Photography News Issue 49

Photography News | Issue 49 | photographynews.co.uk

48 Competition

O R C I M H J S J W N T S T J W Z X N P S O U K U Q S O K O J E L D R T E S T S N A T Y Z O O M S T E R C P M V W F S F S X J A O P B E P L U R E K D T U Q R Y A A S T P E O S P I M C J S R Z M F S A F I O U H H D Y O P P O N F D P I H N R O E L I R G F Z S E P T R I M A E D I X K A H X A U P S Q J U H F D G G M S S E L E R I W M E W D F P R O P S J R E S O L U T I O N Z K T H I R D S O I X F Capture life’s special moments across all devices with the ultra-reliable Samsung PRO Plus 128GB microSD memory cards. Samsung’s latest cards feature recently upgraded four- proof features: they are water, temperature, X-ray and magnetic proof, so shooting in the most challenging conditions isn’t an issue. We have one massive 128GB Samsung PRO Plus microSDXC card and SD adapter to award to an eagle-eyedwinner. Just complete the word search below, and you’ll find one word in the list that’s not in the grid. Email us on puzzle@photographynews.co.uk with that word in the subject box by 26 November. The correct answer to PN47’s word search was LumeJet and the Samsung 128GB cardwas won byKay Rogan fromCountyDurham. A Samsung memory card! WIN! samsung.com/uk/memory-storage

Editor’s letter Fluff, hype or worthwhile?

Over the past few years, we have seen many tremendously exciting advances on the lighting front. Radio triggers, high capacity lithium-ion batteries, modifiers in all shapes and sizes and portable location lighting, to name but a few. Last month, I was invited to Stockholm for a worldwide launch. Sitting in the auditorium, along with over 100 guests from around the world, I waited in great expectation wondering what the newproduct might be. As Profoto is a lighting company, it had to be something to do with lighting, but it might have decided to go off-piste and diversify into tripods, bags or filters. You never know in this game. Anyway, at the appointedmoment, the image of the A1 came and my immediate reaction was ‘oh, it’s a speedlight with a round head.’ Then, as the presentation went through its features and how the A1 came about I appreciated and understood the thinking of theunit’s tagline, ‘the world’s smallest studio light’. The proof, of course, is in the eating and now, having spent timewith theA1, I think it is a great unit that delivers exactly what Profoto claims. It has huge potential especially if you mesh in other Profoto products like the B1 or B2 systems. My initial cynicism, though, I think is a perfectly natural and healthy reaction. I have been to literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of product launches and you are always told that the new thing is the best/fastest/smallest/most powerful blah blah and so much better than the last best/fastest/smallest/most powerful blah blah ever. So, inevitably, I think you become impervious to marketing fluff and PR hype. Very occasionally, I think the hype has some

foundation. I may be getting soft in my old age, but I think Profoto has got it spot onwith the A1 and its feature list. Clearly it is not for everyone, and that’s without taking the £849 price tag into consideration. Nevertheless, it is another lighting innovation and an exciting one too. While in Stockholm I had time to visit Fotografiska, the Swedish Museum of Photography. It costs around £13 to get in (cards only, not cash) and it was worth every Swedish krona. By pure chance there was a super awesome (as I heard an American lady say) exhibition from one of my photographic icons, Irving Penn, and some stunning reportage work by Paul Hansen. I spent a few very happy hours enjoying simply wonderful photographs, not ‘installations’ or images that should have been deleted accompanied by pretentious narrative, which seems the staple diet of some of our photography galleries. I am of course being harsh – I have been to some wonderful exhibitions in UK. But I have seen plenty of garbage hanging on walls that simplydoesnotdeservetobethere.What’smore, my email inbox gets news of such unworthy shows most weeks. And that, dear readers, is neither fluff nor hype. See you next month, for our mega pre-Christmas issue.

Academy Fireworks Flashhead Foliage Four

Judges Micro

Parfocal Profoto Props Star Resolution

Spot Tests Thirds Wireless Zoomster

Minimum Olympus Paper

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