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Other 15 Pro / Pro Max camera hardware changes are really disappointing

the future said:
Not even close. The 2x „crop-zoom„ will give you approx. 12 MP at 48 mm. Not even Apple pretends that cropping the main camera so hard to 77 mm will give you usable pictures. That‘s why even their „7 cameras“ marketing line is for Macro-13-24-28-35-48-120. Nothing between 48 and 120.



The 120 mm lens has a 12 MP sensor.
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yikes, as you say thats a huge jump. My go to FL is 40mm (24mp is fine), never was a fan of 70-80mm FL, so 120mm is more useful for my eye. Think I'll be ok. Cheers for info
 
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the future said:
You’re right, that is all that really matters. And I do expect the new A17 Pro chip as well as the new „Photonic Engine“ to make a difference. But in the end computational wizardry can only go so far and the hardware capabilities are still very, very important. And here very little changed this year.



I like to take portraits and for that 77 mm is much closer to the „classic“ focal length of 85 mm. More zoom is (in general) only useful if you want to take a picture of an object that is quite far away and you can’t get closer to. But sometimes you want to take a picture of an object that you can‘t get further away from and then 120 mm may very well be to long to even be able to capture the whole object at all.



Other flagship phones added a longer tele and didn‘t replace the shorter tele that was present before. The Samsung S23 Ultra, for example, has 13, 24, 70 and 230 mm cameras.
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The Samsung uses AI to generate fake pictures because they can't actually fit in the number and type of lenses to make 230 actually work worth a ****.
 
That is why I’d like to keep my 14 Pro for one more year.

What sucks is that 5x replacing the 3x instead of being added. Unfortunately this seems to be the road Apple wants to take.

I’d like to know if they also improved the Cinematic mode but nothing was mentioned, therefore I assume nothing changed.
 
cygy2k said:
The Samsung uses AI to generate fake pictures because they can't actually fit in the number and type of lenses to make 230 actually work worth a ****.
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I usually don‘t follow Samsung at all and would never buy something else but iPhones. I only noticed Samsung‘s „fake moon“ controversy. 😂
 
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the future said:
Here are the hard facts after doing some research:

  • The main 1x camera on both new Pro models is exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max. No new sensor, no new glass.
  • The ultra wide 0,5x camera on both new Pro models is also exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max. No new sensor, no new glass.
  • The 3x tele camera on the 15 Pro is exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max, which was already exactly the same as on the 13 Pro / Pro Max. Again, no new sensor, no new glass.
  • The 5x tele camera on the 15 Pro Max is indeed brand new. Sadly, it replaces the 3x camera instead of being added. So on the Pro Max, you now have native optical focal lengths of 13 mm, 24 mm and 120 mm. For my personal use cases, this is actually worse than the native optical focal lengths trio of the regular Pro at 13 mm, 24 mm and 77 mm. The gap between 24 and 120 is huge and for me 77 is a more frequently usable focal length than 120.
All other photography-related improvements mentioned in the keynote are indeed software based. Will they come to the 14 Pro models as well? Probably not.

Long story short, from a hardware camera / photography point of view, the only real reason to get a 15 model is if you know you‘ll use the 120 mm tele lens from the Pro Max a lot.

Edit: If you want to call this a „hardware improvement“, there is apparently a new nanoscale coating on the wide-angle lens to reduce lens flare. Better than nothing, I guess.
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I don’t think Apple will get the 1 inch sensor for like at least 3 more years. Not surprise all iPhone 15 16 17 18 series have the exact sensors same camera hardware.
 
Next year 16 pro max is rumored to add a 48 mp sensor to the ultra-wide, periscope camera with 85, 140, and 300 mm presets and a larger 50mp main sensor 1/1.12
 
vngannxx said:
Next year 16 pro max is rumored to add a 48 mp sensor to the ultra-wide, periscope camera with 85, 140, and 300 mm presets and a larger 50mp main sensor 1/1.12
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This would not happen since it would make the phone too big too thick, and Apple never does something that competitors haven't tried before and something that expensive that hurt their profit.
 
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the future said:
Here are the hard facts after doing some research:

  • The main 1x camera on both new Pro models is exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max. No new sensor, no new glass.
  • The ultra wide 0,5x camera on both new Pro models is also exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max. No new sensor, no new glass.
  • The 3x tele camera on the 15 Pro is exactly the same as on the 14 Pro / Pro Max, which was already exactly the same as on the 13 Pro / Pro Max. Again, no new sensor, no new glass.
  • The 5x tele camera on the 15 Pro Max is indeed brand new. Sadly, it replaces the 3x camera instead of being added. So on the Pro Max, you now have native optical focal lengths of 13 mm, 24 mm and 120 mm. For my personal use cases, this is actually worse than the native optical focal lengths trio of the regular Pro at 13 mm, 24 mm and 77 mm. The gap between 24 and 120 is huge and for me 77 is a more frequently usable focal length than 120.
All other photography-related improvements mentioned in the keynote are indeed software based. Will they come to the 14 Pro models as well? Probably not.

Long story short, from a hardware camera / photography point of view, the only real reason to get a 15 model is if you know you‘ll use the 120 mm tele lens from the Pro Max a lot.

Edit: If you want to call this a „hardware improvement“, there is apparently a new nanoscale coating on the wide-angle lens to reduce lens flare. Better than nothing, I guess.
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Agree, some improvement but not enough for me to upgrade. My 13PM will serve at least another year.
Though I have to read or watch again, I thought I heard that they have 7 “lenses” of fixed focal length, not quite sure what that means, and then there is the lack of true optical zoom on the 5x lens…
 
ericgtr12 said:
My take is if you want really professional looking photographs then get a real professional camera. If you want great looking point and shoot images then this is an excellent camera for that.
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Yes indeed, however, as you know, your phone is typically always with you…
 
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I'm pretty disappointed as well - I have the 13 Pro which I essentially got for free from VZ, I haven't seen much that would make me want to upgrade
 
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Google did this for years with the Pixel, from the Pixel 2 to the Pixel 5 they used the exact same Sony camera sensor. Think about that, Pixel 2, 3, 4, and 5 all used the same sensor but had different photography algorithms. Apple is just reusing the lens for 1 year so far.
jz0309 said:
Agree, some improvement but not enough for me to upgrade. My 13PM will serve at least another year.
Though I have to read or watch again, I thought I heard that they have 7 “lenses” of fixed focal length, not quite sure what that means, and then there is the lack of true optical zoom on the 5x lens…
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What do you mean, "Lack of true optical zoom?"
 
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tmoney468 said:
I'm pretty disappointed as well - I have the 13 Pro which I essentially got for free from VZ, I haven't seen much that would make me want to upgrade
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13 Pro Max here and I'm upgrading because there's a pretty significant jump in the camera in the 14 and 15 models, the 2 year cycle also makes sense so we'll likely see a difference in performance as well.
 
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jz0309 said:
Though I have to read or watch again, I thought I heard that they have 7 “lenses” of fixed focal length, not quite sure what that means
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They count macro mode, 13 mm ultra wide (native), 24 mm main (native), 28 mm (crop ftom main), 35 mm (crop from main), 48 mm (crop from main) and 77 mm or 120 mm (native, respectively). So you reall have 3 genuine focal lengths and 3 crops they deem good enough to mention in marketing. Plus macro.


zonai said:
Apple is just reusing the lens for 1 year so far.
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Well the 3x camera on the non-Max pro was used for the 3rd time this year.
 
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Delolia said:
For my use cases the Pro Max 5X is a lot better than the 3X . I don't take portrait shot etc .. but a lot of photos from animals, landscape ... and better zoom is very useful for that.
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I think for me too but I learned that this really is dependent of how you use your cam. You will gain practically nothing because you will lose the 3x optical zoom.
 
ericgtr12 said:
13 Pro Max here and I'm upgrading because there's a pretty significant jump in the camera in the 14 and 15 models
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True, the main camera in the 14/15 Pros is really good.

Delolia said:
For my use cases the Pro Max 5X is a lot better than the 3X . I don't take portrait shot etc .. but a lot of photos from animals, landscape ... and better zoom is very useful for that.
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Yeah, the 15 Pro Max was basically made for your use cases. Enjoy!
 
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the future said:
They count macro mode, 13 mm ultra wide (native), 24 mm main (native), 28 mm (crop ftom main), 35 mm (crop from main), 48 mm (crop from main) and 77 mm or 120 mm (native, respectively). So you reall have 3 genuine focal lengths and 3 crops they deem good enough to mention in marketing. Plus macro.
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Thanks, yea I read that after replying.
Quite disappointing, or, good news for my wallet ;)
 
jz0309 said:
Quite disappointing, or, good news for my wallet ;)
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I‘m in exactly the same camp. I love the look of these phones with the Titanium frame and the ever-so-slightly rounded edges, but only a significant camera update would have made me shell out iPhone money yet again. Fingers crossed that the „Natural Titanium“ colour will still be available next year … 🤤
 
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I'm on the iPhone Upgrade Program. I upgrade every year, and this year won't be different. But I'm not sure whether I'll get the Pro or Pro Max. I generally prefer the 77mm focal length because I take a lot of portraits of my daughter and our dogs. I also like the smaller form factor of the Pro over the Pro Max (though I've owned both and been okay with the Max in the past). If the Max had preserved a native 77mm and added a native 120mm, that would be a no-brainer. My favorite focal length for outdoor portraits is 135mm, and 120mm isn't far from that. Seems like a missed opportunity.
 
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