Author: David Kilpatrick

Professional photographer and journalist, founder and editor of magazines PHOTOpro, Photon, Freelance Photographer, f2 and Cameracraft. For 25 years director of the Minolta Club. Fellow of the BIPP and Hon. Fellow of the MPA.

Our November/December issue is out now

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All of our direct digital download subscribers have now been sent their link to get a high-res PDF of the latest edition – and all those subscribing through Pocketmags or reading on Apple, Amazon or Google devices are enjoying their favourite photographic title.

Every picture tells a story, and we ask our photographers to tell the stories connected with their images. Faye Yerbury explains how someone copied her work by shooting over the shoulder, Paul Hands reveals his best-selling ever jigsaw – a perfect Christmas scene in Olde England! We visit the Beamish Living Museum of the North and a night time shoot with a World War II bomber, see how the Sony A7IV shapes up with major firmware updates, try Tamron’s lovely little 20-40mm f/2.8 zoom, and make prints for D-I-Y photo books and greetings cards using doubled sided inkjet papers

To subscribe on Pocketmags (currently they have a sale on) just go to https://pocketmags.com/f2-cameracraft-magazine

We also have printed copies ready to post – we don’t keep a large stock of back issues so move fast! New subscriptions taken out in November will start with this issue.

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Uncategorized

Fake SSD drives hit Walmart in USA

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Our good friend and epic photographer Frank Doorhof alerted his Facebook followers today to Walmart selling imaginary 30TB tiny SSD drives for almost nothing. This saga just continues – Amazon has certainly been duped by vendors, Facebook may or may not finally have stopped the fraudulent adverts.

Back in March/April edition of Cameracraft we lifted the lid on one of these fake SSDs. I don’t know if any other UK photo magazines have bothered to do the same. We just try to give readers information they need!

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Technology, Tests / Reviews, Troubleshooting

Sign up now to read the next issue first!

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Your compact environmentally friendly photo magazine is less than 10% advertising and every printed copy reaches a reader – no ‘returns’ or landfill from the news trade, subscription only! Sign up here and join our readership helping create a truly independent mag. The digital edition is even better for the environment, you can get it as a top quality PDF download to keep (on this site) or an App from Pocketmags for Kindle, Apple, PC and all devices – https://pocketmags.com/f2-cameracraft-magazine

The latest issue, September/October 2022, takes us to the end of summer with a preview of The Photography Show (Sept 17-21) and tech tests of the £5,000 Leica Q2, Tamron’s £239 24mm f/2.8, the 7Artisans 50mm f/0.95 and the Rogue Round Flash kit which makes ordinary old camera-top flash work like circular reflector systems. It goes lives at 1.00am on September 1st, after our copies go out in the August 30th mail.

We kick off with Danny and Ted’s amazing adventure – our rock photographer’s encounter with heavy metal’s Ted Nugent. Kevin Wilson takes Sigma’s 105mm f/1.4 to Sicily for his daughter’s long-delayed wedding – Iain Poole shoots cars and bikes on the sands of the Yorkshire coast. Kenny Martin pushes the value of learning and training, while in Boston USA we meet Jaypix Belmer and her Hiphop and street culture projects.

Ian Knaggs perseveres despite creating images which he doesn’t like. Mark McNeill’s new book on Amazon, Britain by Night, gets four pages with a following feature on dark sky astro photography from Kate Hughes. Tim Goldsmith wonders which of today’s cameras will ever be as legendary as the Nikon F – and we show the results of our second Assignment, plus a Rearview Gallery devoted to black and white.

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Download or read through our July-August edition free

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Cameracraft is received exclusively by subscribers and members of The Guild of Photographers. It’s easy to get single copies or subscriptions from this site, and in addition to the printed magazine digital delivery is an eco-friendly low cost alternative which fully supports our unique magazine.

After our subscribers receive their copies whether digital or printed, we wait a couple of weeks before releasing this viewable and downloadable PDF version. It’s a good quality too with the PDF created at Retina screen resolution so you can zoom in or use a large screen. To download and keep you may need to right-click if the PDF opens in a browser window – it’s normal now to have an extension installed which does this. You will however get a better choice of view modes by saving an opening using Adobe Acrobat. Select Two Page view to see the spreads properly, and expand your window to fill your screen. Don’t select ‘Full Screen’ mode as for some reason Adobe make this disable the two-page view!

Your downloaded PDF will include all email and URL links from the text on the pages.

CCJulAug2022

Click to access CCJulAug2022.pdf

Read here using the navigation tools. Download using the link below the embedded version.
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Landscape, Magazines, Photo Techniques, Subscriptions, Trade News

Luminar Neo’s new portrait background removal

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Luminar Neo has gained a new tool – Portrait Background Removal, enabling the background behind a subject to be made transparent in one click. Careful hair-by-hair selections are done by trained neural networks.

Portrait Background Removal tool can be found in the Luminar Neo Layer masking options. 

It offfers:

  • Remove Background without Layering. Just open Luminar Neo, load an image, and select Portrait Background Removal.
  • Get clean assets for composing. Any portrait you edit can be exported as a PNG with a transparent background, a great base for seamless photo composing.
  • Create realistic portraits with AI that’s precisely trained on people. AI scans the image to find and select human figures as accurately as possible. Luminar Neo has an option to edit several images in a click with custom saved Presets, so editing event portraits becomes faster.
  • Achieve precise selections without extreme effort. The portrait and the background are highlighted in different colours. A Transition Brush refines the edges by removing unnecessary elements where the portrait and background touch. The Object Brush revives portrait details that may have been eliminated by the neural network, while the Background Brush helps to additionally remove parts that aren’t detected by the AI. 

Luminar Neo is available as a one-time purchase or as a subscription. The new architecture is flexible, so it can be easily updated in the future. Luminar Neo is available in both the Microsoft Store and the macOS App Store. Luminar Neo works as a plugin, so you can keep your images in your preferred photo editor while still benefiting from its powerful AI tools.

Additionally, the brand-new Luminar Share mobile app allows you to quickly and seamlessly transfer images from your phone to your computer. Take a photo, edit it, and post it to social media without third-party programs that reduce quality. Luminar Share is available on the Google Play Store and the macOS App Store.​​

To learn more about Luminar Neo and sign up for updates, visit http://skylum.com/luminar-neo. 

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News, software

Rogue runs full circle – magnetic flash modifiers

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ExpoImaging, Inc., creators of the Rogue FlashBender speedlight modifiers, today announced new Rogue Round Flash Magnetic Modifiers for popular round flashes and rectangular speedlight flashes including Godox V1, Godox R100, Godox HR200 head for AD200, Geekoto GT 250, Geekoto GTR, and Westcott FJ80. Compatibility with Profoto A1, Profoto A1x, and Profoto A10 flashes requires the Rogue PF Adapter. Photographers want their speedlight modifiers to be easy-to-use, lightweight, and durable, and the new Rogue Round Flash Modifiers are all those things. Each modifier component is made from impact-resistant materials to withstand drops and conveniently stack together, whilst the white silicone dome collapses to save space in your gear bag. Rogue Round Flash Modifiers stay put because each magnetic component incorporates six custom-designed neodymium magnets, which provide a strong attachment force to the flash. The custom design safely and securely keeps the magnets within the modifier ring.

Rogue Flash Adapter has a stretchy silicone mount that enables a quick attachment to speedlight flashes using a metal ring mount to attach other magnetic modifier components.

Small adapter is compatible with Godox TT350, Canon 430, Nikon (SB600, SB800), Nissin (i40, i60A), Sony F32, and other similar sizes. The larger standard adapter is compatible with Canon 580, Godox 685, Nikon SB900, Nissin Di700A, Sony F60, and other similar sizes

Rogue Flash Gel Lens
Enables users to attach colour gels to circular flashguns by placing gels between the magnetic Gel Lens. Unlike other magnetic modifiers, the unique design safely captures the neodymium magnets and keeps them in place.

Compatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter (sold separately) to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10)Can be used with rectangular speedlight flashes when combined with the Rogue Flash Adapter (Standard or Small)

Rogue Flash Grid 45
The Rogue Flash Grid 45 provides a popular grid angle for spotlighting control when shooting classic portrait or commercial product photography. Use alone to create a circle of light with a 45-degree spread or stack together to create smaller light circles.

Compatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter (sold separately) to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10)Use with rectangular speedlight flashes when combined with the Rogue Flash Adapter

Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome
Great for wedding, event, and portrait photography, the Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome snaps securely to the flash and softly diffuses the light from shoe mount flashes.

Attaches directly to the flash with the Rogue Flash Gel Lens included in its baseCompatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80Requires the Rogue PF Adapter to be compatible with Profoto flashes (A1, A1x, and A10)

Rogue Round Flash Gels 
Place Rogue Round Flash gels between any two magnetic modifier components to add a colour correction or vibrant colours for your portrait photography. Available in two sets including the Ultimate Portrait Collection and the Colour Correction Collection.

Enhance your portrait photography with multiple shades of flash gelsGel diameter of 71.5mm fits other round flash modifier systemsCompatible with Godox (V1, R100, and HR200 head for AD200), Geekoto (GT 250, GTR) and Westcott FJ80

Bundle Kits for Round Flashes and Rectangular Speedlight Flashes 
The new Rogue Round Flash Modifiers are also available in kits with the most popular modifiers bundled for round flashes or rectangular speedlight flashes. For photographers exclusively using round flashes, the Rogue Round Flash Kit comprises the essential light modifiers, including the Rogue Flash Grid 45, Rogue Flash Gel Lens, Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome, 3-Gel Sample Set, and a storage pouch. This kit allows for the modification of two round flashes simultaneously using the grid or diffuser dome with the included sample gels. For photographers using round flashes and rectangular speedlight flashes, the Rogue Round Flash Kit + Rogue Flash Adapter bundle includes the Rogue Flash Grid 45, Rogue Flash Gel Lens, Rogue Flash Diffuser Dome, 3-Gel Sample Set, storage pouch, and a Rogue Flash Adapter (standard or small). This bundle allows for the modification of 2 flashes simultaneously (round flash or rectangular speedlight flash) using the grid or diffuser dome with the included sample gels. 

Rogue Round Flash Magnetic Modifiers Compatible with Rogue FlashBenders v3 
The Rogue FlashBenders v3 design is compatible with the new Rogue Flash Magnetic Modifiers. Previous versions of the Rogue FlashBenders are not compatible with the new magnetic modifiers.

Further information: Lumesca Group, UK distributors – https://www.lumesca.com; Expoimaging, manufacturers – https://www.expoimaging.com
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Cameracraft Assignment competition – enter by June 15th

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To enter this competition you must be a verified subscriber to Cameracraft – it doesn’t matter whether that is print or digital. but it must be directly with Icon Publications Ltd (Pocketmags subscriptions can not be verified). New digital subscriptions delivered in PDF format can be found here, see side bar, at £15 per year. Great prizes from Permajet at The Imaging Warehouse, and Anthropics developers of Portrait Pro and Landscape Pro.
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Sigma 16-28mm f2.8 E and L mount

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The companion for Sigma’s highly regarded 28-70mm f/2.8 compact zoom adds an unbroken range down to 16mm while retaining a small c. 77x100mm size, 72mm filter fit, and 450g weight. It is announced today and will be available to buy from June 17th for £749.99 (UK SRP) or $899 (US retail before tax).

The new 16-28mm seen fitted to Sony’s compact A7C, with the companion 28-70mm left. The two lenses together weigh only 920g.

The full-frame Sigma 16-28mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary offers a promise of exceptional optical quality with a faster constant maximum aperture in barrel size similar to existing f/4 16-35mm designs. Special attention has been given to field curvature correction for edge-to-edge sharpness, important in wide-angle views – this is enabled through the use of a built-in lens profile, correcting distortion and vignetting in-camera or during raw image processing. 

It uses five FLD (fluorite-like glass) elements and four aspherics to minimise chromatic and off-axis aberrations. The lens has an inner zoom mechanism that keeps overall length and the centre of balance constant, improving performance when zooming during a gimbal take. The 72mm filter thread is larger than the 67mm of the similarly light and small 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary.. At just 100.6mm long (L-mount version) and 450g it’s appealing for outdoor, social, street and travel photographers who want a lightweight outfit for day-long use.

The lens is constructed using aluminium and thermally stable polycarbonate, performing well in temperatures from the arctic to the equator, and has a dust and splash resistant mount. AF uses a proven stepper motor compatible with high-speed AF, DMF and AF or MF modes with an MF switch on the side. It focuses down to 25cm with a maximum image scale of 1:5.6, 0.17X and has a nine-blade rounded aperture. On the L-mount version only, linear and non-linear focus ring behaviour can be set using the USB Dock UD-11.

The lens is supplied with front and rear caps and a bayonet mounted petal lens hood. Sigma WR or WR Ceramic,WR UV and WR Circular Polarising 72mm filters are optional extras.

Sigma UK – https://sigma-imaging-uk.com

Product information – https://sigma-global.com/jp/lenses/c022_16_28_28

Lenses - E mount, News
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