Friday, September 16, 2016

IPHONE 7 / First Impression

I am lucky enough to get the iPhone 7 Plus on the first day. I ordered it 5 minutes when it started selling online, and just in time.

I guess queue-ing at Apple Store is no longer prioritized, online reservation is the way to go. Pity because queue-ing is such an experience. However, you will still queue for a bit when you visit the store with reservation details :)

And so decided to make "first impression article". I am actually most interested with the iPhone Dual Camera upgrade and the overall new lens improvement.

Don't care too much about the color or the design similarity with iPhone 6. Haven't really thought too much about the missing jack and the dual speaker. It's certainly a lot louder, almost like the iPad Pro. It is also water resistant up to 1 meter, for 30 minutes. Battery and speed? Also improved! Eventhough I don't use Internet much today, but I took over 1000 photos and videos, and still have 20-30 percents left. Pretty sweet improvement overall. This is probably the most balanced iPhone and very mature in hardware and software.

WAS FASTER, EVEN FASTER!

Both my parents are using the iPhone 6S and my impression from using their camera sometimes is that the camera for 6S was better and sharper, great for 4K video as well. Although to be really honest, from 6 to 6S to 7, I just wish 6 camera was much better like 7 today. Especially aperture wise.

I understand the stabilizer and video is the big push for iPhone 6, although they market it to have a better camera, I think the 6's camera was okay overall. I remember taking 4K video of floating bees, it was gorgeous. Oh, not forgetting the LIVE PHOTOS in 6S. It is still in iPhone 7 and much faster.

iPhone 5 to 6 is always great for fast shooting, and I love the burst mode. Love the slomo.

THE IPHONE 7

Ok, now, switching to iPhone 7, I actually walk 6-7 hours today around Sydney with the iPhone 7 and sometimes taking photos using iPhone 6 and Fuji X100 for comparison.

The improvements from previous model is obvious:
- Daylight shooting is amazingly sharp, almost always looking perfect for scenery. High score for daylight and the color looks ultra natural. Best enjoyed using retina display with high gamut.


- HDR is almost always good looking and no more ghosting. The HDR feels natural color-wise.




- LIVE PHOTOS become really fast and no hickups during day shooting. Google Motion Stills app loves LIVE PHOTOS and I think it is worth taking photos with LIVE PHOTOS at all time!


You can check my Instagram @enzyme69 to see some of the Live Photos x Motion Stills Remix.

- It is still 12 MP only like iPhone 6S, but feels a lot sharper overall.


- Panorama swipe, even higher in resolution and a lot more stable. Faster in low light too.

Not original Panorama. Too big :D




What's NEW with iPhone 7 then?
- Night time shooting is a lot brighter, a lot less noisy. Obviously thanks to the bigger lens aperture. The noise occasionally visible, but I don't know sometimes it seems to try to switch to different lens and suddenly it looks good.

Darker better.




- We got a legit RAW photo saving ability in iPhone 7. I think currently it needs Apps in order to actually save in RAW, which is a pity. Maybe when they update the iOS 10, they will add RAW built in from stock Camera app. RAW is big and extra work though. Always keeps that in mind. I have not really explored much of the RAW, just because it is too dependent on apps (I use Manual, ProCam, haven't tested Lightroom Camera). Manual controls is fiddly sometimes with apps. It takes time to learn one app behaviour. I favor Camera+ from tap tap tap but it does not have RAW support yet.


- Of course not forgetting the DUAL CAMERA system. The optical zoom 1-2x from wide to telephoto is seamless. I don't know exactly how the system works, but they both works together and switching lens is not detectable. It smoothly zoom in and out. We can push to 10x digital zoom, and sometimes it looks perfectly fine for day time shooting. Just imagine "original iPhone" quality when the image is zoomed in (kind of low resolution looking), but still better. Actually when shooting video, resolution of zooming is higher. I mean, you can digital zoom and it still looks great.

Camera Zoom 1x (optical zoom)
Camera Zoom 2x (optical zoom)

Camera Zoom 10x (digital zoom) --- still looking great actually!
- The overall texture and color is brilliant. Maybe there is more to the 12 MP? I remember back then my old compact cameras did not even reach this level of crispiness.

iPhone 7 texture details is great.

FUJIX100 Snippet. Same shot as above.



- Portrait mode and bokeh algorithm --- are not available yet (!)  need to wait for iOS 10 update in few months time. They are still working on it. I have a feeling this iPhone 7 has some hidden tricks. So, I cannot comment or say much about this "bokeh" thing for portrait. I have not got models yet.

A bit of bokeh, but maybe the lighting condition etc and distance matters. I want more BOKEH! More intensity BOKEH!

Few more comparison iPhone 7 plus vs FujiX100 vs iPhone 6 plus

All taken using the default automatic, although I think each device can take a better shot via proper settings or apps (longer shutter, etc). Lens and sensor are also different slightly.

iPhone 7 zoom x1

iPhone 7 zoom x2
Fuji X100
For daytime shooting, iPhone 7 and Fuji X100 are actually a match, or iPhone 7 better? Fuji X100 is a lot older though. For night time however, Fuji can take nice shot, but iPhone stock Camera app cannot. HOWEVER, with apps (slow shutter control) and proper RAW editing, iPhone 7 actually can.
This is iPhone 7 I probably took a bad shot. Could be better, but this is just point and shot.
iPhone 6 Plus.
When comparing iPhone 6 and 7 Plus, night time shot results are different enough, although sometimes iPhone 7 can still take bad photos :) Hard to explain. Maybe the exposure or the noise reduction is badly reducing the quality. Or the auto ISO? Maybe I will have to test some apps and iPhone 7? 

HOW IPHONE 7 COULD BE BETTER?

- The sensor could still improve until it matches camera like FujiX100 (maybe closer each iteration of iPhone). Yes I really wish that one day iPhone camera sensor reaches this level. It will be in few years. However, on the other hand, there are many features via Apps that make the iPhone overall "photography" multiplied in term of capability.



- The control of ISO, aperture, etc. is still not in the stock Camera. It needs a simple control that works. Maybe iPhone needs simpler method to adjust those triangle of exposure. To be honest, with iPhone, unless it can do a realtime result preview like Lightspeed app or Camera+ super ultra low ISO mode, then we don't really have time to manually control those stuffs. No. Personally I think smartphone camera is the best modern street camera for many reasons. Well, not comparing with Leica or Fuji camera, but the iPhone stands on its own. It's different. iPhone is instant with a lot more.
Shooting up sometimes awkward. Noise is pretty bard here, because ISO.

- The ergonomic of iPhone. Now this is a tricky one. The design of iPhone is super simple, almost no way to hold it properly, slippery even, but of course we can eventually find a proper way to hold it, but still fragile. Actually a heavier case with handle can help, but that's an additional thing. I am using the expensive Apple "leather" case, a bit slippery still. Anyhow, with iPhone, if you use it as photography camera for a while, you should know that the shutter sometimes is best triggered from the volume rocker (not the screen), and that's at the left hand thumb. Sometimes you want to do that. Another way is to use Peek and Shoot single-handedly.



- There is this weird thing with iPhone 7. The screen is too fast, too responsive, and thus easy to take accidental photos. You will understand what I mean if you try the iPhone 7 yourself. Those extra blurry shots after taking photos. 1% of the time.


IPHONE 7 AND BEYOND

There you go, my first overall impression of iPhone 7. So far so good, the iPhone I always wanted. From 4 - 5 - 5S (great) - 6 Plus and now 7 plus, it's a great evolution unlike others. Every iteration and cycle is an improvements. Wonder how the next iPhone is going to be? Maybe they will focus more on the "deep learning" and "deep 3D" for augmented reality? But what's "photography" on iPhone is going to be? Lytro like? We will see!

2 comments:

  1. Great post Jimmy, very helpful. I too have same Fuji X100. My iPhone 7 Plus arrives November 16th!

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    1. Thanks for kind feedback, Ken. Congrats with the new iPhone 7 :D You will love it.

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