Tech Support
Email your questions to: apanswers@timeinc.com, Twitter @AP_Magazine and #AskAP, or Facebook. Or write to Technical Support, Amateur Photographer Magazine, Time Inc. (UK), Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7BF
Moving on up
I’m planning to upgrade from my Canon AE-1 to another film camera, so I am looking for suggestions. My budget is up to £200, and I mainly shoot landscapes and street photography. I’d like to have full manual control and stick with 35mm, but I’m a bit lost as to what would be a good step up from the AE-1. Joseph Ferris
AThe possibilities are huge, so any advice given here can only really scrape the surface. You may want to concentrate on the requirements for optimal street photography as, arguably, these would not limit functionality for landscapes. Street photography would be aided by having a camera that’s not in-your-face, is quiet in operation and is reasonably compact. For an SLR, there is not much better than an Olympus OM for your criteria; it’s small, light, very quiet and there are masses of very good lenses available for it. For reliability and metering sophistication I’d recommend the OM2n, ideally in a black finish. This has aperturepriority auto- exposure (as opposed to your AE-1’s shutter priority), and of course, complete manual exposure control. You might also want to consider a rangefinder. Fixed-lens rangefinders with leaf shutters are whisper quiet and some are very compact indeed. However, without a choice of lenses, these could cramp your style for landscapes. Interchangeable-lens rangefinders could be the solution you’re looking for, but may exceed your budget.
To crop or not to crop?
QI have just bought a Panasonic GX80 and by default the aspect ratio is 4:3. Looking at the photos, they seem a little square compared to my Canon EOS 550D. There is an option to change to 3:2. Would this be beneficial as I only do it for fun and am not really interested in printing. thewall (AP forum)
AYou can look at this in a number of ways. If you want to get the best quality from the sensor in your camera, use the native aspect ratio as this will not leave parts of the sensor unused, so you will get optimal resolution. On the other hand, you may crop your shot afterwards anyway. There are fans of 4:3 and there are fans of 3:2. Square-format cameras also have their proponents. Let’s not even go in to 16:9 widescreen format! No matter what kind of camera you have, you can crop to one of the other formats, though wasting sensor area along the way. The best advice is probably to stick to the native format and frame your shot according to your subject, leaving enough space for cropping later. 4:3 is great for portraits and you may find there is less need to turn the camera 90° to fit taller subjects in. Some find 3:2 a more natural fit with landscape photography. Square framing has been around for generations but has never been so widely adopted before Instagram made it their default aspect ratio. One thing that is indisputable is that adapting the aspect ratio to your subject can add a great deal to your shot.