These days, I have read more and more reports on how premium smartphones could replace some DSLR or mirrorless cameras. So I have taken my brand new iPhone for a test against my Nikon mirrorless camera today in my neighborhood of Tiong Bahru.
Before we start, this is not a lens contest. But instead, I focus on the results. It is the ease of shooting with a smartphone versus the traditional photo processing of a DSLR or mirrorless camera. In this test, with my iPhone, I shoot in HEIC format and edit the photos directly on the phone. I don’t have an application that can edit Apple’s ProRAW format so I leave it to the phone to do its magic.
As for my Nikon Z6, I am using a 35mm lens. I shoot in raw format and edit the photos using DxO Photolab 2.4. It is my usual editing style using only digital filters. The Nikon’s JPG export photos are compressed (80% quality) to keep the size comparable to Apple’s HEIC photos. The results are as follows.
A few highlight comparisons:
After thoughts:
Because iPhone 14 Pro Max’s main camera has a wider lens than my Nikon’s – 24mm versus 35mm – photo composition is going to be different. The results from iPhone are of course heavily processed with the benefit of HDR among other Apple proprietary algorithms. This may make some of the photos ‘pop’ more compared to a traditional camera. My Nikon prime lens obviously has better sharpness, which you can only tell the difference when you zoom in. I still prefer the processed photos from my Nikon Z6. But with the convenience of a smartphone, both in photo shooting and editing, the results from my iPhone are decent.
In short, if I am going for a nice holiday, I would certainly bring my Nikon Z6. As for my day-to-day needs, my iPhone should suffice.