We all know that our iPhones are capable of taking great photos and videos. Heck, there’s even a commercial built around this fact. But every so often I like to compare photos that I’ve taken with my iPhone 6 Plus and my Nikon D800. It’s not a very technical comparison by any means, but one that I find to be amusing just to see any inherent differences between the two.
This time I chose a landscape photo that I took out the window of the Banff Gondola, going up the summit of Sulphur Mountain in Banff National Park. It was exhilarating to be up there so I’m glad I was able to capture it with both cameras in a short span of time. Let’s take a look, shall we?
iPhone 6 Plus Landscape
This photo above shows the massive mountain ranges of Banff National Park with the Rimrock Resort Hotel seen in the bottom right. It’s a gorgeous view don’t you think? I really like the muted treatment on this, which is all thanks to the VSCOCam app, using the A5 filter. This photo was a simple edit with a little bit of sharpening and colour enhancements from that app. The blue skies and puffs of clouds really shines brightly in this photo.
Now, let’s take a look at the Nikon D800 version of this same landscape, taken just moments after this one.
Nikon D800 Landscape
The photo above was taken with my Nikon D800 just moments after I took the first photo with my iPhone 6 Plus. The composition is nearly identical, but you can see the editing treatment is a little different. I edited this photo all within Lightroom CC 2015. Rather than the muted tones, I went for a slightly punchier look to this photo. But more importantly what I noticed instantly, is the sharpness of the photo and the details my Nikon is capable of, compared to my iPhone. Of course this should be the case, given the sensor size difference between the two—and this is precisely why I can’t travel without my Nikon. The quality just can’t be matched.
This difference in quality is harder to notice when you see photos by themselves, but when you compare the two side by side like I did above, you get to see the finer differences between the two.
The question that remains now is, which editing style do you prefer?
I like the D800 punchier look better. Theyre both great but the iPhone one looks a bit too blue. amazing views tho!! Love it!
Hi Ina! I know what you mean. But you see the iPhone one looks too blue because you have something to compare against. When you see the iPhone one by itself, it actually looks pretty decent too. It’s all a matter of personal preference really, and I like both of them for different reasons. 🙂