Photography News Issue 39

Photography News | Issue 39 | absolutephoto.com

52 Accessories test

12 craves of Christmas Yes, the festive season is upon us, but forget all that stuff about goodwill to all men for a moment – it’s time to turn your attention to good gear. So, whether you’re looking for a gift for someone else or some ideas for your own Christmas list, here are PN ’s top twelve picks... Buyers’ guide

A Zenfolio website extended free trial for

Samsung T3 Portable SSD & SD Pro cards from£40

PN readers Got a little spare time to spend this Christmas?Want toget your pictures online in a slick and professional looking way? Then look no further than a brilliant Zenfolio website. With a huge range of designs and an excellent level of customisation on offer, you can create a beautiful, fully-featured site without the need for complex coding, and update it as often as you like. The sites support blogging and sharing to social media so you can keep your friends, family and clients up to date with what you’ve been shooting, and you can sell prints worldwide via a wide range of trusted labs. Content is automatically formatted for mobile devices and Zenfolio offers unlimited storage, so you can back up originals for safekeeping. Normally you can get a 14 day trial to test out its features, but as a PN reader, here’s a little Christmas present from us; a trial that extends right up to 31 December 2016. Zenfolio.co.uk/prophotouk If you want to give a great present this Christmas, how about the gift, not just of light, but of shaping it to your will? Using flash creatively is one of the easiest ways to improve photography and by combining a superb flashwith effectivemodifiers, you’ll have a great combination. The Pixapro Li-ION580II (£169.95) is a powerful TTL speedlite and comes in fits for Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras. Eschewing AA batteries it has a rechargeable 2000mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable battery whichgivesultra-fastrecyclingtimes of up to 1.5 seconds at full power and can fire up to 650 full-power flashes per charge. With TTL metering and a built-in 2.4GHz receiver, it can also be triggered using the Pixapro ST- III S TTL trigger, up to 100m. Allied to the new flash, it’s well worth checking out the MagMod 2 range of flash modifiers. These silicone rubber lightshapers are fitted using high-strength magnets, making them light, small and easy to use. Try the Magmod 2 Basic kit (at £71.96), which has all you need to get started. essentialphoto.co.uk 3 Pixapro flash &MagMod kit from£169.95

We all have great Christmas memories, but to share them with others you need reliable digital storage. And with the latest cameras and gadgets requiring more and more space, youneedstorage that can keep up. So this Christmas, consider the gift of memory. Samsung offers a range of reliable, high-performing cards and drives so you can capture andtransferall your festivemoments and securely store them. Samsung’s ultra-fast Pro Plus SD cards offer UHS-I Speed Class 3 (U3) and Class 10 compatibility perfect for 4K video and high-resolution stills. With read/write speeds of 95MB/s and 90MB/s respectively, and a large 64GB capacity, prices start at £40. And for backing up there’s the latest in solid-state technology, the Samsung Portable T3 2TB SSD; a compact, powerful drive with a huge 450MB/s read/write speed, USB 3.1 connectivity, weighing only 51g and the size of a business card. Available from 250/500 GB and 1/2TB capacities, prices start at £105. samsung.co.uk 360ºandvirtualrealityphotography is an exciting new way to chart your travels, and its benefits extend to stills as well as video, so if you fancy taking on a new style this Christmas, and in the year beyond, read on. Some of the most exciting cameras forging the way are Kodak’s Pixpro 360 series, including the Pixpro SP360 4K. To record footage ready to make a VR still or movie, you can either shoot with the same camera twice, inverting the viewsecond time around, or better yet, mount two cameras back to back. For the latter, the Pixpro Action Camera Dual Pro Pack includes all the essentials to get you started, with two 12 megapixel cameras, each featuring an ultra- wide 235°, f/2.8 lens, and a Dual Camera Base Mount to hold them. These cameras can shoot in Ultra High Definition 4K video at 30 frames-per-second or produce rich 8Mp stills at a rate of up to 10fps. Once recording is done, you can edit andupload360º content toFacebook or Youtube in seconds using the free desktop package or smartphone app. kodakpixpro.com/Europe 4 Kodak Pixpro SP360 4K Dual Pro Pack £749

LumeJet Acrylic Box Frame Panoramas

6 Novo CBH-46 head £99 One of the hallmarks of getting serious about your photography is switching to a high-quality tripod head. Manufactured from lightweight aviation-grade anodised aluminium, the Novo CBH-46 ball head has a huge maximum load capacity of 20kgs and low weight of 568g. It also sports large anatomical locking knobs to make handling easier, especiallywhenwearing your newChristmas gloves, and to further personalise control of the ball joint, there’s a separate tension setting, while two panoramic controls further aid easy adjustments; one main control and a secondary adjuster where the plate sits. If you want to travel lighter, there’s also the new Novo CBH-34 with a weight of 327g and a maximum loading capacity of 10kgs (£69). What’s more, both heads use Arca-Swiss compatible quick release plates for greater stability and compatibility with other devices. A20%promotionwill be running on these heads and other Novo items in until the end of December. novo-photo.com

Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods from£359

from£67 What better way to celebrate the festive season than giving someone the gift of your photography? That’s right, sharing your shots is a great way to put a smile on your loved ones’ faces and to help LumeJet has just launched a range of Acrylic Box Framed Panoramas. These high- quality panoramas come in sizes from 20in up to 39in, so there’ll be no lack of wow-factor on the big day and you’ll know you’ve created a gift to be treasured for years to come. Just load up your choice of image (including iPhone format), and the shot will be printed on FujifilmDPII professional-grade paper. But that’s not all. The print is combined with a 53mm deep wooden box frame and precision-cut 2mm thick acrylic which produces a stunning 3D effect that really catches the eye. The frame itself also has a 22mm wide lip to give your image a clean, stylish outline. Available in black, brown or white, with prices starting from £67, make sure you order your unique panorama gift in time for Christmas. lumejet.com

You probably have a tripod, but there’s always room for another if it’ll expand your shooting possibilities – and what better time to treat yourself? Here are two great examples. The Manfrotto 190Go! carbon fibre is a small, light and highly adaptable version of the successful 190XPRO and comes with a versatile 496RC2 ball head. Its four-section, twist-lock legs allow quick setup and with a closed size of 57.5cm and a weight of just 2.1kg it’s a great travel companion. At the other end of the scale, try the Gitzo GT3533LS, part of the exacting Systematic range, Gitzo’s strongest and most stable tripods. The Series 3 GT3533LS (£699.95) has a top leg diameter of 32.9mm for stability and its Carbon eXact legs keep it light at just 2.04kg. The legs can be configured with a flat disk, or a geared, or sliding centre column, before a head of your choice is added, and, like the 190Go! there’s an Easy Link attachment with a 3/8in’ thread to attach accessories like lights. manfrotto.co.uk gitzo.co.uk