Year « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Year’

Happy New Year 2018 – Recap of our Ultimate Guides to Photography

31 Dec

Wishing you the happiest new year from the dPS family.

As a bonus, here is a summary of some amazing ultimate guides we published in 2017. Each is available as a free PDF – just click on the ones you want to download below.

The Ultimate Guide to Street Photography
The dPS Ultimate Guide to Landscape Photography
The dPS Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Lightroom for Beginners
The dPS Ultimate Guide to Photography for Beginners
The dPS Ultimate Guide to Photography Terms – a Glossary of Common Words and Phrases
The Ultimate Guide to Nature and Outdoor Photography
The dPS Ultimate Guide to Fine Art Photography

Enjoy and please share this page with your friends if you find these valuable!

The post Happy New Year 2018 – Recap of our Ultimate Guides to Photography by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017

27 Dec

This week on dPS we’re featuring some of the top articles in different categories that were published on the site over the last year, 2017. Yesterday was the Best Landscape Articles on dPS in 2017, and this one is all about the best portrait tips of the year.

Here are the top 18 portrait tip articles:

How to Create Portraits with a Black Background
How to Make a Low Key Portrait Step by Step
How to Make Beautiful Portraits Using Flash and High-Speed Sync
How to Create a Dark and Moody Rembrandt-Style Portrait In Lightroom
4 Beginner Tips for Creating Dramatic Portraits with One Flash
How to Pose People for Group Portraits
Tips for Making Natural Light Portraits
How to Create Good Black and White Portraits
5 Tips for Creating Romantic Portraits of Couples
8 Tips for Mastering Your Portrait Photography
Six Ways to Capture the True Character of a Subject in Portraits
A Quick Exercise to Help You Take Better Self-Portraits
How to Create and Shoot Night Portraits
6 Tips for Posing Hands in Wedding and Portrait Photography
5 Reasons to Use Lightroom for Portrait Retouching
Basic Portrait Post-Processing Workflow Tips to Help You Save Time and Stay Organized
5 More Tips for Making Better Black and White Portraits
3 Tips for Taking Portraits with a Kit Lens

Tomorrow, look for the most popular articles on post-processing in 2017.

The post Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017 by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

2017 Readers’ choice polls: High-end ILC of the year – break the tie!

21 Dec

For the past few weeks we’ve been running six polls, to find out what you, our readers think was the best gear of 2017. Several of the polls are pretty close, but one is still too close to call, with literally only a handful of votes between the two front-runners and the two runners-up.

With only six hours left to vote, we need your help to break the tie! Or we could just give everyone a prize, like school sports day. Your choice.

Click here to view all six polls
(voting ends at midnight PT)

Have your say

$ (document).ready(function() { Poll({“pollId”:”1348290628″,”openForVoting”:true,”mainElementId”:”poll0″,”slot”:null,”isSingleChoicePoll”:false,”minNumberOfChoices”:1,”maxNumberOfChoices”:3}); })

Have your say: Best high-end ILC of 2017

Fujifilm GFX 50S

Leica M10

Nikon D850

Panasonic Lumix DC-G9

Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5

Sony Alpha a7R III

Sony Alpha a9

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

These are the winners of Nat Geo’s Nature Photographer of the Year 2017

14 Dec

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

National Geographic has revealed the winners of their annual Nature Photographer of the Year contest, and as usual, every photo from the Grand Prize winner all the way to the Honorable Mentions and People’s Choice awards are fantastic.

The Grand Prize this year—and title of Nature Photographer of the Year—went to Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan of Singapore, who captured an intense wildlife portrait of an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park. The photo, titled “Face to Face in a River in Borneo,” was selected from over 11,000 entries and earns Bojan $ 10,000 in prize money, in addition to his image showing up in an upcoming issue of National Geographic.

Speaking of the moment he captured the shot, Bojan told Nat Geo:

Honestly, sometimes you just go blind when things like this happen. You’re so caught up. You really don’t know what’s happening. You don’t feel the pain, you don’t feel the mosquito bites, you don’t feel the cold, because your mind is completely lost in what’s happening in front of you.

You can see Bojan’s grand prize winning image, as well as every 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and People’s Choice winner in the slideshow above, or by visiting the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year website.

Press Release

National Geographic Announces Winners of the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Contest

WASHINGTON (Dec. 12, 2017) – Selected from over 11,000 entries, a wildlife photo of an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park has been selected as the grand-prize winner of the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest. The photo, titled “Face to face in a river in Borneo,” was captured by Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan of Singapore. He has won $ 10,000 and will have his winning image published in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine and featured on the @NatGeo Instagram account.

Bojan took the winning photo after waiting patiently in the Sekoyner River in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Indonesia. After spending several days on a houseboat photographing orangutans in the park, Bojan learned of a location where a male orangutan had crossed the river – unusual behavior that he knew he had to capture. After waiting a day and night near the suspected location, a ranger spotted the orangutan the next morning at a spot a few minutes up the river. As they drew near, Bojan decided to get into the water so the boat did not scare the primate. About five feet deep in a river supposedly home to freshwater crocodiles, Bojan captured the photo when the orangutan peeked out from behind a tree to see if the photographer was still there.

On capturing the photo, Bojan said, “Honestly, sometimes you just go blind when things like this happen. You’re so caught up. You really don’t know what’s happening. You don’t feel the pain, you don’t feel the mosquito bites, you don’t feel the cold, because your mind is completely lost in what’s happening in front of you.”

Karim Iliya of Haiku, Hawaii, won first place in the Landscapes category for a photo from Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park; Jim Obester of Vancouver, Wash., won first place in the Underwater category for a photo of an anemone; and Todd Kennedy of New South Wales, Australia, won first place in the Aerials category for a photo of a rock pool in Sydney at high tide.

The judges for the contest were National Geographic magazine’s senior photo editor of natural history assignments, Kathy Moran, National Geographic photographer Anand Varma, and photographer Michaela Skovranova.

Contestants submitted photographs in four categories – Wildlife, Landscape, Aerials and Underwater – through National Geographic’s photography community, Your Shot. All of the winning photos, along with the honorable mentions, may be viewed at natgeo.com/photocontest.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

1st Place | Wildlife and Grand Prize Winner

Photo © Jayprakash Joghee Bojan, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

A male orangutan peers from behind a tree while crossing a river in Borneo, Indonesia.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

1st Place | Underwater

Photo © Jim Obester, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Jim Obester, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Blue-filtered strobe lights stimulate fluorescent pigments in the clear tentacles of a tube-dwelling anemone in Hood Canal, Washington.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

1st Place | Landscapes

Photo © Karim Iliya, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Karim Iliya, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Shortly before twilight in Kalapana, Hawai’i, a fragment of the cooled lava tube broke away, leaving the molten rock to fan in a fiery spray for less than half an hour before returning to a steady flow.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

1st Place | Aerials

Photo © Todd Kennedy, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Todd Kennedy, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

In Sydney, Australia, the Pacific Ocean at high tide breaks over a natural rock pool enlarged in the 1930s. Avoiding the crowds at the city’s many beaches, a local swims laps.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

2nd Place | Wildlife

Photo © Alejandro Prieto, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Alejandro Prieto, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

An adult Caribbean pink flamingo feeds a chick in Yucatán, Mexico. Both parents alternate feeding chicks, at first with a liquid baby food called crop milk, and then with regurgitated food.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

2nd Place | Underwater

Photo © Shane Gross, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Shane Gross, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Typically a shy species, a Caribbean reef shark investigates a remote-triggered camera in Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen marine protected area.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

2nd Place | Landscapes

Photo © Yuhan Liao, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Yuhan Liao, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Sunlight glances off mineral strata of different colors in Dushanzi Grand Canyon, China.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

2nd Place | Aerials

Photo © Takahiro Bessho, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Takahiro Bessho, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Snow-covered metasequoia trees, also called dawn redwoods, interlace over a road in Takashima, Japan.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

3rd Place | Wildlife

Photo © Bence Mate, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Bence Mate, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Two grey herons spar as a white-tailed eagle looks on in Hungary.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

3rd Place | Underwater

Photo © Michael Patrick O’Neill, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Michael Patrick O’Neill, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Buoyed by the Gulf Stream, a flying fish arcs through the night-dark water five miles off Palm Beach, Florida.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

3rd Place | Landscapes

Photo © Mike Olbinski, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Mike Olbinski Photography, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

A summer thunderstorm unleashes lightning on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

3rd Place | Aerials

Photo © Greg C., 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Greg C., 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

On the flanks of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i, the world’s only lava ocean entry spills molten rock into the Pacific Ocean. After erupting in early 2016, the lava flow took about two months to reach the sea, six miles away.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

People’s Choice | Wildlife

Photo © Harry Collins, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Harry Collins, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

A great gray owl swoops to kill in a New Hampshire field.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

People’s Choice | Underwater

Photo © Matthew Smith, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Matthew Smith, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

A Portuguese man-of-war nears the beach on a summer morning; thousands of these jellyfish wash up on Australia’s eastern coast every year.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

People’s Choice | Landscapes

Photo © Wojciech Kruczynski, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by Wojciech Kruczy?ski, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Sunset illuminates a lighthouse and rainbow in the Faroe Islands.

2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

People’s Choice | Aerials

Photo © David Swindler, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Photograph by David Swindler, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Green vegetation blooms at the river’s edge, or riparian, zone of a meandering canyon in Utah.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Gear of the Year 2017 – Jeff’s choice: Olympus Tough TG-5

09 Dec

I try to make it to the Hawaiian Islands every year and I have a pretty good success rate. When I go, usually to Maui, I make it a point to spend most of my mornings snorkeling. In the afternoons I’ll hop in an air conditioned car and explore the island which, even after many (many) trips, is still exciting.

Hungry hungry honu, Kaanapali, Maui. Cropped out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 100 | F3.5 | 1/250 sec | 33mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller

Since I want to memorialize any encounters with sea turtles or dolphins that may occur while I’m snorkeling, that really narrows down my camera choices. I’m not hardcore enough to bring a large camera in a big housing; rather, I want something I can slip into the pocket of my swimsuit while I’m struggling to put on my fins. I also need a camera that can capture the beautiful rainbows and sunsets that are almost a daily occurrence. The camera that covers both bases for me is the Olympus Tough TG-5.

The TG-5 has a great macro mode, with a 1cm minimum focusing distance. It captures plenty of detail, as you can see from this photo of my lunch.
ISO 100 | F2.8 | 1/160 sec | 24mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller

To be honest, 2015’s TG-4 didn’t need a lot of improvements. It had solid image quality for a compact, a lens that’s fast at its wide end, Raw support, a GPS, manometer, thermometer, and compass, along with respectable battery life. It could take a beating and, unlike some underwater compacts I’ve tested, didn’t leak at all when it went diving. The main things that irked me about the TG-4 were its awkward zoom controller, limited aperture choices and too much noise reduction in JPEGs.

I love having Raw on the TG-5, as it lets me get rid of the overly blue color cast that sometimes appears in underwater photos, even when using the u/w white balance setting. You can also customize the noise reduction, though don’t expect miracles from this 1/2.3″ sensor. The in-camera converter is clunky so I just used ACR in Photoshop.
ISO 200 | F5 | 1/250 sec | 67mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller

The TG-5 was exciting because of the drop in resolution (from 16MP to 12MP), which I hoped would improve pixel-level image quality, plus the addition of more tracking functions, 4K video and (yes!) an improved zoom controller. Olympus also finally switched to an actual micro-USB port instead of using the same proprietary connector that’s been used for 15 years. The burst rate has jumped to 20 fps, so you can just mash the button down and hope to get a decent shot of a fast-moving sea turtle or surfer. Unfortunately there are still just three apertures to choose from at any time (the camera uses an ND filter to “stop down” the lens,) but that rarely held me back.

A select from a 20 fps burst taken while floating next to Black Rock. Unfortunately, some water droplets didn’t roll off the lens like they’re supposed to. Cropped out-of-camera JPEG.
ISO 100 | F2.8 | 1/800 sec | 24mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller

As mentioned above, the main reason I brought the TG-5 to Maui was for underwater photos, and it rarely disappointed, as long as you remember that it’s a compact camera. It literally takes no effort to transition from ‘regular’ to underwater shooting, as there’s a dedicated spot on the mode dial for that purpose. Generally I left it at the default setting: Underwater Snapshot, since it uses natural light and the flash is fired only when necessary. There’s an a multi-shot underwater HDR mode, though given the motion of myself, the camera and the fish, the chance of getting a sharp photo is near zero.

The TG-5 isn’t just waterproof to 50 feet / 15 meters (and more if you buy the optional housing). It’s also shockproof from 7ft/2.1m, freezeproof to -10°C/+14°F and crushproof to 220lbs/100kg. On this trip I dropped and nearly crushed my glasses on the slopes of Haleakal?, heavily scratching the lenses on rough lava sand. I’m pretty sure the TG-5 would’ve fared better.

The addition of 4K (UHD) support is a welcome one, though for some reason you have to enter the dedicated movie mode to use it, rather than just selecting it like any other resolution. If you’re underwater that means that you have to re-select underwater white balance if you want things to look good. While not mind-blowing, video quality is good for the sensor size. Something worth pointing out is that if you zoom the lens, the microphone will pick up the sound, especially underwater.

I’m a big fan of the colors in Olympus’ JPEGs. Black Rock, Kaanapali, Maui.
ISO 100 | F8 | 1/250 sec | 24mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller.

Pictures I took ‘on land’ were very nice, though keep your expectations in check on this compact camera: there is a lot of noise reduction and the lens is somewhat soft. Maui is a colorful place and the TG-5 does a great job of capturing it.

Something that Olympus brought over from its TG-Tracker is the ability to compile all of the data the GPS, manometer and compass are capturing and display it in a graph in the OI.Track app. (This is a separate app that OI.Share, which is used to download photos and remotely control the camera.)


My route from the summit of Haleakala (around 10,000 feet) back to sea level in Kaanapali.	Here’s the change in elevation during my drive, with the dots illustrating where I took photos, which you can view in the app.

Even if it’s sort of a novelty, I still think it’s cool being able to see where in your journey you took photos, and what the conditions were. One more thing that I appreciate is the ability to check all of that sensor data at any time, even when the camera is off, by pressing the Info button. You also turn on the camera’s very bright LED illuminator by holding the same button down for several seconds.

Yet another sunset photo.
ISO 100 | F5.6 | 1/200 sec | 72mm equiv | Photo by Jeff Keller.

While I wouldn’t bring it on a once-in-a-lifetime trip where I want top-notch photo quality, for cruises, tropical vacations, hiking or climbing, the TG-5 would be the camera I pack in my bag due to its compactness, feature set and ruggedness.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Gear of the Year 2017 – Richard’s choice: Sony NP-FZ100

02 Dec

I wrote, two years ago, that I thought the distinction between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras would disappear. Not that mirrorless would eclipse DSLRs, more that the differences would reduce to the point that the presence or absence of a mirror becomes the least relevant part of a discussion of two cameras.

As I was writing a comparison of the Sony a7R III and Nikon D850 today, I was suddenly struck by the realization that it might have already happened. I think there are a lot of interesting differences between the two cameras but very few of them have anything to do with the way we’d tend to categorize them.

With this in mind, my gear of the year is the Sony NP-FZ100. Or, to those of you not obsessed with product codes, the a9 and a7R III’s battery. The simple reason for this is the role it plays in rendering the difference between mirror-less and mirror-full cameras moot.

Good enough: the threshold beyond which any further excess is superfluous

It all comes down to the idea of ‘good enough.’ And please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about accepting the mediocre or tolerating the barely sufficient. Instead I’m referring to the threshold beyond which any further excess is, if not excessive, then at least superfluous: it offers no practical benefit.

Once I have enough battery life to get me through a demanding day of shooting, then any extra left in the tank is all very nice, but not exactly necessary. I recently spent a morning shooting both stills and video of a cyclocross race with the a7R III. Shooting a mixture of JPEGs, uncompressed Raws and 4K video, I comfortably churned out more than the 64GB capacity of my memory card and had to switch to a second. What I didn’t come close to doing was running the battery out. At the end of the racing, I still had more than 27% charge left, despite the sub-10°C temperatures.

The move to the ‘Z-Type’ battery on the right is the difference between me having to worry about charging and carrying spare batteries and me never having to think about it.

This suddenly eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve always felt with previous Sony mirrorless cameras (and that’s without including the RX1R II, an otherwise fabulous camera whose butterfly-like lifespan prompts even its proponents joke “it’s like shooting film: you need to think about what you’re going to do with your 36 exposures”). Because when I’m shooting, I don’t ever want to be worrying about whether I’ve brought enough batteries, and which ones are charged. I don’t even want to have to think about it.

In fairness Panasonic got here first, having put a big battery in its GH models as far back as the GH3, but I didn’t notice it to the same extent because I was primarily shooting video with those models.

This eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve previously felt with many mirrorless cameras

More demanding shooters, be they photojournalists or longer-form filmmakers, can always attach a battery grip for longer duration, but for me, the FZ100 means the a7R III is able to surpass my ‘good enough’ threshold. So, while the D850 can boast a very impressive 1840 shots per charge, for me and my photography, that’s well into the territory of overkill.

So, as a technology that allows mirrorless cameras (hopefully of all brands) to offer the same practical benefits as their DSLR rivals, my gear of the year is a battery. Because it makes the a9 and a7R III into significantly better cameras, not just because it pulls another leg out from under all those tired ‘mirrorless vs DSLR’ arguments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Leica Camera reports ‘strong revenue growth’ for 2016/2017 fiscal year

02 Dec

In recent years, financial reports from major camera manufacturers haven’t typically made for overly positive news stories; however, Leica Camera AG is bucking this trend with the announcement of its results for the 2016/2017 financial year ending March 31st. Apparently, the German camera maker has been able to grow revenue by 6 percent, despite the global camera market declining by around 10 percent over the same period.

Leica cites systematic realignment of the company over recent years as the main driver of the positive development.

At the heart of this realignment lies the establishment of an in-house retail distribution division that now controls a network of 90 monobrand stores around the globe. The company says this move has been vital in promoting the brand, and the retail network is set to expand even further in the near future. China is currently Leica’s number one growth market, and 20 to 30 new stores are planned in the country alone.

Other important initiatives include the Leica Akademie brand—which aims to increase brand awareness among younger target groups—and the company’s collaboration with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei on the cameras in their latest high-end devices.

The upward trend has reportedly continued into the 2017/2018 financial year, leading CEO of Leica Camera AG, Matthias Harsch, to predict record-breaking growth for this coming year.

Its important to note, however, that at least part of Leica’s future growth will have nothing to do with photography. In 2017, the company entered into the eyewear segment under the Leica Eyecare brand, which Leica says will “systematically tap into this global market in conjunction with its technology partner Novacel.”

Press Release

Leica Camera AG Records Strong Revenue Growth for the 2016/2017 Financial Year and Bucks the Downward Trend in the Camera Market

The Leica Camera Group achieved revenue of almost 400 million euros in the past financial year 2016/2017 (31 March 2017) and can therefore look back very positively on the previous twelve-month period. With strong revenue growth of more than six per cent, Leica bucked the overall downward trend in the global camera market, which declined by around 10 per cent in the same period.

In the first few months of the current financial year 2017/2018, cumulative growth stands at 15 per cent, thus underscoring the positive global performance of Leica Camera AG. Despite a market environment that remains challenging, the CEO of Leica Camera AG, Matthias Harsch, once again expects a record-breaking result for the 2017/2018 financial year. As a result, the revenue of Leica Camera AG has increased more than fourfold since anchor investor and majority shareholder Dr Andreas Kaufmann came on board in 2004.

The main driver of growth is the systematic realignment of the company that has taken place in recent years. In particular, the setting up of an in-house Retail Distribution division has made a major contribution to revenue growth. Leica now has 90 monobrand stores around the world, which are vital in terms of promoting brand experience in the context of photography. ‘China is our number-one growth market,’ says Matthias Harsch, who is planning 20 to 30 new stores in the country alone. The Group is now strengthening its presence in the service sector with the Leica Akademie brand in order to boost the appeal of photography amongst younger target groups.

The extremely successful technology and brand partnership with Chinese company Huawei in the field of mobile phone photography makes Leica one of the world’s leading providers of smartphone lens applications, a burgeoning technology segment that serves as a global basis for new product ideas and applications in photography.

The entry of Leica into the eyewear segment (glasses) – a move that was completed in 2017 – offers further potential for strong revenue growth in the years ahead. Operating under the name of Leica Eyecare, the company will systematically tap into this global market in conjunction with its technology partner Novacel.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Gear of the Year 2017 – Dale’s choice: Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art

01 Dec

Sigma’s 14mm F1.8 Art lens makes it easier to get shots like this.
ISO 5000 | 2 seconds | F1.8 | 14mm

Over the past couple years I’ve developed a strong interest in wide-field astrophotography. Specifically, I’ve become passionate about photographing the aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights.

The aurora is Mother Nature’s own special effects show, and it’s one of those things that makes you stop to just appreciate the magic of the universe. No photo, IMAX screen, or VR headset will ever replicate the experience of standing under the sky when she flips on the light switch, but maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to aurora photography in the first place: it requires me to go to where I can experience the magic in person.

There are a lot of good lenses out there for this purpose, and I’ve used quite a few of them including the legendary Nikon 14-24mm F2.8, the Rokinon 14mm F2.8, the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm F2, various 16-35mm F2.8 variants, and even Sigma’s own 20mm F1.4 Art, but once I tried the Sigma 14mm F1.8 it was game over. I knew I had found the one.

ISO 1600 | 3.2 seconds | F1.8 | 14mm

One thing you learn quickly when shooting aurora is that you need fast, wide lenses. Fast because you’re shooting at night (duh). Wide because the aurora typically covers a large portion of the sky. It also makes it easier to include some landscape to provide a sense of place. This is where the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art lens comes in.

What makes this lens so special is the fast F1.8 aperture. That’s 1.3 EV faster than an F2.8 lens. Put another way, wide open the Sigma 14mm has a 2.5x light gathering advantage over F2.8 lenses. That’s huge.

One challenge when photographing the aurora is that it can dance around surprisingly fast at times. Even at high ISO values an exposure may be on the order of several seconds, making it difficult to capture the intricate structure you often see in person. That’s part of the reason time-lapse sequences never look as good as the real thing.

ISO 3200 | 5 seconds | F12.8 | 14mm

Using the Sigma 14mm, however, I can cut my exposure time significantly. Where the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 might require a 6 second exposure, the Sigma lets me get away with 2.5 seconds. Still not enough to freeze the action, but enough to reduce the degree to which patterns and structure in the aurora get averaged out.

Conversely, there are times when the aurora moves slowly and I’m not too concerned about shutter speed. In that case, I can lower my ISO significantly, say from 6400 to 2500, in order to get higher quality images.

But wait, there’s more! This lens even makes it easier to focus in the dark. I typically use live view to focus on a bright star. Sounds easy, but sometimes it’s not. The extra light at F1.8 makes this easier, making shooting more fun.

Blah, blah, blah… That all means squat if the photos don’t look good. Thankfully, this lens has great image quality.

ISO 6400 | 1.3 seconds | F1.8 | 14mm

Wide open there’s some comatic aberration, which causes point sources of light near the edge of the frame to look distorted, but unless your viewer is pixel-peeping they probably won’t see it. I suppose if I were an astro purist, and the stars were the main subject of my photos, I might get a bit persnickety about this, but I’m not, so I don’t.

There’s also noticeable vignetting wide open, but it’s a smooth transition to the edges, and I’ve generally been able to correct for it effectively in Lightroom. Again, astro purists will probably cringe at this, but for aurora photos it works great.

If there’s any significant downside to this lens, it’s that it’s both big and heavy. This is one place where Sigma’s ‘Make the best optic possible and size be damned’ design approach is visible. Put a couple of these in your pack and you’re going to feel it. (Then again, some of those other lenses I mentioned above are pretty big as well.)

I’m looking forward to doing a lot more aurora photography in the future, and I’ll be doing much of it with this lens. It’s going to take a lot to displace it from my camera, which is why it’s my 2017 gear of the year.

Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art sample galleries

Sample gallery

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5251445179″,”galleryId”:”5251445179″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });

Astrophotography sample gallery

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_9309803257″,”galleryId”:”9309803257″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Gear of the Year 2017 – Dan’s choice: Sony a9

01 Dec

It’s been fascinating to watch the rise of mirrorless cameras over the course of my 7+ years writing about digital photography. And Sony in particular has been fun to watch as they’ve lead the mirrorless charge in terms of sensor size and resolution.

I’ll never forget the moment the Sony NEX-7 was unveiled in a pre-launch briefing in 2011 – it was the first time I truly craved a mirrorless body – the publication I worked for at the time even named it ‘Camera of the Year’. Up until that point mirrorless still felt like something of a novelty: a nice option for amateurs craving a small, light ILC alternative to a DSLR, but certainly not a replacement for one, especially for those ‘serious’ about their photography.

It’s often been Sony in particular making the mirrorless cameras I’m most eager to get my hands on.

As the mirrorless market continued to take off and cameras like the original Sony a7 were unveiled, my interest in what originally seemed like a niche continued to grow. And while a lot of brands have contributed serious innovation to the mirrorless market, it’s been Sony in particular making the mirrorless cameras I’m most eager to get my hands on – an opinion not shared by all my colleagues, mind you.

But time and time again I found my expectations of shooting a Sony mirrorless camera never quite matched the reality of using the product. For instance, when it came to the Sony a7, sure it packed a full-frame sensor in a super compact mirrorless body – something that’d never been done, but the user interface of the camera, to put it simply, felt unfinished. This led to an overly frustrating shooting experience.

The Sony a9 is the brand’s first truly refined mirrorless camera, in this writer’s opinion.
ISO 1000 | 1/1000 sec | F5.6

To make matters worse, many of Sony’s early mirrorless UI stumbling points were uniquely their own: slow startup times, vague error messages, and batteries draining while the camera’s shut off were problems other manufacturers had long since addressed (not to mention poor battery life). And while no one has the perfect menus, Sony’s have historically been the most cluttered and confusing.

But time and time again I found my expectations of shooting a Sony mirrorless camera never quite matched the reality of using the product.

For years, early Sony mirrorless adopters defended their decision to go all-in citing that, eventually, you do get used to the annoying UI and find workarounds. And indeed I’m sure they did. But a good camera shouldn’t force you to work around it: it should work with you. And as the Sony a7 II-series came to market, it seemed clear the brand was intent on fixing a lot of these issues and shaking its image as the camera brand with bad UI.

And then came the Sony a9

But it wasn’t until the release of the Alpha 9 this year, that a Sony camera has felt as refined in use as it DSLR counterparts. A year early, the Sony a6500 came pretty close to hitting this mark, but it’s the Sony a9 that’s finally won me over as a whole-hearted mirrorless believer.

Make no mistake, the a9 is meant to compete against the likes of the flagship Nikon D5 and Canon EOS 1D X Mark II. What it lacks in built-in vertical grip, it makes up for in a faster burst (20 fps on the Sony, 14 fps on the Canon and 12 fps on the Nikon). But it has more appeal to me than as just a sports camera.

The a9 is a sports camera, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also well-suited for shooting candids. In fact it’s flip-out touchscreen is perfect for discreetly focusing on a subject.
ISO 100 | 1/640 sec | F5.6

For me, the mark of a truly good camera is one you find yourself reaching for regardless of the assignment or subject matter. Since the a9 landed in our office, it’s been a camera that I’ve found myself grabbing for both static and moving subjects. Because as well-suited as it might be for sports photography, it’s also a great street photography camera with lenses like the FE 28mm F2 attached. I find that using the flip-out touchscreen to select a point of focus is a great way to shoot candids.

Since the a9 landed in our office, its a camera that I’ve found myself grabbing for both static and moving subjects.

I recently took a trip to Jackson, Wyoming where I expected to shoot a mix of wildlife, landscapes and video, and found myself bringing the a9 because it offered a fast burst rate with good AF, 4K video without any heavy crop factor and excellent dynamic range. But moreover, I packed it because it is a camera I enjoy shooting with and can, with some time spent, customize to complement my shooting style perfectly.

I picked the Sony a9 for a once in a lifetime trip to Jackson, Wyoming because of its small size, dynamic range, 4K video and burst speed.
ISO 50 | 1/640 sec | F8

That’s a big step forward for Sony. They’ve long made cameras that out-spec’ed the competition but for me personally, were not enjoyable to use. But the a9’s menus have been overhauled and are less confusing, its also responsive (starts up fast) and rarely throws confusing errors messages. These may sound like little things, but they add up to vastly more pleasant shooting experience compared to Sonys of years past.

I packed it because it is a camera I enjoy shooting with.

Improvements like a new, larger capacity battery that doesn’t self-drain, gave me more confidence in grabbing the Sony for what was likely a once in a lifetime shooting excursion. Plus, compared to a D5 or 1D X II, the a9 is a much smaller lighter camera to pack. And its in-body + lens stabilization allows me the flexibility to shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds and avoid lugging a tripod around. This was something that mattered to me as I was to do a lot of hiking in Jackson.

These bison may be nursing, and therefore stationary, but they can run at speeds up to 40 MPH. Good thing the Sony a9 can shoot at 20 fps.
ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F5.6

Where Sony can go from here

The Sony a9, and its recently-released cousin, the Sony a7R III are both exceptional cameras. I used to hesitate to pick up a Sony camera; with this recent generation, no longer. That said, there are still some areas these cameras could improve to truly leave their DSLR pals in the dust, specifically: weather-sealing and subject tracking.

‘Nikon’s 3D Tracking is still superior to Sony’s Lock-on AF for subject tracking.’

The Sony a9 is dust and moisture resistant to certain degree, but the lack of robust rubber gaskets on the ports, SD card and battery doors does not lead me to trust its ability to survive shooting in conditions such as a lacrosse game in torrential downpours – I’d be much more comfortable grabbing a Nikon D5 of Canon 1D X II.

The same goes for any assignment/circumstance were nailing focus on the shot is mission critical: Nikon’s 3D Tracking is still superior to Sony’s Lock-on AF for subject tracking.

There are some other minor grievances I have with the a9, like the inability to enter menus while the buffer clears. Another: the omission of video gamma and color modes found in most other Sony cameras. But these are all things that can easily be added/improved in the next generation. And if there is one thing I’ve learned covering Sony’s camera technology, it’s that the brand listens to customers and industry feedback.

Note: This was shot through a seaplane window.
ISO 800 | 1/2000 sec | F5.6

It’s no secret that Sony is hungry for a piece of the professional sports photography market, eager to get mirrorless cameras on the sidelines of the Olympics and Super Bowl. And with the Sony a9, there’s compelling reason to at least acknowledge Sony as a legit player. I think it will take a few more generations of cameras for Sony to blow past the competition, giving pros a concrete reason to consider switching. But if they keep moving in the direction they have been, I see no reason why more and more pros wouldn’t give them a chance.

So for winning me over and being the first Sony mirrorless camera I truly love shooting with, the a9 is my pick for 2017 gear of the year.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5484254968″,”galleryId”:”5484254968″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Gear of the Year 2017 – Carey’s choice: Sony FE 85mm F1.8

27 Nov

Maybe it’s not everyone’s choice for a ‘landscape’ lens, but I like using the 85mm focal length for just about anything.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/320 sec | F8

There are times when I find myself dreaming of a make-believe world where I don’t worry much about camera gear. A world where I’ve simplified, and simplified, until I’m down to the bare minimum of what I think I need to accomplish the sort of photographic work that I like to do.

Obviously, that is not the world that I live in.

Nonetheless, in that carefree fantasy land of plentiful-yet-lucrative corporate jobs, wedding ceremonies and endless travel assignments, I skip like a child with a balloon from gig to gig with two interchangeable lens cameras, and a single lens for each; a fast wide-angle for one camera, and a fast 85mm for the other.

The FE 85mm F1.8 is exactly the sort of 85mm lens I’ve been looking for in Sony’s system since I started at DPReview.

I find the compression and reach of the 85mm focal length – neither of which are too extreme – make it a great contrast for 28mm and 35mm lenses, even just for walking around the city. Also, notice the roundness of those out-of-focus highlights, even at F4.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/3200 sec | F4

The Sony FE 85mm F1.8 is an affordable, sharp and lightweight lens for Sony’s full frame E-mount cameras. No, you don’t have to just pick two of those.

On an a7-series camera, the 85mm F1.8 balances beautifully, focuses quickly and is more than sharp enough for the 42MP of the a7R II (or a7R III, for that matter). In Sony’s lens lineup, it sits below the FE 85mm F1.4 GM which is a great lens in its own right, but focuses slower and is far bigger and heavier.

And that’s really the kicker for me with this lens. Sony’s a7-series bodies are usefully more compact than full-frame DSLRs, but often, the lenses can be large and unwieldy. With the 85mm F1.8, you’ve got yourself a truly compact kit.

Though this verbiage is always to be taken with a grain of salt (a flake of snow?) the Sony FE 85mm F1.8 has some degree of weather-sealing.
Sony a7R II | ISO 800 | 1/60 sec | F2.8

So, why 85? In general, I find the 85mm focal length a great complement to 28mm and 35mm lenses. Historically, my most-used gear for shooting events were two Nikon D700s, a 35mm F2D and 85mm F1.8D. I first fell in love with this lens combination on a six-week trip to Nepal during college, photographing endless portraits, landscapes and urban life, and was never left wanting.

With longer lenses, like a 105mm or 135mm, I always feel like I’m backing myself into a corner. And yet, I consistently found that a fast 50 was way too close to 28/35mm to be truly useful as far as getting some variety.

Focusing close to your subject with a wide aperture gives you a nice, dreamy look on the FE 85mm F1.8, while maintaining sharpness at your point of focus.
Sony a7R II | ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F1.8

But with 85mm, you can move in for a tight head-and-shoulders shot or a decor detail, back up to get a candid of a group interacting, and even with some distance, you can still get background separation if you shoot at a wide enough aperture. Speaking of wide apertures, I rarely use 70-200mm F2.8 zooms because of both their weight, and because I often am shooting at F2 or wider as the lights go down and the reception warms up.

I’ve said this before, but I’m a big fan of gear that ‘gets out of your way.’ For me, the FE 85mm F1.8 does just that. It’s straightforward and has a solid feel. I’ve never felt it’s too heavy, or focuses too slowly, and I can just concentrate on what I’m seeing through the viewfinder. If I were considering a new kit to start out with, a couple of Sony a7-series cameras with the FE 28mm F2 and FE 85mm F1.8 would be on my short list to check out.

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sony a7R III | ISO 800 | 30 sec | F2

Sony FE 85mm F1.8 Sample gallery

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5533586786″,”galleryId”:”5533586786″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized