Camera Upgrades for All iPhone 14 Models: Everything We Know

[Allen_Wentz]

The numbers presented at the reveal will make everything seem as if it’s better, but like others have said, the periscope lens will be where it’s at.

The normal everyday user isn’t gonna notice much of a change. Except for the storage it’ll take for filming 8k vids.

Perhaps the users that you categorize as "normal everyday user" will not (initially) notice much of a change. However most normal everyday users have the capacity to learn, and as their eyes/brain use newer more competent image capture they will learn.

Those users that already posses eyes/brain image expertise will notice right away.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

So why only the ultrawide with the 48 mp?

Probably because providing tele lens optics to properly serve up 48 MP of image data would be functionally impossible is my guess.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I'm wondering if the 48mp camera will have an "always bin" setup option. For almost all needs, 12mp is more than enough.

I disagree. Yes 12 MP is usually adequate for a basic pic, but what 45 MP provides is:
A) The ability to crop, which is a huge benefit.
B) Far more image data, which allows for far more powerful computational photography. And Apple excels at wowing us with computational photography tricks.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

It will elevate mobile photography to the level Samsung did like a year or two ago. I love my iPhone but my boss and I have a friendly rivalry with his Samsung S20. I usually don’t mind but he can casually take pictures that look way better than my iPhone.

After the night he casually just looked up and took a fantastic picture of the moon, that I spent the next five minutes trying to get even close, yeah Apple has some work to do.

If your main objective is to take pictures of yourself though, iPhone nails it. I guess they know their market.

Each year without exception the new iPhone Pro models rank ~#1 in image capture overall. Not best in every category against every phone, but overall best or right with the best according to every competent photo review site.

Just wait 3 weeks and look at this year's phone camera comparisons (reviews by photo experts, not the ones by click-seeking internet dweebs).

 

[Allen_Wentz]

While I appreciate the expected camera upgrades I am a little bummed with the rumored color choices for the 14 Pro. Not digging the purple and the other options are so bland. Why can't the Pro models get the same color choices as the regular iPhones?

No doubt because Apple wants to differentiate the higher end.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Wow, that is incredibly dumb. I wanted to stop the swipe to the camera from the Lock Screen because I often do it unintentionally. But to remove the camera completely? Don’t understand that decision.

It sounds like nighttime photography will get a tad worse with the 14. I am still waiting for an astronomy mode for great night time photos with less blooming of the moon and such. It doesn’t sound like that is happening anytime soon.

And with all the upgrades to photos and videos, why do they all still look like crap on my Apple TV 4K? Apple needs to do something about that, imho.

Y'all need to do some work to find out why your photos look like crap. Properly shot iPhone Pro pix look very good on my 32" 4K Viewsonic displays.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

"Overall, the information suggests that the ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌ will offer larger, higher-resolution images with finer details, but at the risk of poorer low-light performance and images that are more susceptible to noise."

This is the ongoing problem. I have been waiting for an update year where they promise an improvement in this area, but we are seeing warnings it could get even worse?!?!?!?!?!?

I am locked into Apple's ecosystem with our family of five. Too hard to leave. Unfortunately at family events, which are mostly indoors with indoor lighting, the iPhone is horrible. Especially if someone (like a 5 year old) doesn't hold perfectly still. Our family with Galaxy and Pixel phones take all of the best shots and share them with us. We do get better movies on the iPhone. I could not care less. I think I could probably take a better picture of a flower outside, or a mountain, or an elk from 200 yards away. Stuff Apple always plasters I their "shot on iPhone" advertisements. Too bad that's not useful in real life.

Your experience does not match mine. Are you using an iPhone 13 Pro? Also, I am a photographer, so I have decades of experience that has conditioned me to hold the camera very stable, and not to attempt shots of moving subjects in low light. The pix that the iPhone 13 Pro can capture of non-moving objects in low light are pretty amazing.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

This legit seems to be the most non-update since the beginning of iPhones.

Wow. You consider a 40+ MP camera in a phone to be a non-update?

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I am sure you can but the vast majority view the photos on the phone screen pretty much as it appears. The camera bump has to go at some point; the competitive marketplace is a bit ahead of camera tech at this point or they would never have sacrificed clean design to make space for the camera.

I would disagree. As a photog I am used to lenses weighing a pound and costing $1k. I constantly am amazed at the image quality the best smartphones produce from tiny optics, and I do not expect such optics to evolve to become even smaller. More likely is that lenses will stay the same or get larger (like this year's iPhone Pro models).

 

[dk001]

Back in the 60's all we had were these.
View attachment 2045581

Got mine as a kid via Bazooka Joe.

 

[kjvmartin]

Your experience does not match mine. Are you using an iPhone 13 Pro? Also, I am a photographer, so I have decades of experience that has conditioned me to hold the camera very stable, and not to attempt shots of moving subjects in low light. The pix that the iPhone 13 Pro can capture of non-moving objects in low light are pretty amazing.

So stuff like kids opening presents by the light of a Christmas tree, or singing happy birthday around a table? Life is basically moving subjects in lower light. Kid putting on a "Fashion Show" in the living room before bed. Kids doing a special craft at the table after dinner.

Yes, I have had the newest iPhone every year. My in-laws also get new Pixels and Galaxies, though usually not as frequently. Our photos at these events are clearly inferior and noisy with worse detail and color. It started around the iPhone X where the difference became noticeable and the iPhone has never come close to closing the gap. If we can create perfect lighting, pose everyone, and get a bunch of kids under 9 to hold still, iPhone might create a better picture. iPhone will also take better movies in any lightning and seems to be comparable to other brands outdoors.

The camera is bad when compared to the alternatives. Honestly, Apple will probably eventually lose me to someone else over this. Just so stuck in the system it's a pain to think of changing.

 

[ColdShadow]

I have reached a point where the camera improvements are not even noticeable anymore. I just want a flat-back iPhone, without a camera bump. That way I can finally use it without a case and it would still be flat on the desk. Early rumors of iPhone 14 hinted that design and I was so looking forward to it. Alas! The wait continue..

Depends what phones you are talking about,9 months ago when I upgraded from my Xs Max to 13 Pro Max the camera difference was significant.very noticeable specially for video.I can’t accept quality of Xs Max or anything lower at this point.

 

[Frantisekj]

I have reached a point where the camera improvements are not even noticeable anymore. I just want a flat-back iPhone, without a camera bump. That way I can finally use it without a case and it would still be flat on the desk. Early rumors of iPhone 14 hinted that design and I was so looking forward to it. Alas! The wait continue..

It is fancy but I would not recomend anyone using iPhone without rubber case. Especially when is charging. It significantly increase electromagnetic noise to body and it is anything far from good to it.

 

[The Game 161]

So stuff like kids opening presents by the light of a Christmas tree, or singing happy birthday around a table? Life is basically moving subjects in lower light. Kid putting on a "Fashion Show" in the living room before bed. Kids doing a special craft at the table after dinner.

Yes, I have had the newest iPhone every year. My in-laws also get new Pixels and Galaxies, though usually not as frequently. Our photos at these events are clearly inferior and noisy with worse detail and color. It started around the iPhone X where the difference became noticeable and the iPhone has never come close to closing the gap. If we can create perfect lighting, pose everyone, and get a bunch of kids under 9 to hold still, iPhone might create a better picture. iPhone will also take better movies in any lightning and seems to be comparable to other brands outdoors.

The camera is bad when compared to the alternatives. Honestly, Apple will probably eventually lose me to someone else over this. Just so stuck in the system it's a pain to think of changing.

It might be that you just prefer Samsung colour science. Often they produce very saturated and bright popping colours.

thats not to say iphone doesn’t have key areas to improve. Sensor wise the size is very small compared to the current top android phones. Least that changes with 14 pro line

 

[psac]

I always look forward to and appreciate improvements in iPhone cameras. I've been using them in my photography going back to the iPhone 4, and remembering a huge step up in the iPhone 6.

I hope the new cameras improve on lens flare resistance. With relatively recent cameras (iPhone X and 12) lens flare has been a significant and annoying issue for me. It's an easy problem to solve - hope Apple finally addresses and puts it to rest.

The new cameras have been Designed in Cupertino*

*By JJ Abrams

 

[kjvmartin]

It might be that you just prefer Samsung colour science. Often they produce very saturated and bright popping colours.

thats not to say iphone doesn’t have key areas to improve. Sensor wise the size is very small compared to the current top android phones. Least that changes with 14 pro line

No, it's primarily that the iPhone pictures taken of people indoors in lower lighting are blurry and lack detail.

I don't really want to share any personal photos here, but this is actually hard to research. For whatever reason, reviewers are not apt to take typical daily use photos on their smart phones. You can see pictures of buildings, plants, flowers. They take pictures of themselves with the front facing camera and compare to the Pixel.

Forums are filled with people unhappy with the camera in day-to-day use.

 

[dk001]

No, it's primarily that the iPhone pictures taken of people indoors in lower lighting are blurry and lack detail.

I don't really want to share any personal photos here, but this is actually hard to research. For whatever reason, reviewers are not apt to take typical daily use photos on their smart phones. You can see pictures of buildings, plants, flowers. They take pictures of themselves with the front facing camera and compare to the Pixel.

Forums are filled with people unhappy with the camera in day-to-day use.

I suspect it is the software.
In other threads there has been discussion on this. I have photos taken with my 13PM of my Shiba Inu where the photo is over-sharpened or almost crayoned. Same photo taken via Halide looks much better. In many cases I can take the same with my 1+ 9 Pro and get a better shot than using the 13PM and stock camera app.

An increase in hardware is nice however for the majority of users the software has a bigger impact.
And let's not forget the display - Apple does "correct" images that are displayed to make them look better on device.

 

[Shouldibuy]

I personally am waiting for the iPhone 16 with X-ray capabilities!

you mean the feature that oneplus already had with plastic items but they removed it with a software update 😂

 

[The Game 161]

No, it's primarily that the iPhone pictures taken of people indoors in lower lighting are blurry and lack detail.

I don't really want to share any personal photos here, but this is actually hard to research. For whatever reason, reviewers are not apt to take typical daily use photos on their smart phones. You can see pictures of buildings, plants, flowers. They take pictures of themselves with the front facing camera and compare to the Pixel.

Forums are filled with people unhappy with the camera in day-to-day use.

You’re not wrong there all reviews do is post stills of flowers in good lighting

There are certainly issues With the camera and I’m putting a lot of this down to 12mp with no pixel binning. Sensor size on the 13 pro max is simply too small. The massive size this year I’m expecting to change the results. Will see

 

[tkwlee]

If only ultra wide lens have 48MP, then will we unable to zoom in or out when shooting 8K video？

 

[Skyscraperfan]

Standing in front of my family , taking a shot. Press 3x. Whoa .. too zoomed in. If I zoom out a little , it will actually switch to the 1x lens and the digitally zoom the rest until you hit 3x. If I click 1x, I’m zoomed way too far back now. Grrrr.
How I miss my 2x optical on the XS.
So inevitably you walk back a bit , every time. And sometimes miss the shot !
Now 5x … if you are a fan of shots of nose hair , then great 👍🏻

In practice I usually use the extremes for most lenses. I use the 100-400 lens at 400mm most of the time and the 15-30 lens at 15mm most of the time.

For the family shot I would try getting closer to your family or take a panorma shot, if that is possible at 3x zoom.

Some smartphone manufacturers already have zoom lenses, if if those still have a very limited zoom range. It is a start though. As my appraoch is "image quality first", I would not complain about a phone with a really thick camera bump.

 

[JAFOM]

All you spoiled people complaining about what your iPhone does or does not do. Do you realize that if you had to have a separate device, book or machine to do everything your tiny little iPhone does you would need a small trailer to carry them around.

 

[dk001]

All you spoiled people complaining about what your iPhone does or does not do. Do you realize that if you had to have a separate device, book or machine to do everything your tiny little iPhone does you would need a small trailer to carry them around.

No.
If devices were separate my personal / working model would be back to circa 1990's.

 

[switz]

I have a Carl Zeiss lens f 2.0 for my medium format (film was about 2.25 x 2.25) Hasselblad that cost close to $5,000 in the mid 1970s. The hole kit was close to $50k. And over 30 to 40 pounds in weight.

One could enlarge the image and nearly see a freckle on the fly’s ass on the table.

There were various film types and speeds based upon the project at hand.

As an example, a family members face was about the size of my little finger’s nail. We were able to generate a nearly life size photo for the family with no fuzziness. Can not do that with 35mm or an iPhone.