Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

6 15 June 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

PANASONICusedtherecentCineGear 2019

showin LosAngelestolaunchitsLeicaDG

Vario-Summilux10-25mmF1.7ASPHlensforMicro

FourThirds.Thiswide-aperturezoomlens,which

wasannouncedat lastyear’sPhotokina,hasa fast

constantapertureof f/1.7anda 35mmequivalent

focalrangeof 20-50mm,alongwithvideo-friendly

silentoperationviaitsinnerfocusdrivesystem.It also

hasa mechanismtominimisefocusbreathing– that

slightfall-offin focallengthwhichcanoccurwhenan

objectis broughtsharplyintofocus.Thelensfeatures

17 elementsin 12groups,andcanfocusascloselyas

0.28m.Althoughit lacksbuilt-instabilisation,most

contemporaryMicroFourThirdscamerasarenow

stabilisedin-body,andthelenshasa relativelyshort

focallengthtobeginwith(weighing690git should

alsobeeasytoholdsteady).You’dneverdescribethis

asa budgetlens,however,asit goesonsaleforthe

recommended price of £1,799 from 15 July.

AFTERacquiringtheNikCollection
of creativeimage-processingplug-ins
fromGooglein 2017,DxOhaslaunchedits
firstmajorupgrade.NikCollection2 from
DxOcomeswithseveralkeyupdates,
including 42 newpresetsthatbringthetotal
numberto198.Togethertheyformthe‘En
Vogue’collection,with 10 eachavailablein
ColorEfexPro,SilverEfexProandAnalog
EfexPro,and 12 in HDREfexPro.
Meanwhile,Windowsuserswithhigh-
resolutionmonitorsshouldalsofindthe
graphicuserinterfacemucheasiertouse
thankstotheadditionof HiDPIsupport.
Thebiggestchange,though,is thatNik
Collection2 nowcomesbundledwithDxO’s
ownraw-processingsoftware,PhotoLab2.
EssentialEdition.Thisprovidesdirectsupport
forcamerarawfiles,meaningusersno
longerhavetoemployAdobePhotoshopor
Lightroomasthehostprogram.Thisshould
pleasethosewhodislikethesubscription
modelof payingforsoftware.However,it
bringsa heftypricerise:NikCollection2 will
cost£125,or£69forthoseupgradingfrom
DxO’s 2018 version.Discountedpricesof
£86.99and£49.99,respectively,are
availableuntil 30 June.It’savailableto
download now from shop.dxo.com/en.

DxO addsrawsupport

to Nik Collection

Panasonic releases

fast 10-25mm lens

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Studentsare

askedtoenter

imagesthat

havea ‘Family’

theme

THEORGANISERSof PhotoNorthare

invitingallstudentstakingpartin lens-

basedcourses(eitherin theUKorabroad)to

submitentriesforitsStudentCompetition.

Thisyearthephotocompetitioninvites

studentstoexplorewhatfamilymeansto

them.Theorganiserssay,‘Yourprojectmay

wanttoexplorewhatbringsfamiliestogether:

a place,a birth,birthday,parenthood,pets,

weddings,memories,holidays,funerals,illness,

graduation,foodandtraditions.Oryoumay

want to explore what divides a family and

causestensionandconflict.’

Youcanshootwithdigitaloranalogue,and

anykindof genre– ormixof genres.The

competitionis freetoallstudents,withentrants

alsogainingfreeentryintothePhotoNorth

festivalwhichtakesplacethisNovember.

Thedeadlineforentriesis 8 November.The

judgesincludePeterDench,co-organiserof

PhotoNorth;PaulHermannof Redeyeand

AngelaSheardof ImpressionsGallery.Prizes

willincludea cameraanda mentoringsession.

For more details, see photonorthfestival.co.uk.

Photo North student contest now open

ThisnewMicroFourThirdslens

boasts an aperture of f/1.