The Classic Car Shoot.`

When you think photo shoot, you don't normally think smart phone.
Granted, you will never be able to match a DSLR cameras, but who says you cant do a decent photo shoot without spending hundreds of pounds extra on a camera? 

Smart phone technology now days, especially in the new Xperia line, such as the Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z1 Compact, have greatly improved. Both phones have had the pleasure of three bits of award winning Sony technology crammed in to each layer of their camera. The Bionz image processor, the Exmor RS senor (1/2.3") and a whopping 20.7 megapixels to play with. Not to mention a range of features which are only recently available to the smart phone cameras such as High Dynamic Range (HDR), Augmented Reality and 4K video recording. 

I had the pleasure of being introduced to my good friend Ella's classic car and pet project, the Ford Prefect 107e (1960). Once owned by her aunt in 1989, it spent 4 years on the road until it had gear box trouble so it went in to storage. In 2010 Ella found it and immediately wanted it. With the combined effort of herself and her granddad, they both managed to restore it to its former glory...it passed its MOT in June the 15th, 2012. 

 A background defocus shot taken of the bonnet with a HDR (nature) feature added through Snapseed.

I couldn't help but keep taking photos of her beautiful car every time I saw it, so we both decided to do a bit of a photo shoot so I could get my fix. We drove down to the beautiful village of Over in Cambridgeshire near the river where we could get some space and a nice surrounding to shoot. The weather was absolutely perfect, so we would have been foolish not to have taken advantage of this rare opportunity.

 The car is incredibly photogenic, as is Ella. The car looks great with a HDR filter. 

We added a nice vintage filter to this picture to give it that true 1960's feel. 

After a few pictures of the car in its surroundings I decided to open it up and have a look at the interior. The car has been excellently maintained and even has a few new modern touches which doesn't ruin the look or feel of the retro vehicle. 

 Ella's tribute to Ace Cafe, London. 

The original Ford Prefect key.

Steering wheel.

 Sprawled in comfort and style on red leather seats.

The leather interior in the Ford Prefect really made me realise how cheap and classless the interior of my Seat Leon is. 

(Non HDR)

The original photo from above, but before the HDR filter was added through Snapseed. Please let me know which one you prefer and why.

We decided to look around the outside of the car in more detail and see what give it its character. The car has so many decent characteristics and I am sure you will agree.

 A few minor imperfections still left to fix up.

Wing mirror selfie.

 A smile never seen anywhere other than in her Ford Prefect!

Ella has recently come back from Ace Cafe in London and absolutely fell in love with the place. She wanted to show her respect by wearing the jacket with her car.

Ella poses in her Ace Cafe jacket. 

Background defocus used with HDR. 

The new Background Defocus technology still has a few kinks to work out, often struggling with being able to tell which part of the photo it needs to focus on, and which part to defocus on. Its quite temperamental too, this photo taking many many attempts to even get this right.

We used another filter. This time we used the "sunrise" filter rather than "vintage" one, which worked equally well. It made the picture look almost like it was taken "back in the day".

We had some good fun today, posing with classic cars, taking pictures in the sun and relaxing near the river. I really enjoyed seeing what the Xperia Z2 was capable of. Camera phones clearly do have some way to go to catch up with professional cameras but at the same time they have come a very long way from even last year.

 I really enjoyed using the High Dynamic Range through Snapseed, which worked very well in most instances (Click here to see what it can do with landscapes). The "Background Defocus" mode was temperamental and took many attempts to get right, so you have to me patient, it usually ended up coming good and being worth it. There were a few issues with the background defocus struggling to understand when the background and foreground start and finish, but usually worked out ok. I look forward to seeing this technology being updated in the future. 

The "sunset" and "vintage" filters used today were from the Cymera app. Again, one of the advantages mobile phone apps have over transitional cameras as they have access to thousands of apps which have cool little features and tricks.

Thanks for reading.

Using Snapseed at Felixstowe beach! (HDR)

I have recently discovered Snapseed on Android. Its basically a photo editing application which seems to be able to make almost any photo look incredible (or at least very different).

I went on a trip to Felixstowe beach in the UK on a hot summers day and try out some of its capabilities. A lot of these photos were quite simply a point and click action with Superior Auto on my Xperia Z2. Then running "HDR Scape" on Snapseed, I updated the photos afterwards, which is a great way of doing it, as you don't have to worry about setting the camera up before taking the photograph then having to take a second photo after for a regular shot.

Before HDR

After HDR

The HDR feature gives the sky a really deep blue on this photo and brings out some of the greenery in the front of the picture. You will also notice the sea waves have been brought out more and the flowers are much more vibrant without sacrificing any other colour, which is something I noticed happens with the regular HDR feature on the Xperia camera.  Though I would say that the HDR has made the flowers, especially the green parts, a little over saturated so you wont always get it perfect, it depends on what you want. 

Luckily though, you have the choice between four HDR settings, Nature, People, Fine and Strong. This is particularly handy as HDR in its default mode (Nature) doesn't always work out the way you want. It also gives us the ability to fiddle around with the parts you might not be happy with, like with the over saturation of the green flower stems in the original Nature shot above. The Strong setting has toned down the HDR effects on the flowers and gives it a little more subtle effect so has worked out well in this example. 

Sometimes it is good to have a choice as Nature doesn't always work out best for nature shots and certainly doesn't work well with faces, as you can see above, the Nature setting makes me look like a ghost and brings out a very pale glare in my skin. The People setting has handled it a lot better.

As you can see with the picture of my friends on a bench below, the people mode works out the more subtle option here too. There isn't as much colour saturation as Nature mode, which can be a shame but the setting still manages to bring out the clouds and colours nicely and doesnt ruin the people, who are often the centre point of your picture. 

More examples on default Nature Mode. 

The Beach

Before HDR

After HDR.

I quite like both photos as much as each other, if I had to chose in fact I might actually pick the original photo. Though I think you will agree that the HDR feature adds such a subtle yet vivid effect to the picture. There are still 3 other settings to use if you aren't completely happy. 

The Shacks. 

Before HDR

After HDR.

I love the way that HDR brings out the clouds in this photo. This is something you will notice happens a lot with this app. Even the nicest clouds get given a deep dark and dramatic texture. You will also notice that the wood has more of a vibrant and a rough texture which looks great. The HDR feature works so well in this example and I am very happy with this photo.

The Fountain.

Before and after HDR.

The Superior Auto picture looks a little washed out, the HDR really puts some more shadow and depth back to the photo and brings it back to life. Good save Snapseed!

The Building.

Before HDR

After HDR

As you can see again, the clouds are brought out with the HDR as well as brightening up the front of the picture which removes a lot of the shadows, without much loss of colour depth. Though if you really enjoy deep blacks and sharp images HDR might not always been a good option for you.

The Beach.

The photo is probably the best example of HDR here. Nearly everything looks bolder, warmer and has better texture, especially the sand. The original picture actually looks a little washed out until Snapseed gets its hand on it. This is probably helped by the fact that we cannot see any ones faces in the picture so the Nature setting brings out everything well.

The Pier. 

HDR really makes this photo much bolder and brings out the colour and fun of the seaside. The original picture in fact looks quite gloomy in comparison.

Snapseed welcomes Sweep Panorama too.

Before HDR

After HDR

Critisms:

Snapseed offers so much more than just HDR, though it is easily my favourite feature at the time being. Its one of the most exciting photography apps I have ever tried and probably one of the most used apps of any type too...and is completely free!

Though there are still one issues which I have noticed. It doesn't seem to like editing photos when stuck in 20 megapixel mode on my Xperia Z2. This will not effect most users as the Xperia Z2 is a special case, and to be fair, it doesn't really bother me that much either as you can easily stick it in to 16 megapixels. 

I think if you dislike HDR then you probably wont be won over by Snapseed because their HDR, though better than others I have seen, still suffer from colour and black washing which is a very common criticism from people I have talked too. Though it is certainly an improvement from other HDR features I have seen and I think most people will be able to find a use for this.

I think the HDR feature on Snapseed is far superior than the stock HDR feature on the Sony camera. If  you enjoy HDR or simply want to jazz up your pictures, then give Snapseed a try!

I highly recommend this app.

Battery Test 1

As we probably already know the Xperia Z2 has a monster battery, far bigger than any of its rivals in the market with a whopping 3200 mAh!

Not only that but is has a ton of battery saving technology, mainly Sony's Stamina mode which can extend a battery for days and day if left. 

Being a heavy user,  I decided to give it a bash and see how it fairs with a technology geek like myself. Its all very well an advert telling us how long it will last, or an app giving us some vague usage, but do we have any real idea how long it will really last?

For my battery test I decided to pick a day that I was going to be particularly busy and see how this new monster battery can last, if at all.
My previous phone, the Xperia SP, would usually need charging at around 1600 with the level of usage I usually give it, so a charger in my bag was nearly always a constant issue.

Here is my day.

The Morning.

I woke up at around 0830 this morning. The first thing I do is turn my alarm off and stick the kettle on. While that prehistoric piece of rubbish I call a kettle tries to boil the water I check the news on my phone. I was pleased to see that after checking Google News and my Facebook updates in the time it takes to get ready, eat my breakfast and having a shower, that the battery hadn't gone down a single percent. Even when I got out the door for around 0900 the battery was still on 100%.

Incredibly impressive!

0900

I got in to my car, as I do every morning, and stick on my tasteless music. I attached my phone to my dashboard with an in car holder and plugged the phone in through the auxiliary to play my music.
My journey to work is usually around 25 mins every morning but due to a freak occurrence which only happens once every couple of decades, the traffic was quite good, so I ended up making it there within 20.

That was a full 20 minutes of music being played and the battery had only gone down a couple of percent. I made sure to turn off my screen while the music was playing which probably saved quite a bit of battery life. If the screen had been on the entire time then I would imagine it would have easily been down a full 5% by the end of the drive.

0930

Being the incredible professional I am, I had to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I managed to check the odd notification from Facebook and reply the occasional work email while I wasn't too busy, so usage was quite minimal up until this point. I decided to stick my phone in stamina mode to save juice while I worked.

See the different Stamina Mode can make!
I managed to get to 1100 and I had only used a couple of percent. This feature proves very useful. In fact if you don't use the phone much at all you might even go back to Nokia 3300 battery life. I can see Stamina Mode being useful for long shifts, festivals and holidays.

1100

When it hit around lunch time work got quite slow. I ended up using my phone a bit with Facebook and to promote both my blogs through Twitter (Curry Crew and Sony Sy), oh and argue with my agency through numerous emails. This took up a lot of battery power, something my old Xperia SP would have simply died at, but barely a dent was made through the afternoon with my battery being in the 80% region after lunch. 

1430

Once I finished work at 1430 I decided to catch up on social media. I went through Snap Chat, continued my long addiction to Facebook and took a few work phone calls. 

Afterwards I headed to my son's house to spend some time with him before my next shift at 1900. 

Battery at 78%

1600 

4K recording!

Treasured memories are future proofed with 4K recording.

I fitted some stabilizers to my boys new bike and took him out for his first cycle! Naturally there was no better time to whoop out 4K video and future proof this historic moment. I set myself to proud father mode and ended up getting incredibly trigger happy with the camera and 4K camcorder feature. 

I recorded several minutes of 4K video and took 30-40 photos and NO, there was hardly any over heating ;) 

1730

By this point it was around 70% and it was slowly tipping towards dinner time. I hadn't slowed down though, I thought I would take some background defocus pictures of my cat who decided to harass me. 

 My son decided he wanted to play around with the Augmented Reality feature on my Xperia Z2's camera just after too. This has become a real hot feature for him and every time I get my phone out he will not leave me alone. I think this takes up a reasonable amount of battery up as you have the camera on for long periods of time while you play around with it, especially when he is using it.

1800

Once we had done it was just past 6 o clock and my battery was starting to look a bit worse for wear. The battery had hit around 60% mark.
Granted, it had a lot of use up until this point with 4K recording, lots of Augmented Reality photos and being used as a walkman several times. Not to mention I was using lots of social media, taking phone calls and sending many emails.

1900

I headed off to work and used my phone again for music in my car. It was nearly 1900 and my phone wasn't even half way through, This is something the Xperia SP would have needed charging by now. Its not uncommon for a mid ranged phone or an older generation high end device to be hovering around the 20-30% mark here in my experience, but the Xperia Z2 is like the Duracell bunny.

59%

2000

Once I got to work I stuck my phone in Stamina Mode and rolled up my sleeves. Later I ended up going down the pub with a client. We had an ale and curry which went down a treat. I decided to pull out my camera and take a few more pictures as I cannot seem to help myself when it comes to photography. 

As you can tell from the shape of the Hobgoblin picture above, I was quite proud of it and uploaded it to Instagram. The other two pictures are just to show that I was still quite active with my camera and phone during my shift. 

I was asked to use my phone by my client who was curious as to what what it was capable of, so I showed them Google Now voice control, Augmented Reality, the water proof feature and some videos to show off Trilluminus display.

Stamina mode is great for saving battery while you aren't using it by closing background and unused apps, it really adds to your battery life. Perfect for work and long shifts. Other than that brief moment I was taking photos and showing my client my phone, I barely used it, so sticking it in Stamina Mode is a no brainer!

50% battery 

2300

By the time my shift had finished at 2300 I had a long journey back home which lasted about 25 minutes. I stuck my music on in my car and went home. So often with older phones at this time I would never have thought about doing this as I would have been running incredibly low on battery power! 

Not any more, I am now worry free!

You can almost see the steam coming off my feet.

Once I finally stumbled through the door and put my feet up after a long long day it was around 23:23. It had been a day of numerous social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Snapchat and Instagram), many photos, 4K video recording, Augmented Reality, using my phone in the rain, emails, calls, and almost anything else you can think of.  I had not touched my screen brightness at all in the name of saving battery, I simply had it on auto. 

I was left with 42%. 

That is 15 hours of pretty consistent use. I dread to think how long this phone could last if you economised!

I think the days of us charging our phone daily is a thing of the past. Unless you have days like mine every single day. If I was working simple office hours then I bet I would have been home with a battery of around 70%.

The real star feature for me was Stamina Mode, which shows that Sony have done so much more than simply stuff a large battery in a phone but also tried to find smart ways to save power too. If you are on holiday, at a festival or working very long hours then Stamina Mode can be a real life saver by closing down apps and wasteful features you aren't using.
The Xperia Z2 can last numerous days no matter what you at it, no more worrying, no more carrying a charger around with you, but it doesnt end there either as it can take a lot of physical punishment too, being water resistant and equipped with Gorilla glass. So its a phone which redefines the durability of the smart phone in every sense of the word!

This is a phone for everyone, even the adventurer!

Thanks for reading!