iPhone 18 Pro: A Photographer's Review

[music] >> This is the iPhone 18 Pro review for anybody that plans to use it more as a camera than as a phone. We're going to take a very close look at the new variable aperture, test Apple's new software features that are supposed to make photos look more like film, [music] and with a few updates to cinematic

mode, we're going to look at the one setting that most professionals really reach for when they want cinematic footage. Now, before we get started, this whole video is shot on the iPhone 17 Pro, except for two shots, the macro of the aperture lens and also these overhead angles, but all the rest, iPhone 17 Pro with the Blackmagic Camera

app using Stallman LUTs for the color. I've heard that the average upgrade cycle for an iPhone Pro these days is about 3 years. So, I'm going to be doing my primary comparisons next to the iPhone 15 Pro. There are some big changes in this one, and it's the phone that I still will use on set because

sometimes it can match the others, but let's see if that holds up this year. Starting with the basics, there's two new colors that I think are the right choices for professionals. Last year, I think Cosmic Orange will go down as my all-time favorite iPhone color, but it was actually a problem for production.

Something that came up pretty often that I should have expected is that the orange would cause reflections whenever I'd be shooting through windows or glass, not ideal. So, I think either the burgundy or the black are the right choices if you take a lot of photos on your iPhone. Both look great and they're

not going to pollute your photos or videos with their own color reflecting back into it. Something that's helpful for me this year is the only difference between the Pro Max and the regular Pro is the size. Still a larger battery in the Pro Max, but that's about it, so we don't need to go too much deeper into