Indholdsfortegnelse for 236 i Pro Photo

Interest is growing in printers with refillable ink tanks rather than disposable cartridges, many of which end up in a landfill. Canon’s new PIXMA MegaTank G660 is specially designed for photo printing and uses a six-colour ChromaLife 100 dye-based ink set (cyan, magenta, yellow and black, plus red and grey for a wider colour gamut and better contrast). Canon says one set of ink bottles will allow you to print up to 3,800 borderless 4x6-inch (i.e. postcard size) photo prints, which works out at just 4.7 cents each. The G660 can output a 4x6-inch print in just 47 seconds, and there's a 100-sheet rear feeder tray for uninterrupted volume printing. It can print up to A4 size and borderless. The new GI-63 series MegaTank ink bottles have foolproof, key-type nozzles…

Apart from the near decade interval between the Nikon F – the camera that launched this category – and Canon’s cheekily designated F-1, the two brands have pretty much shadowed each other with the launches of their pro-level cameras. So it is with their respective first ‘proper’ pro mirrorless cameras, but as has happened over the last 50 years, both have come up with fairly different interpretations of the brief. OK, there’s commonality in the shared objectives of speed, capabilities, reliability and durability, but both have got there by different routes… particularly in terms of the execution and ergonomics. As we’ve noted with Nikon’s Z 9, the primary objective with the Canon EOS R3 is not to win over converts from another brand, but to convince its current DSLR users…

With its recent string of autofocus primes – mostly for Sony’s FE/E mount – Samyang has established itself as a mainstream contender in what is now a very competitive market – lenses for mirrorless cameras. So it makes sense that Samyang should take the next step and build its first autofocus zoom lens in the mirrorless era… and also its first 24-70mm f/2.8 model. Appropriately, it arrives in time to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary of its founding in 1972. Yep, Samyang is now 50, but there are still plenty of photographers – and videographers – just discovering what the South Korean lens maker is capable of. It flew under the radar for quite a while, but its manual focus primes – representing massive value for money given their performance…

Canon reckons its full-frame mirrorless camera system is already converting users of its higher-end DSLRs, so now it’s turning its attention to the APS-C cropped sensor ILC market where it has long dominated in DSLRs. Canon’s new mirrorless system is based on the RF mount which, as an aside, probably means sayonara to the largely unloved EF-M lineup… although the company isn’t saying as much right now. Nevertheless, it is acknowledging the importance of the cropped sensor sector and the need to inject its mirrorless offerings with more innovation and excitement. It will be well aware of what’s on offer from both Sony and Fujifilm as its EOS APS-C DSLR users start to think about potential replacements. To kick things off there are two camera bodies and two dedicated zoom…

There’s more good news for users of Micro Four Thirds system cameras as Panasonic launches the Leica DG Summilux 9mm f/1.7 (model H-X-09). It has an effective length of 18mm combined with the fast maximum aperture of f/1.7 and with a very short minimum focusing distance of just 9.5cm. This gives an effective maximum magnification of 1:2, which is half life size, and should allow you to do some pretty interesting things with close-ups. To match the capabilities of the Lumix camera bodies, the new 9mm f/1.7 has a weather-sealed construction and is also insulated to allow for operation is subzero temperatures down to -10º Celsius. An ultracompact design, the new lens is just 55mm in length and weighs a mere 130g. The screwthread filter fitting is 55mm. On the…

How do you keep an iconic camera relevant in the age of full automation and AI smarts, when its origins date back to the all-mechanical, all-manual 1950s era? Leica knows that its digital M-series cameras can’t compete with the latest developments in mirrorless – it has the SL system for this – but they do need to offer some modern conveniences and benefits. The rangefinder is obviously the essential ingredient of a Leica M camera and, in turn, it dictates the classic design, but after this it’s a case of determining how far it's possible to go in terms of digital technologies without compromising traditional values. It looks easy on paper, but history – from the M8 onward – has proven that it's not. It’s a given that some people…

With the arrival of the RF-S series lenses for the new APS-C cropped format EOS R mirrorless range, Canon now has five lens systems on the go – EF, EF-S, EF-M, RF and RF-S. As with EF and EF-S, RF and RF-S share the same lens mount but, differently to the DSLRs, you’re able to fit RF-S lenses to the fullframe EOS R bodies that will, of course, switch to the cropped format… so the effective focal ranges will be the same. And, also as with the full-frame mirrorless bodies, you can fit EF and EF-S lenses via the three mount adapters that Canon currently has available – the EF-EOS R, the EF-EOS R Control Ring adapter or the circular polariser alternative. If you’re planning to switch from your APS-C…

With the launch of three new wide-angle lenses for the APS-C format E mount, Sony has raced up to 70 E/FE models, which is very good going since the first lens was released back in October 2013. The new lenses comprise a power zoom and two primes. The E PZ 10-20mm f/4.0 G is equivalent to 15-30mm and is claimed to be the world’s smallest and lightest “ultra wide-angle constant f/4.0 APS-C power zoom lens”… that’s a pretty tightly defined category, but nevertheless this is a very compact lens indeed and it weighs a mere 178g. Zooming can be performed via an electronic zoom collar that allows for variable speed adjustment, or a tele/wide toggle switch. The optical construction comprises 11 elements in eight groups, including two extra-low dispersion (ED)…

It’s fair to say the last two decades have been pretty tough on professional photographers. The transition from film to digital brought widespread changes to every aspect of the practice and, over time, a significant contraction and devaluing of the market. It’s also fair to say that the profession has struggled to keep up with a lot of this. The new technologies have allowed many more part-time operators to compete in terms of their abilities and capabilities, but charge much lower prices. Over time the market has moved more towards a quantity model than a quality model. In many ways, photographs are now a fleeting commodity – quickly taken, shared via social media and then forgotten – rather than a thing of lasting value. The matted and framed print –…

Stu Spence loved surfing at Bondi until he got sick of people dropping in on him, so he started swimming at the Icebergs club and that started getting really competitive. Stu isn’t a fast swimmer, so people started swimming over him while he was doing his laps. Then Stu discovered a non-combative club at Watsons Bay, 7.7km to the north of Bondi, and from here he came across Camp Cove nestled on the harbour-side of South Head. From his prone position on the old Camp Cove wharf – where we’re shooting the picture for this article – Stu says, “Behind me is an old tide gauge station from the early 1900s. It’s very special for me because I’ve just made a film here”. Stu started to photograph artist and musician…