Amateur Photographer - 27.09.2019

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Modern digital cameras’ features can

be complex and the manual is an

invaluable fallback. However, I didn’t

really feel that was as necessary on a

film camera over 50 years old. How

wrong could I be? Some years after

picking up a 1960s vintage EXA 500,

I subsequently came across the

instruction manual in a fair. Oh well.

Worth 50p. Well the last column and

image on this page from the guide

(see above) turned my thinking on its

head. Literally! They didn’t mention

how many stops of image stabilisation

can be gained by this technique. Note:

If you try this at home, please do not

leave a tripod attached during

thunderstormsIvor Share

Inbox

Pioneering image stabilisation

Photographic-speak

MichaelTopham’s overview

of the new Sony Alpha

7R IV (AP 3 August) raises

some issues about the

obscure language and

ideas we use in

photography, much of it

rooted in history. A

mirorless camera? Why

not call my motor car a

horseless carriage? No

cameras had mirrors

before the 1970s when a

heavy swinging mechanical

LETTER OF THE WEEK W NS A SAMSUNG EVO PLUS M CROSD CARD NOTE: PR ZE APPL ES TO UK AND EU RES DENTS ONLY

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Ivor was astounded by the last column and image in the manual for the EXA 500

devicewas invented to give

a view through the lens

because you could not

move the film. Now that

digital viewfinders have

vastly improved they are

simply redundant. He talks

about an APS-C crop

mode, but what does that

mean? What he describes

is actually a digital zoom,

but this expression became

a no-no when early digital

cameras used it without

suffi cient pixels. I enjoy the

broad scope of AP and

have learned so much

from it over the years. How

do other readers find

photographic-speak?

Phil Taylor

APS-C crop isn’t the

same as ‘digital zoom’,

just to clear things up.

Digital zoom implies

upscaling the image back

to the camera’s native

resolution after

cropping. In terms of

your main point, we

originally called

mirrorless cameras

Compact System

Cameras (CSC) but that

term became less

appropriate when larger,

full-frame mirrorless

cameras started

appearing. I’m with you

on some of the jargon

used in photography

though, Phil. The most

annoying one in my

opinion is ‘Four Thirds’

because it was a brand

new system so there was

no need to give it such a

ridiculous name, based

on obsolete TV

technology. I’d love to

hear which examples of

photography jargon most

irritate other readers

• Nigel Atherton, editor

Theperils

of insurance

Regardingyour recent ads

for camera insurance, and

the headline: ‘Why you

can’t afford not to insure

your kit.’ We thought this

about our sailing ship some

years ago. It was valued at

£200,000, but when

exceptional weather

caused her to founder, our

insurers went to great

lengths to avoid our claim,

causing us considerable

hardship, grief and

expense. Since then we

and some of our friends

have insured nothing other

than compulsory insurance

such as cars or property.

I have told several of

our friends that it is better

to place the premium value

into Premium Bonds, as

the chance of getting your

money back are more

certain. And the odds of

winning the big prize are as

good as the chances of the

insurance company

meeting any claim, without

an expensive long-drawn-

out claim procedure.

In the years since, we

have had at least six small

wins on the Premium

Bonds. We still have our

original investment and

one day we might hit the

big one. Much better

than insurance, which

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