Triple threat reclaims the camera crown, for now

by Phonedesk Admin November 23, 2019

Corey Gaskin / Digital Trends

Almost a full year after the introduction of Google’s magical Night Sight night-time picture mode on the Pixel 3 (and a number of manufacturers releasing their own versions in the interim) we finally have Apple’s take on this drool-worthy feature, along with a new ultra-wide-angle lens — the other piece of Apple’s camera game that has lagged behind competitors.

Another new feature has been announced (but unfortunately is not yet live) called Deep Fusion. It’s meant for medium- to low-light photos specifically and machine learning algorithms will run a pixel-by-pixel analysis on pictures shot in this range, optimizing for detail, color, and sharpness. Sounds great, but unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to see how well and how quickly this works

Apple now has its bases covered to regain photographic dominance, and I can say confidently that this triple 12-megapixel dream team is the best camera system out right now. Is it perfect? No. In the realm of top-tier smartphone cameras, every camera has its moments where a competitor’s shot just comes out better or more to your tastes. With the iPhone 11 Pro, those instances are far less common.

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Let’s just get this out of the way quickly: the iPhone 11 Pro takes absolutely exquisite day-time photos. Improved Smart HDR applies exposure adjustments to certain sections of a photo it recognizes (the sky, some flowers, etc.) and combined with semantic rendering, which takes four under-exposed shots before you click the shutter button, the shot you want, and one overexposed shot afterward to compose a result with the best detail and least noise.

Altogether, the iPhone 11 Pro produces the best day-time shots you can get on a smartphone. Period. At night, in instances where Night mode isn’t necessary, the same remains true with its excellent exposure and detail capture, though grain can creep in quite a bit.