iPhone X [Portra] iPhone X vs. Sony A7RII test

[juanmaasecas]

One of the main things I bought the iPhone X is the portrait mode. A couple of days ago I was at my friend's coffee shop and I wanted to compare it against my full frame camera (A7RII) and cheap lens (Canon 50mm f1.8 STM). I was surprised because onscreen (and whatsapp size) the pictures looked very similar, and I like the background blur in the iPhone wasn't too exagerated (and didn't look fake), and actually the picture came out much less blurry than in the camera with the lens at @1.8.

I'm just viewing the pics in the computer now, and the differences are much more evident (of course). I need to say, the light there is far from being perfect, and also I needed to rise the exposure a bit in Capture One as the iPhone pic was a bit dark (that's why more noise is visible). I tried to match a bit the white balance, and cropped the iPhone pic to 3:2 just like the camera. If I edit the pic in focos app, I could get a more blurred background, but the point is showing the default amount of blur from the iPhone camera app.

First pic: general view:

Second pic: 100% zoom for the iPhone (50% for the camera)

Third pic: 100% for the camera (200% for the iPhone)

 

[bradbomb]

So what you are telling me is that a $2800 Mirrorless Full-Frame Digital camera takes a better photo than a $1000 smartphone that's primary function is to be a smartphone??? I'm stunned by this revelation

 

[casperes1996]

Really impressive results from the iPhone. And impressive how you managed to frame the two so similarly! Well done!

Is the iPhone on a tripod or anything?A shutter speed of 1/17 is relatively slow otherwise.

 

[juanmaasecas]

I love the pictures coming from this phone, and I'm surprised about how well it's doing it against the camera. Trust me, in better light, or if the picture didn't come out a bit too dark, the comparison is even closer. This phone takes really stunning pictures. When viewing the pictures in the screen of the phone, people can't really tell which pictures have been taken with the camera and which ones with the phone, even myself I'm very impressed!

The iPhone X has a telephoto lens of around 52mm equivalent (iPhone 7+ 8+ is 56), and the lens in the camera was a 50mm, so really close. I only cropped a bit the iPhone to match the 3:2 format.

Before I bought the phone, i thought that even with the stabilizer, the minimun shutter speed for the telephoto lens was 1/50s, but after having it I've realized that sometimes in low light it goes to 1/8s (I think, I should recheck) and still the pictures come out very sharp . But yes, I have a good technique,

 

[eyeseeyou]

Another S/O to the focos app.

Although you can adjust the level of “blur” in the background I use it more to clean up the inconsistent edges of the main subject meant to be in focus.

I noticed some of the single hairs were blurred out on the iPhone pic vs the sony. Focus can only do so much so I doubt it could adjust the depth layer data enough to catch the loose hairs. That being said most people aren’t going to zoom in that close.

 

[casperes1996]

Before I bought the phone, i thought that even with the stabilizer, the minimun shutter speed for the telephoto lens was 1/50s, but after having it I've realized that sometimes in low light it goes to 1/8s (I think, I should recheck) and still the pictures come out very sharp . But yes, I have a good technique,

Yeah - The very max ISO the iPhone can go to (at least the 8) is 880. And that's extremely noisy. So it decreases shutter speed by default a lot of the time instead of increasing ISO. I'd imagine your Sony could easily do an ISO of 800 without really getting that much noise in the image.

Pretty sure the iPhone also uses the motion data from the accelerometer and gyro to figure out how low it can take the shutter speed before snapping the photo which is cool

 

[juanmaasecas]

Another S/O to the focos app.

Although you can adjust the level of “blur” in the background I use it more to clean up the inconsistent edges of the main subject meant to be in focus.

I noticed some of the single hairs were blurred out on the iPhone pic vs the sony. Focus can only do so much so I doubt it could adjust the depth layer data enough to catch the loose hairs. That being said most people aren’t going to zoom in that close.

Just tried to do it in focos, but I didn't like it. It's more obvious now that the cut is not perfect, and the pic look much less natural:

(screenshots, this time I didn't change exposure, only applied more blur in focos and changed the field limits)

Global view:

100%

 

[iosuser]

The reason the iPhone has deeper depth of field (or as you put it less exaggerated background blur) is because of its much shorter focal length due to its puny sensor size and lens. An “f1.8” lens in a smartphone is not the same as an f1.8 lens from a real camera. The actual focal length of the iPhone X camera is like 4mm.

I don’t pixel peep like I used to. Nowadays most photos taken with a phone will look just fine when viewed at 20% on the screen. Start peeping in and you’ll see that they just can’t compare to even a 1” sensor compact camera, much less a full frame. In your sample, ISO160 already looks like a water painting. I imagine ISO6400 or even 12800 on your A7RII will look cleaner than the iPhone X at 160.

For the record I use an iPhone X myself. The only camera I now own is a Panasonic ZS100 with 1” sensor and 10x lens that I rarely even use. The height of my camera craze was a Nikon D700 full frame, been downsizing ever since, and like many the phone is mostly what I use now.

One of the main things I bought the iPhone X is the portrait mode. A couple of days ago I was at my friend's coffee shop and I wanted to compare it against my full frame camera (A7RII) and cheap lens (Canon 50mm f1.8 STM). I was surprised because onscreen (and whatsapp size) the pictures looked very similar, and I like the background blur in the iPhone wasn't too exagerated (and didn't look fake), and actually the picture came out much less blurry than in the camera with the lens at @1.8.

I'm just viewing the pics in the computer now, and the differences are much more evident (of course). I need to say, the light there is far from being perfect, and also I needed to rise the exposure a bit in Capture One as the iPhone pic was a bit dark (that's why more noise is visible). I tried to match a bit the white balance, and cropped the iPhone pic to 3:2 just like the camera. If I edit the pic in focos app, I could get a more blurred background, but the point is showing the default amount of blur from the iPhone camera app.

First pic: general view:

View attachment 748020

Second pic: 100% zoom for the iPhone (50% for the camera)
View attachment 748021


Third pic: 100% for the camera (200% for the iPhone)
View attachment 748022

 

[casperes1996]

The reason the iPhone has deeper depth of field (or as you put it less exaggerated background blur) is because of its much shorter focal length due to its puny sensor size and lens. An “f1.8” lens in a smartphone is not the same as an f1.8 lens from a real camera. The actual focal length of the iPhone X camera is like 4mm.

I don’t pixel peep like I used to. Nowadays most photos taken with a phone will look just fine when viewed at 20% on the screen. Start peeping in and you’ll see that they just can’t compare to even a 1” sensor compact camera, much less a full frame. In your sample, ISO160 already looks like a water painting. I imagine ISO6400 or even 12800 on your A7RII will look cleaner than the iPhone X at 160.

For the record I use an iPhone X myself. The only camera I now own is a Panasonic ZS100 with 1” sensor and 10x lens that I rarely even use. The height of my camera craze was a Nikon D700 full frame, been downsizing ever since, and like many the phone is mostly what I use now.

Yeah, but none of us ever claimed it'd be on level with the DSLR. Just that it's impressive for what it is.

 

[eyeseeyou]

The reason the iPhone has deeper depth of field (or as you put it less exaggerated background blur) is because of its much shorter focal length due to its puny sensor size and lens. An “f1.8” lens in a smartphone is not the same as an f1.8 lens from a real camera. The actual focal length of the iPhone X camera is like 4mm.

I don’t pixel peep like I used to. Nowadays most photos taken with a phone will look just fine when viewed at 20% on the screen. Start peeping in and you’ll see that they just can’t compare to even a 1” sensor compact camera, much less a full frame. In your sample, ISO160 already looks like a water painting. I imagine ISO6400 or even 12800 on your A7RII will look cleaner than the iPhone X at 160.

For the record I use an iPhone X myself. The only camera I now own is a Panasonic ZS100 with 1” sensor and 10x lens that I rarely even use. The height of my camera craze was a Nikon D700 full frame, been downsizing ever since, and like many the phone is mostly what I use now.

This post reminds me why I keep my g7x although with the 10x zoom on that zs100 I may never have to buy another camera for a long time.

 

[iosuser]

Yeah, but none of us ever claimed it'd be on level with the DSLR. Just that it's impressive for what it is.

Apple does with every release

Yes it is impressive for what it is, a pocket super computer that happens to take OK photos. I will never go back to DSLR myself.
[doublepost=1516671306][/doublepost]

This post reminds me why I keep my g7x although with the 10x zoom on that zs100 I may never have to buy another camera for a long time.

Yep I haven’t bought another ever since. I went from a Sony RX100M4 to the Panasonic.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Apple does with every release

Yes it is impressive for what it is, a pocket super computer that happens to take OK photos. I will never go back to DSLR myself.
[doublepost=1516671306][/doublepost]
Yep I haven’t bought another ever since. I went from a Sony RX100M4 to the Panasonic.

At the time, or maybe I didn’t do enough research, I went from a rx100 m2 to a g7x m2.

I would’ve spent more for the 10x zoom.

That being said, and this may be getting off topic, I’ve also invested in some moment and sirui wide angle and telephoto lens.

I’ll be posting some comparison pics soon which also cause more dust to for my g7x to collect lol

 

[casperes1996]

Apple does with every release

They certainly say that the best camera is the one you have with you, and since we all have our phone on us, it might as well be what we use when it's this good, and as you prove that's pretty bang on. It's now rather few people who really need or would get any significant benefit from a DSLR as opposed to just their phone.

Yes it is impressive for what it is, a pocket super computer that happens to take OK photos. I will never go back to DSLR myself.

Yeah. It's quite brillant.

And you can get some quite nice accessories too Even anamorphic lenses designed specifically to compliment the existing lens systems

 

[pat500000]

A7r iii is something i would look forward too.

 

[juanmaasecas]

In my opinion, comparing this nicely to one of the best full frame sensors nowadays is amazing. It's not even a regular DSLR, it's a full frame 42mpx BSI sensor. I realized the depth of field is similar to my fifty mmm at f4, so here you are another little test in better light conditions (50mm @f4)

General view
Sin-título-1 by Juanma Herrera, en Flickr

100% magnification for iPhone (50% camera)
Sin-título-2 by Juanma Herrera, en Flickr

100% magnification for camera (200% for iPhone)
Sin-título-3 by Juanma Herrera, en Flickr