iPhone photography

[OCP]

Looking for some advice - I know nothing about iPhones and even less about their photographic capabilities.

Friend of mine has an iPhone 8 and wants to take better pics with it.
Wants to upgrade and stay with iPhone - what phone would be reccomend and which ones to stay away from?

 

[bwana]

It's all technique. S/He should work on that first before shelling out for a new phone.

 

[Hamster]

iPhone 12 was a "major" upgrade from the 8 for me.

iPhone 12 is great

iPhone 12 is the same phone but too small for my liking

iPhone 12 Pro etc will be slightly better but at those prices you have to be serious about mobile photography because getting a 1" sensor camera for less will be a much better upgrade (photo quality wise).

 

[Johnatan56]

Pictures of what and in what environment?
Well lit, product photos? Won't make a real difference.
Sunsets? No real difference.
Trying to do more zoomed in stuff, e.g. plants, iPhone 12 is good.
Trying to do some ultra wides, iPhone 12 is good.

Trying to do more professional shot and not spontaneous, get a DSLR.

Will it really make a difference? Probably not unless it's a specific flaw you're trying to address, e.g. need an ultra wide for some event shots or something, or a lot of night photography.

 

[CranialBlaze]

Looking for some advice - I know nothing about iPhones and even less about their photographic capabilities.

Friend of mine has an iPhone 8 and wants to take better pics with it.
Wants to upgrade and stay with iPhone - what phone would be reccomend and which ones to stay away from?

They all have great cameras, but naturally the best ones come with the latest phones, and the best features come with the top models.

So you want the absolute best photographic capabilities, then it’s the 12 Pro Max.

Also do not, a better camera does not necessarily mean better photos, better images sure, but the actual photo is up to the photographer.

The phones not going to pick the correct lighting, the correct composition or angle, it’s not going to magically make the photo tell the intended story.

If you already can’t take good photos, a better camera is not going to help. You’ll just be taking better looking not good photos.

I suggest https://www.udemy.com/course/iphonephotography/, maybe even before buying a new phone as the upcoming 13 is expected to have all the 12 Pro Max features without the Pro Max Price

 

[garyc]

The DXO score for the 8 Plus is 94, while the 12 Pro Max has a score of 130. This means that the latest one is better, but not by a sufficient margin that it will turn bad photos into good ones.

As several people have already pointed out learning technique will make the biggest difference. Getting into photo editing will also be a good idea, either on the PC or on the phone itself.

 

[purple face]

I took this picture this Sunrise Morning with my iPhone

 

[CranialBlaze]

I took this picture this Sunrise Morning with my iPhone

Your subjects focal points alignment is off and the leading lines are leading your eyes away from the subject.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

Imo, upgrading to a newer phone will give you slightly less noise and higher resolution, but pretty much the same quality photos. If you want to take better photos, you want a mirrorless or DSLR.

Back in 2010, with the iPhone 3gs:

The iPhone Fashion Shoot By Lee Morris | Fstoppers

A few weeks ago I did a full fashion photo shoot with my iPhone 3gs. I posted a few of the images and asked people to critique them (never exposing that they were shot on my cell phone). I couldn't help but laugh when a few of our readers claimed that these were "the best images I had ever...

fstoppers.com