Photography News Issue 61

Photography News | Issue 61 | photographynews.co.uk

48 Christmas gifts

FujifilmXF10 Smart, small and highly capable, that’s the XF10, a new compact from Fujifilm, which sells for £449. This is a 24-megapixel APS-C format compact camera that weighs just 285g and is available in champagne gold and black. It features a top-quality fixed 18.5mm f/2.8 Fujinon lens, giving an equivalent field of view to a 28mm lens, and it features a digital teleconverter giving the viewof a 35mmand 50mm lens – in the 35mm format. You can select the aspect ratio too, from the usual 3:2 to 16:9 or 1:1, while the lens’s ability to focus as close as 10cm from the camera means exploring close-ups is easy enough too. Other core photographic functions include an expanded ISO sensitivity range of 100 to 51,200, 11 FujifilmFilm Simulation modes, a built-in smart flash and 4K burst shooting which can take 15 shots in a second and you can then pick the best one. And last but certainly by nomeans least, it has Bluetooth so you can get your pictures on to social media very quickly or output themas prints using an Instax printer. fujifilm.eu

Hahnemuehle Photo RagMetallic FewcurrentinkjetbrandscanmatchthelongandveryrichhistoryofHahnemuehle and its current range features papers for fine art and digital output. However, its latest addition Photo Rag Metallic illustrates that this brand has its eye very much on current photographic needs. The lustrous glossy metallic finish gives a shimmering effect that looks wonderful with classy portraits, landscapes and

BlackRapid Straps Buy a camera and you get a shoulder strap and yes they do the job. But they are usuallyemblazonedwith the brand’s logo and generally notgreat.BlackRapidstraps, now distributed in the UK by a new business called PhotoTEQ, offer so much more in style, handling and general coolness. There is a widechoiceof strapsonoffer from BlackRapid but it built its reputation on its sling, across the body, so called ‘pap’ straps so that is where we’ll focus. Several versions are available: the Curve Breathe, Hybrid Breathe, Sport Breathe (Left also available), Street Breathe and Double Breathe. To give you an idea of pricing, the Curve Breathe sells for £65 and the Double Breathe for £135 – Double because it can take two cameras, one hanging off each shoulder. The camera hangs down by your side but you can quickly bring it to the eye, with movable bumpers that limit amount of travel up and down the strap. Attachment to the strap is via the camera’s tripod socket and the latest fasten accessories ensure the camera is perfectly secure. The across the body concept might seem strange to start, but it’s comfortable, the camera can’t slip off your shoulder, it saves neck ache and is really quick to use. A BlackRapid strap would be a great, really practical presenttoanyphotographer.

architectural shots. It works really well with monochrome images with rich shadows and sparkling highlights giving images rich in depth and contrast. It is a 100% cotton material with a lovely 340gsm weight and its base is a natural white, free of optical brightening agents. It is also acid and ligin free so has excellent keeping properties. There is a full test on thismaterial in this issue. hahnemuehle.com

Serif Affinity Photo Most photographers edit their shots, some more than others, so we can’t do without software. Serif’s Affinity is a powerful, fully featured software suitable for photographers from newcomers to professionals. Its Rawprocessor has a dedicatedworkspacewhich is versatile andallowsprecise fine-tuning toproduce lovely files for further editing. HDR Merge and Panorama (shown in the screengrab here) are creative Raw options too. Then, onceyouget intoeditingyouhave such features as unlimited layers, adjustable layers, blend modes and mask layers plus all the usual retouching tools at your disposal. Its clean interface and intuitive handling make using this software a pleasure too. Affinity is available for Mac and Windows, and for desktop and iPad too. The desktop version is attractively priced at £48.99 (currently on special offer at £33.99) while the iPad edition, which recently had a big update, is available from

the App Store at £13.99. affinity.serif.com

LexarWorkflowHub Lexar, recently acquired by Longsys, a Chinese company specialising in NAND memory solutions, has new cards and a workflow hub system to offer photographers and video makers the smoothest, most efficient workflowpossible. The Workflow Hub system, available for USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 2 is a four-bay modular system that allows simultaneous download of several cards and direct transfer onto the SSD drive if fitted. Swappable modules for all current card formats including CFast and XQD are available – and of course with this modular approach it means that when new card systems come on stream, an appropriate Lexarmodulewill keep the systemup to date. Lexar’snewSDcardsperformat 1000x,which is adata transfer dataof 150MB/s,which is ideal for shootingwith the latest high-resolution, high-speed-shooting cameras andhelps tokeep the instances of buffering to aminimum. swains.co.uk lexar.com

phototeq.com

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