I used to repair Apple Products via Geek Squad and there’s a whole process for testing the same camera modules. It’s not talked about, but what you said is precisely correct.
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iPhone 14 Pro 14 Pro(Max) Camera Downgrade
- Thread starter Total Respray
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I've heard it. Read in an article I believe. Could have been motorcycle related talking about how securing your phone to your handlebars causing issues / permanent damage with the OIS.
While waiting for my 14 pro max (upgrading from my 13 pro max), I saw this thread and thought to myself there was no way the 14 pro camera could be any worse than the 13 pro. Each year the camera gets better...it has to, right?
Well, after using the 14 pro max for several days, and comparing shots taken with my 13 pro, I will have to agree that it does feel like a slight downgrade. Overall, images are over sharpened, and this is most noticeable when shooting human subjects. Skin looks more natural on the 13 pro. Over sharpened photos do make certain shots look better, like some objects and buildings.
In night mode, I hardly noticed a difference...in fact, in some cases I preferred how the 13 pro night shots looked. 13 pro also activated night mode more often than the 14 pro. At times, I had to manually trigger night mode on the 14 pro.
The one advantage that the 14 pro has is being able to shoot in 48 megapixels. Then you will get MUCH better photos. But the format is RAW, and takes up huge amounts of storage. The average size of the RAW photos were 60MB.
Another slight advantage for the 14 pro is the improved flash. Pictures come out much more pleasant than on the 13 pro, which overly whitened all skin tones.
Videos looks the same on both, which was already great on the 13 pro.
Maybe with software improvement, the 14 pro can look better than the 13 pro. But as it stands today, it does feel like a downgrade.
I'm still keeping the 14 pro (the 13 pro is going to my bro in law). I love the extra brightness of the screen outdoors (it's wonderful to use at the beach and park).
Well, after using the 14 pro max for several days, and comparing shots taken with my 13 pro, I will have to agree that it does feel like a slight downgrade. Overall, images are over sharpened, and this is most noticeable when shooting human subjects. Skin looks more natural on the 13 pro. Over sharpened photos do make certain shots look better, like some objects and buildings.
In night mode, I hardly noticed a difference...in fact, in some cases I preferred how the 13 pro night shots looked. 13 pro also activated night mode more often than the 14 pro. At times, I had to manually trigger night mode on the 14 pro.
The one advantage that the 14 pro has is being able to shoot in 48 megapixels. Then you will get MUCH better photos. But the format is RAW, and takes up huge amounts of storage. The average size of the RAW photos were 60MB.
Another slight advantage for the 14 pro is the improved flash. Pictures come out much more pleasant than on the 13 pro, which overly whitened all skin tones.
Videos looks the same on both, which was already great on the 13 pro.
Maybe with software improvement, the 14 pro can look better than the 13 pro. But as it stands today, it does feel like a downgrade.
I'm still keeping the 14 pro (the 13 pro is going to my bro in law). I love the extra brightness of the screen outdoors (it's wonderful to use at the beach and park).
The pixel 2 beats the iPhone 14 so I don’t think there will be much competition.
Google simply has far superior software processing even if the hardware isn’t as good.
Funny thing, processing. In all my years, when I've cared about processing, I've used my desktop setup. This includes pics taken with my Nikon SLR.
All the reviewers did in depth side-to-side comparisons and 14PM always comes out on top. Ya’ll are tripping.
Lol. Most of them say there is no difference to iPhone 11 onwards.
The rest of them say the Pixel beats it.
You be tripping son.
Point is - even devices with one purpose - taking pictures - have issues with processing. One of the reasons RAW is a thing. The cameras and sensors in the 14 are fantastic. In both the 48 and 12 M-Pixel modes. Use them and process on your computer to get the best pics you can get.
Pretty sure - if Apple gets enough feedback from enough people, they will adjust the processing. Perhaps, they are already working on it. They sure have the right HW to work with.
Why can't Apple fanboys ever just say yeah someone else is just doing things a bit better? 😂
Apple promise 2x improvements each year and the reality is the image quality is almost unchanged since iPhone 11, and they are lagging behind the competition. As Apple users we should be pushing Apple to improve, not making excuses and workarounds for them.
I would love it if they could figure out how to process images like Google does, and also have some of the better features like content removal or astro photography.
Yes, I'm a fan of Apple products. But I'm also not afraid to be critical when it's merited. Butterfly keyboard - WTF Apple? I do like typing on it. But the issues of keys repeating after a time is a real pain in the backside.
On taking photos with the 14 Max I have - not seeing quality as an issue. in RAW it's awesome. I can take a picture from my house of a tree about 40 yards away with ProRAW 48 MP, zoom in and see great clarity. Veins of leafs. Couldn't do that with my 12 Max! So I'm not buying what this thread is trying to sell. Don't have experience with the 13 so I've stayed away from that discussion and been clear about it.
All I can do is do by what others have done on the net. The Pixel may be better at some things. Doesn't matter to me! Not going Android anything as I prefer my devices to just work and be as secure as possible. I would never buy a Pixel. IF I wanted better pictures than what my phone can provide, I'd use an SLR or mirrorless camera with much larger lenses and options. Still going to post process those pics I care about. Computer software is better than what you can get in a camera - or phone.
I think the Google Pixel 7 Pro performs better than iPhone 14 Pro. Take a look and tell me what you think. Im not a big fan of how much Apple oversharpen images.
Same as the 13 Pro vs Pixel. It takes good videos, ProRAW but that’s it. iPhone 8 took better looking photos.
I think the Google Pixel 7 Pro performs better than iPhone 14 Pro. Take a look and tell me what you think. Im not a big fan of how much Apple oversharpen images.
ProRaw is a computational RAW file, you have control over sharpening and everything else but you need to be able to edit the file, otherwise there's no benefit. Using a free app like Darkroom or a paid service like Photoshop/Lightroom will give the best results.
iPhone 8 had less smart HDR and computational stuff, but if someone knows what they are doing, the iPhone 14 Pro models are far, far superior camera wise.
All i know is my photos look like **** now, i upgraded from the 13 Pro Max to the 14 Pro Max and ALL of my photos are fuzzy, not sharp like the 13 Pro Max. I dont shoot in RAW so i could care less about the 48MP, and honestly after using the 14 Pro Max for a while now the dynamic island is "cute" now and then, but for the most part its pretty useless and i love cool tech. I just ordered a 13 Pro Max, so im going backwards to get decent photo quality. Really pisses me off, what a complete FAIL on Apple's part. And 1 more thing, the 13 Pro Max was never "slow" so i could care less about the A16!
So the low light improvements are great, but pictures during the day SUCK. Great tradeoff! Ill pass!
Incorrect. Pictures during the day are even better, the new larger sensor and increase in MP as shown in the photos topic at the top of this forum, are awesome.
in good daylight you certainly shouldn't see much difference with all the top smart phone cameras. all phones these days take very good photos with great lighting. my pixel takes better photos than my 14 pro max but it still takes very good shots. Where it struggles is purely in HDR shots and shadow detail. So if you want great HDR shots then yeah iphone isn't very good. Sometimes it nails it and other times not much.
HDR hasn't been good on iphones for like 2-3 years now. It's something they badly need to fix.
as somebody who owns the pixel 7 pro it is the better camera for point and shoot. I would say the pixel is the best camera available on a smart phone at present.
I think the Google Pixel 7 Pro performs better than iPhone 14 Pro. Take a look and tell me what you think. Im not a big fan of how much Apple oversharpen images.