This month’s big news comes from Olympus with the launch of the OM-D E-M1 Mark III and Fujifilm with the new X100V. Elsewhere, we test the Canon EOS M6 Mark II, bring you Buyers’ guides for lighting and photo books, and hear from David Maimó Lázaro about his trip to Iceland – beautiful landscapes included.
Photography News Your FREE newspaper packed with the latest news, views and stories PN 2019 Awards / The last chance to vote for your favourites! Big test: Canon EOS M6 Mark II / Canon’s best-ever mirrorless? First tests / Lenses, filters andmuch more on trial A W A R D S 2019
ISSUE 74 12 Feb-9 Mar photographynews.co.uk
AND NOW IT’S THREE With an amazing in-body image stabilisation systemand handheld high-res shot mode, the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III is a camera packed with promise
Premium Fujifilm Fujifilm, in a live broadcast from its House of Photography in London’s Covent Garden, announced the launch of the X100V 26.1-megapixel top-end compact camera. With its new 23mm f/2 lens, X-Trans CMOS sensor, revamped optical and electronic viewfinders, and a host of design improvements, including a slim two-way tilting screen, the X100V is going to appeal to every photographer wanting a fully featured, rugged and great handling compact camera with a large sensor. At £1299, the X100V is great value for money, too. On the night, Fujifilm also updated the world on its lens roadmaps for the GFX system and XSeries. For its medium format camera system, there are 30mm f/3.5 and 80mm f/1.7 lenses coming soon. For the XSeries, a working prototype of the XF50mm f/1 was shown and confirmed as coming later this year, along with three more XF lenses (no details revealed as of yet) taking the total of lenses available for the X Series to an impressive 38. The live broadcast finished with a teaser for the upcoming andmuch-anticipated Fujifilm X-T4. All is being revealed on 26 February.We’ll have more news in our next issue, which is out
pattern. You can, for example, choose an AF array of 2x11 AF points for long (or tall), thin subjects and, if speed is important to you, the new camera can shoot at 18fps with focus and exposure tracking. The OM-D E-M1 Mark III is available from late February in black at a body only price of £1599.99. The two kits offered are: £2199.99 for the camera and ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens and £2499.99 for the camera with ED 12-100mm f/4 IS Pro lens. Readmore about the OM-DE-M1 Mark III on page 3, and on page 4 there’s a full hands-on report. • olympus.co.uk
autofocusing – is due to the newOlympus TruPic IX processor. A key benefit of the IBIS system is that the camera offers handheld high-res shot mode that gives 50-megapixel resolution files and, when used on a tripod, high-res shot mode gives 80-megapixel files. The OM-D E-M1 Mark III also sees significant gains in the autofocus department. Its on-chip phase detect systemuses 121 all cross-point sensors covering 75% of the image vertically and 80% horizontally, and these points can be used in a wide variety of ways, including the option tomake your own custom
OLYMPUS’S NEWOM-D E-M1Mark III sits at the top of the brand’sMicro Four Thirdsmirrorless camera range, giving photographers the choice between itsmore svelte bodyformor the larger OM-DE-M1X. The 20.4-megapixel OM-D E-M1 Mark III might be compact, but it is laden with great features, including weatherproofing, a shutter mechanism rugged enough for 400,000 actuations and an in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) system, which offers up to an incredible 7.5EV benefit with Sync IS-enabled lenses and 7EV on other MFT optics. The camera’s high performance – with its IBIS, fast shooting and improved
from 10March. • fujifilm.eu/uk
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Olympus has announced the OM-D E-M1Mark III, a professional Micro FourThirds camera with a host of game-changing features Triple threat
EDITOR’S LETTER WILL CHEUNG
I grewup in the era whenmankindwas landing on the moon, andmy ambitionwas to be an astronomer. I had no idea what an astronomer did, but inmymind it was seeing some cool stuff and getting paid for it. Sadly, I was not brainy enough to realise that goal, but I still gaze upwards on clear nights wondering what’s up there. I have been fortunate to experience a total solar eclipse and seen the aurora twice. But twice isn’t enough – yes, I know it ismore thanmany people havemanaged, but that’s not the point. By the time you read this, I’ll have returned from Iceland and, with luck, have a few aurora shots. You’ll seemore about my trip on the Photography News website and in the next issue, so here’s hoping. Looking towards the summer, I’mgoing to try and photograph theMilkyWay. I’ve never done it and I keep seeing some fabulous images. I suppose what I’mdoing is givingmyself asmany reasons as I can to enjoymy photography and have some fun. If proof was needed of that, my kitchen is currently in shambles as I obsess over water droplets and I have just bought a lensball, which is a solid glass sphere that you can shoot through. Google it, if youwant to knowmore, but for less than £20 it will pay for itself just for the novelty value. Water droplets through the lensball might be worth trying… Of course, theMilkyWay, water droplets and the lensball are not original, although I will try to add my own stamp, and I know some people whowill get sniffy about covering old ground, but the thing is, I haven't done them, and that’s all that matters, isn't it? Something else that’s occupyingmy time at the moment is camera filters. I’ve always enjoyed using filters and somewhere I have loads of slides featuring landscapes with lurid emerald, purple and tobacco skies, all courtesy of Monsieur Jean Coquin, the inventor of Cokin filters. Tastes have evolved, and we’re nowmuchmore conservative, so it’smostly neutral density grads, extreme NDs and polarisers, but maybe it’s time for violent colours tomake a return. For this issue, I got to try filters fromBreakthrough and Kase, both young brands comparedwith the likes of Cokin, Hoya and Lee, and I have to say they aremightily impressive systems. Super tough, multi- coatings, easy to clean and optically very good, too. Next issue, out 10March, is one of our biggest, and includes a free floor plan to The Photography Show, which takes place at the NEC, 14-17March. If you’re coming, see us first to pick up your free copy. Until then, I’mheading for the kitchen and another fewhundredwater droplet pictures.
The M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45mm f/4 Pro lens is available from late March with a guide price of £599.99. olympus.co.uk
Digital ED 12-45mm f/4 Pro, Olympus claims, is the world’s smallest and most lightweight standard zoom with a fixed aperture value. It weighs 254g, so it’s perfect as a carry- everywhere lens, especially since it’s environmentally sealed in nine places. It might be a light lens, but its construction of 12 elements in nine groups features exotic glass, including a super-high refractive element and a dual super aspherical lens to give high sharpness across the whole image frame at every focal length. Olympus’s ZERO (Zuiko Extra-low Reflection Optical) coating keeps flare and ghosting to a minimum. Added picture creativity is possible thanks to the lens’s minimum focusing distance, 12cm at the wide end and 23cm at the telephoto end allows a magnification of 0.25x (0.5x in 35mm format equivalent) for impressive close-up shots and can be used in conjunction with the focus stacking and focus bracketing features of several Olympus cameras. newX-Pro3 for some street photography as part of the Fujifilm Make the Switch challenge Buyers’ guide: lighting kit page 30 Why rely on nature when you can buy a LED light or flash unit that can deliver perfect and predictable lighting effects time after time Big test: CanonEOS M6Mark II page 32 The best Canon EOSMcamera so far? Very possibly so. Check out
Advanced Face Priority and Eye Priority AF, including in movie mode, for accurate continuous focus tracking of moving subjects. And speaking of tracking, the OM-D E-M1 Mark III can shoot stills at 18fps with AE/AF tracking. No camera is complete without video, and the OM-D E-M1 Mark III has Cinema 4K and supports OM-Log400 shooting for no detail loss in the shadows or highlights and more colour grading control. An improved Supersonic Wave Filter to keep the sensor clean, 35 frames Pro Capture in full Raw, built-in neutral density filter with a range from EV2 to EV32 and USB recharging with full use of the camera possible during charging are other big highlights of the new camera. The OM-D E-M1 Mark III is available from late February in black, with a body price of £1599.99. Two kits will also be offered, with the ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro at £2199.99 and ED 12- 100mm f/4 IS Pro at £2499.99. Olympus has also added to its lens system. The M.Zuiko
THE OLYMPUS OM-D E-M1 Mark III is a top-end, weatherproofed Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera superseding the venerable and very popular E-M1 Mark II, a camera that’s been on the dealers’ shelves since late 2016. The new camera features a 20.4-megapixel Live MOS sensor and Olympus’s TruPic IX processor. This new processor allows for some exciting features, such as an in-body, five-axis image stabiliser (IBIS) giving a 7EV benefit with Micro Four Thirds lenses and 7.5EV benefit with Sync IS-enabled lenses. The enhanced IBIS systemmakes handheld high- res shooting possible, giving 50-megapixel files. And if you shoot high-resolution files on a tripod, 80-megapixel Raws are delivered. The autofocus system sees significant gains, too, using 121 all cross-point, on-chip phase detect sensors covering 75% of the image vertically and 80% horizontally. There’s Starry Sky AF for pinpoint accuracy during astro shooting and
SPECS AT AGLANCE
› 20.4-megapixel LiveMOS Micro Four Thirds sensor › TruePic IX image processor › 18fps withAF/AE tracking with full Raw › 60fps Pro capture – 35 before, up to 120 after › Two SD card slots, 1 x UHS-II, 1 x UHS-I › Starry SkyAF › Bwith direct access to Live,
Composite,Time › USB recharging › Integral ND filter › Weatherproof › AFmulti-selector
› Handheld high-resmode for 50-megapixel images – the tripod option gives 80-megapixel files
our review for ISO and exposure latitude tests, plus our final verdict Buyers’ guide: photobooks page 36 Make the most of your great images with a photobook printing service. Here's our pick of the best photobook printers around First tests page 40 Our regular round-up of lovely photo gear for your consideration, from lenses and filters to tripods and apparel
News page 3 New cameras fromFujifilm, Leica and Olympus, plus all the latest gossip from the vibrant world of page 12 The latest exhibitions to see, salons to enter and talks to get your inspiration flowing Awards 2019 page 17 modern imaging Club news
It’s your last chance to vote for the best imaging products and services of 2019! Profile: David Maimó Lázaro page 22 Join David on his photographic expedition to Iceland to capture aurora and landscape images Make the Switch page 27 Patrick Stubbs tries out the
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News Olympus OM-D E-M1Mark III hands on PN Editor Will Cheung takes the new camera out and about; here’s his early verdict
HIGH-RES COMPARISON
access to Live Composite, Live Bulb and Live Time from the Bmode setting on the exposuremode dial. There aremanymore changes under the bonnet andwhile the benefit of these is not possible to assess in this quick hands-on they should have considerable practical benefit in the longer term. For example, Olympus’s Super SonicWave Filter, which vibrates at many thousand times a second to keep the sensor clean, has gained a new coating for evenmore effective cleaning and the OM-D E-M1 Mark III has USB charging and the camera is fully usable during charging. This will come in very handy – say when using Starry Sky AF and doing a six-hour Live Composite exposure. I didn’t get the chance to explore the built-inND filter but its potential is clear.
I’ve spent time with the Olympus OM-D E-M5Mark II, the EM-5Mark III and the E-M1Mark II recently, so picking up the OM-D E-M1Mark III I felt immediately at home. Compared with the E-M1 Mark II there are some physical control changes and while these are seemingly minor they aremost welcome. So, now there’s a dedicated ISO button that sits on top of the right hand grip for the thumb andmakes altering ISOwhile the camera is up to the eye easy and there’s an exposure compensation button next to the shutter release. But perhaps the most welcome control is the arrival on the camera back of what Olympus call amulti-selector and what most people call a joystick whichmakes shifting the AF point around the 121 sensor grid intuitive and fast. There’s also direct
Normal full resolution
Handheld high-res shot
Handheld high-res shot works impressively and the camera’s image stabiliser delivers a fine performance.The exposure for both shots here was 1/8sec at f/8 and ISO400with the 12-40mm f/2.8 at the 12mmsetting
5184x3888 pixels of normal files. Using a Lexar 2000X 64GB card, high-res files take around 15secs to write and in that time the camera is locked up. I tried handheld high-res shot mode with the 12-40mm f/2.8 lens shooting with exposures as slow as 1/8sec. The files processed in Olympus Viewer 3 looked lovely and checking out images on screenwith the same subject size showed considerable benefit in terms of crispness and detail rendition. A couple of hours and a few hundred shots on a dismal grey and chilly day is not the ideal situation to pass judgement on a new camera and we’ll have a full test coming up soonwhere you’ll find our verdict. That said, it’s true that if a camera behaves with credit in such poor light, it’s going to really impress when the conditions aremore amenable and on this showing it’s a camera test I am looking forward to. olympus.co.uk
was visible again the face detect system performed its magic. In continuous AF, face detect tracked the subject as theymoved nicely too. Using the touchscreen, you can also select which face you want to focus onwhen you have several people in the frame. For general shooting the AF was very responsive and even handled areas of plain tone in low light well, and the AF joystick was useful when the systemdid occasionally not latch on swiftly. The camera’s 20-megapixel resolution is good enough for most occasions but the high-res shot option has great potential with static subjects. The camera’s enhanced in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) comes into play here. The sensor is moved between each individual exposure and 16 frames are merged to produce a higher resolution file. Handheld high-res shot modes gives 50-megapixel files which open up to 8160x5120pixels compared with the
There aremany features I managed to try and enjoyed. The AF system is very impressive in terms of versatility as well as performance. Having 121 cross-type points covering around 75% of the total image area with several zone options including five/nine or 25 zones, and custom target mode where you select an AF patternwithin the 11x12 grid to suit the subject, is really handy. Face Priority/Eye Priority AF works very well. I was tracking people walking around the roomand the camera’s AF systemwas very sticky, accurately keeping track of people as theymoved around in the frame. When a subject the camera was tracking turned away, the face detect box latched on to something else in the frame, but as soon as a face
IMAGES In the dim light of the Palm House the ISO had to be set to high value but there was no issue with image quality which rates highly. Shot on 60mm f/2.8 macro lens with an exposure of 1/50sec at f/2.8 at ISO 2000
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applicants in due course, with the event currently scheduled to take place around 30 March. Travel to and from the studio is at the applicants’ expense, but refreshments and lunch is provided. The event starts at 10am with wrap-up and a debrief at 4.30pm and departure at 5pm. To apply for this exclusive photo experience, we’d like to see three of your best people pictures. See the panel below for more details. Good luck!
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Reflector, and the unit is fully charged and ready to go again in just two seconds. Equip yourself with anAir Remote TTL trigger – available for Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony – and you can enjoy the shooting convenience of wireless TTL flash and the creative opportunities proffered by high speed sync (HSS) flash. With the trigger comes a working range of up to 100m in TTL and
Profoto’s B10 Plus is a battery- powered studio flash that delivers a remarkable amount of output for its compact size. About the size of a fast aperture telezoom lens and weighing just 1.9kg, the B10 Plus delivers a mighty 500Ws of flash output at full power and you get 200 high power bursts from a single battery. To give you an idea of output, a full energy burst gives an aperture of f/22.7 at 2m and ISO 100 with an OCFMagnum
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News
Fujifilm In a busy fewweeks for Fujifilm, we saw the announcement of two cameras, several lenses and a teaser for 26 February when the X-T4 will be revealed
TheX100V is the latest in Fujifilm’s high-endX100 series of fixed lens premiumcompact cameras and is a significant upgrade from its predecessor FujifilmX100V
using a 0.52x optical viewfinder (OVF) with 95% coverage of the image and parallax correcting frame lines or an 3.69m dot OLED electronic viewfinder. The Electronic Range Finder (ERF) feature lets you have small EVF images at the bottom right corner of the OVF. The fixed lens is a brand new 23mm f/2 designed to squeeze every detail from the X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and give better resolution and lower levels of distortion while maintaining the same compact size and compatibility with legacyWCL/TCL conversion lenses. The X100V’s video facility lets you shoot 4K at 30fps or 120fps at Full HD and there’s the option of recording at 10 bit, 4:2:2 colour externally via the HDMI port and use Fujifilm’s Film Simulation settings such as Eterna. The X100V will be available in silver from 27 February and in black from 12 March at a guide price of £1299. fujifilm.eu/uk/
The FujifilmX100V is a premium compact with a 26.1-megapixel resolution from its X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and X-Processor 4 combination. The sensor is back-side illuminated for maximum image quality and dynamic range and its unique colour filter array means there’s no need for an optical low pass filter which can impact on fine detail resolution. The powerful quad core X-Processor 4 delivers fast image processing, and with a new algorithm has better autofocus with performance down to -5EV. Being Fujifilm, great attention has been paid to the camera’s looks and on the X100V the top and bottom plates have been milled from single pieces of aluminium and finished in an alumite satin coating. The body is also weatherproofed when the optional weather resistant kit is applied. This kit costs £99.99 normally but is £49.50 if bought at the same time as the camera. A big change is a greatly improved hybrid viewfinder that gives the user the option of
FujifilmX-T200
Lenses for the GFX system The GF45-100mm f/4 R LMOISWR is being added to the line-up this month. Designed for the GFX medium format camera system, the lens fits nicely between the GF32-64mm and the GF100-200mm. It features five-axis image stabilisation, one super ED lens element and near-silent, high-speed autofocus. A dust- and weather-resistant construction allows the lens to operate in temperatures down to -10°C. the X-T200 is dramatically enhanced through the use of phase detection autofocus pixels across the sensor. Fujifilm’s latest camera includes a selection of the X-T100’s popular features, but with evenmore refined and impressive new specs. The X-T200 weighs in at 370g – around 80g lighter than its predecessor – and features a new vari-angle touchscreen. It boasts a high-speed APS-C 24.2-megapixel CMOS sensor. Processing speed has seen improvement, 3.5 times faster than the X-T100. Autofocus performance in
There are some nice improvements in video specs, with HDR video, 4K 30p recording and Full HD 120p slo-mo capabilities all being added. The X-T200 is available as a kit with the XC15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens in three colours (silver, dark silver and champagne). It is priced at £749 and available from27 February.
If cameras were judged on their haptic experience then the FujifilmX100Vwould without doubt score topmarks, and of course it’s something not easy to explain. It really is something that needs to be experienced but just run your finger around the edges of the top plate and you know this camera’s finish has been carefully considered.The lift-and-turn ISOdial is another example of this.The dial lifts up, rotates very smoothly and stays up until you push it down at the required setting. Adding amonitor that does anything takes up valuable space and usually results in a deeper body. It is credit to the Fujifilm design team that in theX100V the tilting monitor has no impact on the camera body’s depth. So the benefit of having a waist level shooting option comes at no price in terms of bulk. I do a lot of waist-level street shooting even with cameras that have fixedmonitors and you have tomake an educated guess, so having this facility on theX100V is brilliant. The touchmonitor viewing quality and response ismore or less the same as most other monitors but where there is a HANDS ON
Brains behind the X100V
Fujifilm’s Shin Udono (left), senior manager, and Masa Imai, head of design, show off their pride and joy at the FujifilmHouse of Photography in London’s Covent Garden. “The camera was two years in development,” says Shin Udono.“This is because we changed the lens as well as the hybrid viewfinder so camera development took longer. It was a challenge to keep the lens the same size as previousmodels but with better quality.Adding the special filter, theX100V is also weatherproof.” TheX100Vhas gained a focus joystick but gone is the D-pad on the camera rear.“The advantage of the D-pad is that the user can allocate certain functions for quick access,” continuesMr Udono,“but on this camera we put the priority on quick shooting and easier handling so we wanted enough space for the thumb on the back.You can also see we havemoved the Q button so it will not be used bymistake.”
major change is with the EVFand optical viewfinder.The EVFwith its 3.69mdots is excellent and fine detail looks crisply resolved. I especially like the option of having the optical finder with a smaller inset EVF image. Having the same image sensor and processor combo as theX-T3 shouldmean first-rate image quality and impressive high ISOperformance, so we look forward to testing these aspects of the camera’s performance in due course. Meanwhile, my initial impressions are very positive. I bought the first model in the series, the X100, nearly ten years ago and it doesn't get used much now, but the new X100V does have serious appeal as my take-everywhere camera and for street work.
The GF45-100mm f/4 R LMOISWR is priced at £2049 and is available from 27 February. Fujifilmalso unveiled the roadmap for Gmount lenses. The GF30mm f/3.5 RWR is a compact wide-angle prime lens while the GF80mm f/1.7 RWR is an impressive fast aperture short telephoto lens ideal for when you need a fast aperture. When they arrive these two lenses will take the total line-up of optics for GFX cameras to 13.
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News
Newbackpack fromThinkTank
Samsung latest SSD
Designed for photographers who push their travel photography to extremes, the new Retrospective Backpack 15L is spacious, customisable and durable
Samsung’s Portable SSD T7 Touch offers users supreme speed, with a read speed of 1050MB/s and a write speed of 1000MB/s. These are the fastest transfer speeds currently available based on the USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard, and roughly twice as fast as its predecessor. Additionally, the T7 Touch brings the first built-in fingerprint scanner to an SSD on top of password protection and AES 256- bit hardware encryption. Despite the speed boost and the new tech, the
SSD is still impressively light, weighing in at just 58 grams.
The T7 Touch is offered in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB sizes, and in a black or silver finish. The drive comes with a USB Type-C-to-C cable and a USB Type-C-to-A cable, and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Android operating systems. The T7 Touch also includes a three-year limited warranty. Prices are £129.99 for the 500GB, £195.99 for the 1TB, and £365.99 for the 2TB. • samsung.com/ssd
MADE WITH 100% cotton canvas and covered in a durable water-repellent coating, the new bag combines style and durability. 15L of gear can be held in the configurable main compartment, with an additional 5L of personal gear fitting in the front pocket. In total, the Retrospective Backpack can fit a standard DSLR body, a mirrorless
camera system, a 15in laptop, a 70–200mm f/2.8 attached to a camera, a 24–70mm f/2.8, a 100mm f/2.8 macro, a 50mm f/1.4 and a flash, plus a tripod attached to the front or side panel. All that gear can be
chest strap and a removable webbing waist belt, comfort is assured. Other key features include two collapsible water bottle pockets, organiser pocket and
seam-sealed rain cover. The Think Tank Retrospective Backpack 15L is available in two colours – black and pinestone – and costs £229. • snapperstuff.com
accessed through the backpack’s top or back
panel, and thanks to form- fitting canvas, an adjustable
Kenko’s new flash
Leica launches M10Monochrom TheM10Monochrom is the first M-Systemblack &white only camera to offer the huge ISO range of 160-100,000,making its low-light performance and dynamic range better than any of its predecessors. It features a 40-megapixel sensor. When it comes to handling, users can expect a minimalist design identical to that of theM10-P, and a discreet look and a focus on only the essential camera functions.This includes the quietest shutter release Leica has ever made. The LeicaM10Monochrom is available at £7250. • uk.leica-camera.com/
The KenkoAB600-RAI flashgun features an automatic bounce function and is available for Nikon and Canon
The Kenko AB600-R AI is a high- powered, advanced intelligence flashgun. Featuring an auto-bounce function, the flashgun automatically calculates the ideal angle to bounce light from a wall or ceiling. Users can also adjust the angle to their preference, based on the automatic calculation. The flash will remember it, even when turning the camera between landscape and portrait orientation. Powered by four AA batteries or an optional power pack, the AB600-R AI
is powerful, with a maximum guide number of 60 (ISO 100 at 200mm) and a full range of light covering angles from 18mm to 200mm. A built-in radio transmitter and receiving unit also allows a master flash to control the bounce angle of the slave flash remotely, and off-camera and multiple-flash shooting can be achieved with wireless control. The Kenko AB600-R AI flashgun costs £400. • intro2020.co.uk
Hasselblad’s light touch
Hasselblad’s latest lens for its X system is a 45mm f/4 prime and weighs just over 320g, making it the lightest AFmedium format lens currently on offer. Boasting two
aspheric lens elements, a minimum focus of just 35cm and quiet leaf shutter, the 45mm f/4 is priced at £1030 and available now. • hasselblad.com
Editorial Team Editorial director Roger Payne Editor Will Cheung FRPS 01223 499469 willcheung@bright-publishing.com Head of digital content Daisy Dickinson Digital content writer Lee Renwick leerenwick@bright-publishing.com Chief sub editor Beth Fletcher Senior sub editor Siobhan Godwood Sub editor Felicity Evans Junior sub editor Elisha Young
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Design Team Design director Andy Jennings Senior designer Laura Bryant Designer Man-Wai Wong Distribution Distribution and subscriptionmanager Phil Gray philipgray@bright-publishing.com Publishing Team Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck As well as your local camera club, you can pick up Photography News in-store from: Cameraworld, Castle Cameras, Jessops, London Camera Exchange, Park Cameras, Wex Photo Video, Wilkinson Cameras
Photography News is published 11 times a year by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Photography News is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Photography News that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. While Bright Publishing makes every effort to ensure accuracy, it can’t be guaranteed. Street pricing at the time of writing is quoted for products.
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2019Travel POTY winners revealed The Travel Photographer of the Year competition always produces some spectacular photos, and 2019 was certainly no exception
Capture life’s magical moments across all devices with the Samsung Evo Plus 256GB microSDXC memory card with SD adapter, offering read speeds up to 100MB/s and write speeds of up to 90MB/s. Samsung’s latest cards are also ultra reliable and are water, temperature, X-ray and magnet proof, so shooting in the most challenging conditions isn’t an issue. We have one 256GB Samsung Evo Plus microSDXC card with SD adapter worth £74.99 for the eagle-eyed winner. 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 8 March 2020 and the winner will be randomly drawn from all correct entries received. The correct answer to PN 72’s word search was Fruit, and the Samsung 256GB Evo Plus card was won by Tina Dorner from Gloucestershire. • samsung.com/uk/memory-cards ASamsung memory card! WIN!
Katy Gomez Catalina, an amateur photographer and doctor of veterinary science from Spain, has been announced as the overall winner of the 2019 TPOTY. Katy is the second female overall winner of the competition in its 17-year history, and the very first overall winner from Spain. More than 20,000 images were submitted from
X U R J C S V N W E O Q C A Z O T A O E L K T V E R N O V I B B N G B Y K V H Q T S A T D S I S E S Q A I I S J D E O R P D S T R O Y R S V T A I N E A R R A U U E N D E V V F O C O O R S N S F C W M G H D E O A D G L Y E U D C D E C K S A L M T C E T E D F B R I Y X X V N T N W U T Y W O N Z S S I M L U D H R M B Y N I V C E O I B L J T L O T R N B T Y I E S H H C Y S O E Y R Y J G X G R K P
Travel portfolio category, and Trevor Cole who won in the People & Cultures portfolio category. We’ll feature more about the competition in our next issue. Meanwhile, all of 2019’s winning images are on the TPOTY website. tpoty.com/winners
photographers of all ages from all around the world. Other notable winners include 11-year-old Indigo Larmour from Ireland who took the Young Travel Photographer of the Year award, Paul Sansome, who took top spot in the Art of
BODY CANDID
CARDS CLUBS CONVERTER DENSITY DETECT FACE MEMORY NEUTRAL SENSATION SLIM SNAPSHOTS FROST HOUSE
RPSannounceAwardwinners
VARIABLE WEBSITE WHITE WINTER YEAR
The winners of the 162nd RPS’s International Photography Exhibition have been announced – it’s the world’s longest running photography exhibition. Over 1370 entries were received from 62 countries and the final exhibition feature the work of 43 international photographers. Cody Cobb from the USA took one of the prestigious awards with his series Strange Land . He said: “The support of The RPS has encouragedme to continue pushingmyself andmy work in ways that
weren’t possible before. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity to share my interpretation of what it means to be human on this fantastic planet.”The Under 30’s award winner was Chirag Jindal fromNewZealand. The exhibition is open from 15 February at the RPS headquarters in Bristol and will be touring across the UK. rps.org/ipe162
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Issue 74 | Photography News 11
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Camera club
News
SUCCESS + EXHIBITIONS + PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS + OUTINGS
BeckenhamPS stay inEurope
If your camera club has news you want to share with Photography News readers, please send it in. All sorts of stories are welcome, so it might be details of an annual exhibition, success in a contest, an upcoming event or news of a member’s personal achievement. Publicity officers – please read the submission guidelines and deadlines below, and get your stories in. › Write your story in 250 words or fewer on a Word document. Include the club’s website, meeting times, what the event is, opening times, entrance costs – anything relevant. › Every story should come with at least one image. JPEGs should be 1500 pixels minimum (bigger is fine) on the longest dimension, any colour space, photographer’s name in the file name, please. › We DO NOT use posters or any pictures with words on the image front. Send your contribution to clubnews@photography-news. co.uk with text document and images attached. Deadlines for the next few issues of Photography News ISSUE 75, out from 10 March, deadline for contributions: 28 February ISSUE 76, out from 14 April, deadline for contributions: 3 April ISSUE 77, out from 12 May, deadline for contributions: 1 May. DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE 28 February
Beckenham PS has a twinning relationship French camera club Image’in Perigny and PN reported on the French club’s visit to the UK in spring 2019. Late last year, it was the turn of Beckenham to visit its French twin, and this is the report from exchange organiser Angela Ford. “The visit was a typically gastronomic and photographic delight with trips organised to Ile de Ré and Ile d’Oleron, islands just off the south-west coast. “Ile d’Oleron presented a wide range of opportunities, frommarkets and an imposing fortress to fishermen’s huts and yachts left high and dry in the harbour. Beckenhammembers could be found around every corner. The day finished with a glorious sunset at Chatelaillon, a retro seaside town. “Another highlight was Rochefort, a naval town south of La Rochelle, and an exclusive tour of the Hermione, a replica of the frigate that sailed to America to support the revolutionaries in their battles with the English in 1780.
“At Perigny’s weekly club meeting Beckenham’s 13 visiting members each presented three of their favourite images. Images from the club’s recent successes in county competitions that were selected to represent Kent in the national championship were also shown. Member David Wood
also showed prints taken with his first camera, a Box Brownie, bought on a trip to Lille soon after the second world war.” Beckenham president Sheree Dodd said: “This was a fantastic visit and our friends from Perigny were extremely hospitable. This twinning relationship 50not out Gloucester CC club has presented Geoffrey Dawson with a plaque to celebrate 50 years as amember. Secretary MikeWatson said:“Geoffrey has served the club in most roles and continued to serve on the management committee until very recently. As a photographer, he was a regular and successful contributor to club competitions in the days of slide film, with his Contax camera, and hasmore recently enjoyed some success with digitised versions of those images. Geoffrey continues to represent the club at meetings of theMCPF (although that maybe an excuse to catch up with his old colleagues!). In spite of health problems Geoffrey is still attending regularly and we all hope that his enthusiasm for photography will remain with him for a long time yet. ” gloucestercameraclub.co.uk
is held in high regard in France – a clear sign of which was the mayor of the town joining our farewell dinner.” If your club has similar events, PN would love to hear from you. In the first instance, email clubnews@photography- news.co.uk beckenhamphotosoc.org.uk
Neath &District PS’s UK Salon 2020 is open for entries. This exhibition has BPE and PAGB accreditation with PAGBmedals, NDPS medals and both BPE and NDPS ribbons. The closing date is 19 April with selection on 25 and 26 April. Entries are via a link on the club’s website. This year’s selectors are Bob Dennis CPAGB, Peter GennardMFIAP and Gary Shinner LRPS. There are four categories: Open Colour, OpenMono, Nature and Creative. Four images can be entered into each category at a cost of £10 for one category and £2 for each subsequent category, so you can enter all four for £16. All entrants get a DVD of the accepted images and awards. neathphotographicsociety.org Neath’s Salon
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Camera club
Charlie’s at Clacton Clacton CC is hosting a talk by Charlie Waite, one of the world’s leading landscape photographers, on 6 March starting at 7.30pm. His style is often considered to be unique, conveying an almost spiritual quality of serenity and calm ‘rare perfections of light, colour and composition’. The venue is McGrigor Hall, Fourth Avenue, Frinton-on- Sea, Essex CO13 9EB. Tickets cost £12.50 each (includes refreshments) and are available fromWendy Leech, phone 07778 743263, or via email at ccclubevents@ gmail.com Clacton CC meets on Fridays, at 7.30pm between September and May, at Little Clacton Youth and Community Hall, Plough Corner, Little Clacton, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex CO16 9ND. clactoncameraclub.co.uk Cheltenham CC Cheltenham CC is pleased to announce the 8th Cheltenham International Salon of Photography (CISP). The salon has patronage from FIAP, PSA, GPU and the PAGB. There are five sections, Colour, Monochrome, Creative, Nature and Travel with a total of 141 Awards. All entrants will receive a full colour A4 printed catalogue. Entries can be made online at the website below and the closing date for entries is 1 April. cheltenhamcameraclub.co.uk/ wordpress/salon
Abingdonwent live
hear us. Our live, international meeting was not only a first for Abingdon, but appears to be a first for any camera club in the UK and will be repeated next year, when Abingdon will be the host. “If any club would like a similar real time, live meeting with us please contact our chairman, Steve Oakes, through our website. Abingdon CCmeets everyThursday at 8pm in theAll SaintsMethodist Church Hall in Dorchester Crescent. abingdoncameraclub.org
In the last issue of PN we reported that Abingdon CC has having a digital projected image competition with a club in the Dordogne, France on 23 January. Peter Delehar of Abingdon CC brings us up to date. “ The international meeting with a camera club in the Dordogne, France, went very well. The projected images could be seen by both clubs at the same time,” says Peter. “We could see and hear the judge and audience in France, and they could see and
Beckenham PS’s annual exhibition is taking place at Beckenham Public Hall, Bromley Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 5JE. It’s open on 20 and 21 February from 10am to 8pm and on 22 February from 10am to 5pm. Entrance is free and visitors are very welcome. Beckenham PS meets on Wednesdays at 7.45pm between September and May at St. John’s Church Hall, Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham BR3 3JN. beckenhamphotosoc.org.uk Beckenham’s annual show
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Olympus
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
To see the final video visit bit.ly/PNSYS3
OLYMPUS MASTER VIDEO SERIES SHOOT YOUR STORY The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew offer great imaging opportunities all year round, even in the depths of winter. To prove it, Photography News editor Will Cheung took along the new the Olympus OM-D E-M1Mark III for a shoot
K ewGardens to the west of London is a fabulous place to visit any time of year. Naturally, the imaging opportunities vary from season to season, but there’s content to be had at any time, and even if it’s pouring with rain at the time of your visit, there’s no lack of indoor potential. So, with the newOlympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III for company, I grabbed the chance to produce a short video to showcase my visit, as the new camera is richly featured for both still and video shooting. As a stills photographer with limited video experience, I find cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III ideal for producing pro-quality multimedia content. The camera’s many auto features mean I can shoot video without having to stress about the technical side and can concentrate on the creative stuff.
Typically, on the day of my shoot the weather was dismal and damp. Anyway, I had no concerns about the OM-D E-M1 Mark III, because it is weatherproofed – it’s IPX1 tested, so will continue working with water drops falling on to it. I had packed three M.Zuiko Digital ED lenses, the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro, 9-18mm f/4-5.6 and 60mm f/2.8 Macro. When I say packed, I actually mean pocketed, because they are so compact they just slipped into the pockets of my outdoor jacket. The OM-D E-M1 Mark III has an updated in-body image stabiliser (IBIS) using the same gyro found in the flagship OM-D E-M1X and offers 7EV benefit withMicro Four Third lenses. Setting up for video shooting was simple. The video mode can be accessed either via the main exposure mode dial or by just pushing the record button, which is quicker and means I can shoot stills in aperture-priority AE and start
video shooting without taking the camera down frommy eye. When you have enough footage, hit the red button again to stop filming or, if you want a still, just press the shutter release to take a full-res still image and stop videoing. This camera supports OM-Log400 shooting , which helps deliver footage with detail in shadows and highlights and, even though I was not shooting in bright light, having that editing option was welcome. The camera’s image stabiliser proved a boon for video and the results were smooth, even with footage I shot panning or walking around. The lighting conditions, particularly in the PalmHouse when I was shooting close-up details using the 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens, were nothing to write home about, so the OM-D E-M1 Mark III’s IBIS proved invaluable and so did the camera’s good high ISO performance.
I used ISO 800 and ISO 1600, and checking on screen showed that such speeds yielded impressive image quality. For my still shooting, I had the camera set to give Raw and JPEGs, shooting in aperture-priority autoexposure mode, multi-zone exposure metering and single-shot autofocus using one or five focus zones. I manually adjusted ISO. Whether shooting stills or video, the new camera’s autofocusing system, with its 121 cross-type phase detect sensors, proved very good, even in the poor light indoors. Touch AF and the new multi-selector or AF joystick proved really useful, too, especially when faced with the challenge of shooting details. A couple of hours shooting with the newOM-D E-M1 Mark III showed it to be a lovely, responsive and very capable camera to use, and the results here and on the edited video are testament to that. I hope you’ll agree.
ABOVE Taken using a M.Zuiko ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III. The lens was set at its widest aperture for a limited amount of front-to- back sharpness.With its 19cmminimum focusing distance, this compact macro lens (equivalent to 120mm in 35mm format) lets you shoot at 1:1 magnification and can be used with the camera’s focus bracketing and focus stacking features
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Olympus
Small is beautiful
“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,”said legendary photojournalist Robert Capa. The Olympus OM-D systemhas all the tools to help shoot stunning stills and video and that’s what I wanted to bring together for my short video. During this shoot at KewGardens, I spent themost time with theM.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8Macro on the OM-D E-M1 Mark III.The camera’s responsive continuous autofocus proved really responsive and did a great job, evenwith the challenge of areas of even tone in poor light.
1 SETTING UP The OM-D EM-1 Mark III has an extensive and impressive feature set, but my needs for still shooting are quite modest. They are: Raw image format, aperture-priority autoexposure mode, multi-zone metering, auto white- balance and single-zone autofocus.With its intuitive handling and enhanced Super Control panel, camera set-up is a speedy process.
2 NOW SET UP FOR 4K For video, I went to the Video Menu>Specification Settings. Here, you set 4K (or Full HD or HD if you prefer) where there is also the choice of different frame rates.While you can start shooting video regardless of what’s set on the exposure mode dial (with the exception of B) by pushing the record button, a default exposure mode and focusing mode can be assigned to video shooting, too.
THE GEAR USED
3 STEADY AS YOU SHOOT Smooth video shooting is helped greatly by an effective in-body image stabilisation system and the OM-D E-M1 Mark III has one of the world’s best, with the sensor and new TruePic processing engine working together to give 7.5EV benefit with Sync IS and 7EV benefit with all Micro Four Thirds lenses. For this shoot, where there wasn’t much light about, especially in Palm House, so the OM-D E-M1 Mark III’s updated system proved a massive boon.
4 SHARP SHOOTING The OM-D E-M1 Mark III’s autofocusing system is another beneficiary of Olympus’s new TruePic IX processing engine with very fast, incredibly responsive focusing.With 121 all cross-type sensors covering most of the image frame, custom selectable AF patterns and advanced Face and Eye Priority AF, tracking a moving subject in continuous AF is reliable and accurate during video shooting.
KEY FEATURES
An OM-D EM-1 Mark III, Olympus’s newest Micro Four Thirds camera, was used for this shoot. It is a professional camera with a feature set designed to fulfil the exacting demands of expert content creators. The camera sensor has a 20.4-megapixel resolution and features a powerful new Olympus TruePix IX image processing engine for minimal image noise at high ISO settings and an image stabiliser that gives a 7.5EV benefit with lenses with Sync IS. For video, the camera offers 4K or Cinema 4K (C4K) and supports OM-Log400 shooting for footage with full highlight and shadow detail. The following M.Zuiko Digital ED lenses were used for this shoot: 12- 40mm f/2.8 Pro, 9-18mm f/4-5.6 and 60mm f/2.8 Macro.
› 20.4-megapixel resolution › NewTruePic IX image processor › Handheld and tripod high-res shot modes › In-body, five-axis image stabiliser with up to 7.5EVbenefit › Autofocus uses 121 point phase detect, all cross-type sensors › 18fps continuous shooting withAF/ AE tracking › Cinema 4K and 4K moviemodes › Weatherproof body
5 FOCUS MATTERS Pull focus technique – changing sharp focus fromone part of the scene to another with a smooth transition – is straightforward thanks to the OM-D E-M1 Mark III’s impressive continuous autofocus skills and touchmonitor. Face and Eye Detect also worked very impressively during continuous AF and accurately kept track of subjects.
6 CHECK YOUR SHOTS There’s not always time to check every still or piece of video footage, especially when the light is fading, but it is always worth having the occasional look just tomake sure you are getting what you want. The OM-D E-M1 Mark III proved a very capable companion and its lovely touch monitor showed I was getting first-rate results.
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