Near Union Square.

iPhone 6, 1/250, f/2.2, ISO 32.

This was directly into the sun and I could barely make out the screen while this chap prattled on about the Queen, having picked up on my English accent. A touch on LR’s sliders and a decent image resulted, despite the halos from the lens facing into the sun. Despite the lighting, definition in the shadows is outstanding.

The ergonomics of the iPhone 6 are pretty awful as cameras go. Mine is fitted with a rubber ‘bumper’ (edge surround) which helps a little. A handle of some kind would greatly improve matters. Readiness? I just kept it turned on in one hand as I walked around. So acclimated are people to cell phones that pointing it about caused no reactions. It’s clearly perceived as a non-hostile device, possibly because it’s perceived as such an ‘amateur’ camera. The average subject has no idea just how splendid the resulting images can be and likely pays no attention as a result. Fine with me.

You can snap a picture using the volume button or the touch button on the screen – the latter more comfortable for portrait images. The screen is easier to make out in bright light compared with predecessor iPhones, likely owing to a new surface finish (polarizer?) which is less glossy. Nice. Finally, I switch off the shutter sound by muting the phone, making it as silent as the electronic shutter in Panny’s splendid GX7. Responsiveness is every bit as good as that of Panny’s masterpiece, meaning instantaneous. Very nice indeed.

I have never been particularly good about holding cameras level when called for and enhanced software solutions in recent years have made me even more careless in this regard. Why bother when you can fix the image in processing, rather than wasting time when taking it? If you were to find one technical fault more than any other in my iPhone 6 snaps it’s lack of level framing, but the controls in Lightroom 5 make fixing that a one click process. For street snapping, fixating on composition when making images means images lost.