So what’s up this update with the new iPhone 14 Pro cameras?
The 48mp stink: It just means a little better photos and video.
With each generation of iPhone Plus/Pro models with 12mp sensors, all the cameras get a little better: The lenses are a little faster, the sensors are a little more accurate, and the computational algorithm gets improved. This equation (with the 12mp sensors) has been the iPhone norm for 7 years. But with iPhone 14 Pro the 1x camera is 48mp and many reviewers are outraged.
Whuh?
They either don’t understand that the 48mp sensor was put there to serve more than one purpose. Or they’re looking for a sensational story to boost their YouTube/Amazon revenue.
Let’s look at who this bigger sensor actually benefits:
A season of striving for the perfect lightning bug photo.
I live in a housing co-op in Cincinnati. The only thing our Membership seems split on is whether we live in a resort or a nature sanctuary. The place is well manicured, but we have a variety of trees and wildlife, including deer, fox, coyote, possum, raccoon, a hawk, three vultures…and a whole lot of fireflies. I can walk 100 feet out my back door at dusk in June and July and our primped meadow is alight with rising golden streaks and twinkling trees.
From our meadow.
This year I’ve made an almost-nightly effort to try to capture images of these bioluminescent beetles. The following is paraphrased from my daily journal.
The $15 Dog: A shaggy alternative to a $200 gimbal.
Back in the days when gimbals and steady-cams weren’t priced or practical for iPhone, I came up with the Dog. It’s a gravity-based, steady-cam that gives you a dog’s-eye view. The cost of building one is about $15. The point to the Dog is that it lets you shoot dramatic, close-to-the ground video that’s fairly smooth, but with a realistic feel.
This menu action converts your iPhone photos to multiple formats.
The Photos app doesn’t have an option to export an image in another format. (The Duplicate option in the Share menu just creates a copy of the image in the original format.) So if you want to save your ProRAW files as TIFFs or save a Live Photo as a PNG to preserve quality, you need to use a third party app. Or this free shortcut.
Turn your iOS Live Photos into slow-motion mini movies.
While some feel iPhone Live Photos are a gimmick, they actually have a practical use. A Live Photo is a still image along with a 3-second lo-rez video. So if you’re assembling a movie and all you have is a priceless Live Photo of someone you’d like to include, you can. Using the Shortcut below you can stretch a Live Photo out to a 12-second, choppy, slow-motion clip.
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