Photography News Issue 38

Photography News | Issue 38 | absolutephoto.com

News

Sony’s dynamicduo This month, Sony launches a flagship CSC and a premium compact, both with superfast autofocus

Landscape Pro The creators of Portrait Pro have released a new software dedicated to editing landscape images. Landscape Pro allows you to select areas within an image – sky, trees, buildings etc. – and adjust them individually. on sale with 50% off, making the studio version £49 and the stand- alone version £29.95. Photography News readers can get an extra 10% off these prices by using the code, PN38 at the checkout.

Available for both PC and Mac, Landscape Pro is currently

landscapepro.pics

Two leading Nikon lenses Nikon’s ever-popular 70-200mm f/2.8 has enjoyed a significant revamp. The AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is lighter, faster and optically better compared with its predecessor. AF tracking and exposure control with an electromagnetic aperture have been improved and there is a VR Sport mode, which gives a more stable viewing image when shooting high-speed action. Optical quality has been improvedwith a new lens design featuring six ED glass elements, a fluorite lens element and a high refractive index element. Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat reduces ghosting and flare. Aimed at architecture and landscape photographers, the Nikon PC 19mm f/4E ED manual focus full-frame ultra-wide is a versatile lens offering plenty of control with its movements over image perspective and sharpness within the scene. There is double layer PC rotation, which means tilt and shift can be employed on their own or in combination to get the required result. Optical quality is first rate thanks to two aspherical elements and three extra low dispersion elements with Nano Crystal Coat to defeat flare and ghosting. The Nikon PC 19mm f/4E ED costs £3299.99 and is available from the end of October, while the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR is priced at £2649.99 and will be in the shops from 10 November.

Sony has a new flagship APS-C camera, the A6500. The company claims this latest mirrorless CSC combines the world’s fastest AF speed with the highest number of AF points. The AF system uses the same 4D Focus system as the A6300 and can lock onto a subject in 0.05sec, the world’s fastest AF acquisition time. The system uses 425 phase- detection points positioned over the whole imaging area. The A6500 has touchscreenAF so you can focus on the subject just by touching it on the screen. The A6500 can shoot at 11 frames-per-second with continuous AF and autoexposure tracking and in live viewmode for easy framing of a moving subject you get up to 8fps. A large buffer allows up to 307 JPEG shots in continuous shooting at full speed. The sensor in the A6500 is an APS-C sized 24.2-megapixel Exmor CMOS unit that works together with a BIONZ X image processor. The native ISO range is 100 to 51,200 and noise performance is very good. The sensor has a thin wiring layer

and large photodiode substrate to gather as much light as possible. Copper wiring is used for super- quick readout speed. Also available is a 5-axis image stabilisation system, the first time such a system has been used in a SonyAPS-CCSC.When anE-mount lens with OSS (Optical SteadyShot) is fitted, pitch and yaw are corrected in the lens, while horizontal, vertical and roll axes are compensated for in- camera. Typical in a modern camera, the A6500 can shoot 4K video (3840x2160p) in the Super 35mm format, which uses the whole width of the sensor. In this format, the sensor collects 6K of data to give very high-quality 4K footage. During video shooting, the Fast Hybrid AF system offers touch focusing for professional looking smooth focus shifts. The Sony A6500will be available in December for £1700 body only. Sony’s second camera launch this month is the RX100 V, which claims to have the world’s fastest AF and the world’s highest number of AF points in a compact camera.

A Fast Hybrid AF system has an AF acquisition of 0.05sec and there are 315 on-sensor AF points covering around 65% of the image area. This new compact also offers very impressive continuous shooting speeds. It’ll shoot up to 24 frames- per-second at the full resolution of 20.1 megapixels with exposure and focus tracking up to 150 continuous Fine JPEG shots. The camera’s maximum electronic shutter speed is 1/32,000sec and to minimise the effect of a rolling shutter, which can distort moving subjects, the RX100 V uses an anti-distortion shutter. A Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24- 70mm f/1.8-2.8 lens (35mm equivalent) delivers images with sparkling contrast and excellent colour reproduction and images are recorded on a newly developed 1in Exmor RS CMOS sensor. The RX100 V is a premium but very pocketable camera that offers an outstanding performance for still and video shooting. It is priced at £999 and it will be available fromNovember.

nikon.co.uk

sony.co.uk