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iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

austinmann.com

121–130 of 153 posts

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#121

I feel like a lot of people that keep bringing up DSLRs kinda miss the point. The best camera is the one you have on you. So even a minor incremental upgrade is worth its weight in gold when you consider you'll be capturing images where you'd never dream of having a DSLR but in considerably better quality.

You don't need a DSLR. A regular point-and-shoot[0] which costs $100, fits in your pocket and has an electronic retractable lens (and many times optical zoom) is going to blow away anything recent phone cameras can do (photography wise), bar handheld night photos where the additional processing does help even out blurriness. If you can remember to bring your phone, you can remember to bring a point-and-shoot, and the…

I'd be very surprised if this were true. My iPhone 11 goes head-to-head with my mid-range mirrorless camera setup in most shooting conditions. Modern phone cameras are surprisingly good, really.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#122
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you would define "better", but if you mean higher quality, I'm certain that most people would be able to pick out the DSLR version in a "blind" test, even if you used the same approx. lens focal length on the DSLR and the phone (e.g. 52mm when comparing to iPhone). I would guess people would prefer the DSLR one, but it's simply a guess (and I'm biased because I know more or less what to look for).

I'm not sure if I'd say that most people would be able to tell. But I'm sure photography people would be able to tell. Unless you're a wannabe influencer or a working professional, what matters is not whether other people would be able to tell. Nobody cares about your pictures. What matters is if you can tell, and how it makes you feel.

I think if you let them zoom in to the edges they'd pick it easily enough. My iPhone always blurs a few little details, little part of a hat sticking out, thinking it's the background.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#123

This iPhone 12 Pro upgrade has made me put my MILC gear all up for sale. "The best camera is the one you have on you" yada yada.. As others here have pointed out, you can still take a better photo with a DSLR/MILC and nice glass and unlimited time to fidget with your gear, but for the size and convenience, this iPhone comes way too close. For me it easily outweighs the burden of a bulky, expensive, fragile DSLR (I am…

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Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#125
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I have an A9 + GM glass. I'm constantly surprised by what a modern smartphone can take compared to what I get out of my camera. Yes, you can get way better photos if you do everything right with a traditional camera (and certainly much more real bokeh) but that usually involves a lot more editing than you have to do with an iPhone 12 Pro or similar. For the amount of time it takes - the iPhone 12 Pro and…

> For the amount of time it takes - iPhone 12 Pro and similar can really outperform a camera It's not the camera that makes the difference but the lens. And a smartphone just can't make up that difference with software tricks. A smartphone will be fantastically practical and convenient as a camera in a specific set of use-cases. Outside those it's pretty useless.

I'd argue it's the photographer beyond all else that makes the picture good. Camera vs lens - who cares. The lenses and sensors are good enough on these smart phones for their use case. They aren't meant to replace pro gear.

That's why I think smartphones are great. They lower the barrier for taking pretty good pictures. You don't have to worry about balancing exposure or figuring out how to merge multiple photos into one - etc. The smartphone does it all for you. It's an automated photo editor with some intelligent tricks that are very hard (or impossible) to do on a traditional camera.

No one is saying a smartphone is going to replace a pro-camera. If you want to do birding with a 1200mm equivalent, you're going to have a hard time doing that with a smartphone. But if you know the limitations (in the same way that all cameras have limitations) then it can do really well in those parameters.. and I find those parameters are more than enough for 90%+ of consumers out there.

Most people are fine with zooming with their feet.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#127
post #74

He only compared a few shots to the 11 pro, there are some youtube videos that do comparisons to the pixel 5 and galaxy note s20. The s20 especially has better zoom and night mode compared to the 12 pro.

Wouldn’t you want to compare the s20 to the 12 pro max?

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#128
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the photo of the woman is terrible. On any normal camera that photo would be a complete blur. Impossible. It's a hand-held three second exposure.

IBIS and a f/0.95 lens would get you there (or a flash, which phones mostly can't synch to).

That shot is testing the low-light autofocus with no modelling light, which I think is a test that any f/0.95 lens/body combo on the market right now would fail?

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like a perfectly nice photo to me.

I'm glad for you, but it looks very poor to me. I would be unhappy if I got home and this were the only image I had of this scene. For any given image, you'll be able to find someone who likes it or thinks it looks good enough. If that's your standard, then this camera might be great for you. But if you have a higher standard, then you might not be satisfied. I'd also ask what kind of screen you're looking at the ima…

I'm looking at it on my Xiaomi Redmi 8 (maybe?) generic mid level Android phone. I recognise that I'm not very discerning in these matters (and no doubt many others) but by way of compensation I suspect this makes it easier to be happy and content.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro Camera Review

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad for you, but it looks very poor to me. I would be unhappy if I got home and this were the only image I had of this scene. For any given image, you'll be able to find someone who likes it or thinks it looks good enough. If that's your standard, then this camera might be great for you. But if you have a higher standard, then you might not be satisfied. I'd also ask what kind of screen you're looking at the ima…

I'm looking at it on my Xiaomi Redmi 8 (maybe?) generic mid level Android phone. I recognise that I'm not very discerning in these matters (and no doubt many others) but by way of compensation I suspect this makes it easier to be happy and content.

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