subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 5 October 2019 27
USING DSLRS
20fps I’d have 200 frames to go
through. I know you can reduce the
frames per second speed, but the
temptation would be to keep it high,
just in case. When you get into that
territory, to me it feels less like being
a photographer and more like you’re
taking a screen grab. Even after all
this time, I enjoy proving my ability
and catching the moment. If I shot
at 20fps a lot of the time, I’d end up
with 15TB of images a year, most of
which I wouldn’t need.
Another qualm is shutter roll.
I know some mirrorless cameras
have fixed this, but I’ve found it to
be an issue when I shoot moving
subjects. And if the buildings in
your background appear to have
turned into a melting Dali painting,
the picture is unusable. I’ve shot
with the Nikon Z 6 but did so with
the mechanical shutter switched on,
because I couldn’t risk shutter roll.
The electronic viewfinder is less
of an issue for me than it might be
for some photographers. However,
I do have one concern about them
that potentially marks me out as
a bit of a dinosaur. We’ve always
been told not to sit too close to TV
screens because it might damage
our eyes, and with mirrorless you
are basically holding up a tiny TV
screen a centimetre from your eye.
I’m not sure what the long-term
implications of that will be. A
colleague of mine was using a
camera with an EVF, and he started
having trouble with his eye. He had
tests that concluded he had eye
strain, so he sold his mirrorless
camera, got a D850 and has been
fine ever since.
Battery life is something I love
about the Nikon D5 in particular.
When I’m not filing images live
from it, and the network is turned
off, I can charge my batteries once
every ten days – and that’s using
it for work every day. With
mirrorless, everything uses andneeds power, so you end up with
a pocket full of batteries.
Having said all this, I know it’s
only a matter of time before a pro
mirrorless camera comes along, and
when it does, I’ll be very interested
in trying it. All my gear is owned by
Getty Images, so I’m in a fortunate
position, and it’ll be down to them
to decide whether there’s a benefit
to changing systems.’Below: Timing is
everything – but
the capacity to
shoot 20fps takes
away the joy of the
perfectly timed
shot, Leon believes© LEON NEAL /GETT Y IMAGES