Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-04)

22 4 April 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

This week’s Icon was former AP columnist Bob Carlos Clarke

Back in theday

AwanderthroughtheAParchive.This

week we pay a visit to 6March 2010

Whoneedsfullframe?Thatwastheheadlinegracing

our8 February 2020 issuecover,justweeksago.We

thoughtwewerebeingoriginal,butalas,wewere

beatentoit tenyearsagobyDamienDemolder,AP’s

Editorat thetime.Still,recyclingis goodfortheplanet,

right?Lastmonth’sfeaturewasaboutbuckingthe

currenttrendforfull-framemirrorless,butin 2010

TechnicalEditorAngelaNicholsonwascomparingtwo

DSLRs:theAPS-CCanonEOS7Dandthefull-frame

EOS5DMarkII. Today,usersof eithercameramay

feelthatthey’reslummingit withthese‘antiques’(now

availableforpeanuts)butAngelaconcludedthatboth

cameraswereequallyexcellentin mostrespects,and

capableof producingastonishinglygoodA2prints,so

whatmorecouldyoureallywant,eventoday?

Elsewhere,theregularIconsof Photographyseries

recalledthelifeandworkof thelate,greatBobCarlos

Clarke, a great friend to AP who died tragically young.

2010

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freeentrytoRoundOne– PointsofView

APOY34630681

YOUR FREE ENTRY CODE

thatwarmsupfleshtones
justenough.
I usea Panasonicmicon
theG7whichgivesfirst-
classsoundreproduction.
Thefivecamerasmaintain
single-frameaccuracy
evenwitha longtake
approachingthe30min
maximum.Takingfull
controlof settingscanbe
sorewarding.
AlexanderMollison

FourThirdssensors
Inhisresponse(AP 7
March)tomyletterabout
FourThirdssensorsMr
Headinghasmadean
unfoundedassumptionon
thebasisof somethingthat
I didnotsay.OfcourseI do
notusehighISOsettings
formymacrowork:I use
thelowestpossibleISO
setting.ThehighISOtest
imagestowhichI referred
giveanideaof a sensor’s
signal-to-noiseratio,which
degradesimagequality
whateverISOsettingis
used.It doesnotgoaway
at lowISOsettings;it just
becomeslessobvious.I
fullyintendedtopurchase
theOlympusE-M5Mark
III,buttheAPtestresults,
whencomparedwith
thoseof theCanonEOS
M6MarkII, causedme
toreconsider.
Weareconstantlytold
thatlargersensorsare
better.Thelogicseemsto
bethata largersensorwill
havelargerpixels,whichwill
givea bettersignal-to-
noiseratioandproduce
‘cleanerimages’.However,
theCanonsensoris 48%
largerin area,butit has
59%morepixels,soits
pixelsareactuallysmaller
thanthoseof theOlympus.
Yet,Canon’ssmallerpixels
seemto havea muchbetter
signal-to-noiseratio.
Perhapsthisis becausethe
Canonsensoris new,and
theOlympussensoris now
fiveorsixyearsold?
Incontemplating
spendinga relativelylarge
sumona newcamerathat
I willusefora numberof
years,I wasforcedto
considerwhetherI was
happywiththisand
concluded I was not. For

myspecific requirementsit

appearstheCanonwould

bea betterchoice.Though

Olympuscamerasare

praisedfortheirsmallsize

andweight,excellent

handlingandergonomics,if

theirsmallerFourThirds

sensorsarenotkeptupto

datewiththelatest

technologytheywilllose

sales.If I havegotanyof

thiswrongI wouldloveto

beputright,butbefore

replying,pleasemakesure

thatyouhavereadand

understoodtheargument.

DavidBoettcher

It’struethattheCanon

EOSM6MarkII’ssensor

is,byanysensible

measure,ratherbetter

thantheOlympusOM-D

E-M5MarkIII’s.It’s

considerablyhigherin

resolution,whilegiving

lowernoiseathighISOs.

Thisreflectsthatit’sboth

largerin area,andnewer

technology.If that’sa

seriousconcernforyou,

thenit’sa perfectlyvalid

reasontoconsider

switchingsystems.

However,lensesare

justasimportantas

sensorswhenit comesto

imagequality.Canon’s

EF-Mlineupis very

limited,whileOlympus’s

MicroFourThirdsrange

is farwider,andincludes

opticsofhigherquality.

As a result, the E-M5 III

fittedwiththe12-

40mmf/2.8willlikely

givejustasgoodimages

in lowlightastheEOS

M6MarkII withthe

15-45mmf/3.5-5.6,if

notbetter.Thereare

plentyofotherfactors

toconsidertoo,of

course,includingsize

andweight,fixedvs

removableviewfinder,

weather-sealing,image

stabilisationandscreen

articulation.Theseall

contributedtousrating

theE-M5MarkIIImore

highly,onbalance,than

theEOSM6MarkII.But

everyonehasdifferent

needsandpreferences.

Auroralove

I’mgettingbackinto

photographyanddoinga

courseat a localcollege,

movingfromfilmtodigital,

whichhasbeena journey

in itself.I triedyourfree

Aurorasoftware:asit was

free,I didn’texpectmuch

butI’mveryimpressed

andit willprobablynowbe

mygo-to.Havingoffline

softwareis preferablefor

methanthosethatare

subscription-based.Unless

you’reconstantlyediting,I

don’tthinktheyareworth

themoney!

JorgenAnderson

Readerscanstill

downloadit – justvisit

skylum.com/ap-aurora.

Jorgen Anderson is impressed with his results using Aurora