For the preponderance of my working career I was involved with Higher Education and as a result taught countless classes and gave a myriad of professional presentations. It was my philosophy to never stand before an audience without interesting visual imagery to support or augment the points I was making. This modus operandi holds true for this weblog. If you’ve taken anytime to glance through my various posts you’ll note they include quite a number of photographs. Consequently, possessing the capability of creating relatively high quality images is important to me as I communicate through this website.
Since 2005 my primary photographic weapon of choice was a Nikon Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera (DSLR). I been through multiple iterations of Nikon cameras and currently use a 36 mpx D810. As you can see in the photograph to the left, the D810 is a large and heavy camera, especially when a telephoto or macro lens is attached.
For the ultimate in image quality (IQ), a DSLR is hard to beat and will always be my first choice when embarking on a serious photographic mission; however, lugging the big gun around is not always convenient and photographic opportunities often avail themselves when the big DSLR is not in my possession.
For serious photographers, another solution besides a big gun is to carry a point and shoot camera. If you’re willing to spend the money, a point and shoot can take a very nice image. For example shown below, I shot this Zion National Park landscape from horseback, one handed … No way could I do this with a DSLR because it’s too heavy to haul on horseback and I learned very quickly a horse has no patience for a rider who is not holding the reins with at least one hand and you cannot shot a DSLR single handedly.
Despite the convenience of a small point and shoot camera compared to a DSLR, it still requires intentionality to always have the small device available when a photo opportunity presents itself and for me that’s simply not going to happen as I haul around too much stuff as is…
All of this discussion leads me to my main point and that is “the best camera” is the one you have available at the time a photo opportunity becomes obvious, and today the best camera is most often the one you have integrated into your personal communication device or handset, i.e. iPhone. Up until recently, I wandered through the world with an iPhone 6s, which takes a decent photograph, but does not hold up remotely to a “professional” point and shoot. That presumption may not be true anymore. The new phone cameras are so good, they’ve practically driven the point and shoot market out of business and even push the need for a DSLR. This advancement in iPhone IQ became obvious to me during a recent visit to my daughter Sally and her family in Wilmington, NC.
There is a Pocosin preserve in Wilmington located behind a grammar school just a short ride from Sally’s home. Pocosins are marshy areas tucked within a pine forest and are the only natural habitats for Venus Flytraps in the world. These Pocosins exist only in the coastal areas around Wilmington, NC so it is a real treat to visit one and photograph the plants that grow naturally in that region. Further, some of my father’s ashes are also scattered in this Pocosin.
So, while visiting Sally, I took out my big rig, equipped with a close-up (macro) lens and went out to commune with my father’s spirit and to take some shots of the carnivorous plants in the Pocosin, some of which can be seen above.
Along for the visit to the Pocosin were Sally and my grandchildren and it was there that she took the opportunity to photograph me with Edie B. and Π (Pi) (known also as Peter), which can be seen below:
Later when we got back to Sally’s home and I had a chance to see the photograph of me and the grandchildren I was awestruck by the quality of the image, including the exposure, color rendering and the detail. Sally took this photo with an iPhone X, which was at that point the state-of-the-art iPhone. It was then, after studying that image, I decided that upgrading from my 6s was in the immediate future. It is unusual not to have my iPhone with me and with the new improved camera, it’s a no-brainer if you love to take quality images!
So, in a nifty jiu-jitsu pivot move I handed down my 6s to my wife who had an iPhone 5 on its last legs and ordered the new iPhone 11 Pro Max when it became available, which I’ve had for a few weeks now:
Ordinarily in the past when I’ve upgraded my iPhone, I’ve suffered buyer’s remorse big-time because the phones look and act essentially the same from version to version. But having waited out multiple versions of the iPhone over the past 3.5 years, there are some remarkable differences, most notably with the camera. I’ve included some of the iPhone 11 images below. While I would not consider the shown photos super extraordinary they are very functional. The photo of the old Capital in Iowa City is one of the new iPhone night images. While the upper dome is a bit blown out, it’s not at all a bad handheld taken in the dark photograph!
So, to wrap this discussion up, I am delighted with the photographic capability that the iPhone Pro brings to my disposal. In summary, here’s some pros and cons of the new device relative to my older iPhone 6s:
Pros:
- Great camera with telephoto, wide angle and night shooting capability
- 12 mpx camera to capture pretty incredible details
- Faster operating speed
- Accurate facial recognition to open the device
- Massive storage at 256 Gigabytes to store bunches of music, videos and photographs
- Is still an iPhone and does all the things iPhones do better than in the past
- Siri is smarter and will automatically put me on speaker phone, which is what I use almost exclusively
- Now has a battery that lasts for days
- Has a huge screen which is great for photo editing
Cons:
- Expensive
- Heavy and large… the Pro Max weighs almost a 1/2 pound (220 grams)
- I wish I had gotten a grippier phone cover… the fancy pants Apple leather cover is like handling a wet bar of soap