I bought the iPhone 16 Pro for just one reason – and AI’s got nothing to do with it

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

Whether or not I’m capturing my Sunday brunch, outfit on the go, or an engagement session for a pair, I’m all the time taking pictures. For that cause, having a simply “okay” digital camera on my iPhone 14 hasn’t been reducing it, and as soon as I noticed digital camera specs on the iPhone 16 Pro, I jumped on the alternative. 

Additionally: I upgraded to the iPhone 16 Plus – here’s why it’s the model most people should buy

The digital camera system on the iPhone 16 Professional is a major improve from the iPhone 14 and even the iPhone 15. It options improved {hardware} for taking pictures and contains different main enhancements, resembling the brand new Digicam Management, which elevates all the photo-taking expertise. 

The digital camera specs

iPhone 16 Pro Titanium in hand

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

Beginning with the digital camera specs, the iPhone 16 Professional has a 48-megapixel ultrawide digital camera, preferrred for capturing extra particulars and higher-resolution pictures. It additionally has a 5X optical zoom, a useful characteristic — till now usually reserved for Professional Max fashions — for taking high-quality pictures of distant objects.

Regardless of the iPhone 16 Professional boasting the identical spectacular digital camera system because the iPhone 16 Professional Max — the very best within the iPhone 16 lineup — a significant benefit of the Professional is that it nonetheless suits comfortably and compactly in your pocket. This was necessary for me as I like to take pictures on the go, particularly at tech occasions and conferences the place I do not wish to carry my digital camera. 

Additionally: Every iPhone 16 model compared: Should you buy the standard, Plus, Pro, or Max?

Should you additionally create quite a lot of video content material, the iPhone 16 Professional can also be a aggressive providing. It will possibly shoot 4K video at 120 frames per second, which is Hollywood-level filming, and even make spatial video recordings to create videos for the Apple Vision Pro.

The mics on the iPhone 16 Professional have additionally been upgraded, enabling customers to seize higher audio on their movies and entry superior audio modifying options resembling the brand new Audio Mix software, which ought to enhance the video recording expertise. 

Digicam Management ought to make issues extra enjoyable

iPhone 16 Camera Control button in action

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

The characteristic I’m most enthusiastic about utilizing in my on a regular basis life is the brand new Camera Control. In case you are used to taking pictures with a digital camera, you are accustomed to utilizing your fingertips to regulate components of your photograph. 

For instance, the stress you utilize on the shutter impacts the main target of the picture, and the dial on the prime of the digital camera controls the aperture and shutter pace, considerably impacting the {photograph}’s end result. You’ll be able to have the same tactile expertise on the iPhone 16 Professional. 

Additionally: iPhone 16 Pro: Upgrading from iPhone 13 Pro or earlier? Your list of new features is impressive

The Digicam Management is touch-capacitive and sits beneath the ability button for straightforward entry whereas holding the cellphone horizontally to take a panorama photograph. Customers can use the button to shortly entry the digital camera, take a photograph, and personalize settings whereas taking pictures. ZDNET editor-in-chief Jason Hiner has used the smartphone extensively since its launch, and he calls it a “feat of engineering.” 

“One press opens the digital camera app. A second press takes a photograph. Press and maintain, and it begins recording video. A lightweight press and a swipe to 1 aspect or the opposite permits you to zoom out and in. A double mild press and a swipe to both aspect lets you choose totally different settings from zoom to depth of subject to the brand new photograph types to a number of different choices,” Hiner explains. 

Though it sounds extraordinarily difficult, once I tried the characteristic on my colleagues’ take a look at unit within the workplace, it clicked after I carried out the movement simply a few occasions. Not solely does the benefit of entry sound like an enormous productiveness enhance for when I’m working, however it is going to additionally enable me to spend much less time fidgeting with my cellphone to take an image and extra time being current. 

The sleeper hit

iPhone 16 Pro camera in Steve Jobs Theater

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

A significant ache level for iPhone customers is that what you see in your display screen when taking a photograph typically would not translate into the ultimate product with an obvious distinction in hues or lighting. I can’t even categorical what number of occasions I’ve had a photograph ruined by the autocorrection the cellphone applies. 

Additionally: We’ve used every iPhone 16 model and here’s our best buying advice for 2024

Now, the iPhone 16 lineup options the most recent model of Photographic Type, which permits customers to scroll by totally different “types,” which act like delicate filters that regulate totally different colours in your photograph earlier than you’re taking the shot. Then, after you’re taking the shot, you can also make changes within the Pictures app.

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