Hi {name},

Welcome to Lenscraft in Focus for September 2023.

Following my complaining about the weather last month, I did manage a few trips to photograph the heather in the Peak District. Here’s a panorama I created from three shots taken near to Derwent Edge.

I shot this handheld using an Olympus EM5 Mark III. I then stitched the shots in Lightroom before cropping to the image above. The lens I used was my Leica 12-60 lens at a focal length of 40mm. The exposure was 1/160 second at f/8.0 and ISO200.

You may have noticed from reading this, that I have bought another camera; an Olympus EM5 Mark III.

When I was recently reviewing my old work, I noticed a three-year period when I produced more keeper images than ever. At that time, I was shooting with the original Olympus EM5. More importantly, I enjoyed using that camera and would take it trekking a lot. Then as my equipment became bigger and heavier again, I tended to leave it behind more often. That’s why I thought I would try an updated EM5.

Like the original EM5, the Mark III is tiny. The body is about half the size of the Panasonic G9 and Fuji XT5.

Another factor in my purchase, and the reason I didn’t buy an OM5, was that good used models of EM5 Mark III’s are practically being given away. You can find excellent, low shutter count examples for around £500. Mine had only shot 2,000 images and was in mint condition.

I’m finding the new camera a joy to use, and I love the colours it produces. Here’s another recent photo taken with the EM5.

This is the view from Millstone Edge in the Peak District, near to Hathersage. This time I was using the Leica 8-18 lens at 8mm. It’s a tripod mounted exposure of 1/15 second at f/10.0 (I used a small aperture to produce the sun star effect) and ISO200. I also used a 3 stop Reverse ND Graduated filter on the sky.

If all this talk of the EM5 Mark III has you wondering if I given up on the Fuji XT5, the answer is no. I still rate it as an exceptional camera, but with the size and weight of its lenses and accessories, it isn’t good for trekking.

I do though have some news about the XT5 to share later in this newsletter. You’ll also find plenty of new articles about photography and photo editing.

I hope you enjoy it.

Robin

Diffraction Limited XT5

Back in the May Newsletter, I shared my first thoughts about the Fuji XT5 camera. At the time, I said that I thought the best focus point to achieve a full depth of field had moved further away from the camera. Also, that the corners and edges of the frame appeared soft in some shots, especially when I didn’t get the focus point right.

Since then, I’ve used the camera but until recently haven’t done much testing. Now I’m suspecting that the problem I’m seeing with the XT5, is caused by lens diffraction. This needs more testing to confirm, but everything is pointing in that direction.

The reason that I originally discounted diffraction, was that I had forgotten the role of pixel size in the diffraction equation. It was only after checking the PhotoPills diffraction calculator that I realised what was happening. You can see the calculations below.

Looking at these figures, we can see that diffraction may become a problem at f/6.3 when viewing the image at 100% magnification. But for prints, it’s not until the aperture is reduced to f/16 that we risk diffraction being visible.

When I look back at some of my XT5 test shots, I can see images at f/7.1 where the entire frame is sharp. But when I compare these with others taken using a smaller aperture and the same lens, I see problems. With those, I can see soft and distorted edges and corners, with what looks like insufficient depth of field. My best guess of the cause is that I’ve got into the habit of focussing too close to the camera and selecting too small an aperture.

Next time I’m out with the XT5, I’ll experiment with shifting my focus point. I’ll also try using a much wider aperture than I have in the past. I’ll publish my findings in a future newsletter, potentially with a full article in case you have the same issue.

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 resources that I’ve found on the internet this month.

Photography News 110

The latest issue of Photography News is out now, and can be read for free at

https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/160554423/

When I was reading this, I noticed a review of the new Fuji 8mm prime on page 30. Will Cheung put the lens through its paces; he’s a good photographer and extremely knowledgeable, so I trust his judgement. It was interesting to read his comments about diffraction, especially given my thoughts about the XT5 which I shared above. Unfortunately, I now want the Fuji 8mm prime for my lens collection.

PhotoPills Website

Earlier in this newsletter, I shared the results of the PhotoPills Diffraction calculator, using it to evaluate my Fuji XT5. PhotoPills is an app that I use on my iPhone a lot, but they also have an excellent website. There, you can use their various calculators for free and they have published some excellent, in-depth articles about photography.

This is a great resource for photographers of all skill levels https://www.photopills.com/

Photographers You May Not Know – Fredrik Axling

Occasionally, I come across the work of a photographer who I know nothing about, and I think it would be great to share their details. But then when I investigate further, I still can’t find much information. That’s the case with Fredrik Axling, who I found on Instagram when he popped up in my feed. Here are his two Instagram accounts. He shares some superb photography in these.

https://www.instagram.com/fredrik.axling/

https://www.instagram.com/axling_film/

I hope you enjoy them.

Books & Course News

I’m currently working on rewriting “Essential Adobe Photoshop”. The second draft of the book is now complete and is going through proof reading. I expect to release this third edition as an eBook in late September or early October. It will then be followed by a print version in (hopefully) late October.

A few people have asked about the price of this book, but I can’t confirm it yet.

It depends on the download charges and printing costs from Amazon. This is a much longer book, with many more illustrations than the previous, so I don’t know what they will charge. When I know the costs that I need to cover, I can confirm the price.

More news will follow soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed September’s newsletter. I’ll be back next month with another edition.

Robin

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