Lets Tallinn that again! Further Exploring old town Tallinn… and an iPhone 7
In this 200 Tier Point Adventure:
- 155 Tier points to go (because my mathematical skills are as bad as my grammatical skills)
- To the Heathrow area
- The Holiday Inn Ariel, London Heathrow
- To Heathrow, Revisiting the Cathay Pacific Lounge
- AY3126 London Heathrow to Helsinki in Business Class
- Can you transit Helsinki airport in 20 minutes flat?
- AY107 Helsinki to Tallinn
- Another walk around Tallinn… and an iPhone 7
- The Hotel Ülemiste
- Back to Tallinn Airport, Tallinn Airport Lounge
- AY118 Tallinn to Helsinki (ATR72-500)
- A quick visit to the Finnair Non-Schengen Lounges
- AY831 Helsinki to Heathrow in Business Class with an A350
- A Train adventure home
- Silver: Done.
Editors note: I was going to just do a photo show, but I decided to change my mind again. So welcome to an in-use review of the iPhone 7’s camera.
With the first part of the trip done, it was time to get down to the fine art of exploring.
Welcome to Estonia!
And this time, I decided not to cheat – and took a bus into town. So, it was a matter of following the signs to the exit.
Welcome!
Buses depart from the lower floor of Tallinn Airport every 20 minutes during the day. If you’re not a resident of Tallinn (where transport is free), the easiest method is to buy a ticket on the bus – costing all of €2.
€2 isn’t bad value.
The ride into town is a short one – I’d say about 10 to 15 minutes and drops you near the main bus station. From there, it’s a short walk into the Old Town
Still a damn good name for a coffee shop.
Like most visits to the old town of Tallinn, eventually – you’ll reach the Viru Gate.
From here, it’s a matter of walking up Viru until you hit the Town square and seeing the shops on the way.
The Bear pub!
Glass slippers – perfect for the Cinderella’s out there.
Or if you’re Mary Poppins, maybe one of these umbrellas may suit better?
The last time I was here, it was Christmas market season – now, the tree remains…. and it’s rather empty.
Panoramas with the iPhone 7
The Town Hall.
But keep your eyes open – you’ll never know what you see on the way…
100% Good Emotions!
I wandered around and found an interesting portal.
Let’s head up!
A short walk… and I’m at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral – a 19th Century Russian orthodox cathedral
The area provides some up high views of Tallinn.
Wandering back down, you reach the Stable Tower and Town Wall Walkway – and run into rather imposing figures….
Descending back down, you have a choice… steps or cobbles. As I was in trainers, and it was still a bit icy (I nearly slipped over a few times)… steps it is. I’m mad, but not stupid…
Mad…
… but not stupid
Descending down the steps, the light was starting to fade, and it was time to see more of the old town.
Irish Pubi… and Grill!
As you can see… all roads lead back to the town square.
But even with extra insulation (you’ve got to love fleecy leggings) and tiredness, for me, time moved on. It was time to head to the Viru Gate and towards the bus station
Even if you pass a good sign on the way.
True words.
So: All these photos around Old Town Tallin were shot on an iPhone 7 with the supplied camera application. No other corrections were applied to it, other than added my (c) marker in Adobe Lightroom.
The iPhone camera has developed from the 2 megapixel sensor on the iPhone 3G, the 5 megapixel sensor on the iPhone 4 (with it’s holding it wrong technique), the 8 megapixel unit on the iPhone 5 and 6 (which still a good sensor), through to the 12 megapixel iPhone 7 with optical stabilisation.
The development shows (and looking back at my camera roll which has images from all my iPhones, I can see the difference).
That’s not to say the camera is perfect – like any cameraphone, it still suffers in low light and rapid motion – that’s why we have things like Nikon, Canon and Sony Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras or Compact System Cameras which have better low light management.
But sometimes and in some cities, carrying a big hulking DSLR isn’t a good thing (they scare some people, and can seem to be intrusive) – this is where the discretion of a camera phone like the iPhone 7 comes into play.
That’s not to say I was shooting with both the iPhone 7 and Canon 6D around Old Town Tallinn. I thought that a photo journo thing with an iPhone would be more interesting that a DSLR.
I think a lot of us take the iPhone camera for granted (along with everyone else who’s made a slate-styled phone – Samsung, HTC, Google, Huawei, Motorola, etc, etc, etc – in the past years with improving optics). It provides a way to take pictures, and share them straight away in a convenient fashion.
Devices like these allow us to create memories quickly and providing they are backed up safely – memories for a long time to come.
Next: The Hotel Ülemiste
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