be said against wetness and keep it soft. Another nice right amount of your fingers through to take touch are the supplied hand warmers. These when I attempted answering a few emails on control of the buttons and dials on your were slipped into the soft-lined pockets on the my smartphone out in the field, which camera or use a touchscreen precisely. The back of the gloves to keep my fingers toasty frustratingly led to quite a few typing errors. finger flaps fold back and secure by magnets during testing on a cold windy day. Drawstrings and there are even pockets on the back of the The best thing about these MacWet gloves is the grip they provide when your hands get wet. to secure the gloves around your wrists and a gloves, which can be used to slide in a hand useful catch strap that can prevent you from Even after getting drenched outdoors it never warmer, spare memory card or lens cloth. accidentally dropping the gloves complete the at any point felt like my camera was going to Vallerret even includes a handy tripod key. If flawless design. If you are slip from my hand. They’re you’re after a pair of warm after one of the warmest quick to dry in the wind and gloves that are effective at pair of gloves you can buy being as thin and as light as keeping the cold out and for the coldest of outdoor they are means you won’t have been thoughtfully have any difficulty finding a Recommended photography expeditions, designed with photography GOLD GOLD look no further. These good home for them in in mind, you’ll do well to gloves are quite brilliant. your bag or jacket pocket. find a better example.

IF YOU haven’t heard of Vallerret before, it’s a Norwegian company specialising in the design and manufacture of premium gloves for photographers. Vallerret’s first photography gloves were launched off the back of a kickstarter campaign in 2015 and since then the company has created a range of gloves to cater for all photographers’ needs. As well as thin gloves for mild weather, it makes thicker gloves for much colder winter temperatures.

18 January 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Protecting your camera kit at home and away

Theft and accidental damage of your camera and equipment can happen, whether you’re shooting abroad or closer to home. We want you to feel confident and reassured knowing that your camera and equipment is protected no matter what. Cover features include: •

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Going beyond standard theft and accidental damage cover by including vandalism, attempted theft and fire damage

Call 0333 004 6555 or visit our new site for a specialist camera insurance quote www.photoguard.co.uk/APIS photoGuard is a trading style of Thistle Insurance Services Limited. Thistle Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FRN 310419. Registered in England under No. 00338645. Registered office: Rossington’s Business Park, West Carr Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SW. Thistle Insurance Limited is part of the PIB Group.

Testbench

ACCESSORIES

Benro Slim Tall Tripod Kit Andy Westlake assesses an aptly named budget carbon-fibre tripod ● £140 ● www.benroeu.com BACK in 2017 Benro introduced its lightweight Slim tripod, which cost just £79 Spirit levels in its aluminium form and £120 with Two bubble levels are carbon-fibre legs. We rather liked it for its included to help align your uncomplicated, budget-friendly approach, camera, one on the quick and now the firm has introduced a taller release clamp and the other variant, aptly named the Slim Tall. But this on the central ‘spider’. one is described as a ‘Limited Edition’ that has only been made in restricted numbers. Compared to its sibling, the Slim Tall can reach 18cm higher, at the cost of a 4cm increase in folded length and a 100g gain in weight. The big advantage of the new model’s extended maximum height – 164cm with the centre column raised – is that it can now hold a camera at eye level for 6ft-tall photographers. Yet it’ll still fit within most airlines’ carry-on luggage dimensions, especially if you unscrew the head. Aside from being stretched, the design is otherwise unchanged. So the four-section legs employ twist-type locks and can be set independently to a choice of three angles. The head has dual slots for portrait-format shooting, but only a single lever for locking both the ball and the panning base. All of the controls are relatively large and chunky, making the tripod quick to set up and use. But you don’t get luxuries such as reverse-folding legs, foam grips, or a detachable monopod. The design retains the same drawbacks as before. The blue anodised aluminium twist locks look stylish, but aren’t great to work with in cold winter weather; a rubberised finish would be more practical. There’s also no option to use a short centre column, which limits the minimum height to 45cm. It’s possible to invert the column and sling your camera upsidedown beneath the legs, but this is an inconvenient way of shooting.

Carry bag When put to practical use, it becomes The tripod is supplied evident that this Tall model is stretching with a lightweight nylon the Slim design to its limits. Even the drawstring carry bag. carbon-ﬁbre version isn’t very good at dampening vibrations with the centre column extended, which means you need some form of remote release for best results (although with many modern cameras, this can simply be your smartphone). It’s deﬁnitely best suited for smaller cameras and lenses; I wouldn’t use it with an enthusiast DSLR or large telephotos. But if you want an affordable tripod that’s lightweight and easily packable for travel, yet can lift a camera to a decent height, the Benro Slim Tall is worth a look.

At a glance ● 164cm max height ● 55cm folded length ● 1.1kg weight ● 4kg rated load

Quick release

The removable ball-head uses an Arca-Swiss type release clamp, and comes with a 3cm-wide blue aluminium camera plate.

Weight hook

A small retracting hook on the end of the centre column can be used to hang a bag for increased stability.

ALL PRICES ARE APPROXIMATE STREET PRICES

Verdict

the Slim Tall, there s also a Slim Travel version (below) with a two section centre column and five-section reverse-folding legs, one of which is removable for use as a short monopod. Like the others, it comes in a choice of aluminium or carbon-fibre. There’s also a video version. 18 January 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

Best Buys Revisiting great kit from our test archives

1901 Fotografi ‘Rodchenko’ strap ● £36.95 ● www.1901fotografi.co.uk IF YOU’D like something more stylish and individual than the nylon straps universally supplied with new cameras, then a nice leather strap might fit the bill. Those made by the small British company 1901 Fotografi are simple and elegant, while also being relatively affordable. The Rodchenko is the largest in its range, being 11mm wide and 115cm long with a 32mm-wide sliding shoulder pad, which makes it a good match to the latest crop of full-frame mirrorless cameras, as well as enthusiast DSLRs. You can request a custom length for an extra £3, or buy an adjustable version for £43.45. It’s available in a good range of attractive colours. Andy Westlake, originally reviewed 18 May 2019

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GOLD

Ansmann Powerline Vario ● £17.99 ● www.ansmann.de/en THIS handy universal charger will recharge either a pair of AA or AAA cells, or almost any Li-ion camera battery using a pair of sliding prongs. It stands out due to its neat, compact design and Micro USB input, which means that it can work off mains power, in the car, or using a portable power bank. Interchangeable plugs are provided to use the supplied 1A power supply in the UK, EU, North America and Australia, while the charge status is shown using a four-stage LCD display. It works very well with most batteries, although it can take some ﬁddling to align the prongs properly for those that have recessed contacts. GOLD Andy Westlake, originally reviewed 15 August 2015 subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

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Tech Talk Professor Newman on…

Why colour is hard

Grasping the fundamentals, and misconceptions, around colour is key to a clearer understanding

ne of the terms that is bandied about these days is ‘colour science’. In the way it’s used, it’s somewhat meaningless, but reflects the fact that many people find the details of colour reproduction hard to understand. In the same way that ‘rocket science’ is used as a term to denote very difficult technologies that are hard to comprehend, the addition of ‘science’ to the term ‘colour’ is used to indicate that this is not a field that is simple. The comparison ends there, since the science of rockets is in general a reasonably straightforward application of thermal dynamics and Newtonian physics. It is the engineering and detail that is tricky, not the basic principles. In the case of colour, it is misconceptions around the fundamentals that make the matter hard to understand. Here I will cover some of the basic misconceptions that are common about colour in photography.

Misconception one Colour is described by a spectrum. ‘All the colours of the rainbow’ is a common expression, but a mistaken one. A spectrum doesn’t contain all the colours that can be seen. This can be appreciated by looking at a rainbow, which is actually a spectrum. It can be seen that it falls short of a full set of colours, mainly in the purples and magentas, for reasons that will be discussed later. The root of this misconception is in the second one.

Misconception two Colour is about light. In fact it’s about human perception of light. The difference might seem subtle, but is crucial to our understanding. Colour vision depends on there being a number of different wavelength selective receptors (cones) in the eye. Human beings have three kinds, whilst most mammals have two, and birds four or ﬁve. Thus a bird or a dog’s appreciation of colour is quite different from a human’s.

The response of the human colour receptors (red, green and blue traces). The two yellow traces show different wavelength distributions that would be perceived as the same colour

The response of the human vision system is shown in the diagram below. The colour that we see is entirely to do with the relative amounts that those three sets of receptors are stimulated. It doesn’t matter what the actual wavelength of the light is to which they react, only the size of the reaction. Thus we may perceive different combinations of wavelengths as being the same colour, as illustrated by the two different stimuli shown in the diagram, which both produce the same yellow. A spectrum consists only of single-wavelength light, so cannot simultaneously stimulate the L and S receptors, and therefore cannot produce the colours that we sense from those stimuli.

Misconception three Photography is a straight-through process, as far as light is concerned. Partially this misconception is caused by the common but incorrect use of Red, Green and Blue to describe the channels in both the input and the output of a camera. In fact, the function of RGB in the input and output of a camera is completely different. At the input, the three channels refer to three light wavebands, and are camera specific. At the output, they refer to the amount that the three colour receptors in the eye need to be stimulated to produce the illusion of the required colour. What they aren’t, is a direct reflection of what was in those camera specific input channels. Hopefully, ridding oneself of these misconceptions makes it easier to understand the process of developing a raw file into an output file. This will be covered in more detail in a later article.

Bob Newman is currently Professor of Computer Science at the University of Wolverhampton. He has been working with the design and development of high-technology equipment for 35 years and two of his products have won innovation awards. Bob is also a camera nut and a keen amateur photographer subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

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Contax ‘G’ Compacts & SLR & Ricoh CONTAX G1 BODY (GREEN LABEL) �� MINT-BOXED £325�00 CONTAX T WITH 38mm f2�8 SONNAR T* (RARE) �� MINT-CASED £495�00 CONTAX 90mm f2�8 SONNAR “G” HOOD,FILTER,CAP��MINT BOXED £179�00 CONTAX 35 - 70mm f3�5/5�6 “G” VARIO-SONNAR T*��MINT BOXED £395�00 CONTAX TLA 140 FLASH FOR G1/G2��MINT CASED £65�00 CONTA AX BODY JUST SERVICED £400 REALLY NICE�� MINT- £395�00 YASHICA ML CONTAX FIT 28mm f2�8 ��MINT £99�00 CONTAX 50mm f1�4 PLANAR MM SUPERB SHARP LENS ��MINT BOXED £275�00 CONTAX 50mm f1�4 PLANAR MM SUPERB SHARP LENS ��MINT £255�00

CONTAX 50mm f1�7 AE LENS ��MINT £95�00 CONTAX 85mm f2,8 MM GREAT PORTRAIT LENS��MINT CASED £275�00 CONTAX 135mm f2�8 SONNAR WITH FILTER ��MINT £175�00 YASHICA 135mm f2�8 CONTAX FIT�� MINT- £95�00 YASHICA 200mm f4 CONTAX FIT�� MINT- £90�00 CONTAX MAGNIFIER F2 ��MINT BOXED £49�00 CONTAX TLA 30 WITH DIFFUSSER��MINT CASED £69�00 CONTAX TLA 280 FLASH�� MINT- £59�00 CONTAX TLA 280 FLASH UNIT��MINT BOXED £75�00 CONTAX TLA 360 FLASH�� MINT-CASED £65�00 CONTAX GD1 DATABACK FOR CONTAX T3�� MINT-BOXED £69�00

LEICA “M” , “R” , & SCREW & RANGEFINDER LEICA M9 BODY WITH CHARGER AND BATT etc�� MINT- £1,495�00 LEICA MDA BODY SER NO 12659XX CIRCA 1970�� MINT- £425�00 LEICA MDA BODY SER NO 14111XXCIRCA 1975-76��EXC++ £399�00 LEICA IIIG BODY WITH 5cm f2 SUMMAR�� MINT-CASED £1,295�00 LEICA MINILUX SILVER WITH 40mm f2�4 SUMMARIT �� MINT- £575�00 LEICA MINILUX BLACK WITH 40mm f2�4 SUMMARIT��EXC++ £465�00 MINOLTA 28mm f2�8 M ROKKOR FOR CLE / CL LEICA M ��EXC++ £375�00 CANON 50mm f1�4 L39 SCREW WITH M ADAPTOR �� MINT- £275�00 LEICA 50mm f2 CLOSE FOCUS SUMM + SPECS ��EXC+++ £695�00 LEICA 50mm f2�8 COLLAPSIBLE ELMAR�� MINT- £375�00 LEICA 90mm f2 SUMMICRON BLACK E55,SUPERB LENS �� MINT- £895�00 LEICA 90mm f2�8 TELE ELMAR + HOOD �� MINT- £395�00 LEICA 90mm f4 ELMAR C FOR CLE / CL LEICA M�� MINT- £275�00 LEICA 90mm f4 ELMAR M MOUNT �� MINT- £165�00 LEICA 135mm f2�8 ELMARIT M 11829 WITH CASE��MINT BOXED £375�00 LEICA 135mm f4�5 HEKTOR��EXC+ £75�00 LEICA 90mm FINDER ��MINT £99�00 VOIGTLANDER BESSA T WINDER��MINT BOXED £149�00 LEICA 5cm f2 SUMMAR SCREW �� MINT- £175�00 LEICA 90mm f4 ELMAR CHROME SCREW �� MINT-CASED £99�00 LEICA 90mm f4 ELMAR BLACK SCREW ��EXC++ £145�00 LEICA 135mm f2�8 ELMARIT M WITH SPECS��EXC+++ £299�00 LEICA 135mm f4�5 HEKTOR + HOOD M MOUNT��EXC++ £99�00 LEICA 135mmf4�5 HEKTOR IN KEEPER��EXC+++ £199�00 LEICA 135mm f4�5 HEKTOR + HOOD SCREW��EXC++ £99�00 LEICA SF20 FLASH FOR M6 etc��MINT BOXED £89�00 LEICA FONOR BLACK RANGEFINDER�� MINT-CASED £175�00 LEICA R8 BLACK BODY WITH STRAP �� MINT- £395�00 LEICA R7 BLACK BODY ��EXC++BOXED £325�00 LEICA R7 CHROME BODY�� MINT- £365�00 LEICAFLEX BODY CHROME �� MINT- £195�00 LEICA CURTAGON 35mm f4�� MINT-BOXED £395�00 LEICA 50mm f2 SUMMICRON 3 CAM �� MINT- £395�00 LEICA 60mm f2�8 MACRO ELMARIT R+MACRO ADAPTOR��EXC++ £395�00 LEICA 90mm f2�8 ELMARIT 2 CAM�� MINT- £299�00 LEICA 135mm f2�8 ELMARIT R 3 CAM ��EXC+++ £365�00 LEICA 560mm f6�8 TELYT LENS WITH CASE AND��EXC+++ £399�00 LEICA APO-EXTENDER 2 X ROM��MINT CASED £475�00

Binoculars LEICA 10 X 42 TRINOVID BA WITH LEATHER CASE �� MINT- £595�00 LEICA 10 x 25 TRINOVID COMPACT BINOCULAR GREEN �� MINT-CASED £275�00 LEICA 10 x 25 TRINOVID COMPACT BINOCULAR BLACK �� MINT-CASED £279�00 KOWA BD 10x25 DCF COMPACT ROOF PRISM BINOS ��MINT CASED £165�00 OPTICRON MMS 160 IMAGE STABILISED TRAVELSCOPE��MINT BOXED £225�00 SWAROVSKI EL RANGE 10x42 RANGEFINDER BINOS �� NEW UNUSED £1,575�00 SWAROVSKI 10x42 SL HABICHT+STRAP AND COVERS�� MINT- £465�00

Medium & Large Format HASSELBLAD X PAN II WITH 45mm, STRAP, MANUAL��EXC+++BOXED £3,750�00 HASSELBLA X PAN LEATHER EVER READY CASE �� MINT- £225�00 HASSELBLAD 30mm f5�6 ASPH & FINDER & C/FILTER�� MINT-BOXED £2,475�00 HASSELBLAD 90mm f4 FOR X PAN I & II IN KEEPER��MINT BOXED £495�00 HASSELBLAD 500CM WITH 80mm cm AND LATE BACK �� MINT- £1,195�00 HASSELBLAD 28mm f4 HC FOR H SYSTEM��MINT BOXED £1,075�00 HASSELBLAD 120mm f4 HC FOR H SYSTEM��EXC++ £1,195�00 HASSELBLAD 90mm f4 FOR X PAN I & II IN KEEPER��MINT £365�00 HASSELBLAD 150mm f4 SONNAR T* BLACK��EXC++ £195�00 HASSELBLAD 150mm f4 SONNAR CF�� MINT-BOXED £395�00 HASSELBLAD 150mm f4 SONNAR SILVER ��EXC++ £175�00 HASSELBLAD 250mm f5�6 SONNAR SILVER ��EXC+ £179�00 HASSELBLAD HTS 1�5X TILT AND SHIFT ADAPTOR��MINT BOXED £2,995�00 HASSELBLAD GPS UNIT FOR H SYSTEM ��MINT BOXED £399�00 HASSELBLAD H13 EXT TUBE ��MINT £165�00 HASSELBLAD PM90 PRISM FINDER �� MINT- £275�00 HASSELBLAD PME3 METERED PRISM FINDER �� MINT- £275�00 HASSELBLAD VFC-6 METERED PRISM��MINT BOXED £175�00 HASSELBLAD A12 BACK CHROME�� MINT- £129�00 HASSELBLAD WINDER CW AND REMOTE��MINT £275�00 BRONICA ETRS PRISM,FDR,BACK & 75mm EII LENS��EXC++ £325�00 BRONICA ETRS WL/FINDER, BACK & 75mm EII LENS ��EXC++ £295�00 BRONICA AUTO EXTENTION TUBE E-14��MINT BOXED £45�00 BRONICA POLAROID BACK FOR ETRSI, ETRS ETC ��MINT BOXED £59�00 BRONICA PLAIN PRISM FOR ETRS/ETRSI��MINT £75�00 BRONICA PLAIN PRISM FOR ETRS/ETRSI��EXC++ £59�00 BRONICA ROTARY PRISM FINDER FOR ETRS, ETRSI ETC�� MINT- £75�00 BRONICA MOTOR WINDER E��EXC+++ £89�00 BRONICA 40mm f4 MC LENS FOR ETRS/ETRSi��MINT £179�00 BRONICA 50mm f2�8 PE FOR ETRS/ETRSi��MINT £199�00

BRONICA SPEED GRIP FOR ETRSW/ETRSi�� MINT- £49�00 BRONICA 150mm F3�5 ZENZANON S�� MINT- £165�00 BRONICA PLAIN PRISM FOR SQAi/SQA�� MINT- £99�00 BRONICA 40mm f4 ZENZANON S ULTRA WIDE FOR SQ�� MINT- £199�00 BRONICA 65mm F4 ZENZANON PS FOR SQ�� MINT-CASED £145�00 BRONICA 110mm F4 PS ZENZANON MACRO FOR SQ �� MINT-CASED £365�00 BRONICA 150mm F4 PS ZENZANON FOR SQ�� MINT-CASED £145�00 BRONICA 180mm f4�5 PS LENS & CASE �� MINT-BOXED £199�00 BRONICA SPEED GRIP FOR SQA/SQAI�� MINT- £69�00 BRONICA FILMBACK SQ-i220 FOR SQA/SQAi��MINT BOXED £79�00 METZ 45 CL4 FLASH WITH SCA 386 FOR BRONICA��MINT BOXED £150�00 MAMIYA 150mm F4�5 “G” WITH HOOD FOR MAMIYA 6��MINT £199�00 MAMIYA 135mm f4�5 SEKOR FOR C220/33 etc��MINT CASED £150�00 MAMIYA 180mm f4�5 SEKOR FOR C220/330 etc��MINT CASED £145�00 MAMIYA 645 SUPER WITH AE PRISM 80mm COMPLETE ��MINT £365�00 MAMIYA M645J COMPLETE WITH 80mm f2�8 �� MINT- £299�00 MAMIYA 50mm f4 SHIFT LENS FOR 645 ETC�� MINT-CASED £365�00 MAMIYA 80mm f1�9 SEKOR C FOR 645 etc ��MINT £299�00 MAMIYA 150mm f3�5 SEKOR C FOR 645 SUPER etc ��MINT £145�00 MAMIYA 150mm F4�5 “G” WITH HOOD FOR MAMIYA 6��MINT £295�00 MAMIYA 180mm F4�5 SEKOR Z W FOR RZ��MINT £199�00 MAMIYA 250mm F4�5 LENS FOR RZ �� MINT- £195�00 MAMIYA 210mm F4 SEKOR C FOR 645��MINT CASED £195�00 MAMIYA 180mm F4�5 SEKOR FOR RB��MINT £169�00 MAMIYA 220 BACK FOR RZ 67�� MINT- £95�00 PENTAX 200mm F4 FOR PENTAX 67 + FILTER AND HOOD �� MINT- £199�00 PENTAX 55mm F4 SMC FOR 6X7 ��MINT £175�00 PENTAX 55mm F2�8 FOR PENTAX 645��MINT BOXED £199�00 ROLLEIFLEX SCHNEIDER 150MM F4�6 MAKRO FOR 6008�� MINT- £575�00 YASHICA 124G TELEPHOTO AUX LENS SET�� MINT- £69�00

Nikon Auto-Focus & Digital, Lenses Accessories NIKON F5 BODY�� MINT- £499�00 NIKON F4 BODY��EXC++ £345�00 NIKON F4S BODY WITH MANUAL�� MINT- £395�00 NIKON 10�5 f2�8 “G” IF-ED AF DX FISHEYE��MINT BOXED £345�00 NIKON 28mm f2�8 A/F��MINT £125�00 NIKON 28mm f2�8 A/F “D” ��EXC+++ £145�00 NIKON 35mm f1�8 “G” ED AF-S L��MINT + HOOD £325�00 NIKON 35mm f1�8 “G” DX AF-S LATEST�� MINT+HOOD £115�00 NIKON 40mm f2�8 “G” AF-S DX MICRO NIKKOR + HOOD��MINT £189�00 NIKON 50mm f1�4 A/F��EXC++ £125�00 NIKON 50mm f1�4 “G” AF-S SWM�� MINT- £225�00 NIKON 50mm f1�8 “G” AF-S WITH HOOD��MINT BOXED £139�00 NIKON 85mm f1�8 A/F�� MINT- £165�00 NIKON 10 - 24 mm f3�5/4�5 “G” ED DX AF-S�� MINT- £399�00 NIKON 12 - 24mm f4 “G” DX IF-ED AF-S��MINT BOXED £395�00 NIKON 12 - 24mm f4 “G” DX IF-ED AF-S�� MINT-CASED £365�00 NIKON 14 - 24mm f2�8 “G” ED AF-S LATEST �� MINT-CASED £999�00 NIKON 16 - 80mm f2�8-4EAF-S VR ED DX + HOOD ��MINT CASED £545�00 NIKON 18 - 105mm f3�5/5�6 “G” AF-S ED VR WITH HOOD�� MINT- £145�00 NIKON 24 - 120mm f4 “G” ED AF-S VR LATEST MODEL��MINT BOXED £745�00 NIKON 35 - 70mm f3�3/4�5 A/F LENS��EXC++ £49�00 NIKON 70 - 300mm f4/5�6 AF “D” ED�� MINT- £145�00 NIKON 200 - 500mm f5�6 ED AF-S VR LENS LATEST �� MINT-BOXED £899�00 NIKON DR-6 RIGHT ANGLED FINDER��MINT BOXED £145�00 NIKON TC20E II 2X AF-S TELECONVERTER �� MINT-BOXED £175�00 NIKON DR4 RIGHT ANGLE FINDER��MINT BOXED £89�00 KENKO PRO 300 2X TELEPLUS CONVERTER N/AFS �� MINT- £75�00 SIGMA 50mm f2�8 EX MACRO D�� MINT BOXED AS NEW £129�00 SIGMA 105mm f2�8 EX APO DG MACRO ��EXC++ £245�00 SIGMA 10 - 20mm f4/5�6 EX DC SLD HSM �� MINT-BOXED £199�00 SIGMA 150 - 600mm f5/6�3 DG HSM OS “C” LENS�� MINT- £645�00 SIGMA 300 - 800mm f5�6 EX DG APO HSM �� MINT-CASED £3,995�00 TOKINA 12 - 24mm F4 IF DX ASPHERICAL AT-X PRO ��MINT BOXED £299�00 TOKINA 11 - 16mm f 2�8 AT-X PRO DX WITH HOOD�� MINT+HOOD £245�00 TOKINA 80 - 400mm f4�5/5�6 AT-X D��MINT BOXED £245�00 TOKINA 35mm f2�8 ATX PRO DX MACRO 1:1 LATEST ��MINT BOXED £295�00

Nikon Manual Focus NIKON F3 BODY UNUSED FROM A COLLECTION NEW��MINT BOXED £895�00

NIKON F3 HP BODY �� MINT- £545�00 NIKON FM2n CHROME BODY �� MINT- £295�00 NIKON MD4 MOTOR DRIVE FOR F3/F3HP��MINT BOXED £165�00 NIKON F3 BODY��EXC+ £245�00 NIKON FM2n CHROME BODY ��EXC+++ £245�00 NIKON FM2 CHROME BODY ��EXC++ £199�00 NIKON FE CHROME BODY ��EXC++ £125�00 NIKON FE CHROME BODY �� MINT- £145�00 NIKON FM BLACK WITH MF-16 BACK ��EXC+++ £169�00 NIKON FM BLACK��EXC++ £145�00 NIKON FE2 BLACK BODY��EXC++ BOXED £225�00 NIKON F2 A BLACK BODY ��EXC+++ £245�00 NIKON F2 A BODY FULLY WORKING ��EXC+ £199�00 NIKON F2 PGOTOMIC BLACK BODY�� MINT- £399�00 NIKON F2 BODY FULLY WORKING��EXC+ £169�00 NIKON F2 PHOTOMIC BODY CHROME��EXC++ £275�00 NIKON F2 PHOTOMIC BODY CHROME��EXC+ £199�00 NIKON F PHOTOMIC T WITH 50mm f2 NIKON LENS��EXC++ £250�00 NIKON F “APOLLO” PHOTOMIC FTN WITH 50mm f1�4�� MINT- £399�00 NIKKORMAT FT CHROME WITH 35mm f2�8 S LENS��EXC++ CASED £145�00 NIKKORMAT FT CHROME ��EXC+++ £75�00 NIKKORMAT FT2 BLACK WITH 50mm f2 LENS ��EXC++ CASED £165�00 NIKON 18mm f4 AI WITH HOOD & CASE AS NEW ��MINT £599�00 NIKON 20mm f2�8 AIS�� MINT- £325�00 NIKON 24mm F2�8 AIS SUPERB SHARP LENS��MINT-- £199�00 NIKON 28mm f2�8 AI��MINT £165�00 NIKON 45mm F2�8 GN NIKKOR �� MINT- £199�00 NIKON 50mm f1�4 Ai�� MINT- £195�00 NIKON 50mm f1�8 AIS SHARP LENS��MINT £89�00 NIKON 55mm f2�8 MACRO AIS �� MINT- £165�00 NIKON 105mm f2�5 AI SUPERB SHARP LENS�� MINT- £165�00 NIKON 105mm f2�5 AIS FROM A COLLECTION��MINT BOXED £295�00 NIKON 135mm f2�8 AIS�� MINT- £125�00 NIKON 500mm f8 MIRROR LENS WITH FULL FILTER SET�� MINT-CASED £375�00 NIKON 600mm f5�6 Ai WITH HOOD AND FILTER HOLDERS��MINT-CASED £1,295�00 NIKON 1000mm f11 MIRROR LENS WITH CAPS��EXC++ £495�00 NIKON 35 - 70mm F3�3/4�5 ZOOM NIKKOR MACRO AIS�� MINT- £169�00 NIKON 35 - 105mm F3�5/4�5 AIS ZOOM MACRO��EXC++ £119�00 NIKON MD4 MOTOR DRIVE FOR F3/F3HP�� MINT- £145�00 NIKON MD4 MOTOR DRIVE FOR F3/F3HP��EXC+++ £99�00 NIKON MD12 MOTOR DRIVE FOR FM2n/FE2/FE/FM/FM3 ��MINT £145�00 NIKON PK13 AUTO EXTENSION RING�� MINT-BOXED £55�00 NIKON PK12 AUTO EXTENSION RING��EXC++ £49�00 NIKON PK11 AUTO EXTENSION RING��MINT £49�00 NIKON TC 200 CONVERTER��MINT £69�00 NIKON SB 16 FLASH FOR F3/FM2/FM3/FE/FE2�� MINT-CASED £115�00 NIKON SB 16 FLASH FOR F3��EXC++ £65�00

Olympus Manual OLYMPUS OM4 BLACK BODY��EXC++ £225�00 OLYMPUS OM2 SP��EXC++ £129�00 OLYMPUS 24mm f2�8 ZUIKO WITH HOOD�� MINT-CASED £165�00 OLYMPUS 38mm f2�8 ZUIKO MACRO LENS�� MINT-CASED £299�00 OLYMPUS 50mm f1�8 ZUIKO LENS �� MINT- £30�00 OLYMPUS 50mm f1�8 ZUIKO LENS ��MINT BOXED £49�00 OLYMPUS 50mm f3�5 MACRO LENS�� MINT-CASED £89�00 OLYMPUS 80mm f4 ZUIKO MACRO LENS�� MINT-CASED £175�00 OLYMPUS 135mm f4�5 ZUIKO MACRO LENS + HOOD�� MINT-CASED £195�00 OLYMPUS 135mm f3�5 ZUIKO LENS �� MINT-CASED £69�00 OLYMPUS 35 -70mm f3�5/4�5 ZUIKO ZOOM�� MINT-CASED £55�00 OLYMPUS 50 - 250mm f5 ZUIKO ZOOM LENS�� MINT-CASED £129�00 OLYMPUS 100 - 200mm f5 ZUIKO ZOOM LENS HAZY��EXC++CASED £39�00 OLYMPUS 2x TELECONVERTER�� MINT-CASED £35�00 OLYMPUS 65 - 116 TELESCOPIC AUTO TUBE��MINT £95�00 OLYMPUS VARI-MAGNIFINDER��MINT CASED £49�00 OLYMPUS T32 FLASH UNIT��MINT CASED £35�00 OLYMPUS WINDER 2 MOTOR DRIVE�� MINT- £20�00 LOTS OF OLYMPUS ACCESSORIES TOO MANY TO LIST FOR MACRO, FLASH �� PHONE PLEASE RING FOR DETAILS AND PRICES ALL IN MINT OR CLOSE CONDITION �� PHONE

We urgently require your used photographic equipment. We have customers waiting for: Nikon, Canon, Leica, Contax, Bronica, Hasselblad and most other makes of camera lenses, accessories, binoculars and collectables. We will buy for cash from you, or we are happy to sell on your behalf on a commission basis. Best prices paid. We can arrange collection and even call and collect and pay on the spot if necessary anywhere in the UK.

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Equipment to sell? Great news! The global market for quality digital and film cameras, lenses and accessories is stronger than ever! With our worldwide network of customers we're paying the highest prices for Nikon, Canon, Leica, Fuji, Contax, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Zeiss, Voigtlander, Konica, Minolta, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Hasselblad, Pentax, Bronica, Mamiya and other top-quality brands.

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Sell your Nikon to Grays of Westminster are always seeking ﬁne examples of Nikon cameras, lenses & accessories including:

Digital SLR Bodies ❖ AF Lenses ❖ Select Film SLR bodies Manual focus lenses ❖ Vintage bodies ❖ Pre-AI lenses ❖ Accessories

To obtain a quote please contact us today on 020 7828 4925 or email info@graysofwestminster.co.uk subscribe 0330 333 4555 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 18 January 2020

Legends of photography

‘Coney Island Teenagers’, 1949 by Harold Feinstein

Harold Feinstein Harold Feinstein is now seen as a pioneer in both street photography and scanography, says Oliver Atwell

arold Feinstein was 15 when he first picked up a camera. The youngest of five children, he lived with his Jewish immigrant parents in Coney Island, New York. One day, the boy borrowed a Rolleiflex camera from a neighbour and began taking photographs on the beaches and boardwalks of his native Coney Island. Over the next few years he would spend hours stalking the sand and piers of South

Brooklyn searching for subjects. Feinstein had a talent for homing in on the small dramas and narratives of everyday life. Every image he took, all of which featured careful framing and striking yet relatable characters, seemed to suggest some story that sat within the cultivated world of the composition. He moved comfortably between visual languages: some images straddle the border of street photography and portraiture, where others seem to be

accomplished exercises in pictorial formalism. Perhaps the most famous image taken during this early portion of Feinstein’s career is the one that we see here. A group of young sunbathers recline on the sand of a Coney Island beach. One, the only woman present in the frame, looks into the lens, her smile wide and full. This image was taken not so long after the term ‘teenager’ had entered popular vocabulary and rock ‘n’ roll was tearing up the radio. Feinstein’s images had an immediate impact. At 17, he was accepted into the Photo League, a group that consisted of some of America’s most notable photographers. Not long after, Edward Steichen bought two of his prints and had them preserved in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. He was quickly labelled a child prodigy and became adorned with a solo show at the Whitney Museum of Art and worked with W Eugene Smith.

A difficult time However, it wasn’t all rosy. Feinstein came into conflict with Steichen when the young photographer withdrew from the exhibition The Family of Man. Feinstein objected to the fact that he would lose control of the cropping and size of his images. Feinstein later stated it was one of his worst decisions. Years followed, the majority of which were spent teaching photography and more projects shot on 35mm. But in 2011, Feinstein once again found fame. He was one of the first – if not the first – to use a scanner as a camera lens. Any scanography project you see now exists only because of Feinstein’s pioneering work. Feinstein died in 2015 but left behind a career that has now, thankfully, been reappraised as a consistent and pioneering journey into the varying strands of photography.

See feinsteinfilm.com for details on the documentary Last Stop Coney Island: The Life & Photography of Harold Feinstein

18 January 2020 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

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