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Fake bokeh is finally here for all iPhone 7 Plus owners

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iOS10.1 is here, and there are a couple of big photo related bits of news. First up, the fake depth of field effect is here. Love it or hate it, if you have an iPhone 7 Plus, you’ve got it. “Portrait” mode has met a mixed reception. Most don’t see it as a serious tool, although it may help to improve your iPhone-shot Instagram photos.

The feature has been available to Beta users for a little while now, and we showed you some side-by-side comparisons not too long ago. Now, it’s available to all. Portrait mode images don’t look too bad on an iPhone screen. We’ll probably see quite a few images shot with the feature popping up on social media in the coming weeks. I would expect the effect to fall apart pretty quickly on big prints, though.

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DSLR compared with the iPhone 7 Plus

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I think for most people, no matter how many comparisons or examples come out, the whole “actual camera vs smartphone camera” debate will never end. Every other new phone seems to be hailed as a “DSLR Killer” by social media. It’s only lately we’ve seen these sorts of claims from manufacturers themselves, though. It was a key selling point of the Huawei P9 and Apple say the iPhone 7 Plus shoots “DSLR quality pictures”. But does it?

We showed you some samples of the iPhone 7 Plus “portrait mode” recently, and many weren’t convinced. This video from Lee Morris over at FStoppers looks a little more in depth at the iPhone 7 Plus’ camera. He pits it against a DSLR in a bunch of different situations. Of course, it’s difficult to fairly compare a DSLR to any phone, given the vast difference in specs of today’s models. So, Lee chose to compare it with the 7 year old Nikon D300s.

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Can the new Portrait Mode on iPhone 7 Plus make you a better photographer?

One of the primary lessons I teach in portraiture is how to control the viewer’s eye, and how depth of field is one of the key methods to do that. This is normally the preserve of expensive fast lenses, but soon anyone will be able achieve this with some new technology I’ve been trailing on the iPhone 7 plus.

This new IOS 10.1 software, currently in beta and available later this year uses the twin cameras built into the iPhone 7 plus. It basically provides you with a new and super simple ‘portrait’ camera mode which takes two image and uses software to artificially create a creamy depth of field….and it’s great!

[use the slider to see the regular/portrait version compared side by side]

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