GEAR ZONE
Nikon MB-N10 Battery Pack
£179/$198 http://www.nikon.co.uk
N
ikon has announced a
specially designed Z 6
and Z 7 battery grip
with room for two
EN-EL15B rechargeable Li-ion
batteries: the perfect addition for
the kit bags of professional Nikon Z
photographers out there.
When it comes to battery grips,
reliability is absolutely paramount,
and the grip has dust and water
resistance equivalent to the Z 6 and
Z 7 cameras themselves. This
means that you don’t need to worry
about the grip letting you down
when working in inclement
conditions. Sports and wildlife
photographers may be particularly
excited for this grip, and not just
due to its extra staying power. As
telephoto lenses typically tend to
be large and heavy, adding a
battery grip to counterbalance this
weight can help make your camera
setup more ergonomic. The grip,
however, has no controls on it – so
does not, for instance, feature a
secondary shutter release for
vertical shooting.
Interestingly, the Nikon Z 6 and
Z 7 battery grip supports the
hot-swapping of batteries. This is
when power automatically switches
from one battery to the other
without cutting out – particularly
good for videographers. It appears
you can also charge both batteries
inside the battery grip itself using
the EH-7P Charging AC Adaptor,
which uses an attached USB-C
cable to connect to the USB-C
port in the battery grip.FIRST IMPRESSIONS
We’re sure Nikon Z professionals
will be clamouring to get their
hands on this extra boost of power,
though don’t forget you’ll still need
to factor the cost of an extra
EN-EL15B to go inside the grip.DJI Mavic Mini
£369/$399 http://www.dji.comD
esipte the Mavic Mini
weighing a mere 249g,
it still crams in a
12-megapixel camera
with the ability to capture video at
up to 2.7k (topping out at 30fps), or
1080p at 60fps. Not quite the 4K
which the other Mavics can
manage, but these are weightier.
You also get a three-axis
mechanical gimbal – the
mechanism that holds the camera
and its 1/2.3-inch image sensor
steady as the drone vibrates. This is
especially impressive since even
some heavier drones only have two
motorized axes.
Flight time is up to 30 minutes,
with a theoretical 4km controlrange, plus there’s GPS and
collision sensors. Everything is
controlled from your phone via a
new DJI Fly app that includes a new
Cinesmooth mode – a kind of slow
mode that takes the sharp
movements out of your videos – as
well as a full range of automatic
manoeuvres to impress onlookers.FIRST IMPRESSIONS
With the UK, USA, Canada & China
now requiring registration of
drones over 250g, the
featherweight Mavic Mini is much
easier to buy and enjoy, or to give
as a gift. The fact that it barely
sacrifices any functionality is
especially impressive.Hoya6WDUVFDSHȦOWHUV
From £45/$TBA https://hoyafilter.com
A
stro photography
seems to be
increasingly popular,
but achieving the kind
of sharp, star-studded skyscapes
that pro astro photographers
capture isn’t easy. The mission can
be even harder when you factor in
the undesirable optical effects and
colour casts caused by ambient
light pollution and street lamps,
but now Hoya has a solution.
Hoya Starscape Light-Pollution
filters selectively filter out the
greeny-yellow hues of light
pollution for more natural-looking
night-time and astro shots, and
with the added benefit of improved
contrast. Using a filter to alter the
actual exposure saves significant
time trying to correct a colour cast
in Photoshop, especially when
working with multiple images taken
to form a time-lapse sequence.
These round, screw-in filters
attach straight to your lens’s filter
thread, so no extra adaptor or
holder is required. Filter diameters
range from 49mm up to 82mm,
and each is mounted in a
low-profile frame that should
guard against possible vignettingwhen used on an
ultra-wide lens.FIRST IMPRESSIONS
These filters look
great on paper and
may well produce
attractive results.
However, many
astrophotographers
tend to like using fast,
ultra-wide lenses with
bulbous front lens
elements that prevent
the use of screw-in
filters like these.