Celebrations are in full swing and capturing every moment are the cameras we have in our pockets. For me, the camera of choice is the one on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is the latest from Apple. While doing a review 14-15 days after a phone’s launch, it’s impossible to capture all the details, especially that of the camera module. As the weeks progress, more details are found. Here are some of the things about the camera on the iPhone Pro Max that have impressed me in the last few weeks, and I am sure there will be more to add in the coming days.
Apple has never had such a big difference between its regular iPhone and the Pro model. This year they are radically different with the Pro model being updated in every way. The things we need to look at this year are A16 Bionic chip, Photonic Engine, updated selfie camera, 48MP main lens, updated ultra-wide lens and 3X telephoto lens.
During Durga Puja, the cameras captured the details on pandals and of life around Pujas, while Diwali is the festival of light. Though the big occasion is still a couple of days away, children in the neighbourhood are already celebrating in their little way with some simple firecrackers. Sparks that come with firecrackers pose a challenge to phone cameras and things often turn out blurry or soft. Not with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
This was the design on the roof of a Durga Puja pandal. Using ProRaw mode, one can get more details in photos
Even in dimly-lit situations, the iPhone 14 Pro Max can pull in more light, thanks to the new 48MP sensor
The performance of the ultra-wide lens has been vastly improved.
If you are comparing photos on the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro, images on both look sharp. It is when you start pushing the 48MP sensor you see the results. All the cameras have received bigger sensor update. So the ultra-wide is 13mm, f/2.2, the main camera is a 24mm with f/1.78 and the telephoto is a 77mm with f/2.8.
Generally, the main camera downsamples to 12MP but if you are someone like me who likes to zoom in to crop a photo, you will see a lot more details. When you go ProRaw the details reach a new level (though file sizes increase a lot).
The newly-introduced Photonic Engine is also having an effect on the output. The phone is now extracting all the details before an image is compressed. It is offering more natural results than when we only had Deep Fusion. We are also getting good low-light images. Also, the time to take shots at night is less, which is probably because there is a bigger sensor and also faster processing via the A16 Bionic chip.
The ultra-wide lens is extremely good this year. Earlier, things were smoothened quite a bit, now textures are preserved and the lens is far more useful now.
But the feature I am enjoying the most is 2X zoom. It actually crops into the 12MP in the middle of the sensor instead of scaling up smaller pixels. It looks better and it’s very helpful. I agree that the 3X zoom is the most helpful… it’s the 77mm lens on the Pro and is way cleaner but 2X comes handy when taking photos on the move.
A random moment captured in the neighbourhood ahead of Diwali
The tuning of the camera matches the level of DSLRs or mirrorless cameras
Overall, pictures have more natural colours and instead of heavy contrasting, things are more like what you get on a mirrorless or a DSLR.
Another feature worth trying out is foreground blur, which is new to iOS 16. When you are taking a portrait shot and if a person holds out her hand, you expect the background to get blurred as well as the hand while focus should remain on the person. On phones we see only background blurring. The new feature on the iOS 16 allows foreground blurring, adding to the realism and offering a true depth of field.
About videos, the things that impress are Cinematic Mode, which allows up to 4K HDR at 30 fps, and Action Mode, which up to 2.8K at 60 fps. More about these modes in the coming days.
Apple’s implementation of the 48MP camera system is very different from that of rivals. The idea is to take photography closer to the mirrorless or DSLR experience. The iPhone 14 Pro is doing what the iPhone has always promised — get people interested in photography.