13 votes

The iPhone 12 Pro Max: Real pro photography

8 comments

  1. [7]
    MonkeyPants
    Link
    I'm amazed at how you almost have to pixel peep the night photos to see an improvement from 11 to 12. I think what people need now is a camera that helps you take better photos. A camera that...

    I'm amazed at how you almost have to pixel peep the night photos to see an improvement from 11 to 12.

    I think what people need now is a camera that helps you take better photos. A camera that reminds them to hold the phone level, change the elevation, simplify the background, and suggests a really bad dad joke to tell the subjects.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      For a time the Google Camera reminded people to hold their phones horizontally. I'm not sure if it still does, but it was a nice feature.

      For a time the Google Camera reminded people to hold their phones horizontally. I'm not sure if it still does, but it was a nice feature.

      4 votes
      1. 0d_billie
        Link Parent
        Mine still comes up with a "spirit level" when taking horizontal photos, which I quite like. If you're taking selfies it reminds you to hold the phone higher for a better angle, and prompts you to...

        Mine still comes up with a "spirit level" when taking horizontal photos, which I quite like. If you're taking selfies it reminds you to hold the phone higher for a better angle, and prompts you to try night sight and portrait mode when it thinks you need it. It's pretty slick.

        3 votes
    2. [4]
      mat
      Link Parent
      I thought the night images really stood out a lot as being different. The daytime shots, not so much. I agree that computational photography has a way to go, but it is progressing pretty quickly...

      I thought the night images really stood out a lot as being different. The daytime shots, not so much.

      I agree that computational photography has a way to go, but it is progressing pretty quickly at the moment. Software DoF effects are pretty good now, that makes even fairly crappy snaps look pretty good in a lot of situations. It's not as good as actual DoF but you can't fight the physics of light and get good DoF from tiny lenses.

      Automated processing of colour, contrast, exposure and so on is good enough that I hit 'auto' on my image edits about half the time (but it's more than good enough for most people now). I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see automated rotation and cropping show up fairly soon, that seems like it ought to be a relatively easy problem to solve.

      It would be nice to be able to just kinda wave your camera in the vague direction of the subject and have it frame the perfect shot. Google's camera app does kind of do that - if it detects motion, it will grab a bunch of frames and then pick the one it thinks is best. You can go back and choose a different frame if you want but to be honest it nails it most of the time. It's a little creepy.

      Google Assistant will, I'm told, tell you dad jokes if you ask. I never ask.

      4 votes
      1. MonkeyPants
        Link Parent
        The review has one pixel peeking photo comparing 12 pro with 12 pro max from AustinMann with night mode on. The photo that compares Night Mode on iPhone 12 Pro Max with an unsteady iPhone 12 Pro...

        The review has one pixel peeking photo comparing 12 pro with 12 pro max from AustinMann with night mode on. The photo that compares Night Mode on iPhone 12 Pro Max with an unsteady iPhone 12 Pro RAW, and an unsteady iPhone 12 Pro Max RAW... yeah, I don't take RAWs with my actual camera.

        There is a seperate set of photos on GSMarena that show the 11 vs the 12 both with nightmode on. The 12 pro max has better dynamic range if you compare it closely to other options, but I could not look at a night time photo and confidently tell you if it came from a 12 pro max or not.

        BTW, I love the idea of waving my phone in the general direction of a subject and having it frame the photo for me.

        4 votes
      2. [2]
        Greg
        Link Parent
        I noticed just in the last few days that Google Photos has added that, where I'm pretty certain it didn't exist before - admittedly it then made a bit of a mess of my carefully-angled photo that...

        I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see automated rotation and cropping show up fairly soon, that seems like it ought to be a relatively easy problem to solve.

        I noticed just in the last few days that Google Photos has added that, where I'm pretty certain it didn't exist before - admittedly it then made a bit of a mess of my carefully-angled photo that I'd been trying to frame into a nice neat square, but the option exists!

        1 vote
        1. mat
          Link Parent
          Interesting. I noticed yesterday that Photos was telling me it had an update, I let it do that, had a look and yeah, on certain photos an 'auto' button does appear in the crop/rotate screen. Neat.

          Interesting. I noticed yesterday that Photos was telling me it had an update, I let it do that, had a look and yeah, on certain photos an 'auto' button does appear in the crop/rotate screen. Neat.

          1 vote
  2. nothis
    Link
    Modern smartphone cameras are pure magic, I think they generally don't receive enough awe. That Pro Max stuff is outside my price range but these things tend to creep their way into lower end...

    Modern smartphone cameras are pure magic, I think they generally don't receive enough awe. That Pro Max stuff is outside my price range but these things tend to creep their way into lower end models over time so it's exciting what photos my smartphone will be able to shoot 5 years from now.

    6 votes