Using the iPhone 15 Pro Camera - Setup, Usage and Post Processing

[Embeeous-327]

I recently migrated from the iPhone 12 to the iPhone 15 Pro (not Max). I am an amateur photographer with a nice mirrorless and high end lenses, so my iPhone’s camera is not my main one. To date, the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera has disappointed me time and time again, it’s mind boggling that my previous iPhone cameras took better shots than this one. I bought the iPhone 15 Pro for the better camera, better lenses, more zoom, and the ability to shoot RAW so I could bring shots into Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.

Now obviously there is nothing wrong with the iPhone 15 Pro’s camera. This has got to be 100% user error. I thought that it would be a simple point, zoom, shoot, crop and use like all of my other iPhone cameras. This one is obviously more complicated.

Moreover, there is a huge lack of available resources for help with setting up the iPhone 15 Pro camera, using it under different shooting situations, and using RAW files with LR, PS, Topaz or other post applications. Apple has a ton of basic information on their Website, I’ve bookmarked and reviewed a lot, most of it is geared toward setup and doesn’t seem to help. There are a ton of YouTube tutorials and Web sites, that’s where I’ve been spending my time. Everyone is an expert, and some are better than others. And there are online courses on iPhone 15 Pro camera setup, usage and post processing, this is my current backup plan, but it’s hard to find exactly what I need. A lot of those courses are basic and don’t cover what I’m looking for.

For example:

• What specific Camera settings should I be using for everyday shooting versus important shoots, versus macro versus portrait versus landscape versus wildlife and so on? For example, I can set it for ProRAW Max but you can only get it up to 48MP or thereabouts if you’re at 1X zoom. So is it even worth it, knowing that I’d probably have to crop?
• Where I’m really hurting is portraits - the important family and friend shots when you only have your iPhone. No matter how far in or out I zoom, I get edge distortion, I’m guessing from the more powerful zoom function associated with wide angle lenses like the one on this iPhone 15 Pro. How do I avoid that distortion?
• Generally speaking, my older iPhone camera shots look sharper, clearer, closer to true color and just better than the ones that I’m taking with the iPhone 15 Pro. Practice makes perfect I know, I’m not expecting them to be tack sharp like my mirrorless, but they should be better than my older iPhones.
• I just finished up my very first round of post processing with iPhone 15 Pro shots that were taken in RAW. First of all, they were copied to my Windows computer as DNG files, not RAW files, which means that I can’t even look at anything more than a thumbnail until I import them into Lightroom. What I’ve found with any iPhone picture brought into Lightroom, whether it be a JPG, DNG, RAW or whatever, is that “less is more”. I use very subtle changes in Lightroom, never select lens profile, minimal noise reduction, minimal sharpness and masking, Photoshop as needed, never use Topaz, never. Topaz makes iPhone shots look fake with tons of artifacts. Lightroom and Photoshop (as needed) produce the best results for me, and even then, the shots never look tack sharp, especially people and portraits.
• Imported iPhone DNGs behave differently in Lightroom versus standard RAW files imported from my mirrorless. Normally I can delete files within Lightroom or in exported Windows folders without issues, as I go through the process of rejecting and accepting a large batch of pictures. When I did that with these iPhone DNGs, I got warnings all over the place, “file not found” etc., I wound up restoring all of my deleted (rejected) iPhone DNG files just to get to the good (accepted) ones for exporting as finalized JPGs. This is a major change from my normal Lightroom processing routine, it winds up wasting time and hard drive space. I’m sure that there is a better process for doing this, but I would need someone or something to explain it to me. For now, I’m just saving everything.

So that’s where I’m at. I need to build up a knowledge base and confidence here, versus asking for my wife’s iPhone 12 because I can’t trust my “better” iPhone 15 Pro camera. I need help properly setting everything up, knowing when to change settings based on different shooting conditions, how to manage zooming in and out based on maximizing resolution, minimizing distortion etc., and I need a clear understanding of how best to manage these files once they are copied to my computer, imported into Lightroom, Photoshop and/or Topaz, and exported as finalized JPGs.

Any direction, input, advice, links, contacts or the like would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[FadedPhotoGuy]

• What specific Camera settings should I be using for everyday shooting versus important shoots, versus macro versus portrait versus landscape versus wildlife and so on? For example, I can set it for ProRAW Max but you can only get it up to 48MP or thereabouts if you’re at 1X zoom. So is it even worth it, knowing that I’d probably have to crop?

There's no one setting, the iPhone 15 pro has superior camera but to get the most out of it, you really have to know what you're doing.

• Where I’m really hurting is portraits - the important family and friend shots when you only have your iPhone. No matter how far in or out I zoom, I get edge distortion, I’m guessing from the more powerful zoom function associated with wide angle lenses like the one on this iPhone 15 Pro. How do I avoid that distortion?

Without knowing what zoom setting you're using it's hard to say, remember if you're using the 3x optical zoom there will be less depth of field than using the 1x zoom.

• Generally speaking, my older iPhone camera shots look sharper, clearer, closer to true color and just better than the ones that I’m taking with the iPhone 15 Pro. Practice makes perfect I know, I’m not expecting them to be tack sharp like my mirrorless, but they should be better than my older iPhones.

Compared to my old 13, the iPhone 15 pro max applies less default sharpening. If you like the effect you can add sharpening in post.

 

[winnegehetoch]

There are no general settings, that cover all possible situations in all environments with different lenses, needs, preferences and differences in personal taste.

Go out and shoot.

A few thousand images will probably do. Initially.

Let the first 90% be in full auto mode. Apple knows a thing or two about general photography, and they have probably invested millions of man hours, hundreds of millions in pro advice, and over the years a few billions in refining the cameras “decision processes” to absolute optimum in almost all situations. Use it!!

That way you’re forced to work with the view in front of the camera (no amount of settings can influence that), your position and your choice of lens, distance and object placement.

What is actually there, in front of you. Not what could be, if juuust… and didn’t…

Unless you learn to use your tools, you’ll never get good results (settings or no settings).

Unless you learn to aim your tools, you’ll never get good results (settings or no settings).

Unless you concentrate on getting the photo, while the scenario exists, you’ll never get good results - fiddling with settings seldom help, speed wise, since there are no general settings for every wish in the book!

When you’ve got the first - let’s say - tens to a hundred thousand images under your belt (in all modes and environments), you have learned, that opportunity is all, speed helps tremendously, and knowing your gear in detail - warts and all - is icing on the cake.

You’ll also know, that on a good day only one in ten images will be acceptable, less will be good, and very few memorable. That’s quite normal. Modern photography even helps; you can delete bad results without any real costs - but remember to look before deleting, so you get a knack for the things to avoid in the future etc.

The amount of “keepers” were not better 50 years ago (or maybe I’m just as bad as then ;-). Experience just had a far higher cost in developing doubtful images.

Today you still have to decide on, whether you aim to get every image just perfect every time - missing out on a lot of opportunities, and still failing most of the time.

Or be more relaxed, and shoot a lot of images based on “experience” only (when to use quick and “not always dirty” (semi)auto or not and what type in what situation for YOUR personal preferred results).

The amount of keepers will probably not be much worse, but the amount of interesting motifs, scenery and opportunities grow, if you do not concentrate (waste) your time on “fiddling” with settings. Looking for interesting opportunities instead.

Training. Experience and an “eye” for choosing right in the spur of the moment. Simple as that!

Aaaand remember to have fun, while you do your thing!

Regards

 

[JonChan]

I've also recently upgraded from an iPhone 12 Pro Max to the 15 Pro Max. I shoot mostly in 24mp heif for quick snaps and 12mp ProRaw. I found the 48mp ProRaw images to be significantly more noisy in the shadows and especially in low light. I would rather sacrafice resolution for a more cleaner image and besides I hardly ever massively crop into an image and found no issues with shooting at 12mp with my previous iPhone. Also the 12mp ProRaw images are significantly smaller than the 48mp ProRaw files. My main gripe with the new iPhone is that I'm no longer able to disable HDR in photos.

I found this article helpful in understanding what I can expect from the cameras in these iPhones

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2668153890/apple-s-iphone-15-and-15-pro-imaging-tech-examined

 

[eriepa]

First, I think you need to consider seriously whether you have a defective smartphone. I’m not kidding. Find someone else with an iPhone 15 Pro and compare a photo taken at default settings (more on that later). There is just no way a correctly operating iPhone 15 Pro produces photos technically inferior to photos taken on an iPhone 12.

What follows is my advice on taking typical photos of family and friends, an ideal use case for a smartphone camera. This is just my idiosyncratic opinion based on several months experience using the iPhone 15 Pro. My main criterion is image quality and secondly, suitability for post-processing, if needed.

Format. I use the 24 MP HEIF setting for 90+% of these types of photos and the ProRAW Max 48MP setting for the rest. My apologies, but you seem totally confused about RAW vs ProRAW and DNG generally, so my advice is to stick with HEIF until you sort things out.

Zooming. Zooming should be your last resort, not your first. First choice should be the main 1x lens (24 mm field of view) which is the only lens / sensor combination that provides maximum quality and computational capabilities. Move your feet!

Next, consider the 1.2x (28 mm) and 1.5x (35 mm) settings of the 1x lens. These will produce digital crops from the 1x sensor which are upsized in-camera to the 1x camera output size. At 24 MP the image quality from the 1.2x and 1.5x settings is excellent.

I am still exploring use of the 3x lens (77 mm) for portraits and for when a little extra reach is necessary. Be aware that the 3x lens produces 12 MP output only, and that good lighting is a must.

Using the 1x camera with post photo adjustment of the depth-of-field effect is a clever approach to portraits. I don’t see any advantage in using the Portrait mode per se.

The 0.5x (13 mm) ultrawide lens is just OK and, once again, 12 MP only. I prefer using the 1x lens (phone vertical) in Pano mode and making a short sweep of the scene.

Post is getting long, so I'll stop here. Cheers!

 

[eriepa]

Without knowing what zoom setting you're using it's hard to say, remember if you're using the 3x optical zoom there will be less depth of field than using the 1x zoom.

Yes, for sure. Also, if you get too close with the 3x optical lens there may be an automatic and unexpected switch from the optical lens to a simple digital crop of the 1x main camera!

 

[crabsandwich]

I too, recently migrated from iPhone 12 (Pro model) to 15 Pro. My experience has been that photos from the iPhone 15 Pro (All formats, jpg, HEIC, ProRAW, etc) appear better to me in every way than from the old 12 Pro. In particular I love the skies from the 15, much more natural looking than the hyper-blue fakery and weird haloes of the 12 Pro.

I wonder if part of your issue is the transition from dealing with a JPG output to the more involved workflow for ProRAW from the 15? On the 12 Pro I shot RAW then processed in Adobe Camera Raw on my laptop so my 12-15 transition has been simple.

Transitioning from JPG (on the 12) to a workflow involving ProRAW on the 15 would be a big jump and not an easy one. The compressed JPG/HEIC-style pics are designed to look great on a phone and they really do. It's only on a laptop-size screen, and usually even then only if one zooms in, that ugly artifacts of the compressed images show up.

As others have suggested, start with defaults and auto-settings. Roll with it. Add customizations/complications one at a time, only if really, really needed. The iPhone photography experience should be all about convenience and spontaneity and fun; things often a bit lost these days with the dauntingly complex menus of modern cameras.

 

[Photorer]

There is a BIG difference from a cellphone with tiny sensor to a mirrorless with professional glass.

They are designed to do different jobs and they each do them very well.

I upgraded from an iPhone 13 to the iPhone 15Pro and the images are definitely MUCH improved. I have simply left the default settings in the phone as I haven't got time to fiddle, and the purpose of the phone images is more to record than to impress. I have gotten pictures with the iPhone15Pro that I would never have been able to with the 13.

The target viewing of a cell phone is - surprise surprise! - a cell phone screen!
Limit your expectations to what its intended for!

Quick YouTube search:

 

[Dave Symington]

The target viewing of a cell phone is - surprise surprise! - a cell phone screen!

Limit your expectations to what its intended for!

In general, that’s probably true. However, I sold my Fujifilm mirrorless x100T and now simply use my iPhone 15 Pro. I found I often didn't have the Fujifilm with me when I wanted to take a picture. I used the ProRAW format with earlier iPhones but now I'm sold on the 15 Pro's HEIC format, especially set to 35mm, the focal length of the X100T. If I need post-processing, I do it in Lightroom, and I often print A4 and struggle to see much difference from the mirrorless ones I took.

 

[Photorer]

At one point Nokia was the biggest camera manufacturer in the world - their cell phones!

The beauty of technology is that with great technical advances, we're also benefitting from more affordable, better tech than we had a few years ago!