The snow started falling Saturday 17th March 2018, it briefly stopped for 4 hours on Sunday 18th March between 6am and 10.30am, and then it returned at full pelt until 3am on Monday 19th March 2018. Below are photos taken on the 18th March 2018. All the footage is shot on the Samsung Galaxy S9+.
Plus a short video.
The top photo and the one below are of the road leading out of the village. About 300 yards further down, the road was totally blocked with a huge snow drift lasting about 100 yards.
The above shot is at the entrance to Princetown.
You can just about see the Tors in the distance. This was using the 2 x optical zoom of the S9+. The wind was still very strong.
Heres a tweet showing the road further down, that even caused 4 x 4’s to get stuck, including a Police Land Rover. The local police spent 90 mins digging themselves out.
Welcome to my review of the Samsung Galaxy S9+ one week later. The entire video was shot using the front and rear cameras of the S9+, outdoor at the start of the second snow blizzard that was just returning on Dartmoor National Park.
I have also discussed my views on the audio and some comparisons as well. New camera samples are included, previously not seen before or shared by me.
Welcome to my Samsung Galaxy S9+ Camera Review. In this review all modes of the camera are tested and commented on including –
– Video at 4K 60fps – The S9+ creates super crispy footage with decent audio too.
– Slow Motion comparison between 960fps and 240fps – whilst 960fps is fun to create with Samsung’s auto detect motion and has a super easy editing software to frame your super slow motion perfectly with some fun music too, slow motion at 240fps is far better quality, but not as fun. To find slow motion at 240fps you will need to activate the mode in the camera settings.
– Variety of Super Slow Motion Clips at 60fps – I tried to pick 6 different scenarios. I loved the effect.
– f/1.5 vs f/2.4 – see the differences possible. f/1.5 really does turn dark scenes into daylight as well.
– Selection of Photos – the photo quality is excellent. In fact video quality is great too.
– Low Light Shots – a champ. Natural looking photos. It does help to drop the exposure down, although none of the shots shown had this adjustments.
– Panoramic – File sizes around 60mb and truly amazing outputs.
– Live Focus vs normal selfie – just use rear camera with a f/1.5 for a natural bokeh. Not my favourite mode. Front camera for photos is the S9+’s weakness. Front video manages QHD and is good with auto focus as well.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S9+ is a very competent shooter. The output from video to photo quality is excellent and always nails the shot first time every time.
So the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and S9 camera is the first to have 2 aperture settings. Either a f/1.5 or f/2.4. In auto mode it decides which aperture to use, but switching to Pro mode and you can choose yourself.
So lets take a look at some examples. I have uploaded the full size versions in this post, so click each photo for more options.
Both the photo above and below were shot in f/1.5. This was inside a church which had no lights on. See other shots further down. Going in close at f/1.5 allows for some great natural bokeh. No need for fake portrait modes, even though the S9 camera does have one!
The level of detail in the shot above is excellent. Blown up on a big screen, the photo looks superb.
Above is using the f/2.4 aperture. A much darker shot and some of the detail has been lost. However, a longer shutter speed of 1/4 second would compensate a little. The S9’s OIS is able to hold the image still for a 1/4 second with ease.
Above is f/1.5 on the fake flower. You can create a great bokeh in this setting.
But shooting at f/2.4 as above, creates a sharper crispier image. It’s handy to have the choice to decide.
Above is shot at f/2.4 and is an actual indication of the true light levels inside the church. This is what all the photos in this post had available for natural light.
Now moving to f/1.5 and what a difference.
So there you have it. Photos of the same scene shot in the different aperture options, allowing some creative control. Or just shoot in auto, and let the S9+ make the call.
Welcome to my first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S9+. This is the new flagship phone from Samsung, but is it all that it is cut out to be? Lets start investigating.
The Samsung Galaxy S9+ Camera is meant to shine in low light conditions. Fortunately, the UK is in the middle of heavy rainfall, fog and generally miserable conditions. The below photos were shot in very heavy rain and fog.
The photos are the full size uploaded, so you should be able to download these and pixel peep. The above shot looks as clear as day, with very little noise. Slightly softer on the edges but that’s to be expected with a f/1.5. But what to you think.
Shot once again in very heavy rain and this time the fog has increased. In auto again, but this time I wanted to see what would happen if I dropped the exposure down a little. Another clear , low noise and realistic photo.
The last photo was in auto, but this time the exposure was left untouched. It was actually semi dark outside but look at the light levels here. The shot above is a more accurate rendition of the level of darkness.
Samsung announced the Galaxy S9 and S9+ just over a week ago now and since that time I have been evaluating the new flagship.
Quite a fair amount of content has been shared by major websites, and whilst some of that, not all, is either biased or non committal it still is possible to read thru the lines and makes some assumptions. However, I will be putting my own S9+ thru its paces when it arrives later this week, with particular focus on the following :-
– overall user experience
-the audio capabilities from the loudspeaker, bluetooth and wired headphones with a very large selection of headphones tested
– the camera – from auto mode to pro mode and then taking it to the extreme
– Comparisons with other phones like the iPhone X, Mate 10 Pro, Pixel 2, Huawei P20 Pro, Note 8, S8, S8+ and more
So my first thoughts are that Samsung has refined the S8+ and Note 8 to produce the S9+. Undoubtedly, it will be a fine phone, but I still have questions over whether the camera is that much improved and whether the user experience will be hampered by Samsung including double of everything eg voice assistants.
So if you have any particular questions you would like answered, let me know.
Welcome to my review of the LG V30+. The review includes a camera showcase plus 32 reasons why this is currently the best phone in 2018!
And just in case you missed anything, here are the 32 reasons. The video includes additional commentary, screen shots and the camera showcase.
1. V30+ has lots of storage 128gb. Great for keeping apps and games in internal storage. Longevity as games and apps get bigger.
2. Dual hybrid sim so either another sim or micro sd card. Flexible options without huge extra costs.
3. Top processor snapdragon 835 and 4gb ram. Snappy device.
4. Hardware. Gorgeous. Glass back using gorilla glass 5 in an aluminium frame.
5. IP68 dust and water resistance plus up to 1.5metres for 30 mins Plus MIL-STD-810G complaint. A lot of phones have IP68 but aren’t MIL-STG-810G.
6. 6 inch OLED screen at 18:9. Great for content and usage with easy grip 7.54cm wide. Not missing a cutout like iPhone X and screen colour profiles and with custom colour profile option.
7. Dolby vision and hdr 10 complaint.
8. Always on display that shows you what you need at a glance without impacting battery. Fully customisable.
9. Not heavy at 158g. Considerably less than some flagship phones.
10. Cameras dual 16mp f/1.6 and 13mp ultra wide f/1.9 , 5mp front. 16mp more detail than 12mp flagships.
11. HDR video, manual video, cine video, lut recording profile, graphy, 192kHz stereo sound, iPhone X still mono !
12. Manual photo and huge options and modes well ahead of other phones. Special mode for Instagram photos. Ultra wide lens is amazing. Even use it for selfies.
13. If you miss the Google Pixel camera, a dedicated port for the V30 normal and wide lens is available. Best of both worlds.
14. Not only does it have a headphone jack, it’s fitted with a Quad Dac. No need to worry about have I got my adapter or have I charged my Bluetooth headphones. MQA streaming support included.
15. But if you use Bluetooth, you have aptx, aptx hd and LDAC is coming next. iPhone X doesn’t have the basic aptx. MQA streaming support included.
16. Audio is 32 bit, 192kHz, b & o certified , audio recording is 24bit/48khz
17. Active noise cancellations with dedicated mic too.
18. Comes not only with headphones in box, but B & O Headphones, some of the best in the box headphones.
19. Decent mono speaker despite IP68.
20. FM radio included with RDS.
21. Fingerprint on rear which is reachable without any strange moves eg Note 8.
22. Sensors include fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compasss, barometer, and colour spectrum for camera.
23. Battery is great, gets you thru a heavy day despite QHD display, but can adjust display to 1080 or 720p.
24. Quick charge 3 with correct plug in box to do this and also has Qi wireless charging.
25. Handy knock on or knock off. Just a useful feature.
26. Floating bar gives access to shortcuts, screen capture with options like gif, music player and quick contacts. Customisable and position change. Again all mod cons to make using phone a lovely experience.
27. Uses the modern usb type c plug.
28. LG Home + has lots of themes now.
29. Fluid experience and Google apps, hardware and services work well with the phone. As well as Google Assistant voice control when phone is locked too. A lot of phones don’t have Google Assistant when locked
30. The home touch buttons can be customised and position changed plus you can hide them in whichever apps you like, or even show them. LG adds an extra menu item for app scaling or game control as applicable.
31. Games tools. Game graphics, screen resolution, break time (reduces brightness and performance when you leave game running for more than 5 mins, screenshot)
32. I said so 😉
Conclusion
The LG V30+ is a competent workhorse, yet in a beautiful body with all the requirements needed for a modern phone, with nothing missing from a hardware perspective.
The Kodak Ektra smartphone is a camera or is it a phone, no its simply an android phone, designed to look like a camera. It looks different and actually is pretty easy to hold due to its shape and textures.
Key Specs
– Processor – MediaTek MT6797 Helio X20 Deca-core, 2x Cortex-A72 @ 2.3GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz,4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz
– OS Android™ 6.0
– DIMENSION 147.8 x 73.35 x 9.69mm (14.02mmat camera lens)
– DISPLAY 5” FullHD 1920×1080
– CONNECTIVITY BT4.1, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), GPS/Glonass
– MEMORY 32GB ROM, 3GB RAM
– I/O 3.5mm audio, USB 3.0 Type C, microSD™ (Up to 128 GB)
– Single SIM (Nano(4FF))
– SENSORS Ambient Light, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, E-Compass, Proximity sensor
– AUDIO Speaker, Receiver, Dual MIC
– KEY Camera key, Power key, Volume up/down
– BATTERY 3000mAh, with 5V 2A charging, and Pump Express ready
– APPS Kodak Camera, Gallery, Super 8, Selects curation portal, printing apps; Google’s Snapseed™ editor;
MobiSystems’OfficeSuite and File Commander; AVG AntiVirus
Camera Samples
Main Review
In my main review, I take a closer look at the phone, the software, camera software and photo editing.
Conclusion
The Kodak Ektra came out over a year ago costing over £400. At the figure it was not worth the cost. At less than half that price now, it is a nostalgic piece of kit and fun to use. It has also benefitted from many firmware updates, however, the camera is not a patch on current flagship phones.
Welcome to my LG V30 Audio Review. This review covers the loudspeaker, bluetooth headphones, type c headphones and wired headphones. Over 12 different types of headphones used for the review.
To recap, the LG V30 embraces the 3.5mm headphone jack and adds a Quad Dac. The Quad Dac can drive headphones up to 600 ohms. However, I would recommend up to 300 ohms max and dependant on the sensitivity of the headphone as well. Over 50 ohm headphones trigger the high impedance mode of the Quad Dac to ensure proper amplification. Sub 50 ohms and a wider dynamic range is engaged.
The Quad Dac features high end options from being able to choice digital filters, an equaliser and even supports the new high resolution streaming format MQA.
So now sit back and enjoy the LG V30 Audio Review!
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 