There are some areas that it would be nice to hear more about in future testing if you choose to do it. - I would like to see more about the "24" megapixel modes. How much difference is there in files? - All of the comparisons for telephoto in this video were zoomed in to 300 percent. How does it look at a 100% view? - Some people have noticed weird machine learning artifacts when zoomed all the way in on the 5x. True? - The other "lens" options are supposedly using scaled images from the 48 megapixel sensor to mitigate resolution loss. What do the pixels look like compared to iPhone 14 or earlier at 28 and 35? - How about the parallax "bump" when you zoom to 5x. How noticeable is it in video? - HDR video processing has historically been awesome on HDR displays (iPad/Mac/IPhone/XDR. Does it make any sense to shoot LOG when the file sizes are so massive? What kind of battery life hit do you take when using external drives? Drives or cards, which are better? How about the BlackMagic app and Prores LT? Worth it? - Year over year the camera systems are identical other than the coating and 5x lens on the Pro Max, so I don't expect much difference. How about for older iPhone models (where upgrades might make more sense)? - How useful is the always-on portrait mode? What kind of bursts can we get? - What is the difference in shutter lag (if any)? - What about video stabilization? Does a gimbal make sense? How about action mode? Telephoto stabilization? - How does cinematic mode compare to a dedicated video camera? - How about the HDR editing in Lightroom?
1: Well it's 50% more pixels and thus 50% more resolution. They are moderately sharper and not much larger (around 3MB per photo). 2: 3x/5x look about the same if you're not pixel peeping (ignoring focal length and background compression) 3: can't comment 4: Yes they are. They're using a mixture of cropping in on the sensor and some AI magic to make clean 24MP images from 24mm (1x) to 35mm (1.5x AKA zoomed into the middle 24MP). The 2x "lens" also works this way, but cropped into a quarter of the sensor for 12MP images. Compared to the 14 Pro which also has a 48mp sensor you get slightly better images because of the 24mp mode using pixel binning, instead of just cropping in on the 48MP like on the 14 Pro. Of course it will be massively more detailed compared to the regular 14 and before because it has twice as many pixels to work with. 5: can't comment 6: You shoot LOG when you want to do color grading. So you're not going to be using it for 99% of things, just special occasions or planned filming. no comment on the other things. 7: Well there's always computational improvements, which is what makes most of smartphone images these days. HDR is slightly better on the 15 pro compared to the 14 pro and the night mode has more accurate colors because they took off the software lock for it.. The major jump is the 48MP main sensor that came in the 14 pro. I would upgrade from a 12 or older, as they improved the ultrawide and telephoto in the 13 series, main cam with the 14 pro, and now a more major telephoto improvement with the 15PM. 8: Since the auto-portrait only works on people, cats, and dogs, it heavily depends on what you like to take pictures of. If it's often those, then it will be pretty useful. If not, it will be like it isn't there. You can just use normal portrait mode tho. Obviously it's digital so it won't be perfect, but it's pretty good for what it is 9: Shutter lag is zero for non-RAW 12MP modes as is typical, generally zero for 24MP mode, about a second for 48MP HEIF and 12MP RAW modes, a second or two for 48MP RAW. Compared to 14 pro with 48MP modes it's a bit faster but not anything that will make a big difference when shooting. And 12MP has been instant for many years now. 10: Gimbal can make sense if you want preternaturally smooth videos, but the sensor shift stabilization in the main and now telephoto camera (15PM) are excellent, by far the best in any phone (as iPhone video is in general). Action mode is neat but it uses the ultrawide which performs terribly in lighting that isn't direct/bright indirect sunlight. 11: It's not a replacement at all. It looks fine at a distance but the messy edge detection is immediately apparent when looked at even somewhat closely, especially in scenes with fast-moving and/or small things. Phone cameras are gonna be blown completely out of the water compared to an actual camera anyways, they just have MUCH larger sensors. Not to say that what phones are capable of isn't impressive though. It's like 1/10 the quality for 10x the convenience. 12: It's good, same as any other HDR media.
I actually found a very photographer-centric use case for the action button. The camera button on the Lock Screen is set to default to photo mode, and the action button will go to whatever type of photography I plan on doing for that event, in my case, it was video, for going straight to capturing a quick video during the Chicago marathon. What would put it over the top is if I can set it to automatically start taking the video. It can be set up to open up at selfie for other examples. So I essentially have two shortcuts. One to photo mode and one to video mode.
I have my action button set for slow motion video. The theory being if I see something unusual whip out the iPhone and capture/record as much as possible.
Had Samsung and iPhones! Both Samsungs stopped working, one after 16 months, the other not much longer! my iPhone 6s kept going, upgraded to XS Max, it’s still going, and my 15 pro max is arriving next week, definitely got my monies worth from the 2 iPhones, so can’t see any reason to change!
I agree. That being said, most flagship Android manufacturers are ahead in features, but they’re not great in supporting their products long term. Apple gives iphones 5 iOS upgrades (6 years total), and 2 years of security updates. An iphone is usable for at least 8 years! I still have an iphone 6 around just to play spotify, it works fine for a 9 year-old device. In the end you’re spending more money either way.
I never use the constant zoom on phone cameras, I just pick a focal length and use my legs to frame the shot. I hope the majority of users do this as well, it's how to get the best image quality.
@@tobydog207 when it’s a long way away, totally right. But the further you go past the designed lens focal length, the worse the quality gets. That’s all I meant.
This approach makes a lot of sense. Even if you crop the photo later (in-phone edit or other software), you aren't getting the camera-generated extra pixels and artifacts.
I am really glad that I have the 15 Pro and not the Pro Max. I prefer the smaller phone, but was bummed that I didn't get the better lens... until I learned it wasn't better afterall because I don't snap shots from that far so often
God i regret getting this iphone 15 pro max. My 12 pro max was light years better. Apple needs to change these camera algorithms. Also they should fire everyone involved with the 15pro max
I had a Samsung afficionado say that about my 7dmkii. I really don't understand brand loyalty to that extent. I'm not even loyal to a particular camera brand.
I second this : The chart is top-tier easy to understand. I am technical as a person, I understand IT - but cameras No dice. I get the difference between lenses and some lightly technical bits but generally alot of the technical bits for photography and videography goes over my head. - Also as someone who's done RUclips 😅 I'm s point and shoot kinda person and if it looks good, fantastic, if it looks terrible fantastic 😂
@@TonyAndChelseai understand roughly where you are coming from. At the same time, other reviewers day that there's apple magic going on in the 28mm 35mm crop etc
For reference here are the 3 lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max: iPhone 15 Pro: 1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent, f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF 2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS 3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.0µm pixels, 77mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens iPhone 15 Pro Max: 1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF 2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS 3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.12µm pixels, 120 mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF I agree with others, for general use the 77mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro is more useful than the 120mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max. Certainly the one I would get.
I’m a portrait photographer, and have pro gear for work. I find that I only use the iPhone for documenting life in a causal way. I’m so much more often wanting that greater reach when I’m hiking, or at events. I’d much rather have the main camera be offered with a higher focal length. My ideal would be a 18mm ultra wide, 40mm main, and 120mm tele. Thought?
Appreciate the testing and honesty. It’s a breath of fresh air you guys don’t depend on their sponsorship. As much as I love some of these other reviewers, it’s clear they just market every darn piece of tech they make a video about. The iPhone 15 is a step in the right direction, but as usual too small a step. And no idea why they compromised the camera. Seems obvious they’re going to need 4 sensors/cameras considering what Samsung did. Their files app still needs an overhaul to be more compatible with PC’s too. A pain getting any files or backups off their phones to a pc.
Apple does not sponsor reviews. If anything these two are bitter they don't get invited to Apple events. Which accounts for this completely slanted and misleading review.
7:02 So I think what we learned here is buy the iPhone 15 Pro and not the iPhone 15 Pro Max (11:43). For reference here are the 3 lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max: iPhone 15 Pro: 1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent, f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF 2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS 3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.0µm pixels, 77mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens iPhone 15 Pro Max: 1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF 2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS 3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.12µm pixels, 120 mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF As shown by the chart (iPhone 15 Pro (the non-max version) has the similar 77mm as the iPhone 14 Pro Max had), for general use the 77mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro is more useful than the 120mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max. Certainly the one I would get. Thank you Tony and Chelsea for going in depth on this, I have been reading your book too, about half way through.
The cell phone manufacturers have long ago reached the limits of what they can put into these cameras and have started trying to use software to stretch the features and abilities of these tiny cameras. My old Samsung s10e developed a bad battery, so I "upgraded" to an s23. Disappointed would be a kind term for how I felt about what I received. I look at photos side by side from the s10e and s23 and wonder "Where's the improvement?" I know I lost the micro-SD slot, so what did I get that's better?... Nothing. In fact I lost features and got nothing improved at all! the camera being that one thing I hoped would compensate for all of non-upgrades!
"upgrading" from Note10+ to S23U I got a very very weak vibration motor and when it comes to camera performance...I swear my Note10+ had more predictable results. Camera software on S23 lineup is messed up and you kinda never know what you'll end up with. Indoors is when it gets super weird. Side by side, if not better, pictures and videos from Note10+ are pretty much the same. Shutter lag is still present so...
iPhone 12 Pro to iPhone 15 Pro Max. The 5x has been awesome. I've always craved more zoom (over a simple 2-3x) and love the compression the 120mm lens provides. I have no problem stepping back 2-3 more steps. Don't get me started on that sweet sweet LOG for video. If someone could only figure out a micro USBC Y plug for Audio and SSD, this would be the next ultimate vlogging camera.
This is so detailed and I finally see some of the nuances. Are there nuances to video as well? I need it to record video tutorials for RUclips, overhead shot, 10 to 15 inches distance, artificial neutral led lights on 4 sides (3 sides + top)... I'm on the verge of getting the 15 pro max but I seriously am battling myself at this point, what if I spend the most money on tech in my life and get crap?
There is no technical reason for the 14MAX not to get Apple log. I understand that HDR5 is loaded in ROM and that wouldn't be able to be upgraded without a ROM swap. In my opinion, Apple still processes their RAW files a bit too much. Coming from a 12MAX I am overall happy for the change to the 15MAX, but do miss the 3X lens but not enough to want to go back. A four lens (.5X, 1X, 3X, and 5X ) camera module would have been ideal. IMO - We're at peak phone development now - There is little reason for me to upgrade more frequently than every three years.
I got the iPhone 15 Pro because 120mm is a weirdly uninteresting focal length and the lack of a roughly 80mm focal length just seems idiotic. As a criticism of the video, the chart is correct for the 48mm and up zoom ranges, but ignores that between 24mm and 48mm the sensor is 48 megapixels not 12. Yes, this is quad bayer pixels, but this is only rarely noticeable. I particularly enjoy ProRAW with the 35mm focal length that yields 24 megapixel raw files that look really good.
Did you decide to only take 12 megapixel pictures from the main sensor? The default is not 12 but 24 and that would increase the resolution of the zoomed in photo. Even more when you realises it uses all 48 megapixels on the main sensor when cropping in. The resolution is thus 4 times higher than claimed in the beginning of the video. Does not change the look of the pictures though.
This is exactly why I got the 15 Pro instead of the Pro Max: 1, I hate huge phones 2, the 5x telephoto is too short for birds/wildlife and I barely used the 2x on my 11 Pro anyways. Now I have a dedicated 3x camera which is more useful to me than the 5x on the Pro max. Tony could You please compare the astro capabilities of the 15 line with the 14 or 13 line or maybe even with Samsung, because I saw on another channel that Apple much improved star trailing.
Agree with you over the mid range lenses. I have the iPhone 13 Pro and have upgraded to iPhone 15 Pro. I decided that camera form and the poor quality telephoto of the Pro Max was the reason for this.
@@erinpufuntare you disappointed that you upgraded to the 15 PRO instead of Pro Max or that you upgraded all together ( you should have kept the 13 pro)?
@@alexv8203 I upgraded bc of the promotion and only did it bc upgrading was cheaper than fixing the broken camera on my 13. So while I know it was financially probably smarter, I dislike this phone alot
I wonder how a 20, 40, 80 lens set up would fair? Is 20 wide enough for most people? 40 is like midway between 35 and 50 for Al the street photographers. 80 is close to 85 for portrait. And with 2x increments your dips in the curve you showed would be consistent and not as bad as either of the low points for the 2.9x (14 Pro) or 4.9x (15 Pro). You could pretty consistently get from 20-160mm without ever going over a 2x digital crop.
I think you are wrong with the understanding of the 1.2x and 1.5x lenses that Apple simulates out of the main camera. First of all, the final image of 1x has 24 megapixels compressed out of the 48 megapixels sensor. (It gets only 12, of you change the default settings to 12.) And additionally, the sensor provides everytime the information of the 48 megapixels to the image processor, not only 12 megapixels, so 1.2x is not a crop in the processed final 24 megapixels IMAGE, but a crop in the 48 megapixels SENSOR, using only 35 megapixels of them for the 1.2x and 24 megapixels for the 1.5x. In every case, the processing brings out a 24 megapixels image, when using the main camera between 1x up to 1.5x. Only when going beyond 1.5x up to 2x the final image resolution goes down to 12 megapixels, and between 2x to 4.9x it is lower than 12 megapixels. So unfortunatly all of your diagrams are incorrect.
finally found an explanation. I was so confused with iphone 15 pro max camera when I tried it at the apple store. I went to buy one but backed out cause the letters from the photo i took is not readable while it is completely readable from my iphone 13 pro max. 😅 I guess I will not upgrade again this year.
What did you record this video on because it looks fantastic... Those outdoor shots don't have any part of you or the background over or under exposed.
Question - I don't understand the 3x refernce. I have a 15 Pro Max and I have a 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 for photo settings. Where is the 3 coming from? Also, why is the upward curve from ~70mm to 77mm not straight up and down. Isn't this where the phone switches to a different lens and the value should be at the maxium peak? I don't doubt your graph, I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle in my brain to fully make sense of the graph. Have you also contacted your local senators to not ban DJI drones for normal part 107 pilots? I am also against this, but it will undoubtedly effect you two more.
What I'd like to see when you do a comparison between the s23 ultra and the iphone 15 pro max is where each of them shines. For me the iphone takes more detailed close up photos of faces - the s23 ultra looks too soft even with softening turned off, as if out of focus. Also sometimes the S23 photos look a bit washed out - that becomes apparent when comparing the 200mp mode output with the regular photos output. Taking pictures of moving people is frustrating, especially in low light on the s23 ultra. The 200mp photos have a fantastic level of detail. Though I suspect there is a lot of junk information in the huge files, as I have compressed the jpeg quality to 1/3 of the size with the same resolution and barely any hit in quality.
Just returned my iPhone 15 pro max because I found the same issue , 15 pro max photos looks much worse while taking the same photo under same lighting compared to my friend’s iPhone 15 pro. Idk why but seems they have some quality control issues
I bought the xperia 1 v recently. Its textures on the back and edges, help me a lot in various tricky situations, notably while when pictures from the edge of a cliff while exposed to the wind. I would not have taken the same risks with a slippery phone. In my opinion, good handling is more valuable than any tech improvement.
@@TonyAndChelsea guys ...please do a full comparison with the Sony Xperia 1 mark V against the Galaxy and iPhone. I think we would all love to see that, and see where the different phones strengths and weaknesses are.
Thank you so much for this video. Since the Iphone 14 pro max is quite heavy, I was wondering if the Iphone 15 pro also has the tendency to overdo to the contrast/ digital sharping as bad as Iphone 15 pro max and if you would rather recommend the Iphone 14 pro? I plan to use the mobile phone as secound camera for video and steady cam. Funthermore Im happy if my ordiniary family pictures don't look like everybody used the sun bench. Thank you so much for your great work.
So what do you say , apple shot the whole event including the drone shot with iphone15 promax? So pixel peeping is not a good thing when you mock a technology at its fastest finest
UW-W-3x Tele is a perfect combo until they do a "proper" zoom lens into the phone. The gap between the W and the 5x Tele is too much considering that the tele lens has worse parameters (much higher F value, worse IS - if exists at all). The 3x "zoom" phones are the best overall (iPhone 14 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S23, Xiaomi 13, etc...)
All the sensors are 12MP in practice. The 48 megapixel number is from "quad pixel" which is almost entirely fake. I'm going to dedicate a future video to the topic.
@TonyAndChelsea Tony, I don't like the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple's sharp marketing practices (holding back features in software) any more than you do, but the 48 MP RAW files do have a lot more detail than the 12 MP output. Apple's own internal downscaling algorithms from quad-pixel to 12 MP have been shown to produce a very poor result. You'll have to set your iPhones to 48 MP mode to get accurate/fair results.
I think the huge win for me which you guys didn’t touch on at all is the fact that you can connect a hard drive and save all your photos there instead of being forced to use the cloud or max out your internal storage. This is excellent if your traveling and do not have a laptop and want to process some of your pictures off of a full frame camera.
Once again totally wrong about the 28mm and 35mm crops. They produce 24mp photos (or 12mp if you change the setting) because they're cropping from a 48mp sensor.
Instead of 3-4 cheap cameras, just do a single built-in 1/2- 2/3” sensor with 12 megapixels like the Sony FX3 and ZV-E1, and telescopic 28-280mm. Native 4K/60 recording, with a pressure sensing variable zoom rocker switch, and good audio options.
My iPhone 15 pro max camera has got a big issue, all the photos of text documents are clear only in focused portion, and the rest of the image in all directions - top, bottom, left, right - are blurry/shadowy. I did raise a complaint, and Apple did replace the whole camera set. But, even with the new Camera Set, the photos have the same problem. I did check with 3 other sets of iPhone 15 pro max, and all of the 3 have the same problem. Is it really a design-level issue? I'm yet to see an iPhone 15 pro max, with clear text images. I refused to collect my iPhone 15 pro max from the center unless the issue is resolved.
The camera is worse. Before taking the picture it looks fine. But then it turns out so worse. So grainy, dark, low resolution. My android phone takes way better pictures than this. Absolutely terrible from apple!
Well, I really respect the in depth analysis which you guys bring to your videos. However, the take on iPhones does, IMHO, miss some important points. I have just watched Scott Kelby's video on shooting with the iPhone and he is both an excellent well known photographer and is an avid supporter of using iPhones for photography. Your criticism/analysis of the iPhones zoom lens capabilities are paramount in your mind when reviewing the iPhone's capabilities. Scott's advice is quite simple - 'Don't pinch.' Use the lenses provided without zooming and loss of pixels. Watch his video - it makes a great deal of sense and does raise questions about being too analytical of features that are simply left alone whilst using - like zooming!
Yeah, we appreciate Scott and have always offered the same advice when we create tutorials: ruclips.net/video/NvQcoqvKuuI/видео.html This, however, was a review, not a tutorial.
If you guys get the 15 Pro rather than the 15 Pro Max, it gives you the midrange. But what you didn’t mention is that it’s actually a lot better than the 14 Pro!
I did upgrade from the 11 Pro to the 15 Pro. I love the better camera system of the 15 Pro and the AoD too but I just love the compactness of the 11 Pro. The 15 Pros camera hump is BIG lol. The 11 Pro was the perfect size for sure.
@@allaroundnanay yes, there is something off with the 15 Pro camera if You take pictures of people. With animals, landscapes etc it is great but people not so much.
From my understanding, the 24/28/35mm "lenses" are not just a crop of the original picture but a different use of the 48MP of the new sensor. As the iPhone only shoots 24MP photos with the 48MP sensor, they will take more information for the larger "focal lengths" from less combined pixels giving you the same image resolution with "less" information by not losing any pixels. Would be interesting to compare to the 14 Pro to see if this actually changes anything with regards to image quality... Thanks anyways for the very comprehensive video :)
Hold on a minute. Since when do you own a 992? Very nice spec you got there. Also I just wanted to say that I've really been enjoying the videos from the channel lately. Keep up the amazing work guys.
please also compare the iPhone 15 pro Max against the iPhone 15 pro with the 3x lens but more pixels. The loss of mid range resolution is a bummer compared to the 14 Pro but it may be significantly les an for the 15 Pro.
It’s so funny how iPhones are going in cycles of design. I had an iPhone 6 and it was so small, thin, and had round edges, back when they were trying to make the iPhone smaller, before pivoting back to making them big again. I guess they’ll wait a few generations and bring back the square edges.
The megapixel chart is a very nice touch. One thing I don't quite understand however is why there's a slope before any point where the optical zoom kicks in. Shouldn't those lines be vertical?
Oh I think I get it now. The focal lengths within the range just before those magnification points are unreachable so they just use a line to bridge each gap. I find the resulting graph a bit confusing because it made me unsure of whether Apple implemented a feature that allows zoom lenses to improve on images that are taken just below their corresponding magnifications
Agree, won't upgrade too, long telephoto in smartphones is such a gimmick, 77mm in 14 pro is already a bit too tight, previous combination of 24mm and 52mm in iphone 12 pro was probably the best.
There's a comment right here with this video where someone cancelled their preorder once they saw the specs. They didn't even know what they were about to throw hundreds of dollars at. 😂
The huge flaws are cropping. When you do a 3x shot, why aren’t you cropping into the main sensor, so you’re actually going from 48mp sensor to a 12mp sensor, but then using 6mp of that and upscaling to 12mp. There’s no way to tell if it’s actually cropping on the sensor or digitally in the metadata. That makes me wonder if the image would be the exact same at 3x if you block the telephoto sensor on the 14 Pro, since both phones would be using the main sensor.
I think most of the issues that come with the 15pro are fixable via software updates. Although yes they probably overrated a lot of the features in their adverts and stuff
Wow that was crazy to see, I have the 15 pro max and im disappointed to see in your video how bad it beforms digitally from 2 - 5x compared to the 14 pro.
Why would anyone upgrade a $1200 phone every year? I’ve been a base model iPhone user since 2009 and I’ve averaged 4 years per phone and been very pleased.
Apple did use the iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot the most recent product release video. They have a behind the scenes video on Apple's channel. Admittedly they had a 100-person production crew and about a half million dollars' worth of equipment connected ot that iPhone to make it all work.
Phones shouldn't be this pricey for a mediocre camera..... u can buy performance phones for 1/3 of iphones and buy a real camera like Sony or nikon .... and these cameras can be small and less bulky.... I previously owned a m200 and both camera and lens were pocketable
Wait. Your chart is just… wrong? The 1x camera *doesn't* top out at 12 megapixels. That was the whole point of the higher resolution sensor. It's 24, and you can now also shoot 48 mp HEIF. This makes the chart look completely different! The “huge drop“ you point out is not as huge of a drop. You also didn't test the new 5x in low light, which is by far the biggest difference over the 3x lens. The stabilisation (and wide aperture) is astounding in the 15 Pro Max, it's the biggest difference to the 15 Pro‘s camera system in a practical scenario. You didn't even… mention that?
The camera doesn't exactly "Just crop into one lens" at least according to Apple. They designed their image pre-processing software specifically to correct images better at those interval focal lengths so, yes it's cropping in at those lengths digitally but its using all 3 cameras and lidar to process the images better at those points. Maybe it's not any better than just cropping in but I doubt they spent money on the processing for nothing. Probably too small of an improvement from the 14 to 15 but I think apple is targeting iPhone 13 and S version users. I'd like to see 15vs 13 and maybe the 3x lenses compared.
Thank you. I should not have had to scroll this far for someone to mention this. They are definitely not three different lenses, but they are also NOT just cropping. They are all native 24mp images binned from the 48mp sensor. It's technically cropping from the 48, but it's using the processing and binning pipeline to bring all of them to the same 24. If you just shot at 24mm and cropped it would be worse.
@TonyAndChelsea I returned my iPhone 15 pro max and keeping my iPhone 11 then bought Sony Silver A6000 with Silver 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 lens for $400. What's your opinion on my purchase? You can be brutally honest!
Man the megapixel chart is such a smart analysis that no one else is doing to explain the difference between these phone. It's amazing! Thanks guys for this. Found nowhere else, and I've watched tons of iPhone 15 Pro Max videos that proclaim it to be better than the old one.
Are you sure you have the nerdy stuff right? You keep talking about 12mp as if binning was that simple. I’ve read from multiple sources that 15 pro/max is able to resolve detail from 48mp data using miniscule camera shake to it’s advantage. Maybe it doesn’t do it with raw?
This review is misleading and contains factual errors. Right off the top, they state that the 24mm lens has a 12MP sensor. That is not true. It's a 48MP sensor that can produce 48MP RAW images. If a reviewer gets this basic spec wrong you should look at everything that comes after it skeptically. Especially when it's obvious the reviewer is intentionally using the worst settings for image quality in order to slant the review. Both the 13mm and 120mm lenses do sit on 12MP sensors but watch the Northrup's past camera reviews and you'll learn that megapixels are not a significant factor in image quality and high pixel density can even be detrimental to image quality on small sensors. There's no such thing as a "mid-tier" iPhone 15 Pro Max. They're referring to the storage capacity which has nothing to do with the camera's image quality or processing capabilities of the phone. They don't elaborate on this because their goal is to make the iPhone appear to be a bad value. Which it is not. If a user shoots a lot of uncompressed ProRes video then 512GB might not be enough storage for them. Fortunately, the 15 Pro Max can shoot directly to an external drive. Throughout the entire video, they use the first-party camera app. It's designed for the average user who is not shooting RAW and is not doing any post-processing and just wants crunchy, punchy, low-light images with no motion blur. This review is targeted at enthusiasts and professionals so why wouldn't they use a third-party camera app that gives them easy access to all of the camera's advanced settings unless they intentionally want the images to look their worst? Could they not at least turn off all of the in-camera processing that they claim is ruining the images? In fact, they could have done that. Tony points out that the dedicated 9mm lens on the iPhone 14 looks better than the main camera on the 15 Pro Max with a 3X crop. NO SHIT! Who would have expected otherwise? Unsurprisingly, he gets better results on the 15 when he uses the correct focal length for the photo he's taking. The 15 Pro Max has a 13mm lens with a 12MP sensor. Aside from a small difference in field of view, it's taking the same image as the iPhone 14 on essentially the same sensor. So, why are they harping on digital zoom instead of comparing apples to apples? Because cropping the shit out of the 24mm image produces the worst possible image and they're trying to dissuade their viewers from using the iPhone for photography instead buying a dedicated camera. Based on their past videos, the most generous explanation I have for this misleading review is that Tony and Chelsea recognize that smartphones are going to destroy the consumer camera business and by proxy hurt their business. How unfortunate that they've decided to mislead their viewers rather than adapt to changes in the market. Despite the implication of Tony's last-second dig, Apple doesn't sponsor reviews. They don't sponsor any RUclips content whatsoever. So, whose integrity are they impeaching? Chris and Jordan at Petapixel? They gave the iPhone 15 Pro Max a mostly positive review. The Northrups must be implying that Petapixel is biased because they were invited to the iPhone launch event and provided with test units. If that's the accusation, they should state it and demonstrate what Chris and Jordan got wrong in their review. Are Tony and Chelsea bitter that they weren't invited to Cupertino? I don't know but their coverage of the iPhone 15 has been misleading and they obviously have an axe to grind with Apple. *This comment is not sponsored.
I've discussed this in the comments, but the sensor is quad-pixel. It's 12 megapixels with each pixel divided into 4. I'm planning a separate video to dig into Apple's misinformation about the megapixels.
That is not how it works. The quad-pixel sensor can bin pixels and capture a 12MP image or it can use all 48MP of the sensor to capture a true 48MP image. The default allows the phone to decide what to use. The user has the option of using ProRAW 12MP or ProRAW Max 48MP. I know you understand this but for those who may not, binning is used for better low light performance and better overall performance when processing and storing the image. The iPhone Pro 14 ALSO has a quad-pixel sensor. There's really no difference between the cameras you're comparing aside from the longer telephoto on the 15 Pro Max and labeling the zoom ring with additional focal lengths. I find it difficult to believe you're confused about any of this.
Something about this video is bothering me. You only showed one 48mp raw file and none of the 24 mp outputs. This does not jive with the results other reviewers have been getting.
They seem to be one of the rare RUclipsrs than don’t think this is a great camera. I’m a professional photographer & videographer who’s been doing this a lot longer than they have and, trust me, it’s a great camera.
@@DoubleTheDom The raw files are 48mp. And if I am using it for my photography, I'm going to be shooting raw. So I would do this comparison with mostly raw photos. Not to mention I didn't see any of the 24mp outputs on the main camera. Also, the iPhone 15 will take many exposures and combine them. And they use the detail from the 48mp. So even his math and chart aren't really accounting for that. In other comparison videos people are seeing more detail in the main camera photos and the telephoto is only marginally better and the wide is about the same. Tony seems like he is purposely handicapping the 15 to align with his previous rant video. This video is really disappointing and while I don't think Apple's marketing is 100% honest, Tony seems to have a serious anti-Apple bias here. I don't understand.
24mm is the full 48MP, 28mm is 35MP and 35MM is 24MP. I’m guessing they’re all down-scaled to 12MP when you shoot JPEG like an amateur. It’s not the camera that sucks in this case.
The odds would tell me that as much as I am out in the area taking pictures that I would run across you guys making videos, but I never do. You two are ninjas! haha
Excellent video which definitively answered the question of which is better at mid range focal lengths below 120mm. Your clear explanation, sample photos, and chart provide the hard facts and evidence to back up this claim. Keep doing what you're doing, you are a credit to yourselves as photographers and videographers in a sea of "content creators" regurgitating spec sheets and marketing hype.
1400$ is a lot of money. 5 minutes later just a casual shot of driving a Porsche
Well, 10$ is still a lot of money for dogshit even if you are super rich.
Nice flex! Love these two.
Porsches don't demonstrate the money you have, but the money you no longer have and will never get back again. Depreciation.
@@michelleadams5609 When you drive up in a Porsche - you belong there.
@@77space-vt8wi lol, debt. I worked alongside corporate lawyers that made great money, but didn't keep any of it.
There are some areas that it would be nice to hear more about in future testing if you choose to do it.
- I would like to see more about the "24" megapixel modes. How much difference is there in files?
- All of the comparisons for telephoto in this video were zoomed in to 300 percent. How does it look at a 100% view?
- Some people have noticed weird machine learning artifacts when zoomed all the way in on the 5x. True?
- The other "lens" options are supposedly using scaled images from the 48 megapixel sensor to mitigate resolution loss. What do the pixels look like compared to iPhone 14 or earlier at 28 and 35?
- How about the parallax "bump" when you zoom to 5x. How noticeable is it in video?
- HDR video processing has historically been awesome on HDR displays (iPad/Mac/IPhone/XDR. Does it make any sense to shoot LOG when the file sizes are so massive? What kind of battery life hit do you take when using external drives? Drives or cards, which are better? How about the BlackMagic app and Prores LT? Worth it?
- Year over year the camera systems are identical other than the coating and 5x lens on the Pro Max, so I don't expect much difference. How about for older iPhone models (where upgrades might make more sense)?
- How useful is the always-on portrait mode? What kind of bursts can we get?
- What is the difference in shutter lag (if any)?
- What about video stabilization? Does a gimbal make sense? How about action mode? Telephoto stabilization?
- How does cinematic mode compare to a dedicated video camera?
- How about the HDR editing in Lightroom?
1: Well it's 50% more pixels and thus 50% more resolution. They are moderately sharper and not much larger (around 3MB per photo).
2: 3x/5x look about the same if you're not pixel peeping (ignoring focal length and background compression)
3: can't comment
4: Yes they are. They're using a mixture of cropping in on the sensor and some AI magic to make clean 24MP images from 24mm (1x) to 35mm (1.5x AKA zoomed into the middle 24MP). The 2x "lens" also works this way, but cropped into a quarter of the sensor for 12MP images. Compared to the 14 Pro which also has a 48mp sensor you get slightly better images because of the 24mp mode using pixel binning, instead of just cropping in on the 48MP like on the 14 Pro. Of course it will be massively more detailed compared to the regular 14 and before because it has twice as many pixels to work with.
5: can't comment
6: You shoot LOG when you want to do color grading. So you're not going to be using it for 99% of things, just special occasions or planned filming. no comment on the other things.
7: Well there's always computational improvements, which is what makes most of smartphone images these days. HDR is slightly better on the 15 pro compared to the 14 pro and the night mode has more accurate colors because they took off the software lock for it.. The major jump is the 48MP main sensor that came in the 14 pro. I would upgrade from a 12 or older, as they improved the ultrawide and telephoto in the 13 series, main cam with the 14 pro, and now a more major telephoto improvement with the 15PM.
8: Since the auto-portrait only works on people, cats, and dogs, it heavily depends on what you like to take pictures of. If it's often those, then it will be pretty useful. If not, it will be like it isn't there. You can just use normal portrait mode tho. Obviously it's digital so it won't be perfect, but it's pretty good for what it is
9: Shutter lag is zero for non-RAW 12MP modes as is typical, generally zero for 24MP mode, about a second for 48MP HEIF and 12MP RAW modes, a second or two for 48MP RAW. Compared to 14 pro with 48MP modes it's a bit faster but not anything that will make a big difference when shooting. And 12MP has been instant for many years now.
10: Gimbal can make sense if you want preternaturally smooth videos, but the sensor shift stabilization in the main and now telephoto camera (15PM) are excellent, by far the best in any phone (as iPhone video is in general). Action mode is neat but it uses the ultrawide which performs terribly in lighting that isn't direct/bright indirect sunlight.
11: It's not a replacement at all. It looks fine at a distance but the messy edge detection is immediately apparent when looked at even somewhat closely, especially in scenes with fast-moving and/or small things. Phone cameras are gonna be blown completely out of the water compared to an actual camera anyways, they just have MUCH larger sensors. Not to say that what phones are capable of isn't impressive though. It's like 1/10 the quality for 10x the convenience.
12: It's good, same as any other HDR media.
you have to go watch a review for this, wrong channel.
I actually found a very photographer-centric use case for the action button. The camera button on the Lock Screen is set to default to photo mode, and the action button will go to whatever type of photography I plan on doing for that event, in my case, it was video, for going straight to capturing a quick video during the Chicago marathon. What would put it over the top is if I can set it to automatically start taking the video. It can be set up to open up at selfie for other examples. So I essentially have two shortcuts. One to photo mode and one to video mode.
I have my action button set for slow motion video. The theory being if I see something unusual whip out the iPhone and capture/record as much as possible.
I am a jeweller and bought iphone 15 PM for photography
It’s sucks
Grainy out of focus fotos
My 12 pro takes far more better pictures
Apple. The king of minimum upgrade at the maximum prices.
Human: The king of criticism and self importance.
Because iSheep will buy it anyway. Lost innovation a decade ago.
Had Samsung and iPhones! Both Samsungs stopped working, one after 16 months, the other not much longer! my iPhone 6s kept going, upgraded to XS Max, it’s still going, and my 15 pro max is arriving next week, definitely got my monies worth from the 2 iPhones, so can’t see any reason to change!
What? But they got like 2 or 3 world firsts just in camera 😂
I agree. That being said, most flagship Android manufacturers are ahead in features, but they’re not great in supporting their products long term. Apple gives iphones 5 iOS upgrades (6 years total), and 2 years of security updates. An iphone is usable for at least 8 years! I still have an iphone 6 around just to play spotify, it works fine for a 9 year-old device.
In the end you’re spending more money either way.
How dare you!!! you just destroyed the careful marketing and a lot of the other reviews ... loved every second of the intro! thank you! :)
Hello broke boy 😂😂😂
I never use the constant zoom on phone cameras, I just pick a focal length and use my legs to frame the shot. I hope the majority of users do this as well, it's how to get the best image quality.
Is this paid comment lol?
@@birdofprey108 who would pay me? The camera app? Lol
Can't always use your legs to move closer to something. Like a distant mountain range or rocket launch.
@@tobydog207 when it’s a long way away, totally right. But the further you go past the designed lens focal length, the worse the quality gets. That’s all I meant.
This approach makes a lot of sense. Even if you crop the photo later (in-phone edit or other software), you aren't getting the camera-generated extra pixels and artifacts.
I am really glad that I have the 15 Pro and not the Pro Max. I prefer the smaller phone, but was bummed that I didn't get the better lens... until I learned it wasn't better afterall because I don't snap shots from that far so often
I've chosen the 15 pro also, much more ergonomic,
God i regret getting this iphone 15 pro max. My 12 pro max was light years better. Apple needs to change these camera algorithms. Also they should fire everyone involved with the 15pro max
I currently own 12 pro max and 14 pro max. I love 14 pro max camera
Some guy told me “my iPhone is better than that” when I was out shooting with an R5. I was completely lost for words. How do you even respond to that?
Throw some technical jargon at them and try to start a discussion. They’ll quickly shut up
Don't lol I love my iPhone but that person is a straight up clown to think a camera phone is better than a camera used for photography
I had a Samsung afficionado say that about my 7dmkii. I really don't understand brand loyalty to that extent. I'm not even loyal to a particular camera brand.
Just say “no, it isn’t”
"Hahaha you're cute."
That focal length chart is fantastic. Can you do the same comparison against the S 23 ultra and the pixel eight pro. That would be interesting.
Will do
I second this : The chart is top-tier easy to understand. I am technical as a person, I understand IT - but cameras No dice. I get the difference between lenses and some lightly technical bits but generally alot of the technical bits for photography and videography goes over my head. - Also as someone who's done RUclips 😅
I'm s point and shoot kinda person and if it looks good, fantastic, if it looks terrible fantastic 😂
@@TonyAndChelseai understand roughly where you are coming from. At the same time, other reviewers day that there's apple magic going on in the 28mm 35mm crop etc
For reference here are the 3 lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max:
iPhone 15 Pro:
1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent, f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS
3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.0µm pixels, 77mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens
iPhone 15 Pro Max:
1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS
3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.12µm pixels, 120 mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
I agree with others, for general use the 77mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro is more useful than the 120mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max. Certainly the one I would get.
Check out Max techs comparison!
I’m a portrait photographer, and have pro gear for work. I find that I only use the iPhone for documenting life in a causal way. I’m so much more often wanting that greater reach when I’m hiking, or at events. I’d much rather have the main camera be offered with a higher focal length. My ideal would be a 18mm ultra wide, 40mm main, and 120mm tele. Thought?
i am a landscape photographer. i use my phone camera for communicating, work, timelapses, videos etc. most of my viral work has been shot with phone
My ideal main would be between 30mm - 35mm.
yes
Appreciate the testing and honesty. It’s a breath of fresh air you guys don’t depend on their sponsorship. As much as I love some of these other reviewers, it’s clear they just market every darn piece of tech they make a video about. The iPhone 15 is a step in the right direction, but as usual too small a step. And no idea why they compromised the camera. Seems obvious they’re going to need 4 sensors/cameras considering what Samsung did.
Their files app still needs an overhaul to be more compatible with PC’s too. A pain getting any files or backups off their phones to a pc.
Apple does not sponsor reviews. If anything these two are bitter they don't get invited to Apple events. Which accounts for this completely slanted and misleading review.
Tony, when you busted out that chart I laughed out loud. There are nerds, and then there's Tony.
Someone questioned my math in a previous video and maybe I overreacted 😁
7:02 So I think what we learned here is buy the iPhone 15 Pro and not the iPhone 15 Pro Max (11:43). For reference here are the 3 lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max:
iPhone 15 Pro:
1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent, f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS
3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.0µm pixels, 77mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens
iPhone 15 Pro Max:
1. Ultra-wide: 12MP sensor, 13mm equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
2. Primary: 48MP sensor, 2.44µm quad pixels, 24mm equivalent f/1.78-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF, OIS
3. Tele: 12MP sensor, 1.12µm pixels, 120 mm equivalent f/2.8-aperture lens, Dual Pixel AF
As shown by the chart (iPhone 15 Pro (the non-max version) has the similar 77mm as the iPhone 14 Pro Max had), for general use the 77mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro is more useful than the 120mm telephoto lens on the 15 Pro Max. Certainly the one I would get. Thank you Tony and Chelsea for going in depth on this, I have been reading your book too, about half way through.
The cell phone manufacturers have long ago reached the limits of what they can put into these cameras and have started trying to use software to stretch the features and abilities of these tiny cameras. My old Samsung s10e developed a bad battery, so I "upgraded" to an s23. Disappointed would be a kind term for how I felt about what I received. I look at photos side by side from the s10e and s23 and wonder "Where's the improvement?" I know I lost the micro-SD slot, so what did I get that's better?... Nothing. In fact I lost features and got nothing improved at all! the camera being that one thing I hoped would compensate for all of non-upgrades!
"upgrading" from Note10+ to S23U I got a very very weak vibration motor and when it comes to camera performance...I swear my Note10+ had more predictable results. Camera software on S23 lineup is messed up and you kinda never know what you'll end up with. Indoors is when it gets super weird. Side by side, if not better, pictures and videos from Note10+ are pretty much the same. Shutter lag is still present so...
iPhone 12 Pro to iPhone 15 Pro Max. The 5x has been awesome. I've always craved more zoom (over a simple 2-3x) and love the compression the 120mm lens provides. I have no problem stepping back 2-3 more steps. Don't get me started on that sweet sweet LOG for video. If someone could only figure out a micro USBC Y plug for Audio and SSD, this would be the next ultimate vlogging camera.
This is so detailed and I finally see some of the nuances. Are there nuances to video as well? I need it to record video tutorials for RUclips, overhead shot, 10 to 15 inches distance, artificial neutral led lights on 4 sides (3 sides + top)... I'm on the verge of getting the 15 pro max but I seriously am battling myself at this point, what if I spend the most money on tech in my life and get crap?
There is no technical reason for the 14MAX not to get Apple log. I understand that HDR5 is loaded in ROM and that wouldn't be able to be upgraded without a ROM swap. In my opinion, Apple still processes their RAW files a bit too much. Coming from a 12MAX I am overall happy for the change to the 15MAX, but do miss the 3X lens but not enough to want to go back. A four lens (.5X, 1X, 3X, and 5X ) camera module would have been ideal. IMO - We're at peak phone development now - There is little reason for me to upgrade more frequently than every three years.
Yeah progress has leveled off... I literally don't notice the difference switching from 14 to 15 in daily use.
way things are now, you can keep for 4 years at least.
I got the iPhone 15 Pro because 120mm is a weirdly uninteresting focal length and the lack of a roughly 80mm focal length just seems idiotic.
As a criticism of the video, the chart is correct for the 48mm and up zoom ranges, but ignores that between 24mm and 48mm the sensor is 48 megapixels not 12. Yes, this is quad bayer pixels, but this is only rarely noticeable. I particularly enjoy ProRAW with the 35mm focal length that yields 24 megapixel raw files that look really good.
Did you decide to only take 12 megapixel pictures from the main sensor? The default is not 12 but 24 and that would increase the resolution of the zoomed in photo. Even more when you realises it uses all 48 megapixels on the main sensor when cropping in. The resolution is thus 4 times higher than claimed in the beginning of the video. Does not change the look of the pictures though.
We took raw max photos which produce the best quality. I'll follow up with a detailed explanation about why 48 and 24 MP are fake.
Can you please compare iPhone 15 pro/Max to Xperia 1/10 V ? Including raw performance in photos and videos. Thanks 🙏🏻 . Great video 👍🏻
Thanks for the honest opinions. It's getting rarer and rarer.
This is exactly why I got the 15 Pro instead of the Pro Max:
1, I hate huge phones
2, the 5x telephoto is too short for birds/wildlife and I barely used the 2x on my 11 Pro anyways. Now I have a dedicated 3x camera which is more useful to me than the 5x on the Pro max.
Tony could You please compare the astro capabilities of the 15 line with the 14 or 13 line or maybe even with Samsung, because I saw on another channel that Apple much improved star trailing.
I saw that Astro video as well. The 15 pro did some amazing shots in just 30 seconds.
Agree with you over the mid range lenses. I have the iPhone 13 Pro and have upgraded to iPhone 15 Pro. I decided that camera form and the poor quality telephoto of the Pro Max was the reason for this.
I did the same thing that you did and so so disappointed
@@erinpufuntare you disappointed that you upgraded to the 15 PRO instead of Pro Max or that you upgraded all together ( you should have kept the 13 pro)?
@@alexv8203 I upgraded bc of the promotion and only did it bc upgrading was cheaper than fixing the broken camera on my 13. So while I know it was financially probably smarter, I dislike this phone alot
I wonder how a 20, 40, 80 lens set up would fair? Is 20 wide enough for most people? 40 is like midway between 35 and 50 for Al the street photographers. 80 is close to 85 for portrait. And with 2x increments your dips in the curve you showed would be consistent and not as bad as either of the low points for the 2.9x (14 Pro) or 4.9x (15 Pro). You could pretty consistently get from 20-160mm without ever going over a 2x digital crop.
I think you are wrong with the understanding of the 1.2x and 1.5x lenses that Apple simulates out of the main camera. First of all, the final image of 1x has 24 megapixels compressed out of the 48 megapixels sensor. (It gets only 12, of you change the default settings to 12.) And additionally, the sensor provides everytime the information of the 48 megapixels to the image processor, not only 12 megapixels, so 1.2x is not a crop in the processed final 24 megapixels IMAGE, but a crop in the 48 megapixels SENSOR, using only 35 megapixels of them for the 1.2x and 24 megapixels for the 1.5x. In every case, the processing brings out a 24 megapixels image, when using the main camera between 1x up to 1.5x. Only when going beyond 1.5x up to 2x the final image resolution goes down to 12 megapixels, and between 2x to 4.9x it is lower than 12 megapixels. So unfortunatly all of your diagrams are incorrect.
His diagram doesn’t even make any sense
finally found an explanation. I was so confused with iphone 15 pro max camera when I tried it at the apple store. I went to buy one but backed out cause the letters from the photo i took is not readable while it is completely readable from my iphone 13 pro max. 😅 I guess I will not upgrade again this year.
What did you record this video on because it looks fantastic... Those outdoor shots don't have any part of you or the background over or under exposed.
Question - I don't understand the 3x refernce. I have a 15 Pro Max and I have a 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 for photo settings. Where is the 3 coming from? Also, why is the upward curve from ~70mm to 77mm not straight up and down. Isn't this where the phone switches to a different lens and the value should be at the maxium peak? I don't doubt your graph, I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle in my brain to fully make sense of the graph. Have you also contacted your local senators to not ban DJI drones for normal part 107 pilots? I am also against this, but it will undoubtedly effect you two more.
What I'd like to see when you do a comparison between the s23 ultra and the iphone 15 pro max is where each of them shines.
For me the iphone takes more detailed close up photos of faces - the s23 ultra looks too soft even with softening turned off, as if out of focus.
Also sometimes the S23 photos look a bit washed out - that becomes apparent when comparing the 200mp mode output with the regular photos output.
Taking pictures of moving people is frustrating, especially in low light on the s23 ultra.
The 200mp photos have a fantastic level of detail. Though I suspect there is a lot of junk information in the huge files, as I have compressed the jpeg quality to 1/3 of the size with the same resolution and barely any hit in quality.
Just returned my iPhone 15 pro max because I found the same issue , 15 pro max photos looks much worse while taking the same photo under same lighting compared to my friend’s iPhone 15 pro. Idk why but seems they have some quality control issues
so, what apple need is to have 1X, 3X, 6X lenses. and to upgrade that megapixels to a higher one. right?
I bought the xperia 1 v recently. Its textures on the back and edges, help me a lot in various tricky situations, notably while when pictures from the edge of a cliff while exposed to the wind. I would not have taken the same risks with a slippery phone. In my opinion, good handling is more valuable than any tech improvement.
Yeah I love my 1 V. It's such a distinct phone. Also, we have an actual screen without any holes or notches.
Agreed that phone has a much better design
Same here....living my Xperia 1 mark V
@@TonyAndChelsea guys ...please do a full comparison with the Sony Xperia 1 mark V against the Galaxy and iPhone. I think we would all love to see that, and see where the different phones strengths and weaknesses are.
Thank you so much for this video. Since the Iphone 14 pro max is quite heavy, I was wondering if the Iphone 15 pro also has the tendency to overdo to the contrast/ digital sharping as bad as Iphone 15 pro max and if you would rather recommend the Iphone 14 pro? I plan to use the mobile phone as secound camera for video and steady cam. Funthermore Im happy if my ordiniary family pictures don't look like everybody used the sun bench. Thank you so much for your great work.
Sweet Porsche. I need to start publishing a best selling photography book 😢 😂
So what do you say , apple shot the whole event including the drone shot with iphone15 promax? So pixel peeping is not a good thing when you mock a technology at its fastest finest
UW-W-3x Tele is a perfect combo until they do a "proper" zoom lens into the phone. The gap between the W and the 5x Tele is too much considering that the tele lens has worse parameters (much higher F value, worse IS - if exists at all). The 3x "zoom" phones are the best overall (iPhone 14 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S23, Xiaomi 13, etc...)
You two are having way too much fun at this, thanks for the video.
You’re the ONLY one that I’ve seen talking about this. Thank you for your honesty!
A lifetime of nerdiness and two decades of calling out camera manufacturers on their marketing BS has given us a uniquely useful set of skills.
Doesn’t the cropping from 24/48 give sufficient quality?
All the sensors are 12MP in practice. The 48 megapixel number is from "quad pixel" which is almost entirely fake. I'm going to dedicate a future video to the topic.
@TonyAndChelsea Tony, I don't like the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple's sharp marketing practices (holding back features in software) any more than you do, but the 48 MP RAW files do have a lot more detail than the 12 MP output. Apple's own internal downscaling algorithms from quad-pixel to 12 MP have been shown to produce a very poor result. You'll have to set your iPhones to 48 MP mode to get accurate/fair results.
I think the huge win for me which you guys didn’t touch on at all is the fact that you can connect a hard drive and save all your photos there instead of being forced to use the cloud or max out your internal storage. This is excellent if your traveling and do not have a laptop and want to process some of your pictures off of a full frame camera.
Absolutely it’s a game changer!!
Oh yes well worth the extra money derrrrrrrrrr
Once again totally wrong about the 28mm and 35mm crops. They produce 24mp photos (or 12mp if you change the setting) because they're cropping from a 48mp sensor.
I'll make a separate video showing the 48 megapixel sensor is fake.
@@TonyAndChelseado you have the video yet?
It would be nice to do a quick comparison of the iPhone 13, 14 and 15!
Instead of 3-4 cheap cameras, just do a single built-in 1/2- 2/3” sensor with 12 megapixels like the Sony FX3 and ZV-E1, and telescopic 28-280mm. Native 4K/60 recording, with a pressure sensing variable zoom rocker switch, and good audio options.
that's exactly what I was thinking. why not just do one big sensor? i hope the 16 or 17 has this.
So it’s better to move closer to the subject or further, than to use zoom as it’s digital zoom and not optical? If I read your graph right.
Yeah use the 0.5x, 1x, 3x or 5x but not 2x and don't pinch to zoom.
Yes please please do a proper comparison of the cameras between iphone 3g vs iphone 15. This should be fun! ❤
My iPhone 15 pro max camera has got a big issue, all the photos of text documents are clear only in focused portion, and the rest of the image in all directions - top, bottom, left, right - are blurry/shadowy. I did raise a complaint, and Apple did replace the whole camera set. But, even with the new Camera Set, the photos have the same problem. I did check with 3 other sets of iPhone 15 pro max, and all of the 3 have the same problem. Is it really a design-level issue? I'm yet to see an iPhone 15 pro max, with clear text images.
I refused to collect my iPhone 15 pro max from the center unless the issue is resolved.
The camera is worse. Before taking the picture it looks fine. But then it turns out so worse. So grainy, dark, low resolution. My android phone takes way better pictures than this. Absolutely terrible from apple!
Well, I really respect the in depth analysis which you guys bring to your videos. However, the take on iPhones does, IMHO, miss some important points. I have just watched Scott Kelby's video on shooting with the iPhone and he is both an excellent well known photographer and is an avid supporter of using iPhones for photography. Your criticism/analysis of the iPhones zoom lens capabilities are paramount in your mind when reviewing the iPhone's capabilities. Scott's advice is quite simple - 'Don't pinch.' Use the lenses provided without zooming and loss of pixels. Watch his video - it makes a great deal of sense and does raise questions about being too analytical of features that are simply left alone whilst using - like zooming!
Yeah, we appreciate Scott and have always offered the same advice when we create tutorials: ruclips.net/video/NvQcoqvKuuI/видео.html
This, however, was a review, not a tutorial.
If you guys get the 15 Pro rather than the 15 Pro Max, it gives you the midrange. But what you didn’t mention is that it’s actually a lot better than the 14 Pro!
Well, that's saved $1,400. Bravo! Btw I regard flaring as a benefit - I can see it, so I can control it with slight movements.
JJ Abrams, is that you?
My 11 pro has wonderful curved edges and fits nicely in my hand. It has a x2 zoom lens, which I typically use to take portrait pictures.
I did upgrade from the 11 Pro to the 15 Pro. I love the better camera system of the 15 Pro and the AoD too but I just love the compactness of the 11 Pro. The 15 Pros camera hump is BIG lol. The 11 Pro was the perfect size for sure.
@@Nam3Iessbut the front camera of 15 pro is not good😢. i like my 11 pro front camera than my 15 pro front camera. so i will keep my 11 pro.
@@allaroundnanay yes, there is something off with the 15 Pro camera if You take pictures of people. With animals, landscapes etc it is great but people not so much.
From my understanding, the 24/28/35mm "lenses" are not just a crop of the original picture but a different use of the 48MP of the new sensor. As the iPhone only shoots 24MP photos with the 48MP sensor, they will take more information for the larger "focal lengths" from less combined pixels giving you the same image resolution with "less" information by not losing any pixels. Would be interesting to compare to the 14 Pro to see if this actually changes anything with regards to image quality...
Thanks anyways for the very comprehensive video :)
You are correct. This video misrepresents how those three virtual "lenses" work. They are definitely better than just shooting at 1x and cropping.
Hi, thanks for the video. I am very happy with my iPhone 14 Pro. I think I will also be happy with it for the next 4 years. Greetings from Germany.
Hold on a minute. Since when do you own a 992? Very nice spec you got there.
Also I just wanted to say that I've really been enjoying the videos from the channel lately. Keep up the amazing work guys.
Since January. I definitely use every excuse to get some drone footage of it. Check my insta for some pics.
please also compare the iPhone 15 pro Max against the iPhone 15 pro with the 3x lens but more pixels. The loss of mid range resolution is a bummer compared to the 14 Pro but it may be significantly les an for the 15 Pro.
It’s so funny how iPhones are going in cycles of design. I had an iPhone 6 and it was so small, thin, and had round edges, back when they were trying to make the iPhone smaller, before pivoting back to making them big again. I guess they’ll wait a few generations and bring back the square edges.
The megapixel chart is a very nice touch. One thing I don't quite understand however is why there's a slope before any point where the optical zoom kicks in. Shouldn't those lines be vertical?
Oh I think I get it now. The focal lengths within the range just before those magnification points are unreachable so they just use a line to bridge each gap. I find the resulting graph a bit confusing because it made me unsure of whether Apple implemented a feature that allows zoom lenses to improve on images that are taken just below their corresponding magnifications
😂😂😂you two crack me up, thanks for the entertainment and I am staying with my IPhone 11 and getting saving the rest for a Full Frame rig.
Go watch Jared ‘s review. This camera phone is damn impressive to me.
Really good to hear decipher the smoke and mirrors from Apple. Fab focal length graph, really illustrates the point!
Agree, won't upgrade too, long telephoto in smartphones is such a gimmick, 77mm in 14 pro is already a bit too tight, previous combination of 24mm and 52mm in iphone 12 pro was probably the best.
Yeah agreed more that 2x difference between lenses is too much cropping.
I love watching you two always
The sheeple will still flock to upgrade. They do it without even thinking of the ins and outs.
There's a comment right here with this video where someone cancelled their preorder once they saw the specs. They didn't even know what they were about to throw hundreds of dollars at. 😂
The huge flaws are cropping. When you do a 3x shot, why aren’t you cropping into the main sensor, so you’re actually going from 48mp sensor to a 12mp sensor, but then using 6mp of that and upscaling to 12mp. There’s no way to tell if it’s actually cropping on the sensor or digitally in the metadata. That makes me wonder if the image would be the exact same at 3x if you block the telephoto sensor on the 14 Pro, since both phones would be using the main sensor.
It's better to have rounded edges than have corner edges that digs into your hand
So, that’s how they do it. I now feel so much better sticking with my camera and its lenses. Very well-presented.
3:02 The overhead parking shot is dynamite 🧨🧨🧨 Yo even used the rule ot thirds! But how did you get the phone up there?
I think most of the issues that come with the 15pro are fixable via software updates. Although yes they probably overrated a lot of the features in their adverts and stuff
Wow that was crazy to see, I have the 15 pro max and im disappointed to see in your video how bad it beforms digitally from 2 - 5x compared to the 14 pro.
Why would anyone upgrade a $1200 phone every year? I’ve been a base model iPhone user since 2009 and I’ve averaged 4 years per phone and been very pleased.
This was the best video comparison. That chart was incredibly helpful.
Square edge, round edge, square edge, round edge. Those people at Apple are geniuses...in marketing.
Apple did use the iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot the most recent product release video. They have a behind the scenes video on Apple's channel. Admittedly they had a 100-person production crew and about a half million dollars' worth of equipment connected ot that iPhone to make it all work.
Phones shouldn't be this pricey for a mediocre camera..... u can buy performance phones for 1/3 of iphones and buy a real camera like Sony or nikon .... and these cameras can be small and less bulky.... I previously owned a m200 and both camera and lens were pocketable
This is why the optical zoom on the Xperia 1 V is so cool.
100%. And it's actual innovation
If they re-release the iPhone 3, it will be completely reimagined for $2000
Wait. Your chart is just… wrong?
The 1x camera *doesn't* top out at 12 megapixels. That was the whole point of the higher resolution sensor. It's 24, and you can now also shoot 48 mp HEIF.
This makes the chart look completely different! The “huge drop“ you point out is not as huge of a drop.
You also didn't test the new 5x in low light, which is by far the biggest difference over the 3x lens. The stabilisation (and wide aperture) is astounding in the 15 Pro Max, it's the biggest difference to the 15 Pro‘s camera system in a practical scenario. You didn't even… mention that?
The camera doesn't exactly "Just crop into one lens" at least according to Apple. They designed their image pre-processing software specifically to correct images better at those interval focal lengths so, yes it's cropping in at those lengths digitally but its using all 3 cameras and lidar to process the images better at those points. Maybe it's not any better than just cropping in but I doubt they spent money on the processing for nothing. Probably too small of an improvement from the 14 to 15 but I think apple is targeting iPhone 13 and S version users. I'd like to see 15vs 13 and maybe the 3x lenses compared.
Maybe only for the 24mp output
Thank you. I should not have had to scroll this far for someone to mention this. They are definitely not three different lenses, but they are also NOT just cropping. They are all native 24mp images binned from the 48mp sensor. It's technically cropping from the 48, but it's using the processing and binning pipeline to bring all of them to the same 24. If you just shot at 24mm and cropped it would be worse.
@TonyAndChelsea I returned my iPhone 15 pro max and keeping my iPhone 11 then bought Sony Silver A6000 with Silver 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 lens for $400. What's your opinion on my purchase? You can be brutally honest!
Great choice!
To hell with the phones, that's a beautiful Porsche 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I returned my iPhone 15 Pro and went for a iPhone 13 mini instead because of the tiny form factor and the weightless feeling.
Can we do
Google's 5x vs apples 5x ?
This is incredible. Everyone else is worried about losing their press badges if they posted something honest like this
Always a fresh take that no one talks about. Thank you. I am not going to upgrade
Man the megapixel chart is such a smart analysis that no one else is doing to explain the difference between these phone. It's amazing! Thanks guys for this. Found nowhere else, and I've watched tons of iPhone 15 Pro Max videos that proclaim it to be better than the old one.
thanks Tony n Chelsea ,, it's fun video make my day ,,
Are you sure you have the nerdy stuff right? You keep talking about 12mp as if binning was that simple. I’ve read from multiple sources that 15 pro/max is able to resolve detail from 48mp data using miniscule camera shake to it’s advantage. Maybe it doesn’t do it with raw?
This review is misleading and contains factual errors. Right off the top, they state that the 24mm lens has a 12MP sensor. That is not true. It's a 48MP sensor that can produce 48MP RAW images. If a reviewer gets this basic spec wrong you should look at everything that comes after it skeptically. Especially when it's obvious the reviewer is intentionally using the worst settings for image quality in order to slant the review. Both the 13mm and 120mm lenses do sit on 12MP sensors but watch the Northrup's past camera reviews and you'll learn that megapixels are not a significant factor in image quality and high pixel density can even be detrimental to image quality on small sensors.
There's no such thing as a "mid-tier" iPhone 15 Pro Max. They're referring to the storage capacity which has nothing to do with the camera's image quality or processing capabilities of the phone. They don't elaborate on this because their goal is to make the iPhone appear to be a bad value. Which it is not. If a user shoots a lot of uncompressed ProRes video then 512GB might not be enough storage for them. Fortunately, the 15 Pro Max can shoot directly to an external drive.
Throughout the entire video, they use the first-party camera app. It's designed for the average user who is not shooting RAW and is not doing any post-processing and just wants crunchy, punchy, low-light images with no motion blur. This review is targeted at enthusiasts and professionals so why wouldn't they use a third-party camera app that gives them easy access to all of the camera's advanced settings unless they intentionally want the images to look their worst? Could they not at least turn off all of the in-camera processing that they claim is ruining the images? In fact, they could have done that.
Tony points out that the dedicated 9mm lens on the iPhone 14 looks better than the main camera on the 15 Pro Max with a 3X crop. NO SHIT! Who would have expected otherwise? Unsurprisingly, he gets better results on the 15 when he uses the correct focal length for the photo he's taking. The 15 Pro Max has a 13mm lens with a 12MP sensor. Aside from a small difference in field of view, it's taking the same image as the iPhone 14 on essentially the same sensor. So, why are they harping on digital zoom instead of comparing apples to apples? Because cropping the shit out of the 24mm image produces the worst possible image and they're trying to dissuade their viewers from using the iPhone for photography instead buying a dedicated camera.
Based on their past videos, the most generous explanation I have for this misleading review is that Tony and Chelsea recognize that smartphones are going to destroy the consumer camera business and by proxy hurt their business. How unfortunate that they've decided to mislead their viewers rather than adapt to changes in the market. Despite the implication of Tony's last-second dig, Apple doesn't sponsor reviews. They don't sponsor any RUclips content whatsoever. So, whose integrity are they impeaching? Chris and Jordan at Petapixel? They gave the iPhone 15 Pro Max a mostly positive review. The Northrups must be implying that Petapixel is biased because they were invited to the iPhone launch event and provided with test units. If that's the accusation, they should state it and demonstrate what Chris and Jordan got wrong in their review. Are Tony and Chelsea bitter that they weren't invited to Cupertino? I don't know but their coverage of the iPhone 15 has been misleading and they obviously have an axe to grind with Apple.
*This comment is not sponsored.
I've discussed this in the comments, but the sensor is quad-pixel. It's 12 megapixels with each pixel divided into 4. I'm planning a separate video to dig into Apple's misinformation about the megapixels.
That is not how it works. The quad-pixel sensor can bin pixels and capture a 12MP image or it can use all 48MP of the sensor to capture a true 48MP image. The default allows the phone to decide what to use. The user has the option of using ProRAW 12MP or ProRAW Max 48MP. I know you understand this but for those who may not, binning is used for better low light performance and better overall performance when processing and storing the image. The iPhone Pro 14 ALSO has a quad-pixel sensor. There's really no difference between the cameras you're comparing aside from the longer telephoto on the 15 Pro Max and labeling the zoom ring with additional focal lengths. I find it difficult to believe you're confused about any of this.
Very well said. This video is misleading af and I'm glad to see someone pointed it out
Yes Pixel 8 vs 15 Pro. Also can you take the 0.5 megapixel 15 Pro image vs the equivalent on the iPhone 3's three megapixel camera.
I sent the pro back for the regular 15 this year they did such a good job with the regular model
"It looks like crap..." I love the brutal honesty!
I upgraded from the 6S to the 14 Pro this year. Difference was indeed noticable
Love the honesty and technicalities
Something about this video is bothering me. You only showed one 48mp raw file and none of the 24 mp outputs. This does not jive with the results other reviewers have been getting.
Yeah this is a really dumb comparison. Makes no sense.
They explained in a previous video it’s not really 48mp
They seem to be one of the rare RUclipsrs than don’t think this is a great camera. I’m a professional photographer & videographer who’s been doing this a lot longer than they have and, trust me, it’s a great camera.
@@DoubleTheDom The raw files are 48mp. And if I am using it for my photography, I'm going to be shooting raw. So I would do this comparison with mostly raw photos.
Not to mention I didn't see any of the 24mp outputs on the main camera. Also, the iPhone 15 will take many exposures and combine them. And they use the detail from the 48mp. So even his math and chart aren't really accounting for that.
In other comparison videos people are seeing more detail in the main camera photos and the telephoto is only marginally better and the wide is about the same. Tony seems like he is purposely handicapping the 15 to align with his previous rant video. This video is really disappointing and while I don't think Apple's marketing is 100% honest, Tony seems to have a serious anti-Apple bias here. I don't understand.
@@TheFrogmanTVthe photographs must be lying
I know video isn't necessarily your thing, but I would have liked to see the log footage after some color grading.
24mm is the full 48MP, 28mm is 35MP and 35MM is 24MP. I’m guessing they’re all down-scaled to 12MP when you shoot JPEG like an amateur. It’s not the camera that sucks in this case.
The odds would tell me that as much as I am out in the area taking pictures that I would run across you guys making videos, but I never do. You two are ninjas! haha
Excellent video which definitively answered the question of which is better at mid range focal lengths below 120mm. Your clear explanation, sample photos, and chart provide the hard facts and evidence to back up this claim. Keep doing what you're doing, you are a credit to yourselves as photographers and videographers in a sea of "content creators" regurgitating spec sheets and marketing hype.