Is the iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera OVERHYPED? | Honest Initial Review

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is the filmmaking tool of 2023... or so they say. But is it really? Let's have an honest chat about my first impressions on the camera and lenses.

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[lilafromyoutube]

Update: i got this tip from a few some lovely people in the comment section: I tried the 5x lens with action mode turned on and the stabilisation looks a lot better! Not perfect but definitely useable for home videos (i wouldn’t really use it for commercial work)

[KidRichmond]

Don’t ever change. Keep these honest reviews flowing. So many sell outs on here gushing over every item a brand delivers never giving us real feedback but yours, yours is fucking spectacular. Well done.

[davebassP]

One thing a lot of people miss, is that the gap between x2 and x5 is digital. If you shoot mostly up to x3 you are better off with the pro, as you are getting less digital crop and more optical range. Also, the ability to re focus afterwards is and has always been possible in portrait mode. Now we get auto portrait mode available by either the camera seeing a person or animal, or by manually selecting a focus spot. If you do t do that, you get normal focus with no way of changing it later.

[carstenpxi]

Like all image stabilization, there are limits to how much the sensor can move, and apparently your review of the 5 x zoom ran into those limits. Hence the jerkiness, However, you are not doing justice by expecting it to be an "Action" lens. But when you use the combination of its stabilization along with Action mode (which uses a crop instead of full 4K) and it gives incredible smooth, gimbal like performance. I've tried that today, and am very impressed, and you can see the similar performance in the Tyler Stalman review.

[BlueLotusFilms]

Really appreciate the review! I am still using my iPhone 11 Pro so the 15 pro seems amazing to me. I appreciate your honesty on the stabilization and cinematic mode limitations. I don’t expect Apple to have pro level cameras until another 5 years…but compared to where we were 10-15 years ago…this is mind boggling!!

[pressrepeat]

You’ve always been able to just double tap on the back of the phone to launch the camera. You chose that in Accessibility settings. You can also choose to triple tap.

[cwTheDrummist]

I value your honest reviews. Great job, Lila!

[teohyc]

It's 3 lens plus 4 crops modes. lol. Not 7 lenses.

[xppwvqx]

Thank you for your honest review. You’re the only one who ever addressed the image stabilization issue I’ve been facing since the release of iPhone 14 Pro. I have a 7 month case open with Apple and to see the issue carries over to the new iPhone 15 Pro tells me that Apple’s priorities are elsewhere. You can try factory settings and record at night while walking and see how horrible the footage is!

[johnwatts]

You can always just use an SD card with an adapter. I'm also sure there will be cases and whatnot soon that include external storage. I saw one reviewer that had a Samsung SSD (tiny and flat) rigged to magnetically stick to the back of the phone etc. WAY easier than dragging my camera gear everywhere especially for the short commercial stuff I sometimes shoot. I'm very excited for this option.

[Slayingsoup]

For an honest review, respectfully you take Apple at face value in their marketing. It’s not 7 lenses, it’s three, marketed as “lossless zoom” which is completely inadequate. The 3x zoom on the max is not the same as the 3x zoom on the regular pro. That one has a optical sensor.

[danieldickerson]

Wonderful video! While my big lenses and camera won’t be getting replaced anytime soon, it’s at least good that my phone can now, in certain situations, be used as a legitimate secondary tool that *compliments* my camera rather than remaining in my pocket or away from me because the quality coming out of it isn’t up to par.

Versatility, modularity, and the overall quality of a big lens and sensor will always win out for me. But, if I’m now (or when I do upgrade to a 15 Pro) in a pinch, don’t have my camera with me, or in a situation where I feel the need to pull out my phone to shoot something, whether photo or video… I can at least feel more confident that the results will be good enough that I can actually use them for things.

[Modi]

For cinematic mode try to use F4 it will more organic ( will get blurry background).. the stabilization is awesome 👏🏻

[internet]

Great honest, no frills review Lila. You aced it. Btw your nails are pure love ❤❤

[TheThaiLife]

This is the best iPhone 5 real world, functional camera review I have ever seen that I’ve watched dozens. Thank you so much for this!

[lilafromyoutube]

How do you feel about the 120mm lens on the iPhone 15 pro max?

[atorbtech]

Swipe left from the right corner of the lock screen to get to the camera, nothing is more easier than that gesture.

[shedrick]

WHAT : about the bokeh of the portrait you should adjust the arperture " f1.8 to 2.8 OR F4 for the the natural bokeh not..

[WarChortle]

I was thinking how great it would be to have an external HD for phone footage for travel video, but you are right.... with mirrorless cameras also becoming better I rather have a dedicated camera. I think phone cameras are so convenient and I'm glad they're as good as they are. I'll probably get the next release of Sony's asp-c cinema camera. It's annoying that the A7IV doesn't have LUT integration.

[toni.k]

How do you feel about the size of the phone? Is it practical enough / do you feel like it’s good for what you need day-to-day?