My wife and I splurged the other day and finally got Apple Watches and new iPhones to go with them. Our daughter wanted us to have the watches since we're now at the age where falls can occur and the watch will sense this and alert the right people. We had iPhone 7s. I got the Pro because of the fabulous camera system, and she got the Mini. I bought the pro because between posting all my work and the magazine articles, I'm taking thousands of hi-res pics per year. I just took these yesterday just to test it out. I did not spend much time doing this, nor did I really test all the variables.
The night photo capability is breathtaking.
The wide-angle shot of the layout shows everything is beautiful focus. I don't have to use the Canon EOS and image-stacking software to get this.
This is shot with the full 10X telephoto. That engine house is about 40 feet away.
And it can do one more thing... You can set up the camera and reproduce what you see on the iWatch. You can then snap the picture on the watch. This enables you to put the camera in unique places without having to physically operate it. Like this.
What's most impressive about the optics is the depth or field without any fussing around. Not only is the shed in good focus, but the entire mountain is as well. The camera was about 3 inches away from the shed, but the mountain was five feet away. No more image stacking software. There's apps available where you can adjust the focus manually so I could use the iPhone with image stacking if that's ever necessary.
or this… I could have shot this with everything in focus if I wanted to spend the time. In the Portrait Mode you can adjust how much of the background should be in or out of focus. It's called "Bokeh". You can position the camera very close to the subject. Perfect for all my model and WIP photography.
Or this… I'm going to build, buy or 3D print some kind of holders so the camera can be safely positioned various ways to really take advantage of the Watch/Camera relationship.
or even this...
The CPU's AI capabilities are extensive and it adjusts exposure in various parts of the image to balance it. That's how it handles the night photography. Apparently, it does not work in the telephoto mode. The camera switches seamlessly from ultra-wide, wide and telephoto lenses as you adjust the magnification.
It was a hard-sell to convince my wife that the optics in the 12 pro are worth the extra $200. It also comes with 128GB memory standard, versus 64GB in the 12 standard. That's $100 of the $200 right there. With the photo work I do, I believe it is justified. It basically puts my Canon EOS into cold storage. I may just sell that along with the old phones. The color rendition on the phone is substantially better than the old Canon.
The above only scratches the surface. I didn't even mention that the LIDAR laser range finding, you can scan, measure and even export STL files for potential 3D printing. I need to do more research about this feature before fully understanding its role in my model work. And I haven't tried to take 4k movies with this beast. That should be terrific as well.
Stay tuned.
