In the next issue there's a review of the Viltrox 40mm f/2.5 for Sony FE. When you already have a 35mm f/1.8 Sony as I do, what's the point? Well, it's very low cost - £140 currently from Viltrox official store via Amazon.
We can't put videos in the magazine, so ahead of the article, here's a quick look at one of its best features - the AF during video with changing subject distance.
I'm finishing up a test of the new SigmaUK 10-18mm f/2.8 DC DN lens for the next issue. I can't be self-indulgent with space so will not be using these, but at sunset time tonight I drove over to Spittal beach - mostly just to get my feet wet, being not quite fast enough for the last wave (vertical shot, see comments as for some reason I can not have video and stills on this post). What surprised me on return and editing the shots was how effective one of the first shots taken was. Some modifications in Adobe Camera Raw were interesting, dialling down Vibrance without touching Saturation created a cool toned effect - and then changing the Colour Temperature really did interesting things with the sky very close to the capture colour temp of 5400. Play the screen recording clip to see.
In the post today! The latest Cameracraft edition. Available to go out right away, single copies or start a new subscription and keep real print - with original content - going strong.
At the weekend there was an interlude where a workshop at national awards brought up the question of prints coming back too dark from a pro lab. There was another moment when a judge/guru advised viewing images in Photoshop against a black background/interface to be better able to see into the shadows. This goes against all my experience, which is that for printing (rather than projection or showing in an iPad portfolio or a dark framed website) you should work with a white (100%) background. My old friend and contributor to past magazines (and Focus shows!) Les McLean was in for a chat last week and we talked about the same thing - he always edits, for printing, against a white workspace.
With many new programs defaulting to a trendy graphite/black interface, and Adobe doing some unwarranted things with saving and export that may need some defaults changing to match past workflow in sending JPEGs to labs, I took a look at quick solutions and found F - just the key F (for guitarists, that's D capo 3 if you want an easy life - for computers, it's the key between D and G).
First, go into Photoshop prefs, Interface. Don't worry if you like a dark frame default - it's the background to the image, inside the frame/rulers etc, which matters. Under Appearance, set Standard Screen Mode to Custom, and adjust that to be pure white. Now set 'Full Screen with Menus' to 'Default' (which is a grey). Then set 'Full Screen' to 'Black'.
Open an image in Photoshop and it will be against white, which will give you the best visual idea of its density and gradation when printed. Now just press the key F - although it's not shown as a shortcut in the menu commands, this will toggle through Standard, Full Screen with Menus and Full Screen. You will see the background/surround colour to your image change from white to grey to black and back with repeated F presses.
You can then assess your image, its shadow and highlight values, for printing (whether lab or your own), screen viewing an
