The improvements over the 12 are subtle but noticeable. In particular outdoor shots (especially backlit ones) look terrific. It's like the camera doesn't need to over brighten so much to get details. I feel like I prefer the colors of the 13 Pro over the 12 Pro, they manage to make colors look rich and deep without the over saturation effect of Pixel and Samsung. I still have some issues with lack of depth and contrast with some shots but they're much improved over the 12 series. I have a feeling Apple engineers performed most of their testing in sunny California and didn't do much testing in overcast England lol... The sunny shots in this thread all look brilliant whereas some of the shots taken in overcast light tend to look a bit lifeless, and not in a good way.
Macro shots are amazing, it's an entirely new camera for sure. If you get the subject focus right the photos look like they were taken with a professional camera. The bokeh is the best on any smartphone camera to date. The macro shots from
@fs454 yesterday were jaw dropping, if you had told me they were taken with a full size camera I would have believed you... the only thing that gives it away are the resolution and blurriness on the outside of the frame.
Indoor shots, particularly in low light, are wayyyy better but still don't reach the same wow factor of outdoor shots. It seems like outdoor shots are consistently terrific wherein the only variable that would produce a 'bad' photo is the photographer's ability. On the other hand, indoor shots are hit and miss regardless of the photographer's ability. Still some of the best in any smartphone considering all smartphones struggle with this at the moment.
Overall this is absolutely the best smartphone camera system you can buy right now. The Pixel 6 will really have to significantly outshine any other smartphone camera to date in order to beat the 13 series. Apple consistently makes cameras that look brilliant WITHOUT looking over processed like the competitors do.