Photography News Issue 29

68 Competition

Photography News Issue 29 absolutephoto.com

Editor’s letter Hello Japan

N I L A N D S C A P E I D O M T M B H B E N G G K A P E R T U R E H I J N C H Q W Z S D T N Z O K C W P U P I E D Q I I Q I U R E W R I Z T M R Z G B C F U L L I B E D P A T O S V H S V S A N N I R O S U O A I R P E V E P C D P M R G O V E G X L S M A A H Z C L R E A C O R L V R Y G O K S E C O O O J J N U L S N I N P Y T T A N O I I P A T L W H Q D N C C P P O X E S V Z G X Capture life’s special moments across all devices with the ultra-reliable Samsung SDmemory cards. Samsung’s latest SD cards canwrite data at an impressive 50MB/s and read data at an even higher 90MB/s. The cards are also amazingly reliable beingwater, temperature-, X-ray-, magnet- and shockproof, so shooting in themost challenging conditions isn’t an issue.We have onemassive 64GB Samsung PROSD card to award to one eagle-eyedwinner. Just complete thewordsearch below, and you’ll find one word in the list that’s not in the grid. Email us on puzzle@photography-news.co.uk with that word in the subject box by 14March 2016. A Samsung memory card! WIN! samsung.comand search formemorycards M D O P I R T L J

In the vast majority of cases when a new camera is launched it means a pleasant lunch at a posh eatery in London. That’s if I’m lucky. The trend nowadays is that I get an email and a download link to a press release and product images. So even major – and I mean seriously big – products have been introduced with a whimper, although it would not be politic of me to mention any names. Now, before you get all sympathetic and worry about my welfare, we do get the occasional launch that means meeting at an airport at the crack of dawn and being whisked off somewhere exotic. It doesn’t get much more exotic than Tokyo and that’s where 400 guests from the world over, including yours truly, descended in early January for the launch of the Fujifilm X-Pro2. It just happened to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the first X-system camera, the X-Pro1, so the event was a double celebration for the brand. You can read my test on the X-Pro2 in this issue, and to be honest, I really like the camera. Cynicswillassumethat’dbeobviousgivenIhad a few days being wined and dined at Fujifilm’s expense but as it happens it has several niggles. I solvedoneby the simple expedient of applying some gaffer tape. Ironically, this was gaffer tape I had ‘borrowed’ frommy X-T1 – it has a couple of strategically placed pieces to stop certain controls, like the dioptre correction, moving. As a whole, though, I think the X-Pro2 is a very fine camera capable of impressive image quality backed up with a system of lenses that wants for little. I have made several A2 prints from JPEGs and Raws and they look great. Away from the camera launch I took the opportunity to spend a fewextra days in Japan’s capital. I’ve been there on several occasions on

business but never have I had the chance to explore this great city. So this time, I waved my hosts and press colleagues goodbye and struck out onmy own for a few days. With thehelpof several phone apps andwith much finger gesturing and pointing I managed to survive. To be fair, English is widely used so navigating the underground system was fine and I didn’t get lost once on the metro. Where I did get lost was at street level where road signs – in any language – seemed lacking, or maybe I was looking in the wrong places. I had an offline map app but that was no good because there were no signs to confirm where I was. I just walked in one direction, then checked the map app again to see inwhich direction I was going. Primitive but it worked and with the occasional English/Japanese street map on street corners I managed to find my way around and when I did struggle to find something I just asked. On occasion, heading to popular tourist spots, I followed tour groups with their guides holding a flag up high. That worked a treat. Photographically, it’s a great city to shoot. Temples, modern buildings, street scenes, crowds, colour, people – you name it, you can photograph it in Tokyo. There is such a diverse range of subjects, as you would expect in amajor capital. After four days pounding the streets and many pictures later I can say that if you ever get the chance to visit, grab it with both hands and make sure you have plenty of memory because you will need it.

Angle Aperture Classic Composition

Crop Detail Exposure Foreground

Grad Landscape

ND Panorama Perspective Polariser

Scenic Tripod Urban Wide

Read Photography News online

Light Long

Register on absolutephoto.com and you can read Photography News online on your smartphone, tablet or computer as soon as it’s published.

If you do not want to receive any marketing information fromBright Publishing or our partners, in your email entry please type NO INFO.

Photography news

Photography News is published on the third Monday of every month 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.

Editorial Team Editorial director Roger Payne Editor Will Cheung FRPS 01223 499469 willcheung@bright-publishing.com Contributing editor Kingsley Singleton kingsleysingleton@bright-publishing.com Features writer Jemma Dodd jemmadodd@bright-publishing.com Sub editors Lisa Clatworthy & Catherine Brodie

Advertising Team Sales director Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Senior sales executive Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Sales executive Ollie Smith 01223 499457 olliesmith@bright-publishing.com Key accounts Mike Elliott mikeelliott@bright-publishing.com

Design Team Design director Andy Jennings Designer Katy Bowman Junior designer Lucy Woolcomb Publishing Team Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck Head of circulation Chris Haslum As well as your local camera club, you can pick up PhotographyNews in-storefrom: Calumet, Cameraworld, Castle Cameras, Jessops, London Camera Exchange, Park Cameras, Wilkinson Cameras

Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire, CB22 3HJ www.bright-publishing.com

ISSN 2059-7584

When you have finished with this newspaper, please recycle it