iPhone 16 Pro RESULTS! 📸 Grab REEFLEX’s new Super Telephoto 240MM Lens at an exclusive 15% OFF: reeflexstore.com/discount/ARMITAGE15 If you're interested in getting better at phone photography be sure to check out my video with 10+ helpful tips: ruclips.net/video/Bmn_GI4xZBQ/видео.html Test 1 (Ultra-Wide Landscape): A - 16 Pro, B- 15 Pro, C - R5 Test 2 (Sunset & Blue Hour): A - R5, B- 16 Pro Test 3: Goodluck! Test 4 (Macro): A - 15 Pro, B- R5, C - 16 Pro
The lengths you went to to make sure everything was framed and edited the same way is absolutely astounding and very much appreciated. The amount of “comparisons” using completely different, unrelated images is ridiculous and you went the extra mile to make sure every example was as similar, and therefore, easier to compare, as possible. Subscribed!
I also subscribed because of this. I currently use a Huawei P30 Pro which is been a good phone for travel photography esp sunsets. I'm wanting to upgrade my camera and also do some video work - lots of opportunties now that I have retired to Thailand.
Just returned from 2 weeks in China with IPhone 16 Pro set to ProRaw 48MP and JPEG-XL Lossy for 95% of shots, processed in Lightroom. Blown away that I no longer have to carry around my Olympus EM1 and 3 lenses, and instead carry around my DJI Mini 4 Pro drone. What an amazing setup to have with that degree of portability. Love the results I am getting. The main sensor is blows me away, and has so much capacity for cropping snapshots. Also totally love having the 5x zoom. Cannot stress enough the the difference between ProRaw and the default HEIF processed images. On the odd occasion I used HEIF in difficult conditions - e.g. panoramas, the results are quite unworkable in Lightroom. ProRaw in your pocket. is truly amazing.
@@Ezrabastian agreed for difficult lighting and telephoto work but I have grown tired of lugging cameras and a bag of lenses around and I always have my phone with me. I like the challenge of trying to take interesting mobile phone photos and sharing with friends on social media
Even after youtube compression, and viewing very small images it was still very easy to tell what was cellphone and what was Canon. I couldn't really tell the difference between the cellphones. When you consider the horrible youtube compression and the size of the images, it did demonstrate to a point the very large difference in image quality. Honestly, the phones use exposure blending to accomplish their image, if you did the same thing with the camera the differences would be huge.
Agree. I was watching on an iPad (relatively small display) and could tell the difference between the phone and the proper camera every single time. That’s why I’ve stopped worrying about new phone cameras (my old one is still fine for simple snapshots). My FF camera will always be light years ahead anyway.
When comparing the wideshots, wouldn't the aperture make a difference in how “clean” the image looks?? The iPhone was at f2.2 and the Canon was at f8. If the iPhone was also at f8 how would that compare in sharpness?
Great question! Two parts to the answer. iPhones cannot change their aperture. So this is the only option for aperture. Secondly, the aperture listed is misleading. Yes the aperture reads at f2.2 but this is for the tiny sensor of the iPhone. The equivalent aperture in practice on a 35mm sensor would be f13. You can input these conversions here: www.omnicalculator.com/other/crop-factor using the 1/2.5" sensor size. Kinda confusing but basically theres plenty in focus for the iPhone!
24:50 I think you’ve failed to mention the difference in shutter speeds? Specifically 1/30 vs .8. Are there not a way to manually set shutter speed on iphone?
@@AlexArmitage You made me sell my expensive camera gear (R6 with bunch of old and new L-lenses), buy 14pro, skip 15 pro, and now get 16 pro! 😃 Super happy with all of it!
You’re right about the sharpening on the iPhone 15 Pro vs 16 Pro, but both are really stunning results, especially when you have sufficient light. The compression options are pretty amazing. Would love to see comparisons between your R5 and the iPhone with the Reeflex lens.
Your last video was about the joy you had using the x100vi. How lovely it was to handle etc. The iPhone can catch up as much as it wants (and in reality there is some way to go) but does anyone really get joy from using a camera phone for photograhy over a real camera?
My jaw dropped! You can't argue about enlarging photos. Most people look at photos on their mobile phones. Who prints them in A4 format or larger? 1 per mille of people? Probably even fewer. The photos are amazing (though you also have amazing scenery :) ). Hats off to the experts from iPhone development, and I'm not even an Apple fan :D
I’ve been hearing about blue lines in the images at night on the 16 and that it is a known issue. Have you experienced this or heard any solutions. Debating on buying one for photo video. Thank you excellent video!
Thanks mate for the detailed comparison. I got a 16 pro recently, and was interesting to go through your video. And let me add that the iphone allows to cycle through the styles using the camera button already!
The funny thing is that RUclipsrs say that the iPhone has become at the level of professional cameras and they want to convince us of this, but they film their content with professional cameras whose price, with lenses, is several times higher to that of the telephone.
There's always going to be increases in technology with better sensors and technology but the barrier to entry is smaller and smaller. Maybe you upgrade later but people don't need to invest thousands of dollars just to get started because the high-end is increasing at more marginal rates than the low-end.
This is the best pro camera vs iphone review on youtube. Stunning in depth tests etc. This is the way. I was watching this video on a 65 inch OLED tv and couldn't tell the difference between iPhone 16 Pro Max and Canon R5. Of course R5 is 1000% better at low light for obvious reasons but in daylight iPhone is 97% as good as R5. PS: Well done, Alex! Thank You for doing this! Extra plus for Ben Howard song. He's an amazing songwriter.
Quick question, why would you take the "same" image to later compare but not match the fstop? At 17:18 your video shows your Canon was shooting at f8 while your iphone 16 was shooting at f2.2. You can control f values on the iPhone 16 camera; was that an oversight?
You cannot control fstop on iPhones. Secondly the listed fstop of the iPhone is misleading. It’s technically f2.2 but because of math and the sensor size. The effective aperture is f6.3 I think (don’t quote me on the exact number)
I am confused; ok so what does the f stop camera control do in the new iPhones 16 pro and max? If I soft double press that button I get to adjust f stop. However regardless of the number I choose it makes no difference on the taken image. I thought that is how you could change it.
Things you don`t capture cannot be improved. Apple cannot tweak details out of nothing, there are reasons why the sensor of the real camera is almost a 100 times bigger.
I did a similar test with the raw formats... think I'll be leaving it on lossy from now on. Something I'd like to see is a video comparison vs what you use as your vlog cam (pocket3?). Now with apps like black magic having apple log in h.265, and the insta360 flow pro having tracking in 3rd party apps... it makes for a very compelling vlog camera. Or maybe a vlog b-cam?
Thank you for the great video. Is there a reason why the iPhone 16 Pro is in Ultrawide by far not so sharp than the 15 Pro Max? What do you think? Is the 48 MP Sensor really so much more bad then the old 12 MP?
Thanks for the thorough comparison! Any thought about the fact that - if I got it right - landscape shots were taken with the camera on the tripod while the phones were handheld? Even one on each hand, I believe, which would cause additional disadvantage for the one in your “wrong” hand. Also, the ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings were quite different for the same shot between the three cameras 🤔
Thx. A really good comparison as to what to expect with iPhone 16 Pro and some lovely images besides. Did notice that with some of the lower light level shots, iPhone was using higher ISO and shorter exposures, and wonder how things may have compared with iPhone well mounted and allowed longer exposure and lower ISO. Another thing occurred to me, ridiculously for possibly the first time ever, as have kind of got used to just how phenomenal modern smart phone sensors and lenses are and take for granted. Look at the f stops on the iPhone images compared to the canon images. How often would you not stop down a D-SLR a little just to sharpen up some of the softness at full aperture. I wonder if smart phones will even have adjustable apertures. Now that would be a game changer.
I did a quick unscientific wide angle test with a 15 & 16 pro max. I was hoping to see improvements towards the edges but saw similar results. I guess physics might be a limiting factor. Very interesting jpg info! I'm greedy and wanted all the data so I never experimented😂 After reading another comment about 3rd party apps not doing the apple processing (smearing apple sauce?), I feel like it might be worth some testing. I was playing with my GFs 16 pro max yesterday, the new side button does the half press and swipe features. Her case makes it awkward to use. Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It's been informative and inspired me to do more experiments with our iPhones.👍👍
Can you make a similar comparison video for a landscape video? I found my iPhone's video looks good on my iPhone 13 but once imported to Premiere Pro (yes, I made sure it set to Rec 709) they look horrible. At the same time, my GoPro, in general, can balance the sky and foreground much better. I wonder if iPhone 16 improved the video or not. By the way, I almost know exactly where you were in this video. San Juan is my favorite area in Colorado. :)
@@pandaswife I believe this is why. If you're recording videos with default settings (HDR enabled) then the videos are in HDR and then when you put them on a timeline in Rec 709, its going to look bad. Try decreasing the exposure of the clips by -2 EV. This worked for me when I was using HDR clips
I can see that you put a lot of work into this video. It's interesting to see how good phone cameras are today. I've never used an iPhone but have a high end Samsung with similar capabilities. And it produce great results in a lot of situations. Low/difficult light though show the limitations and no EVF, no flip screen, no aperture control and generally horrible ergonomics are big minuses for me.
Great comparison and overall work with this video! One thing I noticed and the question I am asking myself is that the iPhone pictures were all shot with an open aperture (f1.6/1.8/2.2 etc) whereas on the canon you used f8 and higher. Why didn’t you use the same aperture settings on the iPhone and isn’t it naturally resulting in softer images when shooting with the lens wide open?
@@AlexArmitage oh… I thought that that’s what the new camera button is for if you softly double click to enter and adjust more settings ..? At least I think I saw some videos where people were using it to set the aperture.
@@florianrohdan2685 That's software rendered aperture. It's technically fake. When you take images on the phone it captures a depth map and can produce the effect of out of focus areas as if you're shooting with a shallow depth of field, but its done in software. There's no way to adjust aperture physically.
Interesting video - thanks. I've just bought an iPhone 16 Pro Max (from a 14 PM) and am enjoying using it. Re. ProRAW file sizes: I take a lot of ProRAW images - most, in fact. I cull pretty hard in the phone, then having (on the Mac) "Export(ed) Unmodified Original" images and edited them in Lightroom, I then delete the original Raw images from Photos and import JPEG images exported from LR. I've still got the Raw files in LR (and they're comprehensively backed-up, both locally and to the cloud) and the smaller (file size) versions now in Photos are available for online social media, etc. Surely other people must do this.....
hey there,im learning to edit images in light room. one question , while exporting after editing in LR should i export in dng or jpeg. ? and what are your thoughts on JPEG xl lossy compression.? should i switch to lossy ?
@@adi_zero5882It depends on why you’re exporting. In my case, if I’m exporting for printing I’ll export the highest-quality file I can - a full-size jpg at least. But if it’s to post on social media I’ll export a reduced-size medium quality jpg.
How is the iphone 16 pro battery ? Will it get you trough a whole day without charging it? I need atleast 12-14 hours of battery to get me trough my work.(have hard time to charge my phone due to my job)
Alex, I dig your videos. Thank you for the time in putting this together! I am not a huge fan of Apple's computational processing that is done when utilizing the native camera app. This being said, it actually appears that the 16 Pro series phones have less over-sharpening and perhaps noise reduction built into the algorithm. Very interesting. I am also shooting more in Bayer RAW utilizing 3rd party apps such as Reeflex or Halide because of this. The softness you experienced on the iPhones (lack of detail relative to the Canon) could have been as a result of the built in noise removal in Apple's algorithm. In my experience, this processing tends to "gum up" some of the finer details of the image. I am finding that shooting in Bayer RAW, more details in the shadows and highlights are present compared to ProRaw. I will then edit using a linear profile specific to the camera lens. I think some noise can be our friend as details live in it. BTW, I am nowhere near a pro photographer. Just an iPhone photography fanatic. Thanks again and well done!
Alex, Amazingly thorough review! Really slick how you insert text/images/details you are referencing in your narration. So, have you ever compared how much detail a lower res FF model like a 24mp Canon R6ii delivers vs. your R5 vs. a iPhone file? I’m wondering how much fine detail we can see is due to the larger sensor size bs. The megapixel numbers.
Aaah! Welcome back to Colorado, Alex. I realize “home” may be Florida, or wherever you are at a given moment, really, but there’s something about you being back here in our amazing state that makes me happy. Time to dig into your video and see if it’s finally time for me to upgrade from my 13 pro. lol. Cheers!
Interesting approach. I'd love to see comparable camera settings next time. 1/640s at F 1.8 and ISO-80 vs 1/60s at F 8.0 and ISO-100 is way off even with a tripod and an external shutter release. I know that phone cameras evolved pretty much in the last years and I also love to use my 13promax for content, but please make these settings more comparable. If you start cropping, the phone camera will be outmatched at all time, especially macro. Regarding the noise visible in the last picture, it would be interesting to see the unprocessed Iphone picture, since all pictures get reworked by the phone (which produces artifacts).
Great work, you went to a lot of effort. I have a R6Mk & just got a 14-35 lens, great to see what it can do. Also have iPhone 15pro. Thank you & just subscribed.
Great video man! Glad to see your channel growing! Well deserved! Question: at the end of your video you mentioned that the ultra wide (iphone), is not the best glass for nightscape photography... why is that? 🤔 Because when using a regular mirrorless usually we use the 16 mm which is kind of ultra wide and wider than a '16 mm" thanks! cheers!
That statement was more about the performance of night mode using the ultra wide, not that the focal length is bad. My preference for nightscape is ultra-wide. It's just the low light performance of that camera (because of its aperture/sensor size) just isn't good
Camera C isn't as blurry sometimes and it's really notable. Hopefully the other camera makers realize resolution matters... and hopefully Google and Apple can figure out that larger sensors would give them a massive advantage, and that yes, you can get a 1" class sensor in a smartphone like other phone makes have been doing for over a decade.
There’s plenty of RUclips compression :) I’m sure if you downloaded the actual raw uncompressed images there would be plenty of differences, including the soft edges of iPhone pictures that he mentions quite a bit 🙂
On the landscape photos I could clearly see which photos were the real camera. 21:39 I agree. I don't even have to look at the actual image files to see this looks better. But I'm watching on a 1440P monitor. 23:52 Even here I can clearly tell which is the phone and which is the camera.
Interesting… I just purchased a 16 pro max to get a better camera (previously owned an xs). I’m off to the lofoten islands in Norway in a couple of months and was hoping to use that as a daytime walk about camera instead of bringing my Sony a7iv plus lenses to capture the stunning landscapes. The weather in the uk is dull and grey right now, so not had any real chances to test the new iPhone. I’ll still bring the Sony alpha for night shots and hopefully aurora, as no phone can ever match the low light capability
as a hobbiest photographer, my phone became much more important when my camera was stolen. Looking at replacing it eventually but for now the phone is like my life line for my gigs.
As an Apple fanboy, all I gotta say is the best part about the iPhone cameras is the fact that the iPhone isn’t just a camera. Like yes, the iPhone camera isn’t the best but the iPhone isn’t just a camera. It’s a phone. I’ve upgraded every year to a new flagship iPhone, and every year I get to use the best cameras from Apple in that year. The cameras were awesome but I find most use with just using the phone as a phone like browsing, watching videos like this one taking, calls, messaging, and everything else. So while they’re better cameras out there that are dedicated cameras, they aren’t as portable or as versatile as a phone would be in your daily life. I also would say iPhones are most likely cheaper than your dedicated cameras.😅😊
At the end of the section where you compare jpeg xl with the other compression format you said it means you’ll be able to shoot in RAW more often, but these aren’t RAW files - I checked - they are jpeg files
@ that is so confusing 😂 I guess for best possible results I’m best using “JPEG Lossless”. I’d be interested to compare that with the two JPEG-XL formats
Great stuff Alex! Shot the Northern Lights for my first time. I was using my Z8 and it did great! I also snapped a few on IPhone 15 to immediately send to my wife! Very impressive stuff! Thanks for taking me along!
Went to silver jack reservoir late summer this year and it was such a beautiful area. Got a cool picture of courthouse mountain too. Love your landscapes!
it's nice to see another dude with the desert titanium iphone 16. I just bought one last week and i've been on the fence about exchanging it for a different color but with the Moment case + lenses, it covers it quite a bit so i think I’m going to keep it.
That the R5 beats the Iphone 16 in it's own game isn't really surprising, I guess there is a reason for why the Iphone does not come with a tripod mount... Though I would be interested in seeing some kind comparison of the types of photos and the feel of shooting with different kind of cameras. Like Iphone 16 pro vs the X100VI vs the R5. Rather than having one emulating the other, let them stand on their own and see how the facilitate creativity in different ways.
I was thinking to buy a iphone16. Now i know that I dont want it thanx to you. Il continue using my dedicated camera and my phone to call with. Thank you for youre effort 😊
Wow, I truly admire your editing skills. Specifically if it comes to the colour matching. That's pretty awesome. Thanks for the jpgxl images for pixel peeping. Q: Why are they in DNG format? JPG XL has normally .jxl as file extension - at least if exported by ACR.
Excellent video, I found it very useful to learn this as someone looking at upgrading from the 14pro to the 16pro they’re both impressive. If mine wasn’t a business phone i’m not sure i’d upgrade for the camera alone. I was impressed by your images on all sensors. Thank you for going into such detail. AI, wonder what that will bring to the 16pro. I do shoot on Mirrorless too but don’t always have it to hand. The tripod will certainly make a difference to sharpness, but nevertheless, impressive tech. 👏
If you only do super wide angle photos with deep dof its not that hard for a phone and proper camera to look very similar. Do something like action or run'n'gun event photograpy with not ideal lighting and the phone starts to struggle very quickly. can't beat a apsc or fullframe sensor with a fast zoom or prime
❤amazing. This taught me so so SO much. Thank you so much taking such painstaking time doing AND producing photos and a video that had to have taken a lot of work.
Apple could introduce jpegXL to older iPhones. It seems as though the primary difference is the result of software rather than hardware. Similarly to what was done last year. Predicting the same trend continues for the 17 onward.
excellent comparison except that you completely ignore the 5x Tele lens and i was very much interested to see the results from that lens cuz otherwise, this could have been the comparison bw Canon and iphone 16 non-pro! anyway, I hope for the future comparisons you do consider comparing all the lenses available on Iphone 👏🙌
Greetings from Europe, great video. I think you would be the best youtuber to do a comparison between the Vivo x200 pro and the Canon R5, from what I've seen it's the best camera on a phone so far.
I'm still not upgrading from my iPhone 14 Pro Max to the latest, Using a Nikon 3400 in addition and I'm fine. I move my raw photos to ON1's 2025 Photo Raw which in my opinion is a better option than Photoshop/Lightroom.
Pixel peeping is always a risky operation because in the end, who would crop a photo to 10% of its original size? I think the R5 is the winner although I have some reserves about that. Why? Because the iPhone was not technically attached to the tripod, thus potentially inducing blur or camera shake. All in all, I think the iPhone has the benefit of getting superb photos without a tripod and the hassle of carrying some serious gear. Finally, as you mentioned it, most people (and I mean more than 90% of them) won’t be able to see the difference between the two technologies. To conclude, I think smartphones (the high end ones) are now matching DSLRs in the wide angle short telephoto areas. Of course, shooting birds in flight (long telephoto) is still out of reach for smartphones. A night photography comparison would also be interesting.
I am a bit confused by the low-light phone images. They look like they have had Apple's "noise reduction" process added to them, but they are DNG files. The only DNG files I can get with my iPhone are shot using Lightroom Mobile, and while they are VERY noisy, they don't have that Apple smeary mess "noise reduction" wrecking them. What are we looking at here in this video? Is THIS "Apple RAW," which is not really RAW?
Great video! Super interesting for a first time iPhone pro owner (16 pro) But… I thought it was unfair to compare R5 sturdy on a tripod with handheld iPhone photos! So.. I don't trust that analysis 100% Besides that.. I enjoyed every second 🥰 (Oh.. also subjective feedback from an almost 60yo viewer. For ME you talk a bit too fast. Most of the video I watched on 75% speed, even though the audio was bit distorted. This kind of video is SO interesting, and SO well made.. please do not be afraid of boring the viewers / having to rush the commentary. For ME I would have enjoyed it even more if you took your time ☺️) Thank You‼️ 🙏👍☺️
iPhone 16 Pro RESULTS!
📸 Grab REEFLEX’s new Super Telephoto 240MM Lens at an exclusive 15% OFF: reeflexstore.com/discount/ARMITAGE15
If you're interested in getting better at phone photography be sure to check out my video with 10+ helpful tips: ruclips.net/video/Bmn_GI4xZBQ/видео.html
Test 1 (Ultra-Wide Landscape): A - 16 Pro, B- 15 Pro, C - R5
Test 2 (Sunset & Blue Hour): A - R5, B- 16 Pro
Test 3: Goodluck!
Test 4 (Macro): A - 15 Pro, B- R5, C - 16 Pro
This is what camera reviews should strive to be. So valuable and actually tested by a pro! Thanks 🎉
The lengths you went to to make sure everything was framed and edited the same way is absolutely astounding and very much appreciated. The amount of “comparisons” using completely different, unrelated images is ridiculous and you went the extra mile to make sure every example was as similar, and therefore, easier to compare, as possible. Subscribed!
thank you :)
I also subscribed because of this. I currently use a Huawei P30 Pro which is been a good phone for travel photography esp sunsets. I'm wanting to upgrade my camera and also do some video work - lots of opportunties now that I have retired to Thailand.
Just returned from 2 weeks in China with IPhone 16 Pro set to ProRaw 48MP and JPEG-XL Lossy for 95% of shots, processed in Lightroom. Blown away that I no longer have to carry around my Olympus EM1 and 3 lenses, and instead carry around my DJI Mini 4 Pro drone. What an amazing setup to have with that degree of portability. Love the results I am getting. The main sensor is blows me away, and has so much capacity for cropping snapshots. Also totally love having the 5x zoom. Cannot stress enough the the difference between ProRaw and the default HEIF processed images. On the odd occasion I used HEIF in difficult conditions - e.g. panoramas, the results are quite unworkable in Lightroom. ProRaw in your pocket. is truly amazing.
Hope your brought more than two shirts!
Yes, you're right, I haven't used my Panasonic s5 for a long time now
im still need camera mirrorles.. for better bokeh and less noise :)
No value in iphone pics. They're oversharpend pixel mash. Nothing beats a full size sensor. 35x24mm
@@Ezrabastian agreed for difficult lighting and telephoto work but I have grown tired of lugging cameras and a bag of lenses around and I always have my phone with me. I like the challenge of trying to take interesting mobile phone photos and sharing with friends on social media
It's always very interesting to see real photographer review on a phone camera.
Even after youtube compression, and viewing very small images it was still very easy to tell what was cellphone and what was Canon. I couldn't really tell the difference between the cellphones. When you consider the horrible youtube compression and the size of the images, it did demonstrate to a point the very large difference in image quality. Honestly, the phones use exposure blending to accomplish their image, if you did the same thing with the camera the differences would be huge.
Agree. I was watching on an iPad (relatively small display) and could tell the difference between the phone and the proper camera every single time. That’s why I’ve stopped worrying about new phone cameras (my old one is still fine for simple snapshots). My FF camera will always be light years ahead anyway.
I love this series every year. It shows how power we have in our pockets.
When comparing the wideshots, wouldn't the aperture make a difference in how “clean” the image looks?? The iPhone was at f2.2 and the Canon was at f8. If the iPhone was also at f8 how would that compare in sharpness?
Great question! Two parts to the answer. iPhones cannot change their aperture. So this is the only option for aperture. Secondly, the aperture listed is misleading. Yes the aperture reads at f2.2 but this is for the tiny sensor of the iPhone. The equivalent aperture in practice on a 35mm sensor would be f13. You can input these conversions here: www.omnicalculator.com/other/crop-factor using the 1/2.5" sensor size.
Kinda confusing but basically theres plenty in focus for the iPhone!
24:50 I think you’ve failed to mention the difference in shutter speeds? Specifically 1/30 vs .8. Are there not a way to manually set shutter speed on iphone?
not sure what happened to my reply so Ill post it again. You can't change shutter speed when shooting in apple pro raw, sadly. Otherwise I would!
@ thx but still worth mentioning cause it probably would effect the details in the image?
Best iPhone camera test on RUclips! Thank you!
Thank you!
@@AlexArmitage You made me sell my expensive camera gear (R6 with bunch of old and new L-lenses), buy 14pro, skip 15 pro, and now get 16 pro! 😃 Super happy with all of it!
You’re right about the sharpening on the iPhone 15 Pro vs 16 Pro, but both are really stunning results, especially when you have sufficient light. The compression options are pretty amazing.
Would love to see comparisons between your R5 and the iPhone with the Reeflex lens.
Your last video was about the joy you had using the x100vi. How lovely it was to handle etc. The iPhone can catch up as much as it wants (and in reality there is some way to go) but does anyone really get joy from using a camera phone for photograhy over a real camera?
For some it’s all they might have!
My jaw dropped! You can't argue about enlarging photos. Most people look at photos on their mobile phones. Who prints them in A4 format or larger? 1 per mille of people? Probably even fewer. The photos are amazing (though you also have amazing scenery :) ). Hats off to the experts from iPhone development, and I'm not even an Apple fan :D
You just don't appreciate the art of photography. Stick with your phone camera.
@@EzrabastianSuch a snob. Pixels are everything to you. Haha.
I’ve been hearing about blue lines in the images at night on the 16 and that it is a known issue. Have you experienced this or heard any solutions. Debating on buying one for photo video. Thank you excellent video!
Thanks mate for the detailed comparison. I got a 16 pro recently, and was interesting to go through your video. And let me add that the iphone allows to cycle through the styles using the camera button already!
The funny thing is that RUclipsrs say that the iPhone has become at the level of professional cameras and they want to convince us of this, but they film their content with professional cameras whose price, with lenses, is several times higher to that of the telephone.
the majority of my videos are filmed on a camera that cost less an iphone from 3 years ago, including a lot of this video :)
There's always going to be increases in technology with better sensors and technology but the barrier to entry is smaller and smaller. Maybe you upgrade later but people don't need to invest thousands of dollars just to get started because the high-end is increasing at more marginal rates than the low-end.
@@AlexArmitagewhat is that camera model? :)
@@fitwithartin DJI P3!
@@AlexArmitageThe camera might be cheaper but the lenses you have to buy to add to it makes it more expensive
This is the best pro camera vs iphone review on youtube. Stunning in depth tests etc. This is the way. I was watching this video on a 65 inch OLED tv and couldn't tell the difference between iPhone 16 Pro Max and Canon R5. Of course R5 is 1000% better at low light for obvious reasons but in daylight iPhone is 97% as good as R5. PS: Well done, Alex! Thank You for doing this! Extra plus for Ben Howard song. He's an amazing songwriter.
Thanks so much Steve!
Quick question, why would you take the "same" image to later compare but not match the fstop? At 17:18 your video shows your Canon was shooting at f8 while your iphone 16 was shooting at f2.2. You can control f values on the iPhone 16 camera; was that an oversight?
You cannot control fstop on iPhones. Secondly the listed fstop of the iPhone is misleading. It’s technically f2.2 but because of math and the sensor size. The effective aperture is f6.3 I think (don’t quote me on the exact number)
I am confused; ok so what does the f stop camera control do in the new iPhones 16 pro and max? If I soft double press that button I get to adjust f stop. However regardless of the number I choose it makes no difference on the taken image. I thought that is how you could change it.
@@RodneyGracia Understandable confusion. That is software "aperture" that essentially fakes different focal values. It's all digital!
Hi Alex. Loved the video. Could you please tell me what cover or case are you using on your 16 pro and 15 pro max?
Two different brands. One is Reeflex, the other is linked in the video description I believe!
Wondering whether Apple can tweak the 16 Pro processing software to improve the detail and sharpness in the future.
Things you don`t capture cannot be improved.
Apple cannot tweak details out of nothing, there are reasons why the sensor of the real camera is almost a 100 times bigger.
Did you use a 8K or a 4K monitor? With a 8K monitor you might be able to see more details with Canon compared iPhone camera
Which shows how inconvenient it to use a “real camera“. You really need an 8K screen to see the difference? What a joke
27:48 what do you mean if we can see the difference? 16 pro is blurry as hell
Thanks!
thanks so much!
I just bought the 16 Pro Max and this video was very usefull. 🎉
I did a similar test with the raw formats... think I'll be leaving it on lossy from now on. Something I'd like to see is a video comparison vs what you use as your vlog cam (pocket3?). Now with apps like black magic having apple log in h.265, and the insta360 flow pro having tracking in 3rd party apps... it makes for a very compelling vlog camera. Or maybe a vlog b-cam?
Thank you for the great video. Is there a reason why the iPhone 16 Pro is in Ultrawide by far not so sharp than the 15 Pro Max? What do you think? Is the 48 MP Sensor really so much more bad then the old 12 MP?
Thanks for the thorough comparison! Any thought about the fact that - if I got it right - landscape shots were taken with the camera on the tripod while the phones were handheld? Even one on each hand, I believe, which would cause additional disadvantage for the one in your “wrong” hand. Also, the ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings were quite different for the same shot between the three cameras 🤔
i have a huge 4k oled , but only when it gets dark outside, can i see the difference between full frame sensor and iphone 16 pro
Thx. A really good comparison as to what to expect with iPhone 16 Pro and some lovely images besides. Did notice that with some of the lower light level shots, iPhone was using higher ISO and shorter exposures, and wonder how things may have compared with iPhone well mounted and allowed longer exposure and lower ISO. Another thing occurred to me, ridiculously for possibly the first time ever, as have kind of got used to just how phenomenal modern smart phone sensors and lenses are and take for granted. Look at the f stops on the iPhone images compared to the canon images. How often would you not stop down a D-SLR a little just to sharpen up some of the softness at full aperture. I wonder if smart phones will even have adjustable apertures. Now that would be a game changer.
Can’t control those things shooting in raw sadly.
Hi what case for your phone you are using that you can attach regular camera filters ?
I did a quick unscientific wide angle test with a 15 & 16 pro max. I was hoping to see improvements towards the edges but saw similar results. I guess physics might be a limiting factor.
Very interesting jpg info! I'm greedy and wanted all the data so I never experimented😂
After reading another comment about 3rd party apps not doing the apple processing (smearing apple sauce?), I feel like it might be worth some testing.
I was playing with my GFs 16 pro max yesterday, the new side button does the half press and swipe features. Her case makes it awkward to use.
Thanks for taking the time to put this video together. It's been informative and inspired me to do more experiments with our iPhones.👍👍
Can you make a similar comparison video for a landscape video? I found my iPhone's video looks good on my iPhone 13 but once imported to Premiere Pro (yes, I made sure it set to Rec 709) they look horrible. At the same time, my GoPro, in general, can balance the sky and foreground much better. I wonder if iPhone 16 improved the video or not. By the way, I almost know exactly where you were in this video. San Juan is my favorite area in Colorado. :)
Is the video you're recording in HDR on the iPhone? The video of 16 vs 14 pro won't be significant at all, if anything.
@@AlexArmitage I am just using the default setting of iPhone camera app.
@@pandaswife I believe this is why. If you're recording videos with default settings (HDR enabled) then the videos are in HDR and then when you put them on a timeline in Rec 709, its going to look bad. Try decreasing the exposure of the clips by -2 EV. This worked for me when I was using HDR clips
I can see that you put a lot of work into this video. It's interesting to see how good phone cameras are today. I've never used an iPhone but have a high end Samsung with similar capabilities. And it produce great results in a lot of situations. Low/difficult light though show the limitations and no EVF, no flip screen, no aperture control and generally horrible ergonomics are big minuses for me.
Was able to tell right away which one was from your canon. The color isnt the same and the quality is cleaner.
Great comparison and overall work with this video! One thing I noticed and the question I am asking myself is that the iPhone pictures were all shot with an open aperture (f1.6/1.8/2.2 etc) whereas on the canon you used f8 and higher. Why didn’t you use the same aperture settings on the iPhone and isn’t it naturally resulting in softer images when shooting with the lens wide open?
Can’t change the apertures on the iPhones.
@@AlexArmitage oh… I thought that that’s what the new camera button is for if you softly double click to enter and adjust more settings ..? At least I think I saw some videos where people were using it to set the aperture.
@@florianrohdan2685 That's software rendered aperture. It's technically fake. When you take images on the phone it captures a depth map and can produce the effect of out of focus areas as if you're shooting with a shallow depth of field, but its done in software. There's no way to adjust aperture physically.
Thanks for the explanation Alex. Good to know!
Came across your video while looking at iPhone 16 pro videos. Really really well done content! Keep it up, I know you’ll blow up soon enough. Cheers.
You weren’t kidding, that landscape is certainly beautiful. Man I want to visit there with my camera gear. 😍
I host a workshop every year! come join!
Interesting video - thanks. I've just bought an iPhone 16 Pro Max (from a 14 PM) and am enjoying using it.
Re. ProRAW file sizes: I take a lot of ProRAW images - most, in fact. I cull pretty hard in the phone, then having (on the Mac) "Export(ed) Unmodified Original" images and edited them in Lightroom, I then delete the original Raw images from Photos and import JPEG images exported from LR. I've still got the Raw files in LR (and they're comprehensively backed-up, both locally and to the cloud) and the smaller (file size) versions now in Photos are available for online social media, etc. Surely other people must do this.....
hey there,im learning to edit images in light room. one question , while exporting after editing in LR should i export in dng or jpeg. ? and what are your thoughts on JPEG xl lossy compression.? should i switch to lossy ?
@@adi_zero5882It depends on why you’re exporting. In my case, if I’m exporting for printing I’ll export the highest-quality file I can - a full-size jpg at least. But if it’s to post on social media I’ll export a reduced-size medium quality jpg.
Great review. Better than many that only complain about the camera not being good because they take pictures on lowlight situations.
I noticed that you shot the iPhone landscape at f 2.2 and r5 at f 8
Shouldn’t they be the same?
Can't change the aperture on phones. Secondly the equivalent aperture of the iPhone is much higher. More like f6.3 because of sensor size.
How is the iphone 16 pro battery ? Will it get you trough a whole day without charging it? I need atleast 12-14 hours of battery to get me trough my work.(have hard time to charge my phone due to my job)
No idea. Haven't daily driven it yet.
The pro max will get you through a day with normal use, but for heavy use with camera and video you might need a charge in the evening
Can you explain the best photography angles?
No
Alex, I dig your videos. Thank you for the time in putting this together! I am not a huge fan of Apple's computational processing that is done when utilizing the native camera app. This being said, it actually appears that the 16 Pro series phones have less over-sharpening and perhaps noise reduction built into the algorithm. Very interesting. I am also shooting more in Bayer RAW utilizing 3rd party apps such as Reeflex or Halide because of this. The softness you experienced on the iPhones (lack of detail relative to the Canon) could have been as a result of the built in noise removal in Apple's algorithm. In my experience, this processing tends to "gum up" some of the finer details of the image. I am finding that shooting in Bayer RAW, more details in the shadows and highlights are present compared to ProRaw. I will then edit using a linear profile specific to the camera lens. I think some noise can be our friend as details live in it. BTW, I am nowhere near a pro photographer. Just an iPhone photography fanatic. Thanks again and well done!
I try to stick to the default app for this comparison but typically shoot with a 3rd party app typically.
Alex, Amazingly thorough review! Really slick how you insert text/images/details you are referencing in your narration. So, have you ever compared how much detail a lower res FF model like a 24mp Canon R6ii delivers vs. your R5 vs. a iPhone file? I’m wondering how much fine detail we can see is due to the larger sensor size bs. The megapixel numbers.
There wouldn't be much of a difference.
Aaah! Welcome back to Colorado, Alex. I realize “home” may be Florida, or wherever you are at a given moment, really, but there’s something about you being back here in our amazing state that makes me happy. Time to dig into your video and see if it’s finally time for me to upgrade from my 13 pro. lol. Cheers!
Thanks Andrew!
Interesting approach. I'd love to see comparable camera settings next time. 1/640s at F 1.8 and ISO-80 vs 1/60s at F 8.0 and ISO-100 is way off even with a tripod and an external shutter release. I know that phone cameras evolved pretty much in the last years and I also love to use my 13promax for content, but please make these settings more comparable. If you start cropping, the phone camera will be outmatched at all time, especially macro. Regarding the noise visible in the last picture, it would be interesting to see the unprocessed Iphone picture, since all pictures get reworked by the phone (which produces artifacts).
There’s literally no way to match the settings.
Wow, fantastic review Alex and great findings. This is how reviews should be conducted.
I really appreciate the kind words!
I believe a remote source camera button for the phones would help as it would reduce any shake...
Great work, you went to a lot of effort. I have a R6Mk & just got a 14-35 lens, great to see what it can do. Also have iPhone 15pro. Thank you & just subscribed.
Great video man! Glad to see your channel growing! Well deserved! Question: at the end of your video you mentioned that the ultra wide (iphone), is not the best glass for nightscape photography... why is that? 🤔 Because when using a regular mirrorless usually we use the 16 mm which is kind of ultra wide and wider than a '16 mm" thanks! cheers!
That statement was more about the performance of night mode using the ultra wide, not that the focal length is bad. My preference for nightscape is ultra-wide. It's just the low light performance of that camera (because of its aperture/sensor size) just isn't good
@@AlexArmitage ahhh got it, cheers!
How long did it take you to edit this video? Mesmerized with the quality and detail you put on your work. What a perfectionist!
probably an entire week
@@AlexArmitage😮
I concur, your results were pretty incredible. Thanks for the comparison.
Camera C isn't as blurry sometimes and it's really notable. Hopefully the other camera makers realize resolution matters... and hopefully Google and Apple can figure out that larger sensors would give them a massive advantage, and that yes, you can get a 1" class sensor in a smartphone like other phone makes have been doing for over a decade.
watching on iPad Pro. Absolutely indistinguishable.
There’s plenty of RUclips compression :) I’m sure if you downloaded the actual raw uncompressed images there would be plenty of differences, including the soft edges of iPhone pictures that he mentions quite a bit 🙂
The colour grading here is top tier! I like it fresh and natural!
On the landscape photos I could clearly see which photos were the real camera.
21:39 I agree. I don't even have to look at the actual image files to see this looks better. But I'm watching on a 1440P monitor.
23:52 Even here I can clearly tell which is the phone and which is the camera.
Always a pleasure to watch one of your videos!
Interesting… I just purchased a 16 pro max to get a better camera (previously owned an xs). I’m off to the lofoten islands in Norway in a couple of months and was hoping to use that as a daytime walk about camera instead of bringing my Sony a7iv plus lenses to capture the stunning landscapes. The weather in the uk is dull and grey right now, so not had any real chances to test the new iPhone. I’ll still bring the Sony alpha for night shots and hopefully aurora, as no phone can ever match the low light capability
I’m curious about dynamic range, that’s why raw format mostly used, not for sharpness and details, which play in the lens not in sensor 😊
Thank you for the detailed and very helpful test!
Glad you found it helpful!
@1:35, that's not Cathedral Rock, its Chimney Rock. There is a Cathedral Peak there (a 14er), though.
Correct! I misspoke on that take and corrected it later on a much worse take haha :)
as a hobbiest photographer, my phone became much more important when my camera was stolen. Looking at replacing it eventually but for now the phone is like my life line for my gigs.
As an Apple fanboy, all I gotta say is the best part about the iPhone cameras is the fact that the iPhone isn’t just a camera. Like yes, the iPhone camera isn’t the best but the iPhone isn’t just a camera. It’s a phone. I’ve upgraded every year to a new flagship iPhone, and every year I get to use the best cameras from Apple in that year. The cameras were awesome but I find most use with just using the phone as a phone like browsing, watching videos like this one taking, calls, messaging, and everything else. So while they’re better cameras out there that are dedicated cameras, they aren’t as portable or as versatile as a phone would be in your daily life. I also would say iPhones are most likely cheaper than your dedicated cameras.😅😊
At the end of the section where you compare jpeg xl with the other compression format you said it means you’ll be able to shoot in RAW more often, but these aren’t RAW files - I checked - they are jpeg files
raw files can use jpeg (or other types) of compression. Apple uses some type of jpeg for all it's raw formats.
@ that is so confusing 😂 I guess for best possible results I’m best using “JPEG Lossless”. I’d be interested to compare that with the two JPEG-XL formats
Great stuff Alex! Shot the Northern Lights for my first time. I was using my Z8 and it did great! I also snapped a few on IPhone 15 to immediately send to my wife! Very impressive stuff! Thanks for taking me along!
Went to silver jack reservoir late summer this year and it was such a beautiful area. Got a cool picture of courthouse mountain too. Love your landscapes!
Thank you Thank you for this video. Really appreciated the level of detail and comparison across lighting conditions and the main and wide lens.
I appreciate you checking it out!
it's nice to see another dude with the desert titanium iphone 16. I just bought one last week and i've been on the fence about exchanging it for a different color but with the Moment case + lenses, it covers it quite a bit so i think I’m going to keep it.
It is a good color.
That the R5 beats the Iphone 16 in it's own game isn't really surprising, I guess there is a reason for why the Iphone does not come with a tripod mount... Though I would be interested in seeing some kind comparison of the types of photos and the feel of shooting with different kind of cameras. Like Iphone 16 pro vs the X100VI vs the R5. Rather than having one emulating the other, let them stand on their own and see how the facilitate creativity in different ways.
If you ever find a way to remotely trigger a camera and an iPhone so the shots are in sync I would love to know.
It is similar to video codecs like H.264 file size is bigger than HEVC/H.265 but the latter is always better in details and colour range.
I was thinking to buy a iphone16. Now i know that I dont want it thanx to you. Il continue using my dedicated camera and my phone to call with. Thank you for youre effort 😊
Wow, I truly admire your editing skills. Specifically if it comes to the colour matching. That's pretty awesome. Thanks for the jpgxl images for pixel peeping. Q: Why are they in DNG format? JPG XL has normally .jxl as file extension - at least if exported by ACR.
It’s just a container. It’s wrapped in a dng
Excellent video, I found it very useful to learn this as someone looking at upgrading from the 14pro to the 16pro they’re both impressive. If mine wasn’t a business phone i’m not sure i’d upgrade for the camera alone. I was impressed by your images on all sensors. Thank you for going into such detail. AI, wonder what that will bring to the 16pro. I do shoot on Mirrorless too but don’t always have it to hand. The tripod will certainly make a difference to sharpness, but nevertheless, impressive tech. 👏
You should try OM-1 MK2 with 8-25 f/4 pro.
15 Pro pix look better than the 16 Pro pix to me. Sharper even when zoomed in at 2x more than 16 Pro.
If you only do super wide angle photos with deep dof its not that hard for a phone and proper camera to look very similar. Do something like action or run'n'gun event photograpy with not ideal lighting and the phone starts to struggle very quickly. can't beat a apsc or fullframe sensor with a fast zoom or prime
Very interesting, surprising and well presented
Thank you for bringing Ben Howard into my life! ♥
The camera control button is just a fancy finger print sensor
The sensor size difference between an iPhone and a camera is incompatible when it comes to picture quality, particularly in enlargement results.
check out my print video from past years!
❤amazing. This taught me so so SO much. Thank you so much taking such painstaking time doing AND producing photos and a video that had to have taken a lot of work.
An amazing vídeo! What's hurts me most about my iPhone 13 Pro Max photography is amount of sharpening that the phone applies!
I really don’t get the hate on sharpening. Overall and in general, people prefer a sharper image.
Я так и не понял какой айфон лучше 15 про или 16 про?
16 Pro ;)
That main camera on the iPhone is quite amazing. Wouldn’t have believed this 10 years ago.
Apple could introduce jpegXL to older iPhones. It seems as though the primary difference is the result of software rather than hardware. Similarly to what was done last year. Predicting the same trend continues for the 17 onward.
you're not wrong
excellent comparison except that you completely ignore the 5x Tele lens and i was very much interested to see the results from that lens cuz otherwise, this could have been the comparison bw Canon and iphone 16 non-pro! anyway, I hope for the future comparisons you do consider comparing all the lenses available on Iphone 👏🙌
I’ll do the tele when they change the sensor :)
Nice work man! Definitely an eye opener on what is possible.
Greetings from Europe, great video. I think you would be the best youtuber to do a comparison between the Vivo x200 pro and the Canon R5, from what I've seen it's the best camera on a phone so far.
Great Review! and awesome production of your videos
Comprehensive and super interesting!
Glad it was interesting Stu!
I'm still not upgrading from my iPhone 14 Pro Max to the latest, Using a Nikon 3400 in addition and I'm fine. I move my raw photos to ON1's 2025 Photo Raw which in my opinion is a better option than Photoshop/Lightroom.
Has basic image quality gone up from the 14Pro to the 15Pro to the 16Pro? In other words, which of those would you pick for your backpack camera?
I'd say if you still have a 14pro to stick with it.
Not you apologizing for the bird noise 😭😭 I LOOOOOVE this 🐦
Hah. It was much louder in person!
Pixel peeping is always a risky operation because in the end, who would crop a photo to 10% of its original size? I think the R5 is the winner although I have some reserves about that. Why? Because the iPhone was not technically attached to the tripod, thus potentially inducing blur or camera shake. All in all, I think the iPhone has the benefit of getting superb photos without a tripod and the hassle of carrying some serious gear. Finally, as you mentioned it, most people (and I mean more than 90% of them) won’t be able to see the difference between the two technologies. To conclude, I think smartphones (the high end ones) are now matching DSLRs in the wide angle short telephoto areas. Of course, shooting birds in flight (long telephoto) is still out of reach for smartphones. A night photography comparison would also be interesting.
I have the 16 pro max, what is the "secret" upgrade?
JPEG-XL Lossless and JPEG-XL Lossy formats for RAW shooting: 1/2 to 1/4 the file size with equivalent or better quality
I am a bit confused by the low-light phone images. They look like they have had Apple's "noise reduction" process added to them, but they are DNG files. The only DNG files I can get with my iPhone are shot using Lightroom Mobile, and while they are VERY noisy, they don't have that Apple smeary mess "noise reduction" wrecking them. What are we looking at here in this video? Is THIS "Apple RAW," which is not really RAW?
Apple Raw or ProRaws have noise reduction, even as dngs
I'd love to see review from this guy comparing the pixel 9 pro vs the iphone, and maybe some other flagship phones and the canon r5
Talking about quality image, resolution charts are the standard way to do it.
Just by comparing pictures is enough.
Just my personal opinion.
Great video!
Super interesting for a first time iPhone pro owner (16 pro)
But… I thought it was unfair to compare R5 sturdy on a tripod with handheld iPhone photos! So.. I don't trust that analysis 100%
Besides that.. I enjoyed every second 🥰
(Oh.. also subjective feedback from an almost 60yo viewer. For ME you talk a bit too fast. Most of the video I watched on 75% speed, even though the audio was bit distorted.
This kind of video is SO interesting, and SO well made.. please do not be afraid of boring the viewers / having to rush the commentary. For ME I would have enjoyed it even more if you took your time ☺️)
Thank You‼️ 🙏👍☺️