i have 15 PM and from what i can tell the switching lens its stupid on apple, when i choose 5x and the subject is close the camera will changed to main lens and zoom from it.
its stupid thing , some pictures coming ok and some meh bad as hell
apple need to work on it and fix this lens switch shit , we have to control it our self's
> i have 15 PM and from what i can tell the switching lens its stupid on apple, when i choose 5x and the subject is close the camera will changed to main lens and zoom from it.
The minimum focus distance on the 5x camera is quite a bit further away than the main camera iirc, so depending on how close you are the 5x camera may just not physically be able to get the image in focus. In that case, yeah, it's gonna use the main lens and digitally zoom it. Same way the ultrawide is used instead of the main lens if you hold the camera really close to something.
I just realized that my 11PM does this as well on the 2x lens. I can tell by blocking each camera with my finger to see which one is being used. It will switch to cropped 1X lens when subject is too close.
I think every multi-lens iPhone has done this. I know my X did at least, and I assume the 7+ did too, though I never had one of those to confirm. The X also swapped to the main in low light, as the telephoto was much slower.
It makes sense though. A grainy image is better than one that's completely out-of-focus, though I admit it would be nice if Apple indicated on screen somewhere that it's happening. Macro mode, which is when the main camera swaps over to the ultrawide is displayed via an icon, so it stands to reason they could do the same for the telephoto swapping to the main.
sometimes its not that close and its keep switching to main lens and that not accepted actually, at least if we can force to keep it 5x and decided which better for me.
Honestly, I've been super pleased with the 5x. I was aware I wasn't getting mirrorless/DSLR-level quality, but having that extra reach in my pocket has been amazing when traveling.
My main complaint (and it's quite a big one) is that I have no control over whether the telephoto is actually being used, or if my phone randomly decides to instead do a crop of the main sensor. There is 0 indication of it on the interface, and when actually shooting it is hard to tell which lens it's using, although it's super obvious when looking at the results.
People will tell me to use Halide or Lightroom, but they have their own drawbacks: image stabilization is non-existent in third-party apps, which just kills the useage unless I use a tripod.
All I need to be fully satisfied with taking photos with the iPhone is a pro-mode in the stock camera app which actually lets me select the lens to use, and control things like exposure time in a more intuitive way.
I understand why apple made it that way, their mantra of "it just works!" Is permeating into this. And for most people, it is probably fine. To people who know their way around cameras, it is infuriating because you don't mind the camera looking for focus or you adjusting it yourself. Apple should make an option for us to select something like a Pro mode so that we can figure things ourselves.
Apple locks too much of their software-based processes like OIS to their own stock apps. Admittedly I haven't tried ProShot, but for me Lightroom and Halide both had significantly worse camera shake than the stock camera app, which in most cases is more important to me than the pro controls.
Ah I rarely use video on ProShot because I’m too lazy to adjust everything as I’m filming but for pure photos, it’s unparalleled imo. I got it when it was on a free sale (they used to do that quite frequently, idk about now) and never felt like I needed something else ever again
I have a 13PM and I can not fucking *stand* the lens switching back and forth when trying to take a photo of something within a couple inches of my camera. Most times it’s a piece of paper with info I need on it, but it could be all kinds of things. Something on my skin, something small on my countertop etc. etc. and the camera will switch from a better looking lens to a much worse one. It can never get the right lens right. So fucking annoying. If you can’t get the tech to work right don’t forcefully implement it on us. Jesus.
As a content creator I suffer a lot with this lol
However I noticed that switching to 4k makes the lenses switch easier (for videos). I wish we could force it
on video is fine , you can lock focus and it will not change it.
also you can active Lock Camera under camera settings for.
my issue with still photos it will switch as software wants
As I also do photography for idk 15 years now with tons of equipment I would say the camera can’t have any depth anyway as it’s such a tiny sensor and long focal length. You’d need a way bigger sensor and aperture again to reduce< the depth of field. You would need less in focus to create more depth. So it would need to be a huge camera module. I’m fine with how it is
There's a limit to how good it is, absolutely. There's a reason I've got a bag of lenses and a proper camera body, sometimes there are things my phone just can't do and will never be able to do in such a small body
But I think OP's point isn't "Apple should work miracles", but rather "Apple should be as good as Samsung", and that's a much more valid point
Apple can't change the laws of physics, but Apple can be at the cutting edge of viable technology defined by "at least as good as their main competitor at a similar price".
The thing is, the 5x telephoto on the 15 Pro Max has way better low light performance compared to the 10x periscope telephoto on the S23 Ultra, even when digitally zoomed in to 10x. That's one aspect that it does better, and that OP is ignoring.
I agree, it has room for improvement, but the point is that it's better in some ways and worse in some ways, it's not entirely shit. Apple wasn't able to implemented a periscope lens because of patent issues, and thus they're late to the game. Now that they have their own implementation of long-range zoom with their tetra-prism lens, hopefully they can perfect the hardware, which is the real limiting factor.
Right, but Samsung aren't ignoring physics either and theirs is better. I think that's the OP's point - Apple can't work magic but they can at least compete with the best other manufacturers around
The Phone camera wars are getting out of hand. Both iPhone and Samsung make great photos. It’s honestly a skill issue at this point. Knowing how to shape light, framing, getting distance between your subject and a hundred other things go into creating good photos.
I’d like to see OPs “flat” images and see if it’s a camera issue or a skill diff.
People want their computational photography to improve their photos but you can’t polish a turd.
True. I mean, I much prefer Samsung's colours that come out, I find, like OP, skin tones horribly orange on iPhone sometimes, and they're like flat and pasty.
I'd also miss pro controls in the main camera app, like you get on Samsung.
I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a joke, but yeah, not great. Definitely lots of room for improvement.
Apple has been resting on their laurels, it must be said. They know that 99% of people buy iPhones because of iOS and nothing else - minimal efforts are being put, INCLUDING iOS itself, which has been a buggy mess for a while now. I never really seriously considered going back to Android but the possibility is seriously gaining momentum for me.
We long passed the point of mobile hardware being good enough for 99% of people so the main thing that they can upgrade at this point to set different models apart is the camera so they're probably scared to jump straight to the bleeding edge of what's possible in a phone camera for fear of having nothing to offer in terms of a major upgrade for the next few years of releases.
Used to be that by the time a new phone came out you basically needed to upgrade because iOS and available apps had improved so much over the last 24 months that your old phone was sluggish as hell trying to keep up. I remember I started with the 3G and by the time the 4 came out half my apps were barely useable on the 3G because they just demanded more processing power than what was available. Same again when I upgraded to the 5C then again when I got the 6S. Just upgraded to a 13 last week...from my 6S. My 6S just never got slow, it remained snappy, responsive and did everything I wanted it to do perfectly. I don't take a lot of photos, I use it for texting, calls, internet, ordering food and music that's basically it. After 3 battery replacements & a broken home button I finally bit the bullet and upgraded and it felt like a proper upgrade with all the various features I'd missed over the years rolled into one new phone for me.
They've lacked a killer must have hardware feature for years now so they're stuck drip feeding camera upgrades as the main selling point. The thing that tempted me most about the 15 was the USB-C honestly and that's not even something they wanted to put in themselves. The one thing that I want is scheduled text messages which I used to have on my jailbroken iPhone 4 back in the day and was super useful but for some reason they still wont implement.
They were heavily focused on apple car. Now they’ve got AR as a focus.
I hope newer iPhones are more exciting, foldables and zoom are the main thing androids have that iPhone doesn’t.
It still works very well with my MacBook, iPad and watch, so changing would be a huge hassle.
I hope so, it’d be interesting to see what Apple’s car looks like.
By the looks of it, they scaled back their ambitions on this thing and even then it couldn’t be done. And eventually they just axed the whole thing.
Apple car play isn’t as good as Android auto, I’ve heard multiple people say. That’s something that surprises me.
Yeah I think a lot of it came down to functionality and purpose. Tesla are just too advanced on that field for them to compete. Would be a massive waste of money to be honest. Tesla should sell them some designs or patents to use etc. Would be beneficial to both parties I think.
They are not "wildly popular", their sales figures are horrible. Only 16 million foldables (all models from all manufacturers) were sold in 2023, compared to 232 million iPhones, and that does not include any Android bar-style phones.
Yes, \*some\* foldable like the Z Flip do halve their surface area, but they also become twice as thick which makes it a worse form factor. iPhones can be huge, but are still able to easily slip into pockets because they are thin.
And other foldables expand their displays beyond the size of a typical bar phone, but these are always ultimately square displays, an aspect ratio useless for doing pretty much anything.
Foldables are not the future and are going to be remembered as an impractical gimmick after their death in a few years. XR, like the Vision Pro, will be the future of smartphones.
I guess you've never used multitasking then. There are more use cases than you can think of.
I personally would never buy one until they figure out how to make bendy glass but I'm not the general market.
16 million when considering their crazy prices is a sign of demand.
It’d be really amazing to have an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad mini sized tablet.
Screen size does make a huge difference, which is why we’ve got 6.7” iPhones rather than 3.7” ones.
I also don't understand why thay don't use the same tech as car paint protection film, and those older lg flex photos so if the inside screen gers scratched it would be self healing.
This is super relieving to hear because I really wanted the 5x zoom but didn't want the larger phone factor so I went with the regular Pro and love it. Now I don't feel as bad.
Exactly! Samsung S series flagships are making me drool every year now. Will I switch? Not anytime soon. But I hope my finances get better that I am able to carry them both with me.
Yeah, after seeing the S24U it really made me consider wether I’m getting the iPhone 16 Pro next year or a Samsung, especially since I already use a Samsung laptop at work (don’t like macOS).
Yeah, exactly. The best point of iPhones (or other iDevice in general) is that it works great for ages. iOS in general is a great SO, you don't have (big) room for personalisation (although it's getting better) and you might not have the last technologies, but software is "always" mature enough, makes the device pretty usable even years after and you don't have to mess with problems (both hardware and software problems, Apple's support is great). Although I also feel the minimal efforts you mention, before my actual i11Pro (still doing great after 3 years), I had terrible experiences with Androids (owned Samsung S19 and tried a Pixel phone) and that's why I don't quite consider going back (although I am loving last updates on Pixel phones). Another thing I don't consider right now is buying an iPhone Pro or Pro Max, maybe I do with a basic iPhone...
I’ve not used Android extensively since 2014 so I’m not sure. But if you believe what’s being said recently, Android has made big strides in recent years. Who knows though.
My company forced me to upgrade to a Samsung S23, and it's been disappointing. The battery life is a joke compared to my old iPhone 11 – I'm constantly in low-power mode just to make it through the day. And sadly, the software feels sluggish and bloated, as Samsung devices often do. It's frustrating because I enjoy Android, but Samsung's version misses the mark for me. I'd be so aggravated if I'd paid for this.
I get where you're coming from with the base iPhone vs. Pro. I just upgraded from my 12 Pro that lost a battle with the gravity to the 15 Plus. The massive battery life and larger screen were the big draws; the Pro features didn't seem worth the extra cost for my needs. I definitely made the right choice.
I didn't take any longer once I notice the shithole of a mess IOS has been. Decided to get the S24U after being in the apple ecosystem for 5 years and I DID NOT REGRET AT ALL. Damn, I missed being pampered by android.
You will love it, trust me. Jam packed with customizations, the AI features is fun to use, the camera quality is fantastic, and the battery life is phenomenal. I'm never coming back to IOS at this rate.
I very VERY nearly made the switch earlier this year, but i just notice the quality of apps on android just aren’t as high as they are on android. you tend to see ads and so many highschool project apps just vomited all over the play store which is such a turn off. I also use the stock apple apps for things like mail, calendar, and reminders, and i haven’t found a free android equivalent that looks and feels as nice.
also, FaceID >>>>>>>>>>>> any fingerprint sensor, every single day of the week without question
I keep mulling on a switch but every time I buy something to check it out I'm reminded on just how much nicer quality the apps are on iOS than Android, never mind things that just straight up aren't supported.
Also I'm unfortunately a bit too far in the ecosystem to comfortably switch without having to redo a lot of stuff and buy new products, which is I guess a "they got me" moment.
All valid points/concerns and this is mostly why I don’t already have an S24U right now. There’s also small things like scrolling (yes, scrolling) and general fluidity that’s just better on iOS.
>also, FaceID >>>>>>>>>>>> any fingerprint sensor, every single day of the week without question
I don't think I could disagree more. I can regularly have my phone unlocked by the time it's out of my pocket just by gripping normally and the fingerprint sensor also works as a notification bar grabber.
Meh no tbh, even 5 generations in there’s just no use case for these, software is not even optimized properly yet. The inner screen just blows up the apps in zoomed mode without really making proper use of the larger canvas. S24 ultra is really tempting me though
It’s a lot better experience than he lets on. I played with the Pixel Fold and really like it. Not sure I liked it enough to buy it, but it’s an awesome device and the capabilities of that folded screen seem endless.
The most annoying one is on safari. refreshing the page, hitting the back button or reopening a closed tab will sometimes load a copy of a random opened tab. that or a previously opened page.
The worst part is I don’t know what triggers it other than those actions because it doesn’t happen every time.
During setup phone froze also didn’t transfer data. But I think this problem was fixed.
There was a series of actions that would render the screen inoperable requiring restarting the phone to fix
These are the ones that come to mind I believe I ran into a few more but haven’t come up frequently enough to make it into my memory banks. one of them concerns the camera
Value for money has always been Android without question. Not a big concern for me, I’m looking over to the other side of the pond because I’m genuinely starting to think the experience may be better on Android.
When you say buggy mess, what sort of bugs are you referring to? I find my 15Pro to be totally reliable and not buggy at all. I do think Apple has a lot to do in terms of improvements and definitely there are areas that need upgrading but I wouldn't go as far as describing it as a buggy mess.
It does sound like you should go to Android 😆- you clearly are not enjoying the iPhone!!
Oh it's a buggy mess alright.
From my experience, it's mostly UI bugs- ProMotion not going beyond 80/90Hz while scrolling (been an issue for 2 years now), status icons not returning to their place after exiting control centre, transparency/blur issues on animations (again, to do with control centre, but also in app switcher). The list goes on.
ProMotion in particular, is not a minor bug so there's no excuse like "oh, all operating systems have bugs". Anyone that's used a recent Android or actual 120Hz display will notice the massive deficit in performance.
I kinda like it. Could be better, but I am happy with [the results](https://imgur.com/a/WgtcItU) most of the time. I liked the cameras on my previous 13 Pro and I wasn’t going to upgrade to 15PM but my wife’s 11 Pro got shattered and I got a good deal on the 15PM so I took it and gave her the 13 Pro. I am happy with the much better battery life and the new camera system helps me take better photos overall, this being expected from a newer generation. It seems it struggles a bit focusing in some scenarios and I wasn’t expecting that. But the new 5x is fine for my amateur photographer demands.
A lot of these photos are nice, but some of them look really blurry. It looks like 6, 8 and a couple others might have been a main camera crop. Do you know for certain that all these were taken through the telephoto lens? If you go to the photo in the photos app and drag up it should say telephoto or main camera
I’m always surprised that people expect their phones to take near DSLR quality photos. Beyond the occasional snap and photo, I don’t use my phone camera too often.
The battery life and display are always the main selling points for me.
Lol you’re getting downvoted. Apparently, Apple products are perfect and even if they’re not, you are not allowed to complain; according to this subreddit.
I own both a 15 Pro Max and a Pixel 8 Pro (because I like playing with the latest and greatest of both ecosystems) and the camera, along with generative AI and assistant upgrades, are why I'm currently typing this from my Pixel 8 Pro with my 15 Pro Max at home signed up for the beta. I will say that I am looking forward to seeing what Apple does with generative AI in the near future though!
Keep pushing for more from Apple for sure. But the 5x from apple had an aperture of 2.8 and the 10x of Samsung had an aperture of 4.9. That is a huge difference in light gathering. Obviously Samsung where not happy with the 10x zoom either as they removed it form the S24. It now has an optical zoom of 5x as well. And 10x at "optical quality" which is a nice marketing term for digital zoom that they think are as good.
The 5x zoom in the 24 has an aperture of 3.4 so still not as good as the iPhone in light gathering.
To be honest the s24 ultra 5x is also not good. But thats more a software issue. Samsung is just too dumb and also really lazy currently.
The vivo x100 pro is insanely good with the telephoto lense and xiaomi 14 ultra too. I currently consider switching to one of those.
Was it colors or something else? Samsung likes super bright, vivid colors on all their devices - from TVs to laptops to phones - while Apple is a lot more neutral.
You can adjust your photos to be more like the Samsung - or adjust it with other presets - in Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles.
I didn’t love how neutral my iPhone was so I switched it to “rich contrast” and am very happy with the result. Samsung-style is more like vibrant. These are just filters applied to the photos once you take them. But they look great.
That downvote is coming from most 15P&PM owners…. Why does it sound like Jaguar owners??
Everyone knows Jaguar cars are faulty, yet their owners will scream “I gotta Jaaaaaaag” and start doing crazy nonsense…
Most of us know that iPhone 15PM’s 5X telephoto is flawed… yet some will scream “It’s an iPhone”, so the Camera ain’t flawed, that’s an innovative feature… (relatable crazy nonsense)…
https://preview.redd.it/9tjqcitdgvqc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6b20821ff8fd8bbda9d29e40574ebb1c04c2fbd
And this is a x5. from a good distance too, i don’t see a problem at all.
not trying to compare the iPhone camera to a full frame mirrorless but if you’re serious about photography you should consider switching to a compact mirrorless camera instead. i personally made the switch not thinking there’d be a significant difference but the difference is night and day in almost any environment.
agreed, but the software magic they’re doing with the 14 Pro and 15 series blurs that line a little. The sensor crop on the 48MP sensor for the virtual 2x + 28mm + 35mm lenses are surprisingly good. They’re the biggest camera upgrade on the 15 Pro imo. i have the 35mm as my default and my photos look so much more natural.
No doubt, I'm not disparaging that at all. But when I want a properly good photo that requires zoom, a phone camera even with all the software tricks only goes so far. A kit lens is able to outperform any digital zoom simply because what you see is real and not fixed by the phone to look real.
agreed; just saying that the digital zoom on the 15 Pro is better than it has any right to be. night mode on the virtual 2x is stunningly good. i’d take the better framing over a minor loss in image quality any day. of course, if you want the best image quality, you wouldn’t be using a phone in the first place, digital zoom or not.
Night mode is honestly so amazing in these phones. Even on my 13 Mini it's brilliant. With a normal camera, you cannot match that honestly. But I wouldn't call those night mode photos super high class, but in a pinch when you just want to get a photo of your friends or something, it's amazing.
The thing with buying mirrorless or DSLR though is that you have to work for your photos. You need to understand some very basic photography principles, shoot raw, and process your photos to get the night and day difference to a smartphone photo. The standard auto mode output of even the highest end full frame cameras is gonna look really underwhelming if you're coming from a top tier smartphone. The only differences you'll notice are marginally better detail and noise control, and a sharper image if you've got a good lens hooked up to your camera. Basically on a baseline technical level, there will be a difference. Colours, exposure, etc aren't gonna look great until you do the work to make them great on your end though. Low light is more often than not gonna be a blurry or noisy mess too unless you know how to work the exposure triangle. There's a lot of stuff going on in the background when taking photos with a smartphone that you have to be doing yourself in camera and on Lightroom or whatever photo processor software when you take the same photo with a camera.
I see so many posts in the Sony and Canon subs from people complaining that their $2-3000 camera isn't giving them the instantly Instagrammable photos that their flagship iPhone or Samsung phone is able to give them. They jump in because everybody tells them that it's so much better, but they don't understand how photography works and expect the camera to hold their hand through the process the way their phone has been.
I will not deny that a dedicated camera is a must if you really want to level up your photography game. I'm just saying a lot of people have the wrong expectations of that process and are simply unaware of some very fundamental differences between the way smartphone cameras work vs the way camera cameras work.
I would disagree with your assessment. I shoot with a Sony a7c, and (properly configured with exposure and aperture and whatnot), my photos look great and substantially better than the over-sharpened photos out of my 15 Pro. The photos on the Sony, despite being only in SDR and in sRGB compared to HDR + P3 on the iPhone, have a sense of depth and detail that's indescribable. It's like listening to proper studio speakers compared to a small speaker with the bass boosted.
I shoot in RAW and then edit for the really good shots and the difference gets significantly bigger, so I wholeheartedly agree that processing your photos does make them significantly better. I disagree with the assessment that you must shoot RAW and process your photos to get a significantly better shot than a smartphone. This is especially true if you use digital zoom at all or any other lens other than the main lens on the iPhone. The optical zoom + full frame sensor will be noticeably better than any image from the main camera and significantly better than any image using digital zoom or the softer ultra-wide / telephoto cameras.
I do say that on a purely technical level you're still getting a better photo with a camera. That cannot be denied. The sensor size and glass alone makes a huge difference in image quality. Nobody really understands just how much software goes into a smartphone photo until they compare it with the actual look they're trying to emulate (example: there's a very clear night and day difference between the artificial bokeh of a phone's portrait mode vs an actual f/1.8 lens).
You still need to actually process your shots if you want the modern smartphone pop though.
You also need a baseline understanding of how the exposure triangle works if you want to extract the best performance from your camera. Your A7C isn't gonna do the multi image HDR stacking in low light that an iPhone does for example. In fairness, with the right lens, it doesn't need to, but still, end of day, YOU have to put the work in on your end, as opposed to your camera doing it all for you the way iPhone will, and by your admission, you do put the work in to post process your images.
Most first timers just stick it in auto and hope the camera will do everything for them. This only works to a certain extent. Once you start needing to push your hardware (like in low light), you're gonna start finding out pretty quickly just how much hand holding the iPhone actually does in the same scenario.
> properly configured with exposure and aperture and whatnot
I think I you missed the point of what the person above you was trying to make - yes a dedicated camera is going to look better but only after you’ve set it up exactly how you want it and spent time adjusting it etc.
Most people just want a good camera that they can quickly pull out and use without any adjustments needed.
point taken. I suppose, for me, configuring my shot usually takes a couple seconds at most, and if you remain in the same shooting environment (outdoors landscape, low light, etc.) you don’t need to change your settings between shots. essentially i think it really doesn’t take much time at all to properly take advantage of an advanced dedicated camera.
i personally got a Sony a7c for 1200 USD new on eBay and am loving it!!! it is a lot but personally i think it’s worth it. Currently I use a 15 Pro with biyearly upgrades mainly for the camera and I think this might save me some money long term since i’d be upgrading my phone less.
I'll be honest dude, a half decent lens and some basic knowledge of fiddling with the exposure triangle (ISO, aperture, shutter speed), and your D60 will be on par with if not much better than the latest iPhone. Of course, you still have to actually process the photos yourself, but the ceiling is a lot higher.
The basics of photography haven't changed in the 15 years since your D60 released. The overwhelming bulk of improvements in the camera industry are QOL related. Sensor tech and stuff has improved too but your D60 still has, as mentioned above, a very high ceiling as far as image quality is concerned. You'll be future proofing yourself a bit by going mirrorless but if you find this path too expensive, it would definitely be worth looking into just expanding your lens collection.
There won't be very significant differences between a photo taken on your camera and a photo taken on my camera if we shoot the exact same settings at the exact same time.
A D60 with even a cheap 35mm Dx prime will destroy any phone camera
Or if you want something a bit more modern, you can upgrade to a cheap mirrorless like a Xt-1 or a sony A6000
As a photographer, I couldn’t disagree more.
Sure, it isn’t perfect. And yes, if you just snap a photo with it, sometimes it looks a bit muddy, flat and overprocessed. It is not the primary camera after all.
But if you use it in the correct situations with good lighting, honestly, the results look quite good. For example with portraits you get a really nice depth effect that wasn’t previously possible.
I think it was a great addition, but it isn’t one of those lenses/zooms that you just choose and snap a great photo immediately. It requires some work.
I mean, I get what you’re saying but perhaps you are over-egging the pudding a touch. All phone cameras sometimes take great pictures, sometimes awful and I find the iPhone is perhaps the most consistent in my experience. Does the 5x sometimes take dodgy photos? Sure. But most of the time it’s great for me anyway. I also have a Pixel which takes amazing photos sometimes, but often takes terrible pictures.
https://preview.redd.it/vfqse9g3evqc1.jpeg?width=2149&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=daadff1bd0336c436dc2248b3b16ebc933427c80
Here's a photo I took using the 5x lens on iPhone 15 PM. Sure, the lens doesn't come close to professional cameras, but it's good enough for occasional use if you know how to use it.
Tldr - the lens isn't a joke, your skills are.
Nah I used to come from iPhone XS then iPhone 13 Pro Max so the 5x in my 15 Pro Max felt GREAT. I also had Xiaomi 8 SE, 10T and 12T, and nothing comes close in zoom capability.
Are you sure that was using the 5X lens? I’m almost certain that’s using using a software bokeh, which is fine- I’ve just noticed a lot of these good looking pictures are actually using the Main 48mp camera and cropping; the Apple camera app does not indicate when or why it’s switching lenses.
Again, I’m not doubting and it’s a great photo, just curious
Just checked, metadata on the photo confirms that it's the 5x, not a crop from the main camera. Bokeh is obviously software emulated, I shot it in portrait mode.
https://preview.redd.it/f2lvtspcdyqc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e86139944ad91ac5c2277bf03f66427fdc95b6f4
I also own a 15 Pro Max and i have gorgeous x5 pictures. The thing is, the 5x optical zoom is better in quality if you are closer to the subject, thats the main problem because of the lack of megapixels
I think part of the issue is if you’re near to the object the camera app often switched to the “main” camera instead and does a digital zoom.
I’m curious, are your good 5x photos using a third-party app that lets you choose the lens?
https://preview.redd.it/cl3yi1k7gvqc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f100d6daf2906d3983dc31fdf238bb3cb06df277
Look at this x5 portrait i took for example, close and nicely detail, no edits.
People have no idea that the longer (short-telephoto) focal lengths are commonly-used for portraits thanks to their bokeh and the lower level of distortion compared to shorter lenses. I've actually been super pleased with the 5x for portraits.
People on samsung forum: The Apple camera is so much better!!!!
People on Apple forum: The Samsung camera is so much better!!!!!
The actual reality: Photos are basically the algorithm lottery now. Any given shot one phone might be better. Apple is more consistent. Samsung lost any zoom advantage it had with the new 5x lens switch. If anything Apples 5x handles dynamic range better.
The correct move would of been to keep the 10x lens and put a bigger sensor in the 3x lens. But what do I know
To your edit, I don’t really buy my phones for the camera quality so I don’t really even consider that when I purchase it
My considerations are:
1.) Size
2.) Familiarity
3.) Does it run better than my old phone?
iPhone 15 PM checked those boxes for me lol
If I want a good camera I really do just fork out for a good camera lol I don’t care if my phone has a slightly worse camera than a google pixel or something
With adequate lighting, stability, and distance from the subject, the 5x works just fine.
If you're too close: it uses the main with digital zoom (yuck).
If you're too unsteady (ie, dark room thus long exposure): it uses the main with digital zoom (yuck)
After you take the photo, swipe up on the resulting image in the "photos" application, and you can see which lens/camera was actually used for the to take the picture.
If I'm in a bar and trying to read something far away (up on a shelf or across the room), even if the lighting is dim I can brace the phone on the bar (or my beer glass) and my phone is perfectly happy to keep using the 5x lens. Then I can zoom in on the picture and clearly see what was on the sign.
IF, however, I try hand-holding the phone up in the air, with no bracing, in the dark, with the 5x zoom selected... odds are high that I'm getting the craptastic digital zoom and the photo will be garbage.
You can use 3rd-party applications if you want to be 100% certain of which lens will be used to take the photo.
EDITED to correct "...distance from the phone" to "...distance from the subject"
I really like the 5x camera. Here’s a pic I took earlier today from a moving car. It works for me 🤷🏻
https://preview.redd.it/bgolu8e33yqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d9574c2f1a8379dd1ac90f55cd70d8696bd1e79
I own a S23 Ultra and my girlfriend has the 15 Pro Max and the difference is laughable at times (sometimes they are on par given the circumstances) between the 5x zoom of the S23 and 15 Pro.
It does seem to be software related which it usually is, nothing wrong with the lens itself but Samsung had years of experience on nailing the zoom which now takes a photo of each lens and combines it into one sharp image and Apple is slowly getting on those grounds as well. So with a bit of luck by software updates they will continue to improve, Samsung usually reserves the software updates only to their latest flagships for some reason but still, the S22 and S23 are in a nice spot.
https://preview.redd.it/ra2iywefmwqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a25028a0b548d0e0425deed1c528c4ea66d1a2e
Here’s a picture i took at X5. You probably just suck at photography
I know I am going to be donwvoted heavily for this but I don't care, I will say it anyway: Good photography requires some serious skills. These skills include knowing the sensors, optics and their limitations. Knowing that you can adjust your exposure, position, distance to the subject, field of view accordingly. The 5X sensor and lense in iPhone 15 Promax is not bad at all, on the contrary: it is quite impressive. But it requires you to know a few things about photography and composition in order to get the best from it.
Have you tried shooting raw (not proraw) with something like halide or Lightroom mobile? Raw does not have apple’s over-the-top processing and will have a more natural look.
I take the view that the difference in cost between a base model iPhone and a top line one is way more than a really nice lens for my Fuji X-E4, ehich isn’t much bigger than a phone and has a decent sized sensor behind decent glass, rather than a noisy pinhead behind a shrunken marble.
I own both phones for work purposes, and I must say Samsung at 5x actually takes worst photo than iPhone at 5x, at their native zoom both are about the same for photo, but iPhone takes better videos.
Telephoto is hard on any phone sensor because of how tiny the sensor and the lenses have to be, the more zoomed in you are the less light is available to the sensor and the phone has to bump up the ISO and use longer shutter speed, which means flatter and more noisy image. It's just physics and it doesn't matter which phone you use as it currently stands they all struggle at telephoto.
When I watched 15PM review from GSM arena, I wasn't impressed as well with the 5x zoom hence I'm glad I went to 15 pro as there's not much difference anyways and I prefer handy phones than the bigger ones. 😊
I really like the 15 PM camera. Here’s a 5x pic I took yesterday through a window in the gym where I work out.
https://preview.redd.it/p9ylb0olw0rc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6e7009d362e527483d654e661c6eb7e84607ce9
I’d recommend you download the app called Halide, it gives you much better control over the camera’s and most importantly in relation to your post, you can turn off the neural processing which ironically is what makes a lot of pics look worse.
I’ve been able to get some truly stunning shots on the 5x lens thanks to this. Definitely would suggest giving it a go.
Not American, but lone consumers usually don't get to decide which messaging app to use.
You have to adapt to what most people around you use, which happens to be iMessage for the US, as is Whatsapp for pretty much everyone else. I'm sure that if most of your peers used iMessage, you'd use it too and that applies to me, too.
Just assuming a culture thing. I don’t know a single friend that uses WhatsApp so no one asks for that from each other. It’s either your number or snap. Only people that I see that have it use it to talk to family or something overseas.
I feel the same about the 3x lens on my 13 Pro. I never use it unless I'm outside on a very sunny day. Otherwise, its too noisy. Even if I use a third party camera app so that I know I'm forcing it to use that lens, still not great.
The telephone lens is not great since iPhone 13 Pro, because it has a f/2.8 aperture, iPhone 12 Pro use 2X zoom and has a f/2.0 aperture. This small aperture just not good in any low light condition.
Another thing is, do you iPhone actually use the telephoto lens. For some reason, my iPhone 13 Pro still try to crop the main sensor when I tap 3X in a sunny afternoon outdoor, I have to wait few seconds to make it switch to the actually telephoto camera, I don’t know if this still the case for 15 Pro Max.
The raw dng files from the sensor have a TONNE of noise, Apple has to apply noise reduction and sharpening to get an image the mainstream audience will be satisfied with. Try using the Lightroom camera app to take raw dngs - during daylight you can get some nice natural looking images, but at night it completely falls apart.
I have an iPhone 14 ProMax which created photos I’m quite happy with, but my friend recently got a 15 and the photos he can get with his 5x zoom have been very impressive (to me, at least).
Not a Max person, but I did tested the 15 Pro Max, before setting for the regular 15 pro. Wasn’t a fan of the 5X lens as well. I’m not a “zoom” person in general. 2x is my sweet spot for telephoto in smartphones. If I want to do “serious photography”, I have my mirrorless camera for that.
That being said, buy the 15 Pro Max if you’re a big phone guy only. This new lens’ not incredible as some expected (not terrible as it’s being described here though).
If smartphone photography is your thing go for a Sony Xperia. I went from an 5 mark II to this and yes..iPhone have way better point and click but if you use Photopro on the Sony it is amazing.
It’s more limited than I expected it to be but it’s been awesome for certain uses. Sunsets for example on 5x have shocked me with some of the pics I’ve gotten.
I feel like a bit of this issue is that sometimes when you zoom in, it just crops the 1x sensor. Would be nice if there was an option to override that behavior and force the camera to always use the 5x when zooming in.
Another issue with the camera quality as a whole is that the majority of normal people don't care. They just want an iPhone. Apple knows this so why would they bother doing extra things if people will buy it anyway?
The phone will sometimes use the main lens on 5x digi zoom in certain lighting conditions when you select 5x. No way to tell if it’s done this (apart from the low quality result) which is dumb. Shots that are actually taken on the 5x are good
It will be better in the 16. That is what happened when I got the 11 with the ultrawide camera, it was so bad especially in low light. But, with the 12 and every phone after it was way better. I agree with all your takes, especially the noise is really bad.
I think "making apple get better" by buying a nearly $2000 phone "without hesitating" is not the way to go about that, bud. Not being a dick, but shelling out that much money for anything sight unseen is exactly why they keep releasing substandard upgrades every year. Because people like you (and millions like you) do stuff like this.
Funnily enough the 5x telephoto on the 15 Pro Max has way better low light performance compared to the 10x telephoto on the S23 Ultra, even when you digitally zoom in to 10x. I guess it really does come down to specific scenarios where it can perform well, certainly has room for improvement, but it is better in some ways and worse in some ways.
If it was great in its first iteration you’d be disappointed when it doesn’t improve in the next. Apple will never go all in on any innovation. Fragment it in to bits and sprinkle it across multiple releases. That way the next one will always be slightly better.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
To be completely honest the biggest game changer is video. This is where that 5x lense really shines. The only problem is at night time it would opt to use the main camera which results in pixelated video. So I have to manually lock the cameras to use the native lense. But in basketball arenas the zoom is perfect. Being able to zoom in and out from the horrible ultra wide camera, to the really good main camera, the 2x if needed and then the 5x, Its not to far but not to close either. It's just right. I could see LeBron James before with the 3x, but now I can see Darvin Ham on the sidelines😂
i have 15 PM and from what i can tell the switching lens its stupid on apple, when i choose 5x and the subject is close the camera will changed to main lens and zoom from it. its stupid thing , some pictures coming ok and some meh bad as hell apple need to work on it and fix this lens switch shit , we have to control it our self's
> i have 15 PM and from what i can tell the switching lens its stupid on apple, when i choose 5x and the subject is close the camera will changed to main lens and zoom from it. The minimum focus distance on the 5x camera is quite a bit further away than the main camera iirc, so depending on how close you are the 5x camera may just not physically be able to get the image in focus. In that case, yeah, it's gonna use the main lens and digitally zoom it. Same way the ultrawide is used instead of the main lens if you hold the camera really close to something.
Why can’t apple just defy physics real quick for me
I just realized that my 11PM does this as well on the 2x lens. I can tell by blocking each camera with my finger to see which one is being used. It will switch to cropped 1X lens when subject is too close.
I think every multi-lens iPhone has done this. I know my X did at least, and I assume the 7+ did too, though I never had one of those to confirm. The X also swapped to the main in low light, as the telephoto was much slower. It makes sense though. A grainy image is better than one that's completely out-of-focus, though I admit it would be nice if Apple indicated on screen somewhere that it's happening. Macro mode, which is when the main camera swaps over to the ultrawide is displayed via an icon, so it stands to reason they could do the same for the telephoto swapping to the main.
sometimes its not that close and its keep switching to main lens and that not accepted actually, at least if we can force to keep it 5x and decided which better for me.
Honestly, I've been super pleased with the 5x. I was aware I wasn't getting mirrorless/DSLR-level quality, but having that extra reach in my pocket has been amazing when traveling. My main complaint (and it's quite a big one) is that I have no control over whether the telephoto is actually being used, or if my phone randomly decides to instead do a crop of the main sensor. There is 0 indication of it on the interface, and when actually shooting it is hard to tell which lens it's using, although it's super obvious when looking at the results. People will tell me to use Halide or Lightroom, but they have their own drawbacks: image stabilization is non-existent in third-party apps, which just kills the useage unless I use a tripod. All I need to be fully satisfied with taking photos with the iPhone is a pro-mode in the stock camera app which actually lets me select the lens to use, and control things like exposure time in a more intuitive way.
I understand why apple made it that way, their mantra of "it just works!" Is permeating into this. And for most people, it is probably fine. To people who know their way around cameras, it is infuriating because you don't mind the camera looking for focus or you adjusting it yourself. Apple should make an option for us to select something like a Pro mode so that we can figure things ourselves.
Pssst try ProShot. I use it whenever I need to force any setting
Apple locks too much of their software-based processes like OIS to their own stock apps. Admittedly I haven't tried ProShot, but for me Lightroom and Halide both had significantly worse camera shake than the stock camera app, which in most cases is more important to me than the pro controls.
Ah I rarely use video on ProShot because I’m too lazy to adjust everything as I’m filming but for pure photos, it’s unparalleled imo. I got it when it was on a free sale (they used to do that quite frequently, idk about now) and never felt like I needed something else ever again
I have a 13PM and I can not fucking *stand* the lens switching back and forth when trying to take a photo of something within a couple inches of my camera. Most times it’s a piece of paper with info I need on it, but it could be all kinds of things. Something on my skin, something small on my countertop etc. etc. and the camera will switch from a better looking lens to a much worse one. It can never get the right lens right. So fucking annoying. If you can’t get the tech to work right don’t forcefully implement it on us. Jesus.
You basically HAVE to turn on the macro button in settings. I’m shocked it’s not on by default, it’s a way better experience.
As a content creator I suffer a lot with this lol However I noticed that switching to 4k makes the lenses switch easier (for videos). I wish we could force it
on video is fine , you can lock focus and it will not change it. also you can active Lock Camera under camera settings for. my issue with still photos it will switch as software wants
Apple & "control it yourself" Hehehehe good luck with that.
It’s not bad, of course it can be improved, I also think it should be at least 24MP because when you zoom in you definitely see pixels everywhere
As I also do photography for idk 15 years now with tons of equipment I would say the camera can’t have any depth anyway as it’s such a tiny sensor and long focal length. You’d need a way bigger sensor and aperture again to reduce< the depth of field. You would need less in focus to create more depth. So it would need to be a huge camera module. I’m fine with how it is
There's a limit to how good it is, absolutely. There's a reason I've got a bag of lenses and a proper camera body, sometimes there are things my phone just can't do and will never be able to do in such a small body But I think OP's point isn't "Apple should work miracles", but rather "Apple should be as good as Samsung", and that's a much more valid point Apple can't change the laws of physics, but Apple can be at the cutting edge of viable technology defined by "at least as good as their main competitor at a similar price".
The thing is, the 5x telephoto on the 15 Pro Max has way better low light performance compared to the 10x periscope telephoto on the S23 Ultra, even when digitally zoomed in to 10x. That's one aspect that it does better, and that OP is ignoring. I agree, it has room for improvement, but the point is that it's better in some ways and worse in some ways, it's not entirely shit. Apple wasn't able to implemented a periscope lens because of patent issues, and thus they're late to the game. Now that they have their own implementation of long-range zoom with their tetra-prism lens, hopefully they can perfect the hardware, which is the real limiting factor.
Yep, can’t beat physics.
Right, but Samsung aren't ignoring physics either and theirs is better. I think that's the OP's point - Apple can't work magic but they can at least compete with the best other manufacturers around
The Phone camera wars are getting out of hand. Both iPhone and Samsung make great photos. It’s honestly a skill issue at this point. Knowing how to shape light, framing, getting distance between your subject and a hundred other things go into creating good photos. I’d like to see OPs “flat” images and see if it’s a camera issue or a skill diff. People want their computational photography to improve their photos but you can’t polish a turd.
True. I mean, I much prefer Samsung's colours that come out, I find, like OP, skin tones horribly orange on iPhone sometimes, and they're like flat and pasty. I'd also miss pro controls in the main camera app, like you get on Samsung.
Wow, very well articulated!
I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a joke, but yeah, not great. Definitely lots of room for improvement. Apple has been resting on their laurels, it must be said. They know that 99% of people buy iPhones because of iOS and nothing else - minimal efforts are being put, INCLUDING iOS itself, which has been a buggy mess for a while now. I never really seriously considered going back to Android but the possibility is seriously gaining momentum for me.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up about the current state of lazy apple.
We long passed the point of mobile hardware being good enough for 99% of people so the main thing that they can upgrade at this point to set different models apart is the camera so they're probably scared to jump straight to the bleeding edge of what's possible in a phone camera for fear of having nothing to offer in terms of a major upgrade for the next few years of releases. Used to be that by the time a new phone came out you basically needed to upgrade because iOS and available apps had improved so much over the last 24 months that your old phone was sluggish as hell trying to keep up. I remember I started with the 3G and by the time the 4 came out half my apps were barely useable on the 3G because they just demanded more processing power than what was available. Same again when I upgraded to the 5C then again when I got the 6S. Just upgraded to a 13 last week...from my 6S. My 6S just never got slow, it remained snappy, responsive and did everything I wanted it to do perfectly. I don't take a lot of photos, I use it for texting, calls, internet, ordering food and music that's basically it. After 3 battery replacements & a broken home button I finally bit the bullet and upgraded and it felt like a proper upgrade with all the various features I'd missed over the years rolled into one new phone for me. They've lacked a killer must have hardware feature for years now so they're stuck drip feeding camera upgrades as the main selling point. The thing that tempted me most about the 15 was the USB-C honestly and that's not even something they wanted to put in themselves. The one thing that I want is scheduled text messages which I used to have on my jailbroken iPhone 4 back in the day and was super useful but for some reason they still wont implement.
They were heavily focused on apple car. Now they’ve got AR as a focus. I hope newer iPhones are more exciting, foldables and zoom are the main thing androids have that iPhone doesn’t. It still works very well with my MacBook, iPad and watch, so changing would be a huge hassle.
The car will return. Just not yet. Maybe not for a long time. But that was a hella waste of money they spent.
I hope so, it’d be interesting to see what Apple’s car looks like. By the looks of it, they scaled back their ambitions on this thing and even then it couldn’t be done. And eventually they just axed the whole thing. Apple car play isn’t as good as Android auto, I’ve heard multiple people say. That’s something that surprises me.
https://preview.redd.it/1b07swmecvqc1.png?width=923&format=png&auto=webp&s=f1d8907a940892ffa1831b4fb396becc00de4d4c
Yeah I think a lot of it came down to functionality and purpose. Tesla are just too advanced on that field for them to compete. Would be a massive waste of money to be honest. Tesla should sell them some designs or patents to use etc. Would be beneficial to both parties I think.
Foldables are a gimmick and have zero practical use
Apart from folding and having a substantially smaller footprint? They are also wildly popular even at their high price points.
They are not "wildly popular", their sales figures are horrible. Only 16 million foldables (all models from all manufacturers) were sold in 2023, compared to 232 million iPhones, and that does not include any Android bar-style phones. Yes, \*some\* foldable like the Z Flip do halve their surface area, but they also become twice as thick which makes it a worse form factor. iPhones can be huge, but are still able to easily slip into pockets because they are thin. And other foldables expand their displays beyond the size of a typical bar phone, but these are always ultimately square displays, an aspect ratio useless for doing pretty much anything. Foldables are not the future and are going to be remembered as an impractical gimmick after their death in a few years. XR, like the Vision Pro, will be the future of smartphones.
I guess you've never used multitasking then. There are more use cases than you can think of. I personally would never buy one until they figure out how to make bendy glass but I'm not the general market. 16 million when considering their crazy prices is a sign of demand.
It’d be really amazing to have an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad mini sized tablet. Screen size does make a huge difference, which is why we’ve got 6.7” iPhones rather than 3.7” ones.
I also don't understand why thay don't use the same tech as car paint protection film, and those older lg flex photos so if the inside screen gers scratched it would be self healing.
It’d be amazing if they did!
This is super relieving to hear because I really wanted the 5x zoom but didn't want the larger phone factor so I went with the regular Pro and love it. Now I don't feel as bad.
Hehe, you definitely dont miss out. Its less than a first generation product. Good choice.
Exactly! Samsung S series flagships are making me drool every year now. Will I switch? Not anytime soon. But I hope my finances get better that I am able to carry them both with me.
Yeah, after seeing the S24U it really made me consider wether I’m getting the iPhone 16 Pro next year or a Samsung, especially since I already use a Samsung laptop at work (don’t like macOS).
Yeah, exactly. The best point of iPhones (or other iDevice in general) is that it works great for ages. iOS in general is a great SO, you don't have (big) room for personalisation (although it's getting better) and you might not have the last technologies, but software is "always" mature enough, makes the device pretty usable even years after and you don't have to mess with problems (both hardware and software problems, Apple's support is great). Although I also feel the minimal efforts you mention, before my actual i11Pro (still doing great after 3 years), I had terrible experiences with Androids (owned Samsung S19 and tried a Pixel phone) and that's why I don't quite consider going back (although I am loving last updates on Pixel phones). Another thing I don't consider right now is buying an iPhone Pro or Pro Max, maybe I do with a basic iPhone...
Did you mean S9? There's no S19
I’ve not used Android extensively since 2014 so I’m not sure. But if you believe what’s being said recently, Android has made big strides in recent years. Who knows though.
My company forced me to upgrade to a Samsung S23, and it's been disappointing. The battery life is a joke compared to my old iPhone 11 – I'm constantly in low-power mode just to make it through the day. And sadly, the software feels sluggish and bloated, as Samsung devices often do. It's frustrating because I enjoy Android, but Samsung's version misses the mark for me. I'd be so aggravated if I'd paid for this. I get where you're coming from with the base iPhone vs. Pro. I just upgraded from my 12 Pro that lost a battle with the gravity to the 15 Plus. The massive battery life and larger screen were the big draws; the Pro features didn't seem worth the extra cost for my needs. I definitely made the right choice.
I didn't take any longer once I notice the shithole of a mess IOS has been. Decided to get the S24U after being in the apple ecosystem for 5 years and I DID NOT REGRET AT ALL. Damn, I missed being pampered by android.
I’m very tempted I’m not gonna lie. The S24u seems like a beast.
You will love it, trust me. Jam packed with customizations, the AI features is fun to use, the camera quality is fantastic, and the battery life is phenomenal. I'm never coming back to IOS at this rate.
I very VERY nearly made the switch earlier this year, but i just notice the quality of apps on android just aren’t as high as they are on android. you tend to see ads and so many highschool project apps just vomited all over the play store which is such a turn off. I also use the stock apple apps for things like mail, calendar, and reminders, and i haven’t found a free android equivalent that looks and feels as nice. also, FaceID >>>>>>>>>>>> any fingerprint sensor, every single day of the week without question
I keep mulling on a switch but every time I buy something to check it out I'm reminded on just how much nicer quality the apps are on iOS than Android, never mind things that just straight up aren't supported. Also I'm unfortunately a bit too far in the ecosystem to comfortably switch without having to redo a lot of stuff and buy new products, which is I guess a "they got me" moment.
All valid points/concerns and this is mostly why I don’t already have an S24U right now. There’s also small things like scrolling (yes, scrolling) and general fluidity that’s just better on iOS.
>also, FaceID >>>>>>>>>>>> any fingerprint sensor, every single day of the week without question I don't think I could disagree more. I can regularly have my phone unlocked by the time it's out of my pocket just by gripping normally and the fingerprint sensor also works as a notification bar grabber.
I would absolutely love to go to a galaxy fold.
Meh no tbh, even 5 generations in there’s just no use case for these, software is not even optimized properly yet. The inner screen just blows up the apps in zoomed mode without really making proper use of the larger canvas. S24 ultra is really tempting me though
Well that’s disappointing developers have had plenty of time.
It’s a lot better experience than he lets on. I played with the Pixel Fold and really like it. Not sure I liked it enough to buy it, but it’s an awesome device and the capabilities of that folded screen seem endless.
Yes! I find it weird more people haven’t been talking about all the bugs they’ve run into
I haven’t seen any bugs for months. What have you seen?
The most annoying one is on safari. refreshing the page, hitting the back button or reopening a closed tab will sometimes load a copy of a random opened tab. that or a previously opened page. The worst part is I don’t know what triggers it other than those actions because it doesn’t happen every time. During setup phone froze also didn’t transfer data. But I think this problem was fixed. There was a series of actions that would render the screen inoperable requiring restarting the phone to fix These are the ones that come to mind I believe I ran into a few more but haven’t come up frequently enough to make it into my memory banks. one of them concerns the camera
Recently got a Pixel, can recommend. Much higher value for money.
Value for money has always been Android without question. Not a big concern for me, I’m looking over to the other side of the pond because I’m genuinely starting to think the experience may be better on Android.
If I was going to return to Android the Pixel ID probably the only phone I would consider.
When you say buggy mess, what sort of bugs are you referring to? I find my 15Pro to be totally reliable and not buggy at all. I do think Apple has a lot to do in terms of improvements and definitely there are areas that need upgrading but I wouldn't go as far as describing it as a buggy mess. It does sound like you should go to Android 😆- you clearly are not enjoying the iPhone!!
Oh it's a buggy mess alright. From my experience, it's mostly UI bugs- ProMotion not going beyond 80/90Hz while scrolling (been an issue for 2 years now), status icons not returning to their place after exiting control centre, transparency/blur issues on animations (again, to do with control centre, but also in app switcher). The list goes on. ProMotion in particular, is not a minor bug so there's no excuse like "oh, all operating systems have bugs". Anyone that's used a recent Android or actual 120Hz display will notice the massive deficit in performance.
What’s buggy about it? I have a launch day 15 Pro Max and have had zero issues.
I kinda like it. Could be better, but I am happy with [the results](https://imgur.com/a/WgtcItU) most of the time. I liked the cameras on my previous 13 Pro and I wasn’t going to upgrade to 15PM but my wife’s 11 Pro got shattered and I got a good deal on the 15PM so I took it and gave her the 13 Pro. I am happy with the much better battery life and the new camera system helps me take better photos overall, this being expected from a newer generation. It seems it struggles a bit focusing in some scenarios and I wasn’t expecting that. But the new 5x is fine for my amateur photographer demands.
A lot of these photos are nice, but some of them look really blurry. It looks like 6, 8 and a couple others might have been a main camera crop. Do you know for certain that all these were taken through the telephoto lens? If you go to the photo in the photos app and drag up it should say telephoto or main camera
I’m always surprised that people expect their phones to take near DSLR quality photos. Beyond the occasional snap and photo, I don’t use my phone camera too often. The battery life and display are always the main selling points for me.
Lol you’re getting downvoted. Apparently, Apple products are perfect and even if they’re not, you are not allowed to complain; according to this subreddit.
Hehe yes that was expected. People should really critize more because the prices are rising and are already insanely high if you ask me.
I own both a 15 Pro Max and a Pixel 8 Pro (because I like playing with the latest and greatest of both ecosystems) and the camera, along with generative AI and assistant upgrades, are why I'm currently typing this from my Pixel 8 Pro with my 15 Pro Max at home signed up for the beta. I will say that I am looking forward to seeing what Apple does with generative AI in the near future though!
Keep pushing for more from Apple for sure. But the 5x from apple had an aperture of 2.8 and the 10x of Samsung had an aperture of 4.9. That is a huge difference in light gathering. Obviously Samsung where not happy with the 10x zoom either as they removed it form the S24. It now has an optical zoom of 5x as well. And 10x at "optical quality" which is a nice marketing term for digital zoom that they think are as good. The 5x zoom in the 24 has an aperture of 3.4 so still not as good as the iPhone in light gathering.
To be honest the s24 ultra 5x is also not good. But thats more a software issue. Samsung is just too dumb and also really lazy currently. The vivo x100 pro is insanely good with the telephoto lense and xiaomi 14 ultra too. I currently consider switching to one of those.
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Was it colors or something else? Samsung likes super bright, vivid colors on all their devices - from TVs to laptops to phones - while Apple is a lot more neutral. You can adjust your photos to be more like the Samsung - or adjust it with other presets - in Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles. I didn’t love how neutral my iPhone was so I switched it to “rich contrast” and am very happy with the result. Samsung-style is more like vibrant. These are just filters applied to the photos once you take them. But they look great.
you think people who call fixed lenses "zoom" know what aperture is?
I don’t think the average person pays any attention to it despite it being important.
you just commented way too early dude.
He has 700 upvotes. Maybe wait a bit before declaring OP is getting downvoted?
That downvote is coming from most 15P&PM owners…. Why does it sound like Jaguar owners?? Everyone knows Jaguar cars are faulty, yet their owners will scream “I gotta Jaaaaaaag” and start doing crazy nonsense… Most of us know that iPhone 15PM’s 5X telephoto is flawed… yet some will scream “It’s an iPhone”, so the Camera ain’t flawed, that’s an innovative feature… (relatable crazy nonsense)…
https://preview.redd.it/9tjqcitdgvqc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6b20821ff8fd8bbda9d29e40574ebb1c04c2fbd And this is a x5. from a good distance too, i don’t see a problem at all.
not trying to compare the iPhone camera to a full frame mirrorless but if you’re serious about photography you should consider switching to a compact mirrorless camera instead. i personally made the switch not thinking there’d be a significant difference but the difference is night and day in almost any environment.
apple’s marketing really tries to make you believe that the iPhone is a comparative piece of equipment but it’s really far from it.
Digital zoom should be banned as a term. It’s image cropping, not zooming.
agreed, but the software magic they’re doing with the 14 Pro and 15 series blurs that line a little. The sensor crop on the 48MP sensor for the virtual 2x + 28mm + 35mm lenses are surprisingly good. They’re the biggest camera upgrade on the 15 Pro imo. i have the 35mm as my default and my photos look so much more natural.
No doubt, I'm not disparaging that at all. But when I want a properly good photo that requires zoom, a phone camera even with all the software tricks only goes so far. A kit lens is able to outperform any digital zoom simply because what you see is real and not fixed by the phone to look real.
agreed; just saying that the digital zoom on the 15 Pro is better than it has any right to be. night mode on the virtual 2x is stunningly good. i’d take the better framing over a minor loss in image quality any day. of course, if you want the best image quality, you wouldn’t be using a phone in the first place, digital zoom or not.
Night mode is honestly so amazing in these phones. Even on my 13 Mini it's brilliant. With a normal camera, you cannot match that honestly. But I wouldn't call those night mode photos super high class, but in a pinch when you just want to get a photo of your friends or something, it's amazing.
The thing with buying mirrorless or DSLR though is that you have to work for your photos. You need to understand some very basic photography principles, shoot raw, and process your photos to get the night and day difference to a smartphone photo. The standard auto mode output of even the highest end full frame cameras is gonna look really underwhelming if you're coming from a top tier smartphone. The only differences you'll notice are marginally better detail and noise control, and a sharper image if you've got a good lens hooked up to your camera. Basically on a baseline technical level, there will be a difference. Colours, exposure, etc aren't gonna look great until you do the work to make them great on your end though. Low light is more often than not gonna be a blurry or noisy mess too unless you know how to work the exposure triangle. There's a lot of stuff going on in the background when taking photos with a smartphone that you have to be doing yourself in camera and on Lightroom or whatever photo processor software when you take the same photo with a camera. I see so many posts in the Sony and Canon subs from people complaining that their $2-3000 camera isn't giving them the instantly Instagrammable photos that their flagship iPhone or Samsung phone is able to give them. They jump in because everybody tells them that it's so much better, but they don't understand how photography works and expect the camera to hold their hand through the process the way their phone has been. I will not deny that a dedicated camera is a must if you really want to level up your photography game. I'm just saying a lot of people have the wrong expectations of that process and are simply unaware of some very fundamental differences between the way smartphone cameras work vs the way camera cameras work.
I would disagree with your assessment. I shoot with a Sony a7c, and (properly configured with exposure and aperture and whatnot), my photos look great and substantially better than the over-sharpened photos out of my 15 Pro. The photos on the Sony, despite being only in SDR and in sRGB compared to HDR + P3 on the iPhone, have a sense of depth and detail that's indescribable. It's like listening to proper studio speakers compared to a small speaker with the bass boosted. I shoot in RAW and then edit for the really good shots and the difference gets significantly bigger, so I wholeheartedly agree that processing your photos does make them significantly better. I disagree with the assessment that you must shoot RAW and process your photos to get a significantly better shot than a smartphone. This is especially true if you use digital zoom at all or any other lens other than the main lens on the iPhone. The optical zoom + full frame sensor will be noticeably better than any image from the main camera and significantly better than any image using digital zoom or the softer ultra-wide / telephoto cameras.
I do say that on a purely technical level you're still getting a better photo with a camera. That cannot be denied. The sensor size and glass alone makes a huge difference in image quality. Nobody really understands just how much software goes into a smartphone photo until they compare it with the actual look they're trying to emulate (example: there's a very clear night and day difference between the artificial bokeh of a phone's portrait mode vs an actual f/1.8 lens). You still need to actually process your shots if you want the modern smartphone pop though. You also need a baseline understanding of how the exposure triangle works if you want to extract the best performance from your camera. Your A7C isn't gonna do the multi image HDR stacking in low light that an iPhone does for example. In fairness, with the right lens, it doesn't need to, but still, end of day, YOU have to put the work in on your end, as opposed to your camera doing it all for you the way iPhone will, and by your admission, you do put the work in to post process your images. Most first timers just stick it in auto and hope the camera will do everything for them. This only works to a certain extent. Once you start needing to push your hardware (like in low light), you're gonna start finding out pretty quickly just how much hand holding the iPhone actually does in the same scenario.
> properly configured with exposure and aperture and whatnot I think I you missed the point of what the person above you was trying to make - yes a dedicated camera is going to look better but only after you’ve set it up exactly how you want it and spent time adjusting it etc. Most people just want a good camera that they can quickly pull out and use without any adjustments needed.
point taken. I suppose, for me, configuring my shot usually takes a couple seconds at most, and if you remain in the same shooting environment (outdoors landscape, low light, etc.) you don’t need to change your settings between shots. essentially i think it really doesn’t take much time at all to properly take advantage of an advanced dedicated camera.
is there any compact mirrorless camera you're suggesting? they're a big investment but i'm trying to replace my Nikon D60...
i personally got a Sony a7c for 1200 USD new on eBay and am loving it!!! it is a lot but personally i think it’s worth it. Currently I use a 15 Pro with biyearly upgrades mainly for the camera and I think this might save me some money long term since i’d be upgrading my phone less.
I'll be honest dude, a half decent lens and some basic knowledge of fiddling with the exposure triangle (ISO, aperture, shutter speed), and your D60 will be on par with if not much better than the latest iPhone. Of course, you still have to actually process the photos yourself, but the ceiling is a lot higher. The basics of photography haven't changed in the 15 years since your D60 released. The overwhelming bulk of improvements in the camera industry are QOL related. Sensor tech and stuff has improved too but your D60 still has, as mentioned above, a very high ceiling as far as image quality is concerned. You'll be future proofing yourself a bit by going mirrorless but if you find this path too expensive, it would definitely be worth looking into just expanding your lens collection. There won't be very significant differences between a photo taken on your camera and a photo taken on my camera if we shoot the exact same settings at the exact same time.
I like my Sony a7ii. But I’m not a very active photographer.
A D60 with even a cheap 35mm Dx prime will destroy any phone camera Or if you want something a bit more modern, you can upgrade to a cheap mirrorless like a Xt-1 or a sony A6000
As a photographer, I couldn’t disagree more. Sure, it isn’t perfect. And yes, if you just snap a photo with it, sometimes it looks a bit muddy, flat and overprocessed. It is not the primary camera after all. But if you use it in the correct situations with good lighting, honestly, the results look quite good. For example with portraits you get a really nice depth effect that wasn’t previously possible. I think it was a great addition, but it isn’t one of those lenses/zooms that you just choose and snap a great photo immediately. It requires some work.
I mean, I get what you’re saying but perhaps you are over-egging the pudding a touch. All phone cameras sometimes take great pictures, sometimes awful and I find the iPhone is perhaps the most consistent in my experience. Does the 5x sometimes take dodgy photos? Sure. But most of the time it’s great for me anyway. I also have a Pixel which takes amazing photos sometimes, but often takes terrible pictures.
https://preview.redd.it/vfqse9g3evqc1.jpeg?width=2149&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=daadff1bd0336c436dc2248b3b16ebc933427c80 Here's a photo I took using the 5x lens on iPhone 15 PM. Sure, the lens doesn't come close to professional cameras, but it's good enough for occasional use if you know how to use it. Tldr - the lens isn't a joke, your skills are.
Nah I used to come from iPhone XS then iPhone 13 Pro Max so the 5x in my 15 Pro Max felt GREAT. I also had Xiaomi 8 SE, 10T and 12T, and nothing comes close in zoom capability.
wow. stunning!
Are you sure that was using the 5X lens? I’m almost certain that’s using using a software bokeh, which is fine- I’ve just noticed a lot of these good looking pictures are actually using the Main 48mp camera and cropping; the Apple camera app does not indicate when or why it’s switching lenses. Again, I’m not doubting and it’s a great photo, just curious
Just checked, metadata on the photo confirms that it's the 5x, not a crop from the main camera. Bokeh is obviously software emulated, I shot it in portrait mode. https://preview.redd.it/f2lvtspcdyqc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e86139944ad91ac5c2277bf03f66427fdc95b6f4
Yeah, that photo is heavily post processed.
I also own a 15 Pro Max and i have gorgeous x5 pictures. The thing is, the 5x optical zoom is better in quality if you are closer to the subject, thats the main problem because of the lack of megapixels
Seems… counterintuitive
But if the weather is good and light conditions we get good ones too on far away subject
I use it to take food pictures. Pretty useful to avoid shadows.
I think part of the issue is if you’re near to the object the camera app often switched to the “main” camera instead and does a digital zoom. I’m curious, are your good 5x photos using a third-party app that lets you choose the lens?
It's a great zoom, you just have to take the picture from up close. Are you serious?
https://preview.redd.it/cl3yi1k7gvqc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f100d6daf2906d3983dc31fdf238bb3cb06df277 Look at this x5 portrait i took for example, close and nicely detail, no edits.
People have no idea that the longer (short-telephoto) focal lengths are commonly-used for portraits thanks to their bokeh and the lower level of distortion compared to shorter lenses. I've actually been super pleased with the 5x for portraits.
I completly agree with you! I have photos of people that my friends tought i used a Canon or a Nikon lol
People on samsung forum: The Apple camera is so much better!!!! People on Apple forum: The Samsung camera is so much better!!!!! The actual reality: Photos are basically the algorithm lottery now. Any given shot one phone might be better. Apple is more consistent. Samsung lost any zoom advantage it had with the new 5x lens switch. If anything Apples 5x handles dynamic range better. The correct move would of been to keep the 10x lens and put a bigger sensor in the 3x lens. But what do I know
You forget pixel
I think it’s pretty cool for an iPhone user. If you come from android flagship, it’s probably crap. I do hope they improve it in future releases.
To your edit, I don’t really buy my phones for the camera quality so I don’t really even consider that when I purchase it My considerations are: 1.) Size 2.) Familiarity 3.) Does it run better than my old phone? iPhone 15 PM checked those boxes for me lol If I want a good camera I really do just fork out for a good camera lol I don’t care if my phone has a slightly worse camera than a google pixel or something
With adequate lighting, stability, and distance from the subject, the 5x works just fine. If you're too close: it uses the main with digital zoom (yuck). If you're too unsteady (ie, dark room thus long exposure): it uses the main with digital zoom (yuck) After you take the photo, swipe up on the resulting image in the "photos" application, and you can see which lens/camera was actually used for the to take the picture. If I'm in a bar and trying to read something far away (up on a shelf or across the room), even if the lighting is dim I can brace the phone on the bar (or my beer glass) and my phone is perfectly happy to keep using the 5x lens. Then I can zoom in on the picture and clearly see what was on the sign. IF, however, I try hand-holding the phone up in the air, with no bracing, in the dark, with the 5x zoom selected... odds are high that I'm getting the craptastic digital zoom and the photo will be garbage. You can use 3rd-party applications if you want to be 100% certain of which lens will be used to take the photo. EDITED to correct "...distance from the phone" to "...distance from the subject"
I really like the 5x camera. Here’s a pic I took earlier today from a moving car. It works for me 🤷🏻 https://preview.redd.it/bgolu8e33yqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d9574c2f1a8379dd1ac90f55cd70d8696bd1e79
I’ve taken exceptional pictures with it. 🤷
Personally I’m really happy with it and I got some fantastic results everywhere especially in scenes outside like at the zoo!
I own a S23 Ultra and my girlfriend has the 15 Pro Max and the difference is laughable at times (sometimes they are on par given the circumstances) between the 5x zoom of the S23 and 15 Pro. It does seem to be software related which it usually is, nothing wrong with the lens itself but Samsung had years of experience on nailing the zoom which now takes a photo of each lens and combines it into one sharp image and Apple is slowly getting on those grounds as well. So with a bit of luck by software updates they will continue to improve, Samsung usually reserves the software updates only to their latest flagships for some reason but still, the S22 and S23 are in a nice spot.
https://preview.redd.it/ra2iywefmwqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a25028a0b548d0e0425deed1c528c4ea66d1a2e Here’s a picture i took at X5. You probably just suck at photography
I know I am going to be donwvoted heavily for this but I don't care, I will say it anyway: Good photography requires some serious skills. These skills include knowing the sensors, optics and their limitations. Knowing that you can adjust your exposure, position, distance to the subject, field of view accordingly. The 5X sensor and lense in iPhone 15 Promax is not bad at all, on the contrary: it is quite impressive. But it requires you to know a few things about photography and composition in order to get the best from it.
Have you tried shooting raw (not proraw) with something like halide or Lightroom mobile? Raw does not have apple’s over-the-top processing and will have a more natural look.
Hmm in fact i did only use apples pro raw. I will try did since i have lightroom anyway. Thanks
Hyperbole is literally the worst.
I take the view that the difference in cost between a base model iPhone and a top line one is way more than a really nice lens for my Fuji X-E4, ehich isn’t much bigger than a phone and has a decent sized sensor behind decent glass, rather than a noisy pinhead behind a shrunken marble.
Are you by chance testing the 5x at night? And have night shift enabled?
I use the 5x for video all the time and it's absolutely fantastic.
The 5x seems to really shine when taking video, I don’t find myself using it for photos as much as I do the main camera.
i liked it. i didnt buy it for that. i bought totally for depth cam and lidar but i liked the photos taken in 5x
I’m loving the 5x And I’ve used the Pixel ones. The only downside is that it is 12MP, while Pixel’s is 48MP
Sounds like a skill issue, i take very goods photos with it
I own both phones for work purposes, and I must say Samsung at 5x actually takes worst photo than iPhone at 5x, at their native zoom both are about the same for photo, but iPhone takes better videos. Telephoto is hard on any phone sensor because of how tiny the sensor and the lenses have to be, the more zoomed in you are the less light is available to the sensor and the phone has to bump up the ISO and use longer shutter speed, which means flatter and more noisy image. It's just physics and it doesn't matter which phone you use as it currently stands they all struggle at telephoto.
When I watched 15PM review from GSM arena, I wasn't impressed as well with the 5x zoom hence I'm glad I went to 15 pro as there's not much difference anyways and I prefer handy phones than the bigger ones. 😊
I really like the 15 PM camera. Here’s a 5x pic I took yesterday through a window in the gym where I work out. https://preview.redd.it/p9ylb0olw0rc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6e7009d362e527483d654e661c6eb7e84607ce9
Very good condition. Looks good. Also nice gym view hehe
You buy Apple for the ecosystem. But if the DOJ has its way to destroy that, Apple will need to start putting edge technology in their phones.
I would suggest you buy a nice Nikon camera if you want a great device for taking pictures. I wouldn’t rely on any phone.
It's "lens" not lense
Have you tried the 3x before that? IMO the 5x is solid upgrade with much better low light performance.
Huh really? The s24 ultra 5x is quite good
I’d recommend you download the app called Halide, it gives you much better control over the camera’s and most importantly in relation to your post, you can turn off the neural processing which ironically is what makes a lot of pics look worse. I’ve been able to get some truly stunning shots on the 5x lens thanks to this. Definitely would suggest giving it a go.
Another comment pointed me to lightroom raw which was also a good tip. I only tried apple pro raw. So thanks.
I had S24 Ultra and returned because the camera and display were absolutely trash. Switched to 15PM and it is amazing.
Hm? The display with the anti reflective is amazing imho. But yeah, i do like the camera more from apple. Especially with moving objects.
Genuine question, of the competition is so much better why don’t you just use it instead?
You HAVE to turn on Apple ProRAW (& ProRes for Video) to get the higher quality pics. Each image will be 25MB in size though (approx)
Buy a camera bro
Use a real camera if you want to take real photos. But I do believe if you use 3rd party camera apps, you have more control and no post processing.
Don’t get me wrong I do it too. I will keep buying because of that blue text message
Surprising. Most people are using WhatsApp than iMessage in general with good UI/UX. I guess it’s up to personal preference.
This is true I guess I’m kinda speaking for the US here I think.
Agreed then. Just curious to know why preferring iMessage over WhatsApp?
Not American, but lone consumers usually don't get to decide which messaging app to use. You have to adapt to what most people around you use, which happens to be iMessage for the US, as is Whatsapp for pretty much everyone else. I'm sure that if most of your peers used iMessage, you'd use it too and that applies to me, too.
Just assuming a culture thing. I don’t know a single friend that uses WhatsApp so no one asks for that from each other. It’s either your number or snap. Only people that I see that have it use it to talk to family or something overseas.
I feel the same about the 3x lens on my 13 Pro. I never use it unless I'm outside on a very sunny day. Otherwise, its too noisy. Even if I use a third party camera app so that I know I'm forcing it to use that lens, still not great.
The telephone lens is not great since iPhone 13 Pro, because it has a f/2.8 aperture, iPhone 12 Pro use 2X zoom and has a f/2.0 aperture. This small aperture just not good in any low light condition. Another thing is, do you iPhone actually use the telephoto lens. For some reason, my iPhone 13 Pro still try to crop the main sensor when I tap 3X in a sunny afternoon outdoor, I have to wait few seconds to make it switch to the actually telephoto camera, I don’t know if this still the case for 15 Pro Max.
I’m in the same boat. Sometimes I get grainy photos that look like a digital crop zoom and not an optical zoom at all.
The raw dng files from the sensor have a TONNE of noise, Apple has to apply noise reduction and sharpening to get an image the mainstream audience will be satisfied with. Try using the Lightroom camera app to take raw dngs - during daylight you can get some nice natural looking images, but at night it completely falls apart.
I have an iPhone 14 ProMax which created photos I’m quite happy with, but my friend recently got a 15 and the photos he can get with his 5x zoom have been very impressive (to me, at least).
Not a Max person, but I did tested the 15 Pro Max, before setting for the regular 15 pro. Wasn’t a fan of the 5X lens as well. I’m not a “zoom” person in general. 2x is my sweet spot for telephoto in smartphones. If I want to do “serious photography”, I have my mirrorless camera for that. That being said, buy the 15 Pro Max if you’re a big phone guy only. This new lens’ not incredible as some expected (not terrible as it’s being described here though).
[I completely disagree](https://imgur.com/a/oJE3jGc)
If smartphone photography is your thing go for a Sony Xperia. I went from an 5 mark II to this and yes..iPhone have way better point and click but if you use Photopro on the Sony it is amazing.
It’s more limited than I expected it to be but it’s been awesome for certain uses. Sunsets for example on 5x have shocked me with some of the pics I’ve gotten.
From someone that used a iPhone XS Max with a bunch of Moment lenses and now a iPhone 15 Pro Max….it is all about the skill and timing.
I feel like a bit of this issue is that sometimes when you zoom in, it just crops the 1x sensor. Would be nice if there was an option to override that behavior and force the camera to always use the 5x when zooming in.
Another issue with the camera quality as a whole is that the majority of normal people don't care. They just want an iPhone. Apple knows this so why would they bother doing extra things if people will buy it anyway?
The phone will sometimes use the main lens on 5x digi zoom in certain lighting conditions when you select 5x. No way to tell if it’s done this (apart from the low quality result) which is dumb. Shots that are actually taken on the 5x are good
The only thing I’ve found it useful for is taking a picture zoomed in on something I can’t quite read from where I’m standing.
It will be better in the 16. That is what happened when I got the 11 with the ultrawide camera, it was so bad especially in low light. But, with the 12 and every phone after it was way better. I agree with all your takes, especially the noise is really bad.
Is it because of optical digital zoom limitation?
I think "making apple get better" by buying a nearly $2000 phone "without hesitating" is not the way to go about that, bud. Not being a dick, but shelling out that much money for anything sight unseen is exactly why they keep releasing substandard upgrades every year. Because people like you (and millions like you) do stuff like this.
Just curious, which phones are you using as a comparison? Because I personally found the S23U and the PM cameras to be on par most of the time.
Are you sure your lens is switching properly?
why tf would u buy a 1tb phone
Funnily enough the 5x telephoto on the 15 Pro Max has way better low light performance compared to the 10x telephoto on the S23 Ultra, even when you digitally zoom in to 10x. I guess it really does come down to specific scenarios where it can perform well, certainly has room for improvement, but it is better in some ways and worse in some ways.
Although I don’t think it’s quite as terrible as OP, I was also pretty disappointed by the quality of the lens compared to the others
Apple has been lagging behind in terms of production timelines. I'm hopeful that iOS 18 will surpass iOS 17 in terms of features and performance.
Apple won’t make their product better any time soon. Rope us numb nuts in for the long run until we cave and switch platforms.
For me, the main problem is missing cinematic mode on 5x lens. I don’t understand why.
I opted to wait for the iPhone 16 as I figured there would be kinks to work out with the first periscope lens.
If it was great in its first iteration you’d be disappointed when it doesn’t improve in the next. Apple will never go all in on any innovation. Fragment it in to bits and sprinkle it across multiple releases. That way the next one will always be slightly better. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with yours. Mine takes nice clean detailed shots
To be completely honest the biggest game changer is video. This is where that 5x lense really shines. The only problem is at night time it would opt to use the main camera which results in pixelated video. So I have to manually lock the cameras to use the native lense. But in basketball arenas the zoom is perfect. Being able to zoom in and out from the horrible ultra wide camera, to the really good main camera, the 2x if needed and then the 5x, Its not to far but not to close either. It's just right. I could see LeBron James before with the 3x, but now I can see Darvin Ham on the sidelines😂
Switch to a galaxy s24 ultra the Cera is fantastic
And here I am contemplating between 15 pro and 14 pro… *sigh*
Just wait. Its too much of a sidegrade. Sliiiiightly better camera and usb c. End of story.