□ Placeholder: 12 — The iPhone 11 Pro
Happy New Year folks!
When the first iPhone was released, about 12 years ago, it boasted a 2.0 MP rear camera — sans gps geotagging. It was a phone that had a camera. Now, 12 years later, the iPhone 11 Pro boasts three — three?!? — 12MP cameras. Ultra Wide, Wide and Telephoto cameras have varying apertures of ƒ/2.4, ƒ/1.8 and ƒ/2.0. It has portrait mode with Depth Control and “Night mode.”
It’s basically a camera that also happens to be a phone.
Just over the last month, the iPhone 11 Pro joined me in places like Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava and Berlin. In weather that would be best described as cold and unforgiving. At first, I was suspicious of the value of a “smartphone camera.” But contrary to my suspicion, it captured everything thrown at it and into it while taking a humble space in my pocket.
I tested its capabilities in the least favourable conditions — on dark, foggy and gloomy days — (you know… like the typical Central European weather…) and while it did perform with limitations, I came to trust its limitation. I knew when a photograph was possible and I also knew when I had to forget the photograph and just be.
Here’s a brief account of how it did.
As for the apps, I exclusively shot using Halide camera app in RAW mode. For low light photos and while using the night mode, I used the stock camera app. Light post processing was done in Lightroom Classic.
Let's start with my favourite of the trio.
## The Telephoto Lens
It was not the first time I was using the telephoto lens. iPhone X had it and I didn’t have any complaints. However for iPhone 11 Pro, it was my absolute favourite lens to shoot with. I often found myself using this camera more than the other two. I always started the framing with 26mm as 13mm wasn’t suitable for daily photography, and the moment I switched to 2x, the change in sudden perspective perplexed me everytime in a satisfactorily. The low light aspects were acceptable too.
## The Ultra Wide Camera
iPhone 11 Pro isn’t the first phone to have an ultra wide camera either. However, it is certainly the first iPhone to feature an ultra wide camera and I was most excited for it. Apparently, it turned out to be the weakest of all lenses relatively. It didn’t come as a surprise though, because it was supposed to be weaker of the three.
Nevertheless, it was not a slog by any means during the daylight or otherwise.
The 120° field of view did pose some interesting challenges involving extreme distortions but most of the times it resulted in interesting perspectives.
Apparently it also didn’t allow night mode for long exposure shots.
## The Long Exposure Nitty Gritty
After the ultra wide, I was also looking forward to the long exposure and what Apple calls “Night Mode.” I had tried the Google version of Night Mode before and it left a lot to be desired for. I never really liked the over engineering of the saturation, brightness and clarity of the photographs. So, naturally I was trusting Apple to deliver something natural… something realistic... And boy! Did they deliver!
As someone who is well aware of how difficult it is to take a photo with a slow shutter speed in the traditional cameras without a tripod, I was curious about the handheld-ness of long exposure shots in a smartphone camera.
It felt like magic. Some interesting user interface and experience tweaks occur while you’re capturing a long exposure shot aka the “Night Mode”. Before you press the shutter, you see a rough preview of what the final exposure would be like in terms of details. You can also dial in highlights and shadows like in a normal photograph. Release the shutter and the screen goes black and then slowly fades in as the image is processed / exposed / computed. The final image is always cleaner and richer than the preview.
It’s fun. And works 99% of the time. Obviously you will notice the grains and it blows up when you see it zoomed but for sharing it on social media and friends — it just works.
We don’t think much about the tools and the skullduggery that goes behind it to make the output possible. But if we pay attention to it, the entire photography package of the iPhone 11 Pro is gracefully magical. And Craig Mod agrees too:
> The system juggles three sensors (of varying capabilities), three lenses (of varying speeds), multiple modes of exposure (HDR, Smart HDR, Normal, Deep Fusion, Night Mode, Flash). It records data outside of the frame for re-framing or perspective correction or slight rotation without loss of information. It allows for freakishly smoothly interpolated movement between focal lengths (despite “changing lenses,” et cetera). It’s a beast. But it feels like — and is as fun to play with — as a puppy. Kudos to the Apple camera team.
Enjoy some of these photographs from Central Europe and marvel at the capabilities (and limitations) of the camera that also happens to be a phone.
Until next time,
K