Photographer Austin Mann's iPhone 13 Pro Test Looks at Camera Improvements With Macro, Photographic Styles, New Lenses, and More

[CE3]

Not going to give up my Sony A1 and my various macro lenses and long lenses just yet......but the new iPhone 13 and the accompanying improvements in the software would be nice for those times when I don't have my other gear with me.

Agreed. I’ve no desire to give up my dedicated camera at all. Even with all these continued improvements it’s no substitute for a larger sensor and good glass in many scenarios. But it’s still nice to have an increasingly capable option that fits in your pocket for decent photo and video when you need it. Especially video. Even my iPhone 11 does a great job retaining highlight and shadow details. The macro capabilities here excite me as well.

 

[ErikGrim]

These photos are amazing. How fast the phone cameras have come in few years. Soon we will be making movies on phones, but not there yet.

Lots of movies are already being made on phones

 

[kkinto]

For me that leopard photo looks like some seriously shoddy sky replacement or bad "blue screen" matting? Agree about editing though, people these days forget photos used to be developed in a darkroom and the machines there (or manually) also had "settings". Very rarely would I leave a photo without a bit of editing. Seems to me not doing that is simply a lack of interest or care in the finer points of photography - simply accepting the manufacturer's default seems completely lazy to me. Plus light is very different all over the world - no 'default' can ever fit everything.

 

[Bushibot]

The photographer Austin Mann has today published his in-depth annual review of the latest iPhone's camera capabilities, this time focusing on the iPhone 13 Pro. Mann's tests were performed in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania, looking at each of the iPhone 13 Pro's camera upgrades, including Macro mode, increased telephoto zoom and Cinematic mode.

ProRAW image shot with the iPhone 13 Pro's Telephoto camera and edited in Lightroom CC.​

Mann said that macro mode, which uses the Ultra Wide lens and allows users to take photos around 2cm away from a subject, is "perhaps the strongest advancement in this year's camera system" and fulfills a clear need for many photographers. Images in Macro mode are still able to be fairly sharp in low-light and amid camera shake. Macro effectively functions "as a fourth lens" and is "not just an iterative increase."

ProRAW image shot with the iPhone 13 Pro's Ultra Wide camera in macro and edited in Lightroom CC.​

The new 13mm Ultra Wide lens with f/1.8 aperture is said to offer sharper low-light images with faster shutter speeds. While the Ultra Wide still has some lens distortion, according to Mann, the overall sharpness is "drastically improved."

ProRAW image shot with the iPhone 13 Pro's Ultra Wide camera and edited in Lightroom CC.​

The new 77mm Telephoto camera offers a 33 percent increase in size over the same lens on the iPhone 12 Pro, but it is also boosted with a substantially larger sensor. Mann praised the results of these improvements, saying "everything I shoot with the Telephoto feels naturally cinematic and has a different feel than imagery captured by previous models" and "my eye isn't accustomed to seeing this kind of depth compression from my iPhone."

ProRAW image shot with the iPhone 13 Pro's Telephoto camera and edited in Lightroom CC.​

Mann also experimented with the new Photographic Styles feature, which allows photographers to finely tune a distinctive look for all of their photos without sacrificing the sense of depth. He commented that Photographic Styles are intentionally "very subtle" and feature "a lot more depth instead of the flat nature of a preset." While Mann noted that photographers are likely to shoot in ProRAW for clients, Photographic Styles "will be perfect" for times "when I just want great looking images right now versus maximum processing control later."

Image shot with Photographic Styles on the iPhone 13 Pro.​

He added that features like Photographic Styles and Smart HDR 4 are among the more nuanced upgrades this year, saying that they "will impact every single photo you take, but not at the same transformative level."

Mann shot a range of video clips in Cinematic mode and was impressed by the iPhone's new computational videography capabilities. He noted that it was particularly impressive that you can change focus at the perfect frame later on in the editing process.

See Mann's full report for many more images and additional information about the technical capabilities of the ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌'s improved camera setup.

Article Link: Photographer Austin Mann's iPhone 13 Pro Test Looks at Camera Improvements With Macro, Photographic Styles, New Lenses, and More

From the full article “2) I wish I could turn off digital zoom altogether. I’d like it if I could choose between my “prime” lens perspectives of 13 mm, 26 mm, and 77mm—and nothing in between. Sometimes when I’m switching between lenses, I accidentally get stuck in the middle, and I’ve never found the quality of digital zoom usable. For this same reason, if I had the option, I would also choose to turn off the low-light digital zoom that happens with the 3x telephoto.”

This right here, I struggle with the stupid useless digital zoom underwater and it’s maddening. I don’t understand why we can’t have simple toggle to disable it! Nobody who does any kind of even semi serious photography wants anything to do with digital zoom. It’s just number marketing BS and a cruel prank on anyone taking pictures. Kill it kill it kill it!

 

[sdz]

Not stunning. I find the photographs look all very similar since the iPhone 8.

 

[ediks]

It's a photo showing off the telephoto depth compression, it's literally SUPPOSED to look like this.

ok, thanks for the explanation, im a noob in this department so i just commented on what i saw

 

[lkalliance]

From the full article “2) I wish I could turn off digital zoom altogether. I’d like it if I could choose between my “prime” lens perspectives of 13 mm, 26 mm, and 77mm—and nothing in between. Sometimes when I’m switching between lenses, I accidentally get stuck in the middle, and I’ve never found the quality of digital zoom usable. For this same reason, if I had the option, I would also choose to turn off the low-light digital zoom that happens with the 3x telephoto.”

This right here, I struggle with the stupid useless digital zoom underwater and it’s maddening. I don’t understand why we can’t have simple toggle to disable it! Nobody who does any kind of even semi serious photography wants anything to do with digital zoom. It’s just number marketing BS and a cruel prank on anyone taking pictures. Kill it kill it kill it!

I wonder would a third-party camera app like Halide enable this? I would imagine if it did, Austin Mann would know about it, though.

 

[svish]

The macro shots are good. The iPhone camera improves year after year!!!

 

[PeteBurgh]

Not stunning. I find the photographs look all very similar since the iPhone 8.

I guess we all perceive things differently, but gosh, I couldn't disagree more.

I carry both an iPhone 8 (issued by by employer) and (until I traded it in last week) a 12 Pro Max. The difference between the two is vast. The 8 can take some nice shots in good light, but the moment conditions start to become more challenging there is simply no comparison. Browsing in Photos, the difference is obvious even on a small screen.

If there is someone out there who can somehow take photos like those in the Austin Mann article using an iPhone 8, they will have my sincere admiration!

 

[Iconoclysm]

ok, thanks for the explanation, im a noob in this department so i just commented on what i saw

Me too, but I had a hunch that what you were showing wasn't what you thought it was. The fact those branches in the foreground are in focus but all the stuff behind it is not was to show off that this telephoto function is far beyond anything smartphones have done so far.