Innehållsförteckning för No. 385 från Photography Week

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Digital photography offers several key benefits over film media when it comes to working in low light. The way in which sensors detect and process incoming light differs from how film emulsions react to light. At low intensity, illumination films are susceptible to the phenomenon known as reciprocity failure, when the same total exposure will produce an apparently less exposed image when the shutter is open for a long duration. When working with exposures of several seconds, a calculation often has to be employed to determine how to compensate for this issue, by lengthening the shutter speed further or increasing exposure by some other means. In digital photography this is unnecessary because the exposure rating for an electronic sensor is continuous over time – there’s no falloff in equivalent sensitivity,…

Depending on the images you’ve seen, your perception of low-light photography as a creative genre can vary. On one hand, the often-standardised approach to setting up, composing and exposing low-light scenes can create the impression of a formulaic workflow, with a focus on maximising quality and technical perfection. On the other hand, if you’ve ever encountered images taken by light painters or photographers specialising in urban nightscapes, you may have a different opinion on the possibilities for innovative images available in these conditions. Technical challenges aside, as a photographer you can view low light as a blank canvas – with the majority of the ambient natural light removed, you’re free to choose which areas of the scene receive illumination. You can elect to add or remove light at will, or…

1 HOUR Landscape photography is often associated with sprawling vistas and beautiful panoramic imagery, but here we’re breaking the rules by ditching the wide-angle lens and using a long zoom. The 50mm focal length is generally accepted as being similar to what the human eye can see. Lenses with a focal length shorter than this are considered to be wide-angle – they’re preferred for landscapes as they can fit more of a scene onto the camera’s sensor. Lenses with a focal length longer than 50mm are considered to be telephoto, but they can work brilliantly for landscapes too. Lenses with big zooms enable you to compress a scene so you don’t end up with barrel distortion – a common issue with wide-angle optics). Long lenses also enable you to zoom…

The world doesn’t stand still, and increasingly we’re looking to capture life in motion – and when you want to share your on-the-go experiences with the waiting world, you’ll need a camera that’s adept at capturing video. Naturally, video quality is a crucial factor but you’ll also need a camera that’s compact and light enough to take with you on your adventures. Nowadays, 1080p Full HD is often considered a minimum requirement, with 4K UHD gaining in popularity. All of the cameras we’ve chosen for this group test can capture video in 4K, although some have limitations. A microphone socket is a must, so that your recorded audio will match the quality of the moving image. A headphone socket is useful as well, if you have somebody else to point…

www.canon.co.uk £1,299/$1,349 Canon’s most high-tech crop-sensor DSLR to date, the 90D has a new 32.5-megapixel image sensor, coupled to a processor that’s two generations newer than in the preceding 80D. Unlike the 250D, it has a pentaprism viewfinder that gives a larger, brighter image with full coverage of the entire image frame. The maximum burst rate of 10fps is also impressive for a DSLR. There are key improvements over the M50 and 250D for shooting video in 4K. There’s no additional crop factor, and Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel AF system remains available. The 90D also adds a headphone socket. Performance Video quality is excellent in 1080p mode, but can look marginally lacking in clarity at 4K. Even so, the absence of a compulsory crop factor and slicker autofocus makes shooting…

www.panasonic.com £1,080/$1,197 Slightly smaller than, and only about two thirds the weight of, Panasonic’s older GH5 body on test, the G90 (G95 in the US) weighs just over half a kilogramme. Both are Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras based around 20.3MP sensors. However, the G90 adds a built-in pop-up flash while having a smaller, lower-resolution viewfinder and rear screen. The G90 is as adept at video as it is at stills capture. There’s no 30-minute time limit on video recording, so you can keep going until your memory card is full or your battery runs flat (up to about 90 minutes). Performance Video quality is great in 1080p under decent lighting, but footage with ambient indoor lighting can look a bit grainy. Face and eye detection work well, and autofocus…

Fujifilm has officially announced its new beginner-friendly mirrorless camera, the X-T200. Th new camera succeeds the Fujifilm X-T100, the current beginner-to-midrange model in the company’s popular X Series line of APS-C cameras. The new model is effectively a Fujifilm X-A7, only with a viewfinder for those who need to compose shots consistently in all conditions. So what’s new? There are three main improvements: a new, 3.5-inch vari-angle touchscreen, significantly improved autofocus, and 4K video shooting that now extends to 30fps, rather than the limited 15fps maximum of its predecessor. Together, these features make it a much-improved video camera, and potentially a great choice as a vlogging camera. Fujifilm has also apparently improved stills shooting here, with the 24.2MP APS-C sensor and processor both tweaked to help reduce noise and boost…

When discussing low-light photography many of us will think of night cityscapes, or landscapes featuring expanses of starry skies. But these are not the most commonly encountered environments. Dawn and dusk can be categorised as low light, as can the ‘blue hours’ of twilight. As these are some of the preferred times for landscape photographers, it’s helpful to understand the key properties of the lighting types, and some of the main challenges they raise. Twilight, referred to as the ‘blue hours’, occurs before the sun rises and again after it has set. While not suitable for all types of photography, for landscape images it’s a perfect time to shoot tranquil scenes, making full use of the cool tones. There’s also usually a wider spectrum of colours on offer, from blues…

If there are two areas of photography that demonstrate the benefits of intelligent post-processing, it’s low light and astrophotography. Modern digital cameras are marvels of technology and are rapidly approaching a standard in quality that matches that of the human eye. While there was a time when ISO400 was considered a high sensitivity, today’s cameras are capable of shooting at equivalent settings in the tens of thousands, while still resolving usable detail. However, the challenging conditions of low-light imaging tip the signal-to-noise ratio out of your favour. With very little light to generate a digital signal, noise becomes far more pronounced, and is made worse when you attempt to brighten underexposed areas of a high-contrast night scene. This can range from a mild nuisance to a detail-destroying artefact that degrades…

Photography Week has joined up with GuruShots, the “world’s greatest photography game”, to print the winning images from a series of photo challenges. These are the winners of the ‘Winter Time’ challenge… GuruShots is a platform for people who love taking photos. GuruShots believes that taking photos is an amazing way to express one’s self, and wanting it to be fun and meaningful, they turned the sharing of photos into a game packed with opportunities for photographers to show off their talent. Every month millions of votes are cast in over 500 challenges! Find out more at www.gurushots.com FACEBOOK http://tiny.cc/qi0oey FLICKR http://tiny.cc/rn0oey PHOTOGRAPHY WEEK WANTS YOUR PHOTOS! Taken a portrait you’re particularly proud of? Shot a sensational sunset you’d like to show off? Then join the Photography Week Facebook community…

1 USE A TRIPOD Landscapes are one of the few genres in photography where you have the luxury of time. For any landscape image, it’s best to set up with a tripod, as doing so will help you to eliminate camera shake, and will also make it easier to fine-tune your composition. For the most stable tripod setup, make sure all three legs are planted securely on the ground, and refrain from raising the central column unless you absolutely have to. 2 TRY A TRIPOD MOUNT Mounting a camera with a heavy lens attached on your tripod can put a lot of stress the lens mount, and to combat this, some telephoto lenses come with a tripod collar and foot. Use this to mount your lens on the tripod –…

www.canon.co.uk £588/$649 Canon’s EOS M range of mirrorless crop-sensor cameras has enjoyed a resurgence of late. Like the desirable EOS M5, the newer M50 has a built-in electronic viewfinder but, despite being cheaper, it boasts a newer image processor, a larger number of phase-detection autofocus points on its image sensor, and the addition of 4K movie capture. The M50 is much smaller than the two Canon DSLRs on test, especially with its retracting 15-45mm kit zoom lens. This enables wider-angle coverage than the 18-55mm kit lenses of the DSLRs, which can be handy if you’re shooting solo and keeping an eye on the vari-angle touchscreen. Performance Video quality is pretty good in 720p and 1080p. Although the camera lacks sensor-shift stabilisation, Movie Digital IS avoids handheld jitters. 4K capture is…

www.fujifilm.eu £547/$499 Neat and tidy, the X-T100 is available in black, dark silver or champagne gold, and has a slick interface. The three-way tilting rear screen is particularly useful for vlogging, as it can flip horizontally through 180 degrees as well as tilting up and down. Typical of most mirrorless cameras in the group, the high-resolution rear touchscreen is paired with a 0.39-type OLED electronic viewfinder that has a 2,360k-pixel display. The megapixel count of 24.2 is also pretty typical for an APS-C format image sensor. Like the Canon and Sony cameras, the X-T100 omits sensor-shift stabilisation. Performance Image quality is pleasing for stills, but video looks soft and lacklustre, even at 720p and 1080p, while 4K capture is disappointing, thanks to a slow frame rate of just 15fps. The…

www.panasonic.co.uk £1,699/$1,997 Bigger and beefier than the other Panasonic on test, the GH5 boasts a larger OLED viewfinder display with a more impressive 3,680k resolution. It’s the same story around the back, with an upgraded 3.2-inch, 1,620k touchscreen. The rear screens of both cameras are fully articulated. Both cameras feature contrastdetection autofocus systems, but the number of focus ‘areas’ is increased from 49 to 225 in the GH5. The maximum shutter speed and burst rate for stills are faster, topping out at ⅛,000 sec and 12 frames per second respectively. Performance As with the Lumix G90, there’s no 30-minute time limit for video capture, which again benefits from five-axis, five-stop stabilisation. This time, however, there’s no additional crop factor when capturing 4K video. Outright video quality is noticeably more detailed…

Low-light photography is an enchanting genre, capable of producing images that are unrivalled in their emotive power. The deep shadows, directional lighting and strong, cool colour bias can either be unnerving or tranquil, depending on how you approach the creative process. The inverted nature of the lighting can result in unique image styles that are impossible to create at any other time of day – unlike in daylight hours, the foreground can often be brighter than the sky after the sun has set. This high contrast introduces tremendous depth to your shots, while in other circumstances the steep exposure gradients result in light falloff, which limits a sense of context beyond the frame, focusing viewer attention on the subject. While this ‘dark atmosphere’ has its benefits, it’s not always easy…

Due to the technical challenges associated with working in low ambient light, it’s common for photographers to become preoccupied with mastering the core difficulties of image noise, lengthened exposures and extreme contrasts, at the expense of creativity. This is true for any shooting scenario that tests your abilities as a photographer and forces you to apply your skills in novel ways. These aspects shouldn’t make you hesitant to attempt techniques outside of the normal conditions, defined by the standard ‘rules’ of the photographic genre. While a perfectly exposed night cityscape, with accurate colour balance and exact sharpness from the foreground to the background, would be technically successful, it can still lack the energy and atmosphere of the scene as you experienced it. So, once you’ve mastered the basic camera settings…

Panorama and HDR features have been available in Camera Raw and Lightroom for a while, but a third option has been introduced that combines the two. The HDR Panorama command enables you to merge a set of exposures into a detail-rich panorama in a few steps. It does this by combining a set of bracketed exposures into an HDR, one for each bit of the panorama, then stitches these segments together. You’ll need a carefully captured set of images to feed into the tool – we’ve supplied a set that you can download, but if you intend to shoot your own, use your camera’s bracketing feature. We took three frames for each segment of the panorama at one-stop intervals – enough to capture detail in the brightest and darkest parts…

www.canon.co.uk £599/$649 Although it’s larger than the Canon M50, the 250D is only 60g heavier, weighing in at 450g. That’s less than most of the mirrorless cameras on test. Sold as the Rebel SL3 in the States, it’s a DSLR that gives you the best of both worlds for handling. The optical viewfinder gives a clear and unadulterated view of the world when shooting stills, and is especially good for tracking action in continuous drive mode. Meanwhile, the Dual Pixel hybrid phase/contrast detection autofocus system is as effective as that of a mirrorless camera, ideal for Live View stills and video capture. Performance The EOS 250D is very beginner-friendly, with ‘guided’ interfaces to smooth out the learning curve. Like the M50, the 250D delivers good 720p and 1080p video quality,…

www.nikon.co.uk £1,889/$2,297 The Z 7 has the greater snob value of Nikon’s mirrorless full-frame cameras, but all those extra megapixels are superfluous for vlogging. The Z 6 is much more cost effective, and has even better high-ISO performance, and a faster burst rate for stills. A bigger bonus is that the Z 6 can oversample 4K video with no crop factor. For vlogging, the only real downside is the lack of a flip screen, as the rear LCD can only tilt upwards by 90 degrees or downwards by 45 degrees. Performance The five-axis, five-stop image stabiliser works every bit as well for video capture as it does for stills, which is a major benefit when you’re shooting handheld. Autofocus can hunt occasionally, but it’s massively more effective and reliable for…

www.sony.co.uk £999/$998 The A6400 is considerably more compact than the competing Panasonic GH5. Body for body, it’s little more than half the weight at 403g, and the retractable ‘power zoom’ lens is a further space saver. The little Sony really packs a punch, though, with a physically larger 24.2-megapixel image sensor, a hybrid phase/contrast autofocus system, and a raft of video-centric features. The viewfinder is a little smaller than the one on the GH5. The rear touchscreen has a neat tilt mechanism that enables it to flip up over the top of the camera for front-facing viewing. There’s no 30-minute limit for video capture, and no crop factor for 4K, unless you push the frame rate to its maximum 30fps. Performance In-body stabilisation is lacking, but at least the 16-50mm…

It’s almost too close to call. The Panasonic GH5 and the Sony Alpha 6400 are both supremely capable as vlogging cameras. The GH5 adds highly effective five-axis, five-stop sensor-shift stabilisation and a headphone socket, both of which are absent in the A6400. However, the Sony’s video quality is a little crisper and more detailed, it has a physically larger image sensor, and its video quality holds up better under low lighting conditions. The A6400 is also smaller, lighter and easier to carry around on a daily basis. The Panasonic G90 is a little less appealing than either of these cameras, although it still offers high-end video features and performance. The Nikon Z 6 is an exceptional camera and, again, combines high-end video capture features with outstanding performance. However, the lack…