Other Will The 48 Megapixel Camera Photos on the iPhone 15 Look Better Than iPhone 12 Photos if they're Saved at 12 Megapixels?

[boltjames]

The iPhone 15 has a better camera than the iPhone 12 and can shoot 48MP photos. But there is a big penalty to file size.

If I decide to set the iPhone 15's camera format to the same 12MP size as my old iPhone 12, will I lose the benefit of the new iPhone 15 sensor/lenses or will I be able to get better photo quality on my 15 than my 12 even when they are saved as 12MP?

Unclear as to whether the photos are captured as a 48MP image and then saved as a 12MP image or if they are natively captured at 12MP as they are shot and whether either scenario still gives me better photos than the iPhone 12 because of other factors. I want better photos than the 12, just not the bigger file sizes. Thanks.

 

[Kottu]

iPhone 13's camera quality was same as 12Pro. So 15 definitely gives much better result than 12. Regarding the mega pixels, 24 MP is only 1MB larger than 12. (3MB vs 2MB). iPhone 15 captures with 48MP men binning down to 24MP is better than all the way down to 12.

 

[boltjames]

iPhone 13's camera quality was same as 12Pro. So 15 definitely gives much better result than 12. Regarding the mega pixels, 24 MP is only 1MB larger than 12. (3MB vs 2MB). iPhone 15 captures with 48MP men binning down to 24MP is better than all the way down to 12.

Thanks, but I'm confused. Are you saying that by setting my iPhone 15 format to 12MP I am getting better photo quality than my iPhone 12 when formatted to 12MP? That the new 48MP camera/sensor of the 15 would be an improvement even if it wasn't outputting 48MP but only 12MP?

 

[MacDevil7334]

I would expect 12 MP images out of the 15 Pro to be an improvement over the 12 Pro for several reasons. First the 15 Pro sensor is physically larger, so it captures more light. It is also a higher quality sensor, with greater dynamic range. Lastly, the image processing pipeline is done with a 48 MP image, so it has all that detail information to work with. That should give a better result when downscaled to 12 MP compared to shooting with the 12 Pro’s smaller 12 MP sensor.

All that being said, you should probably leave the size at 24 MP unless you really need to conserve storage space. The files are only around 1 MB larger. And I am finding the 24 MP images exhibit noticeably less of the overprocessed look of the last few generations. You can always downscale it to 12 MP later so why throw away the extra detail?

 

[boltjames]

I would expect 12 MP images out of the 15 Pro to be an improvement over the 12 Pro for several reasons. First the 15 Pro sensor is physically larger, so it captures more light. It is also a higher quality sensor, with greater dynamic range. Lastly, the image processing pipeline is done with a 48 MP image, so it has all that detail information to work with. That should give a better result when downscaled to 12 MP compared to shooting with the 12 Pro’s smaller 12 MP sensor.

All that being said, you should probably leave the size at 24 MP unless you really need to conserve storage space. The files are only around 1 MB larger. And I am finding the 24 MP images exhibit noticeably less of the overprocessed look of the last few generations. You can always downscale it to 12 MP later so why throw away the extra detail?

Great info, thanks. Just a point of clarification, neither my 12’s nor my 15’s are Pro models, they are the standard/regular versions. Does that change your point of view? Is there something inherently better about the regular 15 then the regular 12 or the same logic you described about the Pros stands?

 

[JamesMcFlyJR]

The iPhone 15 has a better camera than the iPhone 12 and can shoot 48MP photos. But there is a big penalty to file size.

If I decide to set the iPhone 15's camera format to the same 12MP size as my old iPhone 12, will I lose the benefit of the new iPhone 15 sensor/lenses or will I be able to get better photo quality on my 15 than my 12 even when they are saved as 12MP?

Unclear as to whether the photos are captured as a 48MP image and then saved as a 12MP image or if they are natively captured at 12MP as they are shot and whether either scenario still gives me better photos than the iPhone 12 because of other factors. I want better photos than the 12, just not the bigger file sizes. Thanks.

if you decide to switch to 12mp mode you only lose the 48mp “detailed” photo part that iPhone takes to make the 24mp finished photo

So taking photos in 12mp mode on iPhone 15 will be definitely be better than the 12mp on iPhone 12 since you have a much larger sensor on iPhone 15 that is pixel binning down to 12mp.

However, I find that what Apple is doing with the 12mp fused with the 48mp to make a 24mp photo to be amazing and I would recommend you leave it on the default 24mp mode especially since it’s not that big of a increase in file size. Not to mention, it also auto switches to 12mp mode in low light so no worries there. But that’s just me.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Great info, thanks. Just a point of clarification, neither my 12’s nor my 15’s are Pro models, they are the standard/regular versions. Does that change your point of view? Is there something inherently better about the regular 15 then the regular 12 or the same logic you described about the Pros stands?

Ah I missed that bit in your original question. Yes everything I said still holds. The regular 15’s sensor isn’t quite as large as the one on the 15 Pro. But it is definitely still larger than the sensor on the 12. Enjoy your new phone!

 

[boltjames]

if you decide to switch to 12mp mode you only lose the 48mp “detailed” photo part that iPhone takes to make the 24mp finished photo

So taking photos in 12mp mode on iPhone 15 will be definitely be better than the 12mp on iPhone 12 since you have a much larger sensor on iPhone 15 that is pixel binning down to 12mp.

However, I find that what Apple is doing with the 12mp fused with the 48mp to make a 24mp photo to be amazing and I would recommend you leave it on the default 24mp mode especially since it’s not that big of a increase in file size. Not to mention, it also auto switches to 12mp mode in low light so no worries there. But that’s just me.

Perfect, thanks so much.

 

[boltjames]

Ah I missed that bit in your original question. Yes everything I said still holds. The regular 15’s sensor isn’t quite as large as the one on the 15 Pro. But it is definitely still larger than the sensor on the 12. Enjoy your new phone!

Thank you !