iPhone 13 Camera Comparison: If You Have an Older iPhone, It's Time to Upgrade

Ok let’s be frank . Macrumors for the sake of clicks and news are purposely pushing smudged lens iPhone 11 photos to be worse in order to show the scale of upgrade to iPhone 13 camera. The only problem is they forgot to do that they forgot to do it with iPhone 8. My wife has the 11 and the photos only have this effect when unclean and the doubling down sort of confirms that this is all for clicks and dishonesty
 
Just goes to show you how minor these point and shoot camera updates are. I was impressed with night mode and hdr video recording. Macro is decent this year but more of a kind of nice to have but seldom use it.

Apple is doing its best to get you to focus on camera though. Its what apple tries to convince you that is “pro” about its pro iPhone. I stopped buying point and shoot cameras (which is what I consider an iPhone). It was basically the canon g series years ago. Those cost usually 500-600 and I sometimes updated annually. Eventually that wasn’t worthwhile and stopped with g12 which funny enough had around the same size sensor as iPhone 13 does now.

Besides macro it’s hard to tell a difference between 12 and 13 pro maxes. Or probably even the 11 pro max.

Returned 13 max. Kept 12 max. Not even sure why I wasted time with it. Must have been wanting to see 120hz which was underwhelming. Battery life may be the only reason left to want a 13 pro.
 
zorinlynx said:
Yeah it's practically become a reflex to wipe my phone's camera on my shirt or pants before shooting. Been doing that since I had a Palm Pre!
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Sometimes I miss that phone.

Then I remember it fell off my passenger seat and fell between the door and the seat and got a huge scratch.

...still kind of miss it.
 
hasanahmad said:
Ok let’s be frank . Macrumors for the sake of clicks and news are purposely pushing smudged lens iPhone 11 photos to be worse in order to show the scale of upgrade to iPhone 13 camera. The only problem is they forgot to do that they forgot to do it with iPhone 8. My wife has the 11 and the photos only have this effect when unclean and the doubling down sort of confirms that this is all for clicks and dishonesty
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That's quite an assertion you're leveling against MR and Dan. Of course you have proof, right?
 
macfanboy said:
I don’t like this regurgitated line reviewers use to avoid comparisons to the iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 is a cheaper option for older iPhones to upgrade to that is still sold by Apple. If I had an iPhone 6, I’d surely want to know if an iPhone 12 would get me nearly all the camera improvements at a lower price. Macrumors isn’t the only site saying this… pretty much everyone is. Apple probably told them to frame their reviews this way.

Spoiler: since reviewers are avoiding comparing the iPhone 12 to the iPhone 13 because it’s “too similar”, the iPhone 12 is probably worth the cost savings over the iPhone 13 for people still on older iPhones
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There are reviews on YT doing exactly that. In particular check out MaxTech. They've got several in depth videos comparing 13,12,11 pros.

The 12 doesn't hold up very well in select categories.
 
I respect the opinion of filmmaker Ryan Connolly of Film Riot. The Cinematic Mode isn't quite ready for prime time. In several instances, the software isn't able to make out details with the subject's complete body, with strands of hair and other things being blurred out. Nice first try, but no cigar just yet.
 
macscreenwriter said:
I respect the opinion of filmmaker Ryan Connolly of Film Riot. The Cinematic Mode isn't quite ready for prime time. In several instances, the software isn't able to make out details with the subject's complete body, with strands of hair and other things being blurred out. Nice first try, but no cigar just yet.
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Yes, people aren’t really expecting it to replace professional tools at this point.
 
Black Magic said:
All anyone needs to do is go back and look at the initial reviews and photos when the iPhone 11 launched. There are threads buried on this site and many others that show great photos in different lighting conditions which basically rebuke this "review".

Dan and MacRumors in general haven't established any credibility for product reviews so I'm surprised many here spend any time debating the quality of any of their reviews. MacRumors is a great site that basically consolidates content created by others and monetizes it. Product reviews is something they expanded into but are not known for. I doubt many come here for reviews and this latest review reveals why you shouldn't.
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66 pages of 11 and 11 Pro images in this thread, if one wants to compare them to the sample pics in the "review" above.
 
hasanahmad said:
The video is the proof
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I watched the video again. That's hardly proof.

While the iPhone 11 images aren't as good as the 13's, I see nothing that rises to and substantiates what you're asserting; that MR, Dan, and the editor who wrote the Update addendum at the end of the story are doing something intentionally unethical/dishonest/sleazy to influence MacRumors' readers.
 
cmaier said:
Yes, people aren’t really expecting it to replace professional tools at this point.
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Butbutbut... A̶p̶p̶l̶e̶ Tim Cook did state in his iJustine "interview" (at 3:54): "it [Cinematic Mode] is like having a Hollywood rig in your pocket".

And no, I didn't misinterpret it as even MacRumors interpreted this statement as "In the nearly 15 minutes' long interview, Cook describes the new camera features of the ‌iPhone 13‌, specifically Cinematic Mode, as a "mindblowing" addition to the iPhone that places it on par with professional high-end video equipment."

Did Cook lie, or, at least, didn't tell the whole truth?! But it surely can't be possible?!???!?!?!
 
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FelixDerKater said:
Why an 11 Pro and a regular 13? This is odd.
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The regular 13 has the 12 Pro Max optics, which is, in turn, better than that of anything 11 (larger seonsor, sensor-shift IS etc.). Again, all 11 models had exactly the same optics, apart from the tele, which was misisng from the 11.
 
citysnaps said:
I watched the video again. That's hardly proof.

While the iPhone 11 images aren't as good as the 13's, I see nothing that rises to and substantiates what you're asserting; that MR, Dan, and the editor who wrote the Update addendum at the end of the story are doing something intentionally unethical/dishonest/sleazy to influence MacRumors' readers.
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They should still have taken down and re-shoot the "review" as it's completely useless and can, by many, indeed be considered as a direct advertisement for Apple. No wonder a lot of people think MR purposefully messed up the 11 to drive up sales of the 13.

I myself don't think they did this purposefully, I just think they made a FATAL mistake by not carefully evaluating what they put in their "review" and should redo the entire video with a non-compromised iPhone 11.
 
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