DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Will the iPhone 13’s insane camera specs kill off ‘proper’ cameras?

Sep 15, 2021 by Alex Baker 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Apple announced the launch of the new iPhone 13 range yesterday, and its camera is a real game-changer, particularly for videographers. With new features such as a wide-angle and macro lens, plus 3x telephoto zoom and a dedicated cinematography video mode, could this be the beginning of the end for bulky DSLRs and mirrorless cameras?

The phone boasts many impressive attributes such as a 1TB storage, 5G, and extended battery life. Additionally, for photographers and content creators, several features will be very exciting.

Cinematography

Firstly let’s look at the cinematography mode. This actually replicates the rack or pull focus effect that you see in movies when the focus transitions seamlessly from one subject to another. For anyone who has tried to do this on a DSLR or Mirrorless camera manually will know how difficult this is to do smoothly. In fact, in large Hollywood productions, there is a camera assistant employed specifically to do this job. The iPhone 13 will actually do this all for you following a subject through a scene and will even change focus automatically when the subject looks away.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the cinematography mode though is that it will let you choose the focus after the fact. That is going to be incredibly useful, how many times have you shot something and wished that you could go back in time and alter the point of focus? Furthermore, a scheduled update for the Pro model will allow the phone to use the ProRes video codec at 4K 30 fps. This codec compresses data without losing image and colour quality. This is used regularly on dedicated video cameras but will be the first time that this will be used on a mobile device.

Wide-angle and macro

In terms of the camera for still photography, an exciting feature of the PRO version is the macro lens and the ability to focus only 2cm away from a subject. Coupled with an aperture of f/1.5 the iPhone 13 can take some very impressive ultra close-ups with lack of light not being an issue due to the way the phone takes multiple images and stacks them together in a sort of ultra HDR while still a retaining normal look. Again the super wide-angle lens performs much better in low light situations than previous models, meaning that potentially this phone could be used for night photography and photographing stars.

New Macro photography as close as 2cm in the new iPhone 13 Pro#AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/zjXfV646Hk

— iJustine (@ijustine) September 14, 2021

Now all this is fairly impressive, but how does this affect us as photographers? Tyrone Turner from Flash Film Academy commented in a short video that he thinks that the end is nigh for the need for DSLR’s and mirrorless cameras. The new iPhone has just “killed about 70% of your lenses on one device, and that device is smart enough to light your scene for you.”

YouTube video

He does concede that they probably won’t be making movies on these devices anytime soon, however, Apple isn’t targeting that market, they are going after the much larger market of content creators, and this is where the iPhone camera specs will really come into its own. “What else are they gonna kill?” he asks, “your slider? Your gimbal? Your drone?”

It’s an interesting point of view, and calls to mind how impressed I was with the capabilities of my friend’s Huawei P30 phone camera with Leica lens when we did some astrophotography together. His phone was actually taking better images than his Canon M50. In my opinion it merely just adds to the possible tools we have at our disposal as visual creators, further reinforcing the idea that the equipment used is less and less important than the person and creative mind using it. And it comes in pink ;)

[Via CNet]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to use a gym bag full of old mobile backdrops to turn any office into a proper studio for corporate headshots Photographer Takes an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, & iphone 6+ to Iceland: This Is How They Compared This insane camera rig spins a Phantom slow motion camera at 150rpm (32mph) Side By Side Comparison Of Nine Generations Of iPhone Cameras Including The iPhone 6S

Filed Under: news Tagged With: apple, autofocus, iPhone

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.net

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« 100ASA is a new photo-sharing community that blends Instagram and 1x
Did Oppo and Kodak launch a new smart phone or is it just a dressed up Find X3 Pro? »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy