I made an effort to shoot identical shots with intentionally crappy low light between a 17 Pro / iOS 26 and my 16 Pro iOS 18.7.whatever.
Conditions:
These are two test shots, straight export from Mac Photos on an M1 Mini, zero editing on computer. (fyi ... M1 Mini began lagging with iPhone 16 RAW photos lol)
The SD card rightside up is 17 Pro
The SD card upside down is 16 Pro
I'm not seeing enough improvement, straight out of the camera, to be keeping the 17 Pro. I also white-balanced the photos and they were equal in that respect.
I am this >|< close to getting an Air again and bringing my 16 Pro along whenever I even think I might use the ultra wide.
Or just sit out the Air / 17 season entirely. Ironically it is Apple Card financing that makes this a tough decision .... 0% interest lol
Also, telephoto. the 17 Pro isn't really an improvement here. The 8x is digital, merely special processing attention paid to the middle of the 4x photo.
Really what I should have done was keep my 13 Pro and sat out the 14/15/16 eras but alas the 14PM screen size sucked me in ... but the Max format was cumbersome, hence the later switch to the 16 Pro. This is why the Air, despite having returned it for lack of ultra-wdie camera, but it's perfect size screen and body, continues to call to me, the crazy supermodel who continues to hold your attention 😆
-
Conditions:
- magsafe tripod mount on a tripod
- 1x lens
- Timer: 3 seconds
- RAW format
- focus point was finger-set to the word 'Rotring' on the mechanical pencil
- Macro / flower thing manually turned off. For this one I'm not sure if it is an iOS 26 thing or a 17 Pro thing but the 17 fought me in keeping this turned off.
These are two test shots, straight export from Mac Photos on an M1 Mini, zero editing on computer. (fyi ... M1 Mini began lagging with iPhone 16 RAW photos lol)
The SD card rightside up is 17 Pro
The SD card upside down is 16 Pro
I'm not seeing enough improvement, straight out of the camera, to be keeping the 17 Pro. I also white-balanced the photos and they were equal in that respect.
I am this >|< close to getting an Air again and bringing my 16 Pro along whenever I even think I might use the ultra wide.
Or just sit out the Air / 17 season entirely. Ironically it is Apple Card financing that makes this a tough decision .... 0% interest lol
Also, telephoto. the 17 Pro isn't really an improvement here. The 8x is digital, merely special processing attention paid to the middle of the 4x photo.
Really what I should have done was keep my 13 Pro and sat out the 14/15/16 eras but alas the 14PM screen size sucked me in ... but the Max format was cumbersome, hence the later switch to the 16 Pro. This is why the Air, despite having returned it for lack of ultra-wdie camera, but it's perfect size screen and body, continues to call to me, the crazy supermodel who continues to hold your attention 😆
-
