Update: Back in Kenya

Long hiatus, hey?

Between my last blog post - a review of the excellent DxO PhotoLab software - and now, I returned to Kenya with the family.

With the change in circumstances, so to comes a change in the tone and content of what I will blog about. (I do other stuff now. Plus, it’s a bit harder to get the latest kit for review here in East Africa!)

I have re-transitioned (that’s officially a word) from UK photo press to image maker and storyteller for the faith-based charity SIM. It was time again to put the kit to good use!

There’s lots to catch up on from six months in East Africa. I’ve traveled some, and worked on a few fresh stories for SIM. (Plus all the usual image making outside of work.)

SIM Stories, developing that eye and technique for video, pictures of places and people - look out for new blog posts about it all from this point forward!

New kit for the Kenya return: GH5 camera, M4T to NIkon manual lens adaptor, 20mm f/1.8 lens

Kit update

For those interested in the kit, the new videos I will share with you have been shot using the Panasonic Lumix GH5 - a camera that I picked up a few days before flying to Kenya.

In East Africa I make more videos than I do photos. The Nikon D800 isn’t quite geared for that. Put the GH5 and D800 in the kit bag together and that’s both covered, with each camera having a set purpose - happy days.

Having delayed for so long because strictly speaking I didn’t ‘need’ it, I finally took the plunge on a full-frame wide-angle lens for all those luscious landscapes I shoot with the D800. I no longer use the 12-24mm f/4 crop-format (DX) lens for landscape photography on that full-frame body, but a shiny new 20mm f/1.8 G (FX) lens. This lens ticked all the boxes for me: focal length, price, size, filter thread, maximum aperture.

Lastly, I also purchased a micro-four-thirds to Nikon manual lens adaptor, in order to access all the Nikon glass I have for use with the GH5.

What has been a pleasant surprise is just how great a pairing the GH5 and 20mm f/1.8 lens is for video. With a 2x crop factor, that’s a 40mm f/1.8 lens that is very sharp and offers great control over depth of field, albeit without stabilisation or AF.

I’ve had a little fun with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on the GH5 via the adaptor too - that’s a 400mm equivalent maximum reach.

The only new glass I need to consider in the future for the GH5 is that which would give me AF and stabilisation. The just announced Panasonic 10-25mm f/1.7 lens certainly has caught the eye and has jumped to the top of the wishlist.

All in all, I feel smug about how significantly I’ve improved the kit bag for video and for landscape photography, with what was a relatively modest outlay.

Rotolight AEOS review

When new photographic technologies establish themselves, we often see supporting accessories emerge. The Rotolight AEOS is a case in point, being a portable and professional-grade bi-colour LED light that also operates as a HSS flash unit. 

It makes total sense to create lights that perform both continuous and flash lighting, what with more and more cameras and therefore image makers shooting both professional photos and videos. 

The British LED lighting specialist Rotolight now has a well-established range of circular LED lights that aim to cater for both video and photography, with three models available. 

In the range is the recently launched Rotolight Anova Pro 2, which is the largest and most powerful. The Rotolight Neo 2 is the smallest with most modest output, while the Rotolight AEOS sits in the middle. 

The LED lights provide professional-grade colour accuracy with flicker-free output and an easily adjustable colour temperature to match the ambient light. 

Typically the flash feature provides a 250% boost in output of the maximum continuous LED output, with a 1/8000sec max sync speed and no recycle time.

So, the Rotolight AEOS makes for great reading, but what is the reality? I found out when shooting portraits of a band that a couple of my friends are in. 

Rotolight AEOS: Ease of Use

Rotolight supplied me with the AEOS kit, which contains two AEOS light panels, light stands, 4-piece filter set and a carry case, plus an additional Elinchrom Skyport HSS wireless transmitter, barn doors, yokes and V-mount batteries.

I'd say that the V-mount batteries are an essential optional extra in order to make the most out of these lights for location work. 

It takes but a few of minutes to remove the panels from the case, mount them to stands and have them ready to go. Whether you are familiar with LED light panels or not, it doesn’t get much simpler.  

Each light panel weighs approximately 1.4kg. They can be mounted to a light stand or held by hand using the aluminium brackets. It is really easy to hold the light by hand and position it at all angles. Add the optional V-Mount battery and things get a little heavier. The battery is half the weight of the panel again, meaning the combination is above 2kg.  

On the back of the light one is faced with a basic control layout, including a small backlit LCD screen that by default displays the output of the light. It switches to display whatever control is being operated.  

Then there are two red knobs that control the power output and colour temperature. The dials are sensitive to rotation speed, so you can make quick and severe adjustments through to slow and precise. You get manual control over output, plus a colour temperature range of 3,150 to 6,300 kelvin. 

The maximum continuous light output is quoted at 5,750 lux at 3 feet. However, this is true when the light is set to a middle colour temperature of approximately 4,400 kelvin, where both bi-colour LEDs are at their brightest. Go to either extreme; 3,150k or 6,300k and the light output is notably reduced.  

Press both red knobs on the rear simultaneously and a menu is opened up where the flash feature can be accessed. Again there is manual control over output, but I expect most users will choose the flash to gain the 250% boosted output.  

Also, in that additional menu is the CinemaSFX effects, where the light panel can recreate lighting effects such as a flickering fire. These novel features may grab the interest of aspiring filmmakers.  

The V-mount batteries that were used for this test are claimed to provide up to 3 hours of shooting time, which is plenty of time for a full shoot. Certainly, I didn’t come close to draining those batteries during any of the shoots that I used the batteries for. If these lights are going to be used on location, then the v-mount batteries are an essential optional extra.  

Of course the advantages to LED lights over tungsten bulb lights is that LEDs do not overheat in the same way. If you’re in a cramped environment, it’s a godsend. With the lights often positioned close to my subjects, I had no concern for them becoming uncomfortable by any heat emission. 

Rotolight AEOS: Performance

During the main shoot of the band I most regularly used the AEOS lights at the tungsten end of 3,150k in order to match the ambient light. As this setting the output is still reasonable with the panel positioned close to my subjects. 

To give you a small idea of the level of output, with the light set to 3,150k the camera exposure settings for the group shot of four people positioned around 5 feet from the light read as f/4, 1/200sec at ISO 800.  

This level of output is respectale for such a compact light panel. Also, the CRI 96 and TLCI 91 ratings are professional-grade, so no worries about off-colours there within the colour temeprature range of 3,150 to 6,300 kelvin.  

As for the flash feature, its output does not come close to a dedicated flashgun. On paper a 250% boost in output sounds great, but this is of the maximum continuous output of 5750 lux, which is a mere fraction of a studio flash.  

However, to its advantage, the flash does not have a recycle time so you can fire it repeatedly with no delay with a max flash sync speed is 1/8000sec. Take that, dedicated flash gun.

To me, the flash is a nice added feature rather than a genuinely useful tool. I would usually use the lights in their continuous mode to illuminate my subjects. 

An AEOS light is best suited to image making when the ambient light is quite low, like a cloudy day, at nighttime or indoors. On a sunny day, the light is less useful.  

Over the course of the band shoot, a couple of the guys complained about the brightness of the light panel - it being too bright for them to look at. Indeed, they did get a little red-eyed. 

I could have added diffusers or reduced the light output. Also, I could have used the flash feature more, because when using flash the continuous output is dimmed between flashes.  

A final note on the lights. They are circular in shape which means you get a lovely circular catch light, that is not too dissimilar to a ring flash. 

Rotolight AEOS pricing

Each Rotolight panel costs £749.99 ex VAT, plus there are plenty of optional extras such as V-mount batteries (£241.66 ex VAT each).

Once you add up all these extras the setup is very expensive, but hey most LED lighting is. For more information about the Rotolight AEOS, which is also available as a two light kit with case and stands (£1583.33 ex VAT), please visit the Rotolight website.  

Rotolight AEOS: Conclusion

It’s a wonderful concept; a portable light that is at home in both the studio and on location, for both videos and photography. And to a large extent, the Rotolight AEOS works. 

In the hand, the unit is portable and light. You can take the light with you wherever you go and set it up really quickly and power them by mains supply or optional batteries.  

Where the Rotolight AEOS shines is as a continuous LED light. The colour reproduction is flawless, the cinemaSFX effects are a nice touch and the output is nice and bright for closeup subjects.  

The lights really come into their own in slightly dimmer conditions like indoors or outside during an overcast day. The 250% brighter flash output is a bonus feature, but is no way near the output of a dedicated flash unit. If the ambient light is already bright, you may struggle to see the benefit of the Rotolight AEOS.  

With three lights in the range at three different size/ output points, I think the AEOS strikes a good balance. It’s portable and for the best part, powerful.   

The light in itself is on the expensive side. When you factor in optional extras that are quite necessary to make the most out of the light for location work, then things get very expensive. V-Lock batteries, charger units, barn doors, yokes and so on all add up to a system that costs in the thousands.  

Price aside, the Rotolight AEOS is a user-friendly and versatile light with perfectly accurate output.  

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II: Best image stabilisation ever

A while back I had my hands on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II for a full test. While using the camera I was keen to test out one of its headline features, its unmatched image stabilisation.

Up to 6.5EV image stabilisation seems to good to be true. Rather audaciously an Olympus spokesperson even claims that image stabilisation is limited to 6.5EV by the rotation of the earth. Say what?

What does this mean in plain English?

Well, there's the old camera settings guide for sharp handheld shots. It's shutter speed = focal length. That means when shooting at 30mm, a shutter speed of 1/30sec should give you sharp results. Should.

If you factor in 6.5EV to this equation, you should be able to get a sharp handheld image up to 3 seconds with the E-M1 Mark II. Ridiculous. 

That 6.5EV is for select Olympus lenses only, though 5.5EV is possible for other lenses, which is still amazing. On the same calculations as above for 5.5EV, I can get a sharp image at 1-2 seconds.

Does the camera deliver? Yes, yes it does. Oh and by the way it transforms shaky handheld video footage into silky smooth loveliness.

I've heard the term witchcraft being thrown around about this image stabilisation by level-headed camera nerds (yes tongue in cheek, but paints a picture of how this technology has been received by those in the know).

This is camera technology at its very best.

You can read the full piece on the hireacamera.com website.

Nikon D850 for action

Can a high-resolution camera like the Nikon D850 really be suitable for action photography? Nikon thinks so.

I thought I'd give it a go, capturing kitesurfers and cyclists among others and have been encouraged by the camera's snappiness. So what are my top four reasons as to why the D850 is up to the task?

• Body
• Shooting modes & Performance
• Auto Focusing
• DX crop mode

Body

Getting close to action often puts the camera at risk of damage. Thankfully, the build quality of the D850 is excellent. I had no hesitation exposing the camera to salt-water splashes and sand at the beach. (I stood waist deep in the ocean against the waves, with the review sample of the camera in hand, shh.)

Shooting action usually means taking lots of pictures which drains the camera battery, while going to places where it is hard to access charging points. We were blown away when seeing the battery life of the D850. It's a class-leading 1,840 single shots. If that wasn't enough, it's 5,140 shots with the optional battery pack and MB-D18 battery inserted. That’s plenty of high-speed sequences covered.

Shooting Modes & Performance

With such a high-resolution it seems optimistic that the D850 could deliver for action, but it has the same EXPEED 5 processor as the Nikon D5, which is a camera used by professional action photographers.

With more pixels, the D850’s 7fps high-speed shooting does not match the 12fps of the Nikon D5. However, add the optional battery pack and you'll get 9fps, with full-time AF. From experience, you’re highly likely to capture that key moment with 9fps at your disposal. 

At 7fps, the camera will shoot up to 51 full-resolution raw images in a single burst before slowing down. That seems kind of crazy - around 350MB of data per second sustained for 7 seconds approximately. However, you’ll need to use an XQD and UHS-II compliant SD memory card to get the most out of the high-speed shooting. 

Autofocus

More importantly than high-speed shooting modes, the D850 has the same phase detection AF system as the Nikon D5. It is just about the best autofocus system of any camera. 

The 153-point AF array covers a large portion of the frame so will track off-centre subjects. Plus, AF sensitivity is down to -4EV in the centre AF point, which enables sharp and quick focusing in near darkness. 

With kitesurfers and cyclists, once the subject is tracked the camera will keep it in focus for the entire sequence, for what is on average 9 out of 10 shots.

DX crop mode

You've got to get close to the action, right? Here’s where the high-resolution really comes into play. In the DX crop mode you’ll get pictures at a totally useable 19.4-million-pixels with a 1.5x magnification factor of Nikon’s full-frame lenses. That’s almost the same resolution as the D500 and D5, which have 20.9MP. 

In DX mode and with a 2x teleconverter, I have a good relatively portable and cost-effective wide aperture telephoto lens option for action. My Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR II lens becomes a 270-600mm f/5.6 lens!

Also, in the DX (APS-C format) crop mode that wide 153-point AF array covers virtually the entire frame - that’s how wide the coverage is. Most AF points are the more sensitive cross-type down to f/8, so the best AF accuracy is possible in DX crop mode. 

For a little more detail about my experience using the Nikon D850 for sports and action, you can read the full feature over at Photography Blog.

Nikon D850 for portraits

Last week I shared my review of the Nikon D850, which I said may well be the only DSLR camera you ever need. As a follow up I have used the D850 in various scenarios to check its prowess in popular photography disciplines.

First up is portraits. Here are my five top reasons as to why the Nikon D850 is so good for portraits:

• Resolution & Detail
• Dynamic range
• Colour & Metering
• Lenses
• Composition

Resolution & Detail

45.4-million-pixels gives you a heck of a lot of detail and massive prints sizes of 874x583mm at 240dpi. Of all DSLRs, only the Canon EOS 5DS out-resolves the D850. Detail is clean from ISO 32 to ISO 1600

Dynamic Range

From my experience with the D850, its dynamic range is quite exceptional. At its true base ISO 64 setting, the breadth of tonal detail from highlights to shadows has been likened to medium format cameras. Less detail lost in those bright highlights like shine on skin. More detail recovered from dark areas too.

Colour & Metering

Perhaps one of the bigger surprises is just how well the D850 renders colour. Nikon’s latest 3D colour matrix metering III system and 180,000-pixel RGB metering sensor gives accurate exposures right off-the-bat and skin tones are lovely when using the Neutral picture setting.

Lenses

You'll want dreamy out of focus areas in most portraits. Well, there are plenty of fast-aperture f/1.4, Nikon-fit prime lenses that give the control over depth of field akin to medium format cameras.

Composition

Getting the right composition is key too. With Nikon's largest through-the-eye viewfinder yet and vibrant 3.2in tilt-touchscreen, you can clearly see the composition even when it's dark or the camera angle is awkward. 

For a little more detail on my experience using the Nikon D850 for portraits, including how it compares to the Nikon D800, please read my feature on Photography Blog.

Lake District Landscapes: A Guide to Derwent Water

If you have looked through any of my photo galleries, you will have noticed the landscapes of the Lake District feature abundantly. I love this place. An early morning out with the camera exploring here is heaven for me.

Recently I put together a photographer's guide to my favourite place in the Lake District - Derwent Water - for WEX Photographic. In the guide, I suggest several views to check out, ways to get around and the best subjects to look out for.

So, if you are considering a trip to what is pretty much the most beautiful part of England, check out my guide through the link below.

Photographer's Guide to Derwent Water, Lake District.