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I am seriously impressed with my XS photos. Didn’t expect a huge improvement over the 8, but it sure is!
 
X on the left, XS on the right...


table.jpg
XS looks better in all of those except this coffee table shot. The colors look more natural on the X. Just me?
 
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Very impressed with the XS’s camera. Low light photos are much better than the X. If the camera is your thing, then it’s worth the upgrade from the X
 
I did a little photo walk today and compared the Xs, X, and my Pixel 2 cameras today. I have only limited time with my iPhone X, as I am going to give it to my mom to replace her iPhone 6.

Overall, I like the camera for both photos and videos, over the X, and in some cases the Pixel 2. Here are some of my shots and commentary. on them

i-8LLD3MH-L.jpg

i-nJQzPVs-L.jpg

i-nm66tsx-L.jpg


In late afternoon light all 3 phones do well at pulling out details from a well lit scene. Overall I prefer the X and Pixel 2 images over the Xs in this case. In these shots I did not touch to focus or set exposure, I just pulled out the cameras and took the pictures.

i-rPbhRsC-L.jpg

i-K24qSSR-L.jpg

i-SFDTLFm-L.jpg


Different scene, but the same tactic, take out the phone, take a picture. Here you can see the added computational photography come into play with the Xs over the X. Notice how the trees over the bridge in the iPhone X shot are completely washed out as compared to the Pixel 2 and iPhone Xs.

i-pBqwhjz-L.jpg

i-QLBPDpr-L.jpg

i-vVSTpXk-L.jpg


2X zoom on all 3 cameras. Amazing how well the Pixel 2 stacks up to the iPhones while having a single fixed lens. This gives me strong hopes that the Xr will do quite well with a single lens. Overall in this shot, I like how the Xs pulls out more details in the lower light, all without blowing out the highlights above the path.

i-zxHwhLb-L.jpg

i-RkpcwkG-L.jpg

i-DscN84x-L.jpg

3rd shot is Pixel 2 without watermark


Portrait mode
While this mode is intended for taking pictures of faces, perhaps animals and other beings, I often use it (on my Pixel 2) for pictures of plants, beer, car parts, and other items where I want good depth of field. Overall, I have never been happy with portrait mode or effects on the iPhone X. It always tended to have poor edges, and do a bad job of locking focus.

Final Thoughts
The Xs had far more keepers in my testing today than did the X, though for me, the winner is still the computational effort the Pixel 2 puts into these types of portrait style shots. That said, none of these do as well as my Sigma 1.4 on my full frame camera. There really is no replacement (yet) for a good Film, DSLR, or Mirrorless camera and good glass to go with it.

Overall on the Xs Camera, I like it better than the X, and in some cases it is better than the Pixel 2, and other places falls behind. My biggest issue with the Xs is how it tends to over compensate for low light by bringing up the shadows too much in some of my examples. If that could be toned down a little, it would be far more appealing in my opinion.




Video
To be edited later, I am putting the Xs above both other phones. Really good focus, exposure control, OIS, and (finally) stereo audio Make this the best ever iPhone for video (IMO).
 
It’s still gonna take some time to catch up to DSLRs. And the truth is, phones never will. Nothing better than a camera wielding a sweet lens. But this is now an instant share culture, so most people don’t care, regardless of magazine covers donning iPhone photos. A good photo is a good photo, though, and phones are more than capable in certain situations.

I used to shoot TN Titans games with a Canon 1D Mark III and a 400 f/2.8 lens. Now that’s a joy and a power trip. But much heavier than a phone :p
 
I did a little photo walk today and compared the Xs, X, and my Pixel 2 cameras today. I have only limited time with my iPhone X, as I am going to give it to my mom to replace her iPhone 6.

Overall, I like the camera for both photos and videos, over the X, and in some cases the Pixel 2. Here are some of my shots and commentary. on them

i-8LLD3MH-L.jpg

i-nJQzPVs-L.jpg

i-nm66tsx-L.jpg


In late afternoon light all 3 phones do well at pulling out details from a well lit scene. Overall I prefer the X and Pixel 2 images over the Xs in this case. In these shots I did not touch to focus or set exposure, I just pulled out the cameras and took the pictures.

i-rPbhRsC-L.jpg

i-K24qSSR-L.jpg

i-SFDTLFm-L.jpg


Different scene, but the same tactic, take out the phone, take a picture. Here you can see the added computational photography come into play with the Xs over the X. Notice how the trees over the bridge in the iPhone X shot are completely washed out as compared to the Pixel 2 and iPhone Xs.

i-pBqwhjz-L.jpg

i-QLBPDpr-L.jpg

i-vVSTpXk-L.jpg


2X zoom on all 3 cameras. Amazing how well the Pixel 2 stacks up to the iPhones while having a single fixed lens. This gives me strong hopes that the Xr will do quite well with a single lens. Overall in this shot, I like how the Xs pulls out more details in the lower light, all without blowing out the highlights above the path.

i-zxHwhLb-L.jpg

i-RkpcwkG-L.jpg

i-DscN84x-L.jpg

3rd shot is Pixel 2 without watermark


Portrait mode
While this mode is intended for taking pictures of faces, perhaps animals and other beings, I often use it (on my Pixel 2) for pictures of plants, beer, car parts, and other items where I want good depth of field. Overall, I have never been happy with portrait mode or effects on the iPhone X. It always tended to have poor edges, and do a bad job of locking focus.

Final Thoughts
The Xs had far more keepers in my testing today than did the X, though for me, the winner is still the computational effort the Pixel 2 puts into these types of portrait style shots. That said, none of these do as well as my Sigma 1.4 on my full frame camera. There really is no replacement (yet) for a good Film, DSLR, or Mirrorless camera and good glass to go with it.

Overall on the Xs Camera, I like it better than the X, and in some cases it is better than the Pixel 2, and other places falls behind. My biggest issue with the Xs is how it tends to over compensate for low light by bringing up the shadows too much in some of my examples. If that could be toned down a little, it would be far more appealing in my opinion.




Video
To be edited later, I am putting the Xs above both other phones. Really good focus, exposure control, OIS, and (finally) stereo audio Make this the best ever iPhone for video (IMO).

Great job with the comparison! I haven’t had the chance to do a lot of comparison but I have my old X for the next week or so until I have to return it so I’ll also try to compare it with my shinny new XS.
 
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Been playing with the Bokeh slider and I find that f/2.8 makes keeps the electron tube from my vintage amplifier sharp while the rest are blurred nicely. Bye Bye DLSR for me with this. Hope they come up with adjustable sunstar rendering in the landscape mode or in the bokeh slider too and that should make a DSLR obsolete.
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I wish apple would let me save their camera photos in raw format. That way I don’t have to use another app
 
Obviously upclose sports photography ain't gonna happen in real life unless somehow you get a clearance to be right next to them taking photos with that kind of bokeh.

The app is smart enough to figure out if the subject is far or close from the camera (i.e. the subject is too small in the frame because you're too far from it) thus the bokeh slider won't have much of an effect. The slider is much more effective in close up shots such as on my electron tube BTW.
 
Obviously upclose sports photography ain't gonna happen in real life unless somehow you get a clearance to be right next to them taking photos with that kind of bokeh.

The app is smart enough to figure out if the subject is far or close from the camera (i.e. the subject is too small in the frame because you're too far from it) thus the bokeh slider won't have much of an effect. The slider is much more effective in close up shots such as on my electron tube BTW.

I had a field pass. Was shooting for the local paper. Started with a 20D and a 70-200 2.8. Basically a disaster unless in the end zone. Ya get that gear itch and it’s over.
 
I had a field pass. Was shooting for the local paper. Started with a 20D and a 70-200 2.8. Basically a disaster unless in the end zone. Ya get that gear itch and it’s over.

I get that feeling but it's actually audio gear instead of camera gear for me as I find the iPhone Xs delivers DSLR image quality already to my untrained eyes.

iPhone Xs Max @ f/2.8 bokeh slider taking a picture of my iPhone 6S that I use as a music player
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Low light phography pretty good (as it was with the X). Just a shot from my listening chair in a dimly lit room.
 

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Low light phography pretty good (as it was with the X). Just a shot from my listening chair in a dimly lit room.

That's some serious audio gear there sir! Must have sound like a concert hall/auditorium over there every time you listen
 
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