The iPhone at 15: 'You Have to Adapt. What Else AreYou Going to Do?'

iPhone doodle

The first iPhones came on the market at about this time 15 years ago.

It's an era now. One that has hugely impacted our hobby. As Enric Martí puts it, "You go through life having to change. The world is moving quickly. You have to adapt. What else are you going to do?" That's from a nice article and portfolio called "The iPhone at 15" from the AP that has some interesting reflections on the iPhone and a diverse selection of photographers' personal pictures. Enric Martí, a native of Spain, is deputy director of photography for the AP.

Enric Martí

By the way, about the picture at the top: I'm sitting here drinking that mug of tea, which helped me discover that the iPhone has parallax! I was very self-indulgently taking a picture of the pretty light, as I often do, when I noticed a particular streak of light that was on the screen but that I wasn't seeing with my eyes. Turned out it was because the lens is offset up in the corner and the view is slightly different from what I typically see when from behind the screen. When I moved my head around, the little reflection showed up. I moved in on it to show it better. It's mild, and you'll only notice it doing closeups, but yeah, a sort of parallax.

I stopped off at the Verizon Store to look at the 13 Pro again. My old phone is starting to worry me, acting buggy. I do need a dependable phone...I think I bought my current phone right around this time six years ago, back when the iPhone itself was only nine.

Mike
(Thanks to Kenneth Tanaka)

Book o' the Week:

The Mindful Photographer by Sophie Howarth. I only know of Sophie Howarth from her time as a curator at the Tate Modern in London, but my impression then was positive. Her brand new book (it only came out a few days ago) is about slowing down as a means of enjoying photographing more. It's said to contain a curated collection of photographs along with anecdotes and explanation.

The book link is your portal to Amazon from TOP, should you wish to support this site.

Here's our link to B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Peter Komar: "I am not trying to spend your money but get that darn phone. I have the 12 Pro and for me it has brought back the joy of photography. I have mentioned this before but it is very easy to shoot IR with just a filter and shoot in night mode. The ease of use and editing on the phone adds huge bonus points."

Albert Erickson: "Mike, I haven't commented in awhile since I have been away, but I saw that you were looking at the iPhone 13 pro and will tell you it is truly an amazing piece of photo equipment. I used to say I would never use my phone for serious photography, but I have changed. I now use my phone much more than a real camera. Further, I can print nicely small 5x7 or 8.5 x11 prints from the 12 MP built into the phone. Just an observation. I think you would find the phone very useful from a photographic standpoint. All the best, Eric."

Joseph: "I'm overdue for a new iPhone too, but I can't bring myself to do it this late in the cycle. The new ones will likely be here in September. Especially when you skip several generations, iPhone camera improvement is really quite remarkable. I still use an OM-D E-M5 from 2012, but an iPhone 5 from that same era? No thanks."

Chris A Beloin: "Turns out that 92% of Apple products are made in China, and our trade relationship with them is very much in question with recent events. Better get that iPhone now in case it takes a couple of years for Apple to resource manufacturing to another location, should that supply chain get sanctions, etc."

Gavin Paterson: "I bought an iPhone 13 six months ago; it’s a revelation! I have Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Sony digital systems, as well as Nikon, Olympus, Leica, Ricoh and Voigtlander film equipment, but most of the time have just the iPhone in my pocket, so now (at last! says my wife), will cull what I have to be subject-specific, such as telephoto for wildlife, and enjoy a simpler life courtesy of Apple!"

V.I. Voltz: "You should see the parallax when the 13 Pro Max can't decide if something is macro or not and starts jumping between the 28mm-e lens and the 13mm-e lens. Hope you don't have a latent Brian malfunction. [I love that typo so I left it in. —Ed.] But, I must say, it's about the only flaw I can find with the camera, within its basic limitations."

Rich: "I went from an iPhone 6 to a 13 Pro and I can confirm that the cameras are amazing, considering their size. I use it a lot as a feed for Instagram and visual note-taking. Also only have to charge it every couple of days, although I don’t make a lot of calls, so YMMV."

Hugh: "Hmmm...you feel you need to change cameras frequently because of your job as a photography commentator? The most important photographic instrument of today is the phone—iPhone or Samsung—yet you are on a six year old iPhone? That's a bit like still shooting with a Canon 50D in DSLR terms.  :-)  There was a big jump in picture quality with the Samsung S10 (2019), and probably with the iPhone around that date. In this country one can get an immaculate refurbished S10 for £200 and a sim only contract."

Comments

[aaron c greenman]

The iPhone 12 Pro Max camera with three lenses is incredible, I'm sure the 13 Pro is even better..... go for it, Mike.

ACG

[robert e]

Six is pretty darn old in phone years, and it looks like there are a lot of nice deals now on contract phones.

My iPhone 7 is going on four. I'll be happy if it makes it to six--happy about the phone, sure, but mainly because it would mean that my vision was still good enough to use a screen that small.

I'd decided to have the battery replaced last year when a closer look at the built-in battery app revealed that one app was draining most of the juice. It was the state's COVID tracking/alert app, which was of dubious utility anyway since I was likely the only person in the state using it. Deleted the app and just like that I was back to two days plus on a charge.

The phone before that, on the other hand, had gone bad. Started doing things like typing random letters, paging through the home screen and opening apps. I don't mind using an old phone, but that behavior got really old quick.

[Billy C.]

Not sure that it's the ideal time to purchase an iPhone, as the iPhone 14 is expected to be out soon, maybe September.

[Dan Khong]

I just bought an iPhone SE. It has the A15 chip of the iPhone 13 and, very importantly being compact, fits my trouser pocket without stressing the fabric.

It is a "need" kind of buy to replace my older 1st version iPhone SE which is (I think) already 5-6 years old, and has no available batteries to replace with and - I'm told - would stop supporting WhatsApp and YouTube in a few months.

[brian]

you have to get the timing right between your phes depreciting value and the price of a new one. wait too lomg and your existing phone will be valueless for a trade in. verizon for a long con-tract has 'free' phones right now

[Rusty]

I was in a touristy location the other evening doing some street photography (with a Camera). Several times folks asked me to make a photo of themselves with their phone and I happily obliged. Typically they would place themselves in front of a scene that identified the location. I moved in and made portraits of them. It was only later that I thought that perhaps what they wanted was themselves in an identifiable location. Other than that people were so preoccupied with their phones they took little notice of me

[Daniel]

Do you remember ever having to replace the old black desk phones from Ma Bell?
All they did was work.

[Grant]

When I saw your "iPhone Doodle", I thought it was some science fiction composite that you had put together. I was only when I read your cup of tea explainer, that I realized what I was looking at. Brilliant!

[John McMIllin]

Last month I traded up to the iPhone 13, from an 11. I'm so happy I did! The camera performance didn't matter to me. Every iPhone photo has been good enough to function as a record or sketch, but I'm not expecting camera-level results. It's the overall performance of the new phone that impresses me. A battery that last all day; my last phone would manage about three hours of audio before it was back on the charger. The screen is new OLED tech, and you know the benefits of that in cameras. It's brighter, and bright enough in Day mode to serve as a broad-area flashlight. The speakers are louder and clearer. The squared edges are easier to hold securely. It sets up an plays a podcast much faster, too.

And the weirdest thing is, the new phone makes my car work better! It's a 2017 hybrid with Ford's SYNC 3 system. For three years I've experienced very laggy and inconsistent response when I'd change a radio station. Incoming phone calls might go to the phone, or to the car's speakers, or be lost in between. This irritation is a documented problem with this hardware, and Ford's recommended fix is to replace a dashboard computer for $1200.

I was getting close to doing that, but I chose this $900 phone instead, paid over time. The carrier gave me $400 for the old iPhone 11. After changing my service plan and signing up for three more years of iPhone payments, my monthly bill went down. Then I discovered the happy surprise that my car infotainment problems vanished. When the phone's plugged in (it always needs a charge anyhow), the car's controls work swiftly and consistently. I even received a text the other day, read out by the car- something that hadn't happened in several years.

That's a lot of benefit for an upgrade. Generally I try to restrain myself and not go for every available upgrade. This set of facts may apply only to me, but it shows how your phone deal may turn out beneficial.

[Rhonda]

"The world is moving quickly. You have to adapt. What else are you going to do?"
I use a $25 flip phone & my phone contract is $10 a month for unlimited calls. Am I really missing anything?

[T. Edwards]

Yes, the 13 Pro camera is a beast. The 3x zoom and the macro are both decent.

My only complaint is that that Apple has, I believe, stepped up the processing seeking a more "painterly" feel resulting in smearing of colors.

This can be avoided, I think, by exporting the RAW photos and doing one's own processing.

I'll be very interested to read your take after you get one.

[Chris A Beloin]

Greetings Mike:

Turns out that 92% of Apple products are made in China, and our trade relationship with them is very much in question with recent events.

Better get that iPhone now in case it takes a couple of years for Apple to resource manufacturing to another location, should that supply chain get sanctions, etc.

Chris in Wisconsin

[Bill Tyler]

I really like that tea glass image.

[V.I. Voltz]

Re “the Brian malfunction” my father is called Brian, my father-in-law is called Brian, and my son’s middle name is Brian. But this ‘Brian’ was the result of the slightly off-kilter autocorrect in iOS that sometimes corrects words that are spelled correctly but iOS thinks nonetheless cannot be right.

But this does make me want to retrain so I can name some phenomenon “the Brian malfunction”.

Voltz