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THE NIKON ANNUAL
260
Digital Edition
practical hints and tips inside
Master Landscapes
Shoot astro Refine your compositions
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Nikon’s first century
Contents
Explore 100 years of the camera system that changed everything and learn the history of Nikon’s true innovations
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Nikon Skills
102 Get started with studio lights 104 Play with fire 106 A shot in the dark 110 Minimise noise 112 Shoot the breeze 114 Personalise a portrait 118 Make a smoking dancer 120 Use some flour power 122 Capture a classic!
Learn how to set up a simple home studio for professional portraits Ignite that burning desire and get shooting with your speedlight
Essentials
34 The great N-Photo road trip 46 Travel photography on vacation 58 Night & astro photography 70 Apprentice: Taking on the lakes 80 Apprentice: A hoot of a shoot 88 Apprentice: The art of weddings
Discover how to light paint on a budget with plastic cups and torches
One week, a campervan, a Nikon D750 and some fantastic weather
Smooth out chroma and luminance noise while preserving important detail
Travel pro Steve Davey shows you how to fit your photography into your next holiday
Make your subject disappear into thin air for a ghostly portrait effect
Discover how to capture stunning star trails, frame-filling moonrises, auroras and the Milky Way
Capture a film noir-inspired portrait with all the latest gear from Nikon
Nikon pro Carmen Norman took a reader on a trip to the stunning Lake District Reader Harry Wilkins and pro Elliott Neep swoop into the photography hide to capture owls
Kate Hopewell-Smith teaches a reader how to take more artistic wedding images
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Craft shapes out of incense smoke trails using blend modes and transform controls
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Lightbox
Take a look at our favourite images from the IGPOTY
Create explosive action photos with a simple ingredient
Use a single speedlight to capture a car like the professionals
C o n t en t s
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34 Nikopedia
130 Expressive, elegant, strange 136 Improve your compositions 138 Reduce 144 Liven up a landscape 146 Structure Look for the striking in expression, gesture and posture, and reject the ordinary
154Nikon D7500 158 Nikon D5600 162 Mini test: Monopods 164Mini test: Sensor cleaners 166 Mini Test: A4 photo printers 168 The gold standard 176 Play the angles 184 Telephoto zooms
Does the D7500 succeed in combining features, performance, image quality and value?
Is there anything new on offer in this entry-level DSLR? You’ll have a leg to stand on with one of six camera-supporting monopods
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Are your images littered with black spots? Time to invest in a cleaner
Correct mistakes and recompose a photo in Nikon Capture NX-D
Empty the frame, instead of over-filling it to create cleaner and more controlled images
Gear Zone
Make sure your photos look good on paper with a high-performance inkjet printer Discover what standard zoom is the
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best pick
Adjust exposure, selectively lighten shadows, and boost colour and contrast
Go wide and get a new perspective with this wide-angle group test
Find shapes in a scene to bring a layer of organisation to your shots
Find out which budget telephoto lens will give you the best results
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194 Filesilo
Head to FileSilo to access free video guides and tutorial assets
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100 Years of Nikon
Nikon in space
Above This image, taken on a Nikon, is truly out of this world…
How Nikon cameras have helped to shape our view of the world
N
ikon’s journey into space began in 1971, when the Nikon Photomic FTN was used on the Apollo 15 mission. Up to this point, NASA had stuck with Hasselblads and 70mm film, but required a more portable solution. Nikon has been NASA’s go-to 35mm system since then. In the late ’70s, Nikon worked on two NASA-modified versions of the F3 for use in the Space Shuttle program. Production was carried out alongside the development of the consumer F3, which had yet to be released. The ‘Small Camera’ was equipped with a motor-drive and was capable of holding up to 72 frames per film. There was also a ‘Big Camera’ that had a large 250-exposure film back that could be loaded with thinner long film. It had a dark slide that allowed astronauts to remove the film back in the middle of a roll and switch to a back loaded with different film.
out of this world
In September 1991, a modified version of the Nikon F4 was taken into space on Space Shuttle Discovery. The Nikon NASA F4 Electronic Still Camera was one of the first digital cameras in the world – and out of it.
The Nikon F4 had already established itself as the next-generation professional SLR, with its cutting-edge autofocus, built-in motor-drive, Matrix metering and a host of electronics, but the NASA F4 added a digital camera back with a one megapixel monochrome CCD sensor at the film plane. Nikon’s relationship with NASA has continued into the digital age, with NASA requesting D2Xs DSLRs in 2008, followed by D3s bodies in 2009 for use in recording activities aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. By 2010, the ISS was starting to resemble a zero-gravity Grays of Westminster, with an unmodified D3s, eight D2Xs bodies modified for EVA (Extravehicular Activity), four D2Xs eyepieces for framing through a space helmet, seven SB-800 Speedlights and 36 Nikkor lenses (including three teleconverters) floating around. At that point, NASA had captured more than 700,000 images with Nikon equipment that had been carried into space. These days, you’re more likely to see the D4 in the hands of ISS astronauts, perhaps fitted with a Nikkor 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR twinned with the Nikon AF-S FX TC-14E III 1.4x teleconverter, to give the equivalent view of 1120mm.
Did you k now ? Some of the NASA F3 Small Cameras were reportedly lost in space – and are presumably still circling the Earth at several thousand kilometres per hour…
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5
things Nikon has given to the world of… SCIENCE Up close and up in space Microscope development Nikon designed its first microscope, the JOICO, in 1925 with a staggering 765x magnification. Nikon also released Japan’s first stereoscopic microscope (1954), the Fieldmicroscope (1996) pictured above, plus the BioStation CT cell culture observation system (2007) – used in an incubator so that the growth of live cells can be observed. Test-tube babies The world’s first test-tube baby, Britain’s Louise Brown, was conceived with the assistance of a Nikon microscope – as was the US’s first test-tube baby, Elizabeth Carr. In the ’90s a Nikon Diaphot microscope assisted in cloning Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Astronomy in Japan Nikon’s first 20cm equatorial refracting telescope was positioned in the roof observatory dome of the Tokyo Science Museum in 1931. It remained in service for more than 70 years. Space telescope On 14 September 2013, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched Hisaki, the world’s first space telescope dedicated for remote observation of planets, including Venus and Mars. Nikon provided the primary 20cm silicon carbide mirror for the telescope. The Small World Competition Since 1975, Nikon has organised the International Small World Competition – a celebration of microscope photography.
© All Images / NASA www.nasa.gov
The fin a l frontier
100 Years of Nikon
Did you k now ?
Super zoom
Tokyo’s Nikon Museum opened on 17 October 2015, and holds approximately 600 exhibits dedicated to the history of Nikon. Coincidentally, 600 also happens to be the museum’s floor area, measured in square metres…
Nikon’s Coolpix P900 bridge camera packs a world-beating 83x optical zoom lens that offers equivalent coverage from 24mm to 2000mm – more than any other Coolpix made so far. This is increased to 166x when Dynamic Fine Zoom is used. Luckily, it also features Dual Detect Optical VR to help reduce camera shake at such whopping focal lengths.
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In 2016, Nikon achieved a total production of 100 million Nikkor lenses for interchangeable lens cameras. So, despite offering unrivalled compatibility with a range of legacy lenses, Nikon has more than doubled its total production of Nikkors in the past decade alone.
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Total lens production (millions)
fter being in the optical game for 100 years, you’d probably expect Nikon to have racked up some impressive numbers during that time. And you’d be right to do so. Here’s our breakdown of some of the company’s big (and not so big) digits…
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THE DIGITS
ikon F3 was in produc rs the N t the longest-run tion ning i f yea er o 01), making b num 0 to 20 ade Nikon SLR in history. e Th (198 nal-gr for fessio pro
15,000
2009 (Aug)
2011 (Oct)
2012 (Nov)
2013 (Jun)
2014 (Oct)
2016 (Jun)
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the great
ROAD TRIP
Setting your Nikon to shoot at intervals is a great way to capture fog as it rolls across the landscape
Go cloud spotting
A little understanding of how the weather can change in your environment can go a long way
W
hether it’s being aware of the predictable weather patterns of somewhere flat like Florida, or the unpredictable nature of the mountainous highlands of Scotland, knowing what might come next tells you if you should stay put and keep shooting or cut your losses and move on. Waking up with the Sun gave a natural rhythm to my photographic days in the highlands, and I felt more alert and more able to think clearly. That was crucial to creating this shot. From atop the Quiraing, I noticed a thick veil of mist forming over the sea in the distance. It had been cold but clear overnight, and the mist was thickening as the Sun rose. Judging from
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the forecast, which was erring on the side of bright sunshine all day, I presumed the mist would burn off part-way into the morning. I knew that I didn’t have all day to capture the mist, but I still had a few hours, so I set up my Nikon on a tripod and started with a tight crop on the mist, looking seawards at 70mm on my 2470mm f/2.8 lens. With the aperture and ISO consistent with the last photo, (f/11/ISO100) the only value that changed was the shutter speed, which was now at 1/6 sec. After rattling off a few frames over the space of about ten minutes, I flicked back through the images, and noticed that the mist was gradually creeping inland. I knew what to do next: I immediately set up another D750 (I’m a lucky boy, I know)
Get Pin-Sharp shots
Staying rock solid
top tip MOVIE TIME
For an easy way to create timelapse videos on your Nikon (I love easy options), head to the Movie shooting menu>Timelapse photography and choose your settings. It’ll take photos and then convert them into a timelapse video in-camera (note that this isn’t available on older Nikons or D3XXX and D5XXX models).
with a 14-24mm lens to capture the bigger scene, in addition to my tighter crop. No sooner had I done that than the mist crawled up the mountainside. Unsure about when the best shot might arrive, I decided to engage the built-in intervalometer mode on this second D750 to take photos for me over a period of time. (You can find this in the menu by going to Shooting Menu>Interval Timer Shooting.) I set an interval time of 5 seconds, and set the number of shots to 300, so that my D750 would take a photo every 5 seconds for 300 shots. Back-of-the-envelope maths tells us that this would take 25 minutes (5 x 300 = 1500 / 60 = 25). I knew I would flick through later on the laptop and find ‘the one’, so I let it carry on taking photos while I moved around the scene with my 24-70mm. If I’d had a Nikon model which didn’t have this option built-in, I could’ve just used an external intervalometer .I was so fixated on the mist that I forgot to look at the larger scene, but once I had one camera running on the mist, I stopped and looked up. It was at this point that I noticed some awesome altocumulus clouds raking through the sky above. Eager not to
No matter how sturdy your tripod is, sometimes it still rocks and moves in the wind. Thankfully, you can strap it down with just one bungee cord. At the end of a hard slog uphill, you’ll be glad not to be carrying anything more than the bare essentials. But throw just one bungee cord in the mix and you have an instant tripod weight for those
rough-weather days. Sling your camera bag under the tripod and tie one end of the cord around a strap. Attach the other to your tripod’s weight mount (or around the centre column as I did here) and voila! Your tripod is now much more steady. You needn’t only use this in windy conditions – it’s a handy technique whatever the weather.
In this image, a two-stop graduated neutral density filter with a soft transition was used to darken the sky, and so retain detail in the clouds
miss out on the chance to shoot both this cloud and the fog in the same shot, I zoomed out to 40mm and framed up on the ridge and road in the foreground (above). I sandwiched that ridge with both clouds and got yet another shot with a feel entirely different to the main shot above. It was light and breezy, and you could
practically feel the Sun beating down on the moss-clad ground. I had to dial my shutter speed down to 1/80 sec because it was now a lot brighter. I also used a soft, two-stop graduated ND filter to darken the sky without this I’d have lost all that lovely detail in the clouds. This meant I didn’t have to bracket and merge two exposures.
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Your ultimate guide To
Night & astro photography Discover how to capture stunning star trails, frame-filling moonrises, amazing auroras and the Milky Way. Chris Rutter is your guide…
Jasmine_K/Shutterstock
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hotography may be all about capturing light through your camera lens, but that doesn’t mean you can only take pictures during the day. There’s a whole new world of images to be shot long after the Sun has disappeared beneath the horizon and the sky has become dark. Night-time skies reveal some of the most amazing and photogenic subjects you will ever find, such as the stars, the moon, the Milky Way and even galaxies far, far away. It’s always been possible to get shots after dark, but improvements to the quality of images taken at high ISO settings and longer exposures over the last few years mean that capturing the drama and beauty of low light and night-time subjects is now easier than ever. To give night photography a go you’ll need to know where to look and what settings to use, so we’ve put together a handy guide to the subjects you can shoot at night, and the
techniques you’ll need to master to get the best possible results. From shooting simple subjects such as the moon, to capturing the most amazing auroras, there’s something for everyone, no matter what experience or gear you have. You’ll learn everything from the basic settings to use, to when and where to find the best subjects. With its shorter days, winter really is the best time to start exploring the hidden world of the night sky through your Nikon lens. There’s no need to be afraid of the dark, but be warned – capturing these images can be seriously addictive. You have to be prepared to lose a bit of sleep if you do catch the night-sky bug...
Ingenious recipes for stunning shots
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PROJECT One / Essential Gear Skills
102
Get started with studio lights
Set up a simple home studio for professional portraits
PROJECT Two / Teach Yourself Flash
110 Minimise noise
Smooth out chroma and luminance noise while preserving detail
PROJECT five / CREATIVE techniques
104 Play with fire
112 Shoot the breeze
PROJECT three/ The big project
PROJECT Six / The big project
Combine flash and fire in this poi-spinning shoot
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A shot in the dark
Learn to light paint on a budget with plastic cups and torches
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PROJECT Four / LIGHTROOM Essentials
Make your subjects disappear into thin air for a ghostly effect
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Personalise a portrait
Shoot a film noir-inspired portrait with the latest gear
Watch ONLINE ON FILESILO Whenever you see this logo you’ll know there’s a video on FileSilo. You can watch all of our videos online and download tutorial assests at www.filesilo. co.uk/bookazines/bks-1515
In association with
112 120
PROJECT seven / CREATIVE PHOTOSHOP
118 Make a smoking dancer
Craft intricate shapes out of incense smoke trails in Photoshop
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PROJECT EIGHT/ CREATIVE Techniques
120 Use some flour power
Create explosive action photos with a simple ingredient
PROJECT nine/ The big project
122 Capture a classic!
Photograph a car like the professionals with a single Speedlight
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GEAR ZONE g r o u p
test
DX-Format lenses
Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD £380/$650
Nikon AF-S DX 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR £890/$1070
Now eight years old, this Tamron lens combines a fast, constant f/2.8 aperture with VC (Vibration Compensation) stabilization. It competes directly with the Sigma 17-50mm for zoom range, aperture rating and stabilisation, and is almost exactly the same size and weight. Unlike the Sigma, however, the Tamron has a smaller filter thread of 72mm instead of 77mm; doesn’t come with a soft case; and has a more basic electric autofocus motor. The optical path includes an XR (eXtra Refractive Index) element, two LD (Low Dispersion) elements and BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) anti-reflective coatings.
The perfect match for highperformance DX bodies like the D7500 and D500, this is the most advanced DX-format lens in the group. Up-market features include an electromagnetically controlled diaphragm, ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and a weather-sealed mounting plate. It also has the biggest zoom range, going more wide-angle than the other DX lenses and offering the greatest reach. Typical ring-type ultrasonic attractions include fast and near-silent operation, with full-time manual override. The optical path includes four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, Nano Crystal Coating for reducing ghosting and flare, plus fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements to repel muck and moisture.
This old-school zoom still has something to offer
Performance Autofocus speed is a little quicker than in the DX-format Sigma lenses, but the motor is comparatively noisy. Again, the focus ring rotates during autofocus and there’s no fulltime manual override. Centresharpness is excellent at short to mid zoom settings but cornersharpness is relatively poor at both ends of the zoom range.
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Sharpness
Good centre-sharpness through most of range; corner-sharpness less impressive.
Fringing Minimal fringing at 17mm, and it’s negligible at mid to long zoom settings.
Distortion Distortion is typical at most settings, but at 50mm there’s barely any.
Verdict Features Build/handling Performance Value for money
Overall
It’s a good lens that is much better value in the UK than the USA.
The most up-market DX-format zoom ON TEST
Performance While build quality and handling are the best of any DX-format lens here, performance leaves a bit to be desired in some areas. Colour fringing and barrel distortion are worse than average at the short end, and sharpness could be better at the long end.
Sharpness
Mostly very good, but sharpness drops off noticeably at the long end.
Fringing Worse than average, and similar to that of the older Sigma 17-50mm lens.
Distortion With the widest viewing angle for a DX lens comes the worst barrel distortion.
Verdict Features Build/handling Performance Value for money
Overall
It’s unquestionably the best DX-format lens in the group, but it’s much pricier.
St an da rd zo om s
FX-Format lenses
Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM | A £600/$900
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD £800/$1300
Sigma’s Art lenses tend to have extra-wide apertures, for enabling a tight depth of field. In this case, however, Sigma has gone for an extended zoom range at the expense of a drop in aperture rating from f/2.8 to f/4. Size and weight remain manageable but, at 885g, the Sigma is noticeably heavier than the competing Nikon 24-120mm lens, which has an even bigger zoom range. In terms of build quality and handling, this lens feels like a step up from Sigma’s DX-format lenses and, like other FX-format lenses in the group, this one features ring-type ultrasonic autofocus. Two FLD (Fluoritegrade Low Dispersion) and two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements are included, but there are no weather seals.
The combination of a 24-70mm zoom range with a fast f/2.8 constant aperture is a favourite of many creative photographers. This Tamron lens stole a lead on its competitors by adding optical stabilization into the mix. Nikon has now followed suit, and we’re still waiting to see Sigma’s new stabilised 24-70mm ‘Art’ lens. The Tamron looks and feels like a truly professional-grade lens. It’s not only robust, but it was Tamron’s first lens to boast weather seals. Handling is excellent, and, unlike in the Sigma lenses, the zoom ring operates in the same direction as that of Nikon lenses. Posh glass includes three LD (Low Dispersion) and two XR (Extra Refractive index) elements.
Never mind the aperture, Check out the range
Performance Considering the generous zoom range of this lens, image quality is impressive: there’s plenty of contrast and centre-sharpness, even when shooting wide-open at f/4. The Sigma also beats both of the competing Nikon FX-format lenses when it comes to minimising lens distortion.
Sharpness
Sharpness drops off a little towards the corners, but is very impressive overall.
Fringing The fairly small amount of colour fringing is consistent throughout the zoom range.
Distortion Barrel and pincushion distortions are well restrained, considering the zoom range.
Verdict Features Build/handling Performance Value for money
Overall
It’s a good buy if you don’t mind sacrificing aperture width for zoom range.
A top-notch lens that OFFERS outstanding value
Performance The Tamron comes pretty close to the much more expensive Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens on test for centre-sharpness throughout most of the zoom range. However, it drops off a little more at the long end, and is somewhat softer towards the corners of the frame at all zoom settings. Autofocus is rapid and whisper-quiet.
Sharpness
Very good at the centre, sharpness drops off quite noticeably towards the corners.
Fringing Colour fringing is better controlled than in the other FX lenses on test.
Distortion There’s less distortion at respective ends of the zoom range than in Nikon’s lenses.
Verdict Features Build/handling Performance Value for money
Overall
A bit soft in the corners, but it’s a spectacular lens for the money.
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