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Volume 16 • Issue 04 • July 2020

INDIA’S NUMBER 1 IMAGING MAGAZINE!


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Tania ChatterjeeInterview

Portrait Pro 19Nik Collection 3

Also Reviewed

Postcards from SalzburgPhoto Feature

De-Noise an ImageMagnification RatiosSet up a Home Studio

Tutorials

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184

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CONTACT (for group visits)Mr. Harshad Langi +91 8983891617

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Memory Mic

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LearningsRemoving HalosLearn from Images

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Also ReviewedSigma 24 mm f/1.4 | ASigma 12-24 mm f/4 | ATokina Firin 20 mm f/2 AF

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Views and opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Next Gen Publishing does not take the responsibility for returning unsolicited material sent without adequate postal stamps for return postage. No part of the magazine may be reproduced in part or full without the prior express written permission of the publisher. Printed by Girish Mallya, Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 105-106, Trade World, B-Wing, 1st Floor, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400013. Published by Girish Mallya on behalf of Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 105-106, Trade World, B-Wing, 1st Floor, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400013. Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt. Ltd, 1-1-60/5 RTCX Roads, Hyderabad - 20. Published at Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 105-106,

Trade World, B-Wing, 1st Floor, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400013. Copyright 2014 SMART PHOTOGRAPHYAll readers are recommended to make their own independent enquiries before sending money, incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in the publication. Smart Photography does not vouch for any claims made by advertisers for their products and services. The editor, publisher, printer and employees of the publication shall not be held liable for any consequence in the events of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Mumbai only. Editor – Hoshang S Billimoria

EDITOR Hoshang S. BillimoriaTECHNICAL EDITOR

Rohinton MehtaASSISTANT EDITOR

Sujith GopinathCOPY EDITORSweta Baruah

PHOTOGRAPHY Mahesh Reddy

HEAD-DESIGN & PRODUCTION Ravi Parmar

ASST ART DIRECTOR Prathmesh Vichare

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Dinesh BhajnikPUBLISHER Girish Mallya

GENERAL MANAGER (NORTH & EAST) Ellora Dasgupta

GENERAL MANAGER (SOUTH) Girish Shet

PRODUCT MANAGER Perseus Master

HEAD OFFICE - MUMBAI 105-106, Trade World, B-Wing, 1st Floor, Kamala Mills

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CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTION Kapil Kaushik (Manager Circulation (North & East)

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Email: [email protected]

Apple Newsstand & Magzter Queries: [email protected]

Zinio Subscriptions Queries: http://in.zinio.com/help/index.jsp

MARKETING OFFICESAhmedabad: Devendra Mehta - Mobile No.- 09714913234

Bengaluru: Unit No. 509, 5th Floor ‘B’ Wing, Mittal Towers, MG Road, Bangalore -560001, Tel: +91 80 6611 0116/17 Fax: + 91 80 41472574

Chennai: Cenetoph Elite, No.5, 1st street, Teynampet, Chennai-600018. Tel: + 91 44 4210 8421/ 4217 5421

New Delhi: 26-B, First Floor, Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase-III, New Delhi - 110020. Tel: +91 11 4234 6600 / 6678 Fax: + 91 11 4234 6679

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Kolkata: Vidyasagar Gupta Territory Sales Incharge (Circulation), Mobile no. 09804085683

W E L C O M E

www.smartphotography.in July 2020 | Smart Photography | 5

The w orl d has l earnt to move on after the C ovid c ris is and s o has India. A s w e open u p, al beit s l ow l y, l ife has to get bac k to

normal rather fas t. A fter al l , you need s omething mu c h nas tier and bigger to c ru s h a s how c as e indu s try l ik e imaging. J u s t l ook at how the heavil y tax ed au to indu s try is bou nc ing bac k .

T his month, w e have tw o notabl e produ c ts on our test bench. The first is the ikon . s first issue in April featured the last flagship film R from ikon, the . oming as it did when film was on its last legs, had titled it The last of the ohicans . This title would perhaps be appropriate again w ith the w orl d moving to mirrorless cameras. evertheless, the

was and the is a brilliant camera.

e were also highly impressed with Tamron s new mm f . lens. ompleting the trio of high quality ony mount lenses, Tamron seems to be on a roll.

H. S. Billimoria

WE ARE GLUED TO THE GLOBAL IMAGING INDUSTRYOur team is updated with all the benchmarks and road blocks that the �eld of photography and imaging across the globe experiences. �is helps us record the changes in the global perspective, thus making us the �rst to predict which products will be a rage in the Indian markets.

WE’RE IMPARTIALLoyalty towards our readers is a given, and their best interests are always on our mind. Every verdict is honest and not in�uenced by advertisers or personal favourites. So when we say a product is a ‘BEST BUY’, then, it is just that!

OUR TESTS ARE CONDUCTED BY EXPERTSAll equipment go through a series of tests at the hands of our experts. Our reviewers are experts in the �eld of photography across the country and have many years of experience. �at gives us the foresight to distinguish between a passing trend and a big change in the �eld of photography and imaging. And �nally, our reviews are not extended to just �ll up the pages!

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU�ere is no debate on why we are here. Our sole goal is to provide you options and better your judgement in product purchase while, sharing tips and tricks to improve your images. Our biggest joy is in building a bridge between you and your perfect picture!

#1HERE’S WHAT MAKES US

C ON T E N T S ISSUE 184 / JULY 2020

Just a moment!Readers can find the updated Buyer’s Guide, log on http://smartphotography.in/news/monthly-special

Smart Photography thanks the readers who participate in the Picture of the Month contest. We would like to bring to your attention a few changes in the rules for submission. From now on, you may send in your images with the longer side measuring atleast 17 inches. Please note that the images have to be horizontal. This permits readers to submit panoramic shots, which was not possible with the current size of 17 x 11 inches.

www.smartphotography.in6 | Smart Photography | July 2020

Kaleidoscope A pl atform for bu dding photographers to ex hibit their tal ent and get notic ed

24ShowcaseA photographic profile of the person behind the l ens

28Photo FeaturePos tc ards from Sal zbu rg – A j ay Sood s hares s ome c aptivating images from the birthpl ac e of M ozart

42

34 Mastercraftsman T he mas ters of the c raft s hare their ins ights and photographs

0 8 Mailbag B ou q u ets , bric k bats . . . w e have a pl ac e for

you r val u abl e feedbac k

1 0 Newswatch N ew s from the indu s try, fres h from

the oven

2 2 Picture of the Month It’ s time for rew ards , and here it is . . .

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Portrait Pro 19Nik Collection 3

Reviews

Postcards from SalzburgPhoto Feature

Magnifi cation De-Noise an Image

Set up a Home Studio

Tutorial

Aditya SridharProfi le


REVIEWSNIKON D 6

VIVO V 1 9

TAMRON . I III ART

Volume 16 • Issue 03 • June 2020




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Uday HegdeInterview

Microsoft Surface Pro XFeatured

Unique MadagascarPhoto Feature

Close-up and Macro Second Hand Equipment

Computational Photography

Tutorial



`150FUJIFILM X-A7

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Sai AdikarlaProfi le

Nazir Badar


i


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CONCERN

Volume 16 • Issue 02 • May 2020


Volume 16 • Issue 02 • May 2020

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Shield Yourself from Covid-19


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Shibu PInterview

Dipanjan NathProfi le

Hyderabad HeritageSpecials

Madhya PradeshPhoto Feature

Stock PhotographySet Up Your Mirrorless

Replace Sky with Luminar 4

Tutorial



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Photographer: Tania Chatterjee

2 0 Sony Upbeat about Post-COVID Market

Su j ith G opinath interac ts w ith M u k es h Srivas tava, H ead, D igital Imaging B u s ines s , Sony India

INDUSTRY OPINION

8 2 Test Your Photo Knowledge A few q u es tions to tes t you r k now l edge of

photography.

QUIZ

6 4 Nikon D6 T his beas t from the N ik on s tabl e promis es

to be the u l timate in s peed

6 9 Tamron 70-180 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD

A val u e for money pro l ens for Sony E mou nt

7 2 Vivo V19 A s eriou s performer in mid- range

s martphones

7 4 Nik Collection 3 A ric h c ol l ec tion of pl u gins for you r

favou rite image editing s u ite

7 8 Portrait Pro 19 R etou c h l ik e a pro w ith this u l timate

portrait ex pert

5 2 Setting up a Home Studio A s hok K andimal l a hel ps you w ith s etting

u p a home s tu dio du ring thes e l oc k dow n days

5 8 n s an ing agnifi a ion Ratios

U nc l e R onnie tak es you throu gh the tec hnic al ities of image magnification

6 0 Let’s De-Noise a Noisy Photo H ere is how you c an el iminate nois e in an

image du ring pos t- proc es s ing

REVIEWS

LEARNINGS


64

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Write to us at: Smart Photography,Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 105-106, Trade World, B-Wing, 1st Floor,Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg,Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400 013 E-mail: [email protected]


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`150

Uday HegdeInterview

Microsoft Surface Pro XFeatured

Unique MadagascarPhoto Feature

Close-up and Macro Second Hand Equipment

Computational Photography

Tutorial



`150FUJIFILM X-A7



Sai AdikarlaProfi le

Nazir Badar

Art and Science of PhotographyDear Editor, I have been an avid reader of Smart Photography magazine for more than five years now and it has been of great help to people like us who do not have the time or privilege to learn about the wonderful art of photography as well as the science behind it. It has been like a long term learning programme for me. I am really delighted that I opted for this magazine. I thoroughly enjoy the travel articles you do, but, my favourite part happens to be the learning articles, especially those of Ashok Kandimalla. I hope to keep learning and growing with its help.

Regards,Swapan Vaid

Delighted With Digital VersionDear SP, I recently switched to the digital version of the magazine and although I had my doubts about how it would affect my interest in the magazine, I was surprisingly delighted with my decision as I enjoyed reading it on my phone as well. The June issue was really fascinating to read; I really loved the rich colours in the cover picture and the mastercraftsman section was a delight to read.

Regards,Panchi Sar

Fulfilling my PassionDear SP, Thank you for the article on buying second had photography related equipment by Uncle Ronnie. I have always been interested in photography but whenever I have thought of buying a good camera or lens, I have held myself back because of the expenses I would have to incur. I am glad that I read your article on buying second hand camera gear because now I have a way of fulfilling my passion without spending too much. Also, now I actually know what to look for specifically before buying the used equipments. Thank you.

Regards,Amar Singha

MAILBAG


For further details, terms and conditions visit www.eisa.eu/maestro and https://smartphotography.in/maestro2020

This Year’s Theme: Movement

HOW TO ENTERProvide 5-8 photographs on the theme of ‘Movement’. All entries must be in digital format (camera or scanned fi lm originals) and must be taken by you for the purposes of this competition. Existing portfolios are excluded.

INTERNATIONAL JUDGING: JUNE 2020The winning entries from each of the 16 participating EISA countries will then be judged together at the Association’s general meeting in June 2020. The fi nal results of the Inter-national Maestro contest will be revealed at the EISA Awards Gala on September 4th 2020.

1ST PRIZE€1500 & EISA Maestro Trophy2ND PRIZE€1000 & EISA Maestro Trophy3RD PRIZE€750 & EISA Maestro Trophy

Results will be published in the September or October issues of all 16 EISA photo magazines/websites. All three winners will be invited to Berlin for the offi cial EISA Awards ceremony on September 4th 2020

SHU

TTER

STO

CK.C

OM

/TO

M E

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THE EISA PHOTOGRAPHY MAESTRO CONTEST 2020


GoPro has annou nc ed the l au nc h of its mu l tipu rpos e w aterproof l ight,

Z eu s M ini.

T he Z eu s M ini featu res a magnetic s w ivel l ing c l ip and is c ompatibl e w ith G oPro’ s fu l l l ine of c amera mou nts , mak ing it c onvenient for a w ide range of u s es . It c ombines the il l u mination pow er of G oPro’ s L ight M od w ith the vers atil ity of its M agnetic Sw ivel C l ip to del iver a c ompac t hands - free L E D l ighting s ol u tion. T he M agnetic Sw ivel c l ip c an be attac hed to you r bel t or bac k pac k s trap or s napped u nder the hood or drainpipe, or u s ed as a frees tanding l ight j u s t l ik e a mini tripod. Z eu s M ini is w aterproof u p to 3 3 ft ( 1 0 m) , rec hargeabl e and featu res fou r l evel s of brightnes s reac hing u p to 2 0 0 l u mens w ith an inc l u ded diffu s er that del ivers a 5 0 0 0 K c ol ou r temperatu re tu ned for G oPro c ameras w hen u s ing Z eu s M ini for fil ming. T he bu il t- in battery l as ts for u p to 6 hou rs . A dditional l y, there’ s a s trobe mode to enabl e emergenc y s ignal l ing and vis ibil ity.

T he Z eu s M ini is avail abl e for pu rc has e on G oPro w ebs ite at a pric e of U SD 6 9 . 9 9 .

Tamron has annou nc ed the 2 8 -2 0 0 mm f/ 2 . 8 - 5 . 6 D i III R X D ( M odel

A 0 7 1 ) , an al l - in- one zoom l ens for Sony E - mou nt fu l l - frame mirrorl es s c ameras .

T he 2 8 - 2 0 0 mm f/ 2 . 8 - 5 . 6 is a dis til l ation of al l T amron’ s ac c u mu l ated al l - in-one zoom ex pertis e, and has been s pec ific al l y devel oped as an al l - in- one zoom for dail y u s e on a fu l l - frame mirrorl es s c amera. T amron c hos e M odel A 0 7 1 as the model name in a nod to ‘ 7 1 ’ repres enting the w orl d’ s original al l -in- one zoom. T he 2 8 - 2 0 0 mm f/ 2 . 8 - 5 . 6 is reportedl y, the firs t al l - in- one- zoom in the w orl d to ac hieve a max imu m apertu re of f/ 2 . 8 at the 2 8 mm w ide- angl e end. It featu res a prec is e arrangement of s pec ial l ens el ements that ac c ommodate the inc reas ingl y high res ol u tions of today’ s digital c ameras . W ith its 1 1 7 mm ( 4 . 6 in) l ength, 5 7 5 g w eight and fil ter diameter of 6 7 mm, the l ens offers ex c el l ent portabil ity.

T he zoom l ens al s o c ontains 1 8 el ements in 1 4 grou ps that inc l u de G M ( G l as s M ou l ded A s pheric al ) , hybrid as pheric al , X L D ( eX tra L ow D is pers ion) and L D ( L ow D is pers ion) l ens el ements , prec is el y arranged to c ontrol c hromatic and other aberrations , enabl ing high res ol ving pow er. T he B B A R ( B road-B and A nti- R efl ec tion) C oating provides pow erfu l anti- refl ec tion properties to redu c e ghos ting and fl are, res u l ting in c l ear and c ris p images . In- c amera c orrec tion featu res are u til is ed to mitigate dis tortion and s hading to ac hieve u niforml y high image q u al ity from edge- to- edge at al l zoom s ettings .

A t the 2 8 mm w ide- angl e end, the M O D ( M inimu m O bj ec t D is tanc e) is 0 . 1 9 m ( 7 . 5 in) , ac hieving a max imu m magnific ation ratio of 1 : 3 . 1 .

T he A F drive inc orporates a s ens or that ac c u ratel y detec ts the pos ition of the l ens w hil e the R X D motor u nit del ivers optimis ed A F c ontrol . T his ac hieves very fas t and ac c u rate au tofoc u s operation, al l ow ing u s ers to maintain tac k - s harp foc u s on c ontinu ou s l y moving s u bj ec ts or w hen fil ming video. Seal s are l oc ated at the l ens mou nt area and other c ritic al l oc ations to deter infil tration of mois tu re and/ or rain drops and afford mois tu re- res is tant c ons tru c tion. T his featu re provides an additional l ayer of protec tion w hen s hooting ou tdoors u nder advers e w eather c onditions . A l s o, the front s u rfac e of the l ens el ement is c oated w ith a protec tive fl u orine c ompou nd that has ex c el l ent w ater and oil - repel l ant q u al ities . T he l ens s u rfac e is eas ier to w ipe c l ean and is l es s vu l nerabl e to the damaging effec ts of dirt, mois tu re or oil y fingerprints , al l ow ing for mu c h eas ier maintenanc e. A dditional l y, the handy Z oom L oc k s w itc h prevents u nw anted barrel ex tens ion du ring trans portation.

T he l ens is c ompatibl e w ith many of the advanc ed featu res s u c h as F as t H ybrid A F , E ye A F , D irec t M anu al F oc u s ( D M F ) , In- c amera l ens c orrec tion ( s hading, c hromatic aberration, dis tortion) and C amera- bas ed l ens u nit firmw are u pdates . T he zoom l ens w il l be avail abl e at a pric e of U SD 7 2 9 .

GoPro Announces Zeus Mini

Tamron Unveils All-In-One Zoom Lens

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Ric oh annou nc ed the l au nc h of the G R III

Street E dition Spec ial L imited K it. A vail abl e in a l imited q u antity of 3 , 5 0 0 u nits w orl dw ide, the k it c ombines the R ic oh G R III c amera body, finis hed in a metal l ic grey c ol ou r, w ith a c ompac t, detac habl e view finder and a genu ine-l eather hand s trap, both des igned ex c l u s ivel y for this pac k age.

T he s mal l , l ightw eight c amera body has been treated w ith a metal l ic grey finis h. T he finis h featu res a grained tex tu re that is s mooth in appearanc e bu t hel ps improve c amera grip. It is ac c entu ated w ith an orange- yel l ow l ens barrel ring, reminis c ent of traffic l ines painted on s treets . In addition to the c amera, the k it inc l u des a pair of ex c l u s ive ac c es s ories i. e. a c ompac t, detac habl e view finder featu ring the identic al metal l ic grey finis h and a genu ine- l eather hand s trap. T he view finder has

the nu mber 2 8 imprinted on its top panel to highl ight the c amera’ s angl e of view , w hil e the s trap’ s s topper is finis hed in orange- yel l ow identic al to the c amera’ s l ens barrel ring.

T his c amera al l ow s the photographer to ins tantl y ac tivate the F u l l Pres s Snap featu re w ith a s ingl e tou c h on the L C D panel . T his featu re s hifts the l ens to a pres el ec ted foc al point the moment the s hu tter rel eas e bu tton is fu l l y pres s ed. It c an al s o be as s igned to the

L C D s c reen. T he F u l l Pres s Snap featu re c omes in handy w hen tak ing s naps hots on the s treet and w il l be avail abl e in the s tandard G R III via a firmw are u pdate that is s c hedu l ed for rel eas e l ater this year.

T he R ic oh G R III Street E dition Spec ial L imited K it w il l be avail abl e mid- J u l y at w w w . u s . ric oh- imaging.c om as w el l as at s el ec t R ic oh au thoris ed retail ou tl ets nationw ide for a manu fac tu rer’ s s u gges ted retail pric e of U S $ 1 1 9 9 . 9 5 .

Del k in D evic es has annou nc ed a 2 T B

C F ex pres s T ype- B c ard w hic h is reportedl y its highes t-c apac ity C F ex pres s T ype- B c ard. T he new c ard u s es a PC Ie 3 . 0 interfac e and N V M e s torage for ac hieving read and w rite s peeds u p to 1 , 7 3 0 M B / s and 1 , 4 3 0 M B / s , res pec tivel y. D el k in reveal s that its c ards u ndergo ex tens ive tes ting to ens u re fu l l fu nc tional ity and performanc e w ith the l ates t C F ex pres s c ompatibl e c amera s ys tems .

A part from the s tandard l ifetime w arranty, the c ards al s o c ome w ith D el k in’ s 4 8 hou r repl ac ement gu aranty. T he pric ing or avail abil ity information for the s ame has not been s hared by D el k in.

Delkin Unveils 2TB Type-B Card

Ricoh Launches GR III Street Edition

Dreams time has annou nc ed that it is rew arding its

c ontribu ting photographers w ith a 1 0 % inc reas e in the royal ties for al l dow nl oads , regardl es s of the ex c l u s ive or non- ex c l u s ive s tatu s . D reas ms time c l arifies that this w ou l d mean that a dow nl oad that previou s l y w ou l d have aw arded 5 0 % royal ties w il l now aw ard the photographer 5 5 % .

T hey have fu rther s tated that

the 1 0 % inc reas e in financ ial inc entive is a meas u re to ens u re the financ ial s tabil ity of their empl oyees du ring the C O V ID - 1 9 pandemic . A dditional l y, D reams time is providing tu torial s and gu idel ines for photographers to hel p them s tay financ ial l y s ec u re du ring the pandemic . T he c ompany has al s o offered their c l ients the option to pau s e their s u bs c riptions for tw o months and res u me l ater at no additional c os t.

Dreamstime Increases Royalty for Stock Photo Contributors

GoPro has annou nc ed the rel eas e of G oPro L abs , a new programme that al l ow s G oPro

H ero8 B l ac k ow ners to s ign u p as beta tes ters for tes ting ou t ex perimental featu res that haven’ t yet been inc l u ded in the final produ c ts .

T he l ates t u pdate for G oPro L abs l ets you c reate c u s tom Q R c odes w ith embedded c ommands , al l ow ing G oPro H ero8 B l ac k ow ners to add new fu nc tions to their ac tion c amera w ithou t the need for W i- F i c onnec tivity.

GoPro Releases GoPro Labs


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Sony is offering repl ac ements c ards , c u rrentl y u nder w arranty, at no ex tra

c os t for s el ec t SD c ards in three of its SD c ard l ine- u ps . T he c ompany s tated that the video c aptu red w ith Sony’ s SF - M

s eries , T ou gh SF - M s eries and T ou gh SD - G s eries c ou l d bec ome c orru pted w ithou t w arning. T o identify w hether or not you r c ard is affec ted by the is s u e, Sony has s tated that the c ards in the

aforementioned s eries mark ed w ith a s mal l s tar bes ide the s erial nu mber are not c orru pted. Sony is al s o providing onl ine s u pport on their w ebs ite for addres s ing this is s u e.

Panas onic has annou nc ed a new interc hangeabl e s tandard zoom

l ens , the L u mix S 2 0 - 6 0 mm f/ 3 . 5 - 5 . 6 ( S- R 2 0 6 0 ) bas ed on the L - M ou nt s ys tem for the L u mix S Series fu l l -frame digital s ingl e l ens mirrorl es s c amera. T he L u mix S 2 0 - 6 0 mm is a c ompac t, l ightw eight s tandard zoom l ens that c overs from u l tra- w ide 2 0 mm to s tandard 6 0 mm foc al l ength for vers atil e u s e inc l u ding l ands c ape photography. T he w ide view ing angl e mak es it eas ier to s hoot indoors w here s pac e is l imited and a c l os e- u p c apabil ity of 5 . 9 inc hes s u pports s til l l ife photography. T he l ens is made u p of 1 1 el ements in 9 grou ps and the u s e of 2 as pheric al l ens es and 3 E D ( E x tra-l ow D is pers ion) l ens es effec tivel y s u ppres s es both ax ial c hromatic aberration and c hromatic aberration of magnific ation.

T he l ens w eighs approx imatel y 3 5 0 g and its ru gged du s t/ s pl as h- res is tant des ign reportedl y w iths tands u s e u nder hars h c onditions , even at 1 4 ° F / - 1 0 ° C . In addition, a fl u orine c oating on the front el ement repel s w ater and oil and prevents them from attac hing. T he fil ter diameter is 6 7 mm, w ith a 9 - bl ade c irc u l ar apertu re diaphragm. T he L u mix S 2 0 - 6 0 mm l ens w il l be avail abl e at the end of J u l y for U S $ 5 9 9 . 9 9 .

Ric oh has annou nc ed the H D Pentax - D

F A 8 5 mm f/ 1 . 4 E D SD M A W l ens , the s ec ond fix ed foc al - l ength l ens in the new - generation Pentax Star l ens s eries . D es igned for u s e w ith Pentax K - mou nt D - SL R c ameras , Star- s eries l ens es boas t the highes t imaging performanc e of al l Pentax l ens l ine- u ps . Pentax has reportedl y devel oped a new , ring-type SD M ( Su pers onic D irec t- drive M otor) ex c l u s ivel y for this new l ens to enabl e high- s peed au tofoc u s operation, w ith an ex terior des ign that as s u res a firm grip for manu al - foc u s operation. T he l ens inc orporates three Su per E D ( E x tra- l ow D is pers ion) gl as s optic al el ements to effec tivel y minimis e c hromatic aberration, and a gl as s -mou l ded as pheric al optic al el ement to effec tivel y c ompens ate for s pheric al and c hromatic aberrations and fiel d c u rvatu re to del iver ex tra- c l ear, high-c ontras t images w ith edge- to- edge

s harpnes s , even at open apertu re. T his des ign al s o redu c es dis tortion to nearl y zero at a foc u s s ing dis tanc e of fou r metres to del iver w el l - defined, dis tortion-free images over the entire foc u s s ing range, from the minimu m foc u s s ing dis tanc e to infinity. It al s o boas ts an f/ 1 . 4 max imu m apertu re, u s efu l w ith many different s u bj ec ts in a range of appl ic ations , inc l u ding portraitu re w ith an

effec tivel y defoc u s ed bac k grou nd, handhel d s hooting of indoor s c enes and s c enic photography. D evel oped as an A W ( A l l W eather) model , the l ens featu res du s tproof, w eather- res is tant c ons tru c tion w ith eight s pec ial s eal s to prevent the intru s ion of w ater into the l ens barrel . T he l ens is avail abl e at w w w .u s . ric oh- imaging. c om as w el l as at R ic oh Imaging au thoris ed retail ou tl ets for a manu fac tu rer’ s s u gges ted retail pric e of U S $ 1 8 9 9 . 9 5 .

Ricoh Introduces HD Pentax-D FA 85mm f/1.4 Lens

Panasonic Unveils New L-Mount Lens

Sony to Offer Free Replacements for Corrupted SD Cards

F u j ifil m has rel eas ed a W indow s -onl y programme for tu rning you r

F u j ifil m c amera s ys tem into a w ebc am. T he F u j ifil m X W ebc am appl ic ation c an tu rn nine different F u j ifil m X Series and G F X Sys tem digital c ameras into w ebc ams for video c onferenc ing s oftw ares l ik e Sk ype and Z oom.

Its l ates t u pdate for firmw are vers ion 1 . 3 0 and 1 . 1 0 for the X - A 7 and X - T 2 0 0 ,

res pec tivel y, adds the option to u s e the c amera as a w ebc am w hen c onnec ted to a c ompu ter via U SB c abl e. T he c ompany has al s o annou nc ed that it is w ork ing on bringing the F u j ifil m X W ebc am A pp u til ity to mac O S, al l ow ing the mac O S u s ers to tu rn their X and G F X c ameras into w ebc ams . T he appl ic ation is avail abl e for dow nl oad for free on F u j ifil m’ s w ebs ite.

Fujifilm Releases Webcam App


Sony has annou nc ed the new poc k et- s ized digital c amera Z V -

1 , s pec ific al l y des igned for c ontent c reators and vl oggers . T he c amera featu res a 1 . 0 - type s tac k ed E x mor R S C M O S image s ens or w ith D R A M c hip and 2 4 - 7 0 mm f/ 1 . 8 - 2 . 8 Z eis s V ario- Sonnar T l arge- apertu re l ens . T he c amera l oc k s on to and trac k s s u bj ec ts w ith high ac c u rac y and s peed u s ing Sony’ s l eading-edge au tofoc u s s ys tem. T he Z V - 1 al s o inc l u des the l ates t- generation B ionz X image proc es s or w ith front- end L SI del ivering high

res ol u tion as w el l as l ow nois e for s u perior image q u al ity. It al s o c ombines this imaging tec hnol ogy w ith high- q u al ity and vers atil e au dio options .

T he Z V - 1 is Sony’ s firs t c ompac t c amera w ith a s ide- opening V ari-angl e L C D s c reen, mak ing it eas ier to c ompos e you r s hots in s el fie mode w hil e c onnec ting ex ternal au dio ac c es s ories . T o meet any video need, the Z V - 1 c ontains advanc ed video featu res inc l u ding 4 K movie rec ording and in- body image s tabil is ation. T he Sony Z V - 1

is avail abl e at a pric e of U S $ 7 9 9 .

Canon has rel eas ed the E O S W ebc am U til ity B eta for

mac O S u s ers , in addition to the W indow s vers ion that it rel eas ed 2 months ago. T he E O S W ebc am U til ity B eta enabl es PC and mac O s c ompu ter ow ners to tu rn their c ompatibl e E O S and Pow erShot c ameras into

w ebc ams for u s e in video c onferenc ing apps s u c h as Sk ype and Z oom. C anon has req u es ted feedbac k on its foru ms to k eep a c hec k on probl ems enc ou ntered or featu re req u es ts . B oth vers ions are avail abl e for dow nl oad on C anon’ s w ebs ite.

Adobe has l au nc hed the Photos hop C amera appl ic ation for A ndroid and

iO S devic es that ru ns on Sens ei, A dobe’ s A I tec hnol ogy. T he appl ic ation is des igned to add c reative effec ts and au tomated editing tool s to minimis e the amou nt of w ork req u ired to beau tify images as provided by other photography apps .

T he appl ic ation c omes w ith a s eries of au tomatic q u ic k fix tool s s u c h as portrait rel ighting and l ens dis tortion c orrec tion and inc l u des fil ters s u c h as Portrait, Pop A rt, Spec tru m, C omic Sk ies , D ou bl e E x po, M ix ed M edia, Sc enery, B l oom, B l u e Sk ies and many more. U s ers al s o have the option to dow nl oad additional fil ters

c reated by different photographers and Ins tagram u s ers . T he Photos hop E x pres s bu tton at the top of the dis pl ay al l ow s you to l ink you r image to the Photos hop E x pres s app for additional adj u s tments . A dobe Photos hop C amera is avail abl e for A ndroid and iO S u s ers as a free dow nl oad.

Samyang has rel eas ed the A F 8 5 mm f/ 1 . 4 F E l ens for C anon R F mou nt, to w ork w ith C anon

fu l l - frame mirrorl es s c ameras . A part from the new mou nt, the l ens remains the s ame as its Sony F E predec es s or.

It is c ons tru c ted of 1 1 el ements in 8 grou ps , inc l u ding one E x tra- L ow D is pers ion ( E D ) el ement and fou r H igh R efrac tive Index ( H R I) el ements for minimis ing c hromatic aberration. T he optic al el ements are made of Samyang’ s U l tra M u l ti C oating ( U M C ) to prevent fl ares and ghos ting. T he A F is made of Samyang’ s D u al L inear Sonic M otor ( D L SM ) and the l ens featu res w eather- s eal ing, a nine- bl ade apertu re diaphragm and a 7 7 mm front fil ter thread. T he R F vers ion is avail abl e at a pric e of U SD $ 8 0 0 .

Adobe Releases Camera App

Samyang Launches AF 85mm f/1.4 for Canon RF Mount

Canon Extends EOS Webcam Utility Beta to macOS

Sony Announces ZV1 Compact


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Sigma has l au nc hed its firs t u l tra tel ephoto

l ens for fu l l - frame mirrorl es s c ameras , al ong w ith tw o new L - mou nt tel ec onverters , U SB D oc k U D - 1 1 and a new mou nt option for its 1 6 mm, 3 0 mm and 5 6 mm f/ 1 . 4 D C D N c ontemporary l ens es . T he 1 0 0 - 4 0 0 mm f/ 5 - 6 . 3 D G D N O S C ontemporary l ens is Sigma’ s firs t u l tra tel ephoto l ens and has been des igned s pec ific al l y for mirrorl es s c amera s ys tems . T he l ens w il l be avail abl e in Sony E - mou nt and L - mou nt c amera s ys tems . It is devis ed to c over fu l l -frame image s ens ors and is made of 2 2 el ements in 1 6 grou ps inc l u ding one l ow dis pers ion el ement ( F L D ) and fou r s pec ial l ow dis pers ion ( SL D ) el ements . It has a s tepping motor for au tofoc u s , nine- bl ade apertu re diaphragm, minimu m apertu re range of f/ 2 2 – 2 9 and a 6 7 mm front fil ter thread. It meas u res

8 6 mm in diameter, 1 9 7 mm l ong and w eighs 1 , 1 3 5 g. T he Sigma 1 0 0 - 4 0 0 mm f/ 5 - 6 . 3 D G D N O S C ontemporary is c u rrentl y avail abl e for pre- ordering from A dorama and B & H at a pric e of U S $ 9 5 0 . Sigma’ s new L - mou nt tel ec onverters , the T C - 1 4 1 1 w ith 1 . 4 x magnific ation and the T C - 2 0 1 1 w ith 2 x magnific ation are des igned w ith Sigma’ s renow ned optic al formu l ae. B oth tel ec onverters featu re a du s t and s pl as h- proof des ign s imil ar to the Sigma Sports l ine l ens es . T he T C - 1 4 1 1 ( 1 . 4 x ) and T C - 2 0 1 1 ( 2 x ) are c u rrentl y avail abl e for pre- ordering at a pric e of U S $ 4 0 0 and $ 4 3 0 , res pec tivel y. Sigma has

al s o l au nc hed new doc k s for u pdating firmw are and c u s tomis ing s ettings . T he U SB D oc k U D - 1 1 model s u s e a U SB T ype- C c onnec tion, avail abl e for Sigma L - mou nt and C anon E F - M - mou nt and are avail abl e for pre-order at a pric e of U S $ 5 9 . A nother addition to Sigma’ s new es t c ol l ec tions is the l au nc h of three f/ 1 . 4 mirrorl es s l ens es for its L - mou nt c amera s ys tems . T he 1 6 mm, 3 0 mm, and 5 6 mm f/ 1 . 4 D C D N C ontemporary l ens es are s imil ar to their Sony E - mou nt, C anon E F - M -mou nt and M ic ro F ou r T hirds predec es s ors , and are c u rrentl y avail abl e for pre- ordering at a retail pric e of U S $ 4 5 0 , $ 3 4 0 and $ 4 8 0 , res pec tivel y from A dorama and B & H .

ST C has annou nc ed its brand new Interc hangeabl e C l ip F il ters for

C anon’ s popu l ar E O S R mirrorl es s c ameras . T he new interc hangeabl e fil ters c arry s ame q u al ity c ons tru c tion, high-q u al ity gl as s and nano- c oatings that are c ommon in its range of c l ip fil ters for c ons u mer c ameras and the motion pic tu re indu s try. It has been c ons tru c ted w ith A eros pac e grade 6 0 6 1 al u miniu m al l oy and proc es s ed w ith prec is ion C N C mac hining. T hey c ome w ith dou bl e- s ided N ano anti- s mu dge c oating, mak ing them c ompl etel y w aterproof, greas e- proof and eas y to c l ean.

T he new s ys tem al l ow s u s ers to s w itc h fil ters u s ing a handy tool , providing u s ers w ith a fas t, s impl e and s afe means for mou nting and removing c l ip fil ters . It has been devis ed to s it in the c amera mou nt, betw een the l ens and s ens or w herein the new interc hangeabl e c l ip fil ters fit perfec tl y w ithin the c amera w ithou t tou c hing the s ens or, thereby preventing dis tortion from pres s u re, thermal ex pans ion or c ontrac tion. T he fil ter c l ips are c ompatibl e w ith the C anon E O S R , R a and R P and provides s harp images even at l ong foc al l engths . T hes e interc hangeabl e c l ip fil ters for C anon E O S R mirrorl es s c ameras are avail abl e at pric es s tarting from U S $ 9 0 onw ards . A l l pric ing and avail abil ity rel ated information are avail abl e on the ST C O ptic s w ebs ite.

Venu s O ptic s has u nveil ed three new u l tra- w ide c ine l ens es for c ameras

w ith different s ens or s izes namel y, 7 . 5 mm T 2 . 1 C ine for M ic ro F ou r T hirds c ameras , 9 mm T 2 . 9 Z ero- D C ine for Su per3 5 c ameras and the 1 5 mm T 2 . 1 Z ero- D C ine L ens for l arge format ( fu l l frame) c ameras .

A l l three L aow a c ine l ens es featu re an u l tra- w ide angl e of view and fas t apertu re. T he L aow a 7 . 5 mm T 2 . 1

featu res a 1 1 0 ° F oV on M F T w hil e the 9 mm T 2 . 9 featu res a 1 1 3 ° on Su per3 5 s ens ors . T he 1 5 mm T 2 . 1 featu res a 1 1 0 ° F oV on c ameras w ith fu l l frame s ens ors . T he fas t max imu m t- s top is w el l s u ited for fil ming u nder l ow l ight c ondition. It al s o al l ow s fil mmak ers to have more fl ex ibil ity in depth of fiel d c ontrol . B oth the 9 mm and 1 5 mm featu re L aow a’ s zero dis tortion ( Z ero- D ) des ign w here the optic al dis tortion at infinity dis tanc e has been

c ompres s ed to the minimal . A l l three w ide angl e prime l ens es are ex tremel y c ompac t and l ightw eight. B oth 7 . 5 mm and 9 mm w eigh c l os e to 2 2 6 g. T he 1 5 mm is a l ittl e bit heavier and w eighs 5 4 0 g. A l l three c ine l ens es are c u rrentl y avail abl e for pu rc has e on the V enu s O ptic s offic ial w ebs ite and au thoris ed res el l ers at a pric e of U S $ 5 9 9 for both 7 . 5 mm T 2 . 1 and 9 mm T 2 . 9 l ens es , w hil e the 1 5 mm T 2 . 1 l ens is avail abl e at a pric e of U S $ 1 , 1 9 9 .

STC Launches Interchangeable Clip Filters

Sigma Expands Mirrorless Lineup

Venus Optics Unveils Ultra Wide Cine Lenses


NATIONAL NEWS

Fu j ifil m has annou nc ed the l au nc h of F u j ifil m X - T 4 in its fl ags hip X s eries

range of mirrorl es s digital c ameras . W ith this innovation, F u j ifil m w il l be introdu c ing a new s hu tter u nit that has been devel oped k eeping in mind the needs and demands of the u s ers for the c amera to be fas t, du rabl e and q u iet. T he X - T 4 is the firs t model in the X - T Series to featu re in- body image s tabil is ation ( IB IS) , boos ting the potential of the c amera for s til l s and video s hooting.

T he variant c omes eq u ipped w ith the s tandal one video mode, w hic h is now ac tivated w ith a s impl e s w itc h, and the u s e of digital image s tabil is ation in the video mode, provides s hooting s moothnes s . T he new F il m Simu l ation mode, E terna B l eac h B ypas s , s imu l ates the traditional fil m proc es s ing tec hniq u e to c reate a u niq u e w orl d of l ow s atu ration and high c ontras t. T he X - T 4 is a mu l timedia tool pac k ed w ith IB IS, new s hu tter u nit and a l arge- c apac ity battery al l hou s ed into a c ompac t and l ightw eight body, w hic h is the c ore phil os ophy of al l

X Series . K ey featu res and improvements of X - T 4 inc l u de hardw are u pgrades s u c h as u l tra- fas t foc al pl ane s hu tter that s hoots 1 5 fps in bu rs t mode and N P-W 2 3 5 battery that l as ts for approx . 5 0 0 frames per c harge in the N ormal mode, approx . 6 0 0 frames per c harge in the E c onomy mode and u p to approx . 1 , 7 0 0 frames w hen tw o additional batteries are u s ed w ith the optional battery grip. It al s o c omes eq u ipped w ith profes s ional video fu nc tions mak ing the X - T 4 c apabl e of rec ording fu l l H D high- s peed video at 2 4 0 P, produ c ing u p to 1 0 x s l ow - motion effec t. It c omes w ith the movie optimis ed c ontrol fu nc tion that al l ow s you to s w itc h the Stil l / M ovie mode dial on the top panel to s w iftl y s hift into video rec ording w ith s tored video s ettings .

T he X - T 4 body onl y is pric ed at IN R 1 5 4 , 9 9 9 w hereas the X - T 4 K it w ith F u j inon X F 1 8 - 5 5 mm f/ 2 . 8 - 4 is pric ed at IN R 1 8 4 , 9 9 9 . X - T 4 K it w ith F u j inon X F 1 6 - 8 0 mm f/ 4 R O IS W R is pric ed at IN R 1 9 9 , 9 9 9 al ong w ith freebies w orth IN R 1 8 , 5 0 0 .

Fujifilm India Unveils X-T4

Nik on has introdu c ed the al l new ‘ N ik on Z 5 0 V l oggers K it’

at a s pec ial pric e for its c u s tomers . K eeping in mind the l ates t u s er-needs , this k it has been des igned to be a one- s top s ol u tion for s hooting, s treaming, and rec ording.

T he N ik on Z 5 0 is a c ompac t and l ightw eight mirrorl es s c amera that inherits the k ey featu res of the Z s eries . Its ergonomic des ign enabl es u s ers to c aptu re images at any point in time and l oc ation. It is des igned arou nd N ik on’ s Z mou nt w ith the w ides t l ens mou nt of any c omparabl e c amera s ys tem. T he w ider mou nt al l ow s more l ight thereby res u l ting in an inc reas e of s harpnes s , c ontras t, foc u s s ing s peed, l ow - l ight performanc e and image q u al ity.

F or additional eas e and c onvenienc e, al l nec es s ary bu ttons and dial s are pl ac ed on the right s ide of the c amera body. T he Z 5 0 is eq u ipped w ith in- bu il t B l u etooth and W i- F i for SnapB ridge 2 . 6 , enabl ing c reators s u c h as vis u al artis ts , vl oggers , mark eters and infl u enc ers to ins tantl y trans fer their s naps hots into their s martphones and s hare on s oc ial media.

T he N ik on Z 5 0 k it c omes eq u ipped w ith a N ik on digital c amera Z 5 0 w ith N ik k or Z D X 1 6 - 5 0 mm f/ 3 . 5 -6 . 3 V R , Smal l rig vl ogging mou nting pl ate, Saramonic V mic - M ini, J oby G oril l apod SL R zoom and bal l head bu ndl e, A pu tu re A maran A L - M 9 poc k et- s ized dayl ight- bal anc ed L E D l ight, N ik on E N - E L 2 5 ( additional battery) , 6 4 G B SD c ard and a J eal iot H ero 0 6 6 5 bag.

O riginal l y pric ed at IN R 1 , 1 2 , 1 7 0 the entire k it is being offered at a s pec ial pric e of IN R 8 9 , 9 9 0 avail abl e at N ik on au thoris ed s tores .

Nikon Introduces Z 50 Vloggers Kit


Sams u ng annou nc ed the l au nc h of G al ax y A 3 1 , its third G al ax y A

s martphone in India this year. G al ax y A 3 1 c omes w ith a 6 . 4 inc h s u per A M O L E D infinity U dis pl ay w ith w ide as pec t ratio.

It c omes w ith a 4 8 M P main c amera for s hooting high res ol u tion images and videos , 8 M P u l tra w ide c amera w ith a 1 2 3 degree fiel d of view , a 5 M P mac ro c amera and a 2 0 M P front c amera for tak ing high- res ol u tion s el fies . T he front c amera al s o s u pports the L ive F oc u s featu re. T he A 3 1 al s o c omes w ith A I s c ene optimis er that s u pports 3 0 s c enes as w el l as the A R D oodl e featu re for draw ing 3 D art.

T he G al ax y A 3 1 c omes w ith 5 0 0 0 mA h battery that gives you a video pl aybac k time of u p to 2 2 hou rs to l et you s tream, s hare and game mu c h more. It al s o c omes w ith 1 5 W fas t

c harging. T he s martphone c omes w ith 1 2 8 G B internal memory w ith an ex pandabl e s torage c apac ity of u p to 5 1 2 G B and s ports an advanc ed O c ta-c ore proc es s or, 6 G B R A M and al s o c omes w ith A I Pow ered G ame B oos ter tec hnol ogy. T he phone al s o featu res the ‘ M ak e for India’ A l ive Intel l igenc e, des igned to hel p G en Z c ons u mers l ive a fas t- pac ed yet organis ed l ife. T he featu re hel ps redu c e c l u tter in the SM S inbox and l ets c ons u mers find u s efu l information q u ic k l y and eas il y. W ith mu l til ingu al typing, you ng c ons u mers c an c onvers e effortl es s l y u s ing intel l igent and meaningfu l s u gges tions in l oc al l angu ages .

T he G al ax y A 3 1 is avail abl e in Pris m C ru s h bl u e, bl ac k and w hite c ol ou rs ac ros s retail s tores , Sams u ng O pera H ou s e, Sams u ng. c om and l eading onl ine portal s . T he G al ax y A 3 1 is avail abl e in 6 / 1 2 8 G B variant and is pric ed at IN R 2 1 , 9 9 9 .

Samsung Launches Galaxy A31

Hu aw ei has introdu c ed a new intel l igent virtu al agent c al l ed ‘ C el ia’

to enric h c ons u mer ex perienc e.

T he A I pow ered virtu al as s is tant res ponds to the k ey phras e “ H ey C el ia” and ans w ers fiel d q u es tions and addres s es c u s tomer q u eries . T his s mart as s is tant is avail abl e 2 4 * 7 and reportedl y s u pports q u ic k trou bl e s hooting w ith s eaml es s trans ition from c hat to hu man agent, w ithou t any del ay in proc es s ing new information req u es t. It is al s o reported that the s mart as s is tant has the c apabil ity to provide gu idanc e in bu ying a new phone, w arranty q u eries , l oc ating devic e’ s probl em and c ompl eting al l prereq u is ites before s ending the devic e for repair. C el ia is now avail abl e on H u aw ei’ s offic ial w eb and s u pport appl ic ation.

Huawei Introduces Virtual Agent

Motorol a has introdu c ed the one fu s ion+

s martphone in their premiu m s martphone range made in India. T he s martphone boas ts of a u niq u e and immers ive 6 . 5 inc h T otal V is ion F u l l H D + dis pl ay, s tretc hing c ompl etel y u ninterru pted from edge to edge, thank s to its s u per s peedy pop-u p s el fie c amera that hides behind the dis pl ay. It featu res a 2 5 perc ent l arger c ol ou r range and H D R 1 0 c ertific ation enabl ing u s ers to s tream videos and enj oy games in vivid, tru e- to- l ife c ol ou rs w ith improved brightnes s and c ontras t. T he motorol a one fu s ion+ is al s o part of the Y ou T u be s ignatu re devic es , w hic h means that the devic e is del ivering a bes t- in- c l as s Y ou T u be ex perienc e by c ombining nex t- generation tec hnol ogies , video performanc e, and rel iabil ity. T he phone

al s o boas ts a s peak er w ith 4 x better bas s performanc e, c l eaner voc al s , and better c l arity even w hen the vol u me is c rank ed al l the w ay u p. T he one fu s ion+ c omes w ith Q u al c omm Snapdragon 7 3 0 G proc es s or and 6 G B of R A M . T he phone c omes w ith a 6 4 M P rear c amera s ys tem w ith q u ad pix el tec hnol ogy and night vis ion. It featu res a 1 1 8

degree u l tra- w ide- angl e l ens , a mac ro vis ion c amera and a 1 6 M P pop- u p s el fie c amera. It al s o c omes w ith 5 , 0 0 0 mA h battery that offers over tw o days w orth of pow er and 1 2 8 G B of s torage ex pandabl e u p to 1 T B . T he s martphone c omes w ith motorol a’ s s ignatu re s toc k A ndroid ex perienc e w ith A ndroid 1 0 . T he one fu s ion+ is avail abl e at a pric e of IN R 1 6 , 9 9 9 in 2 c ol ou r variants - M oonl ight W hite and T w il ight B l u e, ex c l u s ivel y on F l ipk art.

Motorola Unveils One Fusion+


Nik on has rel eas ed the financ ial res u l ts for its fis c al year 2 0 2 0 . T he

c ompany has rec orded 5 9 1 bn yen in revenu e and 6 . 7 bn yen in operating profit, c onfirming a dec reas e of 1 1 7 . 6 bn yen and 7 5 . 9 bn yen, res pec tivel y. N ik on attribu tes , approx imatel y 4 bn yen, of its total l os s to its Imaging Produ c ts divis ion du e to produ c t mix c hange c au s ed by the s u s pens ion of dis tribu tors , mainl y s el l ing mid and high- end c ameras , and del ay of l au nc h in main produ c ts , inc l u ding profes s ional u s e produ c ts c au s ed by s tagnation of the s u ppl y c hain ow ing to the s pread of C O V ID - 1 9 . T he l ates t financ ial res u l ts are avail abl e for view ing on N ik on’ s inves tor rel ations w ebs ite.

Ac c ording to reports , Sams u ng is pl anning to c onvert one of its c u rrent

D R A M manu fac tu ring l ines into a c amera s ens or produ c tion l ine. T he report s u gges ts that the c ompany intends to c onvert its D R A M l ine 1 3 in H w as eong, G yeonggi Provinc e, Sou th K orea into a c amera s ens or produ c tion u nit. A s imil ar trans ition w as made by Sams u ng bac k

in 2 0 1 8 w ith its D R A M l ine 1 1 , w hic h w as c onverted into the c amera s ens or produ c tion l ine S4 .

T his trans ition from D R A M produ c tion to c amera s ens or produ c tion is being done as an attempt to l es s en a s ignific ant amou nt of ex pens es that w ou l d otherw is e be inc u rred if the u nit w ere

to be bu il t from s c ratc h. A dditional l y, the report al s o s u gges ts that mos t of the eq u ipments and manu fac tu ring proc es s es for the D R A M as w el l as c amera s ens ors are s imil ar. T he entire trans ition is ex pec ted to c os t arou nd U SD 8 1 5 mn and mas s produ c tion of c amera s ens ors may s tart by the end of the c u rrent year.

O l ympu s has annou nc ed that it is s el l ing off its entire Imaging

divis ion. A c c ording to the pres s rel eas e, the c ompany has s igned a M emorandu m of U nders tanding ( M O U ) w ith J apan Indu s trial Partners Inc . ( J IP) w hic h reveal s that both c ompanies are c ommitted to entering into fu rther dis c u s s ions rel ating the trans fer of O l ympu s ’ l ong s tanding imaging bu s ines s to J IP, by the end of 2 0 2 0 .

D u ring the ongoing dis c u s s ions ,

O l ympu s w il l c ontinu e its imaging bu s ines s as u s u al . R eports reveal that des pite al l its effort to improve the c os t s tru c tu re and ‘ c ope w ith the ex tremel y s evere digital c amera mark et, du e to, among others , rapid mark et s hrink c au s ed by the evol u tion of s martphones ’ , the c ompany’ s imaging bu s ines s has rec orded operating l os s es for the l as t three c ons ec u tive years . O l ympu s s ees this trans fer as an opportu nity to pres erve the l egac y of the brand and c ontinu e providing val u e to its c u s tomers .

Samsung to Expand its Image Sensor Production Line

Nikon Releases Financial Results

CIPA ’ s l ates t nu mbers s how a dec l ine in its nu mbers for al l

maj or manu fac tu rers throu gh the end of A pril 2 0 2 0 ow ing to the ongoing pandemic . A c c ording to reports , the s hipments of digital c ameras in A pril 2 0 2 0 w ent dow n to 5 , 5 0 , 0 0 0 u nits , i. e. a dec reas e of 6 3 . 7 % as c ompared to A pril 2 0 1 9 . D SL R and mirrorl es s s al es w ere dow n to 6 0 . 8 % and 6 7 . 0 , res pec tivel y. T he pandemic has al s o frozen s u ppl y c hains and produ c tion for many c amera manu fac tu rers . C IPA ’ s nu mbers reveal that the produ c tion for A pril 2 0 2 0 w as dow n to 5 6 . 4 % for al l digital c amera u nits as c ompared to A pril 2 0 1 9 .

CIPA Numbers Reveal Decline

Olympus to Sell its Imaging Division

In an attempt to avoid c onfu s ion and mak e its l ogos dis c ernabl e, A dobe is

u pdating its l ogos and ic ons for many of its appl ic ations , mak ing their appearanc e more u niform ac ros s al l pl atforms on w hic h they are u s ed. A l thou gh mos t of the c hanges made are s u btl e and diffic u l t to identify u nl es s you are s pec ific al l y

l ook ing for it, the A dobe C reative C l ou d l ogo has u ndergone a s ignific ant c hange from its ol der, red and w hite des ign to the new w hite embl em on a rainbow c ol ou red bac k grou nd. A dditional l y, the A dobe l ogo w il l al s o u ndergo a minor c hange that inc l u des a c hange in the tone of red u s ed.

Adobe Updates Logos

Shu tters toc k has rec entl y c hanged its earnings s tru c tu re w herein the

c ontribu tors w il l get c ompens ation on the bas is of the total nu mber of s al es made by their photo or video. T he c ompany has divided the c ontribu tors into s ix l evel s w ith eac h l evel being determined by the nu mber of times their c ontent is s ol d. Prior to this s hift, the earning s tru c tu re w as bas ed on the total

amou nt of s al es made by c ontribu tors du ring their l ifetime. H ow ever, w ith the c hange in its earnings s tru c tu re, al l c ontribu tors w il l be res et to ‘ l evel 1 ’ for both images as w el l as videos on the 1 s t of J anu ary, every year. T his means that every year, al l the c ontribu tors w il l be demoted to ‘ L evel 1 ’ w herein they onl y rec eive a 1 5 % c ommis s ion on s al es .

Shutterstock Restructures Earnings

BUSINESS NEWS

The Expert Imaging and Sound Association is the growing community of 56 technology magazines and websites from 29 countries, specialising in hi-fi, home theatre, in-car electronics, mobile electronics, photo and video.

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The Expert Imaging and Sound Association is the growing community of 56 technology magazines and websites from 29 countries, specialising in hi-fi, home theatre, in-car electronics, mobile electronics, photo and video.

Every year the EISA jury of experts rewards the best products in each class with a coveted EISA Award. The 2020-21 EISA Awards will be announced on August 15th 2020

TESTED BY THE EXPERTS ■ WWW.EISA.EU

EISA AWARDS 2020-21

Celebrating the year’s best products

THE VERY BEST CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY...

COMING SOON

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the subsequent country-wide lockdown has adversely affected most businesses. With photography largely confined to homes and tabletops, how are imaging

companies looking at business continuity? Smart Photography catches up with Mukesh Srivastava, Head, Digital Imaging business, Sony India, to find out.

M u k es h Srivas tava

As told to Sujith Gopinath

Sony is one of the few companies that have been able to survive in the middle of several transformations that took place in the imaging industry. Could you elaborate on the strategies that helped the company achieve this?

Sony has been w ork ing tirel es s l y tow ards bringing the bes t of digital imaging

tec hnol ogy and l au nc hing fu tu ris tic produ c ts in the mark et that have hel ped u s s u s tain in the l ong ru n. A part from being the flag bearer of irrorless camera tec hnol ogy, w e al s o have a w ide range of D igital Imaging produ c ts to c ater to al l types of c u s tomer demands . W e offer produ c ts s tarting from point and s hoot c ameras , c ons u mer and profes s ional

c amc orders , c inema c ameras and a very w ide range of l ens es and ac c es s ories .

In addition, w e have ‘ O ne Singl e M ou nt’ , a u niq u enes s that onl y Sony’ s E - mou nt del ivers . F rom F u l l - F rame to A PS- C , s til l s to c inema, profes s ional s to c ons u mers , O ne Singl e M ou nt c onnec ts a w ide range of c u s tomers , u s ages , formats , c ameras and l ens es . T he E - mou nt is a c ommon pl atform for c reators ac ros s the w orl d and O ne Singl e M ou nt provides a big relief and flexibility to customers pu rc has ing Sony c ameras .

M oreover, w e are gratefu l to ou r Sony A rtis ans w ho have bel ieved in Sony’ s vis ion of es tabl is hing mirrorl es s c ameras in India and being the torc h bearers throu gh their c reative rou tes and vis u al s torytel l ing.

As the imaging industry is going through a transitional phase, driven

y in asing influ n o so ial media and video content, how does Sony plan to maintain and enhance the market position?

W e are c ompl etel y in- l ine w ith the s oc ial media and video trends . W hether it is ou r produ c t s trategy or mark eting initiatives , it is imperative that ou r efforts are driven by the c hanging l ands c ape of s oc ial media and video c ontent.

T o cite a recent example, we initiated # C reateW ithSony – a s oc ial media c ampaign to k eep ou r al pha fans engaged du ring the l oc k dow n, by hos ting l ive s es s ions w ith A l pha A rtis ans and influencers. The conversation was about how one c an be c reative du ring the l oc k dow n and k eep w ork ing tow ards

www.smartphotography.in

Sony Upbeat about Post-COVID Market

20 | Smart Photography | July 2020 www.smartphotography.in

INDUSTRY OPINION

improving their photography s k il l s , even if they are confined to their homes. T o fu rther tak e this idea to a w ider c ommu nity, # C reateW ithSony c ampaign w as introdu c ed on Sony A l pha India’ s Ins tagram page, enc ou raging fans to c reate pic tu res and videos in interes ting s c enarios w hil e being at home. T he idea w as to enabl e the c reative vis ion, to l ook at things differentl y and to c reate s omething ou t of the ordinary. T his c ampaign gave a boos t to mac ro photography to a great extent. e notic ed that photographers ac ros s genres adapted to it in different w ays and that’ s how # C reatew ithSony real l y took - off. A l ot of u s er c ontent w as featu red on ou r Ins tagram page and to mak e this a permanent property for ou r fans , w e have now c reated a mic ros ite on A l pha c ommu nity. A s on date, the c ampaign has al ready garnered organic reac h of 7 6 3 k , engagement of 1 1 6 k and 7 0 0 + entries on Sony A l pha Ins tagram C hannel .

The COVID-19 situation has affected businesses across all segments. How has this affected Sony’s digital imaging division?

T he digital imaging bu s ines s has been affec ted du e to the w orl dw ide pandemic . D u e to the indu c ed l oc k dow n in the c ou ntry, peopl e are not abl e to s tep ou t to pu rs u e photography and there is l imited oc c as ion to c l ic k photographs , w hic h has l ed to a dec l ine in overal l s al es . H ow ever, on the other hand, du e to very high c ons u mption of onl ine c ontent now , w e have w itnes s ed a s u rge in demand for vl ogging c ameras . T here is al s o an inc reas ed demand for s pec ial is ed l ive s treaming s ol u tions ac ros s variou s s ec tors s u c h as edu c ation, c orporate, beau ty and c ontent c reation. Sony is the onl y brand to offer top notc h q u al ity l ive s treaming s ol u tions w ith an array of Sony A l pha c ameras and Profes s ional c amc orders to its c u s tomers .

What would be your come-back strategy in a post-COVID environment? In your assessment, what role is India likely to play in this come-back run?

T he l oc k dow n s itu ation has c ertainl y made photographers more c reative. It w as overw hel ming to s ee s u c h a hu ge

partic ipation for Sony A l pha Ins tagram c ampaign # C reatew ithSony. It has boos ted in- hou s e and other genres of photography l ik e mac ro photography to a large extent. ventually this will add to photography as an indu s try. Sony has al w ays been c ommitted tow ards devel oping the photo and video c u l tu re in India. D u ring thes e tou gh days , w e have been regu l arl y c ondu c ting onl ine s es s ions and w ork s hops to k eep ou r c u s tomers engaged and s u pport them to l earn new tec hniq u es from the bes t of Sony A rtis ans .

Given your experience in the digital imaging sphere, what are the emerging trends you expect in the near future? How is Sony preparing to tap into this new market?

W ith the given s itu ation, over and above profes s ional photography, w e s ee O T T , V l ogging and L ive s treaming as emerging trends . W ith ou r w ide range of produ c ts from indu s try l eading mirrorl es s c ameras , c amc orders , point and s hoot, ac c es s ories and other vlogging equipment, we are confident to tap this new mark et. |SP


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Photograph by Debarshi Das

KALEIDOSCOPE

Sou rav is an IT profes s ional w ho has been a natu re l over s inc e c hil dhood. H ail ing from a s mal l c ity in W es t B engal , his photographic j ou rney began abou t a dec ade ago, when he bought his first R and dis c overed his l ove for s hooting small, beautiful and fast moving s u bj ec ts w ith w ings . W ith time, his l ove for photography l u red him into other genres of natu re photography and in no time he w as hook ed. H is advent into w il dl ife photography tau ght him to be patient and bec ome a k een obs erver and his s k il l s brou ght him rec ognition al l arou nd the w orl d.

Sourav Mookherjee

Wild and Free

Camera: IK Aperture: f/ 5 . 6Shutter Speed: secFocal Length: mmISO:

KALEIDOSCOPE

www.smartphotography.in24 | Smart Photography | July 2020 www.smartphotography.in

KALEIDOSCOPE

Camera: anon Aperture: f/ 5 . 6Shutter Speed: secFocal Length: mmISO:

Camera: anon Aperture: f/ 5 . 6Shutter Speed: secFocal Length: mmISO:

www.smartphotography.in July 2020 | Smart Photography | 25 www.smartphotography.in


KALEIDOSCOPE


Camera: IK Aperture: fShutter Speed: secFocal Length: mmISO:



July 2020 | Smart Photography | 27 www.smartphotography.in

A Fresh Perspective


SHOWCASE

Camera: G O O G L E Pix el 3 X LAperture: F / 1 . 8Shutter Speed: 1 / 7 5 s ecFocal Length: 4 . 4 4 mmISO: 9 4


A ditya is an engineer from M ys ore w ho freel anc es as a w edding photographer and l oves s pending mos t of his l eis u re time c l ic k ing photographs of al l the s impl e things arou nd him. “ A s a c hil d, I u s ed to c l ic k pic tu res w ith my father’ s phone w hic h did not have a great c amera. I w ou l d al s o u s e my c ou s in’ s bridge c amera from time to time. C ons idering my interes t in photography, my father got me a D - SL R c amera and that w as the beginning of my photography j ou rney” s ays A ditya. H e attribu tes his ins piration to photographer A u ditya V enk ates h and s ays that going ahead, he pl ans to pu rs u e photography fu l l time as a profes s ion.

AdityaSridhar

Camera: O N E PL U S A 3 0 0 3Aperture: F / 2 . 0Shutter Speed: 1 / 2 5 0 s ecFocal Length: 4 . 2 6 mmISO: 1 0 2

Camera: SO N Y SL T - A 5 8Aperture: F / 1 0Shutter Speed: 1 / 1 6 0 s ecFocal Length: 1 8 mmISO: 1 0 0


SHOWCASE

Camera: SO N Y SL T - A 5 8Aperture: F / 2 . 8Shutter Speed: 1 / 2 0 0 s ecFocal Length: 5 0 mmISO: 2 0 0


Camera: SO N Y SL T - A 5 8Aperture: F / 9Shutter Speed: 1 / 4 0 0 s ecFocal Length: 2 0 mmISO: 2 0 0

Camera: O N E PL U S A 3 0 0 3Aperture: F / 2 . 0Shutter Speed: 1 / 5 0 s ecFocal Length: 4 . 2 6 mmISO: 8 8 9


SHOWCASE Camera: SO N Y IL C E - 7 M 3Aperture: F / 2 . 8Shutter Speed: 1 / 1 6 0 s ecFocal Length: 4 9 mmISO: 2 0 0 0

Camera: SO N Y SL T - A 5 8Aperture: F / 2 0Shutter Speed: 1 / 4 s ecFocal Length: 5 0 mmISO: N A

Camera: G O O G L E Pix el 3 X LAperture: F / 1 . 8Shutter Speed: 1 / 3 5 s ecFocal Length: 4 . 4 4 mmISO: 6 8


Camera: G O O G L E Pix el 3 X LAperture: F / 1 . 8Shutter Speed: 1 / 4 7 0 0 s ecFocal Length: 4 . 4 4 mmISO: 5 8


MASTERCRAFTSMAN

g What sparked your interest in photography and did you have any formal training to learn this art form?

I have a pas s ion to travel and ex pl ore new c u l tu res and traditions . I am al s o a trained environmental is t and hu manitarian w ork er; therefore, I am c l os el y as s oc iated w ith natu re and peopl e. O ver the years I have ex perienc ed s ome amazing c u l tu ral prac tic es and met s ome ordinary peopl e w ith their ex tra- ordinary l ife s tories . I fel t the u rge to doc u ment thos e s tories and thou ght that photography w ou l d be a perfec t vis u al art form for this . It has been more than a dec ade s inc e I have been prac tis ing photography and I never real is ed w hen photography tu rned into my identity.

I c ons ider mys el f as a s el f-tau ght photographer. I prac tis ed photography w ith al l my heart and s ou l and I bou ght many book s and onl ine tu torial s to train mys el f. I s pent


T ania C hatterj ee is a photographer, travel l er, bl ogger and edu c ator bas ed in K ol k ata, India. A fter c ompl eting her mas ters in environment management, s he s tarted her c areer as a hu manitarian profes s ional . Sinc e 2 0 1 0 s he has been prac tis ing photography as her fu l l time profes s ion. She is fou nder and c hief mentor of F O T O R B IT Pvt. L td. ( w w w . fotorbit. c om) , a c ompany dedic ated to promote photography as a vis u al art form. She c ondu c ts national and international photography tou rs and w ork s hops in India and abroad. T ania’ s photos have been w idel y pu bl is hed and ex hibited arou nd the w orl d, al ong w ith nu merou s aw ards .

TaniaChatterjee

Hitting The

Trail A s T ol d to Sweta Baruah


MASTERCRAFTSMAN

a good amou nt of time obs erving and anal ys ing images ( in variou s book s /magazines / different s oc ial media pl atforms ) of mas ter photographers . M eanw hil e, I rec eived aw ards and ac c ol ades w hic h motivated and pu s hed me to w ork harder.

g Your work takes you to a lot of new places. How do you choose your next destination and how do you plan your trips?

Sel ec ting my nex t des tination invol ves variou s fac tors . I al w ays l ook for an interes ting event in India to doc u ment and fes tival s are the bes t pl ac e to c aptu re peopl e and their c u l tu re. E very year, bas ed on my finances, I strive to travel to a new c ou ntry; the c ou ntry is dec ided bas ed on variou s el ements l ik e his tory, arc hitec tu re, peopl e, c u l tu re or some distinct features. I finalise a trip bas ed on s ome prac tic al fac tors l ik e s afety, l ength of s tay, dis tanc e

from home, arrangement of finances, adj u s tment w ith famil y c ommitments and many more.

I l ove to res earc h regarding my nex t des tination; it is an es s ential part of my pl anning. R es earc h hel ps me to identify proper gears to s hoot and pl an my s c hedu l e. N ex t important part of pl anning is l ogis tic s arrangements l ik e hotel s , travel s etc . If it is an international des tination, l ogis tic s arrangement c an be ex hau s ting and overw hel ming, starting from booking of flight tic k ets and hotel , vis a appl ic ation, bu ying travel ins u ranc e, c u rrenc y c onvers ion, vac c ination c hec k and many more. L as t bu t not l eas t I do s ome s inc ere homew ork w hil e pac k ing my bag. N o matter w hether it is a s hort or l ong trip, s u c c es s of a trip mos tl y depends on res earc hing abou t the des tination, good pl anning and pre- vis u al is ing c reative c onc epts .

g You have recently worked with NatGeo and Vivo India. What can you tell us about your experience?

I travel l ed to the vibrant and c ol ou rfu l K u tc h, du ring the R ann U ts av to do an as s ignment w ith N ational G eographic T ravel l er and V ivo India. R ann of K u tc h provides great photographic opportu nity es pec ial l y for travel photographers .

B eing a photographer I am u s ed to s taying behind the c amera. B u t this as s ignment w as different; it w as abou t repres enting R ann of K u tc h throu gh the eyes of a photographer. I pl ayed the rol e of protagonis t in that as s ignment; and a team of videographers w ere bu s y s hooting me. C oming in front of the c amera w as interes ting, as w el l as c hal l enging.

I have al w ays given priority to s hooting w ith D - SL R c ameras


rather than mobil e c ameras . In this partic u l ar as s ignment, I had to s hoot onl y w ith the mobil e c amera. I w as c omfortabl e u s ing mobil e c amera bu t not having a D - SL R c amera al together w as mak ing me c ons c iou s . T his ex perienc e w as a total reinc arnation of the mobil e photographer w ithin me.

D u ring my s hoot w ith N ational G eographic and V ivo I had the opportu nity to ex perienc e the l ives of the nomadic c ommu nities l iving in the R ann of K u tc h. L ife is hard and monotonou s w ith s tretc hes of barren

l and and s al t pan, bu t the peopl e have added c ol ou r throu gh their traditional dres s es , ac c es s ories and dec orative hou s es . O veral l , it w as a memorabl e ex perienc e.

g Since you are a travel and documentary photographer, how would you say this genre of photography is different from other genres?

A s a travel photographer, I don’ t have the l u x u ry to c ontrol l ight, movement of peopl e, their moods , bac k grou nd and many other things . If I am on a day tou r and after arriving at my

des tination, real is e that it has poor l ight, I have to mak e it w ork ; travel photographers do not have the s c ope to rec reate the s ettings . I often have l imited time in the pl ac es I vis it; I have to s hoot regardl es s of the w eather c ondition. I have travel l ed hu ndreds of k il ometres to doc u ment a partic u l ar tribal c ommu nity and u pon arrival , real is ed that peopl e don’ t w ant to be photographed. A s a peopl e photographer, things become even more difficult when you don’ t s peak the c ommon l angu age. O riginal ity of c onc ept and c andidnes s of a s hot is another big c hal l enge. A l l


MASTERCRAFTSMAN

thes e u nc ertainties and c hal l enges mak e this interes ting.

g As a woman in photography, would you say your journey has been different as compared to other photographers? How so?

E veryone’ s j ou rney is different, s o is mine. In my j ou rney as a w oman travel photographer, I have ex perienc ed both rew ards and c hal l enges . B eing a w oman, I al w ays fel t that my ac c eptanc e is more in c ommu nities w ith ol der peopl e, w omen and c hil dren. Proper c ommu nic ation s k il l s and abil ity

to mak e peopl e feel c omfortabl e in front of the c amera, hel ps to bu il d l iais on. T his is an important s k il l that you l earn over the years as a peopl e photographer. I feel a s ens e of res pons ibil ity to enc ou rage more w omen as a travel photographer.

Pers onal s afety is al w ays a big c onc ern. I al w ays have to remain c ons c iou s and tak e s ome ex tra prec au tions w hil e s hooting pu bl ic events w ith mas s gatherings . O ver the years , I have l earnt to deal w ith s ome “ u npl eas ant s itu ations ” . B u t s til l , as a w oman, I al w ays need to

anal ys e, w hether, tak ing c ertain travel ris k s are w orth or not.

g Every photographer has a different style. How would you describe your style of photography?

M y s tyl e of photography invol ves c l os e engagement w ith my s u bj ec ts w ithin their natu ral s ettings . I al w ays as pire to c aptu re the s pirit of hu man effort to overc ome the vagaries of l ife. M y s tyl e is not j u s t c l ic k ing a pic tu re, for me it is far more important to k now and u nders tand the pers on and be s ens itive abou t


his / her c u l tu re and environment. T here are ins tanc es w here it took me s everal hou rs to “ break the ic e” before I could click my first picture. T here have been ins tanc es w here I w as s o moved by the s tory that I even forgot to c l ic k a pic tu re.

Photography has ex pos ed me to the beau ty and ric hnes s of hu man divers ity. It has tau ght me to be s ens itive and res pec tfu l tow ards divers e c u l tu res . W ith every pic tu re, I have l earnt to be patient and try again; over the years I have l earnt that photography is a mediu m to tel l s tories of peopl e and s oc iety to others . C aptu ring s tories w ith the right emotion satisfies my creative s ou l . I gu es s my images repres ent my vis ion and my bel ief tow ards peopl e and s oc iety.

g Who are the photographers that inspire you and who do

you follow?

L egendary photographers l ik e H enri C artan B res s on, R aghu R ai, Steve M c C u rry, R aghu bir Singh, A l ex W ebb, Sebas tiao Sal gado, J immy N el s on are my al l - time favou rites . B u t it is not j u s t the l egends that ins pire me; I even derive ins piration from you ng “ u nk now n“ photographers . F or me, ins piration is photographs that s tir you to l earn and do better.

g What is the best piece of advice you have ever received in photography?

I have l earnt that to be a profes s ional photographer, tak ing good images is just one part, it is significantly important that you r images reac h more and more peopl e. It is therefore important to have the right netw ork w ith peopl e and organis ations s o that you r images get a w ider reac h.

g Any tips or advice you’d like to give to our readers?

A s a travel photographer my

s u gges tion to readers is not to ru s h to take the picture, but first get a feel of the pl ac e, k now abou t the peopl e and their c u l tu re and its as s oc iated emotions ; train you r thou ghts to c onvert the feel ing into an image and then tak e a pic tu re. T reat the l oc al peopl e w ith fu l l dignity and empathy; it is far more important to be hu mane. It is not j u s t the image that you are tak ing; res pec t the photograph as it has the s pirit of the pers on and the pl ac e.

A l s o, never be afraid to mak e mis tak es in photography as

l earning and u nl earning the mis tak es are j u s t part of the j ou rney. Prac tis e is the onl y w ay to train you r mind and eyes, there is no quick fix tec hniq u e of improvement. Show c as e you r images in s ome good s oc ial media pl atforms ; bec au s e you never k now w hat opportu nities may aris e as you r image gets c irc u l ated far and w ide. | SP


MASTERCRAFTSMAN

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‘How do you s ol ve a probl em l ik e M aria? ’ mark ed J u l ie A ndrew s ’ first appearance on screen in The

ound of usic. he ran about the verdant hills around alzburg. he mouthed the innocent lyrics as she cuddled a lamb. And I fell in love with her.

After many a soulful song and much drama, the movie ended. ith the von Trapp family managing a narrow escape from the azis.

y then, I had fallen in love with alzburg. That it was also the birthplace of ozart struck me later.

ver since, I had a strong desire to visit alzburg.

I extended my zech Republic trip. And chose to visit ienna and udapest. rom

ienna, a day trip to alzburg was always on.

As I boarded an train from ienna, a few scenes from The ound of usic replayed in my mind. The baroque city centre, the invincible looking ohensalzburg

ortress, and the meandering River alzach. And of course, the cemetery crypt where the von Trapps hid before their escape.

U has inscribed the city centre and the ohensalzburg fortress together as a

orld eritage ite. I saw it all.

Join me in this pictorial journey and enjoy alzburg. |SP

A colourful building near alzburg station.

POSTCARDS FROM SALZBURG

Ajay Sood (Travelure)OSM (Outlook Social Media) Shutterbug of the Year 2016

· hotoblogger of the ear ujarat Tourism I IT

· ro Travel hotographer. hoto Jurist. hoto ducator.

SPEAKER Architectural Travel hotography

· T urope tockholm

· T Asia anila

· T International Jerusalem

· T orth America untsville, A

· T urope strava, zech RepublicWINNER:

· India s iggest logging ontest ox Kings rab our ream eason

· ational eographic Traveller s et utThere hoto ssay ontest

Web: http://travelu.re

PHOTO FEATURE


Impressive bastions of the ohensalzburg ortress. It was the seat of Archbishop who ruled the region as a apal representative.

alzburg oat of Arms on display in ohensalzburg ortress. avalry ceremonial regalia from medieval times, on display in the fortress museum.


The main courtyard of the ohensalzburg

ortress.

as relief of eonhard von Keutschach, the

archbishop of alzburg in ohensalzburg ortress. e is said

to have been the last medieval ruler of the city.

An ancient cannon on dis pl ay ins ide the fortress.

PHOTO FEATURE


cale model of the ohensalzburg ortress.

Inside the t. oerge s hapel, ohensalzburg ortress.


POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDSouncil hurch is located just

across the street from the ozart af . The church is

distinctive courtesy its twin clock towers.

PHOTO FEATURE


POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS POSTCARDS

hapel of the cemetery of t. eter s Abbey.


t eter s hurch, alzburg.

PHOTO FEATURE


emetery of t. eters Abbey and ranciscan hurch. ohensalzburg ortress is perched on the hilltop in the background. A huge chess board and other amusement installations in alzburg city centre.

alzburg athedral.


Karajan quare and orse ash. In th century, the parade horses from the prince archbishops stables used to be washed off and groomed here.

The birthplace of ozart is now marked by a theme caf . It is dedicated to his music with its ceiling decorated with musical score of ozart s compositions.

An upmarket caf near the t eter s hurch and Abbey in alzburg.

PHOTO FEATURE


Let’s De-Noise a Noisy Photo

www.smartphotography.inwww.smartphotography.in July 2020 | Smart Photography | 61 60 | Smart Photography | July 2020

LEARNING

Rohinton Mehta

W hat ex ac tl y is ‘ nois e’ ?N ois e or digital nois e as w e often c al l it, is a type of dis tortion that l ook s s imil ar to w hat ‘ grain’ w as / is w ith fil ms . T here are s everal types of nois e, bu t to k eep things s impl e, w e s hal l mention onl y ‘ l u minanc e’ ( brightnes s ) nois e and ‘ c hroma’ ( c ol ou r) nois e.

O u r photos c an be nois y du e to s everal reas ons . Some reas ons are:1 . U s ing high ISO s ens itivity2 . U nderex pos ing the photos and then

trying to get detail in dark areas by ‘ opening u p’ the brightnes s in an image editing program

3 . U s ing a w arm/ hot imaging s ens or ( s u c h as w hil e u s ing the c amera in an overl y w arm environment)

4 . U s ing very l ong ex pos u res ( this heats u p the imaging s ens or)

5 . T rying to enl arge a very s mal l portion of the image

T here are s everal w ays to mitigate ( redu c e) nois e in pos t- proc es s ing. F or this w rite- u p, w e s hal l u s e top- notc h s oftw are from T opaz L abs , c al l ed D eN ois e A I. A I s tands for A rtific ial Intel l igenc e.W hy are w e going to u s e T opaz D eN ois e A I and not any other denois ing s oftw are? Simpl e. I ow n a c opy of T opaz D eN ois e, w hic h I find immens el y good. A l s o, thou gh there are s everal other good nois e- redu c tion s oftw are avail abl e, I haven’ t u s ed them al l .

In the pas t, I had never u s ed ISO s ens itivity higher than ISO 5 0 0 0 . T he firs t time I u s ed ISO 5 0 0 0 w as du ring a trip

to C orbett N ational Park in 2 0 1 7 . A t that time I w as u s ing an A PS- C c amera body ( N ik on D 5 0 0 ) . L ight l evel s w ere q u ite l ow and I w as hes itant abou t u s ing high ISO s , bu t had no c hoic e.

A t that time I u s ed a l ow er vers ion of T opaz D eN ois e and w as real l y s u rpris ed at the res u l ts . Y es , nois e w as evident even after u s ing the s oftw are, bu t it w as ac c eptabl e.

D u ring F ebru ary end 2 0 2 0 , I vis ited one of my mos t favou rite ‘ heaven’ for photographers – U ttarak hand. A rou nd the end of the 1 3 - day trip, w e had a c hanc e to vis it R aj aj i N ational Park at D ehradu n. T he w eather w as du l l and it rained q u ite often. I w as u s ing my 8 0 - 4 0 0 mm l ens on my N ik on D 5 0 0 , w hic h gave me an eq u ival ent of 6 0 0 mm at the far

end of the l ens . I needed s hots at high s hu tter s peeds to avoid fu zzines s du e to my hand movement, vehic l e movement, as w el l as s u bj ec t movement. A t the s ame time I did not w ant to u s e the l ens w ide open at f/ 5 . 6 . I s et my D 5 0 0 to Auto ISO, apertu re to f/ 6 . 3 and the s hu tter s peed to 1 / 1 2 5 0 . L ight being q u ite l ow , the c amera s el ec ted ISO 1 6 1 2 7 ( as s een in the E X IF data) . I w as petrified; I had never u s ed s u c h a high ISO before! B u t I had no c hoic e.

B ac k home I l oaded the images in Photos hop and dec ided to u s e DeNoise AI as a pl u g- in to Photos hop. Topaz recommends that denoising should be done at the beginning of the workflow. H ere is my w ork fl ow :

I opened my N E F ( R aw ) fil e in A C R and adj u s ted the W hite B al anc e to my l ik ing and appl ied L ens C orrec tions . A fter a q u ic k c hec k for ‘ du s t bu nnies ’ , I c l ic k ed on the Save Image tab on the l eft bottom c orner and w hen a new menu opened, I s aved the image as a . dng fil e.

Why a .dng file?T he idea is to w ork on the R aw fil e as s u gges ted by the s oftw are manu fac tu rer. N ote al s o that the pl u g- in is avail abl e in Photos hop, u nder the F il ters menu . If you

ex port the R aw fil e to Photos hop w ithou t c onverting it to a D N G fil e, it is no l onger a R aw fil e! ( Prints c reens 1 and 2 ) .

T he nex t s tep w as to open the new l y

c reated . dng fil e by dou bl e c l ic k ing on it. It w il l open in A dobe C amera R aw ( A C R ) . Simpl y c l ic k on the Open Image bu tton ( do not w ork on this fil e in A C R ) . T he pic tu re w il l now open in Photos hop.

Printscreen 1

Printscreen 2

Final picture 60

Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades and has ex tens ive ex perienc e in both film and digital photography. B eing an electronics engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. e has published more than a articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the wellknown international magazine Popular Photography.

An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography through teaching and writing. e is the only Indian photographer to be featured on the ikon entenary website. e is presently working as a anagement and

ngineering consutant. e can be reached at [email protected].

Setting up a Home Studio

Ashok Kandimalla

www.smartphotography.inwww.smartphotography.in July 2020 | Smart Photography | 53 52 | Smart Photography | July 2020

LEARNING

Stuck at home Though unwelcome, we may have to face it, be it due to inclement weather or something more

calamitous like what happened recently. hotographers do get frustrated in times

like this, but you can do a lot if you have a small studio at home. ot only will that keep you occupied, but it will also help you to hone your skills as photographing under controlled conditions is the best way to learn how light behaves.

ontrary to what you think, a small home studio will not cost much and more importantly will not occupy a great deal of the most important resource in a home, viz. space. This article has been written assuming that you will not need a separate room for your studio. The idea here is to give you an economical solution suitable for tabletop products though it can be

extended to other types of subjects like food and portraits. etting up one is the subject of this article.

o, let us see what you need to create a home studio.

Lights The amount of light inside a home will not be sufficient and hence you will need some sort of artificial lighting for most creative work. There are two main types of lights strobes or flashes and continuous lights. The former is popular with professionals. Unlike strobes, which give a pulse of light, continuous lights allow you to check the shadows and highlights properly and hence are easier to use. This feature is important, especially if you are getting started with tabletop photography. Usually, these are cheaper too. An added advantage

is that being continuous, these can also be used for home videography. ince our idea here is to create a simple, low cost, easy to use setup we will discuss only the latter. There are two types of continuous lights you can buy. et s look at these in more detail.

• LED Household lamps: These are ubiquitous and are available at every electrical shop. They don t get hot and importantly, won t drive your electricity bill through the roof. The light emitted is at a colour temperature of K approximately . ost cameras can set

the fairly accurately even in Auto mode for this colour temperature.

They are economical to buy as well as to operate and hence are ideal for a home studio. The main disadvantage with these is that, you do not have control to change the intensity of the light.

hen you buy any bulb, you need to fix it to a socket to operate it. hile you can buy a low cost, multi position or a gooseneck table lamp from electric shops to fix the bulb, better solutions are available. ou can get low cost bulb holders ictures and that can be fixed to a standard light stand. ou can also get holders which take two bulbs at a time. onsider these if you want more light which is needed if you want to photograph larger subjects like people. All these holders also have a socket hole to keep a light modifier like an umbrella more of this later, icture . owever,

you will not be able to use other types of modifiers like softboxes and snoots.

• LED Array lights: These are rectangular icture or circular

icture with an array of beads. These are more expensive compared to household bulbs but have better colour accuracy. They also give you more control over lighting as they are equipped with a dimmer. A majority of arrays, unlike

household bulbs, operate on battery power. If you want to avoid the use of batteries, make sure the model you buy is supplied with a proper battery eliminator.Rectangular arrays can be made very large with several hundred beads.

ost come equipped with barn doors to prevent light spill. Usually, a few colour filters and a diffuser are included as a part of the kit. The limitation with these

is that, as with bulbs, umbrellas are the only light modifiers that can be used.

hile not as popular as the rectangular arrays, circular ones have a mount analogous to a lens mount that accepts

several types of light modifiers. Just as

each manufacturer has its proprietary lens mount, light modifiers do not fit across brands. In our country, linchrom is a popular brand for strobes and they have several light modifiers available.

any third party vendors also make compatible ones. Thus, you can have a wide choice like snoots, soft boxes, beauty dishes, etc. available. All these will fit if the light s mount is compatible

icture .

ight arrays usually have a built in socket that can be used to fix them to a light stand icture . An umbrella socket is also provided. ome arrays, however, usually rectangular type, come with a shoe similar to that of a portable flash . If your unit is so equipped, you need to use an umbrella adapter icture to fix it on a light stand. These are freely available. As the name indicates, you can fit an umbrella to this.

ow to know how bright these lights are The light intensity of all light sources is specified in umens. It is difficult for most of us to understand what this means. o, do this simple test. As a thumb rule, an bulb should give you

lumens per watt. ased on this a att household bulb gives out around

lumens. ince you will be having

Picture 1: Two views of a bulb holder that can be

fixed to a light stand. An umbrella can

be fitted to this via the provided socket

see arrow .

Picture 2: A household bulb attached to a holder that has a swivelling joint see arrow to help position the bulb.

Picture 3: A rectangular array shown with barn doors open. Also shown not to scale is an umbrella

adapter needed for some units.

Picture 4: A circular array. This unit has a mount blue arrow that is compatible with linchrom light modifiers. Umbrellas can also be attached. There is also a socket red arrow for fixing to a light stand

52

Magnifi cation Ratios

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Life Size or 1:1 or 1X

Half Size or 1:2 or 0.5X

Double Size 2:1 or 2X

Magnification (/Reproduction Ratio)Actual Sub Size Image size on Sensor

Reproduction Ratio & Magnification

DX format

FX format

36 mm

24 mm

24 mm

16 mm

Magnification does not depend on sensor size! Larger formats capture more of surrounding area

Magnification at larger distances

All lenses of the same focal length have the same magnification at a given distance (regardless of the format)!

200cm(Actual Size)

Magnification Ratio is very small! It is 0.005 or 1:200

1cm (Size on sensor)

5000m(Actual Size)

Magnification Ratio neglible - 1:500,000 or 0.000002



LEARNING

Rohinton Mehta

W hat ex ac tl y does ‘ magnific ation ratio’ mean?M agnific ation ratio is a c omparis on betw een the s ize of a s u bj ec t and the s ize of its image on the c amera’ s imaging s ens or. W hen w e tal k of magnific ation ratios , the term is general l y as s oc iated w ith photographing s mal l s u bj ec ts .

F or the s ak e of a dis c u s s ion, l et’ s c ons ider an obj ec t that is , s ay, 2 0 0 c m ( 2 metres ) l ong and its image on the c amera s ens or is , s ay, 1 c m. T he magnific ation is 1 : 2 0 0 or 0 . 0 0 5 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is 2 0 0 times s mal l er than the ac tu al obj ec t.

L et’ s now c ons ider a mou ntain, w hic h is , s ay, 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 c m ( 5 0 0 0 metres ) in height and the image on the c amera s ens or is , s ay, 1 c m. T he magnific ation in this c as e w il l be 1 : 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 or 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 2 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 times s mal l er than the ac tu al mou ntain.

N otic e that even thou gh the image on the s ens or is s mal l er than in real ity, in photographic parl anc e w e s til l c al l it magnific ation! N ow l et’ s dis c u s s how magnific ation ratios rel ate to mac ro s u bj ec ts .

If you are photographing a s u bj ec t that is 1 c m l ong and the image on the c amera s ens or is al s o 1 c m, then the

1 : 1

1 x

1 : 2

0 . 5 x

1 : 3

0 . 3 3 x

1 : 4

0 . 2 5 x

1 : 5

0 . 2 0 x

1 : 6

0 . 1 6 7 x

1 : 7

0 . 1 4 3 x

1 : 8

0 . 1 2 5 x

1 : 9

0 . 1 1 1 x

1 : 1 0

0 . 1 x

2 : 1

2 x

4 : 1

4 x

MAGNIFICATION RATIOS

magnific ation is 1 : 1 . In other w ords , the s u bj ec t and its image are identic al in s ize.

If you are photographing a s u bj ec t that is 1 c m l ong and the image on the c amera s ens or is 1 / 2 c m, then the magnific ation is 1 : 2 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is hal f the s ize of the original .

Simil arl y, if the s u bj ec t is 1 c m and the image is 1 / 4 c m, the magnific ation ratio

is 1 : 4 ( image on the s ens or is fou r times s mal l er than the original s u bj ec t) .

B u t w hat if the image on the s ens or is l arger than the s u bj ec t? L et’ s tak e an ex ampl e. T he s u bj ec t, l et u s s ay, is 1 / 2 c m, bu t the image on the s ens or is 1 c m. In this c as e, the magnific ation is 2 : 1 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is tw ic e the s ize of the original s u bj ec t. |SP

58

LEARNINGS

Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades and has ex tens ive ex perienc e in both film and digital photography. B eing an electronics engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. e has published more than a articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the wellknown international magazine Popular Photography.

An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography through teaching and writing. e is the only Indian photographer to be featured on the ikon entenary website. e is presently working as a anagement and

ngineering consutant. e can be reached at [email protected].

Setting up a Home Studio

Ashok Kandimalla


LEARNING

Stuck at home Though unwelcome, we may have to face it, be it due to inclement weather or something more

calamitous like what happened recently. hotographers do get frustrated in times

like this, but you can do a lot if you have a small studio at home. ot only will that keep you occupied, but it will also help you to hone your skills as photographing under controlled conditions is the best way to learn how light behaves.

ontrary to what you think, a small home studio will not cost much and more importantly will not occupy a great deal of the most important resource in a home, viz. space. This article has been written assuming that you will not need a separate room for your studio. The idea here is to give you an economical solution suitable for tabletop products though it can be

extended to other types of subjects like food and portraits. etting up one is the subject of this article.

o, let us see what you need to create a home studio.

Lights The amount of light inside a home will not be sufficient and hence you will need some sort of artificial lighting for most creative work. There are two main types of lights strobes or flashes and continuous lights. The former is popular with professionals. Unlike strobes, which give a pulse of light, continuous lights allow you to check the shadows and highlights properly and hence are easier to use. This feature is important, especially if you are getting started with tabletop photography. Usually, these are cheaper too. An added advantage

Picture 1: Two views of a bulb holder that can be

fixed to a light stand. An umbrella can

be fitted to this via the provided socket

see arrow .

Picture 2: A household bulb attached to a holder that has a swivelling joint see arrow to help position the bulb.


is that being continuous, these can also be used for home videography. ince our idea here is to create a simple, low cost, easy to use setup we will discuss only the latter. There are two types of continuous lights you can buy. et s look at these in more detail.

• LED Household lamps: These are ubiquitous and are available at every electrical shop. They don t get hot and importantly, won t drive your electricity bill through the roof. The light emitted is at a colour temperature of K approximately . ost cameras can set

the fairly accurately even in Auto mode for this colour temperature.

They are economical to buy as well as to operate and hence are ideal for a home studio. The main disadvantage with these is that, you do not have control to change the intensity of the light.

hen you buy any bulb, you need to fix it to a socket to operate it. hile you can buy a low cost, multi position or a gooseneck table lamp from electric shops to fix the bulb, better solutions are available. ou can get low cost bulb holders ictures and that can be fixed to a standard light stand. ou can also get holders which take two bulbs at a time. onsider these if you want more light which is needed if you want to photograph larger subjects like people. All these holders also have a socket hole to keep a light modifier like an umbrella more of this later, icture . owever,

you will not be able to use other types of modifiers like softboxes and snoots.

• LED Array lights: These are rectangular icture or circular

icture with an array of beads. These are more expensive compared to household bulbs but have better colour accuracy. They also give you more control over lighting as they are equipped with a dimmer. A majority of arrays, unlike

household bulbs, operate on battery power. If you want to avoid the use of batteries, make sure the model you buy is supplied with a proper battery eliminator.Rectangular arrays can be made very large with several hundred beads.

ost come equipped with barn doors to prevent light spill. Usually, a few colour filters and a diffuser are included as a part of the kit. The limitation with these

is that, as with bulbs, umbrellas are the only light modifiers that can be used.

hile not as popular as the rectangular arrays, circular ones have a mount analogous to a lens mount that accepts

several types of light modifiers. Just as

each manufacturer has its proprietary lens mount, light modifiers do not fit across brands. In our country, linchrom is a popular brand for strobes and they have several light modifiers available.

any third party vendors also make compatible ones. Thus, you can have a wide choice like snoots, soft boxes, beauty dishes, etc. available. All these will fit if the light s mount is compatible

icture .

ight arrays usually have a built in socket that can be used to fix them to a light stand icture . An umbrella socket is also provided. ome arrays, however, usually rectangular type, come with a shoe similar to that of a portable flash . If your unit is so equipped, you need to use an umbrella adapter icture to fix it on a light stand. These are freely available. As the name indicates, you can fit an umbrella to this.

ow to know how bright these lights are The light intensity of all light sources is specified in umens. It is difficult for most of us to understand what this means. o, do this simple test. As a thumb rule, an bulb should give you

lumens per watt. ased on this a att household bulb gives out around

lumens. ince you will be having

Picture 3: A rectangular array shown with barn doors open. Also shown not to scale is an umbrella

adapter needed for some units.

Picture 4: A circular array. This unit has a mount blue arrow that is compatible with linchrom light modifiers. Umbrellas can also be attached. There is also a socket red arrow for fixing to a light stand


LEARNING

cumbersome to set up and store.A reflector, as the name indicates, reflects light to fill shadows and is a must have accessory. In many cases, you can use only one light plus a reflector and still take wonderful images. Among the best, cheapest and easily available reflectors are sheets of thin tyrofoam boards. These give nice diffused reflections. If you want a somewhat more concentrated opposite of diffused light called

specular light then an aluminium foil that is used to wrap food products is ideal. irst, crumple a piece of foil and then flatten it out. This will crinkle the foil and will make it an excellent reflector.

ou can fix one of these on one side of the tyrofoam sheet. ith this, you will have two types of reflectors in one piece, diffused and specular, one on either side.

Instead of improvising as described, you can purchase a reflector set icture

of about or cm diameter in size due to their low cost and hasslefree operation. These are available as a set of items, viz, diffuser plus white, black, silver and gold reflectors. ou can fold them and store them away easily. A white reflector gives diffused light whereas silver and gold reflectors give less diffused and more specular light. The latter also gives a warm tint and is popular with fashion photographers.

lack matt chart paper is also useful for deepening shadows. That is, it produces the opposite effect of a reflector. ieces cut from black paper can also be used to prevent the spill of light. hen thus used, they are called gobos or cutters.

an bulb with a known wattage and hence lumens at home, you can keep an object in front, say at a metre distance and measure the light with your camera to get an idea. ou can use this value as a basis when comparing different light sources .

ne question that might come to your mind is the number of lights you want to buy. hile complex lighting may require many lights, I suggest that you start with two. ore can be added once you master using these two. Too many lights to start with can quickly lead to frustration. I even recommend that you use just one and a reflector if you are starting for the first time.

Light stands nce you have a light, you need

something to hold it in position. The simplest and the cheapest item that does the job is the light stand. These have telescoping sections like a tripod to adjust the height of the light. The base of a light stand has three legs for support and these can be folded for storage. All light stands have inch stud on top icture and this is a universal standard. All lights and bulb holders have a socket with a screw which slips into this stud. nce the screw is tightened the light will be fixed firmly icture .

ig mo ifi s The camera body is the most important element in your kit but by itself, it can t do much unless you attach a lens. The same is the case with your lights. hile they can be used as it is, the quality of light will be poor due to the hard and unpleasant shadows they cast. This can be overcome by using light modifiers. The simplest and easiest to use light modifier is the umbrella icture which is an excellent diffuser that gives soft, pleasing light. It can also be used with all the lights described so far. any types and sizes are available but I suggest you stick to the shoot through type of

cm or cm in size. The latter will be more manageable if you have a small residence. The best part of an umbrella is that it can be folded and thus takes only minimum space when stored.

ith circular lights you can also consider using softboxes of up to

cm size. These are also excellent diffusers with minimal light spill but are

Picture 5: A light stand with the inset showing the stud. The legs can be folded for storage.

Picture 6: An umbrella fitted to an bulb holder on a light stand. ee also icture .


Tripod hile this is not

a lighting related ac c es s ory, it is perhaps more important than anything else for a home studio or in general, for photography. As mentioned earlier, the light level will be low and you will not be able to get a good exposure with sufficient depth of field unless you use slow shutter speeds. These conditions will necessitate the use of a tripod. Increasing I is not a solution here, as the values needed, will surely degrade image quality. Apart from that when you are photographing in a studio environment everything is supposed to be under your control and hence there is no scope for any error. A photograph taken out in the field could have a small flaw which can be explained as nature not cooperating with you but in a studio,

you will have no such excuse. ence, a tripod is a must as it will slow you down, allow you to compose carefully, and help you check for shadow highlight details precisely.

If you have a spare tripod lying around idle, you can repurpose it as a light stand in a pinch by fixing an inexpensive

adapter also called a spigot or bush, icture to the standard screw of

the tripod. The adapter is dimensionally similar to the stud of a light stand and thus effectively converts the tripod into a light stand. owever, think of this only a temporary measure as a light stand is much easier to use.

Black Glass Plate A black glass plate is a useful low cost item that helps you to take nice product pictures icture . These are available in most hardware shops that sell glass for windows . Use one that is at least

mm thick as it needs to carry the weight of the product. A black acrylic sheet can be used as an alternative. imply place the plate on a table and the product on top of it and photograph. Just make sure that the glass is clean as otherwise, dust particles will show up in your photograph.

Grey Card Another low cost item yet immensely useful for all types of photography, is the grey card. uy one which is printed with reflectivity. uch a card will be useful for setting both the white balance and exposure accurately.

Light Tent A light tent icture is a rectangular box with translucent material on all sides. ome of the sides have openings ports that can be closed or opened

using zips or elcro. These ports when opened up allow you to photograph the product inside the tent. ince all the sides are made of translucent material, the light from even a bare bulb will get diffused nicely and will wrap around the subject causing a soft shadow. These are foldable, portable and can be set up in minutes. ight tents are inexpensive they cost a few thousand rupees at the

most, depending on the size and are a worthwhile accessory to have if you are interested in tabletop photography. They are especially useful if you want to take several photographs with the same lighting of different items of roughly the same size quickly. uch a need may arise, for example, when you want to take photographs for a catalog

Picture 7: A in reflector set.

Picture 9: A photograph created using a glass plate.

Picture 8: A tripod with its ball head fitted with an adapter shown enlarged in the

inset . This can be screwed to the screw that every tripod has, to convert it into a light stand.


LEARNING

of products like figurines, toys, etc. of similar size. ight tents are great for food photography too. The only disadvantage is that they are of fixed size and this puts a limit on the size of the product that you can keep inside and photograph.

Backdrops In the simplest form they are of a uniform colour like black or blue. ore attractive ones are painted on acrylic or canvas.

owever, the styles, that is patterns used for each genre like portraits or still life or food are different. hat you need is your personal choice. ou can start with buying one which you feel will be most useful and add more types in due course.

ackdrops need stands to hold them but you should be able to manage with some good quality tape and clips.

Miscellaneous Items A studio will have an endless list of minor items. owever, many of them are simple and are commonly available household items. A partial list is icture

chart paper of different colours, a

Picture 10: A light tent with the front port open and a product inside. A homemade reflector made with a crinkled aluminium wrap is also shown.

Picture 11: iscellaneous Items.


pair of scissors, a hobbyist cutting knife, cello tape with dispenser, forceps, tack, paper binding clips, butter tracing paper, clothes clips, wooden blocks for positioning and propping subjects, etc. one of these are expensive. or is there a need to acquire them all at onc e. A s you k eep tak ing photographs in your home studio, you will quickly come to know what items are needed and you can acquire them progressively.

lus, you can also improvise quite a few things. elieve me, that is fun too It is, however, important to keep all these items together in a box and maintain some discipline in storing them don t throw them all over so that you can find what you want when you need it.

Photo Table hile not a must, a useful item you can

have for a home studio is a table to keep your subjects mostly products while you are photographing them. hile any table can be used, you can use a purposebuilt one called a hoto Table icture

, also known as ight Table or till life table . ompared to a conventional

table, a photo table gives you flexibility in lighting a product. A photo table looks like a chair with the seat removed It allows a seamless backdrop like a laminate to be placed on top. ou can also substitute the laminate with a sheet of translucent material erspex or acrylic in case you want to light your product from behind or underneath as you would do for photographing glassware, for example. imilar lighting is also used for creating shadow less lighting for product shots or for producing gradients

icture . Readymade photo tables are available in the market. These cost several thousand Rs. upwards Rupees. ou can buy one if you need the type of lighting this gadget provides. These can also be disassembled and sheet rolled up for storage.

List of itemsThese are shown in Table above .

Tip tudio photography needs a lot of

help for positioning things, adjusting lights, holding reflectors, diffusers, etc.

onsequently, it will be useful to have a likeminded friend to help you when you are photographing in a studio. lus, you and your friend can also share the burden of purchases. or example, if you are planning to have two sets of lights for your studio maybe you and your friend can purchase one each to lessen the financial burden. |SP

TABLE 1ITEM QUANTITY

bulbs with a holder or Array light

ight stand

Umbrella

Reflector set

Tripod

lack glass plate

rey card

Umbrella adapter optional

ight tent optional

ackdrop optional

hoto table optional

All t

ext,

diag

ram

s an

d im

ages

© A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

CONCLUSIONAs you have read, a home studio does not need a huge budget. Once set up, it will give you endless hours of photographic pleasure and fun. It will also throw a few challenges at you when you photograph! Overcoming them will help you to understand the behaviour of light and the need and means of controlling it like nothing else. This has a direct benefit as it will make you strive for perfection, something that will help you to become a better photographer.

Picture 12: A typical hoto Table. ote how the translucent sheet forms a continuous sweep. This gives a seamless background. ou can also easily light subjects from behind. This is a floor standing unit.

Picture 13: A glassware photograph created with a product table using a translucent sheet. ote the gradient.

Magnification Ratios

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Grap

hic

by A

shok

Kan

dim

alla

Life Size or 1:1 or 1X

Half Size or 1:2 or 0.5X

Double Size 2:1 or 2X

Magnification (/Reproduction Ratio)Actual Sub Size Image size on Sensor

Reproduction Ratio & Magnification

DX format

FX format

36 mm

24 mm

24 mm

16 mm

Magnification does not depend on sensor size! Larger formats capture more of surrounding area

Magnification at larger distances

All lenses of the same focal length have the same magnification at a given distance (regardless of the format)!

200cm(Actual Size)

Magnification Ratio is very small! It is 0.005 or 1:200


5000m(Actual Size)

Magnification Ratio neglible - 1:500,000 or 0.000002



LEARNING

Rohinton Mehta

W hat ex ac tl y does ‘ magnific ation ratio’ mean?M agnific ation ratio is a c omparis on betw een the s ize of a s u bj ec t and the s ize of its image on the c amera’ s imaging s ens or. W hen w e tal k of magnific ation ratios , the term is general l y as s oc iated w ith photographing s mal l s u bj ec ts .

F or the s ak e of a dis c u s s ion, l et’ s c ons ider an obj ec t that is , s ay, 2 0 0 c m ( 2 metres ) l ong and its image on the c amera s ens or is , s ay, 1 c m. T he magnific ation is 1 : 2 0 0 or 0 . 0 0 5 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is 2 0 0 times s mal l er than the ac tu al obj ec t.

L et’ s now c ons ider a mou ntain, w hic h is , s ay, 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 c m ( 5 0 0 0 metres ) in height and the image on the c amera s ens or is , s ay, 1 c m. T he magnific ation in this c as e w il l be 1 : 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 or 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 2 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 times s mal l er than the ac tu al mou ntain.

N otic e that even thou gh the image on the s ens or is s mal l er than in real ity, in photographic parl anc e w e s til l c al l it magnific ation! N ow l et’ s dis c u s s how magnific ation ratios rel ate to mac ro s u bj ec ts .

If you are photographing a s u bj ec t that is 1 c m l ong and the image on the c amera s ens or is al s o 1 c m, then the

1 : 1

1 x

1 : 2

0 . 5 x

1 : 3

0 . 3 3 x

1 : 4

0 . 2 5 x

1 : 5

0 . 2 0 x

1 : 6

0 . 1 6 7 x

1 : 7

0 . 1 4 3 x

1 : 8

0 . 1 2 5 x

1 : 9

0 . 1 1 1 x

1 : 1 0

0 . 1 x

2 : 1

2 x

4 : 1

4 x

MAGNIFICATION RATIOS

magnific ation is 1 : 1 . In other w ords , the s u bj ec t and its image are identic al in s ize.

If you are photographing a s u bj ec t that is 1 c m l ong and the image on the c amera s ens or is 1 / 2 c m, then the magnific ation is 1 : 2 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is hal f the s ize of the original .

Simil arl y, if the s u bj ec t is 1 c m and the image is 1 / 4 c m, the magnific ation ratio

is 1 : 4 ( image on the s ens or is fou r times s mal l er than the original s u bj ec t) .

B u t w hat if the image on the s ens or is l arger than the s u bj ec t? L et’ s tak e an ex ampl e. T he s u bj ec t, l et u s s ay, is 1 / 2 c m, bu t the image on the s ens or is 1 c m. In this c as e, the magnific ation is 2 : 1 . In other w ords , the image on the s ens or is tw ic e the s ize of the original s u bj ec t. |SP

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Let’s De-Noise a Noisy Photo


LEARNING

Rohinton Mehta

W hat ex ac tl y is ‘ nois e’ ?N ois e or digital nois e as w e often c al l it, is a type of dis tortion that l ook s s imil ar to w hat ‘ grain’ w as / is w ith fil ms . T here are s everal types of nois e, bu t to k eep things s impl e, w e s hal l mention onl y ‘ l u minanc e’ ( brightnes s ) nois e and ‘ c hroma’ ( c ol ou r) nois e.

O u r photos c an be nois y du e to s everal reas ons . Some reas ons are:1 . U s ing high ISO s ens itivity2 . U nderex pos ing the photos and then

trying to get detail in dark areas by ‘ opening u p’ the brightnes s in an image editing program

3 . U s ing a w arm/ hot imaging s ens or ( s u c h as w hil e u s ing the c amera in an overl y w arm environment)

4 . U s ing very l ong ex pos u res ( this heats u p the imaging s ens or)

5 . T rying to enl arge a very s mal l portion of the image

T here are s everal w ays to mitigate ( redu c e) nois e in pos t- proc es s ing. F or this w rite- u p, w e s hal l u s e top- notc h s oftw are from T opaz L abs , c al l ed D eN ois e A I. A I s tands for A rtific ial Intel l igenc e.W hy are w e going to u s e T opaz D eN ois e A I and not any other denois ing s oftw are? Simpl e. I ow n a c opy of T opaz D eN ois e, w hic h I find immens el y good. A l s o, thou gh there are s everal other good nois e- redu c tion s oftw are avail abl e, I haven’ t u s ed them al l .

In the pas t, I had never u s ed ISO s ens itivity higher than ISO 5 0 0 0 . T he firs t time I u s ed ISO 5 0 0 0 w as du ring a trip

to C orbett N ational Park in 2 0 1 7 . A t that time I w as u s ing an A PS- C c amera body ( N ik on D 5 0 0 ) . L ight l evel s w ere q u ite l ow and I w as hes itant abou t u s ing high ISO s , bu t had no c hoic e.

A t that time I u s ed a l ow er vers ion of T opaz D eN ois e and w as real l y s u rpris ed at the res u l ts . Y es , nois e w as evident even after u s ing the s oftw are, bu t it w as ac c eptabl e.

D u ring F ebru ary end 2 0 2 0 , I vis ited one of my mos t favou rite ‘ heaven’ for photographers – U ttarak hand. A rou nd the end of the 1 3 - day trip, w e had a c hanc e to vis it R aj aj i N ational Park at D ehradu n. T he w eather w as du l l and it rained q u ite often. I w as u s ing my 8 0 - 4 0 0 mm l ens on my N ik on D 5 0 0 , w hic h gave me an eq u ival ent of 6 0 0 mm at the far

Final picture


end of the l ens . I needed s hots at high s hu tter s peeds to avoid fu zzines s du e to my hand movement, vehic l e movement, as w el l as s u bj ec t movement. A t the s ame time I did not w ant to u s e the l ens w ide open at f/ 5 . 6 . I s et my D 5 0 0 to Auto ISO, apertu re to f/ 6 . 3 and the s hu tter s peed to 1 / 1 2 5 0 . L ight being q u ite l ow , the c amera s el ec ted ISO 1 6 1 2 7 ( as s een in the E X IF data) . I w as petrified; I had never u s ed s u c h a high ISO before! B u t I had no c hoic e.

B ac k home I l oaded the images in Photos hop and dec ided to u s e DeNoise AI as a pl u g- in to Photos hop. Topaz recommends that denoising should be done at the beginning of the workflow. H ere is my w ork fl ow :

I opened my N E F ( R aw ) fil e in A C R and adj u s ted the W hite B al anc e to my l ik ing and appl ied L ens C orrec tions . A fter a q u ic k c hec k for ‘ du s t bu nnies ’ , I c l ic k ed on the Save Image tab on the l eft bottom c orner and w hen a new menu opened, I s aved the image as a . dng fil e.

Why a .dng file?T he idea is to w ork on the R aw fil e as s u gges ted by the s oftw are manu fac tu rer. N ote al s o that the pl u g- in is avail abl e in Photos hop, u nder the F il ters menu . If you

ex port the R aw fil e to Photos hop w ithou t c onverting it to a D N G fil e, it is no l onger a R aw fil e! ( Prints c reens 1 and 2 ) .

T he nex t s tep w as to open the new l y

c reated . dng fil e by dou bl e c l ic k ing on it. It w il l open in A dobe C amera R aw ( A C R ) . Simpl y c l ic k on the Open Image bu tton ( do not w ork on this fil e in A C R ) . T he pic tu re w il l now open in Photos hop.

Printscreen 1

Printscreen 2


LEARNING

G o to Filter > Topaz Labs > Topaz DeNoise AI ( Prints c reen 3 ) . C l ic k on T opaz D eN ois e A I and a new s c reen w il l open ( Prints c reen 4 ) . If you l ook at the N avigator panel , you w il l s ee a w hite rec tangl e. Y ou c an move it arou nd u s ing the c ompu ter mou s e to s el ec t the area w here you c an s ee the nois e in the bac k grou nd as w el l as the s u bj ec t. Y ou c an al s o enl arge the image by c l ic k ing on the Pl u s ( + ) s ign at the top right.

N ow obs erve the right s ide of the D eN ois e s c reen. U nder ‘Select a Model’ you c an s ee ‘DeNoise AI’ and ‘AI Clear’ ( Prints c reen 5 ) . U s ing D eN ois e A I is s l ow er bu t it pres erves more detail s . If you hover the c u rs or over the q u es tion mark ( nex t to Sel ec t a M odel ) , you w il l s ee s ome info on both c hoic es . W e w il l u s e D eN ois e A I ( highl ighted in bl u e) .

T o k eep things s impl e, I s u gges t you c hec k ‘Auto-detect settings’. A s you

do that you w il l notic e the s l iders for ‘Remove Noise’ and ‘Sharpen’ w il l au tomatic al l y move to a new pos ition ( this is the s u gges tion of the s oftw are) . A t this point, if you are s atis fied w ith the redu c tion in the nois e, you may c l ic k on the Apply bu tton.

In ou r ex ampl e, I w ou l d l ik e fu rther redu c tion in nois e. H enc e I have moved the Remove Noise s l ider to 79 ( Prints c reen 6 ) . Check the reduction in noise levels between Printscreen 4 and 6. N ote that every time you move a s l ider, the s oftw are w il l redo the nois e removal proc es s . Y ou w il l al s o note that w hen you override the au to s u gges tion of the s oftw are ( l ik e inc reas ing the val u e for R emove N ois e or Sharpen) , the c hec k mark for A u to- detec t s ettings w il l go aw ay. If you feel that inc reas ing the val u e for R emove N ois e has s l ightl y s oftened the image, you may move the Sharpen s l ider to the right to c ompens ate.

Note: Inc reas ing the val u e for R emove N ois e c an s often fine detail . D on’ t overdo it. Inc reas ing the val u e for Sharpen, c an bring bac k s ome of the nois e. O nc e again don’ t overdo it.

If you obs erve Chroma Noise ( c ol ou r nois e) in you r image, you may adj u s t the Colour Noise Reduction s l ider. R emember the s ame w arning as above.

O nc e you are happy w ith the res u l t, c l ic k on Apply. Image proc es s ing w il l s tart and after a few s ec onds ( depending on the pow er of you r c ompu ter) the image w il l now onc e again open in Photos hop. A t this point, the image has been denois ed.

N ow , if you need to, you may c ontinu e w ith any other edits that you may w ant ( l ik e adj u s ting c ontras t, c ol ou r, highl ights , s hadow s etc ) as w e u s u al l y do in Photos hop. W hen s atis fied, s ave the fil e u s ing the Save As c ommand. See the F IN A L image. |SP

Printscreen 3

Printscreen 5

Printscreen 4

Printscreen 6

REVIEWSFinal RankingsRecommended ..................... 75-80%Best Buy .....................81% and above

D-SLR/ILCC

Design & Build Quality .......... (out of 20)

Key Features ....................... (out of 20)

Ergonomics ......................... (out of 20)

Performance Autofocus ......................(out of 5) Metering .........................(out of 5) Noise control ..................(out of 5) Distortion/Sharpness ......(out of 5) LCD/Viewfinder ..............(out of 5) Auto White Balance ........(out of 5)

Value for Money ............ (out of 10)

Grand Total ................. (out of 100)

LENSES




Performance Autofocus ......................(out of 5) Sharpness ......................(out of 5) Distortion control ............(out of 5) Aberrations ....................(out of 5) Darkening of corners ......(out of 5) Extra Features ................(out of 5)

Value for Money ................... (out of 10)

Grand Total ....................... (out of 100)

COMPACT CAMERAS




Performance Autofocus ......................(out of 5) Metering .........................(out of 5) Noise control ..................(out of 5) Distortion/Sharpness ......(out of 5) LCD/Viewfinder ..............(out of 5) Auto White Balance ........(out of 5)

Value for Money ............ (out of 10)

Grand Total ................. (out of 100)

RATING SYSTEM D-SLR Review

Nikon D664

Lens ReviewTamron 70-180 mm

f/2.8 Di III VXD

69

Software ReviewNik Collection 3

Software ReviewPortrait Pro 19

Smartphone reviewVivo V19

72

74

78

Rohinton Mehta

Nikon’s AF KingNikon D6 `5,19,995

for body only

Both N ik on and C anon w ere u pdating their profes s ional offerings to be in time for the

2 0 2 0 O l ympic s . U nfortu natel y, the C ovid viru s c ame in the w ay. T his month, w e have w ith u s the N ik on

, ikon s flagship R camera for review .

The ikon is a one up on the w hic h has been arou nd for al mos t four years. Released in India on th F ebru ary 2 0 2 0 , it is the u l timate c reative tool for profes s ional s . A s per N ik on, the D 6 has the mos t pow erfu l A F in N ik on’ s his tory.

Design & Build QualityY ou have to hol d the D 6 in you r hands to realise how well built it is. T he body inc orporates a magnes iu m al l oy c has s is for robu s tnes s and offers pro grade weather sealing that l ets you u s e the c amera in al l w eather c onditions . T he c omfortabl e grip al s o al l ow s you to s hoot in vertic al format w ith its dedic ated s hu tter rel eas e and A n button. hile some cameras today have no low pass filter, the has one. The body weighs g and is made in J apan.

A s far as s imil arities go betw een the and the , both use identical

image s ens or and the s ame ex pos u re

metering. T he s hu tter on both the c amera bodies is tes ted for 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 cycles. The also appears to be identic al w ith both the model s .

Readers might like to know why N ik on has not j u mped into the megapix el w ar w ith the D 6 . M y gu es s is that N ik on w anted to k eep the nois e l evel s as l ow as pos s ibl e w hil e 2 0 . 8 megapix el s ( al s o for the is good enough for most s itu ations that the D 6 is ex pec ted to handle. The has A points with cross type but only are avail abl e for s el ec tion. T he D 6 has

cross type A points but all are avail abl e for s el ec tion.

✓ C amera body ✓ body cap ✓ Accessory shoe c over ✓ c rechargeable

i ion battery with T erminal C over ✓ a battery charger ✓ Pow er c ord and 2 x c ontac t protec tors ✓ I U cable clip ✓ U U cable ✓ A strap

Inside the Box


D-SLR REVIEW

O n the D 6 , you c an s el ec t the A F point individually, and also in groups of or

. If you are using the A area mode, the c amera c an au tomatic al l y s el ec t the A F points . Y ou c an c u s tomis e the A point groups customisations possible .

The touch sensitive monitor can be u s ed to foc u s and rel eas e the s hu tter, view stills movies, access the i enu, navigate the menu s and enter tex t.

T he D 6 offers s everal options for hite alance. esides the standard irect sunlight, loudy, hade,

Incandescent, luorescent types , F l as h, C hoos e c ol ou r temperatu re and Pres et manu al ’ , it offers s everal A u to s ettings – A U T O , A U T O 0 , A U T O

, AUT and A. ach AUT option provides a different ‘ mood’ to the image by k eeping the image l ook w armer or c ool er w ith different types of artific ial l ighting.

hile the can shoot at fps w ith c ontinu ou s A F ( u s ing J PE G F ine

with lenses using electro magnetic diaphragm control you can also shoot at fps for files ull or

fps for files with K U in ideo mode if you wish to. In situations

w here the s hu tter nois e c an dis tu rb the proceedings like in a court room or billiards room , you can shoot through the ive iew for completely silent photography at up to . fps.

T he D 6 has tw o memory c ard s l ots . T he c amera c an be u s ed w ith C F ex pres s Type or memory cards.

express cards are faster than c ards .

ErgonomicsThe pro grade , though lighter than the pro grade , did tire me out after a w hil e bu t the you nger generation may have a different ex perienc e. T he c amera w as eas y to u s e, thank s to the s impl e u s er interfac e and the great intu itive iM enu ( bu t you s til l need to have a good bas ic u nders tanding of the variou s featu res and w ork ing of an advanced digital camera .

Performancee reviewed the using an A ikkor mm f . lens.

• Autofocus: A F w as bril l iantl y fas t and ac c u rate on mos t s u bj ec ts . H ow ever, on few oc c as ions , the foc u s ‘ hu nted’ w hen trying to au tofoc u s on l ow c ontras t, l ow l ight s u bj ec ts . I would prefer to give the benefit of the dou bt to the D 6 bec au s e it’ s very pos s ibl e that the error w as mine due to insufficient handling of the D 6 and c u rrent government res tric tions for ventu ring ou t of the home du e to the c u rrent C oronaviru s l oc k dow n. A nother pos s ibl e reas on could be that the A ikkor mm f . lens that I was using is now a

year old technology.

• Sharpness: ven with the year ol d l ens des ign, image s harpnes s w as ex c el l ent.

• Metering: In my limited testing, I fou nd the metering s ys tem – M atrix ,

entre weighted and pot reliable and accurate. hen using the

ighlight weighted metering, as ex pec ted, the s hadow areas w ere darker than I would have liked.

• Dynamic Range: I took several shots u nder c ontras ty l ighting c onditions and c an s ay that the D 6 provided good detail in highl ights as w el l as s hadow s at the s ame time, denoting a good dynamic range. T his tes t was done between and I s ettings .

• Auto White Balance: A was perfec t mos t of the time w ith A

atural light auto . Auto , Auto and Auto are also available for

those who like to preserve eliminate c ol ou r c as t w ith inc andes c ent l ighting.

• Noise control: T he tes ts for digital nois e w ere c arried ou t in a room lit by fluorescent lights as well as ambient daylight I

, . The following parameters w ere s et on the c amera:

Image quality: J IPicture Control: A u toActive D-Lighting and Long exposure NR: O F FHigh ISO NR: R A


D6 D5Image processor

Focus pointsCross type focus points 9 9

Touch AF Y es N o

AF detection points up to f/8 , central 9 , c entral

Shutter speed range sec sec

Focus bracketing Y es N o

Battery life shots shots

Storage cards x express , Type or x

Burst speed fps fps

Bluetooth uilt in N o

Smartphone remote Y es N o

Video format M O V

Video rec. time min, max. min, max

4K photo mode N o Y es

GPS uilt in O ptional

Weight g g

Key Featureset s start by comparing the key differences between the and the .

Highlight denotes advantage. *With AE & AF Tracking, using viewfinder and E-Type lenses.

Camera: N ik on D 6Aperture: f .Shutter Speed: secFocal Length: . mmISO: 8 0 0


D-SLR REVIEW

Rohi

nton

Meh

ta


T he N ik on D 6 has a native image s ize of . x . inches at ppi.

x pixels .

At percent screen size, images were good up to I , . ome noise could be seen at I , and , but w as not obj ec tionabl e.

At percent screen size, noise was well under control up to I , .

ome noise could be seen at I , and , but I would use it if

necessary. I , was noisy.

At percent screen size, noise was very much in control up to I . I did show some noise but was not at all objectionable. I would use I

in a pinch. I , would be okay with a noise reduction software. I would consider I , and above nois y.

• Verdict for Performance:T he overal l performanc e for ‘ s til l s ’ was exemplary but I felt that au tofoc u s du ring video needs to improve.

Value for MoneyT he N ik on D 6 body is avail abl e at an R of Rs. , , . As good as the D 6 is , the c os t pu ts it ou t of mos t photographers ’ reac h. |SP

KEY SPECIFICATIONSCamera type: RLens mount: ikon mountSensor size/type: ull frame . x . mm

Effective pixels: 2 0 . 8 mil l ionFile format: Raw or bit, lossless compressed, compressed, or uncompressed ; l arge, mediu m and s mal l avail abl e ( mediu m & small only at bit, lossless compression .J ine, ormal, asic, Raw JMedia cards: express Type cards or

cardsi fin O ptic al

Compatible lenses: T ypes G , E , and D Shutter: lectronically controlled verticaltravel focal plane mechanical shutter; electronic front curtain shutter; electronic s hu tterShutter speeds: sec sec, ulb, Time, secShooting modes: ingle, , , , elf timer,

irror up.Burst rates: Approx. fps;

fps; fpsMetering modes: atrix olour atrix

etering III type , , and lenses , lease s ee you r u s er manu al for fu rther detail sExposure modes: with lexible , A, , .Exp. Comp.: tills ; ovies ISO sensitivity: , AF: iewfinder photography TT phasedetection; focus points all cross type;

support f ; detection performed by ulti A K A sensor module, fine tuning

s u pported. ive iew photography ontrast detect A

available at all points in frame; focus point is selected by the camera when face detection or subject tracking is used.AF-area mode: photography ingle point A ; , , or point ynamic area A ; tracking; roup area A ; roup area A

; Auto area A . LV photography: ace detection A , ide area A , ormal area A , ubject tracking AFlash control: TT flash using R sensor with approx. K pixels; i TT flash; i TT balanced fill flash for digital R is used with atrix, entre weighted and ighlightweighted metering, tandard i TT fill flash for digital R with pot meteringFlash comp.: to Nikon CreativeLighting System: i TT flash control, radio controlled Advance ireless

ighting, ptical Advanced ireless lighting, model l ing il l u mination, F V l oc k , C ol ou r Information ommunication, auto highspeed sync, A assist for multi area A in

iewfinder photography, unified flash controlWhite Balance: Auto types , natural l ight au to, direc t s u nl ight, c l ou dy, s hade, incandescent, fluorescent types , flash, c hoos e c ol ou r temperatu re, pres et manu al , al l with fine tuning

i o fil o ma s M O V , M P4ISO for video: I ,LCD resolution: Approx. K dot A T T touch sensitive with viewing angl eBattery: x cDimensions: x x mmWeight: g with x express memory c ards

FINAL SCORE

Design and Build Quality 18/20

Key Features 17/20

Ergonomics 18/20

PerformanceA u tofoc u s

M etering

N ois e c ontrol

harpness

Auto hite alance

Sub-Total 25/30

Value for Money 7/10

VERDICTWithout a question of doubt, the D6 is Nikon’s ultimate creation. It is tough – ready for any photographic situation – irrespective of the weather conditions. The camera is ultra-responsive with the best AF (for stills) I have seen till date. Video autofocus however, is not in the same league. If you were to buy the D6 for its ‘stills’ capabilities, you would be on target. The question however, is, if you already own a D5, should you upgrade to the D6? I won’t tell you whether you should or shouldn’t but if I were a D5 owner, I guess I would spend the money on new glass, because the D5 itself is an amazing performer any way you look at it. Yes, the D6 has several improvements o u s n ing o fi la s for the D6 needs to be considered. If you are a D4/D4s owner, or a wildlife/sports photographer or a photojournalist or a portrait photographer who does not yet own a D5, then by all means, jump to it. Best Buy!

MINUS

PLUS• i on s flags i am a• Amazingly fast and precise AF (stills)• Blistering 14 fps bursts• Good noise control at high ISOs• Built like a battle tank• Built-in Bluetooth and GPS• Extended shutter speed range• 180g lighter body than the D5

• Expensive• Heavy (but yet lighter than the D5)• Lacks certain features that the competition provides• Live View focussing slower than competition• No in-built image stabilisation• o in uil flas o mo l o no s ill a uil in flas• Competition offers better video quality


D-SLR REVIEW

85%

Rohinton Mehta

Tamron has s een u nprec edented s u c c es s w ith their l ens es w ith a

ony mount. They were the first to s ee the opportu nity and res ponded w ith a trio of l ens es that hit the bu l l ’ s eye.

e first had the mm f . . This was followed by the mm f . which al s o w on a SP A w ard. W e now have the

mm f . i III on our test bench. It follows the same successful formu l a of s mal l s ize, l es s w eight, great optic al q u al ity and reas onabl e pric ing. R ead on. . . . .

Design & Build Qualityleek and well crafted, the Tamron

mm f . lens outer body is made from tou gh engineering pl as tic and the lens is clearly marked at , , and

mm settings. The lens mount is made of metal. A lock is provided at the mm pos ition for s afe trans port. T he l ens offers moisture resistant construction – there are nine gas k et s eal s to prevent mois tu re getting into the l ens . A ru bber gas k et is provided at the rear end to prevent any du s t or w ater entering the lens body. The Tamron mm f . l ens is des igned in J apan and made in

ietnam. ilter diameter is mm. The lens weighs g.

Key FeaturesThe Tamron mm f . i III l ens is c ons tru c ted w ith 1 9 el ements in groups. This includes six

xtra ow ispersion elements, one ow ispersion element and three lass oulded aspherical and

hybrid as pheric al el ements to s u ppres s c hromatic aberrations and provide edge to edge sharpness throughout the foc al range. A s pec ial is ed c oating –

road and Anti Reflection, eneration is applied to minimise flare and

ghos ting and provide s harp detail . T he front element is lourine coated for easy c l eaning of s mu dges , inc l u ding w ater

splashes. Ten gold plated A contacts at the rear end c onvey information bac k and forth to the c amera body.

T he au tofoc u s drive c ons is ts of tw o oice coil e treme torque rive

l inear motors for very q u ic k and ac c u rate autofocussing. The units are el ec tronic al l y operated and arranged in a floating system to provide excellent optic al performanc e at al l dis tanc es – near as w el l as afar. T his is al s o the reason why the Tamron mm can autofocus as close as . m . inches in the entire zoom range to provide a maximum magnification ratio of . w hil e s til l retaining very good image q u al ity. W ith manu al foc u s , it is pos s ibl e to achieve a maximum magnification ratio of at mm setting but T amron s tates that image q u al ity c an dec reas e in peripheral areas .

T amron c l aims that they have vas tl y improved F oc u s T rac k ing abil ity of the l ens for s ports and rac ing events . T he Tamron mm f . does not have in built image stabilisation read more about it in the erformance section .

Ergonomicse reviewed the lens on a ony A R I

body. T he l ens ex tends w hen zooming. T he l ens being mu c h l ighter than s imil ar foc al l ength l ens es from the c ompetition, is eas y to c arry al ong the w hol e day. T he l ens bal anc ed very w el l and w as very eas y to u s e. Some u s ers feel that having the zoom ring towards the filter end is not the best ergonomical design, but I say it is j u s t a matter of getting u s ed to.

PerformanceT he overal l performanc e of the Tamron mm f . was superb

✓ ens odel A ✓ F l ow er s haped l ens hood A ✓ B oth end c aps ✓ U s er ins tru c tions

Inside the Box

Tamron 70-180 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD `99,900

Tamron does it again!


LENS REVIEW

• Sharpness: T he l ens w as s harp in the c entre as w el l as s ides

even w hen u s ed w ide open at f . . topped down one aperture

to f , the sharpness at the corners matc hed the c entre s harpnes s .

T he optimu m s harpnes s w as s omew here in the region betw een f . and f . verall, a very sharp lens indeed

At f , we did notice a slight overall s oftening du e to the diffrac tion of l ight at s u c h a narrow apertu re. T his is c ommon to al mos t al l l ens es .

• Flare and ghosting: In strong againstthe light shots that included the sun, some flare was noticed but was very w el l c ontrol l ed. W e did not obs erve any ghos ting.

• Chromatic aberration, Corner darkening and Distortion: T hes e are au tomatic al l y c ontrol l ed by the c amera body ( T he u s er c an s w itc h off these controls if he she wishes to . ince these settings were n, we fou nd no is s u es on this front.

• Autofocus: A F w as very fas t, q u iet,

and ac c u rate even in l es s than perfec t light with the ony A R I body.

W e mentioned earl ier that the T amron mm f . does not have In ody

Image tabilisation. This really does not matter bec au s e the l ens is des igned for

ony full frame mount camera bodies and most mount bodies do have I I . B u t in c as e you w is h to u s e this fu l l frame lens on a ony A camera body, remember that s ome Sony bodies l ik e the A and the A do have in built image stabilisation. In that case, you al s o do not get the added advantage of

Camera: I RLens: mm . AAperture: f .Shutter Speed: secISO:


LENS REVIEW

VERDICTI don’t just like this lens; I love it! It covers practically all the useful focal lengths (except of course for birding and wildlife involving smaller subjects). You can use this lens successfully for portraits, table-tops, indoor sports, photo-journalism and close-ups (though it is not a macro lens). Its two VXD linear motors provide the smooth, accurate and quiet autofocussing. Compared to the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens, the Tamron is much smaller, lighter and offers sharpness that I can vouch for. At this price and performance, this lens is a must for Sony users. Best Buy!

KEY SPECIFICATIONSFocal length: mmAperture range: . , throughoutOptical construction: 1 9 el ements in 1 4 grou psAngle of view: diagonal, full frame

MOD: A . m . entire zoom range . m . . m . T

agnifi a ion a io A . ; . T, mm setting

Filter dia: mmAperture blades: 9 , c irc u l arDimensions: ax. dia mm x mm Weight: g

FINAL SCORE

• If I have to nit-pick, image stabilisation is not possible with certain Sony APS-C bodies

MINUS

PLUS• Extremely sharp throughout the focal range• Very fast and accurate AF (also depends on the body used)• F/2.8 throughout the zoom range• Lightweight (for an f/2.8 zoom)• Good pricing• mm ia fil a


Key Features 16/20

Ergonomics 18/20

PerformanceA u tofoc u s .Sharpnes s .

istortion control A berrations

arkening of corners E x tra featu res Sub-Total 25/30Value for Money 8.5/10

a c ombined s tabil is ation ( l ens bas ed + body based .

Verdict for PerformanceIn our opinion, the Tamron mm f . i III lens is a superb performer. ery fast and accurate au tofoc u s , c ombined w ith very s harp images is its hal l mark .

Value for MoneyThe Tamron mm f . i III lens is available at an R of Rs. , e say this is a very competitive price for such a fast lens w ith great optic al performanc e. |SP

84.5%

Camera: I RLens: mm . AAperture: fShutter Speed: secISO:


Sujith Gopinath

Vivo has grow n from an entry- l evel phone brand to a s trong pl ayer in the middl e s egment. T he V 1 9

is the c ompany' s l ates t offering that inc l u des pow erfu l hardw are, a l arge c apac ity battery w ith great pow er optimis ation and a q u ad main c amera s ys tem that promis es ex c el l ent images .

Design and Build QualityT he V 1 9 is c rafted w ith a dou bl e 3 D gl as s body. B oth the front and bac k s u rfac es are protec ted by 6 th G eneration C orning G oril l a G l as s . T he phone is avail abl e in Piano B l ac k and M ys tic Sil ver editions . T he front s c reen featu res an il l u minated on screen fingerprint scanner. The dual front c ameras res ide at the top right hand c orner. B oth the vol u me u p/ dow n and the pow er bu tton are at the right s ide w ith the D u al SIM - memory c ard tray ( w ith dedic ated s l ots for eac h) at the l eft s ide. T he bottom panel featu res the U SB T ype- C port and a 3 . 5 mm au dio j ac k . B ac k of the devic e is s potl es s w ith

Power onthe Midfield

only the quad camera and and flash mou nted on a rec tangu l ar pl atform al ong w ith a s u btl e V ivo l ogo at the bottom.

Key FeaturesT he V ivo V 1 9 featu res a Q u al c omm Snapdragon 7 1 2 oc ta- c ore proc es s or c ons is ting of s ix K ryo 3 6 0 Sil ver high-efficiency cores clocked at . z and tw o K ryo 3 6 0 G ol d high- performanc e cores clocked at . z. ith a nm arc hitec tu re, the proc es s or is q u ite fas t, at the s ame time, providing ex c el l ent power efficiency. It features a rd generation mu l tic ore Q u al c omm A I tec hnol ogy al ong w ith Q u al c omm Q u ic k

harge technology. A ualcomm A dreno 6 1 6 G PU provides enhanc ed graphic and gaming performanc e.

T he V 1 9 s ports 8 G B R A M and is avail abl e in either or R R O M variants . T he devic e ac c epts du al nano SIM al ong w ith an ex ternal M ic ro SD memory c ard ( U F S 2 . 1 ) . T he phone features a mAh battery and

supports ivo lash harge . that c harges the devic e from 0 to 7 0 perc ent in minutes. A high performance device generates mu c h heat and the V ivo V 1 9 tak es c are of this w ith the u s e of C opper T u be L iq u id C ool ing tec hnol ogy.

F or the gaming enthu s ias ts , the devic e offers M u l ti- T u rbo 3 . 0 . T his inc l u des ART Turbo to enhance your app ac tivation s peed, G ame T u rbo to optimis e tou c h c ontrol for fas ter and more s ens itive interac tion and C enter T u rbo, w hic h offers s c hedu l er optimis ation. O ther game- c entric featu res inc l u de an u pgraded U l tra G ame M ode w ith featu res s u c h as fas t s c reen c aptu re and s c reen rec ording in addition to G ame V ibration, V oic e C hanger and G ame C ou ntdow n.

C oming to the c ameras , the V 1 9 offers a du al front c amera w ith a 3 2 M P s tandard c amera al ong w ith an 8 M P s u per w ide- angl e c amera. T he front c amera features uper ight elfie, which adjusts bac k l ighting and brightens you r fac e, at the s ame time redu c ing nois e w ith an R. The Aura creen ight feature provides even il l u mination even in u nfavou rabl e l ight c onditions .

The rear quad camera includes a main camera, ultra wideangl e c amera, 2 M P M ac ro c amera and 2 M P bok eh c amera. T he rear c amera too featu res Su per N ight mode. Su per M ac ro mode lets you go as close as cm to the s u bj ec t ( from the front el ement of the lens . The Ultra ide angle lens provides 1 2 0 - degree angl e of view . Y ou c an c hoos e to enhanc e the images w ith s imu l ated bok eh. T his c an be re- adj u s ted l ater w hil e editing. ou can even fine tune focus, thou gh at a l imited s c al e. T he phone featu res c u s tomis ed portrait templ ates to hel p you w ith pos ing. Pro mode l ets you c ontrol variou s c amera parameters .

T he devic e offers E l ec tronic Image Stabil is ation ( E IS) for videos . It al s o offers A I V ideo F il ters that c an detec t and s eparate video s u bj ec ts from the bac k grou nd, al l ow ing you to appl y various artistic filters.

The uses a . cm . inch I uper A creen, made from

the l ates t E 3 O L E D . It offers 1 0 0 % D C I- P3 c ol ou r gamu t. T Ü V R heinl and L ow B l u e

ight ontent filters more harmful bl u e l ight than E 2 O L E D . T he s c reen al s o

✓ V 1 9 ✓ E arpiec es ✓ D oc u mentation ✓ T ype C to U SB C abl e ✓ U SB Pow er A dapter ✓ SIM E j ec tor ✓ Protec tive C as e ✓ Protec tive F il m ( appl ied)

Inside the BoxVivo V19 `Rs.27,990[8GB, 128GB variant]


SMARTPHONE REVIEW

72 | Smart Photography | July 2020

supports R standard and offers L ow B rightnes s A nti- F l ic k er tec hnol ogy to redu c e eye fatigu e.

ErgonomicsT he V 1 9 is c omfortabl e to hol d. T he c u rved s u rfac es provide a s l im feel and mak es it l es s s l ippery than u s u al gl as s - bac k devic es . T he gl os s y bac k surface attracts fingerprints, however, thes e are eas y to c l ean. F ac e u nl oc k is not ins tantaneou s , bu t it is fas t enou gh. F ingerprint s ens or al s o appeared l es s efficient than some other phones.

PerformanceT he V ivo V 1 9 pac k s q u ite s ome pu nc h, w hen it c omes to mid- range devic es . It provided a ric h gaming ex perienc e w ith ex c el l ent res pons e and great heat dis s ipation. T he devic e al s o provided great battery l ife. C harging w as q u ite fas t w ith the devic e getting topped u p in abou t 9 0 minu tes inc l u ding a l ong tric k l e c harge s es s ion to c ons erve battery l ife.

T he main c ameras w ere q u ite fu n to u s e w ith the c ameras providing ex c el l ent s harpnes s . C ol ou rs w ere tru e to the original . B ok eh effec t l ook ed natu ral . T he

uper ide angle mode was a pleasure to u s e. T he night mode provides great images in l ow - l ight w ithou t mu c h nois e. O veral l , the c amera c ontrol l ed nois e very w el l . A very pos itive fac tor in this c amera is the editing s u ite that provides fine control over the image and with a mu l titu de of options and s ettings . In the selfie portrait mode, some amount of beautification is switched on by default. T here is no s ingl e tou c h s ys tem to s w itc h off the beautification mode. ou have to go to eac h s l ider and s l ide it tow ards the extreme left. elfies were especially good in natu ral and diffu s ed l ight.

V ideos w ere s mooth and the E IS real l y hel ps . T he Su per M ac ro mode w as somewhat disappointing. e have seen better mac ro performanc es from other mid- l evel phones .

Value for MoneyA s mentioned earl ier, the V ivo V 1 9 is avail abl e in tw o variants . T he 8 G B / 1 2 8 G B variant retail s at R s . 2 7 , 9 9 0 , w hil e the 8 G B / 2 5 6 G B variant c arries a pric e tag of R s . 3 1 , 9 9 0 . T his pric ing is q u ite c ompetitive for this devic e. |SP

FINAL SCORE


Key Features 18/20

Ergonomics 16/20

Performance 16/20


VERDICTThe Vivo V19 is a powerful and elegant phone in the mid-range segment. It is a great performer in gaming and also in power optimisation. The device offers good performance on the camera front as well, apart from certain AI features that, at times, require some manual override.

84%

PLUS MINUS• Excellent performance• Brilliant images• Feature-rich editing suite• Great battery• Fast charging

• Prone to fing in s• Macro range could be better• AI features n som fintuning

Sujit

h Go

pina

th

Camera: V ivo V 1 9Aperture: f/ 1 6Shutter Speed: 1 / 1 0 0 s ecFocal Length: . mmISO:

KEY SPECIFICATIONSProcessor: Q u al c omm Snapdragon 7 1 2RAM: 8 G BROM: 1 2 8 G B / 2 5 6 G BBattery: mAhFuntouch O S 1 0 ( A ndroid 1 0 )Display: . inch I uper ACamera: ront Rear Aperture: ront f . f . Rear f . f . wide angle f . bokeh f . macro

Connectivity: i i . z, zSIM Slot type: Triple lot ual I M emory C ard)Dimensions: . . . mmWeight: 1 8 6 . 5 g


Sujith Gopinath

The N ik C ol l ec tion by D x O is not a s ingl e pl u gin or s u ite, bu t a c ol l ec tion of eight pl u gins for

A dobe Photos hop, L ightroom C l as s ic , E l ements , D x O PhotoL ab and Serif Affinity. The collection offers a vast library of exclusive presets along with a host of retouching tools. This collection of plugins allow you to edit your images easily without much technical expertise. B eing a pac k of pl u gins , it is not feas ibl e to il l u s trate the c apabil ities of eac h of these in a few pages. hile this review might not bring ou t al l the c apabil ities in detail, we would try to evaluate the

ik ollection as a whole and attempt to l ook at eac h of thes e in detail s in ou r subsequent issues. or this review, I am using the ik ollection from hotoshop.

Key FeaturesThe ik ollection includes eight pl u gins — A nal og E fex Pro 2 , C ol or

fex ro , fine , R fex ro ,

erspective fex, harpener ro for Raw and utput , ilver fex ro , and

iveza . These allow you to perform complex retouching without using complicated techniques. ost of these plugins except erspective fex use U Point tec hnol ogy, a proprietary tec hniq u e originally developed by ik oftware founder ils Kokemohr.

U oint enables you to click on an area of an image to s et u p a c ontrol point that can be adjusted in size so that changes can be made to pixels within that area that are s imil ar to the pix el s beneath the original control point. A circle of any size c an be c reated arou nd the c ontrol point to show the area where changes will be applied. ou can control attributes such as B rightnes s , C ontras t, Satu ration, and

tructure. ixels inside the circle will onl y be al tered if they c l os el y matc h the c ol ou r c hannel s , hu e, s atu ration and brightness levels of the pixels under the

Upgrade Your Editing Suite

Nik Collection 3 Approx. `11,300

control point. ou can create as many c ontrol points as req u ired for l oc al is ed adjustments. The control points can be duplicated and moved around to prec is el y appl y the s ame adj u s tments to similar areas in the image.

The package includes a new elective Tool that lets you use the plugins without going through the filters menu in hotoshop. This allows you to apply some selective adjustments straight from the tool rather than opening the image in the plugin interface. It also includes s ettings to re- appl y you r l as t edits to an image with the click of a button. If you are working on ightroom lassic, you can choose the TI ultipage format to c ombine the edits made u s ing L ightroom and ik ollection plugins. This also gives the option to edit multiple times without losing any original adjustment.

Evaluationome strong love affairs start with a fight

or an ex treme dis l ik e, and nothing c ou l d describe my week long relationship with the ik ollection better. eing someone who likes to have fine control over every element and every inch of an image, this pac k age tortu red and tested my patience like a spurned lover.

ut towards the end of our honeymoon period, it started behaving like an expert seductress, making me want to spend my every editing moment with it.

or this review, the ik ollection was ins tal l ed on Photos hop C C and L ightroom

lassic. The system specifications are Intel ore i . z processor,

R RA , vidia eforce U, and running the latest update

of indows . This conforms to the rec ommended req u irement for N ik C ol l ec tion, ex c ept for the graphic c ard which is not stated as a requirement .

If you are a hardcore hotoshop user who likes to play with multiple layers, layer masks and advanced techniques like luminosity masks, you may find these plugins too limiting or too childish. ut if you want hassle free image editing without going through the tedious proc es s of s pending hou rs on a s ingl e image, you will love these plugins.

owever, let me warn you that you may not like all the included plugins. ou might also find some other standalone plugins better than these. owever, as a c ol l ec tion of tool s , the N ik C ol l ec tion offers better value, especially if you are


SOFTWARE REVIEW


lucky to download it while the inaugural pricing is still valid.

As mentioned above, I am not attempting to go throu gh eac h pl u gin in detail since it would not do justice to the vast amount of possibilities. I will attempt to go throu gh eac h in s u bs eq u ent is s u es after upgrading to a compatible U . owever, I will certainly touch upon

some features that impressed me as well as some that I found disappointing.

The first plugin that appears in the elective Tool is fine . This is the noise

reduction tool in the collection. This is not very intuitive, and it took me a long time to realise that I have to manually click on the easure oise button to effect even Auto noise reduction. nce I got this right, I got hooked on to it.

ome other dedicated plugins like Topaz enoise AI provide a lot of manual fine

tu ning options , bu t thes e u til is e a l ot of system resources, at times taking minu tes to proc es s one s mal l c hange on my computer. The selective tool allows you to appl y nois e redu c tion from the shortcut itself.

iveza is the tool to adjust colour and tonality. This utilises simple sliders and hence there could not be any confusion. This worked like a charm. The U oint system is very effective in applying localised edits easily. ou have the option to apply most of these edits with brushes. This allows you to apply layer mask and fine tune the edits. ou can open the plugin multiple times for finer control. This is true for most of the plugins.

erspective fex corrects geometric distortions in images. It automatically appl ies bas ic dis tortion c orrec tion as per the camera lens profile. If the plugin detects a new equipment combination, it prompts you to download an optical module from x . This allows you to correct complex distortions with the help of leading lines. It allows you to correct dis tortions to s hapes of bodies and fac es located along the edges of wide angle photos. ou can use this tool to apply miniature effect as well.

R fex ro includes two components. ne helps you to merge multiple exposures into a single R image. The second one uses tone mapping to apply R toning to a single image. hile this can be done in hotoshop, it is somewhat tricky to

fine applied from elective Tools

elective Tools settings

lugin applied with brush


get the right effect. This plugin makes it simple with a vast library of presets. ou can fine tune the effect and also make localised adjustments with the help of control points.

Analog fex ro is a very interesting plugin. This lets you apply various effects of old cameras and films. ou can also build your own camera effects. At first, I dismissed it as another worthless plugin. To make matters worse, my hotoshop became unresponsive. earching for a solution from x , I found out that this is one pl u gin that u s es the graphic card. After switching off the U based rendering from the s ettings bu tton within the plugin interface, it worked without any problems. Then I found out the basic tools that include some very u s efu l featu res s u c h as bok eh, motion blur and vignetting.

olor fex ro is where you find various colour filters and effects. Apart from the various presets, you have the option to tweak individual parameters for creative effect.

If you are a enthusiast, you might have heard of the ilver fex ro plugin.

ilver fex ro includes an extensive library of lack and hite effects. ou c an c hoos e the mos t appropriate of these and adjust individual parameters.

ou have the option of applying various colour filters too. ere also, the control points can be used for fine tuning.

The last plugin as arranged in the selective tool is the harpener ro

. This has two components, one for Raw pre sharpening and another for output sharpening. ou have one of the bes t s harpening tool s here, be it Raw or J . In fact, Raw sharpening is u nders tandabl y more s u btl e than output sharpening.

So after u s ing thes e pl u gins for a s hort while, I should admit that I haven t discovered even a part of the capabilities of this collection. owever, by what I could experience, I wouldn t regret having this set of plugins as an add on to my editing suite.

Value for MoneyThe ik ollection retails originally at U Approximately Rs. , .

owever, it can be downloaded for a limited time at a launch price of U

. Approximately Rs. . ou

iveza applied as layers

erspective fex downloading x optical module

R fex ro


SOFTWARE REVIEW

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTSMicrosoft Windows: Intel ore or A Athlon or higher Intel ore i or higher recommended

of RA recommended or more of available hard disk space icrosoft indows . bit , or icrosoft indows bit and still

supported by icrosoft icrosoft urface are not supported

Adobe hotoshop bit through

Adobe hotoshop lements bit through apart from R fex ro , which is not compatible with hotoshop

lements Adobe hotoshop ightroom through

lassic erif Affinity . and later

Requirements to support HiDPI monitors: icrosoft indows . and l ater

Adobe hotoshop . and later if launched from Adobe hotoshopmacOS: Intel ore i or higher

of RA recommended or more of available hard disk

space mac . igh ierra , . ojave , . atalina

Adobe hotoshop bit through

Adobe hotoshop lements through apart from R fex ro , which is

not compatible with hotoshop lements Adobe hotoshop ightroom through

lassic erif Affinity . and later

GPU Compatibility: tarting from I IA e orce eries, ATI Radeon

eries, and Intel raphics eries. If no compatible card is

available, U acceleration will be disabled, and the U will be used.

Key Features 17/20

Ease of Use 15/20

Performance 18/20


Support 16/20

VERDICTThe Nik Collection 3 is a group of useful plugins that make many complex editing tasks easy. The fact that it is supported by most popular image editing suites make these worth a look. But as we always mention, please download a free trial version to make sure that it works seamlessly with your editing suite and hardware.

FINAL SCORE

81%

can activate ik ollection on up to computers. ith a lifetime license, the

plugins are worth the price, especially if you could get them at the launch price.

ou may want to download a free trial version before buying. |SP

PLUS MINUS• Wide range of host applications• Doesn't require powerful hardware• U Point system• Brush and masking options

• Interface not very intuitive• No on-screen tips

A nal og E fex Pro

C ol or E fex Pro

Tools in Analog fex ro

ilver fex ro


Sujith Gopinath

We are not s u re w hat is more tec hnic al l y c hal l enging than retou c hing a portrait.

ith innumerable fine details and parameters to tak e c are of, it is a challenge. Add to it, the fact that you are playing around with the sensibilities of s omeone' s pu bl ic appearanc e. M any of the portrait retouching methods are either complicated or involves mu l tipl e c ompl ex s teps that are eas y to be missed. nter this specialist from Anthropics. e have reviewed the earlier versions of this software, but the latest, ortrait ro , adds much more featu res w ith the hel p of A I.

Key FeaturesPortraitPro offers al l portrait retouching features that you would ever need. ome of the features include s k in s moothing, mak e- u p, 3 D rel ighting, hair colouring and expressions. kin smoothing makes use of lear kin

, an exclusive new tool designed to give natural results. It reproduces the s u bj ec t’ s ex is ting s k in tex tu re w hil e removing blemishes and shadows.

M ak eu p tool s al l ow you to appl y lipstick, eyeshadow, blusher and other such makeup elements with intuitive controls. ou can choose from a wide range of colours, textures and styles.

relighting lets you apply studio l ighting to the portraits . Y ou c an c orrec t shadows, add dimension etc. by moving the light source around your image.

ith ortrait ro , you can even c hange ex pres s ions in you r portraits in addition to adjusting the background. It also includes comprehensive interactive tutorials to help you use the s oftw are optimal l y.

The software can detect face, age and gender and locate features, skin, hair and background areas. The ortrait ro

uses AI, image recognition and deep learning to detect features. ou c an enhanc e eyes w ith fal s e eyel as hes , eyeliner, eyeshadow and mascara in addition to changing the iris colour, sharpen eyes and lashes, brighten iris, add catchlights etc.

ortrait ro tudio and tudio ax versions include mart ilter that gets integrated with hotoshop, Raw processing and batch processing.

EvaluationIt is a c hal l enge to bring ou t al l the c apabil ities of a s oftw are in a few pages with limited time in our hands. ut here is what it does in a nutshell. ere I have tried to assess the performance of all the parameters even though those are u nnec es s ary) that the s oftw are has provided and hence the results could be too overwhelming. e received the tudio version, which includes the Photos hop pl u gin option.

Open Imageor this evaluation, we are using

an image from ou r s toc k . O nc e you open an image in PortraitPro 1 9 , the software attempts to identify the face, mark various facial features and assess the gender of the model. uring this time, you can fix the orientation of the image from the panel on the right hand side.

Retouch Like a ProPortrait Pro 19 Approx. `3,500

[Standard version]


SOFTWARE REVIEW


Fa n ifi a ionnce the face has been identified, the

software intelligently marks various facial features and displays the gender as identified. ou have the option to change these. ou can move the yellow

points on the purple lines to fine tune the selection. It is important to do this accurately because all other adjustments are based on these. ortrait ro will show you tips at each stage. ou can hide thes e tips if you w ant.

Auto RetouchingAfter identifying the facial features,

ortrait ro will do some basic retou c hing s u c h as s k in s moothing, removing blemishes etc. ou can use the zoom tool on top of the right hand panel to compare the details. This panel will also show the various control grou ps . Y ou c an s w itc h thes e on or off individually. ou can use the brushes on the top panel to redo or undo the skin adjustment effects.

Presetsortrait ro provides numerous presets

if you want to do it the easy way. ou get pres ets for s k in, eyes , mak eu p, hair etc. These presets are available on the right hand panel under the resets tab.

Manual ControlIf you want absolute control over retou c hing, c l ic k on the C ontrol s tab. This provides various options such as ace culpting, yes, ontact ens,

O pen Image Pres ets

ace Identification M anu al C ontrol

Auto Retouching


air, akeup, ips, ose etc. ou can move the main slider in each of these to fine tune the global parameters. If you c l ic k on the arrow ( > ) nex t to thes e, you can expand each set. It provides individual controls to fine tune each

individually move the position of the reflection and also adjust its intensity. Hair Colour

inally, I wanted to experiment with the hair colour. The software provides option to apply almost all types and c ol ou r of hair you c an think of. T he default selection was not perfect, es pec ial l y w here the hair c ol ou r merges w ith the s k in tone on the forehead. owever, there is a way to adjust the mask and fine tune it.

Hair MaskThis button is available in the

air group. It allows you to edit or recalculate the hair mask so that fine details are separated well. ou can then fine tune hair colour, texture etc. As you can observe, I discovered this feature after rendering the image, hence it has not been applied to the final image here.

Photoshop PluginPortraitPro 1 9 ins tal l s as a Photos hop pl u gin al ong w ith the standalone version if you have a compatible version of hotoshop installed. This allows you even more flexibility while working on the portrait since you have the option to work with layers and layer masks. This also allows you to fix any slight imperfec tions s u c h as s hifting/ w arping of background elements or any rare discontinuity of pixels.

Value for Moneyortrait ro is available in three

versions tandard, tudio and tudio ax. The tandard version provides all

retou c hing featu res ex c ept Photos hop smart filter, Raw file support and

atch mode. The tudio version includes all features except full batch processing. The tudio ax includes batc h proc es s ing. T he PortraitPro

tandard retails for U . approximately I R , while the tudio version is available for U

. approximately I R . The tudio ax version can be downloaded

for U . approximately I R , . All these prices are after a

download discount currently available on the Anthropics website. This is very good pricing for this software, considering that it is a onetime investment. |SP

element in this group such as widening eyes , c hanging the s hape of mou th, fac e, nos e etc .

RelightingA very interesting feature in the PortraitPro 1 9 is rel ighting. W ith this , you can change the studio lighting properties on a profes s ional s c al e. Y ou can move around the main light source and also adjust the shadows. ou can al s o c hange the s ize of the l ight s ou rc e. This also allows you to fine tune the s k in mas k s o that you c an c ontrol the spread of these adjustments.

Eyes and LipsThere are various other features such as akeup, air and yes. At this stage, I have applied a subtle makeup to the portrait w ithou t affec ting the texture of the skin a lot, added some kohl and eye shadow to the eye area, changed the eye colour to green, added a window light reflection in the eyes, whitened and cleaned teeth and finally applied a lipstick with a slight glow, preserving the texture of the lips. hile applying reflection in the eyes, you can

Relighting

air ask

yes and ips

Photos hop Pl u gin

air olour


SOFTWARE REVIEW

FINAL SCORE

Key Features 18/20

Ease of Use 18/20

Performance 17/20


Support 16/20

VERDICTPortraitPro 19 is a powerful portrait retouching software that provides a an a u s i ll n fintuning capabilities. You do not require any technical expertise to use this so a an in uil u o ials o i su fi i n l ainly a s uy

PLUS MINUS• Excellent features• Extensive preset library• Intuitive controls• Masking and editing options• Photoshop plugin• Great value for money

• None observed

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTSProcessor: z processor or faster recommended.Memory: RA minimum recommended. To handle larger images megapixel or more you would benefit from having or more RA .Display: x minimum supported display size.OS: indows bit indows , indows

, or indows , with the latest updates installed.

ac bit mac . or later

86%

Original

Final


PhotoANSWERS: 1 (b) (c) and (d), 2 (a),3 (b), 4 (c) and (d), 5(c), 6 (d), 7 (b), 8 (a), 9 (c), 10 (d)

QUIZ


1 Cameras with the Exakta name were made by companies other than Ihagee or Pentacon after 1960. Which were these companies?a) Pentaxb) C os ina

c) Petri d)T opc on

2 Eastman Kodak of the US acquired a German company based in Stuttgart in 1932.This company sussequently produced the world famous line of Kodak Retina Reflex cameras. Which was that company?

a) N agel K ameraw erk b) E L O P- W erk e c) W irgin K ameraw erk d) K W

3 The Contax brand originally belonged to Carl Zeiss Jena. After the Second World War, most of Carl Zeiss fell in East Germany and Contax cameras were manufactured by the combine called VEB Pentacon. However, the West German part of Carl Z eiss sued and won the rights to use the Contax name. Along came a new range of cameras called the Contaflex. However, the Contaflex range could not compete with the Japanese brands. The solution was to tie up with one of the top Japanese names. Name the c ompany with which Zeiss had extensive talks before finally tying up with Yashica.

a) C anon b) Pentax c) N ik on d) O l ympu s

4 Nippon Kogaku was the company that launched the Nikon brand. Initially, Nikon ‘relied’ on the major German brands for its camera bodies and lenses. Name them.

a) Sc hneider b) C arl Z eis s c) Z eis s Ik on d) L eic a

5 The oldest optical photographic firm was founded in 1756. That firm was:

a) L eic a b) R ol l ei c) V oigtl ander d) Z eis s

6 The Voigtlander brand today is owned by:

a) Z eis s b) R ol l ei c) Sc hneider d) C os ina

7 Singapore has never been known to manufacture cameras or lenses. However, there was one exception in the 1970s when SLRs were manufactured in Singapore. Which was the model?

a) R ic oh K R - 1 0 b) R ol l eifl ex SL 3 5 c) A l pa 1 1 e d) R egu l a R efl ex 2 0 0 0 C T L

8 In early years, the Japanese manufacturers were inspired by German technology and designs. By the 1970s, however, Japan reigned supreme in SLRs and G erman companies like Rollei actually used a Japanese camera design to launch their SLR, the Rolleiflex SL 35. Which Japanese camera model was it inspired from?

a) Pentax Spotmatic b) Petri F T c) M iranda Sens orex d) M inol ta SR – T 1 0 0

9 The Kowa Company of Nagoya, Japan started producing cameras in the 1950s and made both rangefinders and SLRs. Kowa stopped camera manufacture in the 1970s. Even today, Kowa continues to make:

a) F il ters b) C amera ac c es s ories c) B inoc u l ars and tel es c opes d) L ens es

10Every camera manufacturer had a unique brand name for

their lenses. What were Olympus’ lenses called?

a) H el ios b) Panc ol ar c) F u j inon d) Z u ik o




`150


Portrait Pro 19

Nik Collection 3

Also ReviewedPostcards from SalzburgPhoto Feature

De-Noise an Image

Magnifi cation Ratios

Set up a Home Studio

Tutorials

Aditya SridharProfi le


REVIEWSNIKON D 6

VIVO V 1 9TAMRON

. I III

SUBS

CRIB

ER’S

COP

Y T

OTAL

PAG

ES 8

4

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