Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for October 2023.

Regular readers may recall that I was experiencing poor image quality when using my new EM5 Mark III’s High-Resolution mode. Most images I shot with it were soft and unusable. Following some internet research, I could only find comments about the EM5 high-resolution mode not being as good as the Panasonic GX9. Looking at my results, I couldn’t believe the performance was so different. There had to be something causing this issue.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve managed to find a solution. Here’s an example of a high-resolution image shot with the Olympus EM5 since I resolved the problem.

This is the view from Derwent Edge in the Peak District. I shot it shortly after the sun had set, with the Olympus EM5 and a Leica 8-18 lens at 9mm. The exposure was 1/6 second at f/6.3 and ISO200. I also used a 3-stop reverse ND grad filter on the sky.

I can’t be 100% certain what the issue was, but I’m working on an article about it for next time.

Last month, I also shared my thoughts about the poor image performance I was seeing with my XT5 camera. I suggested at the time that this may be down to diffraction. Whilst I haven’t been out with a camera much in the past month, I did make a trip where I was able to verify my thinking. I’m now confident that diffraction is the culprit and I’ve published an article to share my results.

I hope you enjoy it together with the rest of this month’s newsletter. If you do, please share it with other photographers.

Robin

Filters For Sale

My friend Dave is selling his Nisi glass filters. In case anyone is interested, here’s the list.

• Nisi V6 and V5 100 System filter holders in leather cases with polarisers
• 1 Nisi 100 System 1.2 soft grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 1.2 medium grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 0.9 medium grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 0.6 hard grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 0.9 reverse grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 1.2 reverse grad
• 1 Nisi 100 System 3 stop filter
• 1 Nisi 100 System 6 stop filter
• 1 10 stop Lee filter ( Big Stopper )

He is looking for £550 for everything and doesn’t want to split the kit. If you are interested, please contact Dave directly at [email protected].

New Lenscraft Content

Over the past month, I’ve focused on publishing new tutorials and updating old ones. Here’s the list of the changes you can find on Lenscraft.

From Around the Internet

Here are some of the interesting photography articles and resources I’ve found online this month.

Drone Awards 2023

Not everyone likes Drones, I know. If I’m honest, I'm probably not the number one fan either. That said, I do love the perspective they give on the landscape, and they can produce some stunning photography.  To see some fantastic examples, visit the Drone Awards 2023 gallery.

https://droneawards.photo/gallery/2023

It’s well worth looking at the previous year’s winners whilst you’re there. It almost makes me want to buy a drone.

Latest issue of Photography News

Photography News issue 111 is now available to read online. As always, it’s a valuable and informative roundup of news from the photographic industry and high-quality reviews from the likes of Will Cheung.

https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/777614817/

PhotoLab 7 & FilmPack 7 Released

This past month has seen two major releases from DxO: PhotoLab 7 and FilmPack 7. I was fortunate enough to have early access to beta versions of the software, allowing me to publish a launch review of PhotoLab, which you can watch on YouTube.

Then, to follow up, I released a video explaining how to use the new Luminosity Mask feature in FilmPack 7, which you can also watch on YouTube. This is an extremely useful tool, and it integrates seamlessly into PhotoLab 7.

Felix Hernandez Interview

Some of you will already be aware of Felix Hernandez. He’s a highly talented model maker and photographer who has combined the two skills to create fantastic work. When I found this interview, I thought I should share it: https://www.photographize.co/interviews/felix_hernandez/.

You can also see his work on Instagram, where he shares the images and models he’s created.

If you’re wondering where you’ve seen his photography before, it may be because he’s done several Master Class sessions on YouTube for Affinity Photo.

Photographers You May Not Know – Edd Allen

I’m embarrassed to admit, but I didn’t know of Edd Allen a month ago either. Looking at the About page on his website, I can’t believe I overlooked him, as he’s won many significant awards. Instead, he popped up in my Instagram feed the other day for the first time, and I immediately noticed the quality of his photography. Whilst his Instagram feed is good, the gallery on his website is much better and well worth visiting. It features many stunning landscape and seascape images.

https://www.eddallenphotography.com/gallery

Books & Course News

Latest book and course news.

Essential Adobe Photoshop CC 3^rd Edition

Last month, I announced that the latest edition of my Photoshop book would be available by now. Everything was on track, but then something unexpected happened. Adobe released Photoshop 2024, also known as Photoshop v25. Therefore, I decided to delay the book launch while I checked that the book remains accurate. I now plan to release the book towards the end of October 2023.

Please Leave a Review

If you aren’t an author, you may not appreciate the importance of book reviews to me.

Reviews provide crucial social proof essential on Amazon, allowing someone to buy a book from an author they don’t know. Also, did you know that Amazon is unlikely to promote a book without enough reviews.

The continued sales of my books to new readers relies on Amazon promoting them. It’s also my book sales that enable me to share as much as I do for free. If you’ve read and enjoyed one of my books, please help by leaving a review. Even if you didn’t buy the book from Amazon, they still accept reviews of books from genuine readers.

Thank you.

Courses Back on the Agenda

You may recall that I recently had to withdraw my photography courses from sale. The company I used to host online courses had increased their annual fee more than 10-fold. As my sales didn’t cover their yearly expenses, let alone my months of effort, I reluctantly stopped selling them (existing customers can still access their courses).

Since then, Shopify, which I use for sales of books on my website, has made their service more flexible. These changes should allow me to sell shorter video courses you can download to your computer. I hope to have more news on this in the coming months.

Until next month, enjoy your photography.

Robin Whalley

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