Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

1 CAMERA SETTINGS Tony says… Faster shutter speeds mitigate exaggerated movements at high magnifications. Narrow apertures increase inherently shallow depths of field. And modern Nikons are great in low light. Pair this with AI noise-reduction software and previously unusable ISOs are now standard fare. 2 ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM! Tony says… Super-shallow depths of field and the prevalence of camera shake when working at high magnifications makes it very easy to capture soft images. I always zoom into Live View when focusing, as well as the Playback screen following image capture to check critical sharpness. 3 MANUAL VS AUTO Tony says… A decade or so ago you’d avoid using autofocus at all costs. But advancements in AF technology in both cameras and lenses has made close-up AF much more reliable. I…

Explosion of Monarchs JAIME ROJO As the days get longer and warmer in the Oyamel Fir forests, the first signs of spring bring with them a remarkable increase in activity at the Monarch Butterflies Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán. The monarchs have stored enough fat prior to the migration, so most of them don’t need to eat much when they are overwintering in Mexico, but they do need to drink. Thousands swarm to the ground near small streams, where they sip liquid and vital minerals. Camera: Nikon Z 9 Lens: 14-24mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/2000 sec, f/13, ISO2000 Hopeless ALVARO HERRERO LOPEZ-BELTRÁN This humpback whale, entangled in fishing lines and buoys, is facing a slow, painful death. With its tail fin now unusable, it will no longer be able to dive properly…

Body language has subtle differences around the world but some fundamental elements are universal 1 LEARN TO READ PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS Humans are humans, wherever we are, and it’s important to understand how we behave, particularly when your job revolves around catching moments that can sometimes only last a fraction of a second. Practise photographing people in various situations to understand and be able to pre-empt exactly when someone is likely to laugh, cry, shout or gesture. Start with family groups, who will be relaxed enough to have you watching them as they chat, but aim to catch that special moment of laughter or annoyance that tells the story. Body language has subtle differences around the world but some fundamental elements are universal and the photographer that can read them…

News and press photography is all about the moment and if you don’t catch it, it’s gone, no matter how hard you try 14 UNDERSTAND THE LIGHT When shooting fast-moving news stories, it’s often impossible to predict the light you’ll be working in as the story physically moves. I often find myself following a subject as they move in and out of buildings or between artificial and naturally lit rooms. While I personally always like to shoot using the available ambient light, it pays to keep a flash with you in case things get really tricky! 15 THINK ABOUT YOUR ANGLES Just because we all see things from eye-level doesn’t mean that your camera has to. When I was starting out, I was always drawn to the photographers who, when…

When I saw an image of Baku’s Heydar Aliyev Centre, I couldn’t resist photographing the building’s sweeping curves. I did a lot of research before travelling to Azerbaijan, viewing thousands of photos to understand how most photographers approach the building, so I could create something different. 1 Only human It’s not essential to include a human element, but framing a figure can enhance your image by providing the viewer with a reference to the building’s scale. You could, of course, ask a friend to stand in position, but it’s hard to replicate the natural appearance of a spontaneous subject. 2 Try, try and try again I visited the centre four times over four days. This allowed me to capture the building in a wide range of lighting situations, while also…

Have you ever come back full of excitement after photographing a glorious sunset, only to find the results are slightly underwhelming? It’s happened to me plenty of times. When the last remnants of sunlight are gently kissing the landscape, the sky can light up with a violent blush of reds, oranges and yellows. But here’s the thing, your camera doesn’t see these colours in the same way as your eyes – instead, it assigns them numbers. These vary across different camera brands and models, and your white balance and exposure settings play a part. But the numbers your camera chooses aren’t always right or the best for your image. This is where the Calibration panel comes in. With a quick tweak to the Red and Blue Primary sliders, we can…

1 Plan your angles When shooting landscapes at sunset it’s worth arriving an hour before to give yourself time to set up and perfect your composition. Forward planning can help to determine the best angle for shooting into the setting sun. Phone apps, such as PhotoPills, can aid you in this by displaying exactly where the sun will meet the horizon. 2 Bracket your shots When shooting towards the sun, the sky will be much brighter than the land. Bracket your shots by shooting one ‘correct’ exposure, then adjust the shutter speed to over and underexpose by 1-2 stops (when using manual mode with auto bracketing, the shutter will adapt for you). 3 Use a wide-angle lens A wide-angle lens is ideal for a shot like this as it exaggerates…

Mount Olympus is universally known as the home of the mythical gods of ancient Greece. It is also a biodiversity hotspot, rich in plant life, and a World Biosphere Reserve. Here, local photographer Agorastos Papatsanis finds inspiration in the plethora of fungi to be found on the damp forest floor in the foothills of Greece’s highest mountain. Many of us take notice of mushrooms only when served on a dinner plate, but when Agorastos looks at them through the viewfinder, the strange colours and shapes of these complex organisms take on a magical quality befitting of this legendary location. His experience as a nature photographer began 25 years ago, in 1999, when he made the first of many trips to the woods near Mount Olympus with his good friend and…

CLEAN NOW ■ In most recent DSLRs and all full-frame Z system mirrorless cameras, there’s an option in the Setup menu named ‘Clean image sensor’. The upper sub-menu item is ‘Clean now’. Press the OK button and the camera will vibrate the image sensor to shake off any loose dust. Hold the camera sensor facing down while cleaning is in progress, and don’t turn off the camera until cleaning is finished. A REFERENCE POINT ■ If you’ve got specs of dust that won’t budge, one option is to use the ‘Image Dust Off ref photo’, also in the Setup menu. This is available in many cameras including DX format Z system bodies that don’t have a sensor cleaning menu option. A photo of a blank white wall or other surface…

SHOW HIGHLIGHT CLIPPING Browse to our project file in the Folders palette. Choose View > Image Viewer Options > Show Highlights (or press H) to summon the highlight clipping warning. Clipped highlights (such as sunlit clouds) appear as white patches. These areas will feature no detail. Black areas are not overexposed. DROP THE EXPOSURE VALUE Go to the Exposure Compensation dropdown menu and choose a preset to reduce the Exposure Value to-1/3EV. This reduces the overall brightness of the shot, and many of the coloured patches in the highlight clipping warning will turn a healthy black, with only a few patches of clipped highlight pixels remaining. BOOST THE CONTRAST In the Adjust Brightness & Color panel, drag the Highlight Protection slider right until more of the highlight clipping warning patches…

Q Can you recommend a macro lens for my Nikon D750 that’s not too expensive to buy secondhand? Marius Marks A Matthew recommends… I personally own the Sigma 105mm f/2.8, which I use for all of my macro photography, both on DSLRs and on my Z-system cameras via an FTZ mount adapter. Sigma Macro 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM THIS DISCONTINUED LENS IS BRILLIANT FOR EXTREME CLOSE-UPS AND ALSO WORKS WELL FOR PORTRAITURE RELEASED: 2011 PRICE NEW: £359/$469 SECONDHAND PRICE: ‘Excellent’ £269/$413 ‘Good’ £259/$377 Sigma’s 105mm OS HSM macro lens delivers full 1.0x magnification at its closest focus distance of 31.2cm. This enables huge enlargements of tiny bugs and other small objects, revealing microscopic levels of detail. Not just for closeups, the lens is perfect as a telephoto prime,…

MISSION: Photograph Kyrgyzstan’s dark skies PHOTOGRAPHER: Soumyadeep Mukherjee LOCATION: Kyrgyzstan KIT USED: Nikon Z f, Z 6II, Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S, Z 24mm f/1.8 S, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | Art, Samyang 135mm f/2 ED UMC, Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 INSTAGRAM: @soumyadeepmukherjeephotos WEBSITE: www.astronomadsbangla.com I entered the world of digital photography back in 2019, with my first digital camera, a Nikon D5600. I loved to shoot images on the streets, as well as animals and birds. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I started taking an interest in the night sky and began practising astrophotography. In 2023, I upgraded my kit with a Nikon Z 6II. It’s been an absolute game changer for me; especially for nightscape images. I, along with my team, was planning…

£125/$176 https://viltroxstore.co.uk Viltrox is a well-established brand for photographic lighting and other accessories, and more recently has been ramping up its production of lenses. Thus far, most of the lenses released by the company have been for crop-sensor cameras, and feature aperture control rings. The Viltrox AF 40mm f/2.5, however, is a more pared-back lens without an aperture ring, ideally suited to full-frame Nikon cameras such as the Z 5. The focal length of the AF 40mm neatly bridges the gap between a moderately wide-angle 35mm lens and a 50mm standard prime. It gives an ideal perspective for street photography and walkabout shooting, and its light, compact build makes it easy to live with. Naturally, you can also use the lens on APS-C format Nikon Z bodies, such as the…

For real-world results, we tested all of Nikon’s DX and FX format current Z-system cameras with a selection of lenses, in wide-ranging shooting conditions, from bright sunshine and dull outdoor conditions, to interior lighting and night shots. We pay particular attention to the accuracy and consistency of autofocus and metering systems, auto white balance and all other shooting parameters. All aspects of image quality are thoroughly checked. We also judge cameras for their handling characteristics, ease of use and how well the menu systems work, including factors like the intuitiveness of touchscreens and tilting or fully articulated screens. We also run a series of lab tests on cameras, enabling us to give quantifiable results for various attributes of image quality. These include signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range, and the ability to…

£809/$957 It’s not just the retro chic styling that make the Z fc so alluring. Sure, it takes its design cues from the iconic Nikon FM film camera, but it does so to great effect. Direct-access dials for shutter speed, exposure compensation and ISO, as well as the usual command dial for aperture control, enable a hands-on approach to creative shooting. Like the newer Z 30, it features highly competent people/animal autofocus modes, along with a vari-angle touchscreen that enables easy shooting from interesting perspectives. Crucially, it also adds the same high-quality OLED viewfinder that’s featured in the Z 50, with a 2360k dot, 0.39-inch display that gives full 100 per cent frame coverage. Our only niggles are that the lack of a sculpted handgrip can make handling feel a…

IBIS has become quite a buzzword in mirrorless photography. The ability to shift the sensor in a 5-axis movement typically gives up to 5-stop image stabilization when using any lens, regardless of whether it features optical image stabilization or not. That said, if you use a fully manual lens with no electronics, you’ll have to dial in its credentials via the ‘Non-CPU lens data’ option in the setup menu. Using F-mount lenses via an FTZ or FTZ II, you’ll get 3-axis IBIS. The lack of IBIS in DX format cameras isn’t a major problem, as most DX-specific Z-system lenses feature optical VR (Vibration Reduction). Optical stabilization also tends to work better at longer focal lengths, so FX format superzoom and telephoto lenses also feature optical VR.…

£2149/$1997 Perhaps a little strangely, while the Z fc received a warm welcome, the full-frame Z f was greeted by rapturous applause all around the world. Both cameras have an almost identical control layout and styling, firmly rooted in classic yesteryear Nikon film cameras. Along with its bigger image sensor and next-generation EXPEED 7 image processor, the Z f also has a larger, higher-resolution OLED viewfinder and its vari-angle rear screen has twice the resolution of the Z fc. Handling feels a little better in the Z f, with brass rather than plastic top-plate control dials. It also has a sculpted grip but, as a styling compromise, it’s a very shallow affair. Unlike the Z fc and other DX format Z-system cameras, the Z f features in-body image stabilization, and…

I’ve lost count of how many abysmal sunsets I’ve photographed for N-Photo; it’s a standing joke among the team that we never get to experience a good sunset. But as far as metaphorical sunsets go, I hope we’ve finally delivered a real doozy. I’ve helped turn out no fewer than 66 issues of N-Photo and have enjoyed working on every single one; behind the scenes it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable and occasionally hilarious ride… Roll the outtakes The first Apprentice I documented involved a trio of utterly charming – but devilishly cheeky – Dalmatians who broke into a tub of sausages, stole one of my shoes and peed on the pro’s kit bag. Another time, Adam and I drove all the way to the coast to photograph a shipwreck, wasted…

This is the part of the magazine where I get to say hello, but this issue it’s sadly also a goodbye. After 13 years of publication, you are holding in your hands the very last issue of N-Photo. I’ve been at the helm for seven of those years, having taken over the editorship from issue 77 – a total of 92 issues, making me the longest-standing head honcho of the magazine. But hopefully we’re going out with a bit of a bang. Back in my October 2017 debut issue, we unveiled the brand-new Nikon D850, still regarded as the finest DSLR ever made. But times have changed; the D850 is still on sale, but Nikon has since fully embraced mirrorless with its groundbreaking Z-series range and, to that end, in…

1 LOOKIN’ TONED Tony says… I’ll identify an image or stacking sequence, perform any lens corrections and make some basic tonal adjustments in Adobe Lightroom. I avoid too much contrast when editing delicate subjects. Greens can dominate the frame, so I might also selectively reduce saturation in the Color Mixer. 2 COME ON FEEL DENOISE Tony says… I use Topaz DeNoise AI to reduce noise, which I think works better than Adobe’s Denoise feature. I tend to use the Clear setting and will set the Remove Noise option to the lowest suitable setting. At high settings more noise is removed, but you will start to lose detail as well. 3 HOUSE BLEND Tony says… I switch between Helicon Focus and Adobe Photoshop when blending focus-stacked sequences. I find the latter’s…

5 SHOOT FOR YOURSELF A photographer can strive throughout his or her career to find a shooting style that becomes instantly recognizable and, sadly, one of the things that gets in the way of this is daily life. It pays to keep an eye on how other people have covered a story but if you find yourself consistently emulating the ‘successful’ pictures that you see, you’re at risk of losing your own identity. To set yourself apart from the rest, be brave and try to recognize your style and develop it. If a publication or company has hired you, they hired you partly down to how you shoot, so nurture that rather than becoming a clone of another photographer. I, like many, have a stack of photography books at home…

19 BE PREPARED When working in news photography, it’s safe to say that you have absolutely no idea what you will face on any given day. Because of this, it pays to be ready for anything, or at least have the gear that can get you out of a problem in a scrape. It’s impossible to carry everything from your photography cupboard that you could need so, over time, you’ll work out what is worthwhile cramming into your bag. I always generally carry at least two Nikon Z 8 cameras (but occasionally incorporate a third Nikon Z 9) as well as the Z 14-24mm f/2.8, the Z 24-70mm f/2.8 and the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses, it pays to think of emergency situations and consider jeweller’s screwdrivers for loose screws, batteries…

With their black-and-white striped faces, badgers are one of our most recognizable and beloved mammals. Being both nocturnal and crepuscular, badgers can be a real challenge to photograph using only natural light. Andrew has spent many long hours watching and photographing badgers. 1 Location, location, location Badgers can be found throughout the UK, but finding a suitable site can be tricky. The ideal rural location is one away from the public that catches late afternoon/evening light. Using wildlife trail cams can help with the search. An alternative is to gain access to a badger-friendly garden where the owners welcome them and, just as importantly, you. 2 Time it right Badgers do not hibernate but they become much less active during the winter months. However, as the nights lengthen, the inquisitive…

If you’re new to photography then traffic trails can be one of the most captivating of camera tricks. Even those of us who have been shooting for years may still marvel at the vivid trails of light that occur when vehicle lights are captured with a long exposure. The usual approach is to wait for night so that the light levels are low enough to stretch the shutter speed out to several seconds. Of course, this often means the surroundings come out very dark. But what if – like our scene of Cheddar Gorge in Somerset here – we want to capture the majestic scenery along with trails of light? One solution is to shoot for a time blend – that is, to blend frames taken at different times of…

1 Prepare the layers Highlight the set of images in Adobe Bridge, right-click and ‘Open in Camera Raw’. Boost the tones and colours. The images shot after sunset will be much cooler in tone, so adjust the white balance to make them match. Hit OK, then, back in Bridge, go to Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. 2 Align the set Our layers contain our sunset image and three traffic trails images. Drag the main sunset image to the bottom of the stack. Cmd/Ctrl-click on all layers to highlight them then go to Edit > Auto-Align Layers. Set Auto and hit OK. This fixes any nudges to the camera or tripod that may mess up the shot’s alignment. 3 Blend the trails Click the eye icons to…

This series, in simple terms a narrative of life on the canal, represents a collaboration between myself and Brett Evans Biedscheid. I’d always admired Brett’s work in photomontage and he felt the same about my photography. In our own disciplines, we’re both in the business of storytelling, and the prospect of working together, particularly on something that holds a real fascination for both of us, was exciting. There was a desire to explore and share the unique quality of Britain’s waterways, which lies somewhere between reality and imagination. Canals are steeped in history and folklore, and something transformative happens when you step into that world. As Brett describes it: “The waterways operate within their own definitions of time. Things move slower. Details that would surely be missed elsewhere are abundant…

When it comes to exposure it’s worth bearing in mind that if a photo is very overexposed then some highlights may be too clipped to recover (even if you’ve been shooting in Raw). Your best bet is to get the exposure correct in the first place so that you don’t have to try to fix it later. If you set your Nikon to Spot Metering mode, you can get a meter reading for the brightest areas in the scene and then set the exposure to capture this highlight detail. This will create underexposed shadows, but it’s easier to restore shadow detail than highlight detail. Also, shoot in Raw to retain maximum information about the scene’s tones. A JPEG version of the scene will not give NX Studio enough detail and…

The Nikon Z 7 was always destined to become a permanent fixture in the annals of Nikon history. It was the Big N’s first FX mirrorless and its first serious foray into the mirrorless market, after all. It marked the end of the F-mount era by ushering in the Z-mount, but what you might be surprised to learn is that it’s already six years old. It launched on 27 September 2018, only a year after the D850, which seems like a much older camera. And yet, while the Z 7 has long been discontinued, the D850 remains a stalwart in Nikon’s range. So what happened? AN EXCELLENT VINTAGE The Z 7’s early departure wasn’t surprising following the release of the Z 7II. The Z 7 was criticized for only having…

Lab tests explained Sharpness A chart with multiple sharp boundaries is photographed, the extent of blur at the centre, mid and edges showing how many line widths per picture height the lens can resolve. Simply put, the bigger the numbers the sharper the lens. Fringing Chromatic aberration is visible as purple or green fringing around high-contrast boundaries, caused by different wavelengths being focused on different areas of the sensor. The larger the number, the worse the score. Distortion A lens that bulges towards the edges of the frame produces barrel distortion, shown as a negative score. Pincushion distortion produces a positive score. A score of zero indicates no distortion. Our awards in a nutshell The best performance, design and value A product that gives you more for your money The…

£729/$857 With its downsized DX format image sensor, the Z 50 nevertheless inherits the same oversized lens mount from full-frame Z-system bodies, so it’s fully compatible with the entire range of excellent Z-mount lenses. The slimline build makes the most of the mirrorless design ethic, further enhanced by the super-skinny 16-50mm kit lens, which is something of a masterstroke in its own right. The 20.9Mp image sensor matches the megapixel count of the later Z fc and Z 30, complete with 209 phase-detection autofocus points, all but essential for fast autofocus, given that mirrorless cameras don’t have a separate autofocus module. However, the people/animal detection modes of the other two DX Z-system cameras came to the Z 50 later on, via firmware upgrades. The electronic viewfinder is neither as large…

A key advantage of full-frame is that you get a tighter depth of field for any ‘actual’ rather than ‘effective’ focal length, the latter being affected by the 1.5x crop factor of DX format cameras. This plays into your hands for portraiture and still life photography, when you want to isolate the main subject by blurring the background. For any given megapixel count, FX sensors have larger photosites than DX sensors, so you can also expect less image noise at high ISO settings. The flip side is that DX cameras give a bigger depth of field that works well for landscape and architectural photography, and you might find you generally don’t need to shoot at high ISO settings anyway, making relatively inexpensive DX bodies better value for money.…

£1599/$1597 Let’s face it, 24.5Mp is enough for almost anybody. Settle for that instead of maxing out with the Z 7 II’s 45.7Mp, and you’ll have enough money left over for an extra lens or two. There are actually some significant advantages to the Z 6 II’s lower megapixel count, which we’ll come to later. Both of the Z 6II and Z 7II share some of the same headline features. The image sensor is coupled with a late-generation EXPEED 6 processor, they have the same superb 3690k OLED electronic viewfinder and tilting 2100k touchscreen, as well as an identical control layout. They’re exactly the same slimline dimensions and are only about two-thirds the weight of the D850 DSLR. A major plus point over the original editions of these cameras is…

Z-system cameras are designed to give the utmost freedom to the development of new lenses, which outperform older F-mount lenses every step of the way. That’s not the whole story though. Nikon only got where it is today by making superb lenses and cameras for more than half a century, and many of us have F-mount lenses that are dear to our hearts. The good news is that the majority of Nikon F-mount lenses, as well as those from independent manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron, work perfectly well on Z-system cameras, via an FTZ or FTZ II mount adapter. The latter Mark II edition omits the tripod mount protrusion, so as not to get in the way when using the Z 9 with its integrated vertical grip.…

£2699/$2497 You can’t help but notice that the new Z 6III is much pricier than the preceding Z 6II, so what’s the deal? The new model is bristling with the very latest high-tech attractions, starting at the very heart of the camera – its image sensor. It’s a kind of halfway house between the conventional sensors of most Z-system cameras, and the fully stacked sensors of the Z 8 and Z 9. As such, it features a revolutionary ‘partially stacked’ sensor that ramps up the data output speed, while keeping manufacturing costs in check. Performance boosts include a 1/16,000 sec shutter speed, when switching to fully electronic mode, along with a super-fast frame rate for stills of up to 60fps or 120fps in FX and DX crop mode respectively. Up…

There’s no denying that the Z 9 and Z 8 are the ‘best’ Z-system cameras on the market right now, but they’re not the best choice for most of us. You have to ask yourself how much you really need a massive 45.7 megapixels, or shutter speeds that go off the scale to 1/32,000 sec. They’re also relatively chunky cameras, especially the Z 9, which can feel a bit cumbersome. For our money, the more compact Z 6III is easier to live with, works brilliantly well for both stills and video, and has the advantage of a class-leading viewfinder, plus the benefits of its new ‘partially stacked’ image sensor, coupled with the latest-generation EXPEED 7 processor. And if you prefer the retro look and feel of a more film-era styled…

THE APPRENTICE NAME: Sonia Dutton CAMERA: Nikon Z 6II Retired teacher Sonia always enjoyed taking family snaps, but when her daughter encouraged her to buy a ‘proper’ camera and join a camera club, her love for photography blossomed into a full-blown passion. She recently made the jump to mirrorless by picking up a Nikon Z 6II, but still keeps her trusty D850 in reserve. Flower photography is her main area of expertise, so she’s looking forward to seeing how those skills transfer over to insect photography. THE PRO NAME: Tony North CAMERA: Nikon D500 Manchester-based Tony is a multi-award-winning photographer, including N-Photo’s Photographer of the Year 2023. While his creativity knows no bounds, he has a penchant for macro and landscapes. His background in teaching has made him a successful…

Leon Neal Leon Neal is a staff editorial photojournalist with Getty Images, and is based in London. His work can regularly be seen in publications globally @leonnealphoto www.leonneal.com The daily life of a press photographer can be seen from two very different viewpoints. The pessimist may just see long hours, winter conditions and heavy equipment. But the optimist will look beyond that to see the incredible variety of experiences, the opportunities to witness momentous events first-hand that others only read about, and the chance to work in a creative and exciting industry. It can be a little mind-blowing when you first realize that you are being paid to provide the ‘eyes’ to readers around the world. How you compose your shot and when you press the shutter release will dictate how…

While it’s great to get the defining image, don’t overlook the wider story and its implications in your coverage 10 MONITOR AS MANY DIFFERENT NEWS SOURCES AS YOU CAN It’s hugely important to stay on top of the news cycle, signing up to push alerts from the main sources and keeping an eye on breaking stories through social media. However, over the years, I’ve found that some of my favourite stories come from sources away from the obvious channels. Look for unusual and under-reported stories in niche publications, online forums, as well as local and regional media. It even pays to read the council notices that are posted in the street as these could have major ramifications for your area and could potentially be a story waiting to happen and…

Traditionally, close-up photographers attempt to isolate subjects from the background. But with wide-angle close-ups, the background becomes an important part of the image, conveying environmental context and creating a story. Composition therefore involves careful attention to both subject and background, and the relationship between the two. Good fieldcraft is essential, as you need to get close to subjects if you want them to fill a good portion of the frame. I take my wide-angle images handheld. My Laowa 15mm f/4 allows subjects to be represented close to 1:1 macro reproduction, while offering a wide 110-degree field of view. The 14 aperture blades provide a very pleasing bokeh, too. How to shoot wide-angle close-ups 1 Know your subject Put in the time to learn about your subject, its habitat, roosting locations,…

When shooting towards the sun at sunset it can be tricky to record a balanced exposure. If we expose for the sky the land looks too dark, but if we expose for the land the sky can blow out. At times like this it’s usually worth shooting a bracketed sequence of exposures (in which the camera will take under and overexposed frames alongside the ‘correct’ exposure). This way, you have several options. You can pick the best exposure from the bunch, or merge the set to an HDR image, or manually blend the exposures later on. The last option usually involves opening two or more images into your editing software then masking one image to blend it with another. This is where Live Masking in Affinity Photo can prove very…

1 Find a scenic road The ideal location for a time blend of traffic trails and sunset like this is somewhere where you can see a road and shoot towards the setting sun, as this is where the sky is usually the most colourful. An elevated position here allows us to capture the sweeping curve of the road and make full use of the effect. 2 Take care at dusk Photographing from the top of a cliff or peak while the daylight recedes is not without risk, so take care when moving around rugged high places. It’s hard to convey in the picture here just how sheer the drop was, straight down only a couple of feet from the tripod position. Bring a torch and take care when setting up.…

You can create all kinds of dynamic effects with traffic trails. Through your choice of shutter speed you can either create a vivid array of trails like this with a long exposure (this was shot in manual mode at aperture f/29, ISO100, shutter speed 15 secs), or instead go for a quicker speed of around 1/2 sec for shorter light trails and more definition in the vehicle. Your choice of composition can also have a big impact. Here we’re positioned on an island in the road with vehicles passing by on either side. If you can find a spot like this, you can create leading lines with the trails that draw the eye and create a vortex effect. Look out for different heights of vehicle too (it’s the London buses…

Let’s kick off with a disclaimer – Nikon recommends that if your camera’s image sensor has any specks of dust that can’t be cleaned away with an unobtrusive waft of air, you should send it off to an authorized service agent for cleaning. Image sensors are very sensitive, after all, and you don’t want to cause any damage. But dust can be the curse of digital photography, and nobody wants to be without their camera on a regular basis. In contrast to using film, if specks of dust setlte on your image sensor, they can be sat there for good. The unfortunate result comes in the shape of dark spots on your images, especially those taken at narrow apertures. How does dust creep in to spoil the digital party? The…

Q I’m considering buying a Z 6III but have read that its ‘partially stacked’ image sensor compromises image quality in terms of dynamic range and signal to noise. Is this true? Tony Lind A In our lab tests, processing Raw image files with no enhancements, we found that dynamic range is a very close match to the Z 6II and Z f, both of which have conventional image sensors, only dropping off marginally more than the Z f at ISO 25,600. The Z 6III also beats the Z 8 and Z 9 at pretty much every ISO setting. I found I could push exposure compensation in NX Studio by a full +5EV and get plenty of detail in even near-black shadows. Raw signal to noise is also a close match…

Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD £1249/$1299 www.tamron.eu Tamron is launching a Nikon Z version of its 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD superzoom. The full-frame mirrorless lens was launched in Sony FE mount in 2022. The 8x zoom lens is unusual as it dramatically increases the range of the established 100-400mm range twofold – turning a telephoto zoom into an all-in-one superzoom that can be used for a wider range of subjects than sports and wildlife. Furthermore, the lens offers closer focusing than you might expect from a lens of this type – offering a 1:2 magnification at the 50mm end. The minimum focus setting is just 0.25m (9.8in) at this setting, while at 400mm you can focus down to 1.5m (59in), with a 1:4 maximum magnification. The…

£559/$607 The DX format Nikon Z 30 looks and feels very much like the Z 50 with the viewfinder removed. Around the back, the tilting rear screen is replaced by the same variangle screen that’s featured in the pricier Z fc. It has the same 20.9Mp image sensor and EXPEED 6 image processor as the Z 50, the same 11fps burst rate for stills and tops out at the same 4K 30p/1080 120p video capability. It also shares a 209-point hybrid autofocus system, but adds people/animal recognition and tracking autofocus straight out of the box, as featured in the Z fc. The rangefinder-style design of the Z 30 makes the camera about 20mm shorter in physical height, compared with the Z 50 and Z fc, and it’s around 40g lighter…

When you want to capture the utmost in ultra-fine detail and texture, there’s no substitute for a mighty megapixel count. It’s no surprise that the Z 7II, Z 8 and Z 9 lead the field, with around twice the megapixels under the bonnet than the other cameras on test. The Z 8 and Z 9 edged ahead of the older Z 7II for resolution in our lab tests. The rest of the cameras still deliver admirable resolution scores, although the DX format Z 30 and Z fc drop off a little more at very high ISO settings, compared with the Z 50, Z 5 and Z 6II.…

£999/$997 The Z 5 is Nikon’s most ‘affordable’ FX format mirrorless camera, costing about two-thirds of the price of the Z 6II that sits on the next rung up the ladder. It inherits much of what makes the original Z 6 and the later Z 6II such phenomenal cameras, including virtually the same image sensor, processor, autofocus system and OLED viewfinder. The control panels and interface are also much the same, although the Z 5 lacks a top-panel OLED display. One budget-friendly bonus over the original Z 6 and Z 7 is that the Z 5 takes SDXC memory cards, which are massively less expensive than XQD cards to buy. Unlike these two older cameras, the Z 5 also features dual card slots, enabling instant backups and other storage options…

Most Z-system cameras are sold in options of just the body on its own, or complete with a kit lens. The full kits generally comprise a zoom lens, although the retro-styled DX format Z fc and full-frame Z f are offered with the Z 28mm f/2.8 SE and Z 40mm f/2 SE respectively. Like the camera bodies, they’re meticulously styled to recreate the look and feel of yesteryear lenses. Two kit lenses stand out as being particularly good. For DX cameras, the Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR really does squeeze a quart into a pint pot, being incredibly compact and lightweight with its retractable design. For FX cameras, Z 24-70mm f/4 S again has a relatively compact, retractable design but delivers image quality in spades.…

£2399/$2297 It’s hard not to draw comparisons between the mirrorless Z 7II and its preceding D850 DSLR, so we’ll just go for it. With its 45.7Mp image sensor, the Z 7II marginally edges ahead of the veteran DSLR in megapixel count. Coupled with one of the spectacularly excellent Z-series lenses, it’s capable of capturing incredible levels of fine detail and texture. What’s more, it’s easier to make the most of its resolving power, compared to the D850. A key factor is that there’s no mirror-bounce to unsettle the camera and cause vibrations. Another is that, as in other full-frame Z-system mirrorless cameras, there’s highly effective 5-axis IBIS. The hybrid autofocus system, which combines phase and contrast-detection, works similarly well as in the Z 5 and Z 6II, although the Z…

£4999/$5497 You know what to expect from sporty cameras. Headline attractions include tenacious autofocus, a fast 1/8000 sec shutter speed and a maximum drive rate of around 14fps. The revolutionary Z 9 makes those kinds of speeds look rather pedestrian, with shutter speeds of up to 1/32,000 sec and a memory card-munching 120fps continuous drive rate in JPEG mode. That said, the maximum image size drops from 45.7Mp to 11Mp at 120fps and the drive rate tops out at 20fps in Raw mode, albeit with a massive buffer of more than 1000 Raw shots in most quality/compression settings. Like the preceding flagship D6 DSLR, the mirrorless Z 9 has a built-in vertical grip and duplicated shooting controls for refined handling. It also takes a newer-generation EN-EL18d battery with sufficient stamina…

FX DSLRS NIKON D780 THE D780 TAKES the D750’s winning design and handling cues, but adds on-sensor phase-detection autofocus and EXPEED 6 processing, inherited directly from the Z 6. The result is a capable and natural-feeling DSLR for shooting stills in viewfinder mode, coupled with the same kind of performance as a mirrorless camera in live view. TESTED IN ISSUE 168 • £2029/$2197 Sensor 24.5Mp, FX (6048x4024) Processor EXPEED 6 Viewfinder Pentaprism, 0.7x, 100% ISO 100-51,200 (50-204,800 expanded) AF 51-point (15 cross-type) LCD 3.2-inch, 2359k, tilt, touch Max burst (buffer) 7fps (68-100 Raw) Memory card Two SDXC UHS-II NIKON D850 THE D850 GOES extra-large in megapixel count with a 45.7Mp image sensor. Further attractions include a high-spec 153-point autofocus system and fairly recent EXPEED 5 processor. For live view and…