ISSUE 123
14 / NEWS
RISING TALENT AOP top student award to Elder With work spanning people, places and things, this year’s AOP gongs showcased the next generation of photographers
MIC DROP Super mini mic kit makes a big step up
with quad recording
An even more compact wireless audio kit now has support for up to four transmitters and eight receivers simultaneously. The new £259 DJI Mic 3 kit has Quadraphonic mode, where four independent audio tracks can be recorded when paired with compatible Sony cameras or editing software. There’s also a special £25 adapter to use the kit wirelessly with Sony cameras. However, the Mic 3 doesn’t have a 3.5mm lav mic input any more. Each transmitter weighs just 16g and can be worn with a rotating clip or magnetic mount. They even have windscreens in five colours for a more discreet look. The all-in-one charging case is included, but this time transmitters can be docked without removing clips or windscreens. Audio quality also gets a boost, with Adaptive Gain Control offering automatic mode for suppressing spikes and dynamic mode for balancing quieter environments. There are also three new voice tone presets – regular, rich and bright – plus two-level noise cancellation to tame background hum. dji.com
Surreal and playful approaches to subject matter underscored
the 40th annual Association of Photographers (AOP) Student Awards. The 51 student finalists represented 28 photography courses across the UK, with entries divided between three categories – People, Places and Things – as well as an overall best in show, as voted by top professionals. Top honours went to Ritchie Elder, a BA (Hons) professional photography student at Edinburgh College, for a portrait titled Alaa (pictured right) from his series Faith . His project explored the diversity of religious experience in Edinburgh through documentary and environmental portraiture. Elder receives £2500 of Fujifilm kit and a one-year subscription to Capture One Studio worth £499. Other winners included Flavia Lotempio (People, Silver), John-Martin Bramham (Places, Gold) and Ewelina Rhys (Things, Gold). the-aop.org
EDITING UPGRADE Photolab 9 gets smarter Photolab 9 is DxO’s most advanced
FAST MEDIA Express
upgrade for Type A cards Sony has expanded its media line-up with two new CFexpress Type A memory cards. Available in 1920GB and 960GB sizes for £1119 and £649 respectively, they manage ultra-fast transfers with a read speed of 1800MB/s – more than twice the speed of Sony’s previous generation. Compatible with the latest CFexpress 4.0 standard, the extra-tough cards are supported by Sony’s new £149 MRW-G3 card reader, which makes it possible to get the highest speeds if your computer has the right ports. sony.com
Raw editor yet, introducing AI-powered tools, refined local adjustments and a host of workflow upgrades. A standout new feature is AI Masks, which creates pixel-precise selections in seconds. Paired with DxO’s U Point Technology, these tools allow complex refinements to exposure, colour and detail. Lens Sharpness Optimisation and Deep Prime denoising can be applied selectively, while other highlights are batch renaming using metadata, faster image organisation with stacking and favourites and support for Apple HEIC/ HEIF and ProRaw files. It’s available for MacOS and Windows from £220. dxo.com
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