Apple’s Newest Phone Is Worth It…for Photographers
By: Lance Ulanoff
Tags: Gadgets, iPhone, Apple, Technology, Photography

Apple’s Newest Phone Is Worth It…for Photographers

I took this photo with an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Photos courtesy of the author

Padding down my steps one morning, I noticed the brightly lit reflection of my casement windows on the den floor. It was before sunrise and I quickly surmised that this was sunlight streaming through my window.

Approaching the windows, I could see the Waning Gibbous Moon still high in the crystal-clear sky. I grabbed my DSLR and shot a few photos of it from the vantage point of my window. My 200 mm lens lets me get quite close, but I also tried to get a shot that captured the window frame and put Earth’s satellite in context. The shots came out well and I shared them on Instagram.

Less than an hour later, I glanced out at the now bright blue sky and noticed that the moon was still clearly visible. I had another idea for a photo, but this time I grabbed Apple’s new iPhone 12 Pro Max. It has a 2.5x optical zoom which is no match for my big lens, but I still thought I could do something interesting.

I stepped out into the brisk autumn air, positioned myself behind one of my small backyard trees, and then tried to frame the moon behind some of the leafless branches.

One of my earlier attempts

I tapped on the 2.5 zoom and found that the moon was still just a tiny gray and white blob in the background. Next, I decided to push past the optical into digital zoom and noticed that I could bring in a bit more lunar landscape detail. However, to hold onto the focus and the lower exposure enough to keep the moon’s luminance from blowing out the image, I had to hold my finger on the screen, right over the moon, until Apple’s Camera app locked exposure and focus.

With that done, I could frame the moon more aesthetically behind a few of the branches, which were, naturally, now blurry.

I’d normally prefer a tripod at this level of zoom, but the iPhone 12 Pro Max has an extra image stabilization capability called “sensor-shift image stabilization,” which lets the image processor float on an x-y axis to reduce whatever shake you introduce while holding the phone. With that in mind, I simply put my elbows on my chest, spread my feet apart, took one deep breath, and snapped the shot.

I was honestly stunned at the quality. Sure, the moon image breaks down if you zoom in on the photo, but I’ve never before captured anything quite like it on a smartphone.

The results are a combination of lens quality, sensor stabilization, optical and digital zoom levels, and, of course, powerful-real-time image processing on the A14 Bionic CPU, and Smart HDR (which was turned on for this photo).

If there was ever an image that, for me, represented a tipping point for smartphone photography, this is it.

People often ask me if there’s a reason to buy the iPhone 12 Pro over the iPhone 12 or if they should get the 12 Pro Max over the 12 Pro. In both cases, it’s the camera technology that makes the difference. Apple’s iPhone 12 is an excellent flagship smartphone, but it lacks even a 2x optical zoom. I rely on that zoom to get me closer to objects both near (for macro shots) and far away.

In the case of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, this is your case study. If you want near pro-level photography in a smartphone form factor, iPhone 12 Pro Max offers that by pushing optical zoom to 2.5x and adding the impressive sensor shift technology, which takes optical image stabilization to the next level.