iPhone 13 Pro with Waterproof Housing, vs TG6?

Camrarat wrote:

I’m upgrading my phone and deciding whether I should go for the 13 or 13 Pro.

I’ve been considering getting an Olympus Tough TG6 for a long time for snorkeling and nature macro shots (bugs, flowers, snowflakes)

TG6, and TG5 as well, have well-deserved reputations as decent dive cameras. With some limitations. (Like raw recording.)

But the new macro and telephoto on the iPhone 13 Pro seems very enticing and makes me wonder if it bests the Tough and makes it sort of obsolete.

I'm curious as well.

Are you thinking about something like the Kraken housing?

https://www.amazon.com/Kraken-Sports-KRH02-Smart-Housing/dp/B0725QZVFQ

I know very little about the image quality capabilities, low light performance, etc of these options tho and am hoping some of you can enlighten me on how these cameras compare.

Would an iPhone 13 Pro with waterproof housing take as good or better photos than a TG6? Or would the TG6 still take better photos?

It would be interesting to see a comparison test.

I’m especially interested in Macro performance as I mentioned and I want to use it snorkeling (probably with some zoom underwater where theres not the best light). I would also be thrilled if the TG6 coudl function as an all around point and shoot, for museums and traveling, tho I’m guessing even the regular iPhone 13 might have better IQ? Help me out on figuring out what the limitations are of these cameras!

For museum work, I suspect both cameras have advantages, but the iPhone is really built for that sort of thing.  Consider also what you want to do with the images/videos once you have them.  With a smartphone, your stuff is a button-click away from the internet.  Not so much with the TG6.

Whether or not the iPhone takes better images and especially videos will probably depend on how much/how well you can set a custom white balance.  Underwater white balance is very different, and it will change a lot with depth.  If you shoot in RAW, you can fix in post, but if you shoot JPG or most video formats you'll need to get it right in-camera.  In the field, it is very important that setting white balance is pretty easy to do.  (If diving you need to do it about every time you change depth.)