January 2020, update on flash with the iPhone.
Profoto has introduced a flash unit designed for use with the iPhone, called the Profoto C1 Plus. Pretty nifty device despite being low in power. If you get really close you can take some decent shots.
Here are some links
https://profoto.com/us/profoto-stories/c1-shun?sc_src=email_3901503&sc_lid=294068723&sc_uid=RkZ1jPZsHU&sc_llid=6341&sc_eh=c3ef075d1a2dfe181&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Stories-C1Plus-SHUN-200116_US
https://profoto.com/us/inspirational-product-pages/c1?sc_src=email_3498574&sc_lid=267518538&sc_uid=RkZ1jPZsHU&sc_llid=407&sc_eh=c3ef075d1a2dfe181&utm_medium=email&utm_source=&utm_campaign=Pandora+Engagement+Program+-+Get+Started+US#25067
October 23, 2019, Revised.
OK, 3 years after my last post on the iPhone camera, plenty has changed. The latest camera is the iPhone 11 Pro and it has many new features which takes it decisively in the direction of a viable small camera replacement. This section explores some of these changes but, more important, it explores how to integrate the iPhone into a workflow that includes both the phone as well as other cameras, such as the Nikon Z7.
First, for a number of years, I have used the Photos app to store all my photo albums and propogate them across all Apple devices. This consists of thousands of images, organized into albums. Whatever happens, I intend to keep this arrangement. Because I’m using iCloud, this puts constraints on how I can import from the iPhone into locations other than the Camera Roll.
Second, I’m using macOS Catalina (10.15) which has a number of new ways to attach and sync the iPhone - no longer iTunes. Sync facilites are now accessed in the finder.
Let’s start by looking at import of photos. Prmary workflow device is MACOS
Method #1
If I connect my Z7 to my MBP13 via USB, it shows up, as expected, for import with LR Classic CC, LR CC and also with Photos.
NOTE (12/26/2019): With my iPhone 11 Pro directly connected to the MBP (2019). There are some issues.
1. The Photos app on the MBP “sees” the iPhone 11 Pro and images can be imported to the camera roll. However, it may be hard to find the images since there are issues with duplicate images trying to sync with iCloud
2. Lightroom CC on the MBP does not “see” the iPhone.
3. Lightroom Classic CC on the MBP “sees” the iPhone 11 Pro as a potential input device but does not “see” any images for importing.
As a result, if there is no internet connection and you need to connect directly, go to method #5.
Method #2.
Since all images I take on the iPhone go into the camera roll, any app that can import from that location can be used to ingest. Unfortunately, with MacOS, it is not possible to import images from the camera roll into LR Classic CC nor LR CC. However, it is possible to import images from the camera roll in LR CC on other iOS devices such as the iphone itself or with my iPad Pro. So, an alternative to Method #1 is to ingest images from the camera roll into LR CC on the phone. These will then (eventually) be uploaded to the creative Cloud and available on other Adobe apps, including on MACOS devices. This seems quite a roundabout way to get images into LR Classic CC.
For both methods there is an issue of duplication of image files. For the phone, so long as there is an Internet connection. images will be uploaded to iCloud and then propogated to all other devices (in the photos app) with the same Apple ID. And, the images are retained locally in the camera roll. If, subsequently, images are also ingested into LR Classic CC, then they will be duplicated in that workspace environment also. For this scenario, it is desireable to delete the relevant images in the camera roll (and delete the recently deleted folder also). This is reminiscent of using the iPad for primary workflow.
Method #3.
In this method, we use the File -> Export -> “Export Unmodified Original” feature inside the Photos app (MAC OS) to export the desired images to a desired folder. It is then possible to import to LR Classic CC directly from that folder. Note that by exporting the originals, any processing done on the phone (portrait mode ertc.) will not be exported. Also, this doesn’t eliminate the file duplication issue but may make it easier to navigate the images in the Photos library to select only the ones you want to import to LR. A version of this method is, using only the iPhone and the Photos app to “share” to “Lightroom”. Note that, when using Halide and Profoto, the apps generates two images - one is Jpeg, the other is RAW. The default is to export the jpeg. If you want to export the RAW image, in Photos, go to Image -> Use RAW as the original. This is not “sticky” so check each time you want to export.
Method #4.
If you are using the LR camera on the iPhone, it looks like the images are imported directly to LR on the phone without going through the camera roll. Using Creative Cloud, these images are propogated to other devices running LR CC. I need to verify this. It may not be relevant since I’m not sure using the LR camera is the best choice. We’ll see when we compare cameras and associated image quality.
Method #5.
If there’s no access to wifi, directly connect the iPhone to the Mac and open Image Capture. Select the iPhone and then select the desired files to transfer. Select the appropriate folder and do the transfer. You can then import to LR Classic on the Mac.
Conclusion.
If you have wifi, then use method #3. if you don’t have wifi, use method #5
Side Note: If you are in the field with no internet connection then relying on uploading to icloud or Creative Cloud to transfer between devices does not work. Let’s say you have only an iPhone as a camera and an iPad (Pro) as an editing device. How to make this work?
1. Take a picture with the iPhone camera. It goes into the camera roll and stays there. No upload
2. Connect the iphone to the iPad using a compatible cable. Once validated, it is possible to select the newly taken picture and import it to the iPad Photos library. However, if you have other photos in the phone which are not sync’d to the iPad library, it wil be a challenging job to find the image then import it. Not a good solution.
3. Alternatively, connect the iphone to the iPad and authenticate. Open Lightroom CC on the iPad and import the photo from the camera roll (on the iphone) into Lightroom. Now you can edit in Lightroom. If the camera took images in both Jpeg and DNG, both will show up in the import
#3 is definitely the best option. It works for all cameras that send to the camera roll (tested the iPhone 11 Pro camera, Halide, Profoto ProCam and Camera+ 2 (this one requires you to do a save in order to get it into the camera roll). However, remember that when the devices eventually get connected to Wifi, the newly imported images will be added to the iCloud Photos library. If already imported into LR, they can be deleted or saved on the iPhone as a backup (recommended).
What about images captured with the Lightroom camera? Looks like there’s no way to transfer images taken with the LR camera on the iphone into LR on the iPad by direct connection (no wifi). However, you can export from LR on the phone (export as dng) then Airdrop to the iPad. The image will then go into the camera roll on the iPad from where it can be imported to LR on the iPad. Note, that while wifi is not required to do the Airdrop, Wifi must be enabled in order for the devices to set up a point to point wifi. Verified.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8090847
Preferred Cameras.
In my previous post, I did an extensive survey of available cameras. For this post, to keep it simple, I will only consider three:
1. Apple camera - Because it has all the latest features, even if only HEIC (or jpeg)
2. Halide - Because this has emerged as the leading camera for RAW images and is updated for the iPhone 11 Pro
3. Lightroom camera - Because it is well integrated into LR and supports DNG. However, it looks like it has not been updated for the iPhone 11 Pro (three lenses) and it requires some gymnastics to get the images off the iPhone and into the iPad in the absence of wifi (see above). However, rumor has it that the quality of the RAW files is superior to other cameras (not verified).
4. Profoto Camera. I use this one with the Profoto C1 Plus flash unit, designed for use with the iPhone
5. Spectre (maybe) for long exposure photos
September 29, 2016, revised
Up till now I have largely ignored smartphone cameras because I felt they were just too low quality for anything I wanted to photograph (and keep). Also, the ergonimics didn’t suit me. The phone was hard to hold as a camera and my finger kept obscuring the lens. Generally not a good experience.
Then I got an iPhone 7 Plus. With this device, the picture quality suddenly looked pretty good. Low light performance was much better than previous phone cameras and, importantly, I could now shoot RAW and auto-import to Lightroom mobile, opening up numerous editing and enhancement possibilities. While the ergonomics still sucked, I felt that we were now in a place where smartphone cameras could be a real option for “casual” shooting and keeping. Perhaps a viable alternative to the SONY RX100 or the Nikon 1.
The press has certainly picked up on this and are boldly declaring that the iPhone is now competing with DSLR’s. While not there yet, it’s clear that Apple (and others) have their sights set on taking more and more of the camera market by providing “good-enough” picture quality with great connectivity and numerous third party apps. (reminiscent of the iPod killing CD’s?)
All this activity around the iPhone has got my attention and, like I did with the Nikon 1, motivated me to look deeper into what conditions suit using the iPhone to achieve quality images and under what conditions it should be avoided and to revert back to using a DSLR. As with the Nikon 1, my (modest) benchmark of quality is an 8 X 10 print @360dpi. While with the Nikon 1, I compared it to the D800E, with the iPhone, it’s probably more realistic to compare it to the Nikon 1 J5 (similar sensor to the SONY RX100).
Let’s start with the technical details:
The Apple iPhone 7 Plus has two image sensors, one at 28mm (35mm equivalent) and the other at 56mm ( 35mm equivalent). Apple uses both sensors to provide better resolution zoom as well as better low light performance. The 28mm lens has a fixed f/1.8 aperture and the 56mm lens has a fixed f/2.8 aperture. The phone also supports RAW image formats (DNG) which allows for images with higher color acuity and dynamic range.
From the diagrams below you can see that the iPhone sensors are much smaller than the J5. The iPhone is typically described as a 1/3” sensor whereas the J5 is described as a 1” sensor. The immediate effect of this, for a given lens focal length, is a scaling of the angle of view, or crop factor, which is proportional to the difference in size of the sensor. Since these sensors have a different aspect ratio - J5 is 1.5:1 and iPhone is 1.33:1, we’ll use the horizontal deimension of the sensor to measure crop factor. For example, the horizontal dimension for a full-frame sensor (D810) is 35.9mm. Hence the crop factor for the J5 (relative to full-frame) is 35.9/13.2 = 2.72. This means that a 10mm lens on the J5 is equivalent (in terms of angle of view) to a 27.2mm lens on the D810. Similarly, the crop factor on the iPhone(1X) is 35.9/5.12 = 7.02. Hence a 3.99mm lens on the iPhone is equivalent to a 28mm lens on the D810.
The crop factor - iPhone(1X) relative to the J5 is 13.2/5.12 = 2.6. Thus the 3.99mm lens on the iPhone is equivalent, in terms of angle of view, to a 10.4mm lens on the J5.
For the iPhone (2X) lens, the crop factor realtive to the J5 is 13.2/4.23 = 3.12. Thus the 6.6mm lens on the iPhone (2X) is equivalent to a 20.1mm lens on the J5.
Sensor sizes for iPhone 7 Plus and Nikon J5/SONY RX100:
Another area of significant difference betwen the iPhone and the J5 is in depth of field (DOF) for a given aperture and subject distance. For example, with a 3.99mm f/1.8 lens on the iPhone, at a distance of 10ft, the near focus limit is 4.23ft and the far focus limit is infinity. For a 10mm f/2.8 lens on the J5, at a distance of 10ft, the near focus distance limit is 5.14ft and the far focus distance is 182.49ft. For the J5 to have ths same DOF as the iPhone, the aperture would need to be set to f/4 (2.5 stops)
Using the iPhone (2X) lens, 6.6mm f/2.8 at 10ft, the near focus limit is 5.59ft and the far focus limit is 47.6ft. For the J5, with an 18mm f/1.8 lens at 10ft, the near focus limit is 8.45ft and the far focus limit is 12.24ft. For the J5 to have (approx) the same DOF as the iPhone, the aperture would need to be set to f/8 (3 stops). For the D810, 56mm, the aperture would need to be ~f/27 (6+ stops)
Bottom line, for the iPhone, the DOF is essentially infinite and attention should only be paid to focussing on the main subject.
Minimum Focussing Distance.
For the Nikon J5, the 18mm f/1.8 lens has a minimum focus distance of 0.2m / 0.7ft. The 10mm f/2.8 lens also has a minimum focus distance of 0.2m / 0.7ft
For the iPhone 7P, the 28mm (1X) lens has a minimum focus distance of approx 3-4”. The 56mm (2X) lens is about the same but I’m assuming the camera is using a combination of the 1X lens and the 2X lens. Both are measured using the Apple camera (Jpeg). The Lightroom camera (DNG) has the same result. The ProCamera app has the same result at 1X (RAW) & “both”(Jpeg) but focusses at approx. 1ft for the 2X lens alone (RAW). No good explanation for this but worth remembering since ProCamera only shoots Jpeg using both lenses.
Cameras apps for the iPhone 7 Plus.
There are plenty of camera apps for the iPhone. I have picked four for consideration with the iPhone 7 Plus:
Apple Camera app - benchmark since it was developed by Apple. Does not (yet) support RAW
Lightroom Mobile camera app - assume it’s the best implementation of RAW (DNG) plus good integration with Lr Mobile. Supports dual lenses. Auto only.
ProCamera app.- Best set of features, supports RAW, supports dual lenses. Can be used in Manual mode - handy for experimenting with ISO values.
Manual Camera (2 versions) - Simple camera, manual controls
Camera ++. - (http://cameraplusplus.basic-pixels.com/). This app is hard to find in the app store. Supports RAW, manual mode, bracketing and burst mode, intervalometer.
Below is my comparison of the various cameras. This is as of October 2016 and should be considered a moving target since these apps will be updated frequently, adding new features. Other apps may also emerge to take over. I’ll try to keep this up to date.
Image Performance.
Generally the quality of images off the phone is very good. In bright light, making viable 8X10 prints should be no problem.
Here are some recommendations.
1. Color accuity and white balance. Now that the iPhone supports RAW images, you can calibrate the camera with the Colorcheckr Passport card. I found this to be essential in order to get good color rendering and to be able to set the white balance for particular lighting. So, make a habit of using this on every photo shoot. The benefit is more depth of color rendering and more accuracy of white balance. Plus, it can be used to calibrate the iPhone with other cameras. Note that you need to calibrate for both lenses separately.
2. Noise performance. This is the big issue with smartphone cameras in general. In auto mode, when in low light, the ISO goes up and noise rapidly becomes a problem. With the Nikon 1 series, I concluded that the maximum ISO for a good 8X10 print was around 1600 (more like 3200 for the J5). This limit assumes that some amount of noise reduction can be tolerated, without losing significant detail. My favorite noise reduction software is DXO Optics Pro - PRIME. Unfortunatley, DXO does not support DNG files so, as an alternative, I’m using Topaz De-Noise for the iPhone images. With the iPhone, I have estimated that I reach a similar limit around ISO 200-400. This needs to be further verified but is consistent with the 2-3 stop difference between the iPhone and J5. With both the iPhone native camera and the Lr Mobile camera, they operate in auto mode only and it’s not possible to preview the ISO setting for a particular situation. So, you take pot luck. However, the minimum shutter speed is usually set to 1/60, so the minimum recommended EV is as follows:
28mm (equiv) f/1.8, 1/60, EVmin = 7.6 EVequiv @ISO 400 = 5.6 (well lit home and office interiors, well lit street scenes)
56mm (equiv) f/2.8, 1/60, EVmin = 9 EV equiv @ISO 400 = 7 (stage shows, galleries, bright street scenes)
With the ProCamera app, it is possible to preview the ISO, shutter speed prior to taking the picture. It’s also possible to set ISO and shutter speed manually. So in low light you can choose to lower the shutter speed to gain ISO advantage. Also, you can sacrifice ISO to gain higher shutter speed for action shots. Lets say you want a shutter speed of 1/1000sec at f/2.8. This computes to an EV = 13. This would need to be, at minimum, a bright, cloudy day or brighter.
Recommendations.
Here are my recomendations of which camera to use under various circumstances.
First, always calibrate the camera using the Passport calibration target or, at a minimum, set the white balance using a gray card. Calibrate BOTH lenses separately.
1. Outdoors, good light, Landscape, architectural, street photography, etc. Use LrMobile camera (DNG) since this integrates well with Lightroom. However, this works best when you have a good Internet connection to upload the images to Adobe CC. If there’s no Internet connection, use ProCamera and import to LrMobile fromthe Camera Roll.
2. Indoors, good light. Same as #1 but check ISO to make sure it stays within acceptable limits ((EV >7). Otherwise got to #3
3. Low light, outdoors and indoors (<6EV). Use ProCamera and adjust shutter speed (may want <1/60sec) and ISO for optimum results (handheld). Use a tripod if necessary (turn off AIS). Shutter speed lower limit is 1/3sec.
4. Fast action shots, good light. Use ProCamera and adjust shutter speed to desired value(1/500sec and up). Keep ISO at 400 or below when using the 28 or 56mm lens. In lower light (<~10EV) forget it and use a DSLR
5. Panoramas. Apple Camera (jpeg only). Could also use LrMobile or ProCamera and create panorama with external software (DNG)- Photoshop et al.
6. HDR. Use Camera++ to take bracketed shots and process using third party software (Aurora HDR or Photoshop)
7. Portraits. Use the Apple camera (Bokeh), Jpeg only or pick #1-3 depending on light available (RAW)
8. Zoom. Tricky. The Apple Camera will optically zoom to 2X and digitally zoom to 10X. Resulting images are at “ful"l resolution but clearly interpolation is going on beyond 2X. OK for a quick and dirty image (Jpeg). LrMobile crops the image for all zooms. Maybe third party software (Genuine fractals) will help. Camera++ does the same as the Apple camera in the “Dual” setting (Jpeg only). Bottom line, if you want to use RAW, you can only use the (T) & (W) lenses. No zoom, crop only.
Compare DNG to Jpeg.
The images below are a good comparison of the benefits of DNG over Jpeg.
Here is the scene photographed:
Below, the first three are taken with the iPhone 7Plus, with the “telephoto” lens (6.6mm/56mm. f/2.8) at ISO 400 (about the maximum tolerable for image quality). The first image is a crop of the Jpeg (no editing except adjustment for white balence using the Passport.
The second image is the DNG, same settings, Calibrated and White balanced. No additional processing
The third image is a crop of the TIFF edit of the DNG version of this image. The image was calbrated and white balanced in LR using the Passport. It was then imported to PS-CC and noise reduced using Topaz De-Noise 6 set to the Moderate/Strong RAW Preset (can’t recall which one, I think Strong). The image was then saved back to LR and sharpened slightly (40, .7, 70). This crop look a little over-noise-reduced but is probably about right for the full image, printed at 8X10.
As a comparison, below is a crop of the same subject, taken with the Nikon J5, 18mm (~50mm), f/2.8, ISO 1600. Roughly, the J5 at ISO 1600 has about the same SNR as the iPhone 7P at ISO 400, maybe a little better.
I used the same workflow as the iPhone DNG fiile. Topaz De-noise (RAW-Moderate), same sharpening as above. More detail in the hair, shallower DOF.
Note that the crops of the J5 versus the iPhone are at slightly different resolutions. The J5 is a 20Mpix camera (5568X3712) and the iPhone is a 12Mpix camera (4032X3024). I figured it was close enought that the above comparisons were still valid. Theoretically I should have rescaled the images to a common resolution. If I had done this, the J5 would have looked a bit better.
Also, I noticed that the noise performance of each lens on the iPhone was similar at the same ISO settings. However, since the 56mm lens has a norrower aperture (f/2.8) than the 28mm lens (f/1.8), the 58mm lens will require a higher ISO for a given light condition and exposure setting than the 28mm. Thus leading to the potential for greater noise.
For more images, refer to Drobo->Picture Library->Photograph_Experiments_Archive->Experiments->2016_1007_D810_J5_iPhone7P
Useful links:
https://photographylife.com/cell-phone-photography-part-1-capturing-images
https://photographylife.com/cell-phone-photography-part-2-editing-images
https://www.imore.com/photography
https://www.imore.com/how-iphone-x-camera-and-slow-sync-flash-work (go to bottom of page for iPhone X options)
https://www.imore.com/best-camera-apps-iphone-x