Hello friends. Sorry if it seems like I’ve been away for a long time! There is a reason other than laziness…I’m in Manila!

The Philippines is a country I’ve been to a few times so I’m quite familiar with it by now.

No, I’m not Filipino. Not that I wouldn’t want to be. I’m just not! 😊

But I do have family members who are. And so whenever I get a chance to go to this beautiful and fascinating country I always make sure to pack up some goodies to shoot with.

For the first installment and probably many thereafter, the photos are mostly from the iPhone X and the 16.3mp Ricoh GR.

I used them to complement each other, not as competition. However, I can now affirm my past statements that the iPhone X can completely perform as my only point and shoot digital camera. In fact, I honestly feel that I don’t even need the GR for this trip.

But of course, I know you guys want a “real” camera so I brought it along 😊

In the past, I have taken Leica, Rolleiflex, and bulky Canon cameras and L lenses, but this year I kept it light with compact but capable cameras.

On previous trips, I focused more on close, intimate portraits which was the reason why I brought equipment like the Rolleiflex and Canon L lenses. This year, I wanted more street and environmental portraits.

Don’t worry film fans I haven’t abandoned you! I brought with me two of the greatest Camera Legend film cameras, which I can’t reveal at the moment 😀

I am sending the films to The Darkroom lab as I shot color film this time and I’m taking no chances on processing them myself. I find I always get ugly blotches and spotting when developing color film. That’s a process I want to master but haven’t been able to yet.

Anyway, I’ll have more photos coming soon. Have a great day good peeps! 😎📷😘

Summer Breeze makes Zay feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in her mind! 😊

Well friends it’s July today and for this morning just a quick post.

This was shot with the iPhone X using that faux bokeh mode again.

Now you guys know I’ve been an advocate for “real” cameras, but…Friend, it’s getting close! Maybe too close for comfort 😊

Ok maybe you don’t like the cool filter I chose, but the “bokeh” looks better than what I get from some large sensor point and shoots!

I know, I know, probably not what you want to read on a Sunday morning from the Camera Legend website. Heck, it’s not something I’d want to read! But I’m trying to keep it real 😊

I know you guys want more classic camera reviews and in time, yes I will give the people what they want! 😊😘

I used to post more spontaneously but as the site progressed I felt the need to make the reviews more and more in depth, which actually took the fun away from posting.

Maybe I can find a middle ground from which to restart? Anyway thank you guys for reading and Happy Sunday! 😎📷✌🏻

Ah it seemed like yesterday but it’s been about three years since Baby Zay was a baby in that comfy baby rocker in that crowded “Kids Corner” of the house.

Today’s she can’t sit still for a minute 😀😘

This image was shot in 2015 using a Leica M8 and Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton.

They say the M8 is the “poor man’s Monochrom” as a reference to its ability to render nice black and white images, some say, as the next best thing to the Leica Monochrom.

Since I’ve never owned the Monochrom I can’t compare, but as a long time owner of the M8, I can attest to its picture taking abilities. The M8 takes nice pictures. But you didn’t need me to tell you that…you know it already! 😊

Have a wonderful day camera lovers 😎📷✌🏻

Happy Belated Father’s Day to all our great dads out there!

And Happy Father’s Day to my Dad in heaven.

Just a story about this pic. It was 2007 maybe March or April. We were about to go out, our usual Dunkin Donuts, coffee, etc run.

He was wearing this “husky man” brown jacket, which my father in law would later also become fond of wearing, which happens to be my jacket 😀

Anyway, I saw a good photo op here so I asked him if I could take a quick shot which he obliged. The camera I think was a then “current” Fuji S3 Pro and cheap 50mm lens.

Who would think that a short four years later, this would be his “obituary” photo. The photo used at his funeral.

Have you ever thought about the time when that day comes, what photo of yours will your family use for your goodbye? It’s a hard vision to think about 😢

On a more uplifting note, kids these days like to use the word “LIT” like you might see on Instagram like…Yo man, that was LIT!! 😀🔥🔥💯👍🏻

Well, I say my Dad was always LIT man!! His real name is Chavalit aka Charlie 😊

That’s ChavaLIT!! You got it? 😀 and we’ve always called him “Lit” “Litty” “Leet!” “Loop” “Lop” “DaB” and oh yeah LIT!! 😀🔥🔥🔥

RIP Pops! We love you and miss you man 😍❤️🙏✌🏻

Some of you may remember that some time ago when the iPhone X first came out, I wrote my opinion on it and stated that I’d probably not get one unless the prices came way down or someone gave it to me.

Well, that day has come! The price came down but not enough for me to actually want it. However, the latter happened when a loved one gave it to me because there was a deal going for $350 off. Now that’s love! 😊😘

Hey, honest to God, I never asked for it or even implied that I wanted the iPhone X. I know I’m a gear head but I do have some financial limits 😀 And I know I’m already incredibly spoiled with my camera selections!

In fact, I was quite content with the 6s Plus even though there were some things that annoyed me about that phone, ie, battery life, shutter lag for example.

So now that I have had it for about a month, what do I think about it?

Honestly, if I had any curiosity about the X, I was only interested in it for the camera. That’s really my main interest in any cell phone camera I guess.

The images are very good! That is, by phone camera standards. I’ll go out on a limb and say it might be the best iPhone camera yet!

The detail, sharpness and colors are very good and very consistent with past iPhones.

That said, if you have the iPhone 6/7/8 don’t sweat it. The improvements in image quality seem incremental and not a monumental leap. But it is better.

THE FAUX BOKEH MODE

The fancy faux Bokeh mode which is called the “Portrait” mode for the most part works well. This was one of the few things that interested me about the phone. In some instances, it’s good enough to pass!

The image above was taken in Portrait mode where the iPhone X automatically worked its bokeh magic. Available light, no flash. Friend, it’s getting close!

This shot reminded me of many a shots that I have taken with a 35mm film or DSLR with a 50mm f/1.8 lens on it!

If you have the 7 Plus or 8 Plus you have the bokeh mode too. I’m not sure if it’s implemented the same on those phones but I would imagine it’s similar.

Check out the two images of the same flower below. The top image has no bokeh effect added. The bottom was taken in “Portrait” mode which is the bokeh mode. Perfectly passable to me! It looks almost like bokeh from a lens at f/2.8-3.5 in some ways.

Below is another example of bokeh using the iPhone’s Portrait mode.

It takes a little practice to get acceptable results. You need to be fairly close to your subject.

As is par for the course of the ever controlling entity that is Apple, as far as I can tell there’s no way to control the level of the bokeh effect as you can with rival phones such as the Huawei or Honor phones.

That said, under the right circumstances the iPhone X’s end result appear as a more natural and believable bokeh effect to my eyes than what I have seen from my own experiments with the bokeh modes on other phones.

NIGHT & LOW LIGHT SHOTS

The iPhones, since at least the iPhone 5, have done a very good job with night and low light shots and the iPhone X might be the best yet in this area too!

The two “Geno’s Steaks” photos below illustrate how exposure can be improved by just simply sliding the “light” bar when clicking on “edit” to fix the photo. Most of you Apple users are probably familiar with this.

The top shot is the original and the subjects are hidden in the dark due to the strong neon lights affecting exposure. The bottom shot shows the subjects clearly after adjusting the “light” control on the iPhone.

Geno’s in Philadelphia make a great cheesesteak sandwich by the way, but that night we went to Pat’s their adversary 😊😘

The shot above was taken using only these $3 star lights from Target. The room was actually pretty dark.

I was impressed when I enlarged the photo on my phone expecting to see a grainy image, but instead got a smooth beautiful image that did not seem to be lacking in any details from noise reduction or any other processing artifacts. My old 6s Plus would’ve not handled this scene as well.

I have done similar shots in the past with cameras like the Sony RX100 and the 16.3mp Ricoh GR with their large APS-C sensors. The initial results from the X look nearly as good!

Friend, do you still need to carry an expensive digital point and shoot when a phone camera like this might suffice in addition to doubling as a phone, organizer, video game player etc etc?!

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

As mentioned, I’ve only had this thing for a month so I may possibly change my mind based on my future findings but for now I’d say this is the best iPhone camera yet!

It may even give some nice point and shoots a run for the money. Right now I’m not going to say get rid of your RX100 or GR but it’s getting damn close!

POOP EMOJI 💩

Oh by the way, anyone remember that I joked on my first iPhone X article last year that if I got this phone, I’d use the moving poop emoji? Well, I’m a man of my word so here it is! 😊😘💩

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