Hi everyone, it's KJ the MiTechGuy here, and I'm back today with another camera comparison.
I'm really loving the cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro and it seems like there's a lot of
hype surrounding the cameras, but something that I was curious about was just how much
better the cameras were than the iPhone XS's?
So in this video, I'll be comparing the two camera systems in various lighting conditions,
both indoors and outdoors, and I'll also take a look at the video and audio quality of both
phones.
Make sure to stick around to the end of the video to see how the new night mode on the
iPhone 11 Pro stacks up against its predecessor.
Let's get right into it.
So the iPhone 11 Pro has the same main and telephoto sensors that were on board the XS's
released last year.
However, as you know, there is now this third ultrawide camera now on the 11's.
Aside from the physical changes, Apple has made significant improvements with its image
processing by layering multiple pictures together to create each image.
Both phones are able to record 4K video from their rear cameras, while only the iPhone
11s can shoot 4K from their selfie cameras.
This year, Apple also increased the overall resolution of its selfie cameras from 7 megapixels
to 12 megapixels.
As I get into the side-by-sides, keep in mind that I will start with images and video shot
in great lighting conditions, then I'll look at images shot in progressively worse lighting
conditions until I get to night time.
When looking at this first image, it's clear that the iPhone XS already takes some great
pictures.
To nitpick a little bit, I'd say that the 11 pro does have the slightly less saturated,
more natural looking colors than the XS, but again that's nitpicking.
When looking at the telephoto shots from both phones, we can see a little more clearly the
slight differences in color reproduction.
But it isn't until we switch to the iPhone 11 Pro's ultrawide camera that we see how
valuable that third perspective can be.
From the same vantage point, I am simply able to capture so much more.
Here in this next image, we can see that again both phones produced some great images.
However, if we zoom in to take a closer look at the details, we can see how much more detail
the iPhone 11 Pro was actually able to pickup.
I think the amount of detail the 11 Pro is able to pickup throughout this busy image
is really impressive.
In this picture of a bench, we can again see the improved color science on the 11s.
When looking at the pictures side by side, the colors of things like the wood on the
bench just seems slightly off.
Either way, both pictures look great and I don't think we will start to see too many
differences until we look at pictures shot in less than ideal lighting scenarios.
Now shifting to some portrait pictures, we can see that the XS already produced some
of the best portrait pictures on any phone, but the 11 Pro did make some key improvements.
First off, the 11 Pro does the better job of keeping me properly exposed and not too
dark, and also the skin tones were tweaked slightly to not make me look as orange as
it used to.
Also, now with that ultrawide camera, the 11 Pro is able to take some wider angled portrait
shots that the XS just can't take from the same vantage point.
Before we get into the lower light images, let's take a look at the 4K video qualities
of both phones.
The XS Max was my favorite smartphone video camera to date, so let's see if Apple made
any improvements to the 4K video.
When taking a closer look at the 4K video, I noticed three main things.
1st of all, I used to call out the fact that the XS produced video that was ever so slightly
over saturated, and that seemed to be addressed with the 11 Pro. 2nd, the 11 Pro does seem
to really smooth out both my walking and my panning.
The XS was already smooth, but at least for me there was a clear improvement with how
smooth everything looked, and I think it is due in part to the extra information the phone
gets from the ultrawide camera.
Speaking of that ultrawide camera, the 11 Pro's third new perspective will be something
that I will use often I think.
It is also incredibly stable and just gives you that GoPro feel and experience straight
from your phone.
It actually looks incredible.
In terms of the front video qualities of both phones, again the XS Max was already pretty
great in my opinion.
They both had similar image stabilization capabilities here and the audio qualities
also sounded almost identical.
However, the 11 Pro now has the wider angled picture, which will actually enable me to
actually vlog with the 11 Pro.
Also I noticed a clear difference in the 1080p quality of the XS Max and the 4K quality of
the 11 Pro.
Details on my face and shirt are just clearer in the 11 Pro's video.
Also, the 11 Pro seems to do the better job with keeping my face properly exposed and
not too dark as I walk around and have the sun behind me.
Let me know in the comment section whether or not you think the 11 Pro actually made
a noticeable jump from the already great video quality of the XS from last year.
So yeah it has come to nobody's surprise that both of these phones did a terrific job when
shooting pictures in ideal lighting scenarios.
However, I have a sneaky suspicion that we're going to start to see more clear differences
when we look at images shot in less than ideal lighting scenarios, so that's what we'll be
looking at for the rest of this video.
This first image is a challenging scenario because of the windows in the back.
I will say that the XS Max did do a better job with exposing the trees and the sky on
the other side of the window, but we can see how much more detail and colors and light
the 11 Pro is able to maintain in the foreground of the image that the XS is simply not able
to capture.
In this next image, they may look pretty similar in terms of quality, but if we zoom into the
actual board, we can see just how much more detailed the iPhone 11's image is.
The difference in quality becomes more apparent when we look at the pictures shot by the telephoto
lens, and again the ultrawide camera is just able to give a new perspective that you just
wouldn't have been able to capture with the XS's camera system.
This is a challenging lighting scenarios because of all of the light sources, and I admit that
the 11 Pro doesn't do as good of a job with dealing with those light sources as I'd expect.
But overall, I still think the 11 Pro has the slight edge because of the more balanced
exposure and colors throughout the image.
The XS Max does a good job with dealing with the light sources and also does a great job
overall.
When looking at the initial side-by-sides like this, we can see that there is honestly
little room for improvement in terms of exposure and colors, and up until this point I have
been a real stickler just to find any differences.
But I have noticed that the level of detail in all of these pictures is significantly
higher on the 11 Pro.
If I zoom into any portion of this image, the 11 Pro will simply have the more detailed,
and less noisy result.
So I guess a lot of the differences are coming in the details.
Something new that Apple added this year is Night Mode on the iPhone 11 Pro.
The mode only comes on when the phone thinks it is dark enough, and when it does come on,
the pictures take one to three seconds to shoot.
So let's look at how it stacks up against the XS's images.
Once again, the differences are subtle when looking at the bigger picture.
We can see that the 11 Pro is able to take more light in from the sky, and wherever light
is exposed in the image, the 11 Pro does the much better job of handling those parts.
If we zoom in to take a closer look, we can also see just how much more detail the 11
Pro is able to pick up because of its night mode.
The differences become very drastic when we zoom in this close.
Here, we can see the differences even more clearly.
The entire image simply looks much better on the 11 Pro's image.
You can even make out stars in the sky in the 11 Pro's image, whereas all details in
the XS's image seem smeared and not very clear.
Once again, the advantages of night mode are just so clear.
Everything from the exposure to the details to the colors to the image noise is simply
better in the 11 Pro's image.
Night mode has really rounded out the 11 Pro's camera system in a way that we just haven't
seen in any iPhone to date.
In this last image that we'll look at, the differences are blaring once again.
Night mode does take those extra seconds to shoot, but in my opinion, I think the added
clarity and detail is very much worth the wait.
You will be happy with the result coming out of the 11 Pro's camera regardless of the lighting
condition, and you'll probably never need to use the flash for pictures again.
As you can see, the XS Max was already produced some great pictures and video.
Where the iPhone 11 Pro shined was in portrait shots, overall color accuracy in pictures
and video, and then ultimately night mode.
Also, that third ultrawide camera gives a new perspective that I think a lot of people
will actually end up using and enjoying on their phones now that the 11 Pro made it so
that basically every flagship has one now.
All that being said, the jump in the camera department wasn't as drastic as I actually
expected it to be.
Let me know in the comment section if you think the camera improvements are worth an
upgrade.
Also, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter to see what I'm up to.
In terms of this channel, I actually plan on making a vlog that will be shot entirely
on the iPhone 11 Pro so subscribe and stay tuned for that.
As always, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next video.