iPhone 15 Pro cameras: MISLEADING & DISAPPOINTING

We're HUGE fans of Apple and the iPhone, but the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras are a huge disappointment. Much of the specs Apple bragged about in their presentation are misleading because Apple used math deceptively to overstate the capabilities of the camera. Tony Northrup covers all the new features in the iPhone cameras and tells you what you can ACTUALLY expect from them.

0:00 Introduction
1:17 "7 Lenses" is a lie
2:27 The 120mm lens makes pictures WORSE
5:14 Bloated 24 megapixel files boost iCloud revenue
7:38 Apple uses crop factor to overstate power
10:05 Apple's monopoly blocks me from Android
11:25 Summary

[AlejoRuy]

This is exactly what I was thinking when they presented the "120mm" telephoto. Thank you for sharing this information Tony, you are the best!

[JulianPhotofit]

I am so happy someone is calling them out. I’m a photographer and I see right through them. The average consumer doesn’t even understand what they are selling. They just throw a bunch of fancy terms and words out there and hopes the consumer just wants to keep up with the Joneses. And these iPhone reviewers are full of it. I subscribed. Great work!

[RMari-sl]

The iPjone 15 Pro Max has 3 cameras: 13 mm wide angle 12-megapixel, 24 mm 48 megapixel main, and 120 mm 12 megapixel telephoto. These are NOT ZOOM LENSES. These are FIXED lenses. However, because the sensor pixels can be combined to achieve 24 megapixel photos, the 24 mm main can emulate 28, 35, and 48 mm 24 megapixel FIXED lenses. Like all fixed lenses, any other zoom setting will crop the sensor output and achieve lower resolution photos.

[vedicvoyage]

Finally, You are the first person I saw on Youtube who is calling out Apple on their bullshit. Great video, All other famous youtubers (I call them Apple marketing team) are out there completely misleading people. Thank you and keep going and stay with the truth.

[salvamando]

Thank you for calling this out, I knew something smelled fishy while I watched the event last week! I don’t really use my phone cameras to begin with so I’m not too bothered, I too essentially switched from Android to Apple last year mostly for convenience since I own other Apple gadgets (yes, the “iSheep” reason) but at least I’m honest about this with myself/others. And yes, I do miss Note/Ultra phones! What is more perplexing is seeing other “professional” YouTube photographers perpetuating this 7 lens myth, it is quite shocking!

[waynefose]

Thanks Tony, I think you just saved me $1200 that I can now spend on a new lens for my Sony A7R. It's sad how Apple has been more and more deceitful, and less innovative. Tim Cook is never going to be a Steve Jobs.

[washingtonradio]

I have always been leery of phone camera claims because they are either cropping or doing stuff by software to achieve the effects. Not like using a real zoom or macro lens on a camera.

[klemenvadnjal]

Your math is all wrong, and the math is very basic. Let me help to explain. 1x is equivalent to 24 mm on a 48 MP sensor. The pictures are 24 MP. So, the last of the cropped focal length is 48mm (2x), which is 2x of the 24 mm. So 48 MP / 2 is 24 MP. So on the last of the cropped “lenses, ” you get 24 MP and not 3 MP. I know. I am not criticizing; I understand the scholar system in the US isn't the best, and it is understandable that basic math is a hard subject for you, but this doesn't change the fact that the math is incorrect.

[andreimicle]

How about you review the phone and its photo capabilities when you get it. No point saying the 14 pro with crop will be exactly the same because you know they work on algorithms all the time.

[CarlGreenwood]

Thank you Tony, you saved me from a big (& expensive) disappointment. Well presented, shame some YouTubers are happy to play up the hype.

[cwantuch]

Well you totally changed my mind about ordering a 15 Pro Max. I’ll hang onto my iPhone 13 Pro. Great, practical review and yeah I am totally pissed at Apple for under-delivering on this release.

[The.JZA.]

The default image size is 24MP on the main camera now, not 12MP. There are lots of camera phones on the market that have a 5x zoom lens without having an additional 3x lens. I mean you could make exactly the same complaint about the S23 Ultra saying that any zoom level between 3x and 10x is a digital crop of a tiny 1/3.52” 10MP sensor. There are many ways to skin a cat and the only way to have continuous lossless zoom is to have a proper variable zoom lens. One day we might have that on phones but for now you will just have to suck it up and accept that some zoom ranges will be sharper than others. You are also forgetting that Apple has a 2x lossless zoom on the main sensor so that negates some of your conplaints along with the new ISP that combines 12MP computational photography with a 48MP high res image to make a 24MP final product. Let’s wait and see how it works in reality before you get your panties in a bunch.

[PolarBlairGaming]

I am definitely not going to defend Apple by default, but in this case, you're wrong, Tony.

According to an apple contact via the Waveform podcast, the "fake" focal lengths are actually 24mp output of a combination of all available lenses, and the middle zoom ranges will do the same. So it's not going to be a degraded image to the extent you're assuming.

That being said, of course native focal lengths are better, but to assume that they aren't doing anything to improve the output to be useable would be unfair.

[srwx]

You should really read up on your details before making such a video. Your claim that it's only digital crop ignores the influence of software to (modern) mobile photography. Of course there aren't any dedicated prime lenses. They wouldn't fit in there without sacrificing on sensor size for the individual lenses. Besides having the photo processing pipeline being run on the cropped part of the 48MP, Apple has apparently build dedicated machine learning algorithms to account for the different virtual focal lengths (crops) in the image processing.
Surely this also marketing and not the same as having a dedicated lens, but from a practical perspective I expect this to have an impact, especially as someone who considers the 24mm equivalent to be too wide. In the end the photos have to speak for themselves, but you didn't even wait to try it and rather go on a rant 🤷🏼‍♂
By the way Apple, never claimed this to be anything else than virtual focal lengths. The 7 lens phrasing is clearly figuratively. And yes also marketing. Wouldn't you market your product as best as you can? Silly complaint

[capones]

You're only partially right... The 28mm and 35mm are not just crops. What Apple calls "photonic engine" mixes in detail information from the 48MP sensor and you actually get more detail at 35mm (1.5x) than at 24mm (1.0x). I have the 15 pro max and this was the first thing I tested when I got it. Because they are using the photonic engine for everything now (before, it was only on main camera at 1.0x zoom) you also get better detail at, let's say 2.9x then on the 14 Pro Max. From 3.0x to 4.9x the 14 pro max will have more resolution, but with a worse sensor then the main, so the image might still be worse then on the 15 pro max if you have low light... From 5.0x on, the 15 Pro Max obviously wins. Lastly, the standard 24MP images are really more detailed then the 12MP on the 14 Pro Max, even with the same sensor, again, because of Photonic Engine mixing in detail.

[EduOliveira]

I was looking forward to your comments on this as when they said 7 lenses it blew my mind how they could come up with such a lie. If we want to crop something we can do it at any time… this was ridiculous from Apple. 🤣
Thanks for adding more details and light to the topic

[chriscaryer]

When any video has ‘The Truth’ in its thumbnail, I instantly go elsewhere for the info I’m after 🤣

[sevdarasdaras]

Exceptional video Tony! Glad to know I was not the only “crazy” person watching the launch of the new iPhones.

[takudad]

Why complain then. Just buy product, consume product and buy product again over and over. Your complain is invalid if you justify it still at the end of your video that you still need their product.

[john-wiggains]

I just googled what a quad Bayer sensor was and then all the research led me here. Thank you for explaining!!
I’ve been learning a lot more about photography this last year. But all my BS sensors went off during this Apple event.