I’ve purchased the iPhone 11 and, camera-wise, I’m more than pleased. Following is a camera comparison of the new model to the iPhone 6s+ and the 7+ with handheld night shots.
All shots have been made handheld to be able to simulate the most common case of taking night shots without additional tools. With a tripod or some kind of stabilization (leaning the iPhone against a rock etc.),
- the iPhone 11 would have automatically used a much longer exposition (10s)
- on the two old models, I could have used dedicated “Night mode” third-party apps using much longer exposures than 1/4s without camera shake-induced blurring, resulting in dramatically(!) better images without any kind of computational photography. (IIRC, Night mode can use exposition times up to 4s.) Then, the advantage of the new models somewhat diminishes - but, again, it requires external stabilization (tripod etc).
I’ve shot shots of three low-lit scenes: the view from the back and front of our flat and also an entirely (and only) moonlit scene on our balcony. The latter scene has only been shot with the iPhone 11 as the two older phones just didn’t produce anything visible.
Comparing the old iPhones to each other, one can easily see the f/2.275 lens of the 6s+ definitely lets in less light than the f/1.7 lens of the 7+. For example, the photo at
is shot at ISO1600, while the comparable 6s+ shot at
is shot at ISO 2000. (Both shots use 1/4s exposures.)
Even with the 6s+ using a higher sensitivity (resulting in a somewhat noisier image - not that it’d be too visible with such a small sensor), it produces a definitely darker image.
There is no comparison with the iPhone 11 shots, which are faaar better. A pair of them are as follows. Here’s the one with the default params:
and here with manually-increased exposure time to the maximum:
===
Note that some of the test shots show the 7+ unneededly used a vastly decreased sensitivity. Both “front scene” shots have been shot at IS64 (!!!!), resulting in a waaaaay worse (darker) image than that of even the (otherwise, because of the slower lens, inferior) 6s+:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773410712/in/album-72157711007107332/
(Here are the according 6s+ shots: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772885698/in/album-72157711007107332/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772886383/in/album-72157711007107332/ )
Note that in all “front” cases I tried to make the phone auto-focus on the only one visible street light. (Probably this is why the 7+ chosen ISO64 instead of using a much higher sensitivity? Dunno. Nevertheless, it certainly made a mistake by only using such a low sensitivity.)
BTW, here are the two iPhone 11 shots:
default settings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773421057/in/album-72157711007107332/
max. time setting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773220191/in/album-72157711007107332/
Not always erred the 7+ this much. For example, the “back” scene series had two ISO1600 shots (in addition to the above-linked one, the other is https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773416702/in/album-72157711007107332/ ) and an ISO800 one ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773222406/in/album-72157711007107332/ ). The latter is accordingly darker - but not much.
===
Should you try to increase the exposure time?
In my tests, at least with fully static scenes (no moving people, no wind etc.) like the above, overriding the defalt setting and increasing the exposure time vastly reduced image grain (noise). Just compare the above two pairs of images - or, particularly, those of the “balcony” scene:
default settings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772876338/in/album-72157711007107332/
max. time setting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773415657/in/album-72157711007107332/
===
All in all, I’m extremely pleased with the night mode’s performance. The only problem is the lack of a “live” movie with night mode being used.
iOS versions: 12.4 on both old models and 13.0 on the 11.
All shots have been made handheld to be able to simulate the most common case of taking night shots without additional tools. With a tripod or some kind of stabilization (leaning the iPhone against a rock etc.),
- the iPhone 11 would have automatically used a much longer exposition (10s)
- on the two old models, I could have used dedicated “Night mode” third-party apps using much longer exposures than 1/4s without camera shake-induced blurring, resulting in dramatically(!) better images without any kind of computational photography. (IIRC, Night mode can use exposition times up to 4s.) Then, the advantage of the new models somewhat diminishes - but, again, it requires external stabilization (tripod etc).
I’ve shot shots of three low-lit scenes: the view from the back and front of our flat and also an entirely (and only) moonlit scene on our balcony. The latter scene has only been shot with the iPhone 11 as the two older phones just didn’t produce anything visible.
Comparing the old iPhones to each other, one can easily see the f/2.275 lens of the 6s+ definitely lets in less light than the f/1.7 lens of the 7+. For example, the photo at
is shot at ISO1600, while the comparable 6s+ shot at
is shot at ISO 2000. (Both shots use 1/4s exposures.)
Even with the 6s+ using a higher sensitivity (resulting in a somewhat noisier image - not that it’d be too visible with such a small sensor), it produces a definitely darker image.
There is no comparison with the iPhone 11 shots, which are faaar better. A pair of them are as follows. Here’s the one with the default params:
and here with manually-increased exposure time to the maximum:
===
Note that some of the test shots show the 7+ unneededly used a vastly decreased sensitivity. Both “front scene” shots have been shot at IS64 (!!!!), resulting in a waaaaay worse (darker) image than that of even the (otherwise, because of the slower lens, inferior) 6s+:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773410712/in/album-72157711007107332/
(Here are the according 6s+ shots: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772885698/in/album-72157711007107332/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772886383/in/album-72157711007107332/ )
Note that in all “front” cases I tried to make the phone auto-focus on the only one visible street light. (Probably this is why the 7+ chosen ISO64 instead of using a much higher sensitivity? Dunno. Nevertheless, it certainly made a mistake by only using such a low sensitivity.)
BTW, here are the two iPhone 11 shots:
default settings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773421057/in/album-72157711007107332/
max. time setting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773220191/in/album-72157711007107332/
Not always erred the 7+ this much. For example, the “back” scene series had two ISO1600 shots (in addition to the above-linked one, the other is https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773416702/in/album-72157711007107332/ ) and an ISO800 one ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773222406/in/album-72157711007107332/ ). The latter is accordingly darker - but not much.
===
Should you try to increase the exposure time?
In my tests, at least with fully static scenes (no moving people, no wind etc.) like the above, overriding the defalt setting and increasing the exposure time vastly reduced image grain (noise). Just compare the above two pairs of images - or, particularly, those of the “balcony” scene:
default settings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48772876338/in/album-72157711007107332/
max. time setting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/48773415657/in/album-72157711007107332/
===
All in all, I’m extremely pleased with the night mode’s performance. The only problem is the lack of a “live” movie with night mode being used.
iOS versions: 12.4 on both old models and 13.0 on the 11.
