An iPhone 11 Pro camera review by a 'pro' photog takes us on a wide night samples trip
Gather around, Apple fans and photography lovers, we finally have unedited samples from the iPhone 11 Pro tri-camera model made by a ‘pro’ cameraman, and none other than Austin Mann at that.
First off, we are starting with the question on everyone’s mind – how’s the Night mode doing? First, because iPhone fans are just now getting this feature, and, second, because night shots are the hardest test for a puny phone sensor, and each manufacturer approaches its low-light mode in a different manner. How did Apple decide to do it?
Apple iPhone 11 ‘pro’ camera review Night mode samples
Many of us iPhone photographers have watched as other phones like the Pixel and the Huawei P30 have passed us in low light. It feels so good to see the iPhone 11 Pro has caught up in low light performance.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro ‘pro’ camera review wide-angle and portrait samples
The wide-angle lens and the new “smarter” HDR mode that isolates facial feature for richer tones and emphasis, are also getting some “pro” analytical love:
When I first heard about improvements in how the iPhone 11 Pro renders skin tones I was excited. We’ve all seen how Smart HDR occasionally renders skin tones with that weird flat/posterized/orange look, so I was anxious to see if this problem is solved…
Apple calls this new approach “semantic rendering” in which their software isolates skin, eyes, and teeth in order to properly preserve the texture and contrast of these features in a photograph. Judging by the images below, I’d say it works pretty well.
iPhone 11 Pro ultra wide and portrait camera samples
The verdict? A Pro camera upgrade that needs some pro-level user education about photographic principles which kind of defeats the ‘it just works’ principle of the late Steve Jobs