$5,000 Pro Camera vs iPhone 15 Pro: Which is Better for YOU?

Want to level up your portraiture? You'll need some off-camera lighting and for that, Westcott is PetaPixel's preferred lighting partner. Check out what we used in this episode:

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has the best picture quality of any smartphone we've tested, but how does it compare to the might Nikon Z8 professional mirrorless camera? We took both on a road trip around Idaho to see where each excels.

Rental equipment provided by The Camera Store

0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Zoom range
2:48 - Depth of field
4:05 - Resolution
5:22 - Lighting
6:03 - Action
7:02 - Video
9:04 - Image quality
12:49 - Conclusion

[robegeor]

Bonus points to Jordan for the little camera jiggle laughing at Chris' bad pun. You guys are the best!

[CalebThomasMedia]

Chris rocking the old man phone wallet, the dad vest, and the accompanying leather craft goods. He’s aging like a goddamn fine wine 😅

[kevinwhite]

I'm a complete amateur. I have an iPhone 14 Pro and it does some amazing things. I can take pictures at night, basically, and have more than usable images (which almost always means some sort of thing that happened that I'm trying to document). I've done some legitimately good arty photography in 48mp RAW mode. I also have a Lumix G95D and the two kit lenses (12-60 and 45-150) and taking pictures with the camera is completely different. It feels good using a camera to take pictures. The iPhone is just... it's just not fun to use.

[PNWDOM]

Thank you for showing the difference between a real camera and the iPhone in lowlight. Most reviewers cripple the DSLR with cheap glass then go shoot during midday in pristine sunlight. Any camera would look good during that time. I think the future of DSLR's is incorporating smartphone features directly into the camera. Built in SSD's, network connectivity, app stores, etc.

[veeaa]

To me the biggest issue with these comparisons is that the Youtubers take pictures in perfect lighting conditions where any camera does well. As a dad, my conditions for family photography are usually less than ideal indoors in low light. This is where the phone computational photography falls apart as even slightest movement of the subject prevents the phones ability to compose an HDR photo and the subject becomes extremely grainy and blurry.
An ILC only takes one exposure with a shorter shutter speed that can freeze slight movement and the ISO performance kills phones in those situations. Adding a flash puts the last nail in the phone's coffin but in perfect sunny day conditions, I'd not take my mirrorless camera with me very easily.

[Jimo]

It’s pretty astounding how good phones are today, especially wide angle. I generally use my 16mm lens for astrophotography now and use the iPhone for anything unless I am doing nature photography with a telephoto zoom

[CrazyAboutFlyFishing]

Chris, I love how you manage to sneak in something fly fishing related into the vids. That shot of you standing in the river looks great.

[-grey]

If you're going to do very graphical deep depth of field work in ideal light, a phone is a great choice. It just falls apart when you need versatility or if natural things can quickly look uncanny with too much pre-processing. I would use a phone for abstract architectural black and white, where it's all about vague expressive shape and lines for example. Those types of image can hide the technical flaws of the format like crunchy digital sharpening, over-clocked gain noise, colour banding, awkward HDR, and fauxkeh.

[TheFlyingDogFish]

A pro camera is always better, except when you don't have it with you. On the other hand, the phone can be good enough for some purposes and it's always in your pocket.

[notaspectator]

Ill be using both. Choosing what is hard is one of my principles, manual dslr/mirror is harder path, hence its where you become intentional.

[Bokehmo]

I have a MFT system and comparing my Pixel 6 edited raws with my E-M5 III, I actually find the phone results quite good, and sometimes the phone is able to produce sharper results. It tends to be a little grainy but that's expected with a smaller sensor. Comparing against a 45mp full frame is pretty unfair, but seeing an iphone against MFT or APS-C where you're downsampling from 48mp to 20/24/26 would be interesting. The iphone colours always look bad to me though.

[jfieqj]

For me the biggest difference is still real bokeh vs fake bokeh. The fake bokeh is getting better, but it still has a lot of errors on fine details around subjects. That said, I found it remarkable just how similar a lot of these shots are. It's comparing a big expensive professional camera to a CELL PHONE, and in some of the shots I would've struggled to tell which is which without a label. Obviously upon closer inspection you can tell the difference, but that they even have a passing similarity is amazing.

[fmgjr]

Chris, at 11:33 you said, "I still love the ergonomics of using a smartphone." Did you mean to say I still love the ergonomics of using the Nikon?

[Robinicat]

Thank you! You helped me make the decision whether to take my new iPhone 15 Pro or my mirrorless Nikon X61. It's a family vacation with children and I just want to be able to capture photos on the fly...so the iPhone is the winner.

[ernesto_creativo]

I have to get a famous YouTuber like you to get a personal coffee maker employee!!! 😂😂😂❤

[Manoloelgomo]

Using a spice grinder for coffee beans?!?! You need a new traveling barista ASAP

[AnotherOtherMan-alive]

One of the upsides of the smartphone is for field reporting. Sure a mirrorless or even an older DSLR can out perform the photographic power of that phone but the ability to directly upload the images and video is not something to be overlooked.

I just wish the apps camera manufacturers made were better than they are. Sony, I'm looking at you needing a wifi router (not ad-hoc like with pentax's app for example).

[erik]

I'm planning on taking my R6-II and 24-70 2.8 to Europe soon, even though I have capable phone (S23 ultra). This is an important family trip and I'll use my phone for a lot, and although the phone is easier and more convenient, my Canon takes superior pictures.

[abhattal]

Would like to know how a 1" sensor compact (say RX100VA) compares against a smartphone (say Xperia 5v).

[martin_the_artist_]

There's still no contest between a phone and a dedicated camera for anything other than casual snapshots for social media. The fake bokeh still looks god awful.

I know too many people that have wasted so much money on getting the latest iPhone, falling for the hype and the marketing (that new 'shot on iphone' ad with the 50k lighting rig lol), and then still wondering why thier photos don't look great. I've since pointed a few friends to budget options like the Gx80, which is what you guys should be doing really. So many amazing cheap photography deals out there. Try replicating the magic of a £25 helios on a iPhone. Pair the Gx80 with an Olympus 45 1.8 and you can get portraits that blow any phone out the water for £400.