Apple claims iPhone Max Pro camera is ‘best ever’: Here’s our test run and first impression

SUMMARY

Apple in its newly launched iPhone 13 Pro Max is promising the most advanced pro camera system ever on iPhone. We took the camera out for a test and bring you the results

By Shibani Gharat Sept 24, 2021 7:18:09 PM IST (Updated)

Apple in its September 14 event introduced its flagship the all-new iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is going on sale in India from September 24 onwards. It features the Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz, a powerful A15 Bionic chipset, 5G support and much more.But, more than anything else Apple claims the pro camera system has got the biggest advancement ever with new Ultra-Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras that capture stunning photos and video. All of this is powered by A15 Bionic. We got the device and took it out for a camera test and here are the results.

Low-light conditions | Now the toughest condition to shoot in for any smartphone is the low light condition. iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a massive improvement in low-light situations. Apple claims it is up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro, and nearly 1.5x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro Max. Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS) helps to stabilise the sensor instead of the lens so images are steady and sharp. The new Ultra-Wide camera features a much wider ƒ/1.8 aperture and a new autofocus system, bringing a 92 percent improvement for low-light environments, producing images that are brighter and sharper.

Improvements in the new iPhone cameras were most visible in the low-light photos taken with night mode. This captures multiple pictures and then fuses them together while making adjustments for colours and contrast. Low-light shots of iPhone 13 Pro Max definitely looked clearer than last year’s phone.

The iPhone 13 did a somewhat better job capturing shadows

Wide camera | The all-new wide camera has a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone. It reduces noise and has a faster shutter speed across lighting conditions, producing even more detailed photos.

Cinematic mode | The Video takes a huge leap forward with cinematic mode for beautiful depth-of-field transitions. It uses algorithms to automatically focus on faces. Macro videos have also seen an improvement and the device has a better low-light performance.

Macro photography | The new lens design, autofocus capability for the first time in the UltraWide and advanced software also enable great macro photography shots. In fact, these shots are sharp and objects do appear larger than life, magnifying subjects with a minimum focus distance of 2 centimetres.

As you get closer to your subject, the camera automatically switches from the wide camera to ultra-wide. Now that the ultra-wide has autofocus, it can lock focus on something that's just a couple of centimetres away.Plus, macro also extends to video including slo-mo and time-lapse.

Portrait | Portrait images have always come out well on iPhones since iPhone X onwards. And that quality is incredible on the new one as well.

Photos of people with the telephoto get a natural boken effect without having to engage the software portrait mode.

Photographic Profiles | Profiles are a new setting in the camera app that change the way your photos look by default. Hence, instead of applying a filter after the picture is taken, you can set your iPhone to have a specific kind of ‘look and feel’ right away. In fact, Apple insists Profiles are not filters at all.

The default options for Profiles include Standard, Rich Contrast, Vibrant, Warm, and Cool. Each has its own option with which you can manually change both Tone and Warmth. Profiles are not something you can undo in the edit. Unlike a RAW photo where you can make all sorts of choices in the edit, Photographic Profiles lock your choices into the file as it is saved.