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Laowa’s dynamic duo A regular on PN’s news pages, Laowa products are almost always different, sometimes quirky and often innovative. Its latest two lenses are typical of the brand
EDITOR’S LETTER WILLCHEUNG
SPRING HAS SPRUNG – well, kind of ! One day, I was out in short sleeves shooting cherry blossom and chasing (in vain!) a brimstone butterfly with my macro lens; the next, temperatures plummeted and it hailed and snowed. I guess it’s typical spring fare. There’s plenty more worrying stuff happening in the world, so I am going to bury my head in the sand and talk about April. What a great month it is to get out with the camera! With warmer, longer days, interesting weather, decent light and colour appearing in the landscape, what’s not to love about being outside? In a word, nothing. But it is perhaps odd – if not downright bizarre – that my recent work has been mostly indoors. One shoot was a press event, where I was lucky enough to try two new Rotolights – the Neo 3 and AEOS 2 – shooting models in a big house location. You can read what I thought about them on page 39. Plus, I have been playing with my light pad – something I bought during the first lockdown – shooting dried leaves, flowers, feathers and shells. I have been collecting shells for a while. Not off exotic beaches, but from markets and shops. I thought they would make nice
LAOWA’S NEWEST OFFERINGS give speed and shift correction. Starting with speed, the Laowa 25mm f/0.95 MFT APO is the latest in its Argus range. An apochromatic lens with 14 elements in eight groups, including special glass elements, to deliver top-notch optical performance and minimal chromatic aberrations. Other noteworthy features include internal focusing with a long focus throw for greater accuracy, 25cm minimum focus, 62mm filter thread and a fully metal construction. This Micro Four Thirds mount lens is £399 and available now. Laowa’s second new optic is a 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift lens. It has 11mm shift for the 35mm format, and 8mm for medium format cameras. This helps to minimise converging verticals, so is ideal for architecture and interior photographers. Optically, this lens sports 16 elements in an 11-group construction, with two aspherical and two ED elements to help deliver a high level of sharpness and zero distortion. It has 14 aperture blades, can focus as close as 25cm, with an 82mm filter thread. Available in Canon EF and RF, Fujifilm GFX, L-Mount, Nikon F and Z and Sony E, this 20mm lens is available to pre-order at £1139. venuslens.net
subjects for macro and focus stacking. So, with the camera and macro lens on a tripod, I lit the shells from above and below, capturing anything from six frames up to 24 – I used Affinity Photo rather than a specialist stacking software. It passed a leisurely two evenings, and all I have to do now is present them in a creative way. Watch this space. Finally this month, don’t forget to sign up for Photo 24, if you can join us in London on 25 and 26 June. If you can’t make it in person, join the fun virtually via Instagram, where we will be announcing the themes for our Super 24 Challenge, which takes place during Photo 24. With prizes to be won and events to attend, it’s not to miss. See pages 11 and 12 for more on our big summer event. Meanwhile, until the next time, stay safe and keep shooting.
“Special glass elements deliver top-notch optical performance”
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What’s inside 03 News It’s a quiet month for new camera announcements, but it’s nice to take a breath. There’s still plenty going on, with lenses and software being launched 11 Photo 24 Sign up to be in with a chance of joining us on 25-26 June, for 24 hours of photo fun in the capital – with photo walks, taster classes and competitions galore 14 Vanguard contest and Samsung word search Test your wits and you could win some fab prizes – a Samsung 256GB microSD card, or your pick from the Vanguard Alta Sky bag collection
17 Club news Beckenham PS enjoys its 100th, while Molesey PC gets the gold 21 Buyers’ guide: Supporting roles A good tripod is worth its weight in gold, and a bad one only fit for the skip. Check out our guide to avoid disappointment 25 Buyers’ guide: Sound affects Quality audio for videos is really important. To achieve it, you need to look beyond your camera’s built-in mic 28 Used corner: Canon EOS 7D Mark II There will always be demand for crop sensor cameras. This DSLR, introduced in 2014, was much loved by action and nature shooters – and it remains a popular used buy
32 Big test: Canon EOS R3 So far, 2022 has been dominated by top-end cameras. The EOS R3 is Canon’s first – and much-anticipated – deep-bodied pro mirrorless model. Does it justify all the hype, as well as a £5879 price tag, or is it a damp squib? PN puts it to the test to find out 38 First tests l Joby Wavo Air l Rotolight Neo 3 & AEOS 2 l Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD l Vanguard VEO Active 53 l Samyang AF 135mm f/1.8 FE l Kenro Smart Lites: RGB Video Light KSLP102 & Bi-Colour Video Light KSLP101
Issue 98 | Photography News 3
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