So recently I was forced to upgrade my iPhone after almost 5 years of use. I had a notification active on it for about 12 months imploring me to get my battery replaced. I was like no, I am happy with multiple charges a day and plugging it in all the time and to be honest I was hoping to finally upgrade this year anyway. In the end, an expanding battery made the decision for me as my phone slowly pulled itself apart over a few days.
I have been an iPhone guy for a long time. I know there are other really great phone options out there but I constantly come back to the longevity, ease of use and deep integration across the Apple ecosystem. I have an iPad’s, MacBooks, a Mac Mini, Home Pod, Apple TV’s and lighting automation in my place through HomeKit. They all just talk nicely to each other.
So a few weeks ago I had to get a new iPhone, and looking at the options decided to take enough money to buy a small car and invest in the biggest, most powerful iPhone money could buy, the iPhone 12 Pro Max. I was obviously very interested in its camera performance and had experimented with my old iPhone 7 Plus as a viable mobile 4K video option. I even used it exclusively on a mini video project a year or so ago with some success. What also grabbed my attention was the word on the street that it was also a viable pro photography option to keep stuck in the pocket and do some great, mini rig photography with as well.
So my first reaction to taking photos with the iPhone 12 Pro Max is, wow what a different experience. My photography journey has exclusively been based on using standard DLSR cameras. My current weapon of choice being the Canon 6D which I have had for years, lots of camera for the money, is very light, never fails me and is an excellent travel photography rig. I feel super comfortable using the Canon layout and I can get consistently great results with minimal second-guessing and at speed.
Taking the new Apple ProRaw images natively with the iPhone and editing on the device using both the native photo iOS app and experimenting with Adobe Lightroom I was not able to get the sort of results I would expect from professional images. I also tried popular apps Halide and ProCamera to experiment with on-screen manual exposure controls. The assistive focus control and additional flexibility was a definite improvement from a usability point of view and felt much more familiar to this old DSLR user. I found the best results were obtained downloading the original ProRaw images and editing in photoshop which is my usual workflow.
A close review of the images revealed unusual blur and artefacts in lower light that was not pleasing to me. I found unfocused areas didn’t form great effects compared to the dedicated DSLR. Why the resulting images are not crystal clear and carry these artifacts is unclear to me. I’m sure much smarter pro users than I will have answers to this and there is more research to do for me I think. I will note however that a quick search online reveals many users online having issues getting clear, crisp and colour-rich images using these new iPhone cameras, but I have found little advice on how to improve the results.
Would I say it was a bad experience… no not really? Was it familiar or easy, no definitely not! I don’t really feel like I have cracked the code on this yet and I’m sure that the results are more my issue than anything particularly with the performance of the iPhone 12 Pro Max camera. I feel some more experimentation is required and like all tools, they will have their place and take time to learn how to use them well. For now, I won’t be relying on it for any professional work, but it will be something to work on and will definitely add another possibility in getting results for clients and my personal passion projects. I’ll keep you all posted as I experiment more.
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