Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Smart Photography

One aspect of photography that, in my opinion, has not been discussed enough is the therapeutic power of image making. Both taking and viewing photographs that make you happier and in a better position to meet life’s challenges can only be commended. As it is, life is pretty stressful these days and mental anguish a common phenomenon. Anything that can reduce or relieve stress and anxiety is welcome, and it is here that photography can play a major role. Our Technical Editor feels restless unless he has his dose of photography every week. Photography is his stress buster. Similarly, viewing delightful images and enjoying them can usefully divert your mind from other more taxing areas. So, remember that photography has a strong healing power and can help you to have…

DJI has utilised its experience in capturing stable and smooth videos and introduced its first 4K Osmo Action camera, which is waterproof up to a depth of 36 feet. The camera has dual screens, a 2.25-inch rear touchscreen with a water- and fingerprint-repelling coating and a 1.4-inch front screen. A 1/2.3-inch sensor records 12 MP photos and 4K video up to 60 fps at 100 mbps and is capable of capturing High Dynamic Range video in 4K/30 fps, delivering an additional three stops of dynamic range to the scene. A three-glass aspherical lens design records low-distortion content and aids in reducing warping effects for improved scenes. The lens filter cap is finished with two layers of anti-fingerprint coating to keep the shot clean during use, as well as an anti-reflective…

Nissin Digital has introduced the MG80 Pro hot-shoe flash, which will feature Nissin Air System (NAS) radio commander and slave modes. The flash has a built-in colour LCD and can support multiple battery types, NiMH and Li-ion. It also has an advanced NAS 2.4GHz Wireless built-in commander strobe for on-camera and studio shooting. The flash supports TTL and manual control, its zoom mode covers focal lengths from 24 to 200 mm and its transmission distance reaches 100 metres. It is also heat resistant and has a durable quartz flash tube. The head of the flash tilts or swivels. The flash also has a metal shoe with ring lock, supports microSD and SDHC cards and has a continuous flash speed of up to 10 shots per second. The MG80 Pro hot-shoe…

SanDisk, which had first showcased its 1TB flash memory card at the World Mobile Congress, has now released the card for purchase at a price of USD 449. The 1TB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSDXC card is claimed to be the world’s fastest, with a read speed of up to 160 Mbps and a write speed of up to 90 Mbps and a minimum of 30 Mbps. SanDisk claims that the card is waterproof, shockproof, temperature proof and X-Ray proof. The card has the SD Association’s A2 specification, a Video Speed Class 30 and a UHS Speed Class 3.…

Fujifilm announced its financial results for the year ending March 2019. Revenue for its Imaging Solutions division was up 1 percent year-on-year to 386.9 billion yen. Operating income was down 8.4 percent year-on-year to 51.1 billion yen, due to advertising, promotion and R&D expenses. In the photo imaging business, sales were strong for instant photo systems such as the Instax series and Instax films, propelled by promotions featuring singer Taylor Swift. The sales volume of the Instax series totalled 10.02 million units. In the electronic imaging business, the sales of Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujifilm X-T30, launched in March 2019, contributed to the revenue. Fujifilm GFX 50R, launched in November 2018, showed strong sales, reflecting good reviews on its image quality incorporating a large sensor and a rangefinder style. Fujifilm forecast…

Fujifilm has entered into a marketing alliance with photo editing software company Skylum in a bid to provide photographers with access to the premium tools, education, and interactive opportunities that both companies have to offer. The companies are planning several activities over the course of 2019, with a shared goal to educate and unite artists in the photography community. As part of the first phase of the collaboration, purchasers of any Fujifilm XF lens can opt-in to receive a free copy of Skylum’s flagship Luminar 3 editing software (priced at USD 70) when they register their purchase online. Skylum describes its Luminar 3 software as “an all-in-one photo editor and management platform that enables photographers to harness both the power of AI technology and simple yet powerful and precise editing…

DJI has announced its committment to install airplane and helicopter detectors in new consumer drones. All new DJI drone models released after 1 January 2020 that weigh more than 250 grams will include AirSense technology, which receives ADS-B signals from nearby airplanes and helicopters and warns drone pilots if they appear to be on a collision course. This will be the largest single deployment of ADS-B collision awareness technology to date, and sets a new standard by putting professional-grade aviation safety technology in drones available to everyone. AirSense can detect airplanes and helicopters from miles away, farther than a drone pilot hears or sees them, and displays their locations on the pilot’s remote controller.’s screen It was previously available only on some professional-grade DJI drones. DJI’s schedule aligns with the…

Sanjib Das is a government employee based in Naihati, West Bengal. He works at IISER Kolkata. He is passionate about landscape and wildlife photography. His adventurist tryst with nature began with a trek to the mighty Himalayas during his teens. This offered him an opportunity to catch a glimpse of mountain life that left him breathless and speechless. This led to further treks to hills, deserts and forests. Sanjib tries to capture those magic moments and pens his travelogue diaries. His travel articles have been published in several leading magazines, journals, and newspapers. His photos have won a number of national and international awards and recognition. His debut book written on Sikkim, Himalaya has been highly acclaimed by critics and readers. Even then, he feels that the best is yet…

Biju Gopal is a Mumbai-based professional photographer, with more than 10 years of experience, specialising in interiors, architecture and lifestyle photography. Biju takes a collaborative approach by striking an optimum balance between the aesthetic and practical utility of the space that seamlessly merge. The images capture the environment as one would live, work, relax or be a part within that space. With an unwavering focus, he creates a dramatic depth in each visual that narrates the story of dynamic spaces. The end result aims to sync with the client’s expectations and the positioning of the project. Instagram: @bizou.photos Website: www.bizou.in bizou.photos@gmail.com My journey into photography began with a chance visit to a photography exhibition by the students of the J. J. School of Arts. The moment I entered the exhibition…

During the rainy season, the air is laden with moisture. Moisture in the air (humidity) can cause fungi to grow in your lens. Fungi eats up the lens coatings. To prevent this problem, it is suggested that you store your photo equipment in a humidity control cabinet and control the Relative Humidity (RH) between 40-45 percent. Of course, when you are out on a shoot, you cannot carry the cabinet with you, so try and take extra care. Avoid water drops on the equipment. Pat dry any water drops with a small dry towel. If the temperature is low, extra care needs to be taken before you enter your home/ hotel room. Place your camera in a zip-lock plastic bag, take out all the air (as much as you can),…

Nikon is perhaps unique among the major manufacturers that it continued with its venerable ‘F’ lens mount for nearly six decades. Several changes (electronically and otherwise) were made to the mount to accommodate emerging technologies. However, the basic mechanical dimensions have remained exactly the same, a testimony to the soundness of the original design. While that makes a great story, the F mount had started to show its age and with the ‘Z’ series of mirrorless cameras, Nikon introduced a new mount called the ‘Z’ mount. This takes advantage of the very short flange back distance that results due to the mirrorless design and also uses the widest throat in the industry. These features allow designers to produce sharper, faster, smaller and lighter lenses with less aberrations. The new mount…

Zeiss is one of the pioneers in optics. Combined with Sony, the iconic lens manufacturer has lined up several lenses for the Alpha series, and these are marketed by Sony through their sales channels as part of their lens inventory. The Zeiss Planar T* FE 50 mm f/1.4 ZA is one of the premium lenses on offer. Design and Build Quality The Zeiss Planar 50 mm f/1.4 ZA is constructed with a combination of metal and engineering plastic. The lens is sealed against dust and moisture. However, Sony cautions that although the design is dust and moisture-resistant, absolute protection is not guaranteed. The lens features a manual aperture ring with an Auto override button. The lens has two switches, one for focus selection (AF/MF) and the other to enable or…

Write to us at: Smart Photography, Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., Mafatlal Chambers B, Ground Floor, N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel (E), Mumbai - 400 013 E-mail: sp@nextgenpublishing.net C aptivating Photos Dear Editor, Absolutely loved the cover of the May 2019 issue. Photographer Chetan Pardeshi did a wonderful job of capturing the Theyyam ritual. I loved how he was able to capture the fire and smoke without letting it affect the subject. Yours faithfully, Jay Pandit, via email Helpful Toning Technique Dear Editor, Thanks to Mr. Kandimalla for sharing the technique on split toning to enhance images. I tried this technique on a few of my images and really enjoyed the subtle effect it created. Looking forward to other such not well-known photography tips. Yours faithfully, Kartik M., via…

Canon has announced the RF 85 mm f/1.2 L USM standard prime lens, the fifth addition to its RF family of lenses. The lens is being marketed as a vital tool for portrait photographers who use Canon’s EOS R or EOS RP cameras. Canon states that the most unique feature of the RF 85 mm f/1.2 L USM lens is Canon’s proprietary optical technology — Blue Spectrum Refractive (BR) Optics — that helps to greatly reduce chromatic aberrations that could occur with large aperture lenses. The BR optical element, first introduced in the EF 35 mm f/1.4L II USM, is inserted into the lens and refracts blue light between the concave and convex lenses. This enables the convergence of the entire wavelength of light to one point, resulting in higher…

Samsung has introduced two 0.8-micrometer (µm) pixel image sensors – the 64 MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 and 48 MP ISOCELL Bright GM2. With these additions, Samsung expands its 0.8µm image sensor lineup, the smallest pixel size currently available in the market, from existing 20 MP to ultrahigh 64 MP resolutions. ISOCELL Bright GW1 is a 64 MP image sensor that features the highest resolution in Samsung’s 0.8μm-pixel image sensor lineup. With pixel-merging Tetracell technology and remosaic algorithm, GW1 can produce bright 16 MP images in low-light environments and highly detailed 64 MP shots in brighter settings. ISOCELL Bright GM2 is a 48 MP image sensor that also adopts Tetracell technology in low-light environments and a remosaic algorithm in well-lit settings, bringing highly detailed pictures with natural and vivid colours.…

Nikon has announced its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2019. The revenue for its Imaging Products Business decreased 17.9 percent year-on-year to 296,169 million yen. The division’s operating profit decreased 27 percent year-on-year to 22,069 million yen. For the digital camera-interchangeable lens segment, sales of the D850 D-SLR camera were strong. In the compact digital camera segment, Nikon focussed on sales of high value-added products such as the COOLPIX P1000, which is equipped with a 125x optical zoom lens. The sales volume and revenue of full-frame cameras grew two years in a row. However, the unit sales of both digital camera-interchangeable lens type and compact digital cameras fell amidst the shrinking market. The sales of interchangeable lens cameras and interchangeable lenses were 8.9 billion yen short of…

Sony has announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2019. Sony’s Imaging Products and Solutions Segment saw sales increase 2 percent or 14.6 billion yen year-over-year to 670.5 billion yen. Operating income was also up 12 percent or 9.1 billion yen year-over-year to 84 billion yen. Sony attributed its sales and operating income increase to improvement in the product mix, reflecting a shift to high value-added models such as mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras and the interchangeable lens lineup. Sony also reported a decrease in compact digital camera unit sales, reflecting the impact of shrinking market.…

GoPro has reiterated its plans to move most of its US-bound production out of China, while maintaining production in China for non-US bound cameras. “In June, we will begin production in Guadalajara, Mexico, of our US-bound cameras to support sales beginning in the third quarter,” said Brian McGee, Executive Vice President and CFO. “We expect most of our US-bound cameras will be in production in Mexico in the second half of 2019. As stated previously, our decision to move most of our US-bound production to Mexico supports our goal to insulate us against possible tariffs as well as recognise some cost savings and efficiencies.”…

Canon has launched in India the compact and lightweight EOS 200D II D-SLR, a successor to the EOS 200D. The camera sports a 24.1 MP APS-C imaging sensor and the latest DIGIC 8 image processor along with a Vari-angle LCD monitor. Canon claims that its Creative Assist and smooth skin feature, a first on an EOS D-SLR, will allow users to achieve the desired effects to their photographs and take picture-perfect selfies easily on the EOS 200D II. The EOS 200D II is available in India at a price of Rs.52,995 with the EF-S 18-55 mm IS STM kit lens and Rs.65,995 for the EF-S 18-55 mm IS STM and EF-S 55-250 mm IS STM double zoom kit.…

Sony India has opened its first lounge in Bangalore that will exhibit the complete range of Sony Alpha cameras. Sunil Nayyar, Managing Director, Sony India, said, “The camera industry has seen strong growth in the full-frame segment, with consumers gravitating towards Sony’s innovative offerings for advanced and professional equipment. In order to cater this demand in a unique way, we have introduced our first Sony Camera Lounge to help our customers select their suitable products by experiencing them beforehand. With the progressive evolution of the full-frame segment, we aim at delivering unmatched experience of our digital imaging technologies through live demos and other intuitive mediums. We are confident that this first-of-its-kind camera lounge will be appreciated by our customers and will further help us boost our retail sales.”…

• 2018 Photoblogger of the Year (Gujarat Tourism & ICIT) • Pro Travel Photographer. Photo Jurist. Photo Educator. SPEAKER (Architectural & Travel Photography): • TBEX Europe 2016 (Stockholm) • TBEX Asia 2016 (Manila) • TBEX International 2017 (Jerusalem) • TBEX North America 2017 (Huntsville, AL) • TBEX Europe 2018 (Ostrava, Czech Republic) WINNER: • India’s Biggest Blogging Contest - Cox & Kings’ Grab Your Dream (Season 2) • National Geographic Traveller’s GetOutThere Photo Essay Contest Web: http://travelu.re Mountains have a character. Especially so if we talk about the Himalayas. Mysterious mists. Fluffy clouds. Tranquil lakes. Rolling pastures. Gentle slopes. Pearly monasteries. Bobbing boats. Towering trees. Gliding raptors. Hide and seek sun. Colourful blooms. Blues, greens, browns, and whites of the peaks. And a whole lot more. Yet, not all places…

Ever since Nikon launched the Z-series mirrorless Full-Frame cameras, we have been waiting for the normal lens for this series. The Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.8 S lens is finally here, and we have put it through its paces. Design and Build Quality The Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.8 S is not very light, but balances well with the Z-series cameras. The base is made of metal, while the rest is engineered plastic. The lens is sealed against dust and moisture, with emphasis on all moving parts of the barrel. It has a back glass that seals all internal moving elements against dust and water ingress. In place of the manual focus ring, the lens incorporates a control ring. The lens has dimensions of 76 mm (dia) x 86.5 mm…

Tamron has announced the launch of its 35-150 mm f/2.8-4 Di VC OSD compact zoom lens for full-frame D-SLR cameras. The zoom range incorporates the 85 mm focal length (often regarded as optimum for portrait shooting) and covers everything from full-body shots that include the surrounding area to sharp head-and-shoulders shots that stand out from a natural defocussed “bokeh” background. The compact lens is designed for fast handling and easy transport, measuring only 124.3 mm (4.9 in) long and perfectly balanced. On the technical side, three optimally placed low dispersion glass elements and three hybrid aspherical elements quash various optical aberrations. Tamron states that autofocus is exceptionally quiet with improved precision and speed due to the OSD (Optimised Silent Drive) DC motor. The lens also incorporates a Dual MPU (Micro-Processing…

At its annual developer conference in Mountain View, California, Google announced two new additions to their Pixel family: Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. With an OLED display for crisp images and bright colours, the Pixel 3a is designed to fit nicely in your hands. It comes in two colours — Just Black and Clearly White — and two sizes, priced at Rs.39,999 for the 5.6-inch Pixel 3a, and Rs.44,999 for the 6-inch Pixel 3a XL. Pixel 3a takes photos using Google’s HDR+ technology with features such as Portrait Mode, Super Res Zoom, and Night Sight to capture clear shots in low light and an all-new camera mode Time Lapse. With Google Photos built in, users can save high-quality photos and videos with free, unlimited storage. It comes with an…

Zeiss is expanding its lens family for full-frame Canon and Nikon D-SLRs with the introduction of the Zeiss Otus 100 mm f/1.4 lens. Zeiss states that the lens design, with aspheric lenses and special glass materials, keeps chromatic aberrations and distortions to a minimum. Even when shooting against the light, the T* anti-reflective coating developed by Zeiss allows for extremely high contrast and minimises stray light. According to Zeiss, the Otus 100 mm f/1.4 lens features an extended rotation angle and smooth operation of mechanical components that enable precise manual focussing. The lens’s stable full metal housing with internal focussing ensures a consistent centre of gravity and optimum balance when taking photographs. The Zeiss Otus 100 mm f/1.4 lens will be available for Euro 4,500 or USD 4,500. A lens…

Nikon has outlined its mid-term business management plan, where it has stated that it plans to focus on the full-frame system to take hold of mid and high-end model users. The company expects the interchangeable lens camera market to shrink and halve in the medium- to long-term, especially for D-SLR entry models as consumers shift to mirrorless models. Nikon noted that its Z-series’ appeal and full potential will require time to be fully realised, and it has already begun establishing a lens lineup to complement the Z series. It also plans to launch strategic mid and high-end D-SLR products. In light of the continuing market shrinkage, Nikon plans to take further steps to continue cost structure reform. It also aims to reconsider production and marketing structure and improve sales expenses…

GoPro has announced financial results for its first quarter ended 31 March 2019. “GoPro grew first quarter revenue 20 percent year-over-year thanks to strong global demand for our products,” said founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman. “We are innovating in all areas of our business and driving disciplined expense and inventory management. We believe this, combined with the release of exciting new products, will drive continued growth and as a result we are raising revenue and full-year non-GAAP profitability guidance for 2019,” added Nicholas Woodman. GoPro’s revenue for Q1 2019 was USD 243 million. The company said that excluding their aerial business, revenue would’ve increased 27 percent year-over-year. In the US, GoPro captured 89 percent unit share and 97 percent dollar share of the action camera category in Q1 2019, up…

Tamron has announced consolidated results for the first quarter of financial year 2019, dated 1 January to 31 March 2019. Net sales were up 4.9 percent to 13,062 million yen; operating income was up 5.3 percent to 687 million yen. Tamron forecasts for consolidated results for FY2019: net sales to be 28,600 million yen in the first half of FY2019; 65,000 million yen in FY2019. Operating income is forecast to be 1,600 million yen in the first half of FY2019; 5,900 million yen in FY2019.…

Following the successful launch of three ‘Wonder Photo Shops’ in India’s metropolitan cities, Fujifilm India is all set to unveil its exclusive experiential store at Gachibowli, Miyapur Road, Hyderabad. The store will showcase Fujifilm’s latest gear and also serve as a hub for photographic education and inspiration. The Wonder Photo Shop also features a DIY corner where customers can create their personalised photo products including photo books, wall decor and printed keepsakes like mugs or tumblers. It is a one-stop creative haven for customers by bringing photography, digital tools and handicraft together under one roof. It additionally presents photo booth and photo studio services that are exclusive to this concept store to further encourage photographic discoveries. The Wonder Photo Shop will be open from 10:30 am to 10:00 pm on…

Fujifilm India has announced celebrity and ace fashion photographer Dabboo Ratnani as their brand ambassador for promoting its medium format GFX range of mirrorless cameras. As part of this strategic partnership, Fujifilm India will be rolling out various brand building initiatives with Dabboo Ratnani for its GFX range. With the GFX range of digital cameras, the company hopes to strengthen its foothold in the mirrorless segment and achieve a 30% share in the Indian mirrorless market in three to four years. Dabboo Ratnani is one of India’s most coveted fashion and celebrity photographers. His success and personality in the industry makes him align perfectly with Fujifilm.…

Kunal Khurana is a businessman by profession, writer by choice and a photographer by chance. He started with photography as a hobby but now it has become his parallel profession. Kunal has had two solo exhibitions, one at Delhi and the other at Gurgaon. He has received quite a few awards, including the second prize at ‘Frames of My City 2’ competition held by Red Frames, Bangalore and a consolation prize in the contest ‘Picture Perfect Delhi’. This prize was awarded to him by Sheila Dikshit and Raghu Rai. Three of his photographs have been published in ‘ Aatish’, an anthology book of poems, which was based on social issues featuring poets like Gulzar and Irshad Kamil. The popular photography platform – ‘EyeEM’ – selected one of his photographs that…

Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades and has extensive experience in both film and digital photography. Being an electronics engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. He has published more than a 100 articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-known international magazine Popular Photography. An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography through teaching and writing. He is the only Indian photographer to be featured on the Nikon Centenary website. He is presently working as a Management and Engineering consutant. He…

Mount: Nikon Z mount Format: FX (35 mm Full-Frame) Focal length: 50 mm Maximum aperture: f/1.8 Minimum aperture: f/16 Lens construction: 12 elements in 9 groups (including 2 ED elements, 2 aspherical elements, and elements with Nano Crystal Coat) Angle of view: FX format: 47° DX format: 31°30‘ Focussing system: Internal focusing system Minimum focus distance: 0.4 m No. of diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded diaphragm opening) Coating: Nano Crystal Coat Filter-attachment size: 62 mm Dimensions: Approx. 76 mm maximum diameter x 86.5 mm (distance from camera lens mount flange) Weight: Approx. 415 g (14.7 oz.) Autofocus: Yes Internal focussing: Yes Focussing: Auto, Manual…

Memory modules and hard drives can crash when you least expect them to, leading to data loss. If those data include the valuable Raw images and footage you shot, it can be a real pain to retrieve them. An electronically delivered recovery software would be the best solution for this. Stellar Photo Recovery software, earlier known as Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is in its 9th version and is one of the popular solutions available in this space. Key Features Stellar Photo Recovery is arguably the most comprehensive of media recovery software mainly targeting image, video and audio files. It can recover media files rendered inaccessible through deletion, corruption or accidental formatting. Stellar claims that the software works with all major cameras, drones, PCs, memory cards, USB Flash Drives and other…