Clare & Carl's* ~ Plattsburgh, NY (embiggenable) • iPhone
after / before ~ embiggenable • iPhone
* Yes, the building leans dramatically. Notice the sign pole and utility pole for vertical reference.
I'm getting kinda sick & tired of reading about how disappointed a picture maker is with pictures made using his/her phone.
My first gripe with such ramblings is, unless the picture maker / commentor is using a state-of-the-art device (admittedly, an ever moving target), he/she needs to stop enumerating a devices' shortcoming(s). I can list the shortcomings of my first digital camera but, really, what's the point?
The other great unmentioned-in most cases-is, does the picture maker know how to best use the device? Things as simple as cleaning the lens protector, to always using the HDR setting (if available - the now standard setting on an iPhone), and, the use of on-device picture processing apps to-in may cases-greatly improve the end result.
Re: picture processing - dependent upon my picture use intention, I might choose to process a picture on my phone. Or, for more "serious" intentions, I download a picture from my iCloud and give it the complete Photoshop treatment. In doing so, I have found that there is a great deal of "meat" on an iPhone's picture bone-one can shoot RAW files-which allows for considerable processing manipulation without any noticeable degradation of the image. See the above before / after diptych.
All of that written, phone camera modules are not a "perfect" picture making device. That written, I have found the iPhone camera module (7 Plus) to be a very capable picture making device for most of my picture making needs. I regularly make 19x19inch prints which compare favorably to 19x19inch prints made from a "real" camera when viewed from a normal-non-pixel peeping-viewing distance.
FYI, I am about to do a 7 Plus / 8 Plus camera module comparison. I have been told / read that there is a considerable improvement in file quality. If so, the 8 Plus is in my future.