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24 Articles

CHOOSING A CAMERA can be difficult! There are so many different types on the market, all claiming to be ‘the best’, that it’s easy to get confused. But that’s where Camera Shopper comes in. We’ve drawn all the best reviews, group tests and buying advice from the best-selling Digital Camera Magazine in this easy-to-use guide to the best cameras on the market right now. Are you looking for a light but powerful camera to take on your travels? Then take a look at our Travel Cameras guide on page 10. Maybe you’re ready to step to a more powerful digital SLR? Make sure you read our reviews of the Canon 7D Mark II (page 32) and brand-new Nikon D500 (page 70). Or you may be stuck on the horns of…

RIGOROUS / ACCURATE / INDEPENDENT / FAIR AMERA Shopper is brought to you by the UK’s most experienced team of photography journalists, which means you can trust everything you read on these pages and can buy your next piece of photography equipment with total confidence. In case you need any further convincing, here’s why our tests are the best: Depth At Camera Shopper, we take great pride in the rigorous nature of our testing process. Every product and service is tested in appropriate circumstances, and a combination of real world and objective tests are performed to ensure all products and services are credibly graded. Take a look at the opposite page for more details. Passion We believe the best way to test a product is to use it as it…

CSC or SLR? Whats the difference?

SINGLE-LENS-REFLEX or SLR cameras have a mirror that bounces light from the lens up into an optical viewfinder. It’s a tried-and-tested design that’s much loved by enthusiast and professional photographers alike. Like SLRs, compact system or mirrorless cameras can accept interchangeable lenses, but they don’t have a mirror inside; and if there is a viewfinder, it’s an electronic device that shows the image that’s formed on the sensor. The advantage of this approach is that you can see the impact of camera settings before you take a shot, so you know if you’ve set the correct exposure or if you’re in black-and-white mode. However, autofocusing tends to be a little slower, especially in low light – although the situation is improving all the time. Another advantage of omitting the mirror…

CSC or SLR? Whats the difference?

WHEN you’re off on your holiday, you want a camera that’s small, lightweight and easy to carry, but you don’t want something that downsizes image quality. We’ve rounded up eight cameras that aim for a compact, easily manageable form factor, yet retain ‘serious’ sensor sizes of at least a Four Thirds or APS-C format. The Sony Alpha 7 goes really large with a full-frame image sensor. There are three different body styles, ranging from compact cameras with fixed prime or zoom lenses, through Compact System Cameras (CSC) with interchangeable lenses, to fairly small SLRs. The latter is worth considering if you want a ‘travel body’ that’s compatible with your existing lenses. THE CONTENDERS Canon EOS 100D with 18-55mm IS STM lens £340/$500 Canon’s smallest, lightest SLR CANON’S smallest digital SLR…

Canon EOS 6D VS NIKON D750

WANT the very best enthusiastlevel digital SLR without blowing your budget on a fully professional body? There are two main contenders– the Canon EOS 6D and the Nikon D750. Canon and Nikon’s range of ‘professional’ digital SLRs kick off with the 5D Mk III and D810, both of which cost roughly £1,000/$1,000 more than their rangetopping consumer-class cameras. The Canon 6D feels like it’s been around for yonks, having been announced back in September 2012. The Nikon D750 is two years newer and fresher, and outguns the Canon for features and specifications. It has a newly designed image sensor and the same Expeed 4 image processor as the very latest D810A and D7200. By contrast, the 6D looks a bit of a poor relation, especially compared with Canon’s latest APS-C…

Canon EOS 6D VS NIKON D750

www.delkin.com Delkin SD 633x UHS-1 £46/$40 DELKIN’S card delivers decent read and write times in the mid-range of this test. Delkin is renowned for its rigorous testing methods: as well as shock tests, this card has been tested against sea spray and ultraviolet light. It also has built-in error correction. Read: 45.15 Write: 43.58 www.samsung.com Samsung Pro+ SDHC UHS-1 £46/$60 THE Pro+ card comes in at a close second, just beating the Gobe Magic on write speeds. The card provides solid performance, although it’s one of the pricier cards here. The card is protected against water, temperature (-25 to 85 degrees C), X-rays and magnets. Read: 83.96 Write: 71.09 www.mygobe.com Gobe Magic 64GB £30/$46 GOBE is relatively new to the memory card market. The performance from the Magic rivalled the…

CANON EOS 5D MK III VS SONY ALPHA 7 II

SHOULD you ‘stick’ with tradition and settle on the somewhat antiquated design of an SLR, or ‘twist’ with a more revolutionary mirrorless compact system camera? There are highly attractive ‘all-rounders’ in both camps: cameras that don’t go overboard on megapixel count, yet aim to take everything from portraiture to landscape photography in their stride. Two of our current favourites are the Canon 5D Mk III SLR, and the mirrorless Sony A7 II from Sony’s ‘ILC’ (interchangeable-lens camera) stable. A major factor in choosing any ‘system’ camera is the depth and breadth of the system itself. You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to lenses and other accessories for the long-established line of Canon SLRs. Sony’s mirrorless cameras are a much newer proposition, especially when it comes to full-frame models, but…

CANON EOS 5D MK III VS SONY ALPHA 7 II

NIKON D810 VS CANON 5DS R

AN ultra-high-resolution camera has always been a notable absence from the Canon stable. Indeed, while many were lamenting the relatively low pixel count of the 22.3MP 5D Mark III, Nikon was forging ahead with the 36.3MP D800 and D800E. Both Nikon cameras have now been superseded by the D810, which retains the same 36.3MP pixel count, but omits an optical low-pass filter (OLPF) to optimise image sharpness. Canon has finally struck back with the 50.6MP 5DS and 5DS R, the latter of which has anti-alias cancellation. Both Canon cameras have a megapixel count that’s almost 40 per cent higher than the Nikon D810, enabling 300ppi prints that measure 73.6x49.1cm rather than the Nikon’s 62.3x41.6cm. However, as with so many other things in life, size isn’t everything, and a larger number…

NIKON D810 VS CANON 5DS R

PANORAMIC HEADS

www.amazon.com Fotga Pro 360° Swivel Panoramic Tripod Head £40/$25 This shoestring-budget head will help you shoot spherical panoramas, but it’s riddled with build-quality bugbears and lacks precision. Even so, you can get acceptable results with patience. www.manfrotto.com Manfrotto 303SPH £409/$576 Adjustment is king with the 303SPH: it’s packed with positioning options to help you shoot accurate spherical scenes. It’s just a shame the design is unwieldy, and it weighs a whopping 2.1kg. www.gigapan.com GigaPan Epic Pro £876/$995 The Epic Pro pans your camera in precise increments and across multiple rows, letting you create huge gigapixel panoramas. It’s easy to use and works a treat, although portability is not its forte. http:/ /shop.nodalninja.com Nodal Ninja 3 MKII £198/$180 This head is great for spherical scenes and is a pleasure to use…

PANORAMIC HEADS

PORTA BLE DRIVES

www.delkindevices.com Delkin Devices 1TB RhinoDrive £399/$355 With its rubberised casing and silicone bumper, the RhinoDrive offers ultimate shock protection. It’s far from sleek, though, and the SSD within can’t match the cheaper Samsung drive for speed. www.seagate.com Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB £95/$100 Seagate claims that this 9.6mm design is the world’s thinnest 2TB mobile hard drive. It looks the part too, and transfers images and video at a respectable rate, despite using a traditional hard drive. www.g-technology.com G-Technology 1TB G-Drive ev AT C £112/$130 This toughened drive is protected by a crush-, dust- and shock-resistant compartment that also has a built-in USB cable. Using a conventional hard drive keeps the cost down, but it’s no slouch. www.transcend-info.com Transcend StoreJet 25M3 2TB £80/$183 The plasticky StoreJet doesn’t ooze quality,…

PORTA BLE DRIVES

Fujifilm X-Pro2 £1,349/$1,699 (body only)

With a new sensor and an overhauled AF system, this is a significant update to a revered pioneer SPECIFICATIONS Sensor 24.3MP APS-C XTrans CMOS III Crop factor 1.5x Memory SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II in slot 1) Viewfinder 0.48in Advanced Hybrid Multi Viewfinder, 2.36million dots Max video resolution Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) up to 60p ISO range 200-12,800; expandable to 100-51,200 Autofocus points 77 points (expandable to 273 points) Max burst rate 8fps Screen 3in LCD, 1.62 million dots Shutter speeds 30-1/8,000 sec (to 1/32,000 sec in electronic shutter mode), Bulb Weight 445g (body only) Dimensions 141 x 83 x 46mm Power supply Rechargeable lithium-ion battery (NP-W126) A new three-inch LCD screen offers an impressive 1,620k-dot resolution FUJIFILM’S X-Pro1 provided the firm with a solid start to its X-series range of interchangeable-lens…

Fujifilm X-Pro2 £1,349/$1,699 (body only)

www.canon.co.uk Canon Remote Switch RS -80N3 £39/$47 Canon’s remote feels much like cheaper rivals, but its shutter lock mechanism is marginally more precise. An 80cm cable length is nothing special, suggesting the extra cash is going on the branding. http://uk.hama.com Hama DCC Base Cable Remote Release £15 This remote is almost identical to Hähnel’s offering, but the cord is tiny and doesn’t plug into your camera. Instead you choose an additional cable to suit your camera model, adding versatility, but also £10 to the price. www.fujifilm.eu/uk Fuji Remote Release RR-90 £36/$30 Apart from cost, all our remotes are closely matched, although Fujifilm’s version has an especially accurate – if loud – shutter button. It lines up with the Canon as average yet overpriced. www.nikon.co.uk Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Control £25/$27 This…

www.cameraawesome.com Camera Awesome iOS: Free plus in-app purchases Android: £1.87/$2.99 TEXTURES, filter effects, borders and an auto Awesomize feature help this camera/editor combo spice up bland shots. It’s simple, effective and fun. www.bit.ly/dc171bug Shutterbug Pro Android: £1.92/$3.06 HERE’S an editing app that’ll adjust image brightness and contrast in your shots, as well as letting you apply filters, frames and a vignette. However, while it’s capable, there’s nothing particularly special about Shutterbug. www.shootmanual.co Manual iOS: £1.49/$1.99 WANT to have more control over your iPhone camera? This app is just the ticket, enabling fine tuning of ISO, white balance, focus point and exposure, and there are some useful display overlays. www.bit.ly/dc171seed Snapseed iOS: Free Android: Free SNAPSEED is a powerful image editor with plenty of options and attractive effects that can even…

www.hama.co.uk Hama 40 LED Slim Panel £69/$150 This device consists of two parts, joined by a flexible 30cm gooseneck. In practice, though, the gooseneck feels awkward and flimsy. In our tests, maximum output power at 1/60 sec, ISO 100, was just above average at 8.1EV, corresponding to f/2. www.manfrotto.co.uk Manfrotto Lumie Muse £100/$120 The pocket-sized Lumie Muse measures just 86 x 59 x 28mm. The lamp is based on eight LEDs, and the circular light aperture has a diameter of only 45mm. Despite this, the maximum output is actually pretty respectable at 7.7EV, f/1.8. www.limelite.uk.com Limelite Mosaic Solo On-Camera LED Light £69/$130 A chunky, heavy lamp which has the joint-highest number (with the Metz) of LEDs here, at 72, but they’re placed on a larger grid here, giving a 145…

CREATIVE LIGHTING

www.digitaltoyshop.co.uk Gloxy Power Blade £145 GREAT for light painting or portraiture, the Power Blade emits a strong yet soft glow at a decent price. Power comes from a removable rechargeable battery, and you even get a remote control. www.maglite.com Mini Maglite LED Pro £28/$37 MAGLITE’S iconic style and top quality impresses, but this model trails the LED Lenser for light output and beam distance. There’s also considerable fall-off and no power control, although the beam can be focused. www.ledlenser.com LED Lenser P7.2 £35/$56 TORCHES are ideal for long-exposure light painting, and this one is a real beauty. Build quality is flawless, as is the even spread of light that’s easily focused and features a low-power setting. www.theicelight.com Westcott Ice Light 2 £449/$500 THE no-compromise Ice Light is now 50% brighter,…

CREATIVE LIGHTING

DEDICATED FLASHGUNS

THE key to effective flash photography is striking the right balance between ambient and flash lighting. The flashguns in this group are all ‘dedicated’ to suit various makes of camera body, enabling TTL (Through The Lens) metering, which is a great starting point. Off-camera flash typically yields even better results, with images taking on a more 3D look. Wireless remote functions can be a big bonus, not just for multi-flash set-ups but also for ditching the more traditional curly off-camera cable. Modern flashguns also tend to include functions like high-speed sync, rear-curtain and maybe even programmable stroboscopic flash modes. Let’s see what these flashes have to offer... THE CONTENDERS Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT £429/$499 Canon’s big, pro-grade gun CANON’S fully prograde flashgun is bursting with advanced features. The motorised zoom head…

DEDICATED FLASHGUNS

FLASHGUN MODIFIERS

www.bouncelite.com BounceLite £100 ONE of the easiest ways to get softer illumination from your flashgun is to bounce light off a white ceiling or wall. You can’t always do that, though – so the BounceLite aims to recreate the same effect, wherever you’re shooting. www.inspiredphotogear.com Light Blaster £75/$125 WANT to liven up your portraiture with beautiful backdrops? Just slot the Light Blaster onto your flashgun and it’ll project any pattern, image or scene from a 35mm slide onto a plain surface. You can mount a Canon lens on the front to control the focus and spread of the projection, too. www.enlightphotopro.com Enlight Orbis £149/$199 DEDICATED ring flashes are pricey, but the Orbis creates the same effect from your flashgun, funnelling its burst into a ring of light surrounding your camera…

FLASHGUN MODIFIERS

www.mindshiftgear.com 1 MindShift Gear UltraLight 20 £32/$35 THIS is actually a type of small, light bag that keeps your camera dry between shots, but you need to take out the camera for use. It’s essentially a lightly padded fabric cube where the top flap folds over your camera and fastens around the lens with a drawstring. This mid-sized version will wrap around a full-frame SLR with a modest zoom lens, and features an integrated waist belt that allows the cover to be worn like a holster bag. Unlike a traditional holster design, this cover can be collapsed and scrunched into its own compact pouch for ultimate portability. This means it’s just the ticket for stashing in your main camera bag, ready for a day when you want to travel light…

STUDIO FLASH KITS

COMPLETE studio flash kits with two heads, lighting stands and accessories can cost less than the price of a decent flashgun. They are easy to use: at the most basic level, you simply turn the power setting up or down to adjust the intensity of the flash. All the kits on test here have pretty much everything you need to get going. The only thing you might need to buy as an essential extra, if your camera doesn’t have a sync terminal, is a hotshoe adaptor so you can plug in the sync cable that runs to the primary flash head. Alternatively, some of the latest flash kits come complete with wireless triggering systems, including a transmitter that simply slots into your camera’s hotshoe. THE CONTENDERS Bowens Gemini 400RX (x2)…

STUDIO FLASH KITS

Which lens? Expert advice

A CAMERA is just a starting point in photography; a new lens can help you take a big step forward. There are lots of possibilities to choose from. A fast telephoto zoom lens, for example, is a great investment. It’s usually associated with shooting sport and action, but it can also make a great portrait lens, especially for shooting active families. A macro lens will also let you get much closer to your subject for 1:1 (life-size) replication and dramatic shots. But don’t overlook the 35mm primes, which usually have large maximum apertures to allow fast shutter speeds: they make great walkabout optics.…

Which lens? Expert advice

PORTRAIT LENSES

SOME say the lens is ‘everything’, but that’s not really true in the digital age. It’s more about how the body and the lens combine to deliver the results that you’re after – and that’s particularly true for portraiture. Full-frame bodies, for example, have an advantage over those with smaller image sensors, in that they can deliver a tighter depth of field at any given ‘actual’ versus ‘effective’ focal length. But some APS-C camera systems fight back, like Fujifilm bodies with the availability of a super-fast f/1.2 lens that also packs a secret weapon for enhancing bokeh (the quality of defocused areas in images). Then there’s the question of whether a ‘fast’ f/2.8 telephoto zoom is better than a faster 85mm prime lens for portraiture. The zoom might be better…

PORTRAIT LENSES

With a moderately wide viewing angle, natural perspective, fairly fast maximum aperture and reasonably compact build, 35mm prime lenses have long been the darlings of reportage photography. Compared with conventional reportage or photojournalism, street photography can demand even faster reactions. It’s often about anticipating what’s going to happen next, and seeing the shot before it’s even there. Fast autofocus can be a boost. Wider apertures can help when you need to take a shot in the dark. Image stabilisation can beat the shakes when you’re pounding the streets on a cold winter’s day. The lenses in this group test have all, some or even none of these attractions. THE CONTENDERS Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM £380/$600 It can be your stable mate NOT quite as ‘fast’ as the f/1.4…

The prime lenses we’ve chosen for this group test are all capable of delivering a full 1.0x or 1:1 reproduction ratio at their closest focus settings. This means that small objects are projected at full life size onto the camera’s image sensor, which enables enormous enlargement when images are printed. Focal lengths of around 90mm to 105mm are historically popular for 35mm film and full-frame SLRs. Those with crop-sensor cameras also often stick with this focal length, as it enables a comfortable macro working distance of about 30cm. The 60mm macro lenses on test have a shorter minimum focus distance of around 20cm. Either way, it’s good that all lenses here have fully internal focusing, so the front element doesn’t extend and encroach on the subject. THE CONTENDERS Canon EF-S…

70-200mm lenses

WHEN image quality is paramount, a fast, constant-aperture telephoto zoom is preferable to a budget 70-300mm. The own-brand f/2.8 models from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony are designed and built as strong workhorses, with prices to match. Then there are independents from Sigma and Tamron that take the fight to the big boys, while offering considerable cost-savings. A big attraction of 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses is that you can fit a 2x teleconverter on them for 400mm super-telephoto reach, still with a reasonably fast f/5.6 aperture. This maintains full autofocus facilities with all AF points, on any camera. However, we’ve also included 70-200mm f/4 lenses from Canon and Nikon in the test group, which offer a relatively compact and lightweight build. THE CONTENDERS Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II…

70-200mm lenses

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