Tech giant, Apple Inc., has continued its tradition of improving the photography capabilities of consumer devices with the announcement of the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro; set to be available on September 24.
Last year’s iPhone 12 had two rear camera lenses, while the iPhone 12 Pro had three; the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro follow suit. The iPhone 13 features a wide (f/1.6 aperture) and an ultra-wide (f/2.4 aperture) lens, which are the same spec as the iPhone 12 but the iPhone 13 Pro unveils an entirely new camera system.
The iPhone 13 Pro, compared with the iPhone 12 Pro, improves low-light performance by allowing for apertures as wide as f/1.5 on the main lens, compared to f/1.6 on the previous model. The ultra-wide lens follows the same trend, boasting f/1.8, improved from f/2.4 on the iPhone 12 Pro. These wide apertures should collect more light in darker settings like bars and concerts, hopefully leading to improved image quality. Apple claims that the ultra-wide lens will have “up to 92% improvement in low light, but we’ll just have to test that ourselves.”
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Apple also announced Photographic Styles and Cinematic Mode, new features available on both the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
Photographic Styles applies local edits to an image in real-time as the photo is rendered, so photographers can compose their shots using one of four presets and see what their end product will look like before they click the shutter button.
With point-and-shoots, having had real-time filters for a decade, Apple claims these Photographic Styles are more technologically sophisticated than those, using machine learning to understand how to intelligently apply edits without compromising a subject’s skin tone.
Meanwhile, Cinematic Mode allows users to shoot video, but then change the background blur and virtual focus of the clip later. This feature caters to professional filmmaking.
In the meantime, the iPhone 13 sale price will start at $799, which, for the record, is more expensive than an entry-level DSLR camera and a decent lens. The iPhone 13 Pro — telephoto lens, macro photography, and all — starts at $999.