Random People Guess iPhone 15 Pro or $5,000 Camera

[@leoceoliveira]

Mind-blowing. A video idea: it'd be cool to compare the phone to the canon specifically showcasing ALL the weaknesses of the phone, where it falls apart.

[@lavieenros]

Forget every image comparison in the internet. This is the ultimate one.

[@ezbass]

Apple should pay you for this comparison, as it really does make a massive case for not owning a 'camera' if you're not into the all the additional bells and whistles a normal camera provides.

[@HJN67]

But that is exactly NOT what this video tells you. at 07:20 he states, "but given the right circumstances an editing knowledge", which is exactly the additional bells and whistles you will need to make the pictures look alike. And if you are going to be forced to use "all the additional bells and whistles a normal camera provides" you might as well use a normal camera and gain access to the additional benefit, like a bigger lens selection and bigger control over your image.

[@Mikaisafk]

@@HJN67you need to edit iPhone photos just like the digital camera for the best results from both products. Everyone knows that. I think what the commenter above is saying that if you just want to take still images, iPhone these days are almost on par with digital camera minus lens selection and a few other things. Yes a camera is better but the gap is closing each year. The bells and whistles they refer to I imagine would be super fast auto tracking for fast moving objects, dual sd card slots so on n so on .. these technology’s and features increase the price of these camera body’s plus lenses way past the cost of an iPhone . Out of the box they are extremely capable devices that your average /semi pro user can get insane results with a little knowledge at the fraction of the price . I have had multiple $4000 cameras and sold them all. I’ve realised I’m Paying for so many features that I literally NEVER used The phone is more then enough for my use case with some light room thrown in there.

[@ErickWright]

I think the video says if you want to save about 3000 on the body and depending on lands another 3000 get good with your Photoshop skills and use an iPhone. Bought myself a cannon R6 Mark II caught it on sale. Haven't opened it yet. Might just take it back

[@RandumbTech]

Those are HUGE prints - for everyone to be wishy-washy about which one was which speaks volumes to how good iphone photography has gotten. Well done!!

[@AlexArmitage]

Thanks so much

[@francmeister420]

I have sold quite a few photos taken with 12 pro max and now 15 pro max.

[@jean-marcducommun8185]

What I noticed when taking headshots and the person is somewhat off the center that heads tend to appear oval and distorted. This is one of the main reason why I have just bought a serious camera (Nikon Z8) because I don't like looking at my wife with an egg shaped head in my iPhoto gallery. Another strong argument is the different lenses especially when it comes to tele and zooms.

[@juanitakelly3082]

Very interesting Alex. I hope you sold all your prints at the gallery show!! You are so right about the difference of seeing work in person rather than on a video!

[@AlexArmitage]

I did not sadly, hoping I can sell enough to at least recover the cost.

[@Wanderingdisneygirl]

Thank you so much for this! I have been watching so many videos to try to find out if it's possible to create quality enlarged prints using iPhone pics! I'm getting my 15 pro max tomorrow and heading to Europe in October! Thanks again!

[@mden2490]

Thanks for the video. Why did you have to do any post processing? Why couldn’t you take the photo with the devices and then compare?

[@AlexArmitage]

That isn't how I've ever approached photography personally

[@mden2490]

Got it. Thanks. I approach photography by not processing the photos at all, so that what you see is what was actually there at the time, so that the least amount of bias (adding color, etc) will not be introduced. Post processing has gone too far, to the point where photo no longer resemble what was actually taken at that moment.somehow people call artistic impression.@@AlexArmitage

[@lakejindsay]

Great Video! What size were the prints? I could spot the phone shot of the blue hour because it looked slightly oversharpened. At least I think. Regardless, it's an impressive result. My S22 Ultra falls apart with prints SOOC at 11X17

[@AlexArmitage]

15x30 and 24x30 I believe

[@ok_marcussharcus]

Very interesting video, Alex! Getting the outsider's opinion with the students adds realism to the comparison, that we just can't see on a youtube video. Bravo Zulu, friend.

[@AlexArmitage]

Thank you buddy!

[@martybeyer]

Phone cameras have come so far these days. But, I love my R6 and if I wanted to take a photo to print I would use my R6 and not my phone. Great vid Alex 👍

[@AlexArmitage]

Thanks a lot Marty

[@cameraman655]

Get Gavin (fototripper) Hardcastle for his .02 in…that would be priceless…🤣

[@KenToney]

When resizing with Gigapixel Ai is it better to do it in the stand alone software or from Lightroom? I’m thinking saving a Tiff file from Lr then taking into Gigapixel Ai to resize might be better?

[@AlexArmitage]

typically using software dedicated to upsizing has better results.

[@bartc4525]

So cool to see videos of back home

[@AlexArmitage]

I passed by your place!

[@craigcarlson4022]

Alex, Was eagerly awaiting this video of yours. Very interesting. A couple of questions if I may... Does upsizing the resolution of the super wide 13mm equivalent lens with OnOne let it match the fine detail and resolution you are seeing from the 48mp main lens? Second, I'd think that while resolution of the phone and camera might be getting closer, I'm guessing the dynamic range capacities of the two might still distinguish them from each other... Yes/No? Maybe the new iPhone camera's technique of taking and merging multiple images, to produce essentially an HDR Raw file, may be what is helping it get close to the results of the much larger sensor in the Canon R5? Thanks, Craig

[@AlexArmitage]

No it won't match. Watch my video on the iphone 13 pro, when it was still 12mp. That will show you that upsizing can't fix the wide. And yes the dynamic range is similar for the reasons you stated. Cameras still win out in shots that need bracketed photos.

[@craigcarlson4022]

@@AlexArmitageAlex, Ok, i’ll check that out. Thanks for your experience. I’m mulling upgrading from a 15 Pro now, or wait for the 16 Pro which is rumored to get a 48mp sensor under the ultra-wide lens.

[@simonmaney3438]

Thanks Alex, these are great comparison vids that you make. I recently bought an iphone 15 PM to compliment my heavy FF kit. As expected it can produce great images - in good light. When the light gets a bit moody, it can struggle, especially the smaller sensors in the UWA and Tele. There is still life in my EOS R! An interesting observation: I took some nice forest images with backlit misty rain. The iphone with its multi shot processing isolated each raindrop as a point source of light. Rather impressive tech, but it somewhat ruined the shot.

[@AnthonyYouTubes]

Interesting “taste test”. But my question is, which Arc’teryx jacket are you wearing?

[@AlexArmitage]

great question. I don't know lol. Let me look it up.... Arc'teryx Proton LT Insulated Hoodie apparently!

[@AnandaGarden]

Bravo Alex. This was fun. I'd love to see a video on the post-processing steps to make iPhone 15 Pro pix look like full-frame. Most challenging of all: faces. iPhone faces still looked adobe-mud-plastic-fake in the 14 Pro, but the changes in the 15 Pro are massive though under-discussed. Hm.

[@AlexArmitage]

I don't personally have much experience with people photos

[@k1k13004]

so you make them match (in editing) so they can look the same ?

[@AlexArmitage]

To see how far the iPhone can go, yes.

[@k1k13004]

@@AlexArmitage that's a nice skill.... But it's a bit misleading

[@ryancooper3629]

@@k1k13004 Not really, he is measuring if you can use an iPhone to match the quality of a full frame camera in terms of final output. Not whether they are identical SOOC.

[@k1k13004]

@@ryancooper3629 well that would be a fair title : can we match these files. Here the story is different. But ok

[@klaymatic3751]

If you are located in a spot that suits the focal length of a phone, they can be great. But if you need flexibility to get the shot you want...dunno what you do then with a phone.

[@ryancooper3629]

Is that any different than say a photog carrying around 2-3 primes for their full frame body? As a photog, its part of our job to work within the constraints of the gear, it always has some.

[@jordanbabcock9349]

​@@ryancooper3629didn't you make your own point? Lenses are available to make a real camera do anything you need... The phone camera can be great, within its unalterable constraints.

[@ryancooper3629]

@@jordanbabcock9349 Not really because I wont have every lens in my backpack, and if I try to bring too many its a portability problem. There is always a compromise. Also if we are being pedantic, companies do make lenses you can attach to an iPhone to make it different focal lengths.

[@manosg180]

Really interesting video 👏👏👏

[@AlexArmitage]

Glad you think so!

[@DigiDriftZone]

CINED tested the dynamic range and the native ISO on iPhone is 1250, which is full frame equivalent around 10,000, similar to A7S3. So any ISO under or above that reduces the dynamic range. You would get even better results if you bump the ISO up to that and use an ND filter :) So at 1250 you can expect around 13.5 stops of dynamic range on the iPhone, at 200 it drops to more like 11 stops, huge drop.

[@AlexArmitage]

You cannot control ISO when shooting in Apple raw. Secondly, the dynamic range for smart HDR images is definitely more than 11 stops. CineD likely tested video capabilities, which is not what this test was covering.

[@AlexArmitage]

also native ISO is very different for video and photos - on any camera.

[@DigiDriftZone]

@@AlexArmitageOh, really? - I thought the ISO is the same between photo/video, why would it be different? - anecdotally setting the ISO the same seems to produce the same amount of noise or am I missing something?

[@Wariolegend]

hi it would be interesting to test the new Samsung S24 ultra and see what it can do compared to the iPhone 15 pro.

[@MasterWolf1213]

What a fantastic video.

[@AlexArmitage]

what a fantastic comment

[@kenharnish5778]

Cool content. Sometimes I wonder if I just sell my gear and take pictures with my phone. I hate that I cannot create an image on par with my phone. However, I have never tried to print one of my images phone or camera. I have a Google Pixel 6 and my camera is a Canon 5DS R. Thanks for the content. I enjoy your videos, they are well-paced and informative.

[@AlexArmitage]

Thanks a lot Ken :)

[@Popa_Bogdan_Light_Drawing]

:) nice alex!

[@JasonLorette]

Very cool comparison dude, they are suuuuper close. Oh and holy haircuts! 😂📸😎

[@AlexArmitage]

Thanks Jason. It has to go sometime.

[@palmo34]

Condense this into a short and it will blow up, nice video 👍

[@AlexArmitage]

Appreciate it

[@John-Shutterlyphotos]

Very cool, Apple should sponsor/pay you, but a phone will never replace a camera

[@AlexArmitage]

It will not! Not yet at least

[@norwaypaulo]

Never say never. There were times when ppl couldn't even imagine that everyone will have their own computer in their pocket

[@woodlandium]

Phones are great for landscapes but cannot be compared to a camera for wildlife photography. It depends on the type of photography you wish to take or enjoy the most

[@AlexArmitage]

Totally agree!

[@weiyiyin394]

I think using AI to upscale likely altered the results of this comparison, especially if both we upscaled. Since the same algorithm was used, it's likely that the synthetic details filled in by the AI is very similar between both photos, making them look very similar in quality, specifically with respect to the details in the photo

[@AlexArmitage]

I don't think this played a roll at all when comparing the originals to the upscaled images.

[@ErickWright]

What did you upscale the R5 image to? I thought it was already 45 megapixels

[@alexSpunkt.]

Wow! I want one 😂

[@GregMcMillan]

Love these print comparison videos, Alex. I sold my Canon gear over 7 years ago and have been shooting with just an iPhone since then and I don’t mind the challenges that come with it. I’m not a pro photographer so I don’t sell prints or make money doing photography, I’m just very enthusiastic about it. Using an iPhone for all these years has enabled me to tell the difference between a DSLR or mirrorless image and an iPhone shot with great success. Knowing how the iPhone creates an image and how it is different from traditional cameras makes some things stand out, and I had it right just looking at the photos you were displaying in this video. There are definitely times when I get fooled though.

[@AlexArmitage]

Thanks so much Greg

[@orlandodiazrn]

Pixel 8 pro. Best camera

[@jordanbabcock9349]

Came from the article to the comments. Way to get a forced view on your video, could have just given the info in the Fn article!

[@adventure9606]

Now why would he do that? He said in the article that the video will show people giving real critiques and you would not have to take his word for it. This is a lot better than just saying in an article what the results are. Video shows how people are having a hard time telling the difference.

[@onlyonecannoli3952]

This is really silly. You're just fooling your viewers into believing something which is only partially true. Yes, in relatively good light, an Iphone 15 sensor will produce very detailed images, rivaling those of a $5000 camera. Its main lens is 48 mp (others 12 mp), which affords a great deal of detail and cropping ability when paired to a good lens, which the Iphone has given the small size of the optic. The differences really jump out, however, when the light goes down. After all, in good light, both sensors are able to gather sufficient light. In low light, the smaller sensor will struggle. Apple combats this by photo stacking with aggressive noise reduction (taking multiple shots and layering them together). It does a rather good job. However, when employing the same technique (LR) with the $5000 full frame sensor, you then see the difference in quality. Moreover, the lenses on the Iphone are fixed. That is, you don't get to change lenses. With the $5K camera, you can put on great lenses of varying focal lengths (exceeding those of the Iphone on both ends), which have vastly superior optics. With such combinations, the Iphone just can't compete. However, this requires a tremendous financial investment, which isn't justified except for professionals (e.g. sports photographers). Having said that, for most people, the Iphone is all they need. Its algorithm is set to produce saturated and over sharpened photos that many find pleasing to the eye straight out of the camera. For professionals or serious amateurs, the lack of controls and ability to manually change settings, will make the experience frustrating and problematic. In low light, the Iphone will produce nice quality for average viewing, but not for extensive cropping or for natural looking shots. However, it will still be fine for most people...but let's not pretend it's the same. Computational photography is closing the gap rather quickly, but it's not there just yet.

[@livingmybestestlife]

Yep. My iPhone is more than good enough to sell prints. People can justify their camera all they want but a sale is a sale.

[@rdkevin7729]

Interesting. I wonder if another experienced photographer could pick them out? Sometimes I can’t tell looking at photos on my own iphone unless I really zoom in. Well….way to go iphone I guess.

[@AlexArmitage]

I'm sure they could. There are differences. But I don't even fully trust myself sometimes and have to label them.