Photographer Austin Mann Tests the iPhone 12 Pro's Camera

[m11rphy]

Can anyone explain how he is taking a 30 second exposure? Is it purely by using a tripod or is a tripod plus a 3rd party app?

 

[otternonsense]

This is a large problem
It's like saying, this car can do this.....

But they used special gas that's 10x the price, hired the current formula 1 racing driver, fitted expensive tyres and other things.

Yes, you, the typical owner could pay all that extra, but you are not.

It's tantamount to lying if you sell "Product A" But you need to use Product B, C, D and E to show off Product A, as most people will simply expect Product A to do what they see.

Exactly. Which is also the backbone behind the #shotoniphone program and all of the "best in the industry" marketing. I'm not unhappy with the pictures I take, far from it; the 11 Pro has been leaps and bounds better than the 8. Not flawless though, and I've had to retake night shots a few times to get it right. The 12 Pro's camera is improved but is it THAT improved to look like the DSLR-level photos shown above without 3rd party equipment?
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Can anyone explain how he is taking a 30 second exposure? Is it purely by using a tripod or is a tripod plus a 3rd party app?

Both.

 

[simonmet]

Every year the same script: preorders sell out; iPhone more popular than expected; some photographer we’ve never heard of shows off photos taken with the iPhone’s “amazing”, “incredible” new camera.

It’s Apple’s hype playbook played ad infinitum.

 

[otternonsense]

Not a fan of that landscape shot in night mode and not for the IQ at all. It's a beautiful photograph and amazing how far we've come to be able to enjoy such ability. I do however prefer dimly lit scenes to look like dimly lit scenes, and yes, I get that that particular instance is not viable example. Interested in how the phone is able to perform in low light with extended exposure without night mode.

Agree. The priority to me is to preserve detail. Other than that, sure, you can grade the photo in post, but I'm not a huge fan of turning night into day and then having to tweak every shot to make it true to life.

 

[shanson27]

I really hope the camera has improved a lot.

 

[Kulfon]

No different to 11 Pro, nothing new and worth of upgrading.

 

[iPhaithful]

Just buy a real camera.

 

[otternonsense]

No different to 11 Pro, nothing new and worth of upgrading.
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Looks like Brilliance, Shadows, Sharpness, and Vibrance had a field day

Are these taken on the 12 Pro? How's the detail preservation in comparison?

The sky noise on the airport photo does not look very encouraging.

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Just buy a real camera.

"The best camera is the one you always have with you"

-someone

 

[Piggie]

No different to 11 Pro, nothing new and worth of upgrading.
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Gorgeous Photo's.
To be totally honest, they don't look exactly real, esp the 1st two,
But accepting that they are not supposed to be 100% real, from an artistic point of view they are lovely.

 

[Kulfon]

All taken with 11 Pro. I see no value in getting 12 Pro as it adds NOTHING relevant when it comes to photography.

Looks like Brilliance, Shadows, Sharpness, and Vibrance had a field day

Are these taken on the 12 Pro? How's the detail preservation in comparison?

The sky noise on the airport photo does not look very encouraging.

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"The best camera is the one you always have with you"

-someone

 

[matrix07]

Nice photos for sure, but they were taken by a professional photographer... and anybody who thinks they can get shots close to this without thousands of dollars of additional equipment and software (as this professional photographer has used) is going to be seriously disappointed.

What? He only used Halide app (just to have long exposure and extra photo data) and tripods. Anyone can have that with very little expenses.

 

[Kulfon]

What do you mean not real? They are super real photos I took with 11 Pro and did not spend more than 5 sec fine-tuning them.

Gorgeous Photo's.
To be totally honest, they don't look exactly real, esp the 1st two,
But accepting that they are not supposed to be 100% real, from an artistic point of view they are lovely.

 

[matrix07]

Can anyone explain how he is taking a 30 second exposure? Is it purely by using a tripod or is a tripod plus a 3rd party app?

I’m guessing Halide app.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Almost any phone could have taken those photos

Yeah.. good luck with that.

 

[Kid Red]

The photos look nice when displayed on a small screen but they are still quite grainy and show the effects of compression and software alteration. In other words, it’s still a small sensor and a lot of tricks to make it work better. Doesn’t matter if it’s Apple, Google, or any other phone device. When it comes to image quality the size of the sensor makes the biggest difference. A larger surface area capturing photons will deliver a better image every time.

Great pics for casual users, which is most everyone these days. And it gives casual users more automated success than they previously had. But it’s still a great deal of hyperbole to compare with a larger sensor dedicated camera that uses much higher quality (and corrected) lenses.

You realize these photos were taken on a phone? There's obvious limits compared to a DLSR but we're comparing a phone to other phones.

 

[PlainviewX]

Just buy a real camera.

Define a "real" camera?

 

[matrix07]

Exactly. Which is also the backbone behind the #shotoniphone program and all of the "best in the industry" marketing. I'm not unhappy with the pictures I take, far from it; the 11 Pro has been leaps and bounds better than the 8. Not flawless though, and I've had to retake night shots a few times to get it right. The 12 Pro's camera is improved but is it THAT improved to look like the DSLR-level photos shown above without 3rd party equipment?

What 3rd party equipments? He just used tripods and Halide app. Very basic. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[phobos512]

Exactly. Which is also the backbone behind the #shotoniphone program and all of the "best in the industry" marketing. I'm not unhappy with the pictures I take, far from it; the 11 Pro has been leaps and bounds better than the 8. Not flawless though, and I've had to retake night shots a few times to get it right. The 12 Pro's camera is improved but is it THAT improved to look like the DSLR-level photos shown above without 3rd party equipment?
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Both.

Folks, this isn't hard. The article goes into a fair amount of depth, though to be fair he doesn't specify his complete configuration in every shot. He does say in the article that the two deep night shots of landscapes were shot on tripod. The shot of his wife was handheld with a second iPhone screen acting as a fill light. The other shots seem to all be handheld. He describes the Halide app in a few spots in the write-up but he also in certain places speaks to the stock app so it seems like a combination of both. He doesn't seem to have done any retouching save for auto-adjustment of several of the photos using the stock iOS Photos app.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Just buy a real camera.

You can also buy a 'dumb' phone, a tablet or laptop, a portable music player, a video camera, a GPS unit, etc. and carry them all around instead.

If you are a professional photographer you most likely will have a stand-alone camera but good photographers use the tools they have. A stand-alone camera doesn't make up for understanding composition, lighting, and so forth.

 

[otternonsense]

All taken with 11 Pro. I see no value in getting 12 Pro as it adds NOTHING relevant when it comes to photography.

I don't disagree, I'd just like to see more comparisons. I'm also not happy that they reserved the best camera for the Pro Max (again).

One thing that really stuck with me from the marketing shots is the nighttime neon shots, where you see the light source clearly and not as a colourful blob. Still, no-one can tell what additional equipment was used.

What 3rd party equipments? He just used tripods and Halide app. Very basic. 🤷🏻‍♂️

If you want to show off image stabilisation, then using a tripod kinda defeats the purpose.

A few posts above you said you "guess" it's Halide. Did he email you in the meantime to confirm? Even so, it's still a little 3rd party helper.

 

[nwcs]

You realize these photos were taken on a phone? There's obvious limits compared to a DLSR but we're comparing a phone to other phones.

It should be quite clear that I did know they were taken via phone...

 

[neuropsychguy]

Almost any phone could have taken those photos

You forgot your sarcasm tag. People will think you're being serious or just trolling otherwise.

 

[richman555]

These pictures look stunning compared to my iPhone 8. I can't wait until my iPhone 12 Pro ships in Pacific Blue!

 

[matrix07]

Folks, this isn't hard. The article goes into a fair amount of depth, though to be fair he doesn't specify his complete configuration in every shot. He does say in the article that the two deep night shots of landscapes were shot on tripod. The shot of his wife was handheld with a second iPhone screen acting as a fill light. The other shots seem to all be handheld. He describes the Halide app in a few spots in the write-up but he also in certain places speaks to the stock app so it seems like a combination of both. He doesn't seem to have done any retouching save for auto-adjustment of several of the photos using the stock iOS Photos app.

In a way, the suspicions just show how great iPhone 12 camera is. Someone above even said “thousand dollars worth of equipments”. 🤣

 

[matrix07]

I don't disagree, I'd just like to see more comparisons. I'm also not happy that they reserved the best camera for the Pro Max (again).

One thing that really stuck with me from the marketing shots is the nighttime neon shots, where you see the light source clearly and not as a colourful blob. Still, no-one can tell what additional equipment was used.

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If you want to show off image stabilisation, then using a tripod kinda defeats the purpose.

A few posts above you said you "guess" it's Halide. Did he email you in the meantime to confirm? Even so, it's still a little 3rd party helper.

Huh? No OIS will help you with 30 seconds shot. Not even in the DSLR. That’s why we have tripods 🙄
That shot didn’t show off image stabilization. It shows off Night Mode. There’s a difference between the two.

Also, the picture above, why does it need any ”additional“ equipment?


Edit: about Halide app. No, he didn’t email me about it. He just wrote about what he used in the article. It helps to read.