๐ฅ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค ๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ฒ! ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ณ๐ฒ! ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐,๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐๐โ๏ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฉ, ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐!
Camera
The new iPhone 11 Pro camera, also found on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, is awesome. I mean, really.
It has three 12MP sensors, each with different focal lengths: thereโs the regular wide lens, a telephoto lens offering an equivalent to 2x zoom and an ultra-wide with the equivalent of a 0.5x zoom compared to the wide lens.
This means there is great versatility and itโs possible to get just the image you want in many situations without moving around. The wide and telephoto lenses are on the iPhone 11: itโs the ultra-wide thatโs the additional camera here. And itโs a fantastic addition, revealing more details without you having to step back.
True, it doesnโt get you right into the action like the 5x zoom on the Huawei P30 Pro, but in many cases, the range of lenses here is highly useful.
Apple has included a cute preview system. When youโre looking at what, say, the telephoto lens will snap when you press the shutter button, the surrounding area on screen shows what the wide lens would deliver. If you prefer the look of that, one tap will take you to that lens.
Apple doesnโt use the impressive full-screen view that Samsung likes, where the controls appear at the edges and the entire screen shows what the camera sees.
The new iPhone Pro cameras (like the iPhone 11) include a startlingly good Night mode. Unlike some phones, this one does not require you to switch to the night setting for it to work. It knows when to deploy it and a small moon symbol appears when itโs needed. In extreme conditions, it will take a series of images and meld them together for maximum effect. When these images are taken over, say, a three-second period, a timer counts down on screen. The timer only appears on the wide and telephoto lenses, by the way.
The results are pretty amazing. Appleโs intention is not to replicate what the scene would look like if you had been eating lots of carrots and had outstanding night vision. Instead, it wants to capture how the moment feels. Sure, it does see inhumanly well in the dark, but Appleโs skill is to make the colours look warm without being saturated or unreal.
Like rival cameraphones, Apple uses machine learning โ others call it Artificial Intelligence โ to improve the photos it takes. Itโs true that Appleโs photos are often heavily processed but what makes the results so effective is that the companyโs photographic engineers have unimpeachably good taste so the results can be just remarkable.
Over and over, I took photos with the iPhone 11 Pro which took my breath away for their vibrancy, detail and sharpness.
Apple doesnโt have a Pro mode on its cameras. It works on the principle that it should be simple to use, intuitive and, you know, just work. This can lead to frustration from some photographers who may turn to other iPhone photography apps instead.
But in a recent holiday in Chile, (thanks for asking: it was awesome), a trip that I really wanted to capture photographically, a curious thing happened. As the week went on, I found myself increasingly shooting on the iPhone and not my SLR. Not because it was more convenient, though in some ways it was, but because each evening as I reviewed my shots, I found the smartphone images were more striking than the dedicated camera. Apple exec Phil Schiller calls this the age of computational photography. If this is what it looks like, Iโm in.
Video is also outstanding. Apple has long beaten rivals with its superior video recording. This phone shoots at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second (where many phones only manage half that frame rate).
Video looks sumptuous and there are even now sophisticated editing capabilities โ you can change the aspect ratio of the video on the phone, for instance.
Portrait lighting is Appleโs special effect where it blurs the background while keeping the subject in needle-sharp focus. It then adds one of a series of effects such as turning the image into black-and-white and making the background black. Now with a High-Key Light Mono option, thereโs a new way to make your portraits look astonishing. The effect cuts around the subject and turns the background bright white. Itโs a high-contrast result which doesnโt work in every situation. But when it does, itโs highly eye-catching.
The selfie camera on the iPhone has until now never been more than 7MP resolution. Now, itโs 12MP and although thereโs only one main front-facing camera, the addition of the TrueDepth camera used for Face ID means itโs possible to get some portrait effects here, too. The improved sensor makes for better selfies, as well as something Apple calls slofies. These are slow-motion video selfies and are quite fun. If you like that kind of thing.