The iPhone 13 Camera — Our Thoughts & What You Need to Know

Ah, big tech. An exciting, fruitful world of neverending upgrades, added features, and stellar bionic chips to impress the intelligently inferior human population. While Apple did debut multiple product drum beats, including the latest generation of iPads, AirPods, and Apple watches — we're here for the juicy meat of every phone: its camera. We're a team full of tech nerds and camera lovers, so we take every model's specs seriously. Here are some of our final thoughts and opinions from creatives working in the tech industry. Take it or leave it!

The entry-level iPhone 13 has two versions (a 6.1-inch base model and the smaller 5.4-inch Mini model). Pricing begins at $799 for the iPhone 13 and $699 for the Mini — both stellar price points for Apple connoisseurs.

While I would argue that the iPhone 13 doesn't strike the team with radical changes from its previous generation, it raises the temperature with high-powered refinements and improvements. Physically speaking, the phone models look strikingly similar to the iPhone 12 but boast a 20% smaller notch to allow for a more accessible display. It's not particularly that noticeable, though, as the cameras have maintained that table-like raise.

What You Need to Know About the Camera...

A striking change from the iPhone 12 Pro Max to the latest baseline iPhone 13 is its increased sensor size to 47% larger, allowing it to capture more light in low-light conditions and less noise. The Wide sensor comes in at 12 megapixels with an f/1.6 aperture, while the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera features a faster f/2.4 lens with a 120-degree field of view. iPhone 13 additionally boasts a sensor-shift stabilization technology featured in the 12 Pro Max to reduce unwanted vibrations within the sensor.

Overall, this was the most advanced pro camera system ever to exist on an iPhone when it was released, boasting a Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion, a massive leap in battery life, A15 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone, an advanced 5G experience, and so much more.

The promotion features an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz, making the touch experience faster and more responsive. The pro camera system has achieved its most significant advancement ever with new Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras that capture stunning photos and video, powered by the unmatched performance of A15 Bionic, which is more powerful than the leading competition. These technologies enable impressive new photo capabilities never before possible on the iPhone, like macro photography on the new Ultra-Wide camera and up to 2.2x improved low-light performance on the new Wide camera (Apple, 2021).

Optimized to work seamlessly with the all-new iOS 15 and powered by the new image signal processor (ISP) in the A15 Bionic, Apple's iPhone 13 Pro lineup features the best camera system to bless an iPhone to date. The Wide camera offers a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, far less noise due to faster shutter speeds, and crisp detail that can be seen from a mile away. Paired with a beautiful low aperture of f/1.5, this iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max Wide camera offers better improvements to low-light photography.

The Ultra-Wide camera features a stellar new f/1.8 aperture and improved autofocus to produce cleaner, brighter images in darker environments. Additionally, and with great excitement, Apple now offers a macro-photography feature using advanced software to magnify objects to appear larger than life. Macro also expands to video mode, including Slo-mo and Timelapse.

Photographic Styles

This feature piqued my interest but struck me as a bit gimmicky when I first learned about it during the Keynote launch a few years back. This native app upgrade encourages users to customize the look of their images for more consistency across an array of shots. This would have felt more mesmerizing if the changes didn't initially seem borderline basic and software-heavy, but they do.

Oh my Gosh, That Cinematic Mode?

If you logged on to our Youtube Live with Caleb and Joshua (before we got kicked out for streaming the live event with real-time audio), we physically gasped at the inaugural Cinematic Mode feature. This latest Coinstar allows for a rack focus effect to change the focus during the video with a simple finger tap. Apple's "Whodunnit" short film visibly depicted the automatic transitions while filming in real time, robotically shifting focus as new people entered the frame. Seems as though you can track a subject automatically by locking focus or manually changing for more precise control. The front-facing camera also provides cinematic mode support, which seems pretty rad. Cinematic selfies?

ProRes, Battery Life, and Storage

We're pretty stoked about ProRes being added to the list of video features for the latest iPhone lineup. ProRes video files have significantly lower compression than the more common H.264 and H.265 codecs currently used on previous iPhone models. ProRes protects the image quality of the video while allowing for fast encoding and decoding (CNET, 2021). However, this essentially means gigantic video files and tons of storage are easily erased from your device. We'll need to test this out for further use and see if it properly pairs with a 1TB smartphone.

A15 Bionic, more power-efficient components, a larger battery, and power optimizations made possible by the tight integration of hardware and software enable amazing all-day battery life for both Pro models. iPhone 13 Pro Max offers the most extended battery life ever in an iPhone.

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iPhone 13 phone cameras are greatly enhanced when used with Moment accessories. We offer a range of attachable mobile lenses and mobile filmmaking gear for creators learning to make rad short films on the device we use every day.