The 2-3 regular readers here—wink—might recall that last year, we recommended buying the iPhone 15, because it could be the last camera you will ever need. [You've probably figured out that almost any iPhone or Android phone was all the phone or brower or texter you ever needed generations ago.] We stand behind that advicve, spoecifically with respect to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. If you didn't pick up an iPhone 15 this past year, just wait another month or two for the prices to drop dramatically. Or . . ..
If you are so inclined, it appears that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is going to offer an even better camera, one that just might make the difference in certain situations. For example, consider the shot of the iconic Warner brothers water tower, that I took through a dirty windshield one-handed while coming to a stop just before a stoplight change.
It was taken with the iPhone's 5x Telephoto at f/2.8 at 1/811s [remember these numbers don't all translate cleanly to the 35mm field]. This file is a JPEG export sized to fit our webserver's image size limits. The original RAW file is a 12 megapixel image [22mb] at 4032 × 3024px. It's just not that big [though significantly larger than digital sensors that cost tens of thousands of dollars in the first decade of this century]. That means, if you want to do any serious editing, you're going to need to use something like Topaz Gigapixel to upscale the image. When you do that, you will introduce a lot of "less-than-beautiful" effects. Still, you can do something with it, just not as much as you might like:
So, what does this have to do with the iPhone 16 Pro Max? Just about everything. MacRumors is a great place to go for a trove of information about the Apple ecosystem. They are especially good at gathering up and sifting through advance information about forthcoming Apple products. In the Steve Jobs era, this was a nearly impossible task. it's easier to do today, but still not easy. With roughly a month to go until the next iPhone's introduction, here is their roundup. For photographers, I think these are especially interesting:
5. Ultra Wide Lens Upgrade
iPhone 16 Pro & iPhone 16 Pro Max
The iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to feature an upgraded 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera lens, which should allow it to capture more light, resulting in improved photos when shooting in 0.5× mode, especially in low-light environments. This also means that iPhone 16 Pro models should be able to shoot 48-megapixel ProRAW photos in Ultra Wide mode. These photos retain more detail in the image file for more editing flexibility, and can be printed at large sizes. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is also rumored to boast a bigger main camera thanks to an advanced custom 48-megapixel Sony IMX903 sensor.
6. Super Telephoto Camera
iPhone 16 Pro Max
The iPhone 16 Pro Max could be the first to feature a super telephoto periscope camera for dramatically increased optical zoom. "Super" or "ultra" telephoto usually describes cameras with a focal length of over 300mm. The current telephoto lens is equivalent to a 77mm lens, so if accurate, there could be a notable increase in zoom capabilities. Super telephoto cameras are often used for sports and wild animal photography, but the extremely soft backgrounds they create also make them useful for portrait photography, providing there is enough distance between the subject and the photographer.
There are other photo-related features that will help improve image quality as well, but IMHO these two are the optical ones that will make the most difference. And #6 would go a long way toward improving this image of the WB water tower in particular.
