IPhone 14 Pro
⬤ From £1,099 ⬤ apple.com/uk
It goes without saying that Apple’s smartphones are incredibly popular. The latest flagship sees a 3x lens setup, with the main one offering a 48-megapixel resolution. It’s
available in two sizes, the standard Pro and the larger Pro Max, without sacrificing on camera quality if you opt for the smaller device. This is something other manufacturers don’t offer, with smaller devices tending to come with a camera sacrifice of some sort. This may mean that the iPhone 14 Pro better suits those with smaller hands or who don’t want to have to fit a cumbersome smartphone into their pocket.
In terms of portraits, the iPhone 14 Pro/Max has a dedicated Portrait mode which gives you the opportunity to shoot at 1x, 2x or 3x, depending on how you want to frame your shot, while also creating blurred backgrounds. A couple of generations ago, Apple announced it had been training its smartphones to better recognise pets and other common objects, so it’s good for a multitude of subjects other than humans.
Critics of the iPhone often point to its relatively simple native camera app, with no Pro or Advanced mode available.
However, you can shoot in Apple’s ProRAW format if you want some increased flexibility – though as with other smartphones, not in the Portrait mode. Again, shooting with the telephoto lens and raw switched on is a way to get around that somewhat.
We again here have a Night mode which can be combined with the Portrait mode for good portrait shots after dark, but, here again it’s the 1x setting which produces the best results in such conditions.
If you want to save some cash, then skipping back to the iPhone 13 Pro/Max or even the iPhone 12 Pro/Max will see very similar portrait results, so it’s well worth looking into those too.