24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Paris

Go wide or go home with the Huawei P30 Pro

Published

May 3, 2019

Marvin Velasco

I’ve had my fair share of Euro trips in the past. Unusually, I have never set foot in Paris, France, considering it’s the most visited city in the world apparently.

Well, I finally got my chance recently. I have lots of tips to share to make your own 24 hours in Paris special. Considering how pricey this city is, it’s best to carefully plan with a budget in mind.

Tip 1: Check out Airbnb options around the outskirts of the central district. Here, you can find more affordable lodging in quiet neighborhoods such as this:

Paris is Airbnb-friendly unlike other cities in Europe. You and your host won’t get into any trouble with the law. Compared to a traditional hotel, an Airbnb has an advantageous home-style setup including a kitchen and dining area.

If you’re lucky, you could find a host who offers breakfast and travel advice around the area. Since these are private deals, you can learn more from the home’s owner after a successful booking.

Tip 2: Airbnb’s filters for specific lodging needs are more varied than ever. They assured my personal essentials like Wi-Fi, a private toilet, and an English-speaking host, in my case.

Paris’ train and bus systems are relatively straightforward. With the exception of a few confusing station names (since I can’t speak a single sentence of French), getting from point A to B is as easy as any other country with a decent system.

Tip 3: If you’re staying for a few days, purchase your all-day tickets the moment you arrive. At first, they seem pricey — around EUR 53 per person for three days, for example — but it lessens daily walks by miles.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Paris tour without seeing the Eiffel Tower up close. There are numerous angles to view it from. In my opinion, the above photo is the best; it’s a favorite of mine. It’s beside Palais de Chaillot.

Tip 4: France’s weather (and Europe’s, in general) is bipolar in spring. Bring a jacket and/or scarf even if it’s sunny when heading out.

The next big attraction to visit in Paris is the Musee du Louvre. It’s another short ride within the city center. It’s tough to miss. There are plenty of photo opportunities beside its pyramid. The pyramid also lights up during certain nights.

A regular adult ticket costs EUR 15. The museum includes the Mona Lisa and every other available artwork in the museum. It takes about 1.5 hours if you rush through everything. If you take your time, it might take a couple more hours.

Tip 5: While it’s generally crowded in front of the museum’s entrance, a sweet spot to take photos is to the side. Not much can get in the way between you and the pyramid. Plus, the lighting is better here around noon.

After going through multiple floors of artwork, you’ll eventually reach the Mona Lisa near the end. Needless to say, loads of people will always crowd around the painting. There’s no known off-peak hour, as far as I know.

Tip 6: The number of people — like the painting — is an illusion in itself. You may walk to the side (in my case, to the left) to get closer to Leonardo da Vinci’s work and take a clear shot of it.

If you’re a fan of The Da Vinci Code, you’d know why the spot above is special. No spoilers here, but do pass by this upside-down pyramid before exiting the underground level of the museum.

Continuing the artsy tour, there are fancy bookstores scattered around Paris, such as Shakespeare and Company, which is found in close proximity to what’s left of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Unfortunately, photo taking isn’t allowed inside.

What makes this bookstore special is the cafe found right beside it — a bit pricey, yes, but it makes for great IG-worthy photos like this:

Paris never lacks in photogenic locations. It’s best to be prepared to take out whatever camera you have. The P30 Pro’s zoom was useful in this case. Walking any closer was impossible because of the windowsill.

Tip 7: Paris’ dine-in restaurants are quite pricey. However, more affordable pastry shops are available in every major tourist location. Load up on local bread and coffee/tea while here.

Before the day ends, I highly recommend visiting the Eiffel Tower after sunset for its nighttime lighting. If you can wait till 10pm, a special light show from the monument lights up the Parisian skies.

Tip 8: Paris being such a tourist hotspot, an abundance of thieves normally lurk in crowded areas such as trains and landmark entrances at night. Don’t carry all your cash at once. Keep your valuables secured to your body or bag at all times.

Another notable nighttime shooting location is the Arc de Triomphe. While you could go here when there’s sunlight, the opportunity to take long exposure and HDR photos can’t be missed. The P30 Pro’s cameras also shine in this situation.

As always, there’s lots more to see around Paris that would need another 24 hours to cover. For myself, coming back is a must. Paris is as dynamic as the people who reside in it.

Related Topics:Huawei Huawei P30 Pro Paris

24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.