Image Quality Analysis
A note about our Camera IQ score: our scoring system is based on four “Pillars” sub-scores that can help tell a fuller story: Day, Night, Ultrawide, & Zoom photography. If you want khổng lồ know more about how the score works, head lớn our Camera IQ benchmark page.Bạn đang xem: Why iphone 12 pro max"s camera is so exciting to this pro photographer
A global camera score is clear and straightforward, but the pillars help tell a better story for those who want to lớn have a more nuanced view of the camera’s Image Quality. You might also want khổng lồ read our What is (objective) Image Quality article?
Important: let’s clarify some terminology we’ll be using:
Image Processing: software work that improves the image data qualityImage Filtering: software work that changes the style (aesthetic) of the photo.Context Photo: a great approximation of what our eyes see, including how dark the scene actually is. It is only lớn provide the crucial context of the shot & not a quality benchmark.Camera hardware
The iPhone 12 Pro Max camera hardware is different & more powerful than the iPhone 12 Pro (non-max) & the iPhone 12 (non-pro) and it is very important lớn realize that there are different camera configurations in Apple’s line up.
We’ve published an iPhone 12 camera hardware analysis & scoring (+update) shortly after the launch.
| iPhone 11 Pro | iPhone 12 Pro Max | |
| Primary | 26milimet 12-MP f/1.8 +OIS | 26mm 12-MP.. f/1.6 (Primary) +OIS |
| Zoom | 51mm12-MPhường f/2 +OIS | 64milimet 12-MP. f/2.4 +OIS |
| Ultrawide | 13mm 12-MPhường. f/2.4 | 14mm 12-MP.. f/2.4 |
| Misc | +ToF sensor |
Coming from last year’s iPhone top-camera, the iPhone 11 Pro, the iPhone 12 Pro Max improves on several points, most notably with its better Primary camera sensor, which is what we would consider a “mid-size” sensor, up from the “small” sensor from the 11 Pro.
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The zoom lens has a longer focal lenght (a higher-powered zoom), but is optimized for Portrait photography & not “long zoom”, và the results confirm it.
When this review was published, & using our Camera HW benchmark v1.1, the iPhone 11 Pro camera had a score of 120, against the the iPhone 12 Pro Max camera, which gets a score of 157. For more scores, head to lớn our Camera HW homepage (+FAQ) and scroll down lớn 20đôi mươi & 2019 cameras.
Daylight Photography
In daylight photography, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is very good and clearly superior khổng lồ the iPhone 11 Pro mainly for two reasons: less noise và better HDR. That’s great news, but hardly an exploit since the 11 Pro was one of the noisier cameras (for the price) of its generation.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max HDR tuning produces more contrasted, vivid, and mostly more realistic daylight photos than any iPhone before it. This iPhone even goes in the opposite direction sometimes, with perhaps “too much” image processing that leads khổng lồ excessive contrast or over-exposed areas. It’s always a delicate balancing act & it looks like the tuning could improve for scene for complex lighting.
Android competitors lượt thích the Galaxy lưu ý trăng tròn Ultra or the Huawei P40 Pro+ have virtually no noise in daylight photos. They can sometimes capture finer details, especially with ultra-high resolution sensors.
Context photo: what the scene looks like lớn the eye. The sky is slightly over-exposed on purpose to lớn closely match what was perceive sầu by the eye at that moment.
