iPhone 16 Pro Max Can a professional photographer with a 13 Pro shoot better photos than newbie with a 16 Pro?

[Kendo]

Every year we get excited about camera features but I've been shooting photos the same sway since the iPhone 5. I click the center so it focuses and hit the camera button. I'm willing to bet most of the 16 Pro users here salivate at the cameras but do they truly know how to use them or are they like me? Just a mainstream user who is convinced I need the latest camera?

Curious if someone with a 13 Pro who knows what they are doing can take better quality photos than a newbie with a 16 Pro? FWIW, I have a 14 Pro and will probably upgrade to the 17 Pro next year.

 

[cmChimera]

A professional could do better with a potato.

 

[War833]

A professional could do better with a potato.

Yes. There would not even remotely be a competition here.

 

[zorinlynx]

One of my favorite photos I've ever taken is an iPhone 4 photo of a stray cat from 2011.

It's all about composition, the moment, the mood, the lighting, and the subject. A better camera will always help, but will never make the shot awesome on its own. An amazing photo is as much an accident as a deliberate thing.

 

[Mr.Fox]

Every year we get excited about camera features but I've been shooting photos the same sway since the iPhone 5. I click the center so it focuses and hit the camera button. I'm willing to bet most of the 16 Pro users here salivate at the cameras but do they truly know how to use them or are they like me? Just a mainstream user who is convinced I need the latest camera?

Curious if someone with a 13 Pro who knows what they are doing can take better quality photos than a newbie with a 16 Pro? FWIW, I have a 14 Pro and will probably upgrade to the 17 Pro next year.

A professional photographer will pick up a camera. This is a real camera, like Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus and so on. And the iphone camera is a misunderstanding. Tape it up with duct tape, duct tape and forget it like a bad dream.

 

[Kendo]

A professional photographer will pick up a camera. This is a real camera, like Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus and so on. And the iphone camera is a misunderstanding. Tape it up with duct tape, duct tape and forget it like a bad dream.

I guess the point I was trying to make was if the 48 megapixels on a 16 Pro will make that much more of a difference compared to the 13 Pro's 12MP camera. Sure it sounds better but is it that much of a jump in day to day photos? I'm wondering if two people took the photo of the same thing but one was an amateur with a 16 Pro vs someone who knows what they are doing on a 13 Pro, which photo would look better?

 

[NotApplicable]

Everyone is a professional on Instagram.

 

[cmChimera]

I guess the point I was trying to make was if the 48 megapixels on a 16 Pro will make that much more of a difference compared to the 13 Pro's 12MP camera. Sure it sounds better but is it that much of a jump in day to day photos? I'm wondering if two people took the photo of the same thing but one was an amateur with a 16 Pro vs someone who knows what they are doing on a 13 Pro, which photo would look better?

No amount of upgrades to the cameras will amount to making someone better at taking photography.

 

[Mr.Fox]

I guess the point I was trying to make was if the 48 megapixels on a 16 Pro will make that much more of a difference compared to the 13 Pro's 12MP camera. Sure it sounds better but is it that much of a jump in day to day photos? I'm wondering if two people took the photo of the same thing but one was an amateur with a 16 Pro vs someone who knows what they are doing on a 13 Pro, which photo would look better?

You're missing my point. It doesn't matter what kind of iphone you're holding. Super fancy and expensive or previous generation. It's about results and experience. A professional will take a great picture, an amateur will get a bad result. That's to put it mildly. Roughly speaking, the shot goes in the trash at first sight. A professional won't take a picture on his phone. There are cameras for that.
As for the resolution of the matrix of the phone 48 megapixels - the picture will be more detailed and noisy.

 

[Mr.Fox]

Everyone is a professional on Instagram.

Only that doesn't make them professionals ))))

 

[NotApplicable]

🥱

Depends what your definition of “better” is.

Artsyness?

Color accuracy?

 

[cateye]

Apple is a master at presenting the idea of competence through tools: Use an iPhone to shoot your music video. Wear an Apple Watch Ultra and climb that mountain. Use your MacBook Pro to render fantastical 3D worlds. And so on. It's aspirational marketing, and something Apple layers on in thick, syrupy, FOMO-inducing coats with the release of every new product. The hyperventilated positivity endemic to places like MacRumors is as sure sign as any that it works.

And yes, these tools can all enable some amazing things. I have a friend who is a professional photographer who upgrades to the latest iPhone every year, and can use it to take stunning images. But then you compare those images against what he creates using his professional gear, and there's no comparison—the iPhone is severely outclassed. Yet all the photos look good, because he's spent a lifetime evolving and refining his craft, and can take a great photo with anything from a Polaroid to a $7000 mirrorless body.

Tools get better. Each new iPhone takes "better" photos than the previous one, as measured through technical specs and lists of options. But talent and hard work makes the shot.

 

[Wally Jarratt]

Has NOTHING to do with equipment for a great photograph. The photo is always the composition first, lighting second and equipment last. I've seen excellent photographs from cardboard cameras, GoPros, iPhone 4's, and even the polaroids (which have made a comeback). Expensive equipment might make a higher quality (pixel) image, but that DOES NOT MAKE THE PHOTOGRAPH.

 

[laptech]

There was an experiment on a British television program many many years ago. It may have been on Countryfile because they host a photography competition every year. It was when John Craven was the presenter. Any way, the program gave the countries top photographers, some of them the worlds best and gave them these vendor camera's? remember them? small cheap point and click cameras that you could find in vending machines usually in tourist hotspots. Well all these photographers were given one of these camera's are given the task to produce the best photograph they could. The results were absolutely outstanding. The program host's could not believe the outstanding pictures they took.

Basically the premise of this was to see if some of the worlds best photographers can still produce an outstanding photo when given an extremely cheap point and click camera and you know what, they can. Those photographers it is not the camera that matters but the person behind the camera because light, composure, subject matter, colours, shadows all make a difference between a ordinary photo and a world class photo.

 

[azhava]

I guess the point I was trying to make was if the 48 megapixels on a 16 Pro will make that much more of a difference compared to the 13 Pro's 12MP camera. Sure it sounds better but is it that much of a jump in day to day photos? I'm wondering if two people took the photo of the same thing but one was an amateur with a 16 Pro vs someone who knows what they are doing on a 13 Pro, which photo would look better?

It depends on what you mean by "better quality". If they took photos with both cameras, made 100% crops and printed them at 24" x 36", the 48MP camera is most likely going to look better than the 12MP camera in a technical sense.

But if you give a 1MP potato cam to a professional and a 48MP DSLR to a novice snapshooter and turn them both loose in the exact same place to take whatever photos they want, the professional's photos will be artistically better virtually 100% of the time. The professional understands and will make better use of exposure, composition, use of light, etc. The snapshooter will take snapshots.

 

[FranApple]

This is a no brainer. Without getting all technical like some of the other people on here, if you're just talking about captivating photography, there will be little difference between the 13 Pro and 16 Pro in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing. Maybe in low light situations, the 16 Pro will perform better. But, a good photographer will know how to deal with that.

 

[Noctilux.95]

The 3X tele on my 13 Pro has much better resolution than the 5X on my new 16 Pro. Btw the 3X on my 13 pro is terrible making the 1st pro 5X absolute garbage.

 

[Diorama]

I can’t find the exact article at the moment (just a few similar ones), but I have seen a “professional photographer with an iPhone versus amateur photographer with a $5000 dSLR”, and there was no contest. So much of photography is, as others have said, understanding composition and light, importance of focal length and depth of field etc.
It’s like when Sabine Schmitz came within 10 seconds of Jeremy Clarkson’s lap time on the Nordschliefe driving a diesel Ford Transit van, when Clarkson had done his lap in a Jaguar.
Yea good tools help, but talent is the bigger difference.

 

[Noctilux.95]

The iPhone 16 pro will allow the amateur to take higher resolution

I can’t find the exact article at the moment (just a few similar ones), but I have seen a “professional photographer with an iPhone versus amateur photographer with a $5000 dSLR”, and there was no contest. So much of photography is, as others have said, understanding composition and light, importance of focal length and depth of field etc.
It’s like when Sabine Schmitz came within 10 seconds of Jeremy Clarkson’s lap time on the Nordschliefe driving a diesel Ford Transit van, when Clarkson had done his lap in a Jaguar.
Yea good tools help, but talent is the bigger difference.

thats because the Jaguar being a Jaguar broke down multiple times 🤣

 

[Night Spring]

Every year we get excited about camera features but I've been shooting photos the same sway since the iPhone 5. I click the center so it focuses and hit the camera button. I'm willing to bet most of the 16 Pro users here salivate at the cameras but do they truly know how to use them or are they like me? Just a mainstream user who is convinced I need the latest camera?

Curious if someone with a 13 Pro who knows what they are doing can take better quality photos than a newbie with a 16 Pro? FWIW, I have a 14 Pro and will probably upgrade to the 17 Pro next year.

As other people have said, a professional with lesser equipment will take better pictures than an amateur with top of the line gear.

But what I've found is modern iPhones let me, who have no clue about depth or focal length or color saturation or what not, take better pictures than I would with older point and shoot cameras.

I don't run out and upgrade my phone every year just for the camera updates, but when I do upgrade after a few years, I find that the pictures I take with the new phone are overall better than the ones from the old phone.

 

[1096bimu]

Every year we get excited about camera features but I've been shooting photos the same sway since the iPhone 5. I click the center so it focuses and hit the camera button. I'm willing to bet most of the 16 Pro users here salivate at the cameras but do they truly know how to use them or are they like me? Just a mainstream user who is convinced I need the latest camera?

Curious if someone with a 13 Pro who knows what they are doing can take better quality photos than a newbie with a 16 Pro? FWIW, I have a 14 Pro and will probably upgrade to the 17 Pro next year.

The quality and capability of a camera is like a percentage buff to quality, and a small one at that. So if you shot with iPhone 16 instead of 13 there is a ~5% buff to quality. And if you had a professional camera it can be as large as say, 50%.

The skill of a photographer is also a percentage buff, but a really big one. A good photographer may be able to take a picture that's 500% better than a bad photographer.

Then the scene/subject itself is a flat buff to quality. So if it's a really terrible subject it may have a base quality of 0, doesn't matter if you have the best photographer with the best gear, the resulting quality is still 0.

 

[Night Spring]

Then the scene/subject itself is a flat buff to quality. So if it's a really terrible subject it may have a base quality of 0, doesn't matter if you have the best photographer with the best gear, the resulting quality is still 0.

I don't think a subject that has a quality of 0 can exist. Or rather, a good photographer will find a way to make the seemingly most boring or ugliest subject interesting/intriguing.

 

[1096bimu]

I don't think a subject that has a quality of 0 can exist. Or rather, a good photographer will find a way to make the seemingly most boring or ugliest subject interesting/intriguing.

Next time you see a good photo think about how much money/time investment it would cost to travel there, or how much money it costs to rent/run the place.
And then ask yourself why doesn't the photographer bother, why not just do it at their local Walmart parking lot instead.

 

[Night Spring]

Next time you see a good photo think about how much money/time investment it would cost to travel there, or how much money it costs to rent/run the place.
And then ask yourself why doesn't the photographer bother, why not just do it at their local Walmart parking lot instead.

You are confusing scenic photos with quality photos. I've seen artistic photographs of parking lots.

https://www.pexels.com/search/parking%20lot/

 

[1096bimu]

You are confusing scenic photos with quality photos. I've seen artistic photographs of parking lots.

https://www.pexels.com/search/parking%20lot/

How much time did they spend waiting for the perfect moment?
How much was the drone?
Is that the only parking lot they've been to? Or did they go to many different parking lots, took many different photos and these are the only good ones out of hundreds of bad ones?

Also I never said every parking lot has a beauty value of zero. If you find a good photo of a parking lot then almost by definition, that's an exception.