Photography News Issue 34

Photography News | Issue 34 | absolutephoto.com

47 Accessories test

VANGUARD Supreme 53D case

HOYA Pro-1 Digital Circular Polariser Filter

From £54

£40

£229

LOWEPRO Toploader Pro 70/75 AW

KENKO 2x Teleplus HD DGX teleconverter

EXPODISC 2.0 Professional White Balance Filter

£169

£199

From £65

LEE FILTERS Digital SLR Starter Kit

LoweproToploader Pro 70/75AWfrom£65

massive, with a selection of sizes and types to meet any need that arises, but if you’re after a starting option, look no further than the aptly named Digital SLR Starter Kit at around £200. The high- quality kit features Lee’s standard filter holder that accepts 100mm wide filters, letting you slot in up to three 2mm thick resin or glass sheets. The holder (which can be bought alone for around £50) clips onto an adapter ring, which is sold separately, as you’ll need to specify the size required based on the filter size of your lens. True to its name, the kit also gets you going with two 100mm filters: a 0.6 ProGlass ND Standard, which reduces exposure by two stops, helping you to achieve slower shutter speeds or wider apertures, while maintaining true- to-life colour; and also a 0.6 Neutral Density Hard Grad that darkens just the sky (again by two stops), so you can balance exposures more easily. The kit can be kept nice and neat in the included Tri-Pouch, which has belt loops for easy carrying, and which holds three filters (room to expand your set). There’s even a high-quality cleaning cloth included. leefilters.com

Each ExpoDisc is tested by hand and adjusted to ensure an 18% total light transmission across the visible spectrum (this neutrality is very important because using non-calibrated tools can actually make results worse than none at all, and accurate white-balance is even more important for video than it is for stills). Thanks to its innovative design, the ExpoDisc 2.0 can also be used to meter incident light for perfectly accurate exposures and to dust-map your sensor. It comes in 77mmand 82mmfits, but if your lens filter size is smaller, you’ll just need to spend a few pounds on a stepping ring tomake up the difference or hold the filter over the lens manually. As well as the Disc, your £40 gets you four Portrait Warming Filters (Gels), a lanyard and storage pouch, and a quick-start guide. gb.colorconfidence.com

HD DGX is very well built and offers full coupling with your camera, so you can expect uninterrupted AF (so long as your camera’s AF will function at the lower light levels allowed by the smaller maximum aperture), autoexposure and also accurate EXIF info on your files. Perhaps most importantly though this teleconverter has little effect on image quality, thanks to its five- element, three-group construction andmulti-coatings that allow greater light transmission and less flare visible in images. The 2x Teleplus HD DGX is available in both Canon EF/EF-S and Nikon F fits. Intro2020.co.uk TheExpoDisc2.0isasuperbaddition toany camerabagand, for a relatively small outlay, it will pay you back over and over in hours saved from editing. The ExpoDisc’s main role is to help you set white-balance more accurately, and this it does snapping neatly over the end of your lens. White-balance can then be calibrated manually for spot-on colours, though you’ll need to recalibrate when you move into different conditions. 9 ExpoDisc 2.0Professional WhiteBalance Filter £40

for speedy access. There’s room for other accessories in the top and side mesh pockets, too. lowepro.co.uk

When you upgrade lenses, it’s also well worth thinking about your choice of bag. Sure, most lenses will fit easily into a variety of shoulder bags and rucksacks, but if you have very long lenses it can be more of a squeeze, so upgrading your bag is a consideration. What’s more, if you want to keep large telephoto lenses attached to the camera for easy (and quick) shooting, you’ll need a specialist bag, such as Lowepro’s Toploader Pro series. The Toploader Proscomeintwosizes(70and75)and offer a compact and adaptable way of carrying your camera and lens. The Pro 70 bags will fit a pro-sized DSLR body with a typical 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom or a fast wide-angle zoom attached; the Pro 75 is longer, offering a space for a pro-sized DSLR fitted with a 70-200mm f/2.8 or similar. Both bags can be worn on over the shoulder, on the hip, attached to a belt, or as a chest harness, and the shoulder strap is well padded to offset the weight of heavy gear. The Toploader Pro 70 and 75 also have an All Weather cover to protect from rain, sand and sun and have a large, glove-friendly quick-release buckle,

Kenko 2xTeleplusHDDGX teleconverter £169

Kenko has long been known for its excellent teleconverters and extension tubes, and the trend continues with its 2x Teleplus HD DGX. If you’re new to shooting, a teleconverterisbasicallyanaccessory that fits between a lens and your camera body, increasing the lens’s effective focal length. Teleconverters come in different strengths, such as 1.4x, 1.7x, and in this case 2x, and that’s the factor by which the focal length will be extended. So, with the 2x Teleplus HD DGX fitted you can quickly turn a 70-200mm lens into one with an effective length of 140-400mm. It’s like a whole new lens for fraction of the cost! Like all teleconverters there’s a trade-off in light loss, and the 2x Teleplus HD DGX will cost you two stops of effective aperture, so a 70-200mm f/2.8will go longer, but give only f/5.6 at the widest; an f/4 lens will become an f/8. On the plus side, and unlike many teleconverters, the 2x Teleplus

LeeFiltersDigital SLR StarterKit £199

Consistent award winners and relied upon by innumerable pro photographers as well as serious amateurs, Lee Filters is one of the most trusted names in photography. The range of filters from Lee is