Upgrade considerations.

Click here for an index of all iPhone articles.
Here’s an index of the iPhone 11 Pro pieces:

Part I – The revolution realized
Part II – Upgrading
Part III – The ultrawide lens
Part IV – The Normal lens
Part V – The Telephoto lens
Part VI – The Focos app
Part VII – Quirks and anomalies
Part VIII – HDR and the Night Mode
Part IX – The digital zoom function
Part X – A lens correction profile for the ultrawide optic

The iPhone 11 Pro is a few millimeters taller and wider than the iPhone 7, and just 0.04″ thicker.

I skipped iPhone X on my upgrade path. I was very uncomfortable with the Face ID security technology, which replaced the fingerprint sensor, a work of genius. And while I cannot speak to its functionality on iPhone X I can confirm that Face ID works perfectly on the iPhone 11 Pro. Easily programmed, it’s so fast to respond to the user’s face that you begin wondering whether it’s performing any sort of check at all. So I covered my face with a hand before raising the iPhone to face level and, sure enough, it failed to recognize me, refusing to log me in. It gets better. I ride a classic motorcycle a lot. It’s my preferred mode of transport, and always sees me wearing a Shoei flip-top helmet, the easier with which to remove and replace it, as I wear eyeglasses. With the top flipped up and my face somewhat squashed by the protective foam padding the iPhone 11 Pro had no difficulty recognizing me and logging in. Nice. I can continue buying my morning croissant without having to remove the helmet! And as face ID uses infra red beams, I can confirm it works every bit as well in total darkness.

Let’s get the nasty things out of the way first.

The Apple Store. These used to be havens to visit, no sales pressure, an orderly queue for a sales clerk and no time wasted. Today it’s a nightmare and I confess to a feeling of dread when a visit beckons. Fortunately that’s a rare occurrence, required only when buying a new iPhone or having the battery replaced. Otherwise, everything Apple can be had from online vendors.

The Apple Store has gone from a professional sales environment to one aimed at tattooed hipsters. Sales clerks are hard to find, generally mulling around in the permanent crowd these places attract, and their distinguishing T shirt colors change frequently, compounding the problem. They seem more intent on socializing with one another than actually servicing customers and such was the case yesterday when I spotted three of these clerks and had to break up their conversation to pick up my new iPhone. Yes, they all had the requisite tattoos disgustingly covering every square inch of exposed flesh, with hair colors to match. Really Apple, what don’t you understand about “Old Guys Rule”? It’s where the money is and we want prompt, polite, efficient service without an attitude. That’s because we got to be old and successful, unlike your clerks.

Siri and voice recognition. Siri remains as useless as ever. I have my iPhone set up to recognize English English (you know, the one that died out in England 30 years ago where the default pronunciation now is that adopted by soccer players and their slutty spouses) and Siri remains awful. A small device is crying out for anything that helps avoid keyboard use and Siri is not the answer. As for voice recognition, the system seems not to learn from its many errors. You will find you are spending as much time correcting voice recognition errors as you did dictating the narrative in the first place. This has not improved over several generations of iPhones.

iOS13. Quite how Apple can release so many versions of a bug-loaded OS beats me. The worst is the change in text editing. Where you used to get a nice magnified, localized image of what you touched, you now get a red vertical line, very hard to see and position, seeing as its mostly covered by your finger. Did anyone at Apple actually try using this? And ‘delete to the left’? Still missing after no fewer than thirteen major OS releases.

Email. It’s still impossible to collapse nested email directories. If you have dozens, as I do, you have to scroll through an interminable list to find what you need. How hard can it to be to confer OS X functionality from two decades earlier on this application?

Ergonomics. Just awful. Apple insists on placing the on-off switch opposite the volume buttons. As one of these is mostly used by photographers to take a picture – it offers tactile feedback the screen touch button lacks – it’s all too easy to turn off the phone when you hope to be taking a snap. That and the whole thinness obsession at Apple means that it’s very hard to securely grasp the device. The rounded sides compound the problem. I use a relatively bulky credit card case for mine which significantly helps, but Apple really needs to reposition that on-off button and revert to the slab sides of the magnificent iPhone 5 design. The iPhone 11 Pro is thicker than the iPhone X, with enhanced battery life as a welcome result, and I have yet to read of anyone complaining about the increase in thickness. Heck, you could double that dimension and I would be OK with it. Thinness should be restricted to American divorcees seeking a royal spouse and to amphetamine addicted supermodels.

So much for the grumbles, and putting those aside there’s an awful lot to like.

That Apple can release a device of such nightmarish complexity, relatively fault free, manufactured in the tens of millions and easy to use, is a tribute to great design and even greater (Chinese) manufacturing prowess. After many iPhones I have yet to have had a mechanical or key operational issue with any, the worst being the occasional battery replacement which can be had very speedily at the local tattoo parlor, and for very modest cost at that. Whether the latest A13 CPU really contains the claimed 8.5 billion transistors – an unverifiable statement – or not, is irrelevant. What matters is that the whole works, almost perfectly at that. I prefer not to contemplate all those chips and data paths as the thoughts overwhelm.

Upgrading from an older iPhone could not be simpler, and while there are several methods, I use the iCloud backup which is performed automatically and which service runs me a very modest monthly sum. The whole process, along with programming the device for Face ID and app installation, takes minutes to complete. That iCloud backup also works with my iPad and I have found the system to be well engineered and fault free. Recommended.

Why not iPhone 11? . This comes with two cameras – the ultrawide and standard, a slightly lower quality LCD screen and aluminum sides in place of the stainless ones on the Pro. I would miss the telephoto lens, the screen is almost as good and the material used for the sides is irrelevant if you use a case. So it’s a compelling case to save a few hundred dollars. I just wanted the best display and the long lens.

3D Touch: To reduce screen thickness, 3D Touch has been replaced with haptics. Instead of a harder press on the app icon you hold your finger on it a little longer. It works just as well.

Use with Lightroom: I have run into a couple of snags which only increase my incentive for exiting the awful world of Adobe and it’s annuity-grasping ways. I’m on LR 6.12 – the local version not the Creative Cloud one, as I refuse to make ransom payments for access to my images – and the system resolutely refuses to update to 6.13, hardly a surprise with this vendor. While my whole catalog of Photos came over from iPhone 7 only a few recent ones show in the import dialog in LR. Further, LR occasionally exits without warning or error message with the iPhone 11 Pro connected. It’s time to dump Lightroom.

Subsequent articles in this series will address the use of the three rear facing lenses (I do not take selfies, so forget the fourth), focusing on their opportunities and limitations. A healthy dive will also be made into the iOS 13 Camera app, much changed from previous versions. Finally I will take a look at some aftermarket camera apps to see if they add value.

The revolution realized.

Click here for an index of all iPhone articles.
Here’s an index of the iPhone 11 Pro pieces:

Part I – The revolution realized
Part II – Upgrading
Part III – The ultrawide lens
Part IV – The Normal lens
Part V – The Telephoto lens
Part VI – The Focos app
Part VII – Quirks and anomalies
Part VIII – HDR and the Night Mode
Part IX – The digital zoom function
Part X – A lens correction profile for the ultrawide optic

While the prognosticators told us that the latest iPhone 11 refresh was just tinkering at the margins, sales rumors – and long backlogged orders here – suggest otherwise.

I’ve been ticking along happily with my iPhone 7 with a pair of Panasonic GX7 MFT cameras and a handful of lenses for ‘serious’ work. Old Nikon D700 FF digital and F100 FF film bodies and a bunch of ‘metal era’ MF Nikkors do the trick when I absolutely insist on a sore neck and back. That and impressing with the whole retro thing.

Once I started seeing results from the new iPhone 11 Pro, the one with three lenses, I immediately started selling my MFT hardware. It will be worthless soon anyway, and it’s not like I have any more use for it. The original goal of MFT was to enjoy the low weight and small bulk of rangefinder film Leicas with the quality and immediacy of digital in a cheap and disposable package. The iPhone 11 Pro offers all of that and more, in a far smaller device.

The quality of results published by the community of iPhone 11 Pro testers immediately disclosed that MFT is dead. Unless you need a super long lens for some sports or wildlife event, then the iPhone 11 Pro offers everything the MFT format delivers, plus much more. Computational photography, recording of GPS data, a superb Night Mode which puts all regular cameras to shame, depth of field control after the button is pressed, big prints, no need for RAW, excellent control of dynamic range, you name it.

$1250 with tax, you ask? Are you nuts?

Not a bit of it.

First my net outlay is zero and my gear cabinet decluttered. Two MFT bodies, three MFT lenses and a Nikon ultrawide optic all gone. Second, you always have an iPhone with you. Not even the modest bulk of MFT compares for compactness. Third you get all the functionality of the internet. All serviced by the latest Apple A13 CPU with 8.5 billion transistors (Yeah, right!).

As a friend remarked, it’s too bad Apple doesn’t make a proper camera – for the ergonomics of the iPhone remain as miserable as ever – with a cell phone on the side.

But that comment did clarify my thinking. I think of the iPhone 11 Pro as a $2000 camera with a $750 rebate thrown in for the free phone and all the other functionality.

In Midnight Green, no less!

Midnight green? Consider it a tribute to that funky ‘Blumix’ which set me off on my MFT journey a decade ago.

More soon when I have taken some pictures.

Other makers’ cell phones? I never gave them a second’s thought. All use Google’s Android OS and unless you are from another galaxy you will know that for Google you are the product and your data the goods to be sold or stolen. My data is actually worth something, so I avoid Android like the plague and advise you to do likewise. Samsung has given up trying to steal Apple’s Face ID technology and has reverted to fingerprint recognition for secure sign in. Well, not that secure as any fingerprint from anyone will open the phone. They can’t even steal competently. Google? The arch thieves of your personal information? Why, their ‘Face ID’ clone will work when when your eyes are shut, and they recommend you revert to password input while they work on a fix. You really want to go with either of these clowns?

The revolution continues.

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I referred to the three revolutions in photography since its invention in the previous column.

Now we are beginning to see one of the most significant steps forward for minuscule sensors in Apple’s catchily named Deep Fusion technology.

Phil Shills.

While this technology is all about merging disparate images to make a better whole, the software driving this process would not be possible without Apple’s A13 CPU, designed in Cupertino and made by ARM. After the creation of the original iPhone, one of Apple’s best ideas has been the decision to design its processing chips in-house, permitting a level of laser-like focus on design not available with off-the-shelf silicon. Those CPUs are invisible to users but make a lot of the magic underlying computational photography possible. The in-house design also makes it harder for the likes of thieves like Samsung and the others to steal Apple’s intellectual property, a particular expertise of certain far east nations.

Deep Fusion will become available in iOS 13.2 (13.0, 13.1 and 13.1.1, with my iPad a victim of all three, are horribly buggy) and will only work on the latest iPhone 11 models. The idea is not new. Hasselblad provides the ability to merge multiple pixel-shifted images in some of its ridiculously priced medium format digital cameras as does Sony, and maybe others, in some of their FF bodies. NASA has been using the technique for decades to enhance images from poor early sensors. But with all that processing power in the A13 CPU – Apple claims 8.5 billion transistors, and who am I to argue? – Cupertino goes for a far more complex solution. Three frames are taken before the shutter button is touched (how does the phone know to do that?), three more when it’s activated and then one more long exposure when you thought it was all over. The best one of the six short exposures and the long exposure are merged and the magic CPU does the work in delivering the best definition. The complexity notwithstanding, all of this happens invisibly and automatically, taking but one second.

The test images disclosed so far leave no doubt that the definition in iPhone 11 images is adequate for huge prints. Heck, I was making decent 13″ x 19″ prints from my iPhone 4 millenia ago. Sure, they had to be taken in medium lighting and relatively low contrast, but definition was not an issue. No one needs a 50mp monster sensor, unless employed as a spook or trying to impress his mates. Now we have definition galore, much better processing for broad dynamic range and the superb Night Mode which takes low light photography to a new level. The images of the latter disclosed to date are simply breathtaking.

So when I write that the sort of computational photography made possible by high end CPUs in the latest iPhones will kill MFT and, for that matter, most digital cameras, there’s a growing body of evidence to support that opinion.

My iPhone 11Pro? Well, I just took delivery of a new belt holder and protective case (the latter also stores a driver’s license, medical and credit cards), but I cannot buy the new iPhone until sales of my MFT hardware are completed. The cash thus raised will pay for the new cell phone, relieving me of a lot of clutter and no cash.

Update: For test results of Deep Fusion, click here.

The new magic.

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The latest nom de jour in photography circles is ‘computational photography’, which is a fancy way of saying that image control has been passed from hardware to software. This augurs poorly for the latest high end ILCs with their ridiculous 50mp and higher sensors, with attendant demands on computer upgrades to handle those behemoth files in something under a week per snap.

DP Review’s technical writer Rishi Sanyal does an excellent job of explaining just how software in devices like the Phone 11Pro is taking the lead from hardware in delivering the best image quality in small files using brains, not brawn. Sanyal writes:

“Newer, faster processors often mean increased photo and video capability, and the iPhone 11 is no exception. Its image processing pipeline, which handles everything from auto white balance to auto exposure, autofocus, and image ‘development’, gets some new features: a 10-bit rendering pipeline upgraded from the previous 8-bit one, and the generation of a segmentation mask that isolates human subjects and faces, allowing for ‘semantic rendering’.”

What shines through in his detailed exposition of the newest iPhone’s features is how all three of its cameras are used to deliver the best picture, along with brilliant technologies like storage of a depth information profile for an image which allows the application of selective focus, as an example, in post processing.

Some 13 years ago in a piece titled “It’s the software, stupid” I wrote:

“And who will be the genius designing these new ‘lenses’? It won’t be a god the likes of Max Berek or Walter Mandler in Wetzlar. It will be some kid who is really sharp at coding who happens to like a superb picture from the one ounce piece of plastic passing for a lens attached to his camera. The great days of optics are yet to come and their designs will emanate from the keyboard of some unknown master even now getting his lips around the teat on that plastic milk bottle.”

Like that milk bottle, today’s lenses are plastic, their unprocessed quality is garbage, and software does what plastic cannot. Say goodbye to big cameras, big lenses and big sensors.