Are the new cameras of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro
Max worth an upgrade? I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max and an iPhone 16 Pro here. The 16 Pro has exactly
the same cameras as the 16 Pro Max. To judge the quality of the cameras, there are 10 categories.
If the upgrade and the new features are really relevant, there is one point for the 16 Pro.
If the iPhone 16 Pro gets more than 5 points, you can say that the camera could
be a valid reason for an upgrade. Let's start with perhaps the most important
category in this comparison. The colours, exposure and contrast make up a large part of
the subjective image quality. And even if it doesn't seem so at first glance, a lot could have
changed here.
If only because the main lens and the ultra-wide lens should have received a new
sensor. If you take a close look at these shots, you'll notice that the shots from the 16
pro now look visibly warmer. By the way, I'm focussing on video recordings and video
quality today. But the differences in photo quality are very similar, and I'll cover the most
important new photo features in the last category, which is about the special camera features.
You can see the difference in the colours relatively well here in these comparison shots.
Most of the shots so far have been taken with the ultra wide lens. And that is decisive. Because
what's interesting is that the difference in colour is not so noticeable when using the wide
main lens. Hardly any relevant differences can be recognised in shots taken with the main lens.
Neither in the colours nor in the exposure or contrast. This also applies to the telephoto
lens. And that is not surprising. After all, the ultra-wide lens has made the biggest leap and
has received a completely new 48 megapixel sensor. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a 12 megapixel
sensor for the ultra-wide lens.
Apart from the aforementioned differences in the colours of the
ultra-wide lens, there are hardly any relevant differences in the look. Since the improvements,
even if they are rather subjective, only affect the ultra-wide lens, this is only half a point
in favour of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. The lenses of the iPhone 16 pro Max have exactly
the same focal length as the lenses of the 15 pro Max. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 pro now
has the same 5X telephoto lens as the 16 Pro Max, while the 15 Pro still had a 3x telephoto lens.
You should bear in mind that a difference in focal length not only means more reach, but
also results in a completely different look. Here you can see a comparison between the old
3X telephoto lens and a 5X telephoto lens and get an impression of the effects of the new
telephoto lens on the iPhone 16 Pro.
By the way, the shots in 3X were taken with the iPhone 14
Pro. A longer focal length does not only have advantages. It leads to poorer stabilisation
and, for example, shots of groups of people have become more difficult with the 5X, as
you must now move much further away to get everyone in the picture. Nevertheless, I would
say that the new telephoto lens is an advantage, at least for the iPhone 16 Pro. So it depends on
which iPhone you're coming from. If you're coming from the 15 Pro and not the Pro Max, the upgrade
may be relevant. I give the 16 Pro half a point.
And although the wide main lens has also received
a new sensor, it has exactly the same number of megapixels as the sensor of the iPhone 15, pro
and pro Max. Even when zoomed in, i in this case to 500% or when using the additional 2X digital
lens, there is no difference in detail between the iPhone 16 pro and the iPhone 15 pro Max. This
also applies if you zoom in digitally up to 4X. I would expect the new high-resolution sensor of
the ultra-wide lens to produce significantly more detail than the old sensor. Here you can see two
shots of the ultra-wide lens at a magnification of 500% and you can actually see a difference. But it
is much smaller than expected. If we now zoom in digitally on the ultra-wide lens, we might expect
that with the help of an internal adjustment there would be a significant improvement compared
to the old sensor.
But this is not the case either. Although you can see a difference
here in the trees with a digital zoom of 0.9, this difference is also much smaller than I
had expected. And that's a bit disappointing, because we shouldn't forget that when we
use the macro mode, for example, the iPhone automatically zooms in digitally on the ultra-wide
lens. And unfortunately, the quality will only improve slightly in this case. But the hope
remains that the new ultra-wide sensor will bring more advantages in low light conditions.
There are also no relevant differences in the details with the telephoto lens.
Half a point for
the slight improvements of the ultra-wide lens. I can't see any improvements at all when it comes
to dynamic range. And that's not surprising, because the iPhone 15 Pro already has a fantastic
dynamic range that leaves little to be desired. Dynamic range is about how well the details in
very bright and very dark areas of the image are preserved and protected. Highlights are
very well protected, both in the shots of the 16 pro here with the wide main lens and in the
shots of the 15 pro Max. In this comparison with the new ultra-wide lens, the 16 pro actually
performs slightly worse than the 15 pro Max, which reacts better and faster to changes in
the light. No points for the dynamic range. On the other hand, there is a long overdue
improvement when it comes to slow-motion shots. The iPhone 16 pro and pro.
Max are now finally
able to shoot in 4K at up to 120 frames per second. And in my opinion, this is one of the
most important, if not the most important new camera feature of the iPhone 16 pro and Pro
Max. Until now, you had to switch to slow motion mode to take slow-motion shots, whereby
the resolution was reduced to 1080. In 1080, frame rates of 120 or 240 frames per second
are available on the iPhone 15 pro and 15 pro Max. This has not changed on the 16 pro either.
However, you can now set a frame rate of up to 120 frames per second in 4K in normal video mode. This
means you can slow down the shot in post to up to 20 % in high 4K quality. And it's not just about
slowing down action shots or fast movements. Slow motion shots in high quality can also be helpful
for cinematic B-roll shots, for example.
I have already shown what I mean by this in my short
video on the new slow motion mode. Take a quick look at it after this video if you're interested
in what you can do with 120 frames per second. I think you've already noticed: this is a clear
point in favour of the iPhone 16 pro and pro Max. Newer sensors are usually supposed to
bring improvements in low light conditions, especially with small cameras. that's simply the
biggest challenge when you're making a camera as small as a smartphone camera. A small sensor can
only capture very little light and therefore often produces image noise in low light conditions.
We must also consider the different lenses and cameras of the two iPhones separately in low
light. This is because they have different apertures. And even in this context, there
is no difference when using the telephoto lens. You can see that the camera with the
telephoto lens has not changed since last year, at least if you consider the Pro Max. If we now
take a look at shots with the important main lens, unfortunately only extremely small differences
can be seen here too.
The main lens takes the best shots overall in low light conditions.
And I have the impression that the new main camera produces slightly more detailed shots in
low light. You can see this especially in this vlogging shot. There is now a little more detail
in the face. Apart from that, the shots from the 16 pro are sometimes slightly brighter and there
are also slight changes in the colours. But the differences are very small and only noticeable
in direct comparison. One simply realises that a limit has been reached here, at least for the
hardware. But I was very interested to see what improvements the new sensor brings when using the
ultra-wide lens in low light.
And the answer is: none at all. I can't see any improvement at
all in the shots taken with the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the 15 Pro Max. Neither when it comes
to image noise, nor when it comes to details, does the new ultra-wide lens of the iPhone 16 pro
perform better. And I find that a bit shocking, because we have seen that at least in video
mode, the higher resolution of the sensor hardly brings any advantages in terms of detail.
And since it is probably a Quad Bayer sensor, one might have expected that there would
be improvements in low light after all. But anyone expecting this will definitely be
disappointed.
No points in the Low Light category. Audio quality is often neglected by many users.
However, the fact is that good audio quality is an extremely important part of a good video.
And there is indeed an important innovation in this category. The iPhone 16 Pro now has 4
new apparently professional microphones and a few very interesting new audio features. In the
standard settings, however, I can hardly hear any difference despite the new microphones. But: The
iPhone 16 Pro supports spatial audio. And this has 2 important new features: with the right playback
device, for example with Airpods or the Apple TV, your recordings get a spatial sound during
playback and sound more realistic and immersive – but not only that – you can
significantly improve the audio quality, especially of the voice in post using Audio Mix
– you can set different profiles in AUdio Mix that change the audio quality of your shot.
Studio, which reproduces the quality of a professional recording studio, is really cool.
As
I place a lot of value on audio quality myself, this feature blew me away. Especially for
Audio Mix there is a clear point from me. The shots I showed at the beginning were taken
in Cinematic mode – and it's getting better and better. While shots in Cinematic mode
two years ago were more of a gimmick and, unlike Portrait mode, were hardly usable, they
look much better today. But this also applies to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The shots look
great here too. You must now look closely to see the imperfections on the edges and in
the hair. But since this is not an improvement over the iPhone 15 Pro, this is not a
point in favour of the iPhone 16 Pro. And the same goes for image stabilisation.
It could not be improved with any of the lenses.
The shots look identical in terms
of stability – this applies to all three lenses – and even the action mode still leads
to a sharp reduction in resolution and poorer image quality and could not be improved
in any way. No points for stabilisation. 10 Camera Control – Photographic
Styles – 48 MP Photos. The iPhone 16 Pro also has 3 new important
camera features that we have not yet covered today and which are very interesting.
One of these is, of course, the much-discussed Camera Control button. This allows you to do more
than just launch the camera app. If you press the button only lightly, you can also use it like a
control wheel for zooming, for example, before taking a shot by pressing it firmly. A light
double press opens the camera menu at the top. And the Photographic Styles feature has been
completely redesigned just for the iPhone 16. There are new styles, you can customise them more
precisely to your liking, create your own personal style and, most importantly, you can change
the style even after taking the shot, which was previously not possible.
By the way, this
feature only applies to photos and not videos. Well, the high resolution of the sensor
of the new ultra-wide lens actually has an advantage – because you can now take
high-resolution 48 megapixel photos and, in contrast to the video recordings, these
now have significantly more detail than the 12 megapixel photos of the old ultra-wide
lens – and that is a significant improvement. 1 point for the new features and
that makes a total of 4.5 points. so would I recommend upgrading from the 15 Pro
or Pro Max – absolutely not. But the iPhone is still a fantastic device for video and for
taking photos and it just got a little bit better.
There will be detailed tutorials on
the video and photo features of the iPhone 16 – so stay tuned – in the meantime take a
look at my video on the new slow motion mode, give me a like if you found the video
interesting and see you next time..
