AUGUST 2016 Panasonic WHAT DIGITAL TZ100 • 1in sensor • 10x Camera zoom p68 WHAT TO BUY & HOW TO USE IT Technique Focus stacking, for ultra-sharp shots p33 Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens p72 Full test Canon EOS 80D How to shoot underwater 24.2MP CMOS sensor • 45 AF points • ISO 100-16,000 • Fully articulated screen p17 Technique The fi ve best Summer DSLRs under loving The hardest £1000 season to shoot? Not any more! Technique Technique Make depth of fi eld work for you p40 The UK’s most comprehensive listings Wondering about the latest gear? Find out how we rate 536 cameras and lenses WELCOME AUGUST 2016 WELCOME p50 Summer loving Tests you can trust To ensure the camera you buy doesn’t disappoint, every camera that passes through the hands of What Digital Camera’s technical team is put through a series of tests. From high-spec DSLRs through to entry-level compacts, they are p17 Essential guide to underwater subjected to a series of rigorous tests in our lab, with results analysed by the very best industry software. This makes our reviews the most authoritative in the UK. We test for colour – different sensors and camera image processors can interpret colour differently. We then get down to the nitty-gritty of resolution, with our lab tests showing us exactly how much detail each camera can resolve. Then we look at Image Noise. Finally, we get out and shoot with every camera and lens in real- world conditions just as you will, to fi nd out how they perform. p40 Technique: depth of fi eld ISO 100 In this issue COLOUR 4 50 ON THE COVER Subjecting each camera to our Incoming Summer loving colour chart test reveals any Opening Shot and the latest photography products Is this the most diffi cult season to shoot? Not any more! variation and differences in colour between Raw and JPEG fi le formats. 10 57 Things to try… Top 5: DSLRs under £1,000 ON THE Photographic inspiration for the coming month The best cameras to give you change from a grand COVER ISO 100 17 Essential guide: Underwater 62 Accessories Snorkel? Tick. Flippers? Tick. Camera? Tick ON THE COVER The latest kit for you and your camera 22 Portfolio 64 Canon EOS 80D ON THE COVER Graphic designer Paul Mitchell on the things that inspire him Will the 70D’s upgrade impress as much as its predecessor? 22 25 Master your Canon 68 Panasonic TZ100 ON THE COVER RESOLUTION Our resolution chart reveals exactly Essential accessories for the wedding photographer Is this the best pocket travel camera money can buy? how much detail a sensor can resolve and it’s measured in lines per 29 Master your Nikon 70 Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM picture height, abbreviated to l/ph. How to get to grips with pre-focusing The new portrait lens for Sony Alpha 7 cameras ISO 100 33 Master your Olympus ON THE 72 Fuji XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R Try focus-stacking for ultra-sharp images COVER Will this long-awaited zoom meet expectations? ON THE COVER 36 Expert guide: Canon EOS 1200D 76 Buying advice A good fi rst purchase for the budget-conscious beginner What to look for when buying your next camera 40 Technique: depth of fi eld 78 Buyer’s guide & listings ON THE COVER NOISE How to use this essential tool for creative photography Your guide to what kit is best for you The diorama is used to ascertain how image noise is handled through an ISO range. Some cameras 46 Help 98 7 things produce cleaner results than others. All the gear-related advice you’ll ever need Gadgets guaranteed to make your photography more fun WWW.WHATDIGITALCAMERA.COM 3 OPENING SHOT The Photographer Shot in Iceland, ‘The Photographer’, by Austria’s Nicholas Roemmelt, won second place in the Beauty category of the 2016 International Earth & Sky competition, organised by The World at Night. The contest aims to raise awareness of the world’s last remaining natural night environments and night skies. ‘It wasn’t easy for my buddy Nikki Haselwanter to “freeze” for 15 seconds for the shot on the top of that sand dune,’ says Roemmelt. ‘Blizzards were hitting the coastline and it was a challenge not to be blown away. But during the clear gaps, which lasted a few minutes, we were able to witness the wonderful northern lights behind the Vestrahorn.’ TO SEE ALL THE WINNERS’ IMAGES, VISIT WWW.TWANIGHT.ORG 4 WWW.WHATDIGITALCAMERA.COM WWW.WHATDIGITALCAMERA.COM 5 INCOMING © BRIAN HARRIS 1 2 3 4 5 1 DxO Optics Pro 11 3 Fujifi lm 2x teleconverter pledged to replace pre-modifi cation EN-EL15 £79 (ESSENTIAL EDITION) www.dxo.com £349 www.fujifi lm.co.uk batteries free of charge for D500 users. OpticsPro 11 boasts an enhanced version Fujifi lm has added the XF2X TC WR to its of DxO Prime, which also introduces new range of teleconverters and it’s compatible 5 Rogue 32in refl ector automated tools such as spot-weighted with the company’s XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM £30 www.xpdistribution.com correction and auto red-eye. It’s claimed to OIS WR and XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6R LM The Rogue 32in 2-in-1 refl ector features white process Raw fi les up to four times faster and OIS WR lenses. It’s both weather and dust- and silver sides and collapses down to a third offers a new full screen mode that allows you resistant, like the Fujifi lm X-Pro2 and X-T1. of its open size. A handy accessory for those to focus on selecting and rating your images. starting out in the world of portraiture. 4 Nikon D500 battery life 2 Brian Harris book www.nikon.co.uk 6 Sony Xperia XA Ultra £68 www.impress-publishing.com Nikon has warned D500 users that some www.sony.co.uk The endlessly fascinating ‘...and then the older EN-EL15 batteries may not be capable The new Xperia XA Ultra features a 16MP Prime Minister hit me...’ looks back at the of the maximum number of shots as indicated front-facing camera, low-light sensor, image career of press photographer Brian Harris. in the camera’s documentation. Nikon has stabilisation and battery life that lasts 2 days. 6 WWW.WHATDIGITALCAMERA.COM THE PICK OF THE BEST NEW KIT RELEASED THIS MONTH 6 7 8 © MARK BENHAM 9 10 11 12 7 Lensbaby Circular 180+ 9 Food photography 11 Voking waterproof cases £TBC www.lensbaby.com pinkladyfoodphotographeroftheyear.com £350 www.amazon.co.uk The Lensbaby Circular 180+ is designed to Foodies will be glad to know that this year’s Waterproof case manufacturer Voking attach to GoPro Hero action cameras. It Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year has produced a range of housings to creates a 185-degree fi eld of view and a fully results are now online. Mark Benham took the accommodate Sony Alpha cameras, including circular image in 16:9 wide recording mode. If overall winning shot, ‘Flour Frenzy’. the A6000, A6300, A7, A7II, A7S and A7SII. its Kickstarter campaign is successful, it should The houses are made from aluminium and can be available to purchase in August this year. 10 Pentax K-70 be used underwater up to a depth of 100m. FROM £559 www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk 8 Olympus TG-Tracker The K-70 is a new advanced entry-level DSLR. 12 Pentax 55-300mm £279 www.olympus.co.uk With an AA-fi lterless 24MP APS-C sensor, £399 www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk The Tough TG-Tracker is a rugged camera weather-resistant design, a maximum ISO of The HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm f/4.5-6.3 ED featuring a 7.2MP 1/2.3in sensor, 204° f/2.0 102,400 and an 11-point AF system it looks PLM WR RE features a new pulse motor ultra-wideangle lens and 1.5in tilting screen. promising on paper. It also becomes the fi rst (PLM) and rear-focus system to improve AF It’s waterproof to 100ft and has GPS/Wi-fi . Pentax DSLR to offer Hybrid AF in Live View. speed. It weighs just 442g too. WWW.WHATDIGITALCAMERA.COM 7 INCOMING / TECH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY FROM Sony Xperia X SONY.CO.UK £459 s is typical with Sony, targets and not losing focus. It’s a wideangle lens, so you Athe headline of its new We tested it out shooting can cram lots of faces in and fl agship phone is the sports and fast-moving it matches skin tones well. camera. But in a year of vehicles, and it does an On the inside you’ve got the fantastic cameraphones, excellent job. Blur mid-range Snapdragon 650 it has a tough mountain is reduced and CPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB of to climb to become detail is kept. storage. These aren’t overly our pocket snapper The aperture high-end components, but Garmin of choice. isn’t quite as wide they do get the job done Sony has kitted the as the Galaxy S7, and we didn’t run into any Vivosmart Xperia X out with so the depth of slowdown when we were HR Plus a 23MP camera, fi eld isn’t quite as editing Raw photos. complete with f/2 good but it still The 5in display is superb, as GARMIN.COM £170 aperture and a new allows for some you’d expect from Sony.