When the original iPhone was announced, the camera wasn't important at all, barely getting
a mention from Steve Jobs in that legendary keynote.
You have a 2 megapixel camera built in, as I said. What mattered at the time was that you could pinch to zoom.
And so I can just move them further apart and stretch the image.
That was amazing. And yet, over the 15 years since then, the iPhone evolved from three devices in one to
four. In that time, we've seen many new features and improvements, leading us to the large
48 megapixel sensor found in the iPhone 14 Pro.
When I reviewed it last fall, I noticed that photos taken in RAW are amazing, and that
photos taken normally look kind of processed. And so it got me curious about the evolution of the iPhone camera.
Brandon Lee and I went and took photos with every iPhone we could get our hands on.
My eyes are still burning.
Okay, so I should first confess that this idea is actually the brainchild of Brandon
Lee. He's had a never-growing interest in capturing light, so obviously he's curious about the
iPhone cameras. You want so badly to have something in your head work out in front of a camera.
And especially at the beginning, it doesn't. That challenge of like, okay, closer, closer, closer, you get a little bit better, you learn
one thing, you get a little bit better, and then I got addicted to it.
Over the last 15 years, Apple has made 28 different versions of their iPhone camera.
And that's not even counting all the software features they add on top of it.
The iPhone is the most used camera in the world.
What has Apple chosen to do in the evolution of this product to improve the camera?
And why? I want to know why. Though as Marcus Brownlee recently demonstrated in his annual camera comparison, the iPhone
processing is letting it down compared to the others.
So maybe we can see where and when this trend started.
To do this, we assembled a wide history of 23 iPhones to take three different photos.
After a wet West Coast winter snowfall, they are a daytime photo of a building, a nighttime
picture of me working on a frozen MacBook, and a portrait of me with portrait mode.
The first photo we wanted to examine is of the Fort Langley Community Hall in Langley.
I love how de-emphasized the camera is on this phone, like it's just a little dark.
Because cameras weren't even common on phones at that point. Alright, one, two, three.
It's like looking, you know, in an old timey photo.
Old timey potato. Old timey potato with color. I don't even think it's in focus.
You couldn't even... It's probably a fixed focus. You couldn't pick your focus.
I don't think anyone thought that the original iPhone was a good camera.
Okay, so the first iPhone wasn't really about the camera.
So what about the iPhone 3GS? Because it's having a bit of a moment. Okay, so what happened is Brandon sent me this amusing article from Petapixel.
It's about a group of social media influencers who love the aesthetic of this 13-year-old
phone. People 20 years younger are using the iPhone 3GS for the aesthetic, which is bizarre to
me. It was the first phone I have video.
It's also the aesthetic. What do you think about the aesthetic?
I'm not convinced, Jonathan. Well, it's got a rough charm.
No? I want to go right, I want to go right in there. Really get in there.
I see artifacting, chromatic aberration, zero on detail, moving on.
Every time I put the four up, I'm so impressed by how much better it looks.
Do you think it's the retina screen or the camera? I mean, it was a huge leap.
From here to here. That's pretty significant.
It was a big deal. It was a big deal, yeah, because it went from 3.2 megapixels to 5.
I can also see this says Fort Langley Community Hall, 1931.
So what happened next? Whoa. I've always been curious, where in the iPhone's lifespan did that happen and why did that
happen and why did no one else even stand a chance?
Man, that looks good too.
I think that the iPhone 4S hands down is the biggest jump in quality in the iPhone's lifetime.
We already get into photos that are pretty respectable even when we hit the 4S.
Even compared to stuff now? Yes. Oh, wow.
Well, because now it's harder. If you weren't a pro at photos, you could look at this and it would still hold up to
some extent. What about buying a 4S for the aesthetic reasons as opposed to 3GS?
The imperfection is the aesthetic. Yeah. Is this the generation they added the whole color filter thing?
The color filter thing actually wasn't added with the 5S specifically, it was added with
iOS 7. Oh, okay. Which I still can't forgive.
So yeah, what's going on here? I really don't like the 5S.
To be very clear, this is my subjective opinion of this test that we did.
There are obviously going to be situations where the 5S probably can beat the 4S in terms
of its detail or whatever. But when I look at this photo, okay, there's that.
And then here's the 4S. Yeah, it's way clearer.
The 5S should be technically a better photo with even all the specs on it, but it's somehow...
When I look at the 4S and the 5S, I'm almost disappointed at the 5S because I would expect
the 5S to be better. And this is why I think the 4S is the jump.
But do regular people agree with Brandon?
Let's ask a couple of people. Okay, no, definitely the one on the right.
It's a lot more legible when I zoom in. You're noticing it's clearer, which one do you prefer?
Probably the one on the right. What? Thank you, Mark.
No, that's great. That's exactly the answer I wanted. Oh, the one on the left.
Really? Yeah. What matters to you in that photo then?
I think that the photo on the right is just a bit too bright. It looks blurry without zooming in, whereas the one on the left side, I feel like the
entire photo kind of works a lot better.
So you prefer the 5S? I do. Honestly, I think I prefer the one on the right.
I think you look more natural. The one on the left looks a little over-processed.
I can't really describe it, but it looks maybe too sharp or too...not natural looking,
I guess. Just to verify, you prefer the 5S?
Yeah, I think I do. What's interesting here is that Brandon and Mark are the photographers in the group, whereas
Brandon and Sarah just take photos. I don't know how you tell these different...
Do you know what this is? Do you know what this is? That's a 13.
Because I don't. That's a 14 plus. How do you know that?
When we look at the 10, we see the crunchiness isn't really there.
And then we move on to the 12 and it's there.
It's like a lie. That's in your face. I feel like it's going to come out and attack me.
Here's the 13. Oh, interesting. It's less?
No. It's very sharp, but it's not as bright. Oh, they paired it back here.
Well, they paired the exposure back on that. It makes you wonder where Apple has moved their processing since then, and the best
way to see that is at night.
This situation was really where I noticed the trend and sharpness.
Yeah, it's like, that is... It's really coming out.
Significant. Like, you really can see it.
Most people are going to pick this one, I think. Do I like this trend?
I don't know. I will say, I've never really been impressed by my iPhone camera.
I hate artificial sharpness in photography, and the right side has a lot of that.
I zoomed into the tree and it just looks bad. It's a lot more manipulated by the software, whereas with the left side here, yeah, it
feels a lot more like I'm actually staring at the scene that's happening.
Yeah, you can definitely tell the one on the right does feel a little bit more over-sharpened.
I don't like it. I like the one on the left for that.
The left looks more smooth, the right looks more sharp, and I don't like either of those.
The biggest difference I've really seen this photo is sharpness and texture.
The left one just looks like it's better. The color temperature and the colors and the dynamic range all look fairly similar.
I think it looks a little unnatural on the tree, but everything else I think looks pretty
good. And like I said, my main issue with iPhone sharpening from what I've seen is usually
when it's just like a close-up photo of someone and like their family or their face or something,
I find it makes their face look really unnatural. If that makes sense.
I pick the newer phone every single time, I think. So I guess Apple does their research.
And they're improving the camera for you.
So the processing is getting quite overt on the newer iPhones.
But with the last three pro models, that's not the end of the story.
The last thing I want to touch on here, with this photo.
48 megapixels, pro-raw. That is where I think Apple has really changed the game.
That's much more natural looking. And I will be damned.
Look at your jacket, look at your face, the light here, the range.
This is not even, this doesn't even look like a low light photo anymore.
We went from here to here, man.
This looks really good. Pro-raw plus the 48 megapixel is now where the iPhone shines the most.
Most people are going to pick this one, I think.
For the software gimmicks on the iPhone, the most photographic is portrait mode.
Okay, so what we're doing right now is I'm sitting on ice to try out portrait mode,
which was introduced on the iPhone 7 Plus, and provides kind of a simulated shallow depth
of field, which you would get in a DSLR camera with a much bigger sensor.
So this clearly, the Sony A9 Mark II, very expensive mirrorless camera.
This is the baseline. This is where you'd want it to be. This is the ideal situation.
So with the introduction of the XR, they had the main camera only, but they wanted to give
portrait mode a chance. And so they introduced an algorithmic base portrait mode, which reads that I'm a person,
tries to figure out my outline, and then apply this bokeh effect around that.
It uses the main wide camera, which contradicts how portraits have been traditionally taken
with a more telephoto lens. So it certainly has a look, because you have to move the camera closer, and then you get
barrel distortion, which is unflattering to the face.
How close does the iPhone get? The iPhone is capable of producing something that could dupe somebody.
This is a very clear issue right here. This is an improvement.
Still some trouble here. That is a really challenge. Really just a very hard spot.
I don't think any of them got it here. But the fall off on your head is much better, because it was just like a blob of blood,
which is what makes you look photoshopped. This is portrait mode on the wide.
Oh my goodness. Even on the 14th. So this is what I mean.
I placed the tripod down, we stood you in a spot, and then you weren't close enough.
The use case for it is slimmer because of the practicality.
You have to meet Apple's parameters for the ideal shot.
Which one would I pick? I don't know.
The left side just has a bit more of a blurred background on the right side.
And then, yeah, on zoom, the right side is a bit sharper.
I'll say the right side this time.
Not a lot. Like, the right side is just a bit cleaner.
Do you use portrait mode? Sometimes.
I use pictures of my dog. Very specifically.
I find portrait mode looks very unnatural. I would say initial impressions, I don't see a huge difference.
It seems like the one on the right is doing better with the little fur on your coat.
Like it's sharp, and then it goes to blurriness, whereas the one on the left, it's just all
the same amount of blurriness. So you prefer the one on the right?
Yeah. They look very similar.
So it's almost like they try to make it shallower depth of field on the one on the right.
But then they have this transitional blur so that it doesn't look as like immediate.
I like aspects about both of them. Yeah, I would say the one on the left, but I do like what they're doing with the one
on the right a little bit. I feel like the one on the right is the newer phone, and the one on the left is the older
one. Would you ever use portrait mode?
I had issues with the clunkiness of portrait mode in the app.
The quickness of it, I don't think will ever be the new or normal camera, and it doesn't
inspire a lot of confidence because I know that it can probably fail.
And so that probability would refrain me from using it regularly.
I think I just use my normal camera.
In terms of doing this whole experience, what's been the biggest takeaway?
I think to me, they're trying to cement the belief that you don't need anything else.
Especially now with what you know about the 14 Pro, would this be enough to make you
switch back to iPhone? With my knowledge of how to use the portrait mode on top of it, and the video features,
and the program, and the fact that you could color correct the image and manipulate it
however you want, because it is a raw photo that you're getting.
I don't like iOS, Jonathan. But I'm still strongly considering it, because I do need to upgrade my phone soon.
And after all this, you would say, if you care about pictures, get an...
Buy a real camera. It is really cool to see the evolution of a product like this, because it is so historical.
You really do see that between the 7 Plus and the 11, the difference isn't that drastic.
And now we're at the 14 Pro. The 48 megapixels is a big jump, but then do they really make another big jump after
that? We'll find out next year.
Thanks for comparing every single Mac Address video.
If you like looking at many photos, give this video a like.
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Now I'm curious, what iPhone camera did you find the best?
Is it always the latest one, or was there an old iPhone camera you really developed
an affection for, like those TikTokers?