If anyone knows iPhone photography, it's Sebastian de Wit, co-founder of app developer Halide. In an incredibly deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro's cameras, he finds a lot to like — and a few gripes.
While his experience comparing multiple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro images matched mine — it seems hard to spot any differences — he still had plenty of positive things to say …
48MP Main Camera Images Look Identical
For my iPhone Diary series, I headed out on Saturday with an iPhone 15 Pro Max and an iPhone 16 Pro Max and a mini tripod. I took identical photos on both devices, then came home to study the differences and was ready to write a diary article about them.
I didn't write this planned part because when it came to most of the images, there really weren't any differences. First off, the main sensor is the same, and the default processing is the same. de With found the same.
Is the processing much different from last year? No, not really. It was great, and it still is. While there is a bit more processing, I had a hard time telling the difference between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. The sensor is the same physical size as last year’s iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, and as a result, it still has amazing depth of field.
Subtle differences with the ultra-wide camera
I had a similar experience with the ultra-wide camera, and I found the differences to be very subtle. De Wit said he could only see the differences under ideal lighting conditions.
The 13mm ultra-wide lens is still an apt name. It’s so wide that you have to be careful not to get caught in the frame. However, it does take some incredible photos.
At the same time, temper your expectations. While the iPhone 14 Pro introduced a 48MP sensor for its main camera, they nearly doubled the physical sensor size compared to the iPhone 13 Pro. This year, the ultra-wide lens is the same physical size, but they’ve squeezed in more photo sites. In perfect lighting, you can tell the difference. In low light, the expected noise reduction will result in blurrier images, which you’ll also get with the 15 Pro.
But the 48MP sensor really benefits from macro photography.
The real benefit of the 48MP ultra-wide lens is in macro photography.
One of the really compelling bonuses of the 48MP upgrade is that you get more than that for high-res shots. It works wonders for macro photography.
The problem was that… it was an ultra-wide lens, [so] you ended up with a lot of extra material in your photo that you ended up cropping out.
Previously, this meant that the center crop of your 12MP ultra-wide image was cropped to 3MP. But with a 48MP image, the center crop produces a true 12MP image. This allows for macro shots to be taken to a whole new level.
A wider aperture creates great 2x zoom shots
The 2x “lens” on the iPhone 16 Pro isn’t anything like that. Instead, it takes the center crop and applies processing to create a virtual 2x 12MP image.
De Wit says he's not usually a fan of this approach, but this year he found it to be just as good as a real 2x lens.
I admit that I was a skeptic years ago. I like my optical and tactile lenses, and it seems wrong to crop them. Well, I’ve been carrying an iPhone 15 Pro Max with its 5x zoom for the past year, so I’ve found myself using the imaginary 2x lens much more often to close the gap between focal lengths […]
With the wider aperture on the Fusion camera, the virtual 2x lens produces better results than the physical 2x lens of old. I really like it. I don't want Apple to bring back the physical 2x lens anymore.
RAW shooting is much faster
The ProRAW 48MP burst performance is also much better. With the shutter fully depressed, the ProRAW 48MP frame rate was up to 2x the iPhone 15 Pro.
In practice, the improvement is huge. In total, the iPhone 16 Pro beat the iPhone 15 Pro by somewhere between 400 and 900 milliseconds. Hundreds of milliseconds matter in the moment and can mean the difference between getting the shot or missing it entirely. It’s a huge improvement and a huge technological advancement.
Photographic Styles Are a Big Improvement on Filters
I very rarely use Apple’s default filters. The only ones I’ve found to produce good results are the mono ones, which can often be truly impressive.
But I'm experimenting with photographic styles, and my initial impressions are good. It will be a while before I'm ready to come to any firm conclusions, precisely because the effects can be relatively subtle, but for now I think I'll give them a go.
de With alsowise can't say too much yet, but his initial thoughts are positive – especially since they're now non-destructive.
If I apply a simple filter, it applies the look to both skin tones and the sky equally. Blue skin doesn't work outside of James Cameron films. These new photographic styles can target midtones, which is how the filter affects the skin tones in your photos, making everything look more natural.
The coolest change to Photo Styles this year is that they are “non-destructive in terms of perception.” You can undo the style effects later.
Some Complaints
de With isn't a fan of Night Mode processing, finding it very unpredictable and best to turn off.
In Night mode, HDR now captures a wider dynamic range. However, it was still frustrating at times to get exactly what I wanted from the exposure, with some overexposed shots and inconsistent exposure times. In fact, I enjoyed shooting on the iPhone 16 Pro outside of Night mode, as it gave me darker, more contrasty shots.
I’m also not thrilled with the camera control UI, but expect it to improve.
Overall, I think the relative abundance of settings makes it feel clunkier and less smooth and snappy than it could be. Given its soft haptic feedback and plethora of options, it can feel a bit overwhelming even for more photography-savvy users. Those more inclined to conspiracy theories might suggest that Apple has added more features to make up for the iPhone's smaller base; I personally think it's simply a laudable first attempt at something new.
And for all the improvements Apple has made, iPhone photos are still iPhone photos.
If there's one theme to the iPhone's approach to photography this year, it's more control – and that may apply to camera controls and photo styles, but it remains pretty processed, whether you like it or not. My advice? Start accepting that heavily processed images are here to stay.
The full article, with lots of great example shots, is definitely worth a read.
Halide has expanded its native camera controls to include focus and exposure controls.
Photo: Sebastian de Wit/Lux
