Innehållsförteckning för May /June 2021 från Camera

TIPS FOR WINTER LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY There are quite a few parts of southern Australia that experience frosty conditions and the occasional fall of snow, but if you want a guarantee of the white stuff then your best bet is head for either the Victorian or NSW snowfields anytime from June to September. You don’t necessarily have to go to the ski resorts - although there will be plenty of action shots to be had here - as snow falls regularly all along the ranges (otherwise appropriately as the Snowy Mountains) from late autumn to early spring and there are plenty of quieter locations and trails to explore with your camera. A landscape changes completely when it’s blanketed in snow and it takes on magical properties; obliterating many details, softening shapes…

We had become accustomed to seeing new inkjet models arriving from Epson and Canon about every two years, but it has taken five years for the Epson SureColor P600 (reviewed back in the September/October 2015 issue) to be replaced. Consequently, the SureColor P706 is a completely new printer rather than an upgrade, with features designed to further enhance the enjoyment of print-making. Despite there being some limitations on how an inkjet printer can be designed and built, the SureColor P706 presents as a compact and attractive black box with panels and trays that either fold or slide out neatly. It will look appealing in an office or home study environment. Some care will be required with the shiny top lid,however, as it is prone to scratching and fingerprints. If you’re…

THIS CHECKLIST is designed to allow direct comparisons between different camera models, listed here in price order within each brand. The published prices are mostly supplied by the distributors as recommended retail prices (RRPs). However, some distributors are no longer supplying RRPs to the media so it has become necessary to determine an ‘estimated street price’ derived from the range of prices for a model published by retailers. Where this has been necessary, the letter ‘E’ appears at the start of the entry. A dot appearing in a column indicates that the feature is available on the camera model listed. Where a specification or product detail hasn’t yet been published or confirmed, the letters TBA (to be announced) or TBC (to be confirmed) are used. If a feature is irrelevant…

NIKON PROMISES PRO Z CAMERA THIS YEAR NIKON HAS CONFIRMED it has a professional-level Z series full frame mirrorless camera in the pipeline with a launch date scheduled for some time later this year. The camera gets a model number – the Z 9 – and we know it will have a stacked backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor, but that’s about it at the moment. However, the stacked sensor design suggests that the Z 9 will be built for speed, with a key audience being the many sports and press photographers who currently use Nikon’s top-end DSLRs. Nikon has also revealed that the Z 9 will be able to record 8K video, which implies it’ll also be able to do 4K at 50/60 fps and the 100/120 fps speeds for super…

While Nikon might have been a bit slow off the mark with a full frame mirrorless camera system, there’s no question it hit the spot with the original Z 6 and Z 7 models, subsequently followed up by the ‘APS-C’ format Z 50 and the excellent mid-range Z 5. The Z 6 has been particularly popular thanks to its combination of resolution and speed, but it probably could have done even better if there hadn’t been what some potential buyers undoubtedly saw as short-comings. The good news is that the Mark II versions of both the Z 6 and Z 7 rectify all the grizzles while, sensibly, leaving all the good stuff – such as the handling and ergonomics – untouched. Consequently the Z 6II really puts its hand up…

110 - THE LITTLE FILM FORMAT THAT COULD At the height of its powers, Kodak was the inventor and innovator that shaped several aspects of photography for both amateurs and professionals. The objective was always to make photography more accessible to everybody via simpler processes and smaller, more affordable cameras... which, of course, would generate increased demand for film and printing materials. This was where Kodak made the profits it could plough into what was, at one time, the biggest and most sophisticated R&D facility in the world. Beyond its many pioneering products, Kodak was also renowned for its engineering prowess. It all started with the creation of rollfilm - to replace glass plates - by George Eastman’s fledgling company in 1885, a couple of years before he came up…

The Picture Winner of the People’s Choice Award in the 56th Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition (2020) run by London’s Natural History Museum. Titled Bushfire, this image received a remarkable 55,485 votes from around the world, making it the clear winner of the People’s Choice Award 56. The Photographer Robert Irwin, Queensland. Robert is the son of the late conservationist Steve Irwin, and an already accomplished wildlife photographer. The Equipment DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone with Hasselblad L1D 20c 20MP camera module. Capture settings are 0.4 seconds exposure at f/2.8. The Story In early 2020 Robert was camping in the Steve Irwin Nature Reserve – named in memory of his father – located in Cape York, northern Queensland. “Unfortunately, fires are quite a common occurrence in this area and…

OK, we’re not going to kid you that Leica has suddenly started building cheap cameras, but the SL2-S is closer to the ball-park in terms of its immediate Japanese-made rivals than has sometimes been the case in the past. And, given that $5,000 to $6,000 isn’t unusual for a top-end full-frame mirrorless camera, at $7,500 the SL2-S doesn’t look such a long stretch at all. The difference is essentially all the things that make it a Leica – a supreme build quality that’s derived from it being largely screwed together by hand, no skimping on materials and a comparatively low production run that guarantees a certain level of exclusivity. Plus, there’s that all-important ‘Made In Germany’ marking on the baseplate. Of course, there is the little matter of the lenses…

As we’ve noted on a number of occasions recently, the mirrorless camera world is really all about lenses at the moment. Of course, the particular capabilities of the camera bodies are important, but it’s the lenses that give a particular system its appeal and Canon is working hard to make the RF mount look like an attractive proposition. There’s stiff competition, of course, especially in the full frame format, but Canon has been hitting a number of winners, and the 85mm f/2.0 Macro IS STM looks like another one. For starters, Canon has carefully balanced the specifications, capabilities and price; it’s tempting to think of a macro lens as more of a speciality lens than an ‘everyday’ lens so you might decide to put off purchasing one until you’d ticked…

WINNER Here’s a good example of why you should always have your camera with you (yes, yes, we know all about smartphones, but we mean a real camera). Paulus Tjahjadi happened to have his trusty Nikon Coolpix L19 with him in his car when he spotted this foggy scene rendering the trees into dramatic silhouettes. He also just happened to have his daughter with him too, and her figure walking into the shot turns it from merely interesting into memorable. FUJIFILM SHOWCASE 2021 The 2021 Fujifilm Showcase runs until 31 August 2021 with the final round of winners appearing in our September/October issue. You can enter the Fujifilm Showcase as many times as you like during the year, submitting up to four photographs each time. Entries received after this date…