iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things (opens in new tab)

Also always worth bringing up in these discussions: the best camera is the one you have with you. A DSLR is obviously a better camera, but you usually don't have one on you 24/7.

I think that's largely true -- if you frequently need to take professional macro shots, you'll already have your own, better setup anyhow, and won't be switching to a phone camera anytime soon. However, somewhat surprisingly (for me at least), this seems to actually be good enough to also satisfy those that do carry fancy cameras, but don't need to take macro shots that often... from https://austinmann.com/trek/iphone-13-pro-camera-review-tanz...:

> As a photographer passionate about the natural world, I carry a macro lens with me no matter what project I’m working on, just because I never know what tiny detail of interest might present itself. Now with the macro capability of the iPhone 13 Pro, I feel like I have my “in-a-pinch” macro shots covered and I can leave the rarely-used macro lens at home.

I think the cellphone versus DSLR/mirrorless debate is largely an artificial internet debate.

Every real-world photographer I know is very happy that they can have both a cellphone and a full-size camera and choose appropriately for the situation.

I would have guessed quite the opposite: that people who know about and use DSLRs would be particularly interested in advancements in smartphone photography. I would have guessed that such people probably use their smartphone cameras more often (and more deliberately) than other people use their smartphone cameras. Heck, I bet a lot of these people even use their smartphone cameras more often than they use their DSLRs.

In my younger days I used to rail against unusable, slow, bloated apps, but most non tech people around me shrugged it off with a "dunno, works for me". I realized many people are happy with 2-3 second response times in software, which are horrendously slow when you care about performance.

Most tech has limitations/flaws, and there is always a target audience that doesn't care about those limitations/flaws.

> Apple isn't trying compete with a $3500 Sony A7R4 with a $1000 90mm macro lens

tbh something like a Nikon d300 with a 200$ lens does a better job in good light

A 200$ used up Sony Nex-3 with a 200$ Mitakon macro will do a much better job. I agree the iPhone is still convenient, but if your goal is to save money, not upgrading and buying a cheap camera is still going to have better results at a lower price, at the expense of convenience.

What are you talking about??

Sole us continuously improving their cameras on every iPhone release. They spend a lot of money on doing it.

They don’t care about competing with anyone. That is not their mindset. They just get better every year.

You are making up a rivalry that doesn’t exist.

It's the other way around. People with iPhones look at professional photography and will say "I want that too", and they're disappointed if their iPhone can't do it, so Apple makes sure it can.

I have friends who have over $30k in glass from Canon and Nikon (some use both!). And they barely touch it anymore because the iPhones have gotten so damn good.

> if you know what a DSLR is, or the difference between DSLR and mirrorless bodies, you are not the target audience.

I disagree. I have both a dslr and mirrorless bodies and love that my 12pro also takes great pictures. Anyone who enjoys taking pictures should be excited about the cameras improving on an always with you device.

Having that functionality in your pocket, instantly usable, beats having an SLR in the closet at home with a macro lens that you can switch to for a passing need.

And FWIW, the curse of SLR macro lenses is minuscule depth of field, so much so that many take many photos (presuming a perfectly stationary subject), bracket the focus, and stack by sharpness. It's a hugely involved process. A macro lens with a tiny focal length instantly has a big advantage, though depth of field is still going to be a problem given the fixed aperture.

It most real world scenarios I think the average person will have a much better chance of successful results.

I’ve been seriously into photography since well before usable digital cameras were a thing. I have used very expensive cameras, lenses, and lighting rigs with 35mm, medium format, 4x5 and pro-level digital. I am under no illusions about the difference between a high end dedicated rig and what my phone can do. But I still find it amazing and delightful to be able to get such great results from a device that fits in my pocket, I have with me all the time, and also does so many other things. It’s all about context.

It’s different and each has its own qualities.

I noticed it during my vacation in Italy. Yeah, I still run around with a big mirrorless camera with a huge zoom lens (Fujifilm’s weird X-H1 absolutely no one bought but I still love very much with the very large and heavy 16-55 mm F2.8 lens) and I’m sure I will only use its photos for my 2022 week calendar or whatever else photo projects I will do – but the photos from my iPhone still provided an instant satisfying value in the way in which they are instantly and easily shareable and just immediately can populate my digital live (even if I have the huge camera with me – which I don’t always have!).

These are two different ways of using photography and both are valid. More importantly, both benefit from any new capabilities you gain.

I guess what I want from my Fuji is to integrate itself more tightly and easily with my smartphone, something they really suck at. And I want my smartphone to be good enough in more situations. Like macro photography.

And the weird thing about macro is that even if you do have a big camera and great lenses (I have the 35mm F1.4, 23mm F1.4, 16-55mm F2.8 and I sometimes rent the 90mm F2.0) you might not prioritize macro photography, so if you just get a new thing that’s pretty good at it that just very cool to play around with. And I don’t think your sneering attitude is justified …

Certainly not the case for this review. Lux produces several well-reviewed iOS camera apps and regularly publishes articles about the iPhone camera hardware and software.

I've never been able to get good macro shots on a DSLR, despite decent optics and lighting, and an ok-for-most-purposes tripod. I eventually decided that to do it really right takes a massive copy stand, maybe on a concrete slab. Stuff wobbles too much without it.

Is that a DSLR in your pocket? No. It will never fit in your pocket. But a iPhone will. And it replaces 3 lenses on top of that.

Honestly, as someone who is starting to go long-sighted, this is tempting me towards getting a 13 pro (or Pixel 6 i it is similarly good).

I frequently find myself using my phone camera to zoom in on ridiculously small text on things, but my phone has always struggled with it. Good phone macro will be a feature I would use all the time.

It’s nice to have a do-all device, but a head-mounted dental loupe is hands-free and can light up your subject.

Or just old people like me trying to read serial numbers on electronics hardware.

You can't really use machine learning based image upscaling for that type of work

That's because the original micro lenses were commissioned to resolve images of microfilms iirc[1] (See under 1962), and doesn't really have anything to do with the macro/micro relationship.

[1] - https://www.nikon.com/about/corporate/history/chronology/194...

The name Macro makes perfect sense. It doesn’t refer to the size of the subjects being shot, but rather to the magnification factor. Macro lenses are capable of preserving 1:1 scale between the subject and film/sensor

There is a well understood difference between macroscopy and microscopy. Naming macro lenses micro might be helpful to the layperson but not the subject expert.

Halide does focus peaking, albeit only in manual-focus mode.

In general, though, you're right - I wouldn't want to try for the same kinds of shots with a phone that I get with a DSLR. My macro rig weighs about five pounds, which sounds like a lot and is in comparison with a phone, but between the damping effect of all that mass and the ability to get a good grip with both hands, it makes for a much more stable platform overall.

Yes. “Use a friggin tripod” still applies. So does “bring your own damn light.”

Forget about composing the shot, it's often even a struggle just to keep the depth of field centered where you want it. (Apple might be handling that via smarter autofocus, though)

A little sway left or right can be cropped away, but missed focus ruins the shot.

I will admit that I got a little tinge of resentment when I realized it was an ad/announcement for their app but that quickly subsided when I realized that I would much rather have educational/informative ads like this than the alternative. Even if I don't download their app, I got something useful from this and that's ok with me.

I am always happy to defend an advertisement that has informative content and is up front about it’s true nature as an ad. An honest ad would be a win-win, consumers understand things more and the product, if its good, gets increased sales or awareness.

That’s a neat idea for an accessory. I bet you could make a little stick-on or clip-on light pipe that redirects the built-in flash to a tiny ring diffuser around the macro lens.

Content warning: bug on bug violence

Gorgeous shots tho

Apple brought out a new feature in iOS 15 where you can modify the settings used in the initial pipeline. Currently you can adjust some basic settings like contrast, saturation, and color shift. Those settings are then applied to all photos as they are pulled off of the sensors.

This comes up every time a post makes it to Hacker News. I can only speak for the camera app, but I assume the language also refers to silver halide, a chemical used in film photography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_halide

Yes, though there may be some other adjustments it makes. This is just a feature of their Halide app that gives an approximation of macro photos within the limits of the existing lenses. You would need to buy an iPhone 13 Pro to get the new lenses that can focus down to actual macro ranges. The app has lots of manual controls for taking photos that are not exposed on the default camera app.

There’s a “Pay Once” option next to the subscription options.