24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Baguio with the Sony A9

Published

November 16, 2017

Marvin Velasco

Our very own Kevin Bruce got married over the weekend in the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio City. The GadgetMatch team took this opportunity to support our favorite multimedia producer and have some fun along the way.

Not satisfied with documenting the trip using only the premium smartphones we have on hand, we decided to take the Sony A9 along as well.

There’s no doubt that Sony’s one-and-only A9 is the best mirrorless camera for sports photography. It has also served us well for videos shot for our YouTube and Facebook channels. But how does it fare during more leisure activities?

While the results won’t surprise you — this is a US$ 4,500 camera, after all — seeing just how well this beautiful piece of technology shoots is always a treat.

Getting ready

Going to Baguio from Manila takes only a little over four hours now, thanks to some newly extended highways heading north. Although provincial buses scaling up the mountain are easy to book, we decided to rent a van instead to save us a few headaches and allow us to take bathroom breaks whenever we wanted along the way.

Still, riding inside a van for five hours (including the breaks we took) can take its toll, so we made sure to freshen up and clear up our remaining tasks before the formalities began.

The photo above shows Chay walking to the nearest Starbucks, while the picture below has Dan calling someone on his Huawei Mate 10 Pro. Who could be on the other end of the line?

From solo shots, we now move on to group pictures.

We rarely (actually, never) dress up unless the occasion is truly special. Here are seven members of the GadgetMatch team all dressed up and ready for the ceremony in the Baguio Country Club.

As usual, work always comes first, no matter where we find ourselves.

Here are Michael Josh, Chay, and Leez comparing photos taken with the Mate 10 Pro and Google Pixel 2 right outside of the venue. Meanwhile, Rodneil would rather show some swag for the cameras.

And here is the groom himself. Say hi, Kevin! Notice the wooden bow tie he’s wearing. I bet it’s easier to put together than an actual tie.

The ceremony

As much fun as we had leading up to the ceremony, it was time for us to find our seats and get ready for the main event. Here we are, so formal and behaved!

Well, maybe not everyone was behaving. This is Chay giving her best “why’s that girl looking at my man like that” look. I don’t think anyone would want to be at the end of this scary gaze.

We weren’t allowed to take out our A9 to document the wedding, but we were able to steal this shot of Kevin walking down the aisle with his wife while casually waving at us. Congrats!

Finally, a group photo with the newly weds! Bringing a wide-angle lens for the A9 was a wise choice; combining the full-frame sensor of the camera with this lens captured every detail of the beautiful scene.

I tried to get myself some solo photos while the sun was still out, but these two well-dressed (and annoying) ladies wouldn’t let me hog the limelight.

Fun at the reception

We carried our fun over to the reception, which also took place inside the Country Club. Lighting here was a constant challenge, but nothing the A9 couldn’t easily handle.

Each table was given a disposable film camera to document the festivities. Fun fact: A single shot from cheap 35mm film is as large as the super-expensive sensor of the A9. Talk about disparities in technology!

Of course, nothing can beat a full-frame mirrorless camera in terms of image quality and ability to adjust on the fly. Here’s a perfect shot of Leez on the dance floor.

Not wanting to be upstaged, Michael Josh and Chay used the smoke machine and unpredictable lighting to produce their own Instagram-worthy snaps. We love the dramatic looks!

S’mores at the cabin

Once the smoke settled, we decided to roast s’mores at our Baguio home’s fireplace. It was chilly night, so the warmth of the fire and each other’s company kept us cozy all night.

Roasting marshmallows is an art form, and getting a couple as perfect as these makes all the effort worth it.

But that’s only half the battle. Putting the s’mores together takes a perfect touch and even more practice.

This is my awful first attempt at assembling a s’more. No matter — it still tasted great!

If you get everything right, you’ll end up with a heavenly delight. This is Leez before the dessert took over her taste buds and mind.

There’s so much more to Baguio City aside from the sites we visited, as well as the typical tourist spots you see on travel guides.

We’ll be sure to come back and document more of the Summer Capital one day. For now, we’re figuring out who’ll be the next GadgetMatch member to get hitched. Any guesses?

[irp posts=”24001″ name=”5 reasons to choose a dedicated camera over a smartphone”]

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.