Indholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2018 i Camera

NIKON’S D850 HAS enjoyed only a short time in the sun as a full-35mm ILC which delivers both ultra-high resolution and high speed shooting before Sony has come along and spoiled the party with its new A7R III (model ILCE-7RM3). The third-gen A7R mirrorless camera retains its predecessor’s 43.6 megapixels (total) backside-illuminated (BSI) ‘Exmor R’ CMOS sensor, but there have been changes to the architecture and circuitry to improve both the signal-to-noise ratio and the dynamic range (claimed at 15 stops). An updated ‘Bionz X’ processor delivers significant increases in speed, in particular enabling continuous shooting at 10 fps with full AF/AE adjustment, and for a burst of up to 76 maximum quality JPEGs (or compressed RAWs) or 28 14-bit uncompressed RAW images. In live view mode, the maximum continuous…

IT’S NOT JUST retro-style cameras that are popular at the moment, but also lenses – and nobody has a richer heritage to draw from here than Leica. The modern re-incarnation of the Thambar-M 90mm f2.2 follows Leica’s earlier resurrection of the Summaron-M 28mm f5.6. The original Thambar-M 90mm f2.2 prime was introduced in 1935 and was known for its soft-focus characteristics which have been retained in the new version. So has the classical optical design – four elements in three groups – although Leica says the glass elements have been single-coated to protect against environment factors which can cause surface corrosion (incidentally, a major problem with very old lenses). Also retained in a 20-blade diaphragm to give absolutely rounded and smooth out-of-focus effects, and it has stepless adjustment of apertures.…

While the Lumix G9 is being touted as more of a photographer’s camera, it’s certainly not lacking in the video department and is better featured here than most D-SLRs and many of its mirrorless rivals. While it’s nowhere near as capable as the GH5, it still has pretty well everything the more serious video-maker is likely to want, starting with 4K recording. Like the GH5, the G9 uses the entire area of the M43 sensor when recording 4K video and then downsamples the footage in-camera so there’s no focal length magnification factor. Using the MP4 format, 4K video is recorded in the UHD resolution of 3840x2160 pixels with the choice of 50 or 25 fps speeds (PAL) and the cinematic 24 fps. Internally, it records 8-bit 4:2:0 colour with Long…

Type: Enthusiast/semi-professional digital SLR with Canon EF bayonet lens mount. Focusing: Automatic via 45-point wide-area system using phase-detection type CMOS sensor. All points are cross-type arrays. Focus points may be selected manually or automatically, plus Zone and Large Zone area modes. One-shot and continuous (AI Servo) modes with auto/manual switching. Continuous AF with predictive function. Sensitivity range is EV -3.0 - 18 (ISO 100). AF assist in low light/ contrast situations is provided by the built-in flash. AF micro-adjustment for up to 40 individual lenses. Phase-detection AF available in live view and video via ‘Dual Pixel CMOS AF’. Focus assistance via a magnified image (5x or 10x). Metering: 63-zone evaluative using 7560 pixels ‘RGB+IR’ sensor, selective area (6.5% of image area), spot (3.2%), centre-weighted average and E-TTL II auto flash.…

The SL full-35mm mirrorless camera is Leica’s star performer as far as video is concerned while the TL2 – and now the CL – have enough for photographers who occasionally want to make video clips, mostly for fun. Neither is likely to figure on the shopping lists of dedicated video-makers. Nevertheless, the CL can record 4K video in the Ultra HD resolution 3840x2160 pixels at 30 fps. The alternative resolution settings are Full HD at either 30 or 60 fps and HD at 30 fps. Clips are recorded in the MP4 format with MPEG 4 AVC/H .264 compression and 4.0 GB file size limit (but with automatic partitioning so recording isn’t interrupted). Stereo microphones are built-in, but there’s no provision for connection an external mic (in fact, unlike the TL2,…

Despite its involvement in video and film-making in other areas, Fujifilm was slow to get its stills camera up to speed here, but that’s changed dramatically with the latest generation of X Mount bodies, headed by the X-T2. The flagship model is still the pick of the litter for the more serious video-maker (and, of course, is quite a bit more expensive), but the X-E3 is also pretty capable with the added advantages of its small size and light weight. It records 4K video at the Ultra HD resolution of 3840x2160 pixels with the choice of 30, 25 or 24 fps, giving a bit rate of 100 Mbps. It uses the full width of the sensor for 4K video which means pixel skipping or binning is employed, resulting in a…

Format: Micro Four Thirds. Effective Focal Length: 16-36mm. Angle-of-View: 107 to 62 degrees (diagonal). Construction: 15 elements/10 groups. Minimum Focus: 23 centimetres (across the focal range). Maximum Reproduction Ratio: 1:4.2 at 18mm (35mm equivalent). Aperture Range: f2.8-4.0 to f22. Overall Length: 88.0 mm. Maximum Diameter: 73.4 mm. Filter Diameter: 67 mm. Weight: 315 grams. Features: Weather-protected construction (dust, moisture and sub-zero temperatures), alloy barrel tubes, one aspherical ED (extra-low dispersion) glass element, two ED (extra-low dispersion ) glass elements, three aspherical elements and one UHR (ultra-high refractive index) glass element, ‘Nano Surface Coating’ anti-reflection multi-coating, seven-blade diaphragm, 240 fps AF drive, internal focusing, MF/AF switch. Bayonet-fit lens hood and lens carry pouch supplied. Price: $1599. Distributor: Panasonic Australia, telephone 132 600, or visit www.panasonic.com.au…

ACCOMPANYING THE A7R III is yet another new FE mount lens, the 24-105mm f4.0 G OSS zoom. Weighing 663 grams, the new 24-105mm features a 17-element optical design which includes four aspherical types – two of which are ‘AA’ (advanced aspherical) types – and three ED (extra-low dispersion) glass elements which collectively correct for both distortion and chromatic aberrations. This lens also utilises Sony’s original ‘Nano AR’ multi-coating to minimise flare and ghosting, and has built-in optical image stabilisation. The barrel is sealed against the intrusion of dust or water, and the exposed surface of the front element has a fluorine coating to help repel moisture and grease. Other features include a customisable focus-hold button, a nine-blade diaphragm (for smooth out-of-focus effects), Sony’s ‘Direct Drive SSM’ ultrasonic autofocusing motor, and…

You may remember that Ektachrome’s return was promised by the end of 2017, which obviously hasn’t happened yet, but fear not, the revived Kodak E6-process colour transparency film is still coming. It’s taken a lot longer to restart production than was envisaged – a number of ingredients were no longer available and the process had to be adapted to the machinery that Kodak has available – but test runs have been completed and a pilot production run is expected to commence shortly. Kodak is no longer being definitive about availability, but we suspect you’ll be able to buy the film by the middle of this year… very likely, probably, maybe.…

Type: Professional/enthusiast level digital camera with Micro Four Thirds bayonet lens mount. Focusing: Automatic 225-point wide-area system using contrast-detection via imaging sensor. Single focus point – with variable area size – can be moved around the image frame, and clusters of focus points, from nine (3x3) to 169 (13x13) set manually in a variety of shapes (Custom Multi). Manual and automatic switching between one-shot and continuous AF modes, the latter with auto tracking. Face detection and recognition. Sensitivity range is EV -4.0 - 18 (ISO 100). AF assist provided by built-in illuminator. Manual focus assistance via magnification (either full image or picture-in-picture) and focus peaking displays (Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink or White; High or Low intensity). Metering: 1728-point multi-zone, centre-weighted average, spot and TTL flash. Metering range is EV 0…

Type: Fully automatic digital mirrorless camera with Leica L bayonet lens mount. Focusing: TTL automatic with contrast-detection measurement using 49 focusing points. Spot, Field and Multi Point area modes. Face detection, auto tracking, ‘Touch AF’ and ‘Touch AF+Release) modes. Manual switching between single-shot and continuous operation. Sensitivity range is EV 0 - 18 (ISO 100). Low light/contrast assist provided by built-in illuminator. Manual focus assist via magnified image (3x or 6x) and focus peaking display (choice of red, green, blue and white colours). Metering: Multi-zone, centre-weighted average, spot and TTL auto flash. Metering range is EV 0 to 18 (ISO 100/f2.0). Exposure Modes: Continuously-variable program with shift, shutter-priority auto, aperture-priority auto and metered manual. Subject/scene modes for sports, portrait, landscape, night portraits, snow/beach, fireworks, candlelight, sunset, digiscoping, miniature effect, panorama…

Type: Enthusiast-level digital mirrorless camera with Fujifilm X bayonet lens mount. Focusing: TTL automatic hybrid system using both phase-difference detection and contrast-detection measurements. 325 measuring points (25x13 pattern) in total, 169 using phase-difference detection. Single-point, zone (7x7, 5x5 or 3x3 point clusters selected from 91 points) and wide/tracking modes. Five AF-C custom settings for optimising tracking. Face/ eye detection with left/right priority. Manual switching between one-shot and continuous AF modes. AF+MF mode. Low-light assist via illuminator. Manual focus assist via magnified image, ‘Digital Split Image’ display (colour or B&W) or focus peaking display (white, red or blue; low or high levels). Sensitivity range is EV -3.0 - 18 (ISO 100). Metering: 256-point multi-zone, centre-weighted average, full average, spot and TTL flash. Metering range is EV -4.0 to 20 (ISO 100/f2.0).…

1. To be eligible to enter the Australian Teenage Photographer Of The Year competition you must be resident in Australia and aged between 13 and 19 as of 31 May 2017. 2. The closing date for final online submissions in 14 September 2018. 3. All submitted images must have been taken in the 12 months prior to you entering the competition. 4. You are permitted to use any type or brand of camera/lens. 5. You are permitted to enter any or all rounds, except that should you win a round, no further submissions are allowed. Each submission must feature a different set of six images. 6. Copyright remains with the photographer, but we retain the right to publish any submitted image in association with publicity or promotion of the Australian…

It’s quite an achievement to be judged Australia’s top professional photographer, especially when you’re competing against another 500 of the country’s hot shots. Melbourne-based portrait photographer Keren Dobia is currently Australia’s reigning AIPP Australian Professional Photographer Of The Year. Her portfolio of four prints – reproduced here – beat a field of 2000 submissions from 500 professionals in the 2017 Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPAs). Keren also works as a creative director for theatrical productions: designing, creating and sourcing costumes and sets. You can see the theatrical influences in her remarkable portraits. Keren Dobia is a graduate of NMIT Diploma of Photoimaging and now lectures at Melbourne Polytechnic and RMIT. She has previously exhibited her work in a variety of different galleries, most notably at Obscura Gallery – a fine-art…

• 300 dpi resolution, and at a file size which enables a reproduction of up to 20x15 cm. Please avoid submitting overly large file sizes, especially when emailing the images. Up to 4.0 MB in file size is more than sufficient. • Digital retouching and manipulation is permitted, but the judges will continue to reward good in-camera techniques. • Full details of the camera, lens and any retouching must be supplied with the image. Images can be titled if you wish, but this isn’t essential. Please make sure your DVDs or USB drives are marked with your name and address. • Up to four images may be permitted per entry. • Please include a self-addressed and postage-paid envelope if you would like your disc or drive returned.…

Fujifilm Australia generously supplies the prizes for each issue’s successful entrants to the Showcase. The winner of a round wins a Fujifilm 32 GB SDHC memory card, the author of the Highly Commended image receives a Fujifilm 16 GB SDHC memory card and the Commended image wins its creator a Fujifilm 8.0 GB SD memory card. The grand prize for the 2018 competition will be announced shortly. Note that it is not a requirement that entries to the Fujifilm Showcase be taken on Fujifilm camera equipment.…

INTHE LAST GLOBAL reader survey conducted byTIPA (which included us, of course), a fraction under 91 percent of respondents cited photography magazines as their chief source of information and rated them ahead of the Internet, trade fairs and specialist retailers in terms of trustworthiness. Now, as these people are all readers of photo magazines, this result isn’t entirely surprising, but it still underlies the value of independent and reputable editorial content produced by highly experienced and respected journalists. The Weekend Australian Magazine’s food writer and restaurant critic, John Lethlean, has now penned several columns and spoken on the radio about the growing scourge of bloggers and so-called ‘influencers’ pretending to be fair-dinkum reviewers when they’re essentially being paid – in one way or another – for their comments which, naturally,…

SONY HAS ANNOUNCED details of its next generation of medium format sized digital sensors which will adopt the back-side illuminated (BSI) architecture. The new 100 megapixels BSI sensor is 33x44 mm in size (the same as the current 50 MP and 100 MP devices) while, even more interesting, is a 150 megapixels imager sized at 55x41 mm and available in colour and B&W versions. According to Sony’s published specs, the new BSI 100 MP sensor (designated IMX 461) will be fast enough for continuous shooting at 6.0 fps – twice as fast as currently – while the BSI 150 MP (IMX 411) will allow for 4.0 fps. Both will enable 4K video at 30 fps with 12-bit processing. Both these sensors provide clues to what the next generation of digital…

If you’re thinking about getting serious about shooting video with a Canon D-SLR then head straight over to the EOS 5D Mark IV because the 6D Mark II isn’t the camera for you. It’s much, much better than its predecessor because it has the ‘Dual Pixel CMOS AF’, an adjustable monitor screen with touch controls, built-in stereo microphones, electronic image stabilisation and Full HD recording at 50 fps (PAL standard), but there are many key omissions too. At the top of this list is 4K video (although you can make time-lapse clips in 4K), but also absent are an uncompressed HDMI output, a headphones connection, time coding, format and compression regime choices (which, curiously, the original 6D did have), zebra patterns, a focus peaking display and, of course, dual memory…

We had a great response to our inaugural Australian Teenage Photographer Of The Year competition – so we’re doing it all again! This is a great opportunity for young photographers to show off their talents behind the camera and possibly get into print. It’s not hard to put your images online… getting into a magazine is more of a challenge, but a published spread of images could be the toe-in-the-door to a possible career in photography. Over the next six issues of Camera, we’re giving you the chance to have a portfolio of your images published over a double-page spread in Australia’s leading photography magazine. At the end the competition, we’ll judge all six successful portfolios and crown somebody the Australian Teenage Photographer Of The Year for 2017-18. The overall…

WINNER A number of night photography techniques are at work here to create a stunning image of painted grain silos in the farming region of Lascelles in central Victoria. The photographer is Jason Freeman who used a Nikon D600 fitted with an AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f4.0 ED VR wide-angle zoom. This image was created from 60 30-second exposures at f4.0 with, Jason says, the light painting supplied by the headlights of passing trucks. The subject on the silo is a local elder, Geoff Horman, and the art work is by Melbourne-based artist, Rone (a.k.a. Tyrone Wright).…