ASUS Philippines sponsored a four-day trip to Batanes to show off the photography skills of the various ZenFone 3 models. We had the Asus Zenfone 3 5.5 with us to take tons of photos of the picturesque province.
There were also ZenFone 3 Max units, which easily survived the trip. Although, it must be noted that there was hardly any data connectivity in Batanes and we had group challenges where we had to extend its battery life as much as possible so we were extra thrifty with the battery.
A few ZenFone 3 Deluxe units were also on-hand for the media representatives and bloggers to play around with. Photographer and filmmaker Aaron Palabyab made use of said camera. He was present to show us how to make the most of the ZenFone 3’s camera for taking Milky Way/galaxy shots at night, which is something ASUS boasts is an important and unique feature of these phones. (You can even read impressions of the phone on his site.)
I don’t want this to be an article that’s too wordy. Instead, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
Shot Fundacion Pacita and its gorgeous area with HDR Auto on in Manual modeAlso shot with HDR Auto on in Manual mode and hardly tweaked the shotMacro shots are easy to take with this phone, especially in well-lit environmentsI wouldn’t recommend using the zoom feature. Get as close to your subject as possible.I’ve noticed the blueish tones the photos have. If having photos lean on the cooler side, you can leave them as is. Or you can tweak it a bit to make them warmer.A standard Auto shot taken while traveling from Basco to Sabtang. And yes, he is steering the boat with his feet.Probably one of my personal favorite shots and it’s completely point-and-shoot in AutoStill shot in Auto during the visit of the Savidug stone housesThis dog, which I also photographed in Auto mode, kept that spot outside of the changing huts forPlaying around with Manual mode and the lights and shadows inside Mt. Carmel ChurchNot the best shot but tried taking close up shot of the food underneath incandescent lightingPanorama shot of a gorgeous sunset at a protected beach near our hotelOne of the biggest selling points for the ZenFone 3 and its different variants is its built-in Manual mode that can do long exposures of up to 32 seconds and comes with ISO 3200 and a large aperture f/2.0 Largan lens. This let us experiment and take shots of the Milky Way and the stars, which is something you wouldn’t think a smartphone can do.Still keeping the same settings as taught to the group by Aaron, some of the media and bloggers present started playing around with lights to achieve this shot at Naidi Hill Lighthouse. This is the only photo in this group taken with the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, which has a higher end Sony IMX 318 sensor (compared to the Sony IMX 298 sensor on the ZenFone 3).
If you want to see a bit of its video chops, here are two Instagram videos I took. Like the photos above, these haven’t been edited either but Instagram might have compressed the file for easier uploading.
