As you can see, the difference in this rear camera module lies not only in the number of lenses, which is already something significant to take into account, but also in the aperture of common lenses. In this aspect Apple has done it, from our point of view, very well, since in the event that a lens had to be dispensed with, the least used is always the telephoto lens, and that is just what it has been doing from the iPhone 11 model, a movement that has been repeated with the iPhone 12 and also with the iPhone 13. The differences in aperture will undoubtedly also make a difference in conditions in which the light begins to dim, since, in theory, in In good light conditions, these openings are sufficient to provide high-quality results.
Say hello to photo styles
One of the novelties that the iPhone 13 brought, and consequently, the iPhone 13 Pro Max, are the photographic styles. In a simple way, we can define them as smart filters that you can choose before taking the photograph to be able to save you later the editing that you can make of it. Obviously, being a novelty of all iPhone 13 models, the iPhone 12 does not have this new option that the Cupertino company puts on the table for all photography lovers.
Actually, photographic styles are much more than simple filters, since as we have commented, their application is done intelligently , since there are different parts of the photograph such as skin color or the color of the sky that will not change in any way. moment. They are really useful for all those users who made some small modifications in the photograph, since now they will not have to do them, or for all the photographers who have defined a style marked by a temperature or contrasts that make the photograph warmer, colder, contrasted or bright .
Macro photography, the big news
We keep talking and mentioning news that Apple has brought to all users who enjoy any iPhone 13 model, and now it is the turn of macro photography, something that is obviously available on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and not on the iPhone 12 . Macro photography provides users the opportunity to capture objects or surfaces at a very close range in enormous detail . Something that until the iPhone 13, you could only do with an iPhone if you accompanied it with special lenses.
Whenever we talk about this style of photography on the iPhone, we mention it as if it were its own mode that you can activate from the camera application itself, such as portrait mode, but the reality is that it is not, since it is the iPhone itself who It will detect the distance at which you are from the subject or surface to photographs and will activate it automatically . In addition, you have to know that the lens in charge of taking this type of photography is the ultra wide angle lens.
Are You professional? Apple ProRaw you will like
Finally, another function that we want to talk to you about and that, perhaps if you are not a photography lover, you do not care much, is the opportunity that Apple provides to take photos with the Apple ProRAW format . Usually photography professionals work with the RAW format, and the rest usually use the JPEG format, well, Apple ProRAW is just the format that takes the advantages of both formats in one. Unfortunately for iPhone 12 users, this is another difference between the two devices, since the iPhone 13 Pro Max does have this option.
On the one hand, you will be able to have enough information about the photograph to be able to edit it with much more freedom , as professional photographers do with photographs taken in RAW format, in this case you will only have to activate the RAW mode of the photo you have done. And on the other, the system will choose if it has to use the JPEG format to use it with said image based on its characteristics.
Daytime photographs
Once you know what are the main differences that exist between both devices, it is time to get to work with the results that they are capable of offering, which will really be where you can check if these technical differences that we have mentioned above are translated in different results.
Telephoto Lens
We start with the results, but we can only do it by showing what the iPhone 13 Pro Max is capable of offering, since in this case it is the only device of these two that has a telephoto lens. As we mentioned before, this is usually the least used lens by users , therefore, Apple, having to do without one of them to offer a cheaper iPhone, decided correctly, from our point of view, to eliminate the telephoto lens.
In the case of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the telephoto lens has been modified compared to previous generations , now it has an aperture f / 2.8 , which is worse than that of its predecessors. However, this loss of aperture is due to an increase in the optical zoom that it offers, now becoming a x3 and offering users of this device a larger zoom than before.
Wide Angle Lens
If before we said that the telephoto lens was usually the least used lens by all iPhone users, now we go to the opposite case, to the most used lens and the one that is considered the main lens of the iPhone, the Wide Angle. In this case, the apertures are very similar, an f / 1.6 on the iPhone 12 and an f / 1.5 on the iPhone 13 Pro Max . Let’s see below what differences there are between them.
Surprisingly the differences are more visible than you might expect at first. As you can see, there are differences in the way of capturing both the color , appreciable in the water and leaves of the first photographs, as well as in the exposure and clarity . In fact, if in the first two images you look at the sky, you can see how in the iPhone 13 Pro Max if you can see the blue color of it, while in the 12 you cannot. The color of the leaves and the grass is also significantly different and, despite the fact that they both have a similar aperture, the presence of the HDR 4 in the iPhone 13 Pro Max is evident in these examples.
Ultra Wide Angle Lens
One of the big news for iPhone users was the arrival of the ultra wide angle lens in the iPhone 11 generation. It is a lens that gives tremendous gameplay and offers very attractive results. In this case, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a considerable improvement, at least in terms of lens aperture, since it has an f / 1.8 while that of the iPhone 12 is f / 2.4 .
We continue with the trend that the wide-angle lenses have already set, that is, we can see how the colors are interpreted by the two devices differently , although in this case in terms of exposure we do not find the differences that in the wide-angle lens if they were present. However, the results with both lenses in good light conditions are really fantastic .
Frontal camera
If there is a camera in which nothing has changed from one device to another, it is this, the front camera. Both have 12 megapixels and an aperture f / 2.2. However, what can make the difference, as we have seen previously, is the presence of HDR 4 in the iPhone 13 Pro Max, especially when it comes to interpreting skin color. Let’s see the results.
Indeed, as we have mentioned, the two images are really similar , however, the way each of the devices captures the color of the skin is slightly different, as a result of the presence, as we have commented, of the HDR 4 technology in the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Portrait mode
The portrait mode of the iPhone is one of the most used modes by users of the Apple smartphone, without any doubt the results, which have been improving over the generations since it arrived in the iPhone 7 Plus, are really fantastic, giving even the option of being able to modify the degree of blur that is made in the photograph. In the case of the iPhone 12 , the portrait mode can only be carried out with the wide-angle lens , while in the iPhone 13 Pro Max you can take this type of photography with the wide-angle and telephoto lenses .
As you can see, the results provided by the two iPhones are very good , even in some cases if you are able to choose the degree of blur well, you can mislead the most professionals and have a photograph taken with the iPhone pass through one of the cameras more top of the market. However, there are still differences between these two iPhones, especially in the color of the image. If you look at the sweatshirt and skin color, you can see how the iPhone 13 Pro Max provides a slightly lighter tone than the iPhone 12.
Macro Photography
We say goodbye to the daytime photographic section with one of the novelties that we mentioned at the beginning of this post, and it is the possibility of taking macro photography with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, an option that is also available in the rest of the 13 models, but not on the iPhone 12. These are some of the results you can get.
For these photographs, the iPhone uses the ultra-wide angle lens, which, as we have mentioned, in the iPhone 13 Pro Max has undergone a great improvement in terms of aperture. One of the points that users of this “mode” demand is just that, that Apple has not carried out the possibility of activating it manually as if it happens with portrait mode, since in this case it is the device itself that does it. activated automatically.
Photographs at night
We put aside the daytime section to see how both devices, both the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, behave when taking pictures at night. This has been one of the points where Apple has worked the most in recent years, in fact, the arrival of night mode was a before and after in night photography with the iPhone, but now we are going to see if there really is a difference between these. two.
Telephoto Lens
As we did with daytime photography, we now start again with the telephoto lens of the iPhone 13 Pro Max. In this case, users do have the possibility of being able to use the night mode if the light conditions demand it. Also remember that the aperture of this lens is f / 2.8, so the presence of night mode certainly comes in handy.
As you have seen, the results are frankly good, although, probably due to the aperture of the lens, in some cases we can see a little noise in the image, especially in conditions in which the light is quite scarce, such as the example of the second photograph that we have shown you previously.
Wide Angle Lens
Fortunately, both iPhone 12 users and iPhone 13 Pro Max users have a very high-quality wide-angle lens , with an aperture for the iPhone 12 of f / 1.6, while that of the iPhone 13 Pro Max It is f / 1.5, a slight improvement that, in conditions where light is scarce, but night mode is not yet applicable, can make a difference.
As you have been able to observe in the images that both devices have captured, the differences follow the same line as in the daytime section, and lie in the interpretation of color by both devices. We can also see some more detail on photographs taken with the iPhone 13 Pro Max , as well as management of lights also more optimal.
Ultra Wide Angle Lens
If before we commented with the wide-angle lens that both devices were more or less in the same conditions, that totally changes with the ultra-wide-angle lens, in fact, one of the improvements of the iPhone 13 Pro Max has been just that, a very wide aperture. larger for this lens , reaching f / 1.8 , while in the case of the iPhone 12, the aperture is f / 2.4 . This when using the night mode will not be noticeable, but if when you want to take pictures at that time of day when it is still not possible to use the night mode, but the light is not enough to have a very clear image on the iPhone 12.
As we had anticipated, when using the night mode , that difference in aperture does not translate into very disparate results. What you can see is the same thing that we have commented on practically in each point of the comparison, and that is that the interpretation of the color and the management of the lights , both devices do it very different, being that of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the best .
Frontal camera
In this section of the comparison the reality is that, at least on paper, the tie is total between both devices . 12 Mpx lens and an aperture f / 2.2 for both devices. In case of differences, they will have to be attributed to the image processing that each device does as well as the presence of HDR 4 in the case of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Despite having exactly the same cameras, the results are obvious, and that is that the image offered by the iPhone 13 Pro Max is radically different , for the better, than that offered by the iPhone 12, being this much darker than the of the iPhone 13 Pro Max that is able to illuminate the photograph much more and obtain, clearly, a much better result.
Portrait mode
In the case of portrait mode in night photography, the difference is really clear, and it is that unfortunately, iPhone 12 users cannot use night mode at the same time as they take a portrait mode photograph, a possibility that they do have within reach. hand in hand with users of an iPhone 13 Pro Max.
As you can see, there is really no color between the portrait photography that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is capable of obtaining, with which it is capable of obtaining the iPhone 12. If it is true, that if there is enough light, the iPhone 12 is capable of giving you optimal and somewhat usable results, however, if you compare it with what the iPhone 13 Pro Max does, the difference is really very clear.
Macro Photography
Finally we have to talk about macro photography. There is really nothing that changes from what we have discussed above . The iPhone 13 Pro Max has this mode of photography as one of its great novelties, so, obviously, it is out that users of the iPhone 12 cannot enjoy it on their device.
As you have seen, the results in terms of image quality are quite worse than those you can obtain in good light conditions, of course, but at least you have that option that you can even combine with the use of night mode to try improve and obtain much more profitable results.
Is it worth changing? This is our opinion
Once you have already been able to verify all the differences that exist between both devices in a matter of photography, we invite you to be the one to draw and draw your own conclusions , and above all, if you find yourself in that doubt about changing your iPhone 12 for the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which depending on what you have seen in this comparison and, above all, your needs, values if the change is really worth it. However, from the editorial team of La Manzana Mordida, we are going to tell you our completely subjective and honest opinion .
Obviously, as you have seen, there are differences in terms of the results you get with one device and another. However, surely the user who, initially, acquired an iPhone 12, already knew that there were options in the market that had a better range of lenses than the one they acquired. Therefore, surely for the vast majority of iPhone 12 users the differences that we have found at the photographic level will not really be so important. Even so, if they are meaningful to you and you want to take a leap in terms of camera performance, you will undoubtedly enjoy the change from iPhone 12 to iPhone 13 Pro Max a lot .
