Innehållsförteckning för V73 Issue 6 från Pro Photo

The proverbial busman’s holiday is defined by the dictionary as “a vacation during which a person engages in activity that is the same as or similar to his or her usual employment”. So, as the summer holiday season is upon on us, does it make sense for photographers to pack away the cameras and do something else during the break? Personally, I don’t think so… at least not going as far as giving up photography altogether. Being freed from the normal schedules, the demands of deadlines and the day-to-day business of running a business is the perfect opportunity to try something different photographically, especially if you happen to be away from home and in new surroundings as well. After all, to quote another popular saying, a change is as good…

Leica has announced a new edition of its Q, the fixed-lens RF-style camera which uses a full-35mm sensor. The Leica Q Silver has a top plate and baseplate with a silver anodised finish while the rear part of the bodyshell is painted black. The black leather trim from the serial production model has been retained while all the external controls on the top plate are in silver. Leica adds, “the design concept is complemented by engravings of the feet scale and the focal length numbers on the lens picked out in a shade of red that sets a colourful accent in the classic look of the camera”. The fixed lens is a Leica Summilux 28mm f1.7 ASPH fast wide-angle prime which has a focusing range of 30 centimetres to infinity.…

The winning shot in the Food For Celebration category sponsored by Champagne Taittinger could already be tucked up in your archive of party pictures! Food For Celebration, a category of Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year, seeks images of celebratory food from around the world — people eating it, people preparing it, people dancing around it… however it may appear. Party-goers drinking champagne, canapés piled high, granny tucking into sherry trifle – so many opportunities for that winning photo. The food photo fairytale can happen. Shoeb Faruquee from Bangladesh triumphed in the Food For Celebration category in the 2017 competition with his shot entitled Food For God, and then went on to win the overall title of Pink Lady Food Photographer Of The Year, receiving the top prize of…

Epson has announced the winners of the Epson International Pano Awards for 2017, with the Open competition award won by Spanish photographer Jesus M. Garcia for his image titled Good Morning Damian Shan which was photographed in China. The runner-up in the Open category was another Spanish photographer, Javier de la Torre, for his image Flying Shanghai. Winner of the Amateur category was Darren Moore from the UK, and the runner-up was Australian Ray Jennings. The Epson International Pano Awards is open to both professional and amateur photographers and the prize pool includes US$22,000 cash, an Epson SureColor P7070 photo printer, an Epson SureColor P5070 photo printer and an Epson EB-1776W ultra-slim projector. The competition’s objective is to showcase the work of panoramic photographers worldwide and is the largest in…

FOUNDED IN 2010 and based in New York City, ONA bags are designed for – and inspired by – creative professionals and hand-crafted using premium materials. ONA’s design process is driven by a desire to create products that complement your style as well as protecting your valuable camera equipment. In Swahili, the word ona (pronounced o - ’na) means, “to feel,” “to believe” and “to experience with the eyes”. This is the essence of photography and style. Made from water-resistant waxed canvas and detailed with full-grain leather, the ONA Brixton is a messenger-style camera bag designed to hold a camera body – either D-SLR or CSC – with two or three lenses and up to a 13-inch screen laptop. As an alternative to the classic canvas, the Brixton is also…

BACK IN 1948 Victor Hasselblad revolutionised medium format photography with his innovative modular camera design. It combined unmatched portability with high image quality and, after it evolved into the legendary 500 Series, was extensively used by professional photographers for over 50 years. Hasselblad’s original concept was adopted by many other camera makers and remains at the heart of many digital medium format systems. Now Hasselblad is leading another revolution in medium format photography with the world’s first mirrorless digital medium format camera. Like Victor Hasselblad’s original design, the X1D-50c redefines compactness and performance, making digital medium format capture more accessible to many more photographers and extending its applications into new and exciting areas. Designed entirely in Sweden and exuding Scandinavian style, the X1D-50c combines all the conveniences and benefits of…

THE COMBINATION OF the 24-70mm focal range and a constant maximum aperture of f2.8 is one that works effectively in a great many situations, so it’s the standard zoom in most working photographers’ camera kits. Consequently it’s also the model that all lens makers need to get absolutely right because it influences the perceptions of anything else they do. And just about everybody makes a 24-70mm f2.8 zoom, so it’s arguably the most fiercely contested pro lens category of them all, with the result that there have been updated models from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Sigma and Tokina over the last couple of years (and many more if we include the 24-70mm f2.8 equivalents in the smaller format mirrorless camera systems). Now it’s Tamron’s turn. We’ve already seen the ‘Generation…

With the hybrid GH5 being Panasonic’s best-selling Lumix G model in Australia, the company has launched a more photography-orientated derivative. The Lumix G9 is described as the “ultimate stills camera from Panasonic” and it’s built around an all-new weather-sealed magnesium alloy bodyshell which has bigger handgrip and a D-SLR-style monochrome read-out panel on its top deck. In addition to weather sealing, the bodyshell is insulated to allow operation in sub-zero temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius. The 0.83x (35mm equivalent) OLED-type EVF is the largest yet in the mirrorless camera world and has a resolution of 3.68 megadots with a refresh rate of 120 fps to eliminate black-out. To accommodate spectacles wearers, the EVF magnification can be set to 0.70x or 0.77x. It’s supplemented by a tilt/swivel-adjustable RGBW LCD monitor…

While the original A4 format Epson EcoTank printers were primarily intended for small office and home use, a number of testers found that they worked pretty well as photo printers, and with all the economies of refillable ink tanks. With the launch of ‘premium’ five-colour A3 format and A4 models, Epson is now targeting photographers, at least in the enthusiast and semi-pro categories. Depending on usage, both the new EcoTank printers are supplied with up to two years of ink, with subsequent refills working out to be a lot cheaper than conventional cartridges. Epson claims the supplied ink is sufficient to produce 3400 10x15 cm photo prints. Additionally, there are the environmental benefits associated with a reduction in waste plastics (the supplied ink roughly replaces 30 sets of cartridges). The…

1 SIGMA 135MM F1.8 DG HSM ART THE 135MM FOCAL length is a key one among short-telephoto prime lenses, suitable for a wide selection of applications – such as portraiture and street photography – and offering an attractive combination of perspective compression and angle-of-view. Sigma’s 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens adds the creative potential of selective focusing via its fast maximum aperture. It also offers the outstanding resolution required for imaging onto ultra-high resolution D-SLR sensors. The optical construction employs 13 elements in ten groups and which includes two made from SLD (Special Low Dispersion) optical glass and two made from FLD (‘F’ Low Dispersion) glass. The FLD glass offers ultra-low dispersion in combination with high transmittance and the anomalous dispersion characteristics of fluorite. All these special elements work…

THE CELESTE FILTERS feature a new ultra-slim frame and have a special ‘Anti Stain Coating’ applied to both surfaces to help repel water and grease, and make for easier cleaning. This makes the Celeste filters ideal for use on weather-sealed lenses, maintaining a high level of overall protection. The Celeste filter series guarantees close to zero negative interference with the light The Celeste C-PL circular polariser filters deliver effective polarisation and colour saturation. They effectively manages reflections from non-metallic objects, suppresses glare from water surfaces, increases contrast and saturation of the outdoor scenes to give deeper colour tones. At the same time, the C-PL filters can also help protect the expensive front element of a lens from physical damage. An 18-layer ‘Super ZR’ anti-reflection coating reduces the light reflectivity to…

WITH THE WEIGHT of its reputation in professional studio flash equipment, Profoto is a force to be reckoned with as it enters the highly competitive on-camera flash market. The Swedish flash maker has been hinting at such a move for a while, especially after it launched its B2 TTL system which has ultra-compact flash heads powered by a separate battery pack. It certainly makes sense to further leverage Profoto’s advanced TTL technology in an on-camera product which is being heralded as “the world’s smallest studio light”. The Profoto A1 incorporates the same AirTTL and HSS auto flash exposure control – initially for the Canon E-TTL and Nikon i-TTL systems, but with a Sony version to come – as the B2, B1/B1X and D2 pro flash systems. This allows for full…

IT’S SAFE TO ASSUME that many photographers reaching the point of updating their camera bodies are considering the pros and cons of mirrorless-versus-reflex. The question of replacing a lens system aside for the moment (although it’s obviously a very important consideration), the mirrorless offerings are becoming steadily more seductive… Sony A9 and A7R III, Panasonic Lumix G9 and GH5, Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and not forgetting the medium format Fujifilm GFX 50S and Hasselblad X1D. All, in one way or another, are pushing the boundaries of speed, resolution and size to give combinations that are hard to match in a D-SLR. However, Nikon is going to give it a try… and, in the process, throw the D-SLR a lifeline. So, how about the D850? It’s around the same size…

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…

Hasselblad has recently released a number of firmware upgrades for its digital mirrorless medium format camera, the X1D-50c. Key new features include a sensor-based shutter (via Version 1.17.2) and touchscreen AF point selection (via Version 1.19). The sensor shutter (a.k.a. an “electronic shutter”) gives a speed range from 68 minutes up to 1/10,000 second and operates entirely silently. More importantly, it also eliminates any vibrations which can otherwise be a significant issue in digital medium format photography. The limitations are a maximum sensitivity reduced to ISO 3200, the possibility of rolling shutter distortion with moving subjects, and single-shot operation only. Version 1.17.2 also adds re-sizeable AF points which can be set to 2.0 mm, 2.8 mm or 4.0 mm, creating 117, 63 or 35 measuring points respectively. In addition to…

IN THIS ERA OF digitally-generated filter effects, it’s easy to forget that there’s still a place for the on-lens filter in both photography and video-making. The graduated neutral density (ND) filter, in particular, is an effect that’s hard to accurately create digitally. Cokin’s new line of Nuances mineral glass ND filters introduces an innovative technology of filter-making via the development of a new coating process to ensure absolutely uniform density. A nano metallic alloy is applied on both side of a highly-resistant, tempered Schott Glass B270 which is renowned for its high transmittance and low reflection. The result is stunning neutrality, completely free of infrared pollution. The Nuances filters are available as full ND types or as graduate ND type. The full ND types are available in six different densities…

“How is this even possible? We’re at 5200 metres elevation, right in the middle of a glacier. How can it smell of rotting meat?” Chris Eyre-Walker’s guide, Andre, turns to him and says simply, “Dead bodies”. These are the bodies of mountaineers who have fallen off the mountain and spent the last 20 to 30 years frozen in the thick ice, but are now being revealed again as the glacier melts. It’s an unpleasant but very real manifestation of climate change. It’s September 2017 and 27-year-old photographer and film-maker Chris Eyre-Walker is somewhere on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, approaching 6000 metres on Lenin Peak, and the adventurer inside him trying is to convince himself “…that this was still a great idea”. I first met Chris Eyre-Walker on social…

American photographer Steve Schapiro started his career at a time which is often referred to as the ‘Golden Age Of Photojournalism,’ an era when pictorial magazines such as LIFE and LOOK were at the height of their popularity and were using hundreds of photographs each week. As a teenager, Schapiro was fascinated with photography and, in particular, the magic of the darkroom, but it was Henri Cartier-Bresson’s book, The Decisive Moment, that inspired him to take up photography as a career. “Cartier-Bresson said there were three elements that made up a good photo – emotion, design and information,” Shapiro explains. This philosophy had an enormous impact on the New York teenager and it has subsequently underpinned his life’s work. Later, he went on to study with legendary photojournalist W. Eugene…