Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från Smart Photography

Of late and rather untypically we have been receiving a lot of moans and groans about the rising prices of new cameras, particularly D-SLRs. Value for money, of course, is a complicated concept and it means different things to different individuals. A high price does not necessarily mean poor value. Canon’s new EOS 5D Mark IV may look costly at more than Rs 3 lakhs for the body but is it expensive compared to the way prices for other items have risen over the last 2-3 years? Remember that we all want our cameras to have the latest technology, the best imaging quality and the best handling. All this costs money. A declining rupee has also not helped. Also remember that camera manufacturers have faced a declining market (especially for…

U.S. Research Company, IDC Inc., expects the combined global market for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to grow up to $162 billion by 2020. Along with Sony Interactive, companies like Oculus, Samsung Electronics, HTC and various others have introduced dedicated head-mount display (HMD) units. According to Hirokazu Hamamura, former chief editor of Famitsu magazine, in order to disseminate the VR & AR system like televisions in each household, it would be necessary to make the most of this technology by increasing the content for VR, besides games. This can be done by introducing content like online music, live concerts or sports events.…

Sakai Display Products Corp. (a jointly managed company by Hon Hai and Sharp) will build new OLED panels in China, according to Nikkei Asian Review. The factory is expected to produce small to medium sized OLED panels which can be mounted on smartphones. These panels are expected to be launched in 2017. The company had earlier announced that they will be investing a sum of 200 billion yen for the production of OLED panels, out of which 100 billion yen will be invested in setting up a factory in China.…

Apac Photography Institute has organized second PHOTOFRY photography contest which will be open to all. The contest is divided into three subjects. Five entries will be acceptable per subject, per photographer. The subjects for the contest are: Water, Touch and Smile. The panel of judges include some of the biggest names in Indian photography namely—Rohinton Mehta (Technical Editor, Smart Photography), Anant Zanjale (wildlife photographer) and Deepak Shah (Owner Kenton colour lab). Open judging will be held in February and first, second, third prize winners and two runners-up per subject will be awarded. Winners’ entries will be exhibited on 11th and 12th of March, 2016, at Piramal Art Gallery, Nariman Point, Mumbai. To know more about the terms and conditions of the contest or to participate, visit: www.apacphotofry.com .…

A graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography, California, Atul has over 25 years of experience shooting in the print industry and has worked with virtually every brand and advertising agency of consequence. Atul is recognised as the conceptual brain behind the Kingfisher Calendar. The Kingfisher calendar has twice been awarded the prestigious FAB (Food And Beverage) Awards in London. Atul has been the brand ambassador of the brand and currently is the face of Nikon professional cameras in India and friend of the brand to Volvo Automobiles and Carl F Bucherer timepieces. He is also the founder of Bling Entertainment Solutions, a premier Indian talent management company that represents the business interests of many Indian celebrities. Its sister concern, Bling Unplugged has just produced its first major motion picture…

Pro Travel Photographer. Photo Jurist. Photo Educator. SPEAKER (ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY): TBEX Europe 2016 (Stockholm) TBEX Asia 2016 (Manila) WINNER: · India’s Biggest Blogging Contest - Cox & Kings’ Grab Your Dream (Season 2) · National Geographic Traveller’s Get Out There Photo Essay Contest The Netherlands is a small country at the Northwestern tip of mainland Europe. While the distances here are not much, this scenic nation offers plenty of heritage, funky architecture and other assorted visual delights to the visitors. During my visit there last summer, I planned a visit to Kinderdijk - an 18th century settlement that has been accorded a UNESCO World Heritage Site status. My visit there was courtesy ‘I AMstredam’ (The Netherlands Tourism) and their associates - ‘Rotterdam Partners’. They advised me to spend half a…

Flat-field lenses   Sorry if this has been asked before but I am a newcomer to photography. I have just started to pursue wedding photography. What are flat-field lenses and how do they differ from ‘normal’ lenses? Is there any advantage of one over the other? Please explain in very simple terms because I am not technically minded. S. R. Sardesai, Amravati Since you are starting with wedding photography, I’ll try to explain using an example of what you could face during a group photograph. Have a look at the two situations, A and B. In situation A, the people in the group are standing in a straight line, perpendicular to the axis of the lens. In B, the same group is standing in a curve. If you were…

When you print an image file, there is one thing you must remember and that is the number 300. No, this does not refer to a movie by the same name! Rather, it refers to the 300 dots per inch or dpi , which is the resolution needed to get a good quality print. The sanctity of the 300dpi comes from the fact that a human eye can resolve this much when a print is viewed from a normal distance. You can go to 270dpi or even 240 dpi if the print is very large since you will be viewing a large print from a greater distance with a corresponding reduction in what an eye can resolve. The 300dpi corresponds to 90,000 dots per square inch. Let us see this…

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm F/4 Pro 88,990 Inside the Box Lens Lens cap (LC-72C) Rear lens cap (LR-2) Lens hood (LH-76B) Lens case (LSC-0914) Instruction manual Warranty card Announced mid-September 2016, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm F/4 Pro lens is designed for the Micro Four Thirds System. On MFT bodies, the equivalent focal length in terms of 35mm format, is 24-200mm. This focal length is suitable for most genres of photography – from travel to landscapes to portraiture, table-tops and even near-by wildlife. Design & Build Quality Like all Olympus lenses, this one too is very well-built. The outer shell is made from metal and polycarbonate. The lens is dust-proof, splash-proof, freeze proof and is Movie & Still Compatible (MSC). The lens mount is made from metal. Filter diameter…

WE ARE GLUED TO THE GLOBAL IMAGING INDUSTRY Our team is updated with all the benchmarks and road blocks that the field of photography and imaging across the globe experiences. This helps us record the changes in the global perspective, thus making us the first to predict which products will be a rage in the Indian markets. WE’RE IMPARTIAL Loyalty towards our readers is a given, and their best interests are always on our mind. Every verdict is honest and not influenced by advertisers or personal favorites. So when we say a product is a ‘BEST BUY’, then, it is just that! OUR TESTS ARE CONDUCTED BY EXPERTS All equipment go through a series of tests at the hands of our experts. Our reviewers are experts in the field of…

Google, Samsung, HTC, Acer, Facebook and Sony establishes The Global Virtual Reality Association to promote the growth of global virtual reality (VR) industry. LG Electronics to unveil the levitating Bluetooth speaker at the International CES 2017. The speaker features a 360-degree sound and 10-hour battery life. The estimated cost of this waterproof portable device is in the range of $150 to $200. Panasonic Corp. develops a new model of its IPS liquid crystal panel that achieves a contrast ratio of over 1,000,000:1, which is 600 times that of conventional liquid crystal panels. The new IPS panel is ideal for use in High Dynamic Range (HDR) monitors for broadcasting stations and video production studios. Canon Inc. announces the acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corp. for 665.5 billion yen. Canon aims at…

Canon Inc. acquired shares of Toshiba Medical Systems Corp., making it a subsidiary company after seeking necessary clearance from the regulatory authorities. The decision was made after a resolution passed at the board meeting of Canon Inc. Under Phase V of its Excellent Global Corporation Plan (a five-year initiative launched in 2016), Canon aims at embracing the challenge of new growth through a grand strategic transformation. Canon aims at diversifying its healthcare business. The inclusion of Toshiba Medical into the Canon group will prove to be beneficial for Canon. By maximizing the application of both the companies’ medical management resources, Canon will be able to leverage Toshiba Medical’s core strength in imaging diagnostics, further reinforcing Toshiba Medical’s operational strength in its in-vitro diagnostics business and next-generation medical IT through M&A…

The Super Mario Run, an online game by Nintendo Co. is now available for download on android and iOS platforms in 150 countries. It is the first of the online game series. The game can be downloaded for free, however, users can make in-app purchases to utilise complete features of the game (priced at $9.99 in the US, 9.99 euro in the EU and 1,200 yen in Japan). Thus far, online game providers for smartphones have earned profit by charging the users for using certains features of the application. And such business models face a lot of competition from low costing applications like Pokemon Go and some other games offered by Capcom Co. The Super Mario Run currently has 12 million users and Nintendo expects the number of downloads to…

The 2017 edition of the Jaipur Photo will be held between 24th February and 5th March with nineteen different exhibitions. In addition to the venues of 2016, the festival will expand to the City Palace, which will host three outdoor exhibitions. A key addition will be the inclusion of one indoor exhibition in the Albert Hall Museum (where the exhibition will take place alongside the museum’s existing exhibits). A ten day workshop on photo-book making, by Yumi Goto (Japan) and Mariela Sancari (Argentina/Mexico) will also be held. The event will be attended by various iconic personalities from the world of photography including—Aaron Schuman, Lars Willumeit, Laia Abril, Kapil Das, Vasantha Yogananthan, Naveen Kishore, Sebastian Hau, Rosalyn D’Mello. The 2017 edition of the Jaipur Photo is co-curated by Federica Chiocchetti, with…

Samyang Optics Co. Ltd., a well-known Korean Company manufacturing photographic and cinematographic lenses now offers Samyang lenses in India for Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony cameras. All Samyang lenses offer 2 years’ warranty and all the lenses are made in Samyang factory in Korea. Samyang Optics will be represented in India by Kirti Sales And Marketing, Pune. They will focus on bringing top-quality Samyang lenses to India, along with proper service support.…

A government employee by profession, Sanjib Das is a passionate travel photographer and a travel writer. Being a self-taught photographer, Sanjib believes in learning from each and every aspect of life. Born in a small city called Naihati, 40 kms away from the ‘City of Joy’ - Kolkata, Sanjib has always been curious to unravel the mysteries of nature. His first visit to the Himalayas introduced him to the might and marvels of mountains. Ever since, he has tried to capture these marvelous moments through his lens as well as his travelogues. His work has been published in many leading magazines, journals and newspapers. To view and follow his journey, visit his website: www.sanjib.in…

"The academia has done some exceptional work in nurturing young photography talent in the country and it is this common aspiration to promote the photography culture in India that brings us together."—Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India. "Recently, I took a lecture and gave a demo at the Shari Academy. It was a matter of pride and honour for me. Way back in 1992, when I was in tenth grade, I had gone to Girish Mistry’s Shari Academy with my father for admission. I was quite young and nervous. But Girish was kind. He asked me one question - “Do you know how to load the film in camera?” “Yes, I said – first check that there is no film in the camera, and then load the film under the…

I n 1977, at the age of eight, I got my first camera from my mother. It was a simple Agfa Click III – basically a box camera. While I couldn’t have imagined that my mother was actually gifting me my future, I do remember feeling something special holding the camera in its brown case, that it wasn’t just a mere toy. The Agfa Click III became an important part of my life. I would hang it on my shoulder, ride my mini cycle and explore my neighbourhood, the world around me with this camera. While I would go around looking for pictures on a daily basis, I couldn’t shoot that often, as I would get just one roll a month. And I could shoot only 12 frames with the…

Write to us at: Smart Photography, Next Gen Publishing Ltd, Trade World, C-Wing, 2nd Floor, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel(W), Mumbai 400013. E-mail: sp@nextgenpublishing.net Informative Dear Editor, I am a reader of Smart Photography magazine for the past three years. I have always been keen on reading the ‘Learnings’ section. The article by Debraj Chakraborty in the January 2017 issue was immensely informative. The picture clicked by him was amazing and the technique used by him to get such a perfect shot was very interesting. I am grateful to the SP editorial team, as such kind of articles really help us in understanding the minute details and technicalities of photography. Keep up the good work. Regards, Rishi D., Mumbai Mesmerizing Respected Editor, I would like to inform…

Hitachi Ltd. has developed a new technology to produce Li-ion batteries with double the capacity as compared to the current Li-ion batteries and can function 40 % more when fully charge. The new Li-ion batteries utilizes nickel alloy for the positive electrode with twice the thickness, to boost its ability to store electricity. Instead of using the conventional carbonic material for the negative electrode, Hitachi utilizes a new material produced using silicon. The battery power has also been increased to 320 watt/hour per 1000 kg. The company estimates that the production costs of the new batteries will not exceed the current level and plans to verify its safety. Hitachi aims at commercializing the new Li-ion batteries by 2020.…

Sony Interactive Entertainment Co. launched its virtual reality headset in Japan in 2016 which resulted in a great success. The company sold over 46,000 units in the first four days of its launch. The growing popularity of VR headsets has taken the global market by a storm and with increasing demands each year. Sony’s VR headsets are designed to provide comfort when used for long hours. The company has utilized a visor to support the device on the forehead, and the user can fix the band on the back by screwing the dial. This places the weight of the device proportionately on the back as well as front. The company has also collaborated with its digital single-lens camera section for building high-quality lens for its HMD device. Kazuo Hirai, president…

Profoto & Srishti Digilife recently concluded the first ever Profoto light shaping seminar on January 17, 2017. The seminar was conducted by renowned photographer—Andrea Belluso. Belluso started working in London in 1983 when he did his first job for Italian Condé Nast. Belluso also introduced the latest Profoto products at the seminar of photography enthusiasts. Srishti Digilife offers one of the largest portfolio of global imaging brands. To know more, visit: www.srishtidigilife.co.in…

 Parvinder Singh Anand hails from New Delhi, the capital city of India. As a child, Parvinder was immensely fascinated with nature and wildlife. His fascination found a new direction when he bought his first SLR camera. He started pursuing photography as a hobby during his teenage years and his camera became his constant companion. Parvinder’s love for nature and wildlife photography gradually became his passion and a very important part of his life. He has been using a Nikon D7000 since last five years, along with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4 IF ED and a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II/14E. Along with his favourite gear and love for wilderness, PS Anand travels across India, sharing his experience with his family and friends.…

Yogesh Chavan, a yoga trainer by profession, is a qualified commercial artist. A photography enthusiast and nature lover, Yogesh has been collaborating with DCP Expeditions and pursues nature and wildlife photography. Yogesh uses a Point and Shoot camera for wildlife photography but the images captured by him are exemplary and praiseworthy. We talked to Yogesh about his choice of gear and here are the excerpts from the interview... Tell us about yourself. I am a qualified commercial artist from Sir J J Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai. Photography was a part of my academic curriculum. However, I had already learnt the basics of photography way back in 1979-80 during b&w days. I have always been a nature lover and pursue nature and wildlife photography. Currently, I have collaborated with DCP…

Boris Untereiner is a self-taught photographer from France. He began his photographic journey in 2007 when he received a D-SLR as a Christmas present. For Boris, photography is not restricted to any particular genre. What he loves the most about photography is that, it is a mix of beautiful lights, moments and expressions. His work has appeared in various French publications including the record breaking France Hot Air Balloon Festival coverage in 2015. To view more of his work, visit : www.borisuntereiner.com or follow his journey on Instagram @borisuntereiner . Cinema is one of the most grand and awe-inspiring form of art. When we walk into a cinema hall and settle in those comfortable seats, a dramatic journey begins. The 70mm screen becomes a conduit between our dreams and reality.…

The photography industry has been through a highly exciting but tumultuous century. During this period, many corporates have entered and exited the camera business. The industry has been severely competitive in the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties and this inevitably took its toll. SP tracks those companies that did indeed play a part in the fortunes of the industry, but for a variety of reasons were forced to exit the business. In this article, we trace the story of several Japanese lens manufacturers/ brands that fell by the wayside. Sun Optical Sun Koki was the Japanese company that started making Sun brand lenses for 35mm SLR cameras in the late 1950’s. The company was known for making distinctive lenses of high quality. Lenses manufactured by Sun were also badged with…

Smart Photography has been continually receiving requests to start a basic course for beginners. With this in mind, we have asked a very knowledgeable photographer from Hyderabad to take over writing these articles. We have also requested him to be as jargon-free as it is possible, so that newcomers to photography feel comfortable to pursue the hobby. The author, 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 several articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-known international magazine Popular Photography. An…

Canon EF 16-35MM F/2.8 L III USM 1,68,995 Inside the Box Lens Front & Rear lens caps Lens case LP1222 Lens hood EW-88D This is the third version of Canon’s 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. It promises to improve on the earlier version’s shortfalls and build quality. The fast f/2.8 aperture makes it very useful in low light situations, while the focal length is perfect for great compositions in landscape imagery. Considering today’s style of photography, I would indeed consider this focal length most useful also for photojournalists and those shooting in cramped spaces. Design & Build Quality The EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L III USM is designed for full-frame (35mm format) Canon bodies. It has reasonably good build quality. A red ring at the filter end signifies the lens as high-performance ‘L-series’,…

Honor 6X Huawei has been quite proactive in launching products capable of tapping almost all segments in the smartphone market. Their Honor brand of smartphones have been quite popular, and the company has even started manufacturing smartphones in India under the Make In India initiative. Their latest innovation revolves around dual cameras that have been optimally used to enhance the quality of the final image. The Huawei P9 helped the company to tap into the premium segment, while the Honor 8 caters to the mid-high level of the market. The new Honor 6X also incorporates a dual camera, while catering to the under-Rs.15,000 segment. The device has many advanced features that have trickled down from the P9 and Honor 8. The 6X is powered by a Huawei Kirin 655 Octa-core…

GoPro Hero5 Black Action cameras expanded the possibilities of sports and adventure sports photography and video capture to an entirely new level that was hard to imagine a few years ago. No wonder, the tiny unit that can be mounted on virtually any surface and provides perspectives hitherto unimaginable made the GoPro an instant success. The Hero5 Black is, according to GoPro, the best GoPro ever. The GoPro Hero5 Black can capture professional quality 12 megapixel still photos along with 4K videos at 30 frames per second. The device uses a 2-inch touch responsive display, which provides simplified controls. It is waterproof up to 10 metres without a housing, which makes it all-the-more versatile. The camera has two physical buttons—one for shutter release/capture and the second to toggle between different…