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This isn’t specific to the Air.

I briefly had a 17 Pro before deciding to stick with the Air and whilst the Pro obviously has the better overall camera system, I was underwhelmed by some of the 17 Pro shots indoors with challenging lighting.

Every phone will take a bad photo now and again.

This shot had sunlight from one side.

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Multiple light sources with poor detail

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Air shot with same lighting
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Great looking pup there.
 
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Curios to see the comparison with the 17PM picture you mentioned. Isn't the front camera exactly the same across the whole lineup though? Perhaps the lighting was just really bad for photos at this particular venue.... Also OP is playing waaay above the rim 🤣
 
Air owners are defending it like it is special, one said its the same as the Pro even
having tested both Air and 17 Pro, the 1x is the same.

I kept the Air for ergonomics and larger screen size and figured I would up my photography game lol. But foot zoom only gets you so far, literally ....

A strong reason for sending the 17P back was that it wasn't really any better than my 16 Pro, which I kept. The ultra-wide was still soft like the 16P.

Despite my camera usage I still use the screen more than the camera.

An Air Pro is needed.

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Great looking pup there.
Thank you, she’s amazing! love her ❤️

iPhone Air shots. Great portraits with just the one lens!


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having tested both Air and 17 Pro, the 1x is the same.

I kept the Air for ergonomics and larger screen size and figured I would up my photography game lol. But foot zoom only gets you so far, literally ....

A strong reason for sending the 17P back was that it wasn't really any better than my 16 Pro, which I kept. The ultra-wide was still soft like the 16P.

Despite my camera usage I still use the screen more than the camera.

An Air Pro is needed.

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I’ve used both as well and the 1x and 2x shots are pretty much identical. The only departments the 17 Pro is obviously better in is the ultra wide and telephoto lenses.

1x iPhone Air and 17 Pro shots.

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I couldn’t agree more with this. The 17 Pro Max is literally the first iPhone I’ve hated carrying with me. Slippery, bulky, and heavy.

I'm also a 17 Pro Max user, but I find it to be quite normal.

I wish they'd go in the opposite direction and get rid of the camera bump.
 
Air owners are defending it like it is special, one said its the same as the Pro even

It's the same as the 17, and only marginally different than the Pro. The problem is those trying to act like it's significantlly different; and when you're talking about standard photos and videos, it's not. I'm also not saying it's good, I'm just saying it's not like it's vastly different than the other models this year.
 
I know I'll probably be in the minority here, but I have no problem with my iPhone Air's camera. I'm coming from an iPhone 15 Pro and like the Air's base camera more. Granted, I only used the "base lens" and never used the "extra" zoom lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro --- I really disliked the zoom lenses and rarely used it. That said, to my eye at least, the pictures from my Air are a much nicer and "softer" blend of colors than with the Pro.
 
Problem with the third picture is single color LED lights. Pretty much all Phone cameras have issue with them. Especially blue ones. It’s the way the color filters on the cameras don’t quite line up with the single frequency of light emitted them and then the camera trying to be smart and average the rgb colors (or lack there of)
 
But not having the better camera's of the Pro lineup is definitely going to be a deal killer for some.

And people haven't exactly been wowed by the iPhone's cameras over the past few years anyway. It's gotten a lot of criticism for various reasons
 
I have glowed about the iPhone Air and what a great device I think it is, but there is a major drawback in it, the Camera. One of my favorite things about it is that I can slide it in a suit jacket pocket and its like Its not even there. Great for going to formal events where you don't want a big buiky phone sticking out of your pocket.

Because of that I took it to a wedding last night and what a mistake that was. If this phone doens't have perfect lighting then just forget about it. It really struggles in anything but perfect lighting. Here are a few different types of photos I took.

Selfie of me and my wife. Not too bad, but good lighting.
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Here is another of my wife. Not bad again, but really good lighting:

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And then there is this, which is pretty awful:

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I honestly can't remember when I've owned a smartphone that's taken photos that are this terrible in less than perfect lighting. Someone else had a 16 Pro Max that also took a photo of us that I'm going to have them send me to compare, but this is pretty pathetic. The lightning wasn't nearly as bad as the photo makes it look and it just does a terrible job of trying to discern the colors that are in the wedding reception hall and just gave everything a purplish hue. All of my photos look like this. They are absolutely terrible and it highlights the biggest flaw of this phone.

I still love the Air, but am not taking it to things like this again because the photos are just plain bad.

It’s not bad matey. Your missus still looks a stunner
 
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Interesting. I compared an Air, 17 Pro and my 15 Pro Max for a while with all kinds of different lighting situations and I found the Air had no real differences in quality when using the main cameras. Not enough where I would say I would give up the feel, thinness and size of the Air for the Pro. I know I’m giving up the telephoto but I don’t feel the telephoto lens are high enough quality to use as a selling point for the pro. I did numerous comparisons between my 5X optical and Air 5X digital and although the optical was slightly clearer and had more details, they were still pixelated and not printable.

So I stuck with my Air and have started taking my DSLR for times when I need distance.

Here’s a sample from the Air that I had compared with the others (already deleted those). Only light was from a TV and a small lamp:
If you zoom into the right hand side of your dog’s face it’s really blurry and blown out.
 
Problem with the third picture is single color LED lights. Pretty much all Phone cameras have issue with them. Especially blue ones. It’s the way the color filters on the cameras don’t quite line up with the single frequency of light emitted them and then the camera trying to be smart and average the rgb colors (or lack there of)
Two things I thought of were:
1) Was the blue light blinking on and off, which would be typical of a dance floor.
2) Was the blue light actually ultraviolet, which could easily fool the exposure sensor.

If the blue light was blinking on and off, then the exposure sensor will be fooled because that light may have been off when the measurement was made. If it only turned on right before the capture, it would invalidate the measurement that was used to set shutter and aperture. Over-exposure of the blue-lit areas would be a likely result.
 
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Two things I thought of were:
1) Was the blue light blinking on and off, which would be typical of a dance floor.
2) Was the blue light actually ultraviolet, which could easily fool the exposure sensor.

If the blue light was blinking on and off, then the exposure sensor will be fooled because that light may have been off when the measurement was made. If it only turned on right before the capture, it would invalidate the measurement that was used to set shutter and aperture. Over-exposure of the blue-lit areas would be a likely result.
Thanks for getting us back on the subject.
 
Coming from a 15 PM I'm finding the Air's camera to be totally acceptable for what it is. I haven't much missed the telephoto or ultra wide, but of course they would be nice options. For ME the trade for perhaps slightly worse photos is worth it for the form factor and hand/pocket feel. A good test for both was a sunset kickoff football game on Saturday. I thought it performed admirably beneath the stadium lights...

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Two things I thought of were:
1) Was the blue light blinking on and off, which would be typical of a dance floor.
2) Was the blue light actually ultraviolet, which could easily fool the exposure sensor.

If the blue light was blinking on and off, then the exposure sensor will be fooled because that light may have been off when the measurement was made. If it only turned on right before the capture, it would invalidate the measurement that was used to set shutter and aperture. Over-exposure of the blue-lit areas would be a likely result.

Great questions.

1. The blue light was not blinking. It was just a stage light coming from the dance floor of the reception area.
2. Don't think it was ultraviolet but not sure on that one.
 
I’ve used both as well and the 1x and 2x shots are pretty much identical. The only departments the 17 Pro is obviously better in is the ultra wide and telephoto lenses.

1x iPhone Air and 17 Pro shots.

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See to me I would say the 17 Pro photo looks significantly better to my naked eye. It looks sharper and more detailed than the Air does. Look at the floor boards and how you can see the individual wood planks much more clearly than you can in the Air shot.
 
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