The past weekend I had the incredible opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Budapest. Better yet, I was able to attend the biggest game in this season’s club football – the UEFA Champions League Final, featuring French side Paris Saint Germain from France and England’s Arsenal. Oppo, which is an official global partner of UEFA for the tournament were kind enough to offer me a ticket for the game so I figured I’d use the opportunity to test the Find X9 Ultra‘s camera and the teleconverter from its Earth Explorer Kit and how well it can serve on my travels.
Now don’t expect any in-depth image quality analysis or conclusions here – my colleagues already examined the performance of that camera in our review, which you can find over here. But if you feel like checking some beautiful images from the game or the picturesque Hungarian capital read on. All images are taken directly from the phone in the default jpg format with no post-processing applied to them.
Ahead of the game I was able to do some touristy stuff and explore the historic sights around Budapest, starting with the Fisherman’s Bastion. Located on a hilltop near the Buda castle, the UNESCO heritage site provides lovely views of the city.
The next stop was St. Stephen’s Basilica – the largest church in the city and one of the most richly decorated holy places. The interior is truly magnificent, but also rather dimly lit, providing excellent testing ground for the Find X9 Ultra.
While taking a breather I got to see a 5v5 exhibition match, featuring one of the best regarded and most decorated midfield players of all time – Claude Makelele – and Arsenal legend Theo Walcott. It took place as part of the Champions Festival that UEFA arranged in the final host city every year, where fans from all around the world gather together to enjoy various football themed-experiences as a warm up for the main event.
The next stop was Liberty Bridge with its Art Nouveau design and yellow trams, providing some great photo-snapping opportunities.
Finally, we took a cruise on the Danube river, that let us see the spectacular Parliament Building, which was even better looking with its dramatic lighting.
On day two it was finally time to head to Puskas Arena for the game. The 300mm teleconverter came into play here and I used it for the vast majority of photos and videos.
It all started with a pre-game show by the Killers, followed by the two teams walking on the pitch.
An early break by Arsenal saw Kai Havertz score the first goal of the game in the sixth minute. PSG then tried to pile on the pressure, but didn’t get much in terms of clear goal-scoring opportunities.
Kai Havertz gave Arsenal the lead
Moments from the first half
The French team was denied a penalty after the ball struck the hands of Bukayo Saka after a mistimed clearance attempt, as the referees deemed the touch unintentional.
The second half brought more of the same until eventually Cristhian Mosquera brought down Khvicha Kvaratshkelia in the penalty box and the referee awarded a penalty to PSG. Ousmane Dembele converted to equalize and it appeared the momentum was clearly shifting, but Arsenal’s defensive masterclass continued.
Dembele sent Raya the wrong way and eqalized from the spot
The action was still mostly in Arsenal’s half, but the Gooners were once again brilliant in defense, limiting the goal-scoring opportunities for the French.
The game went to penalties, where a brilliant save by Arsenal keeper Raya canceled a miss by Eze. Ultimately, Gabriel sent the tenth penalty high of the goal, sealing the fate of the trophy, which stays in Paris for another year.
The penalty shootout and award ceremony
So how do you guys like those shots? Hit the comments section to share your thoughts on them.