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Author Topic: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use  (Read 2344 times)

Michael Erlewine

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The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« on: September 26, 2019, 08:15:52 am »

After being laughed at for taking the new iPhone 11 Pro Max seriously as a camera I can use, along with all of the more accepted cameras we all know and love, I have persevered and with great interest. For one, the iPhone is light enough to slip into my pocket, which I do. That’s enough for starters, but of course I gravitate toward doing the kind of camera work I always have done and that involves some accessories, so let’s start there.

As mentioned, I am involved with vetting the gear I find useful for using the Apple iPhone 11 Pro with its three onboard cameras. Of course, I can (and do) carry around the iPhone and take photos. However, my own jitteriness makes it too unstable for excellent still-life shots. LOL.

Next, I mistakenly assumed that a monopod would help to stabilize the camera-work I like to do. However, the good monopods are still heavy to carry around, so I searched around to find the lightest carbon-fiber monopod as I could. I found one that is under one pound, about ¾ of a pound.

However, when I tried about five different monopods that I have (heavy or not), what I find is that monopods, although they help, still are prone to wiggle and shakiness, more than I can allow, so I was back to square one.

My next step was to look for small, lightweight tripods that could fill the bill. I looked at everything from those ultra-thin tube-tripods that have elastic cord inside them so that you kind of shake out the legs, and then very small tripods, those with just very narrow tubes, and on and on.

What I found out from all of that is that these very thin tube tripods themselves are not really that steady and have problems of the their own. This led me to looking at tripods in the range of strength I am more used to, and I already have a bunch. But of course I had to buy one more. LOL.

However, if they are 3-4 lbs., even that is a lot to haul around for use with a smart phone. And so, to bite the bullet, I have found a small Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod that weighs a little over two pounds. That seems doable, and I tried it out during a typical outing.

The small tripod, which weighs 2.5 lbs., is the Gitzo GT-1545-T (Traveler). And I have a ball-head from another small tripod, the AOKA KB-20, which has an Arca-Swiss clamp. All told, that weight is very manageable. In addition, I have a very tiny video head that allows me to move the iPhone smoothly. I also have a DJI 3-gimbal hand-held device (DJI Osmo Mobile 3) that I can use for video (or stills), but the tripod is my first choice.

As for tripod heads for the iPhones themselves, the story is similar. There are a lot of little tripod mounts for iPhone out there, often very inexpensive. However, they seem to be made out of cheap plastic and, worse, are cobbled together so that parts are “clunky” and the haptics of them are, well, terrible. I hate to be stuck using such junk, even if it is inexpensive.

And many of these cheap tripod heads have spring-loaded clamps for the iPhone. Sounds like a nice thing thought I yet having to pry open and then close the clamps when doing or holding other things, became a pain after using them for a time or two. It is not surprising that after a short while, I yearned for a simple clamp that we tighten with a knob like I am used to.

I now have an expensive head for iPhones from Really Right Stuff. It is totally well-made as most RRS products are. I seem to never learn. Buy good equipment right off and stop trying to save a buck. Now I have a good RRS head and a handful of ones that are not good, but still cost me money. They sit on the shelf.

RAW IMAGES

Moving on to raw images with the iPhone 11 Pro Max, they are available. However, you have to (at this point) use one of several apps. And while Adobe LR Mobile is said to be the best, at this point Adobe LR does not support all three cameras in the iPhone 11 Pro. However, ProCamera, an app for the iPhone that costs about $8 does support them and can store them as TIF files or DNG.

I find ProCamera very useful and easy to use. And most of all, I find raw images absolutely wonderful to have on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

EXPORTING VIDEO AND STILLs

I did have a lot of trouble getting large videos (like 11 GB) off my new iPhone and it took almost three days for me to sort it out. I tried to export to DropBox, but that did not work for large files. Finally, I had to use iCloud. I exported to iCloud and then downloaded these large files to my computer, after which I could place them on DropBox or wherever I wanted.

All of the above begs the question of what the final image quality will look like. Now, that I have sorted out most of the accessories and process, I am ready to dig into that. It is important to know that the low ISO on the iPhone 11 Pro Max is something like 21 ISO and a higher ISO range of 3072 ISO (wide-angle lens), which is much lower than any other camera I own. The front-facing lens is 24mm and f/2.2.

The image output size is 4032 x 3024, with cameras apertures of f/2.4 for the 13mm super-wide-angle lens, f/2/8 for the wide-angle lens, and f/2.0 for the 51mm telephoto.

Perhaps there are others serious users of the iPhone 11 Pro Max out there and we can discuss this very interesting (to me) portable camera!

« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 12:33:05 pm by Michael Erlewine »
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mdijb

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2019, 10:03:06 pm »

Any coments about image quality compared to prior models?

MDIJB
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SrMi

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2019, 05:52:33 pm »

Thank you, Michael, for reporting about the tripod solutions for iPhone.

I like practice framing all the time, therefore an always-available phone is a useful photographic tool for me. However, if I plan to do photography that involves at least lightweight tripods, I rather use at least a small camera like Leica Q2 instead.

I find iPhone 11 handheld modes (11's Night Mode, or long exposure using Spectre) quite interesting.
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Manoli

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2019, 03:40:40 am »

After being laughed at for taking the new iPhone 11 Pro Max seriously as a camera I can use, along with all of the more accepted cameras we all know and love, I have persevered
[...]
I did have a lot of trouble getting large videos (like 11 GB) off my new iPhone and it took almost three days for me to sort it out. I tried to export to DropBox, but that did not work for large files. Finally, I had to use iCloud. I exported to iCloud and then downloaded these large files to my computer, after which I could place them on DropBox or wherever I wanted.

Who is laughing ? Not I .

I’m assuming you’re using filmic pro as your motion app. In settings there is an option to set output to either Filmic’s own repository or the Camera Roll. If you’ve set Camera Roll, it should be possible to import clips directly via the MacOS Image Capture utility.

If you’re using the Filmic repository, you’ll need to use the Files app (or one of the other 3rd party apps) and transfer files to your main computer once the two are linked via wi-fi or airdrop/bluetooth.

Files>Locations>On my phone>Filmic pro then Select ...

I haven’t plunged into the iPhone11 yet, but will be.
So the above is with the caveat that is based on my experience with the iPhone7.

Attached below the is the one photo that convinced me that the iPhone could go where no other camera could :) Amazing to think how far they’ve progressed since those earlier (iPhone5) days !


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Manoli

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2019, 03:47:38 am »

Incidentally, would also suggest you look at an app called RAWpower by Nik Bhatt, Gentleman Coders. Most here are somewhat fixated on Lr mobile but this is, IMO, an excellent app , an essential option in an eclectic toolkit.

« Last Edit: September 28, 2019, 03:52:05 am by Manoli »
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2019, 03:54:04 am »

Incidentally, would also suggest you look at an app called RAWpower by Nik Bhatt, Gentleman Coders. Most here are somewhat fixated on Lr mobile but this is, IMO, an excellent app , an essential option in an eclectic toolkit.

That is Mac only, no?
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Manoli

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2019, 04:01:07 am »

No, it’s an iPhone/iPad raw processor.
You’ll find it on the app store.
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2019, 04:05:36 am »

No, it’s an iPhone/iPad raw processor.
You’ll find it on the app store.

I understand that, but you are limited to Adobe LR on the phone and not usable on a PC desktop, right? Just trying to understand.
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Manoli

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2019, 04:13:29 am »

I understand that, but you are limited to Adobe LR on the phone and not usable on a PC desktop, right? Just trying to understand.

Nothing at all to do with Lr Mobile. Totally independent. non-destructive, RAW processor. Very extensive program description on the app store.

Edit: there is also a MacOS extension that integrates w/Photos and can be used as an external editor with Lightroom Classic (IIRC). That is Mac only ...
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Peter McLennan

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2019, 01:40:28 pm »

Michael, once your phone is tripod-mounted, how do you trigger the shutter?
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Michael Erlewine

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2019, 01:48:55 pm »

Michael, once your phone is tripod-mounted, how do you trigger the shutter?

There are various remotes or time settings, etc.
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SrMi

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2019, 04:58:57 pm »

Michael, once your phone is tripod-mounted, how do you trigger the shutter?

You can use your Apple headphones to trigger the camera. Or your Apple watch.
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faberryman

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2019, 05:14:02 pm »

You can use your Apple headphones to trigger the camera. Or your Apple watch.
I think the iPhone 11 Pro has a good camera; I am not sure the iPhone 11 Pro is a good camera, at least for me.
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armand

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #13 on: September 29, 2019, 04:04:07 pm »

Quote
The small tripod, which weighs 2.5 lbs., is the Gitzo GT-1545-T (Traveler)

Funny, I consider an older version of this to be my "serious" tripod, everything else that I currently use is lighter/smaller.

fdisilvestro

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Re: The iPhone 11 Pro Max in Use
« Reply #14 on: September 29, 2019, 07:59:04 pm »


If you’re using the Filmic repository, you’ll need to use the Files app (or one of the other 3rd party apps) and transfer files to your main computer once the two are linked via wi-fi or airdrop/bluetooth.


If using the Filmic repository, you can transfer the files with Itunes, connecting the phone with the cable to an USB port to your computer. It is much faster than the wireless options
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