I’m somewhat baffled when I see people running with a phone in their hand. I get why you want your phone with you: for safety, for taking spontaneous photos, for emergency calls from loved ones. But awkwardly gripping a sweaty phone during a run is hard work (tightens your muscles and throws off your balance), dangerous (you could easily drop it), and annoying (it’s too easy to look at it with every buzz, ring, or newsflash).

Because I spent a summer as a camp counselor watching The Lorax every Thursday, here’s a Suessian rhyme about all the alternative ways to carry a phone:

You could hold it on your arm.
You could hold it in your pack.
You could hold it in your bra
—in the middle of your back.

You could hold it on your waist
You could hold it in your pants.
You could hold it in your shorts
—while you do a little dance.

Rhyming aside (I’ll stop, I promise, as tempting as it is to keep going), here are six sensical ways to carry a phone on a run—or, while you do a little dance.

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6 Great Accessories for Carrying a Phone on a Run

All of these methods prevail over carrying a phone in your hand while you’re running.

On Your Arm: Using a stretchy band that wraps around the upper arm via a Velcro closure like the beats the snot out of carrying a phone in your hand. While strapping my phone to my arm isn’t my personal favorite (my arm gets too sweaty; I’m a sweater) and it doesn’t combat the issue of asymmetry, it works to keep your phone from begging for your attention and removes the worry about dropping it. Many runners find it convenient.

In Your Pack: Not every run requires a backpack or hydration vest of some sort, but super lightweight, comfortable running vests can feel barely there while carrying a phone—plus things like a hydration flask, lightweight jacket, or car or house keys. Tucked away into a chest pocket of a small, lightweight pack like the , your phone is with you and at the ready, but not annoying you.

In Your Bra: Sports bras with pockets designed for smartphones midback are a growing category. I’ve tested the , , , and the , and each successfully holds my phone without bouncing, chafing, or creating excessive sweat, plus doesn’t require a shoulder contortion to access it.

On Your Waist: I’ve long been a fan of simple waistpacks meant for phones and other small items. The is my favorite for its simple yet functional design. It’s a loop of stretchy mesh, with multiple pockets, and I like stepping into it instead of futzing with buckles. I like the breathability afforded by its fabric, and the options to use zippered or envelope pockets for my phone and other items.

The magnetic pouch also carries a phone comfortably at the waist but with no around-the-waist belt. The seemingly simple pouch holds a phone (it comes in two sizes), and then stashes down the front or back of your shorts or pants, with a small flap on the outside holding the pouch in place via magnets. I don’t find this as comfortable as the Nathan Zipster, but another şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř editor swears by it as the lowest-maintenance, most versatile, and least obtrusive phone-carrying method he’s found.

In Your Pants: It’s hard to find tights these days that don’t have pockets donning the thigh area, and those pockets are a great place to carry a phone. The for men and women, for instance, feature one zippered pocket at the hip and one envelope pocket on the other hip. Both are great, no-bounce options for carrying a phone.

In Your Shorts: It can be challenging to find shorts with a big enough pocket for a phone, let alone a pocket that can hold the phone without pulling the shorts down. Shorts, by nature, are lightweight—there’s not as much material to a pair of shorts compared to a pair of tights. For that reason, I’ve found that shorts that fit like bike shorts (short tights) tend to hold a phone better than traditional shorts with a brief and exterior shell. That’s not to say that there isn’t a perfect pair of traditional shorts that holds a phone comfortably; it’s that I feel that the closer to the body a phone is held, the better (i.e., thigh pocket on the leg of tight-style shorts versus loose fabric of a shorts shell).

The (short tights with an 8” inseam) have seven pockets in total, but one that’s open mesh along the side is ideal for carrying a phone. The for women (short tights with a 5” inseam) have deep pockets on each thigh that carry a phone without bouncing, or pulling the shorts down–either while running or while, yes, doing a little dance.

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Every time Apple launches a new iPhone we get about a week to test before we can publish our initial review. As someone who primarily focuses on the camera features, it’s always a challenge to find a visually compelling spot that will allow me to fully test what the new camera is capable of.

This year, however, I got lucky. Immediately after I picked up the phones in the Bay Area I got on another plane to Alaska where I’ve been driving overland trucks and fly fishing around Denali. This far north it’s the middle of fall, with bright yellow trees covering the landscape, and moose hunters roaming the woods to collect meat for the winter. It’s been dumping rain most of the time, but we also got one day of partial sun, and that night the northern lights popped out at 2 a.m.

Needless to say, I’ve had plenty to photograph in a variety of lighting conditions that have helped me dig into the camera upgrades. Once again, I’m impressed with the visual features Apple has been able to pack into a tiny device that also serves as a phone, GPS, TV screen, AI assistant, and many other things. But as I always remind readers, iPhones don’t come close to the power of a full-frame mirrorless camera, and the iPhone 16 Pros are no exception. Here are my initial thoughts on why the 16 Pros are a great adventure camera, but just one tool in a photographer’s belt.

We Love the Camera Control Button (But It Takes Some Getting Used To)

Apple keeps the hardware design of the iPhone purposely simple (no headphone jack, for example) so it’s a big deal when they give us a new button (as silly as that sounds). This year they’ve added a Camera Control button, which is designed specifically for photographers and gives immediate and easy control of several different manual camera features.

One hard press of the button, which sits on the lower right-hand side of both Pros, launches the camera. Another hard press takes a photo. But the real power comes when you double soft-press the button (sort of like half-pressing the shutter on a camera) which brings up an entire menu of controls such as exposure, aperture, and focal length.

To select a manual control like exposure, you slide your finger on the button until that control is highlighted, and then soft press it once to enter. Next, you again slide your finger along the button to make a change. Holding the camera horizontally, a swipe right on the button when in aperture control makes the shot bigger for less depth of field. A swipe left on the button when in zoom control makes it zoom out and access the phone’s ultra-wide camera. Another soft double press gets you back to the original menu so you can then click into and change another feature.

I was excited to see Apple launch this button because the best photos are often made when you have as much control as possible over your camera. While shooting landscapes in Alaska, for example, I wanted lots of depth of field so I could gather details in the foreground and background and keep everything in the frame as sharp as possible. While shooting white overland trucks, it was helpful to bring my exposure down a little so that the vehicles weren’t blown out when set against a darker background.

As photographers know, mastering a new camera takes a while, and the same will be true with the Camera Control button. I suspect it will be months before I create the muscle memory needed to use the button quickly and without thinking. I also know that one button on the side of a camera will never match the buttons, dials, and toggles that photographers can use to quickly control bigger mirrorless cameras.

A heads up for anyone who lives in a rainy environment. While shooting in an Alaskan downpour it was hard to get the Camera Control button to react to my sliding finger, so I had trouble changing my exposure or focal length. Many times I had to wipe the button dry with my shirt in order to get it to work. Keep in mind that when you buy a phone case you’ll need to make sure you buy one that either comes with a cutout so that you can directly access the button, or one that Apple has certified so that the phone case button covering the Camera Control button interacts appropriately and doesn’t cause any weird delays or interferences.

Apple says that later this year a software update will allow the Camera Control button to lock focus on a subject so that we can then shift the camera and composition but not lose our main point of focus. This is a technique that many pro photographers use to get more creative framing in their photos and a smart update from Apple.

More Resolution Is a Good Thing

The iPhone 15s and 15 Pros all came with a larger 48-megapixel (mp) main camera (26 mm and 24 mm equivalents, respectively), which was a big deal because those cameras provided enough resolution to make photo prints large enough to hang on your wall. Last year I commented on seeing more photos on the walls of Apple HQ, and the same was true this year, with iPhone photos hanging all over the spaces we toured.

Unfortunately the 15 Pros had a bit of a shutter lag when shooting 48 mp photos in Apple ProRAW because the files that format creates are huge. But with the 16 Pros there’s zero shutter lag on the standard camera (24 mm equivalent), thanks to a second-generation quad-pixel sensor that reads data twice as fast, and something called the Apple Camera Interface that transfers higher levels of data from the sensor to the chip. So photographers can now capture action at the largest resolution possible.

The other big news for the 16 Pros is that their ultra-wide (13 mm equivalent) camera now comes with a 48 mp sensor as well. There’s some shutter lag on this camera when you’re shooting at 48 mp in Apple ProRAW, but I was still able to use it to photograph people fly fishing and overlanding. Thanks to the wide angle and resolution, it was easy to get clean and crisp subjects in the foreground but also capture subtle details in the landscape, creating a photo with lots of depth and character. I’ve yet to print a photo off the ultra-wide camera but suspect I’d have no problem making something that is 11×14 inches or even bigger.

The only hedge I’ll include is a reminder that even though the iPhone now has 48 mp sensors behind multiple cameras, that doesn’t mean that the iPhone photos are anywhere as detailed as a full-frame mirrorless camera that comes with a similar resolution but a much larger sensor and larger lenses. Those larger lenses and sensor drink in more information and will always win in the resolution game.

You Can Now Shoot Slow-Mo 4K Video

Most iPhone users aren’t using their phones to create commercial music videos like the one Apple and showed during the iPhone 16 Pro keynote presentation. That said, it’s definitely convenient to have higher-resolution 4K slow-mo video that you can use to capture action or add drama to social videos.

The new features enables the phone to capture video in 4K at 120 frames-per-second (fps), and the Photos app lets you adjust the playback speed after capture. That means you can watch your video at full speed, or dial it down to half speed, quarter speed, or even one-fifth speed. I shot a guide fly fishing and friends driving trucks through puddles and found it enormously helpful to be able to choose my playback speed in order to best highlight the action.

For example, I chose half speed for the fly fishing video because that was slow enough to emphasize the casting movements but not so slow it made the video boring. When I was editing the cars chewing through puddles, however, I slowed the video all the way down to one-fifth speed because I liked the drama of the splash coming at me as slowly as possible.

The Styles Feature Has a Lot of Potential

All iPhone 16s come with the ability to control something called Styles. At first glance these are just a new set of filters, but Apple says that’s not the case. Instead of applying one simple tone to the entire photo, like some older filters, Styles alter the color balance and tonality in a more sophisticated way that leaves things like skin tone more natural while still adding a certain overall feel to the rest of the photo. There are preset Styles developed by Apple, but each of those can be modified by the user in the Photos app. Note that at this point Styles only work in the HEIF format and do not work on Apple ProRAW files.

Apple says that photographers have created their own tonal styles for decades and that they drew on this history when building Styles. For me, I immediately thought of how modern photographers use Presets in Adobe Lightroom that do something similar. Photographers will create a Preset, or dozens of Presets, that alter the overall tonality of a photo so that everything with that Preset has a consistent feel.

When done well, these Presets help photographers nail an aesthetic that’s uniquely theirs and creates a visual consistency that you might compare to an author’s tone of voice. I asked a pro adventure photographer I ran into in Alaska what he thinks of Presets and he said he uses them all the time. That said, he warned that it’s taken him hundreds of hours to create his set of Presets, and he’s always tweaking them. His advice leads me to believe that Styles, when used best, will not be a magic wand, but instead an advanced tool iPhone users will need to spend some time with to master.

Everything Else You Need to Know About the iPhone 16 Pro

Last year just the iPhone 15 Pro Max came with a 5X zoom (120 mm equivalent), but both 16 Pros now feature that lens and it sits in front of a 12 mp camera. I’ve tested the 5X over the past year and it’s been a fun new way to capture the world and create unique perspectives. For video it’s been great to get in ultra close to the action for a more personal experience, and on the photo side it’s perfect for portraits where you still want a little background info (unlike Portrait mode, where the background is completely blurred).

A new feature called Audio Mix that launches with the 16 Pros will undoubtedly help YouTubers and other social videographers in a big way. There’s a lot to this feature, but what’s most important to know is that when you record video of people talking in a noisy area, Apple’s software can now go into that video and cut out the background noise almost completely or just quieter if you prefer, so that you can hear the forward conversation much more crisply. The effect is like attaching body mics to your subjects or using an overhead mic like you see in film production. It remains to be seen if video creators who use an iPhone ditch their mics completely, but Audio Mix will certainly allow some people to just bring their phone.

Apple Intelligence, or Apple’s version of AI, will be released later this year and, according to Apple, will include important updates to the Photos app. One that caught my eye is the ability to use detailed natural language queries to search through the thousands of photos stored on your phone and in your cloud. Apple says we should be able to type something as specific as “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt” into the Photo app’s search bar and it will find all the photos that meet that description, even if they’re buried in photos from four years ago. You can also use this same kind of query to search videos. Your phone will sort through all your footage to find the exact spot where Maya is skateboarding in that specific t-shirt.

Finally, Apple Intelligence will also allow users to remove distracting elements from a photo with a few swipes. Personally, I think this is great for photos like family portraits, or anything staged, but not something I’m interested in when it comes to other photography. AI features like this, in my opinion, destroy the character of a photo and it should be the job of the photographer to compose a photo how they want it instead of relying on AI to clean it up or enhance it after the fact.

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When the iPhone 14 was announced last week and Apple showed off the new feature that allows users to text emergency responders via satellite, the internet erupted with headlines claiming that the iPhone WILL NOT replace the Garmin inReach. Just to be clear, we agree.

The new iPhone also won’t replace your trusty full-frame mirrorless or DSLR camera, even though the iPhone 14 Pro comes with a new sensor that’s a whopping 65 percent larger than the previous version and can produce super-detailed 48-megapixel images.

But, Apple’s new upgrades are smart, useful, and will undoubtedly help millions of people take better pictures and others get rescued from scary or maybe even life-threatening situations. Both are huge wins. Let’s take a closer look at the two upgrades that will be of most interest to outdoor enthusiasts.

Emergency SOS via Satellite

The Emergency SOS via Satellite service, which will come to the iPhone 14 lineup in November, will allow users to contact emergency services via satellite texting when those users are out of cell range. Because not all emergency service providers are set up to receive emergency texts, Apple created a series of “Relay Centers” that are staffed with trained responders who can receive the emergency text and call a local emergency service on the user’s behalf.

Here’s how it will work: First, if someone tries to contact 911 but cannot establish a cell signal, the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature will pop up. Users can also use Siri to start the emergency function. A built-in feature will guide the user on where to position and point the phone to find and maintain the best connection with a satellite.

Once a connection is established, , users will be presented with an initial menu of pre-programmed messages. The user has to tap a response to each of these messages, which were designed with the help of emergency responders to convey the most important information they might need. Apple says these pre-programmed messages are compressed so they can be sent in as little as 15 seconds if the user has a clear connection to the satellite.

Meanwhile, the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature will automatically share the user’s location and emergency contacts. It also reports battery percentage status so that emergency responders can see if the phone is running low.

Once the emergency service has been contacted and the most important information has been conveyed via the pre-programmed messages, the service will then allow users to send and receive custom messages so they can provide details and so emergency responders can ask questions.

Satellite communication will also allow iPhone 14 users to show their off-grid location in real-time to their friends and family via the Find My feature. If you’re on a long hike, for example, your family will be able to check your location throughout the day just the way they might check your location on a road trip when you’re in cell range. Apple says the impact to the phone’s battery life is minimal.

So how does Apple’s new system compare to dedicated satellite communicators like Garmin? While it is likely some people will choose to rely on the iPhone rather than investing in another device, as loyal Garmin users from across the world loudly pointed out when the Apple feature was announced, inReach products are not going anywhere.

We agree, because the Garmin inReach products—the most top-of-mind comparison to the new Apple service—are still significantly more robust in several key ways. The battery will last longer than the iPhone battery, giving users peace of mind if they’re out for several days. Garmin also includes non-restrictive two-way messaging, so, in addition to signaling emergency services, users can contact anyone they want, such as family members. Also, if the user is really in trouble and doesn’t have the time or wherewithal to deal with Apple’s mandatory menu of emergency messages, Garmin’s SOS button instantly alerts emergency responders. And lastly, Garmin products are built to take an absolute beating; the iPhone is robust, but would likely fail more quickly than an inReach.

Even if it doesn’t make other satellite communicators obsolete, the iPhone Emergency SOS via Satellite feature will absolutely be useful. Thousands of people, many of whom would never buy a Garmin inReach device, will likely use the service to help them out of terrifying and dangerous situations. Some have questioned whether the service will be overused, or misused, by people who don’t technically need emergency services. But they would rather have more information up front, even if they don’t respond, rather than not enough information, leaving them without the resources needed to perform a necessary rescue.

Apple says the service will be free for the first two years. When they start charging, my guess is that they’ll offer one affordable plan (similar to their Music or iCloud service prices) for everyone. Down the road they could offer more services in the Emergency SOS feature and create tiered plans like Garmin that are based on usage and features.

The New iPhone 14 Pro Camera

As always, Apple made the biggest camera update to their Pro (and Pro Max) model, so I’m going to concentrate on that here. And, as usual, Apple found clever ways to improve their camera system by enhancing both the hardware and software that the new iPhone 14 Pro uses to capture images.

The biggest upgrades were made on the iPhone 14 Pro’s wide-angle 24-millimeter camera, the default lens that people use most often. Most significantly, the camera’s sensor grew by a healthy 65 percent from the previous iteration. The larger the sensor, the more light it can drink in, and more light equals better picture quality. This new sensor now allows the iPhone 14 Pro to create 48-megapixel images that are four times larger than the 12-megapixel images you get from the iPhone 13 Pro. More megapixels equals more detail, so photo buffs will be able to capture images where the finest parts stand out even more.

These 48-megapixel images are also captured in Apple ProRAW, an uncompressed format that provides as much digital information as possible and allows photographers to edit the photo so they can bring out shadows, tone down highlights, and get the colors exactly how they want them.

In low light situations, users can tell the main iPhone 14 Pro camera to take 12-megapixel images using the same sensor. To do this, the camera takes every four pixels on the sensor and converts them into a much larger “quad pixel” that is like a larger dish for drinking in light, allowing for less grainy images at night or when the light isn’t optimal.

The larger sensor behind the 24-millimeter camera gets a new stabilization system that also helps deliver sharp images in low light. Finally, the lens on the 24-millimeter camera also gets a faster, F/1.78 aperture, which opens the lens wider to let in—you guessed it—even more light. There’s also a 2X zoom, that Apple created by cropping in on the middle 12 megapixels of the new larger sensor, making the 24-millimeter lens act like 48 millimeters.

On the software side, the big update is something Apple calls the Photonic Engine, which is related to something they call Deep Fusion. Deep Fusion is a way for the iPhone to capture multiple images in a row, almost instantly, and then take the best parts on a pixel-by-pixel basis and combine them to increase the dynamic range (the camera’s ability to capture great highlights, midtones, and shadow detail). In the new camera, the Photonic Engine does that process earlier, and chooses the best parts of each photo before those photos are compressed. By using uncompressed images, there’s more information to choose from and you get better results, particularly in low light. An important note: the Phototonic Engine is also available on the non-pro iPhone 14, but is not used when you’re shooting in Apple ProRAW.

The best image quality test for me and several of my professional photography friends use is to shoot an image and then take it into a photo editing program like Adobe Lightroom to see how much we can play around with the photo—pull out the shadows, tone down the highlights, and adjust the color—before it falls apart and starts looking junky. Lower-resolution images don’t allow for much of this, but images from pro-caliber cameras like the Sony A7RIV allow for plenty.

It’s immediately clear that a 48-megapixel image shot in Apple ProRAW allows for significantly more toning than a 12-megapixel ProRAW image coming from the iPhone 13 Pro. All those extra megapixels store more information, so there’s more you can do to the photo to get it just right in a post-processing workflow. It’s also easy to crop in on an image (like the Land Rover cropped above) and see that the 48-megapixel image helps you retain detail that would not be there in a 12-megapixel image.

I was able to get out for one quick night shoot to test the low light capabilities of the iPhone 14 Pro and could clearly see the difference that the new, larger sensor makes when it’s taking the smaller pixels and turning them into quad-pixels. The images shot this way had significantly less noise, or grain, than the same image shot with the sensor at 48 megapixels. These low-light 12-megapixel images didn’t stand up to much toning in Lightroom, and I’d never try to make photo prints of them, but they looked great for such terrible conditions and will play just fine on Instagram.

Storage and processing power will be a concern for some people because 48-megapixel files take up a lot of space on an iPhone. If photographers plan to shoot exclusively in that format they’ll want to invest in the one terabyte version of the iPhone 14 Pro and will have to figure out which iCloud plan can store all their photos. When it comes to processing a 48-megapixel image, you will also need a fairly fast computer. In my test, a new Macbook Pro didn’t blink, but anyone with an older computer might find the editing process a bit clunky.

Even with all this upgraded ability, the new iPhone 14 Pro will not replace pro-level mirrorless or DSLR cameras because its sensors are not as powerful and it is not compatible with the incredible collection of lenses that pro photographers rely on. As a photographer, however, I’m still super excited to have this more powerful camera in my pocket for everyday adventures as well as for big days in the backcountry. It’s capable of capturing stunning images that will store lasting memories—and it still fits in my pocket.

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I’ve been reviewing iPhones for seven years now, and I start every story with a similar disclaimer: if you want a camera system that you can use for professional photography, don’t spend your money on the newest iPhone. Keep your old phone and invest in a full-frame mirrorless camera instead.

However, if you like the way an iPhone fits snugly in your pocket, and you mostly use its camera for Instagram snaps, then the new Ěý(starting at $999) is a worthy investment. Apple let me test the phone in mid-September—right after the company’s annual keynote address and before the phone went on sale—and I’ve been shooting with it nonstop to get a feel for the improved camera features. Below are some pictures I shot with the phone, as well as a breakdown of the upgrades I’m most excited about.

Macro Photography

If you were shooting with a normal camera and wanted to pack wide, superwide, and portrait lenses, you would easily fill a camera backpack. Apple, however, has managed to add all of those lenses to the back of a phone, and this year it added a macro lens to the mix. The macro doesn’t show up as its own lens on the back of the phone, though; it works through the ultrawide lens and automatically turns on when you place the phone close to an object. Apple says you can get within two centimeters of anything—a flower, a bug, tree bark—to snap a pic. After testing this mode, I found that the phone shoots crisp, vibrant photos that bring a whole new perspective to what’s deemed photographable around us. Macro photography is not something I use every day, but it was fun knowing that I have a macro lens in my pocket to pull out on occasion.

A Longer Telephoto Lens

When Apple launched its 56-millimeter zoom lens on the iPhone 7 Plus, I was excited to have a longer lens on my phone. That said, I also balked at the words telephoto or zoom, because a 56-millimeter lens is not a true lens of that type by traditional photo standards. Luckily, the brand found ways to pack longer lenses in subsequent phones. Last year it gave us a 65-millimeter lens on the 12 Pro Max, and now the 13 Pro comes with a 77-millimeter lens, which is pretty close to 85 millimeters, or the gold standard for a telephoto portrait lens. I loved having a 77-millimeter lens, because it makes your subject look more natural (there’s no wide-angle distortion of their face or body), creates a tighter composure so your subject fills more of the frame, and does a great job of creating bokeh. With a true portrait lens in my pocket, it was fun to push myself to really work on this type of photography. My kids, wife, and dogs got sick of me telling them to stop for a portrait, but I’ve always found that portraits of my family are my most cherished photos.

The Right Balance Between Software and Hardware

Apple uses a lot of smart software to enhance the iPhone camera. Night Mode, for example, is an automatic bracketing feature that helps you nail low-light images. Smart HDR (high dynamic range) is another bracketing feature that uses machine learning to teach the camera how to take different exposures for different parts of each photo, ensuring you get a well-balanced shot in tricky light.

But software is just half the equation. As I hammered home on my iPhone 12 Pro review, you also need high-quality hardware, like lenses and sensors, to make great photos. Those components drink in the light and allow the software to perform its magic. The Apple lenses are sharp and fast, and the brand has been steadily making sensor upgrades, too. A pro-quality, full-frame sensor hasn’t been squeezed into an iPhone—yet—but the sensor behind the Pro 13’s 26-millimeter wide camera is the company’s largest sensor to date, and it makes a difference. Paired with a faster f/1.5 aperture, that sensor allows the wide camera lens to take in 2.2 times more light than the 12 Pro’s wide camera, and nearly 1.5 times more light than the 12 Pro Max’s wide camera. More light equals more data, which results in improved overall image quality, more detail, less grain in low-light photos, and the ability to print bigger and better photos off your phone. A larger sensor also allows for faster shutter speeds across various light settings for sharper images. Thanks to a new sensor and faster aperture, Apple also says the ultrawide camera takes in 92 percent more light.

Photographic Styles, or Filters

Filters, like the ones you can apply with Instagram, seem to fade in and out of fashion. They were all the rage five years ago, but then photographers started to lean more toward natural-looking photos. Now, filters are making a comeback, and Apple is paying attention. With the introduction of Photographic Styles, the Pro 13 can automatically apply one of four filters to every photo you shoot—there’s no need to go back and apply them manually.

Each filter (vibrant, rich contrast, rich warm, and cool) can be manually controlled for intensity, and Apple’s suggested settings ensure that the photos don’t look overdone. Apple also designed the filters to enhance a photo without messing with the skin tone of your subject—a smart new addition.

Other Things You Should Know

On the video side, the biggest upgrade is something called Cinematic Mode, which allows you to add bokeh to your footage. In this mode, the camera will lock onto the faces in your frame and choose which subject to focus on, based on who’s looking toward the camera. (You can also control where the camera focuses by tapping the screen.) Meanwhile, everyone else in the frame gets blurred out, using a low depth of field. It’s a cool feature that can enhance your storytelling, and it’s a style of shooting that’s long been used by professional cinematographers.

Apple says the 13 Pro features up to 90 minutes more battery life compared to the 12 Pro, which is great if you’re out all day shooting photos. The brand is also offering a one-terabyte storage option, so you’re almost guaranteed to have enough space on your phone—unless you’re constantly shooting long clips of high-res video. And unlike the 12 Pro Max, which had a faster wide camera lens, the cameras on the 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are identical. I like this mirroring, because I prefer to carry the smaller Pro instead of the Pro Max, as it takes up less room in my pocket and is much easier to use with one hand.

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I’ve been reviewing iPhone cameras for five years now. I start every article by saying thatĚýalthough the iPhone can’t match the chops of a pro-level camera like the , I’m still widely impressed byĚýthe photos that are shot with these portable devices that fit in our pockets. The same is once again true for the new , which was just announced on October 13.Ěý

Thanks to a few hardware improvements, matched with Apple’s increasingly clever software upgrades, the 12 Pro takes awfully nice photos and portraits during the day and solid snaps at night. I’ve been testing the phone for about a week andĚýtalking to outdoor photographer , who tried outĚýhis 12 Pro in Montana’s Glacier National Park. Here’s what we think are the camera’s most exciting new features.

Damn Good HDR

For people who like to shoot outside, the most important update on the iPhone 12 Pro is a technology called .ĚýHDR stands for high dynamic range. It’s a bracketing feature that allows theĚýcamera to take multiple pictures—some that expose for the highlights, some that expose for the shadows, and some that expose right in the middle—to getĚýan even-toned photoĚýthat wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Some older HDR software was awful and made images look manipulated. Apple’s, however, is on point. The iPhone 11 Pro uses Smart HDR, but the 12’s version is a big step above thatĚýand, as a result,Ěýabsolutely nails outdoor exposures.

More specifically, Apple says HDR 3 uses machine learning to train the neural engine, a component on itsĚýA14 Bionic chip. By showing the engine different scenes over and over—those of mountains, clouds, snow, etc.—it starts to recognizeĚýspecific scenes and thenĚýautomatically create the right exposure for each one. Put another way, you can now shoot a photo of a bright blue sky against a more shaded forest and the 12 Pro will know how to expose for both the sky and the forest.ĚýIt ensuresĚýa balanced image right out of the camera with no need for toning.

Apple also uses something called Deep Fusion for the details. Instead of just shooting bracketed photos and then combining them as is, the companyĚýreports thatĚýDeep Fusion prompts the neural engine to select “the best parts of each pixel for the best sharpness, color, highlights, and shadows,” before telling the engine to fuse those pixels together into the final photograph.Ěý

That’s a pretty heady explanation, but the results speak for themselves. Both MannĚýand I have tested the HDR features over the past week, and we’ve been impressed. His landscape photos of dark forests in Glacier have tons of detail, whileĚýbright clouds are never blown out. I shot photos right at sunset here in New Mexico and was impressed with how the phone captured plenty of information in the foreground shadows while still allowing for a bright, brilliant sun.

Better Low-Light Photos

Most pro-level mirrorless cameras, like the Sony a7R IV, have giant digital sensors that drink in a lot of light. A similarly sized sensor isn’t possible—yet—on something like an iPhoneĚýdue toĚýspace limitations. This means that iPhones, and all smartphones, have smaller sensors that functionĚýfairly well during the day when there’s plenty of sunshineĚýbut struggle at night.

As a smart-software workaround, Apple introduced something itĚýcallsĚýnight mode last year. Night mode is another bracketing feature;Ěýwhen the iPhone camera senses a low-light situation, itĚýautomatically takes multiple photosĚýin a row—including several longer exposures—and combines them for brighter, crisper,Ěýless grainy, and more color-accurate imagesĚýthat punch well above the small sensor’s weight.Ěý

Night mode was only available on the 11 Pro’s 26-millimeter wide-angle camera, but this year it comes to the 12 Pro’s 13-millimeter ultrawide cameras as well, meaning you can now get much better low-light, wide-angle photos. MannĚýsays the difference is immediately noticeable.

“I found that the ultrawide lens with night mode on the iPhone 12 Pro captured a beautiful image, where the ultrawide without night mode on the iPhone 11 Pro rendered a mostly black frame full of noise,” he says.Ěý

Better Low-Light Focusing

Phones and pro cameras alike can struggle to focus at night. To workĚýaround this problem, Apple is using a technology called lidar (short for light detection and ranging)Ěýin the iPhone 12 Pro’s 26-millimeter wide-angle and 52-millimeter telephoto lenses. According to Apple, its lidarĚýscanner “measures absolute depth by timing how long it takes invisible light beams to travel from the transmitter to objects, then back to the receiver.” Simply put, this technology allows the camera to lock its focus on a subject easier and quicker in low-light situations.Ěý

No camera is going to be perfect at focusing in really low light, even with lidar, but both MannĚýand I found the update to be helpful. “Up until now, one of the most frustrating aspects of shooting with an iPhone—or any camera—in low light was trying to lock in tack-sharp focus,” MannĚýtold me. “It drives me nuts when my subject is right where I want them in the frame, and my camera autofocus just keeps searching for a focus point instead of letting me trigger the shutter. With lidarĚýI didn’t have that experience at all, and I found that the iPhone 12 Pro could focus in even the most challenging lighting conditions. I’m hoping traditional camera manufacturers will integrate this technology, too.”

Thanks to theĚýlidarĚýfeature, the 26-millimeter lens can now also shoot low-light photos in portrait mode. MannĚýand I both tested the feature, and it’s definitely nice to capture shotsĚýin lower-light situations that can add contrast and mood.

Important Hardware Upgrades

So farĚýwe’ve discussed what Apple calls upgrades to “computational photography”—the brand’s term for all the software tricks that can be employedĚýto make better photos. But the camera still has to perform the basic function of capturing light through the lens and trapping that light on a sensor. If you want better photos, this hardware has to be upgraded, too.

The 12 Pro still has a 12-megapixel sensor but gets a wide-angle 26-millimeter lens that goes from an f/1.8 to an f/1.6 apertureĚýfor a 27 percent increase. That lens also gets a newĚýseven-element build to ensure that the images are sharp from edge to edge. One aperture stop isn’t a huge upgrade, but I applaud Apple for continuing to develop itsĚýhardware instead of just relying on new software.

Where hardware upgrades will make a big difference, I suspect, is in the 12 Pro Max, which launches in November. The 26-millimeter wide-angle lens on thatĚýcamera gets a 47 percent bigger stabilized sensor as well as larger pixels. Apple says that the combined hardware (the sensor, the stabilizer, and the pixels) create an 87 percent jump in low-light performance. The 12 Pro Max will have aĚý65-millimeter zoom lens, compared to the 52-millimeter zoom lens on the 12 Pro. I’m excited about this feature as well, because a longer lens will help shoot even better portraits, with or without portrait mode.

Other Things You Should Know

In addition to better photos, the 12 Pro also shoots better video, with improved color and low-light capabilities. But, as always, I think most people will instead turn to a GoPro or video camera if they want to shoot anything longer than a quick clip for Instagram.

I was impressed with the new design of the 12 Pro. The squareĚýshapeĚýis much easier to hold, and I think it’ll result in farĚýfewer drops compared withĚýthe 11 Pro and its slick, rounded-off edges. The 6.1-inch display is just slightly bigger than the 11 Pro’s 5.8-inch display, but it makes a difference. That little bit of extra screen makes viewing photos better, and the phone feels perfectly sized for one-handed control. In terms of toughness, Apple says the 12 Pro is an upgrade from the 11 Pro. I’ve dropped my 11 Pro way too many times and never had a problem, so I suspect the 12 will do even better if it falls out of your pack while mountain biking or if it hits the pavement during a run.

Should You Upgrade?

My professional-photographer friends will tell you absolutely not. The 12 Pro upgrades are mostly software, andĚýthe phone starts atĚý$1,000. If you really want to shoot high-quality photos that you can hang on your wall or pitch to magazines, they suggest youĚýsave that moneyĚýand put it towardĚýa pro-level mirrorless camera and an accompanying lens—and I agree.

If, however, an iPhone will be your main camera, andĚýyou love the portability of something that fits in your pocket, and you’re mostly using your photos for social media or to share with friends, then you can’t go wrong with the 12 Pro. What I would suggest, though, is that you wait until the 12 Pro Max launches before purchasing it. At just $100 more than the regular 12 Pro, the Max’s larger sensor and longer lens should create photos that are worth the extra money.

The post The iPhone 12 Pro Is Once Again a Great Pocket Camera appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

This summerĚýI developed a minorĚýobsession with phone mounts for my car. I’m buildingĚýmy 2003 Toyota Sequoia into an overlanding rigĚýand wanted something that would hold my phone securely and display my screen while I navigated bumpyĚýdirt roads.

Thinking I needed something beefy, I immediately bought an Ěýwith a phone holder and long metal arm that attached to the passenger-seat rail. It took hours to affix—and then it came loose within a week. Frustrated, I contacted a buddy who runs an overlanding shop and asked if he could drill a phone mount into my dashboard to eliminate any jiggling.ĚýHe said yes, but suggested that instead of spending over $100 for labor and putting holes into my car, I should head to Home Depot and buy a tiny Scosche mount instead.Ěý

I was surprised that someone whose truck has $80,000 worth of upgrades was running a $12 phone mount. But I trust his advice,Ěýso I went next door, found the , slapped itĚýon my dash,Ěýand never looked back.ĚýMy phone immediately locked in place and didn’t budge.Ěý

The following week, my partner and I spent two days driving technical backcountry roads marked with washboards, rock gardens, and giant ruts. While everything else in the truck rattledĚý(including my Ram mount), my phone restedĚýon the dash totally unfazed.

The fact thatĚýMagicMount is smallĚýis what makes it work so well. More specifically, the dash-mount arm is so stubby that it can’t jiggle around. Other dash and windshield mounts often use longer (four- or five-inch) arms that protrude from a base.ĚýI’ve never been able to get those arms connected tightly enough to the base to cut out any motion.Ěý

To set up the MagicMount, you first attach itsĚýplastic base to your dash with a peel-back adhesive. On top of the base is a smallĚýplastic swivel plate with a magnet. Once the base is attached, you adjust the swivel plate to face the directionĚýyou want, then youĚýmount a second, superthin magnet to the back of your phone or phone case. You can also slip the magnet between your phone and phone case and forgo an adhesive. The magnet on your phone then attaches to the magnetic swivel plate, and you’re done.

I was worried the adhesive would start to wear out over time, but that hasn’t been the case. After months of hard testing, the base is still solid, and my phone hasn’t slipped once. I’m using anĚýiPhone 11 Pro, but based on the rigidity of the tension on the swivel,ĚýI have no doubt that people with larger phones—like the 11 Pro Max—won’t see any slipsĚýeither.

The next accessories I plan to buyĚýare the ($20)Ěýand the ($30), the latter of which I’ll use to hold an iPad on the back of the passenger seatĚýfor the kids so they can watch a movie on longerĚýroad trips.

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The South Rim of the Grand CanyonĚýcan be a magical place: you stand with a 180-degree view of a thing so big and complicated, you can’t understand it if you only look for a few seconds. You see millions of years of erosion, dozens of layers of geology, dozens of side canyons with their own side canyons. You could sit there for hours or days, taking it in, watching the light change, illuminating things you didn’t see the minute before and won’t see a minute after. It’s a huge, complex artwork in an open-air museum that never closes, and you can stay as long as it takes you to figure out what it means to you and your existence, or decide it’s impossible to figure out and walk away satisfied with whatever you got from it. That’s one way to look at it.Ěý

Alternately, you could describe it as crowdedĚýwith tour-bus passengers and selfie sticks, packing the restaurants a few steps away from the rim, accidentally dropping water bottles and food wrappers into the canyon, ignoring the signs that say please don’t feed the squirrels, talking loudly on cell phones, and making the whole thing feel like a bit of a tourist trap, more like Times Square than one of America’s most famous national parks.Ěý

You have a choice when you’re there: you can focus on the canyon in front of you and have your mind blown by nature, or you can focus on the people behind you and have your spirits dampened by the negative aspects of making one viewpoint accessible to millions of people.Ěý

You can choose wonder—or you can choose the opposite of wonder, something that seems to be plentiful in our current day, available via the tap of a finger and a second or two of scrolling: a million hot takes, snarky comments, and contrarian reactions on anything and everything. One of the heartening things about the internet nowadays is that you can find, in seconds, other people who love some obscure thing just as much as you do (like the Subreddit for ), and you can connect with them.ĚýOne of the less heartening things is that, with the same amount of ease (or completely by accident), you can find someone who hates the thing you love, whether it’s a musician, a restaurant, or a . If you spend enough time paying attention to all the opinions on the internet, they can gradually become a sort of blanket of despair, snuffing out your joy, or infecting your perspective. If you concentrate on how all the other tourists at the South Rim are interfering with your Grand Canyon experience, you’re choosing to ruin your own experience. Instead: grab an ice cream cone (there might be a line) and enjoy the view.Ěý

I’m not advocating for 24/7 blind optimism. The world is not a perfect place. It’s never great for everyone at the same time, and many things about it should change so it can become a better place for more people. But you can fight for change and still experience joy, as smarter people than me have .Ěý

I’m not naturally an optimistic or positive person, but I often find myself stopping in awe to watch a truck driver back a tractor-trailer into a tight alley. I still get a little kick—even 35 years after my first rides without training wheels—out of how my bicycle just keeps rolling after a few hard pedal strokes. I can’t believe how tasty even below-average pizza is, and that some form of pizza is in almost every populated place I’ve ever traveled in the world. I never get tired of , even well after the thousandth time I’ve listened to it.Ěý

I think that snarky voice, the negative remark, the ability to have a slight dissatisfaction with everything, is inside all of us. We are blessed and cursed with seemingly infinite choice, the possibility that there might be something a little bit better, or even “perfect,” around the corner, in the next swipe left, or after a few more seconds of scrolling.Ěý

You can decide every day, multiple times every day, if you want to have a sense of joy, slight awe, and/or amazement in your life. You can do the opposite and spend your time figuring out how to creatively take a shit on everything, building a shield out of snark to hide behind, lest you get too excited about something. I have both these voices in my head at all times, just like you. But I recommend you choose wonder. It won’t solve all the world’s problems, but it certainly must do more to make the world a better place than being perpetually unimpressed does, don’t you think?

A friend once told me he thought someone should make a film capturing people’s reactions at the moment they see the Grand Canyon for the first time, from the viewpoint on the South Rim. I think it’s a fascinating idea, turning the camera away from one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and showing not the scenery, but its effect on the humans who experience it.Ěý

The world is changing faster than ever before, and it gets easier every year you’re alive to be just a bit more of a pessimist, turning the brightness dial of your perspective down another notch. It takes effort, but I believe it’s worth it, when we can, to squint into a visual field of rain clouds loaded with infinite ways we could be disappointed, unimpressed, and dissatisfied with every little thing in our lives, and instead focus on a sense of awe and amazement.Ěý

Brendan Leonard’s new book, Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems: More Funny Shit in the Woods from Semi-Rad.com, is out .

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For many people (myself included), Apple isn’t just a brand or a portfolio of tech products. Apple is a way of life. It’s an obsession. The phone, the watch, the tabletĚýand laptop—these items have become fully integrated into our day to day routine. Life without them seems… empty. So we’ve found the best accessories that allow you to take your “precious” into the wild andĚýkeep themĚýsafe.

Lander Moab Apple Watch Case and Band ($30)Ěý

Most Apple Watch cases add considerable bulk to an otherwise slim wearable, but maintains a svelte look while still protecting your pride and joy from bumps and scratches. It’sĚýmade from a stiff urethane-carbon combo with built-in air pocketsĚýand it comes with a woven nylon band that’s DWR coated to help fight odor. Unfortunately, Lander doesn’t make the case for the Series 3 watch anymore, so this will only help you out if you’re rocking the Series 4.Ěý

Nomad Pod Pro Battery ($50)Ěý

Extra batteries are easy to come by, but is designed to simplify your mobile charging needs with a 6000mAh battery that can charge your iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time. It has enough juice to chargeĚýeach device twice in one sitting, which has made it my go-to battery for weekend excursions. Even more attractive is the built-in cord organization:Ěýthe Pod Pro has an integrated lightning cable for an iPhone and a magnetic system that keeps your Apple Watch cord wrapped inside the aluminum case. It’s certainly heavier than some featherweight batteries (Nomad says the Pod Pro is 4 ounces), but you’re getting two chargers and a cord organizer in one package.Ěý

Joby GripTight One GP Stand ($35)Ěý

For most of us, the iPhone has eliminated the need to bring a camera on our adventures. But if you’ve ever tried to prop up that phone to take a picture of yourself, you’ve certainly missed your old camera’s square body. Thankfully, Joby extended its GorillaPod tripod system to accommodate thin, unwieldy smartphones. The square grip can work on just about any phone, regardless of size. Just like the original GorillaPod, the legs can adjust to off-camber surfaces or wrap around small branches or fence posts. And yes, can also work as a selfie stick.Ěý

Catalyst Waterproof Laptop Sleeve ($55)Ěý

You’re not going to take your laptop kayaking, but how often have you been caught in the rain on a commute? It happens. Enter the , which is made from ripstop nylon with a DWR finish, welded seams, and a double closure system (waterproof zipper and a Velcro strap) for an IP66 waterproof rating.ĚýIt fits 13-to-15-inchĚýlaptops or tablets,Ěýand an interior padded sleeve helps protect your computer against drops. ItĚýalso comes with two straps and multiple D-rings so you can wear it as a standalone backpack or shoulder bag, but I like it better as extra protection inside my daily pack. There are also a couple of small pockets inside the bag that are big enough for your charger, phone, or wallet.Ěý

LifeProof LifeActiv Cable Lanyard ($40)Ěý

I hate packing charging cords (see my love of the Nomad Pod Pro). But Ěýprovided a solution to my gripe by transforming a cable into a lanyard that you can strap to a backpack or compatible phone case. When in use, it’s a 15-inchĚýlightning to USB charging cord that supports a 2.4 amp charging speed, but the ends screw into a cap to form a waterproof and dust-proof lanyard that doubles as a wrist strap for your phone (if you have the compatible ). Or you can hook it to your backpack so you have a charging cable handy.Ěý

Nite Ize HandleBand Handlebar Mount ($18)Ěý

I’ve used many different phone mounts for my bike over the years, but the wins for its combo of security and ease of use. It’s a completely tool-free mount, so you can move it from bike to bike with a rubber harness system that secures to your handlebarsĚýand wraps around your phone. ItĚýrattles a littleĚýwhen you’re on rough trails, but it’s plenty secure for road cycling and commuting, and it gives you easy access to maps, phone calls, and ride data.

The post The Best Outdoor Gadgets for Apple Products, Under $60 appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

Backcountry communicators are, at their best, lifesaving devices that allow you to check in with friends and family back home and reach emergency services in a pinch, even when you’re far off the grid. At their worst, they’re finicky and frustrating to operate andĚýlittle more than added ounces in your pack.

The Test

To find which do their jobs with the least hassle, I enlisted Erik Sol, chairman of , and his club members to help put three of the latest communicators through the wringer. Over a month, they took the devices backpacking on the Rogue River Trail, backcountry skiing in the Siskiyous and on Mount Shasta, as well as day hiking near the university campus. (Disclaimer: we tried to include a Garmin inReach in this test because of how well-rated and widely used they are, but the company didn’t have any units available.)

The Results

Winner: Bivystick ($360)

User-Friendliness: 4/5
Effectiveness: 5/5
Portability: 4/5

How It Works: Bivystick is a six-by-two-by-one-inch unit thatĚýconnects with your Android or iOS phone via Bluetooth. Through the accompanying app, you can text, send out an SOS to emergency services, or give locations through social media. It connects your phone to , which affordsĚýconnectivity just about anywhere in the world. And there are all kinds of maps and trip reports on the app that you can download before heading out. Unlike other communicators that have contracts and startup fees, the Bivystick runs off credits (likeĚýold burner cell phones you prepurchasedĚýminutes for). A base plan of $18 gets you connection to the satellite network and ten credits, with a single one being good for sending or receiving one text, sharing your location once, getting a weather report, or tracking your route for an hour.

The Takeaway: Everything about was remarkably easy to use. The app was intuitive and allowed the students to utilize their smartphones’ full keyboards to write 160-character texts. And the ability to download maps online before heading into the backcountry, track your route, and get updates on the weather were nice perks. Connectivity was stellar: testers had no problems sending or receiving messages, even at the bottom of the Rogue River canyon. But as with all devices that use Bluetooth, the Bivystick was a serious suck on phone batteries—one lost a third of its charge in five hours. (However, the unit’s 5,200-mAhĚýbattery can last up to 400 hours and has enough juice to charge your phone twice via the USB port. And it’ll stop charging once the Bivystick reaches 20 percent battery to avoid sapping the whole thing.) Also, the power button is hidden behind a plastic flap so the device doesn’t randomly turn on and off in your pack, but it was a struggle to open, to the point where the group members worried it’d break. This felt like a small gripe, though, considering the Bivystick came through in the closest thing we had to an emergency during testing. “On the final night of our trip down the Rogue River Trail, one of the students had a minor injury that slowed us down and required a deviation from plan A,” one tester says. “I was able to efficiently communicate our change in plans with multiple contacts and coordinate an alternate pickup time for the shuttle.”

2. GoTenna Mesh ($179)

User-Friendliness: 4/5
Effectiveness: 2/5
Portability: 5/5

How It Works: GoTenna allows you to use your Android or iOSĚýphone off the grid through long-wave radio signals, pairing with Bluetooth. You can text and send GPS coordinatesĚýbut only with other GoTenna users (whereas the Bivystick can communicate directly with any other phone). The Mesh uses other GoTennas in the area to help relay your message, pinging it through them kind of like a game of telephone—none of the intermediaries can see the message or change it—for up to four miles. Downloadable maps are available, too. There are no monthly fees to use GoTenna Mesh, just the up-front cost of the device.

The Takeaway: Sol and his team paired with their cell phones instead of using radios while out in the field. They noted that the pocketknife-size units were the easiest to transportĚýand that the Mesh’s smartphone app was easy to navigate, similar to WhatsApp. While it was an easy and effective tool to allow Sol and his team to communicate when in relatively close range and within their team (everyoneĚýhad GoTenna Mesh units), they didn’t like that they couldn’t communicate outside the network. This was our biggest beef with the GoTenna: even though it was great for messaging within the group, it can only send a public SOS to other Mesh users. Also, testers found that the Mesh had trouble getting texts through when they were in thick woods, as well as when they dropped below ridgelines in the Siskiyous—essentially the same problems you encounter while communicating via radios. Radios, however, are big and clunky, and most people bring a phone anyway. In the end, testers wouldn’t want to depend solely on the Mesh for communicating in the backcountry, but they did think it was good for groups at a ski area or hiking on a trail and wanting to save money. The Mesh is the most affordable on this list, and that $179 is for two units.

3. Spot X ($250)

User-Friendliness: 1/5
Effectiveness: 3/5
Portability: 4/5

How It Works: Unlike the other two in this test, the Spot X is its own self-contained unit, not needing to piggyback off phones via Bluetooth. It uses to receive and send messages directly with other phones. It can also track your route, blast out your location or text updates via social media, and program waypoints, plus it offers a direct line to emergency services for SOS calls. It has a full keyboard and a cursor button for navigating the screen.

The Takeaway: Testers appreciated that didn’t rely on Bluetooth and had its own on keyboard. The fact that you don’t need to keep a phone charged or juggle both your phone and another unit while in the backcountry were all big bonuses. The students thought the keyboard would make sending texts extremely fast and easy. In the end, though, the keys on the buttons proved too small to type with gloves on and would be tough to use in heavy rain, snow, or finger-freezing subzero winds. They also found the cursor button to be a little clunky. But this communicatorĚýtook the biggest ding after a firmware update shut the entire unit down, making it unusable for a portion of the test. şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř of that,Ěýthe Spot X was decent.

The post Testing the Best Backcountry Communication Devices appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

Every fall, Google and Apple battle it out for smartphone supremacy by releasing their newest models. Each time this happens, we as consumers are treated to increasingly better cameras tucked into these pocket-sized supercomputers. They’re so good, in fact, that they’ve essentially killed the point-and-shoot model and are now responsible for the taken around the world.

But in a head-to-head comparison, which company makes the better camera? We’ve been testing both the iPhone XS Max and the Pixel 3 for a few months, and, well, each one has its strengths.

Initial Photo Appearance

Winner: Pixel 3

Most professional photographers never publish a photo straight from their camera. Instead, they process the photo using software like Lightroom to make it look better. Google and Apple know that some people will adjust their photos in Instagram, but the majority just want a great-looking photo straight from the camera.

Here, Google wins. The Pixel’s colors tend to be richer, the overall picture quality sharper, and the “wow” factor more immediate when you compare results from the wide-angle lens on the back of each phone. Google’s software makes the photo pop off the screen, so at first glance, it really catches your eye. Hardware-wise, both phones are very similar. The iPhone XS Max has a 12-megapixel sensor and a wide-angle lens with an f1.8 maximum aperture. The Pixel 3 has a 12.2-megapixel sensor, and its wide-angle lens also has an f1.8 maximum aperture. The difference in picture appearance therefore comes from the software that each phone uses to process the photos.

HDR

Winner: iPhone XS Max

You’ve seen this acronym everywhere: HDR means high-dynamic range. When it’s on, your smartphone camera snaps several photos sequentially and automatically combines them into a single photo every time you press the shutter. Why go to the trouble? Because a few of the photos are exposed for highlights, a couple for shadows, and at least one or two are right in the middle. When combined, the resulting composite photo has more dynamic range (meaning it captures both highlights and shadow details better) than a single photo ever could. Simply put, HDR images are prettier.

Back in the day, HRD looked fake. You could tell the images were composites because they were a little too perfect and didn’t look like real life. Today, however, both Google and Apple have gotten better at the technology, so their photos have great dynamic range but don’t look manipulated. If I had to choose, I’d say Apple’s technology is better at capturing a wider range of shadows and highlights and finding the best way to combine them. This is due to the new, larger sensor inside the iPhone XS (30 percent larger than the one in the iPhone X) working in conjunction with larger and deeper pixels that can gather up to 50 percent more light.

Portrait Mode

Winner: iPhone XS Max

Portrait mode is a setting on both phones where the phone blurs out the background of a photo, creating a bokeh (or shallow depth of field) effect that emphasizes the subject. It’s the same effect you’d get if you used a fast lens on a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera with a large aperture opening, such as f2.0 or f1.4.

The iPhone XS Max uses both its wide-angle and telephoto lens to create this effect and then finishes it with the help of smart software that blurs each layer of the photo to different degrees. The Pixel 3 uses a solitary wide-angle lens and then relies more heavily on software to nail the blur. Both phones allow you to change how much blur you want after you’ve taken the photo. You can completely blur out the background, bring the background mostly into focus, or land somewhere in the middle.

Both cameras do a great job of blurring the background on most shots, but I preferred the iPhone over the Pixel because the portraits coming out of the Pixel often looked too processed by the phone’s algorithm. The subject was oversharpened and looked fake. The subject in the iPhone portraits looked natural, and the background blurring integrated more seamlessly.

Pro-Level Features

Winner: Pixel 3

If you know how to use a mirrorless or DSLR camera, you’ll appreciate two pro-level features built into the Pixel 3. First, it lets you shoot RAW images through the phone’s camera app. (You can do this on an iPhone, but you have to use a third-party app.) RAW files are useful because they aren’t compressed, like JPEGs, so you get more data and can make more adjustments to the photo (brightness, contrast, etc.) without ruining the quality. If you wanted to print a smartphone photo, you would want to shoot in RAW, because all that extra data will ensure a higher-resolution print.

Second, the Pixel 3 has a feature called Motion Auto Focus that helps you capture action. Say you’re trying to get a good photo of your dog running through the yard. Just tap your dog on the screen, and a white circle will appear over your dog as it runs around, indicating that the focus is locked on even though your dog is moving. (Sony mirrorless cameras call this feature Lock-On AF.) It won’t help you take photos that will grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, but you will get better action shots of everyday moments and adventures.

Zoom Capabilities

Winner: iPhone XS Max

Apple calls the second lens on the back of its iPhone XS cameras a telephoto lens. That’s a bit of a misnomer. In fact, the lens is the equivalent of a 52-millimeter lens, which is about what the human eye sees normally. Typical telephoto zoom lengths are somewhere around 85 millimeters and above.

That said, I’m glad Apple includes that second lens, because it makes a big difference when shooting portraits. The lens helps create the blur in portrait mode and makes your portrait subject appear more true to life. Wide-angle lenses, like the one the Pixel 3 uses to shoot portraits, tend to warp your subject if you hold the lens too close to their face.

Of course, you can zoom in on the Pixel 3, but you’re digitally instead of optically zooming, and optical zooming has historically created better photos. Digital zooms just crop in and affect the overall resolution, whereas optical zooms actually magnify the subject and don’t affect resolution.

This year, Google introduced something called Super Res Zoom, which is software that helps the camera retain detail when you digitally zoom. It worked fine in testing, but it wasn’t as good as the iPhone’s second telephoto lens. However, I’m excited to see where Google might take that feature down the road, and I wonder if digital zooming will eventually catch up to its optical competition.

The Verdict

Overall, the differences between the two phones are relatively minor. Both shoot fantastic photos, and both fit in your pocket. They’re great for everyday adventures, and each have their strengths.

Will they replace a mirrorless or DSLR camera? Absolutely not. Neither has the same kind of resolution, low-light chops, or lens selection that you’ll find with nearly any high-end camera that Sony or Nikon makes.

Our suggestion: You’ll want to choose based on what you value most. The Pixel 3 comes with some other neat features, like access to Google Photos, where you can store all your full-res photos for free, and a wide-angle front selfie camera that captures great group shots. The iPhone XS and XS Max, however, are part of the larger Apple ecosystem and a joy to use if you’re also on an iMac or MacBook Pro. Many will also argue that iOS is a superior operating system.

Whatever you choose, I’ll leave you with one sage piece of advice from an old photo mentor of mine: “Let’s stop talking already and go shoot some photos.”

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