Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Photographer Austin Mann Shares iPhone 12 Pro Max Camera Review
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I had same conclusions. And even returned my 12 Pro mainly because of this. The pictures are looking great on phone display but not on bigger screen.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a massive phone.... by any means.
It’s huge, I would never get one for that reason. After getting rid of my 6 Plus I vowed to never touch a monstrosity of that size again.
Again, what? What size screen are you talking about? Looking at them on my iPad Pro or my iMac 27”, hell, even my 55” Sony TV, everything this phone takes looks great.
I agree, it’s totally crazy.
although this picture is a really bad example of that imho.
it’s way too soft and just looks super artificial. Almost like a painting.
with A 3rd party app and manual controls you would get way better results.
I get what you are saying but the problem is the weight - the Max's are one of the heaviest phones in the market - this year's Max is even heavier (without adding a case) than last year
It's possible that shooting in RAW with Halide or another third-party app, and then processing in Darkroom or Lightroom would yield much better results and reveal more of the benefit of the larger sensor with the Max. A lot of what people are reacting to in this thread is probably at least in part due to the way that Apple processes the photos. Will also be interesting to see what the ProRAW files look like, both unprocessed, and after processing, once that format is available.
I don't make a living as a photographer, but I have been a serious hobbyist for 20 years, and have had work published in several magazines and books. I've shot with everything from a full-frame DSLR, to mirrorless, to a Holga plastic camera. Believe me, I never thought I'd be doing 90% of my photography with a smartphone—but alas, that's where I am. Most of what I shoot these days is travel, family, and landscape (on our trips), and the portability and convenience of shooting with the iPhone and not lugging an interchangeable lens camera system around is, for me, more important than the slight difference in quality that I see when I zoom to 100% on my computer screen or make large prints.
I would also say that I find the photography ecosystem with the iPhone to be so much easier to work with. I shoot on my iPhone and my photos are instantly available on all of my devices (iMac Pro, Macbook Pro, iPad Pro). No memory cards, uploading, etc. I even do most of my editing on mobile now (mostly iPad Pro). I love using the Apple Pencil, along with Lightroom and the many amazing apps now available like Afterlight, Lens Distortions, Touch/Retouch, Mextures, VSCO, etc. I mostly shoot with the built-in Camera app, but sometimes use Halide or Spectre when I need more control.
For me, photography has always been about creating pictures with emotional impact, and I find that I can do that just as well if not better with the iPhone (because of how easy it is to carry and use in the situations I'm in) than a DSLR/mirrorless + lenses.
I don't make a living as a photographer, but I have been a serious hobbyist for 20 years, and have had work published in several magazines and books. I've shot with everything from a full-frame DSLR, to mirrorless, to a Holga plastic camera. Believe me, I never thought I'd be doing 90% of my photography with a smartphone—but alas, that's where I am. Most of what I shoot these days is travel, family, and landscape (on our trips), and the portability and convenience of shooting with the iPhone and not lugging an interchangeable lens camera system around is, for me, more important than the slight difference in quality that I see when I zoom to 100% on my computer screen or make large prints.
I would also say that I find the photography ecosystem with the iPhone to be so much easier to work with. I shoot on my iPhone and my photos are instantly available on all of my devices (iMac Pro, Macbook Pro, iPad Pro). No memory cards, uploading, etc. I even do most of my editing on mobile now (mostly iPad Pro). I love using the Apple Pencil, along with Lightroom and the many amazing apps now available like Afterlight, Lens Distortions, Touch/Retouch, Mextures, VSCO, etc. I mostly shoot with the built-in Camera app, but sometimes use Halide or Spectre when I need more control.
For me, photography has always been about creating pictures with emotional impact, and I find that I can do that just as well if not better with the iPhone (because of how easy it is to carry and use in the situations I'm in) than a DSLR/mirrorless + lenses.
Doesn’t Austin Mann rave about every iPhone camera that comes down the pike? Is he a part of Apple marketing?
iPhone 6s camera review: switzerland — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Shot on iPhone 6s The gear we used can be found at the bottom of the page… and BTS video coming soon ;-)austinmann.com
iPhone 7 Camera Review: Rwanda — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Shot on iPhone 7 / 7 Plus This entire production has been light but powerful. We used only carry-on bags for this entire project thanks to the iPhone 7 Plus. Any gear we used in addition to the iPhone 7 Plus camera can be found at the bottom of this page.
iPhone 8 Plus Vs Iphone 12 Pro — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Khamagani! (many greetings from Rajasthan, India) I’m writing to you from a small hotel room in India having just experienced a magical adventure in western India orchestrated by friends at Ker & Downey . I’ve shot thousands of images and countless portraits with the iPh
iPhone X vs Iphone 12 Pro — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Buenos Días from Guatemala! I’m here capturing another amazing Ker & Downey adventure and have been testing the iPhone X along the way. Although I just conducted my iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review in India recently, I wanted to get out and capture the unique aspects of th
Phone XS Camera Review — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Mambo vipi from Zanzibar! Mambo vipi (what’s up) from Zanzibar! I’m here capturing an amazing Ker & Downey experience at Asilia’s Matemwe Lodge and have been testing the iPhone XS along the way. When I learned about the new camera upgrades this year, I was a lit
iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Partnering with Halide Camera, Peak Design, and Apple. To test the iPhone 11 Pro camera as I continue on-going work photographing The Bach Project w/ Yo-Yo Ma, a world tour where Yo-Yo is performing Bach in unconventional places around the globe. It’s been a privilege to photograph this amazing jour
He absolutely is sponsored by Apple and is contracted to make the review and the outdoor trip he uses for each review is paid for by Apple. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion and he does a great job of demonstrating the camera in use and what its capable of. He does throw out negatives every year that are legitimate and as long as you take it with a grain of salt they are great to read.
Apple does something similar with Andy To who develops a cinematic video using the latest iPhone each year, clearly paid for by Apple involving international travel in many cases. You can see them here for all the iPhones in the last several years... https://www.youtube.com/user/andytoproductions
when you have a phone that already is near the limit for some people and then you both increase its physical size (2.4mm longer as you said) AND significantly increase the size of the screen itself (further affecting reachability) "small" increases can seem very large. if the phone is a good fit for someone's life that's a great thing so good on Apple for making a big iPhone but obviously it is fair to call out that Apple's continued changes to the "Max" are boxing out some users who were on the border already if they wanted to use the larger phone.
Not when trying to use it, though. 5.5 inches and 6.7 inches aren't exactly the same.
He couldn't possibly like them all, right?Doesn’t Austin Mann rave about every iPhone camera that comes down the pike? Is he a part of Apple marketing?
iPhone 6s camera review: switzerland — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Shot on iPhone 6s The gear we used can be found at the bottom of the page… and BTS video coming soon ;-)iPhone 7 Camera Review: Rwanda — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Shot on iPhone 7 / 7 Plus This entire production has been light but powerful. We used only carry-on bags for this entire project thanks to the iPhone 7 Plus. Any gear we used in addition to the iPhone 7 Plus camera can be found at the bottom of this page.iPhone 8 Plus Vs Iphone 12 Pro — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Khamagani! (many greetings from Rajasthan, India) I’m writing to you from a small hotel room in India having just experienced a magical adventure in western India orchestrated by friends at Ker & Downey . I’ve shot thousands of images and countless portraits with the iPhiPhone X vs Iphone 12 Pro — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Buenos Días from Guatemala! I’m here capturing another amazing Ker & Downey adventure and have been testing the iPhone X along the way. Although I just conducted my iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review in India recently, I wanted to get out and capture the unique aspects of thPhone XS Camera Review — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Mambo vipi from Zanzibar! Mambo vipi (what’s up) from Zanzibar! I’m here capturing an amazing Ker & Downey experience at Asilia’s Matemwe Lodge and have been testing the iPhone XS along the way. When I learned about the new camera upgrades this year, I was a litiPhone 11 Pro Camera Review — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann
Partnering with Halide Camera, Peak Design, and Apple. To test the iPhone 11 Pro camera as I continue on-going work photographing The Bach Project w/ Yo-Yo Ma, a world tour where Yo-Yo is performing Bach in unconventional places around the globe. It’s been a privilege to photograph this amazing jour
Thank you for this. Nowhere in his review was anything mentioned that identified Apple’s support - it’s only discovered when you dig around in his website. It seems to me that a review should point out sponsorship clearly - so the reader has the opportunity to introduce their own “grain of salt”. All that said, the pictures are good and give me inspiration of what is possible with my soon-to-be-received 12 Pro Max.
I think Apple allows him to say whatever it is he wants to say, gives him the phone and pays for whatever trip he wants to use it on. He probably thinks he doesn't need to call it out because he isn't forced to say nice things, but obviously if he dunks too hard on Apple there won't be future early reviews or funded trips for him so obviously it has to color it a little. I still think he is a straight forward writer and his yearly review gives me inspiration of what is possible with the phone because most tech reviewers are taking pictures of their cat in bad lighting lol.
I registered only to say thank you for this recap! I feel the same way 100%, I am a serious semi-prof. user, have been using Nikon D4, D5 with all the expensive pro lenses and have a full fuji ecosystem available. But as you said, I am using my smartphone-camera 90% of the time and I am satisfied with it. I even printed DiNA0 posters and they are looking fine!
Last edited:
well i've never felt in the last 5 years there was a year with a "bad" camera. some years the gains weren't as big as others, and some years a particular aspect of the camera has a downside but he usually calls out both in his reviews but then makes sure to show the positives of what the camera can do, and there is always a positive. A skilled artist, and he is, could make a polaroid seem amazing and that is what he does. Truly shows it is more about the photographer than the camera really... sometimes we all get caught up in the idea if we just "get" this particular camera suddenly everything will be better but that's usually not true. the real eye opener? compare his older 6S, 7 etc. reviews vs the 12 and 12Pro... there are difference but both look fantastic because of how he uses them properly within their limitations.
Yes! I've printed some photo books and framed some wall prints and they look good. Do they have quite the same level of detail as my Canon 5D did, or X-T3 does? Probably not, but 99% of the time I don't notice.
Sure, that can happen in good conditions. I think it was true of iPhones past too. Not so much with these line. They look more like cell phone cameras than ever. I'm hoping it's the Apple camera app, and there will be options to get less processed photos.
Thank you for saying this. These astrophotography pics look horrendous. The Pixel does a better job at this with a dedicated astrophotography setting (it appears to take dozens of pics and stacks them which should offer a cleaner image). Phones are fine for some night shots but leave the astrophotography to the bigger cameras--at least if you want decent results.
If only it could! I’ll stick with my Max though (arriving Friday) and be more wary about Apple’s claims going forward (if they use the word magical one more time)!
Let's not come to conclusions about the camera quality on the basis of a single photographer's posted images. I've seen astrophotography shots from other photographers with the iPhone 11 Pro that look really good. They are not the same quality that you'd get using a medium format or even mirrorless camera, but they are completely usable. I'm not sure what happened with Mann's shots, but I definitely liked his photos from previous iPhone reviews better (including his iPhone 12 Pro review in Glacier National Park).
I just came across this article on PetaPixel that discusses the different results various reviewers are getting with the 12 Pro Max vs. the 12 Pro, and the differing conclusions they are coming to. Some say that the 12 Pro Max is significantly better, especially in low light, while others say the difference is not that noticeable.
I mean, seriously. I upgraded from a 6s+ to a 12 pro. The camera is not even the same ballpark. I don't understand how one can say it is not a substantial upgrade. SMH.
As a photographer going on 50 years I've been a bit sceptical of phone cameras as having the quality I ultimately would hope for beyond ’point and shoot.’ This year maybe the turning point for me personally, need a new iPhone and a new camera. I feel the phone camera option looks good enough to make the jump from a carry everywhere APS-C and full frame senser camera (next year's iPhone - of course - could be that ’ultimate’ camera option ;-) . [ the ’real’ camera use, shooting experience will not be the same of course, but hay, maybe time for something different ]
Not sure we’re seeing all that any of the PRO models can do till PRORAW is available. But, even so the MAX has just that bit more with increase in ISO and sensor image stabilization ( don't forget for video there too), and longer tele lens, along with LiDAR for low light focus quickness and accuracy. It's bigger, yes, advantages and disadvantages with that. For the slight premium price of the MAX I’ll probably be going that way and seeing if it can be that everyday/everywhere camera. I'm sure it's not perfect, but from what I see and read should be a great combination of phone and camera.
Not sure we’re seeing all that any of the PRO models can do till PRORAW is available. But, even so the MAX has just that bit more with increase in ISO and sensor image stabilization ( don't forget for video there too), and longer tele lens, along with LiDAR for low light focus quickness and accuracy. It's bigger, yes, advantages and disadvantages with that. For the slight premium price of the MAX I’ll probably be going that way and seeing if it can be that everyday/everywhere camera. I'm sure it's not perfect, but from what I see and read should be a great combination of phone and camera.
The folks at Halide posted an in-depth look at the 12 Pro Max. Takeaways:
- The difference between the Pro and Max are minimal in good light. This is predictable based on the specs.
- The difference between the Pro and Max in low light is also not that significant when the built-in camera app is used and Apple's image processing is applied. Apple is applying a lot of noise reduction, which is giving the images that "smudgy" look.
- When shooting in RAW, the difference is much more pronounced. The Max is capturing a pretty amazing amount of detail for a smartphone camera.
- The Max blows the Pro away in Night Mode and with long exposures.
- They did an initial analysis of ProRAW, which is in the iOS 14.3 beta, and found that unfortunately it still applies some noise reduction. Not as much as the more processed Apple files, but some.