Staff

As frequent visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park researching the participation of my wife’s family in many different regiments during the battle, my wife and I had a strange occurrence one morning. We always arrive at our chosen point on the battlefield well before sunrise each visit. This particular morning we were set up on Cemetery Hill facing Culp’s Hill and the soon to be arriving sunrise. The morning had good promise as there was some ground fog in place already. Suddenly, from the lower part of the valley, a thick fog began rolling in. It didn’t appear from the ground up as normally happens, but was a dense mass pushing into the valley. It covered the ground up to a knoll to our right and just left parts of the treetops visible. From then on it was just scrambling around with the camera on the tripod, hitting the infrared remote and then moving again.

On The Cover
This month’s issue focuses on new lighting gear and lighting tests. We look at a range of lights, including the new wave LEDs, and light modifiers, plus new products in on-camera flash. We also have a test of the premium Sony RX1, plus welcome a new columnist, Blaine Harrington, who will be covering the travel beat.

Walking on the Greenbelt along the river in Boise, Idaho, always presents interesting photo ops. This was taken when they were putting together the framework for a new building at Boise State University.

On The Cover
In this issue we focus on optics, with a roundup of some of the most intriguing new lenses introduced in 2013 and tests on a very fast lens from Sigma and a special effects 8mm super-wide. We also feature some optical how-to’s, including using graduated neutral density filters and working some macro magic. And we’ve got lab tests on the Fujifilm X-E1, Nikon D5200, and Panasonic GH3. Coming attractions: next month is our Top Products of the Year issue, where we feature the best in class in 40 imaging categories!