Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: Fashion, Uncategorized

On Trial: The iPhone XS Camera

When it comes to cameras, I’m one of those Bloggers who uses a cellphone for everything and there are a few reasons for that, the main one being that my EDS and Fibromyalgia just don’t like lugging round more equipment than the bare minimum.  These days with cellphone cameras packing a pretty decent punch, they’re keeping people like me pretty happy when it comes to taking decent pictures and building in edit-ability.  The front runners as we know are always Samsung and Apple (Apple fangirl over here) but Huawei are coming up trumps with their latest offering and the camera capability is even being compared to that of a DSLR.

With Apple now churning out two Key Notes per annum and with it that usually means two specs of iPhone, one on the “budget” end of the Apple spectrum and one more high end, products have never been more accessible.  For 2018 Apple have focussed more on the iPhone X spec and scrapped its previous fascia for this new edge to edge design.  When Three UK invited me to East London to take an iPhone XS out for a spin I jumped at the chance to photograph some of the most vibrant street art in the UK, after all, where else does the art change as quick as the staircases in Hogwarts?

Arriving at Old Street I was given a quick tour of the new functionality in the iPhone XS, basically if you shoot in Apple’s Portrait Mode (a Blogger’s staple) which blurs the background and sharpens the foreground – nine times out of ten, the iPhone XS floods this mode with light and allows you to sharpen or thicken the level of blur enhancing the effect.  Pretty neat right?  It’s a small change, and it’s the only change, but trust me, it makes a huge difference.  Just the amount of light that makes it into the shot is worth it.

The iPhone XS also seems a little more intuitive when you ask it to focus on something too, obviously the iPhone X was almost a prototype for Apple, it was completely new technology and as an iPhone X owner I’m a fan, but having used the iPhone XS I can see those refinements in action and see how well they work.  What the iPhone XS is good at doing is picking up depth and both perceiving and translating that into an image.  It’s also able to filter light across an image to great effect in the same way you might use it in a selfie to create a halo, by splitting the colours like a rainbow.

Shooting with the iPhone XS as a point and shoot camera is a dream.  There’s no facility to shoot in raw like there is with the Huawei P20 Pro or Mate 20 Pro so it comes down to weighing up what you use the phone for in its entirety.  Personally I’m an Apple fan girl through and through and I’m not sure anything could make me part with any of my Apple products; even when I’ve hated them, I always end up loving them.  Apple’s choice of apps and ease of use far outweigh those of the Android platform for me.

The iPhone XS though is one of those that you just click with, the absence of the home button might frustrate legacy iPhone users for around two hours, then you’ll forget you ever used one.  Editing images is easy within the camera software itself, however if you’re an avid photographer caught without your camera and find yourself shooting on this device, you can always shoot on raw via the LightRoom app; something photographer (and now mate) Rob Percy taught me.

Basically if you’re wondering whether it’s worth an early upgrade then it comes purely down to affordability.  I loved it and the ease of use and slick new touches were great, it’s less of an upgrade and more of a refinement, to me, it’s what the iPhone X should have been when it was released last year.  If you can afford it go for it, if you can’t then wait, there might be something better round the corner when your upgrade is due.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

iPhone X & Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus Cameras on trial

If you’re thinking of upgrading your phone, the chances are you’re looking at something produced by one of the two big leading cellphone manufacturers, Apple and Samsung.  If you’re anything like me, you’ll already know their release schedules and most of the expected features before the key notes take place and the releases are even announced and the chances are, you’re more interested in the camera and social media gadgets than the ability to make calls.  Sound familiar?  I was asked by Three UK to take the current new releases (at the time of writing) from both brands to test out the camera functionality, after all, who doesn’t love a good selfie these days right?

Where’s better to test camera functionality than the tourist trail in London?  Nowhere!  Armed with the iPhone X (pronounced 10 to mark the tenth anniversary of the iPhone) and the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, I hit up the vibrant Bermondsey Food Market to see what I could capture, before moving along the South Bank via Tower Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe.  It’s worth me mentioning here that I’m an Apple fangirl.  Ever since I jumped on the bandwagon with iPhone 4, I’ve been a devout returner and my home is kitted out with Apple gadgets galore.  iMac, iPad Pro, iPad Mini, Air Pods, Apple TV, AirPort, you name it, I’ve got it – I kind of feel it necessary to declare my potential for bias before we move on.

Ok, so, under the guidance of my photographer friend Rob Percy, I started learning to get to grips with the latest Android offering from Samsung.  The S9 Plus is a big phone, bigger than any of the iPhone models and has an edge to edge screen meaning it’s easy to line up and snap pictures.  It is however pretty hard for an iOS user to get a handle on, to me the phone set up felt clunky, in comparison to the iPhone X (more on that later) it takes more clicks to complete each task, including unlocking the screen, which I found super frustrating.  Yes, both phones have facial recognition, but the Samsung still requires some extra faffing to get into where as the iPhone reads your eyes and unlocks instantly.  Let’s look at the merits of each phone and its respective camera individually:

SAMUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS

It’s a slick looking phone, clean lines, massive screen with a cool little curved edge that looks and feels expensive.  Not quite a point and shoot if you want to achieve the best photographic results as this particular phone allows you to shoot in raw format.  Be warned, this takes some mastering, it requires a lot of post production and manipulation but might just be worth it if you’re looking to ditch the DSLR.  Images created on this device are sharp and the light is automatically adjusted and refocussed in automatic mode – the more you’d select for ease and speed.  Editing is a little more tricky on this device if you’re moving from IOS to Android, I’d need way more than a day to get to grips with it but if you’re already using a Samsung phone and planning on upgrading, I’m assured the tools for image capture are the same as the previous model so you’re all gravy.  The S9 (as with other Samsung models) has a built in virtual assistant called BIXBY, and i hated its constant patronising, like an overbearing parent.  “Are you sure?” Yes I’m fucking sure BIXBY, Samsung are a million miles away when it comes to competing with Apple and Google in the VA arena, however, BIXBY does have some benefits in camera mode; if you point and shoot using BIXBY mode, the camera will highlight points within your screen capture to focus on and then provide more information, an awesome feature for travellers and tourists with a thirst for knowledge.

What you really want to see is the camera footage though right?  I’ve got to admit, the camera is insane.  It’s an amazing piece of kit packed into a cellphone and when you think about the cost which is around £800 (at the time of writing) it’s in the same ballpark as a mid range DSLR but has way more benefits than just being a camera.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Front Facing Camera
SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Using straight lines to train the eye
SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Demonstrating depth of field
SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Bermondsey Food Market
SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Bermondsey Food Market
SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 PLUS Food mode

One of the things Rob and I discussed during this camera trial, is that screen variation matters.  There’s a little bit of understanding of inception required for this bit; the pictures above were taken using a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus which has a particular type of screen optimised for that device.  When you view them on that screen you see them as they were meant to be, all crisp and clean and vibrant.  However when you take those images and view them on a different screen, as you’re doing right now, you dilute some of that quality as your own screen perceives, translates and displays them within the limitations of your own device.  Still with me?  Basically, they look the best on the device they were taken on and that goes for any device, what you see when you look through another screen shifts the parameters a little, to illustrate my point, here’s some third layer cellphone inception for you, an image I took on my iPhone X, of an image I took on my Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, viewed through the screen of whichever device you’re holding right now…..  Mind.  Blown.A test to illustrate the importance of screen variation in cellphones. The image of of a selfie which has been taken on a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and viewed on screen, then an image of the cellphone displaying that image has been taken using an iPhone X

iPHONE X

The iPhone X marks a departure from the expected format of cellphones from Apple.  Since the first iPhone, things haven’t changed that much and apart from size and internal features and functionality, the phone itself has largely remained the same.  That is until now.  The X marks the tenth anniversary of the iPhone and a brand new luxe take on the iPhone.  The home button and headphone jack are gone in order to make the phone more streamline (it actually looks very like the Samsung model) and there’s a new edge to edge screen to play with.  It doesn’t take long to get used to the missing home button, I’ll admit, the first 15 minutes were frustrating but it’s plain sailing and feels pretty natural after that.  The controls are simple; simple enough that my mum could use it with ease and that’s a pretty good guage for user testing.

The camera is a simple point and shoot and is optimised for use straight away.  According to Apple it’s a big step up from previous iPhone cameras and is the first phone in the line up to utilise Apple’s new technology and dual lens mechanism.  This means that the Portrait mode that is available on the iPhone 7 and 8 Plus models that every Blogger loves, is now available on the front facing camera too.  Just let that sink in.

Editing images in post production is easy, I’m not talking photoshop, FaceTune or filtering images with colour washes, I mean editing the settings to bend light, or enhance shadow within the image; real editing tools to make images strong and bold.  Simple slider functionality is available to edit each image as you wish and there are downloadable apps such as LightRoom if you do want to shoot in raw or using pre-set editing tools.  But what about the images?  Well, they’re crisp and require very little in the way of manipulation, however I’m going to say something a little controversial, I have both the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X and in all honesty, I think the camera on the iPhone 8 Plus is better.  *Gasps*  I know right?  Definitely a shocker but I’m not disregarding it, having Portrait mode available when you’re shooting selfies or anything else front facing is invaluable and therefore a winner.

iPhone X Selfie using front facing camera
iPhone X using lines to train the eye
iPhone X Depth of Field, The Shard
iPhone X The Dickens Inn
iPhone X Depth of Field St Paul’s
iPhone x Tower Bridge

You can see from both sets of images that a selfie looks different, the one taken on the Samsung uses light to blur out imperfections and highlight more vibrant colours, whereas the iPhone image offers a more HD style perspective, leaving you to correct anything in post production.  Both have their benefits and uses, and both are super smart, intelligent devices that will no doubt sell in droves and with only £100 between the two, cost isn’t really a deciding factor

THE VERDICT

Both phones are great, my honest opinion is that the majority of sales will come down to upgrading from a previous model by the same brand.  Generally speaking if you’re in the Android camp then you’re rooted there, and the same goes for established iOS users.  I liked the Samsung’s camera but hated everything else about it, it felt slow and clunky and not as slick as the iPhone.  It feels weird for me to say that because I’m also a Samsung fan, my TVs, refrigerator and washing machine are all Samsung, but they just haven’t done enough for me to leave Apple and rely on the device as my lifeline to the world.  Way too many clicks to do anything and despite the camera coming up aces, I’ll be passing on this one, sorry Samsung.

The iPhone X is a no brainer for me, I’m a fangirl, we’ve established that, Apple have stepped away from the usual release model with the X and I like it, it feels slick, it’s definitely heavier than previous iPhone models but it’s more compact than the 7 and 8 Plus models, with a bigger screen.  Yeah you guessed it, I bought it, but i’m betting you knew that was coming didn’t you?

Pixie xo

Categories: Fashion, Models, Uncategorized

Can the iPhone 8 Plus Cut it as a Camera?

I was recently set a task by Three (that’s the phone peeps), to capture some awesome fashion pictures on the iPhone 8 Plus.  With my task and a little bit of guidance pre-shoot, I decided there was no better place than London Fashion Week for the job.

Ok, first things first, this phone is a little bigger than I’m used to.  It’s nice and light and if you’re a pre-gen 8 iPhone user you may or may not know about the Portrait feature within the camera options.  Basically, you know those photos you see on every Bloggers Insta feed where the product in the font of the shot is crisp and clear but the background is blurred?  That’s been shot on Portrait mode and it’s the feature you never knew you couldn’t live without.  It was first introduced on the iPhone 7 Plus and further refined for the 8 Plus and X models, it allows you to shoot in incredible detail from further away.

So, the aesthetic of the phone is like any standard iPhone, central Home button at the bottom with fingerprint or passcode unlock feature, all pretty standard.  The camera is where this phone really shines, the True Tone technology automatically adjusts white balance to match the light around you and the colour vibrancy is the best in the industry.  Fact.

So what’s so special about the camera on the iPhone 8 Plus?

Well, this one has a more advanced 12MP camera than previous iPhones.  The sensor is bigger and faster and the colour is deeper and more vibrant.  Throw in optical image stabilisation for both still photos and videos and you’re looking at something that’s been designed to rival a DSLR.  If you use the zoom function on your cellphone camera then you’re probably already aware that the quality diminishes drastically when you start zooming in, with iPhone 8 Plus, the wide‑angle and telephoto lenses on iPhone 8 Plus enable optical zoom, as well as digital zoom of up to 10x for photos and 6x for videos meaning that you can get in closer without sacrificing quality.  I’ve tried it and it’s not an overstatement.

Where to shoot my iPhone 8 Plus Photo Challenge

I took the iPhone 8 Plus to the FW18 season of London Fashion Week and had to plan how to complete my photo challenge.  I wanted to make sure I could get some really awesome photos that focussed on and showcased the pieces in each collection without the distractions of audience etc. so that I could really showcase the qualities of this cellphone camera.  The best place to do this?  In fashion presentations – the perfect opportunity to showcase what this nifty (not so) little iPhone can do.  Presentations allow you to get up close and personal with the garments and capture every tiny little detail, provided your equipment is up to the job of course.

How to use the iPhone 8 Plus as a Camera

Ok, the idea of this project was to show you that the iPhone 8 Plus can be a great alternative to carrying around a DSLR camera.  Yes, a DSLR will give you the most crisp pictures you can imagine with exceptional depth of field, but, if like me, you’re an out of towner attempting to travel light and post quickly, sometimes a cellphone is just the best option out there.  with the iphone 8 Plus it’s a simple as opening the camera, pointing and shooting.  There’s no set up required, no apps needed and the focus is automatic, allowing you to select the part of the image that you want to be the central point.  Clever stuff.

Shooting with the iPhone 8 Plus

Ok so it’s a pretty big phone, we know that.  If you’re already in Camp Apple then you’ll be familiar with phones of this size as it’s the same as the 6 and 7 Plus models.  It’s uber light which means it’s pretty easy to just whip out and shoot with.  One thing to note is that because it’s pretty big, shooting is probably a two handed job.  It’s very responsive, once you’ve selected something to capture there’s an on screen option to focus available light on your chosen target, or leave the phone to adjust automatically, then you simply click.  It can handle multiple frames (non-burst) in quick repetition and doesn’t distort image quality in doing so, meaning that shooting runway shows was a breeze too.  In the past I’ve struggled to capture decent runway images as cellphone cameras haven’t been so great with multiple things moving in one frame.  That is until now.

Show me the images man!

Ok, ok, so, at London Fashion Week presentations take place in a variety of locations, some are super bright and lit for press, others are in low light or natural light.  The iPhone 8 Plus managed well in all of those situations.  In low light it photographs “as seen” meaning you see on camera, what you see in real live and then need to manually adjust which is super simples.  I adjust using the functionality within the iPhones own photo viewer but Lightroom is pretty good too if you can get to grips with all of the different settings.  I didn’t plan for that and because of the rate of image turnover at London Fashion Week, I stuck with what I know which worked really well.

Paul Costelloe FW18
Merchant Archive FW18
Merchant Archive FW18
Alexander White FW18
Minki FW18

You can see the different lighting situation and how the phone camera has managed to pin pont detail with in each capture.  From the wet look hair in the Minki Presentation, to the blanket skirt colour spot detail at Merchant Archive, for a cellphone, you’ve got to admit, that’s pretty damn good.  So, how would it cope with multiple moving targets, say on a runway?

Fortie Label FW17
Paul Costelloe FW17
Malan Breton FW17
Starsica FW17
Fortie Label FW17
Starsica FW18

These motion stills were all taken from varying distances, some using the zoom function which didn’t appear to distort the images.

What will it cost me?

It’s an iPhone, you already know it’s not going to be cheap.  The good news is that it’s not the top of the range iPhone, that honour goes (at the time of writing) to the all singing, all dancing iPhone X.  The iPhone 8 Plus comes in two capacities: 64gb and 256gb which retail at £799 and £949 respectively.  If you’re browsing the Apple website and thinking, “but the non plus version of the iPhone 8 is a bit cheaper, I’ll go for that”, DON’T.  The regular iPhone 8 model doesn’t come with the same camera functionality, Apple use that extra handset size to pack in a double lens feature that offers that Portrait mode functionality and crisp zoom.  Trust me, if you’re investing, opt for the Plus.

Yes, it’s a lot of money, but the chances are you drop that kind of money on a cellphone regardless.  Plus, if you’re a Blogger who doesn’t want to have to carry a camera around on quick shot assignments, particularly at London Fashion Week where there are multiple shows each day, all over the city, then the iPhone 8 Plus from Three might just be your new best friend.  You’re welcome.