Can’t Decide Between iPhone 15 Pro & 15 Pro Max

[WarmEngine]

Alright.  I wasn’t even looking to trade or upgrade as I’ve been mostly happy with my IPhone 11 Pro Max minus wanting a better camera since I do use it a lot for taking pictures.

I had to upgrade my son and I’m doing so found out I can get $1000 towards an iPhone 15 model if I trade it in so I feel like I’m dumb not doing it since that means I pay $200 or so for a new phone.

 

I’ve watched a number of videos on the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max and the two things I’ve seen mentioned are the 15 Pro Max is good for photos beyond 5x zoom but anything between 3-5x the 15 Pro is better due to the different telephoto lenses.  Anyone have insight into this or actual time comparing them side by side and is the different noticeable?

 

Lastly has anyone gone from the Max to a non Max iPhone and regretted the smaller screen?  I can’t remember life before this phone.

 

 

[saintlouisbagels]

This is entirely a you question.

Are you constantly taking photos at 5x and further?

 

Most of my telephoto pictures are taken at 2x and 3x. I would be pissed if the photo quality was degraded in favor of 5x.

Also, Pro Max is just unwieldly large.

 

1 hour ago, WarmEngine said:

I’ve seen mentioned are the 15 Pro Max is good for photos beyond 5x zoom but anything between 3-5x the 15 Pro is better due to the different telephoto lenses. Anyone have insight into this or actual time comparing them side by side and is the different noticeable?

I mean you were already watching the videos...

[Electronics Wizardy]

I have a 15 pro max, and I'd say the 5x isn't that useful for me. Its pretty rare to be used, and the worse 3-4.9x is probably more noticeable than the better 5x and farther zoom in. I had a 14 pro max before it and found the 3x more useful.

 

The other change is screen size and size, so I'd probably pick based on that instead of the camera.

 

I also had a 11 pro. I'd say the wide camera is a bit better on the 15 pro max, the bigger improvements are in the ultra wide and telephoto cameras. The min focus distance on the main camera is much farther away and kinda annoying as the ultra wide 'macro' mode is a good amount worse quality.

[WarmEngine]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I have a 15 pro max, and I'd say the 5x isn't that useful for me. Its pretty rare to be used, and the worse 3-4.9x is probably more noticeable than the better 5x and farther zoom in. I had a 14 pro max before it and found the 3x more useful.

Thanks.  That’s what I’ve seen on the more recent comparisons.  This is very helpful knowing an actual user/unbiased person noticed that too.

 

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The min focus distance on the main camera is much farther away and kinda annoying as the ultra wide 'macro' mode is a good amount worse quality.

Can you elaborate please?  Not totally following.  I’ve seen one thing briefly mention the min focus distance but wasn’t explained well.  Thanks again!

[Electronics Wizardy]

36 minutes ago, WarmEngine said:

 

 

Can you elaborate please?  Not totally following.  I’ve seen one thing briefly mention the min focus distance but wasn’t explained well.  Thanks again!

In order to get a bigger main sensor with a fast aperture, Apple has been increasing the min focus distance. This means that if you want to focus closer than about 8-10 in you need to switch the to .5x camera and crop in, reducing quality a good amount. This is kinda annoying when taking pics of stuff like labels and model numbers on products. I normally try to use 2x mode and move away rather than use the .5x sensor in macro mode. There is now a option to disable this and it shows when macro mode is being used(That was added with the 13 pro as it was annoying in the early days of the 13 pro). 

 

Ive also used a 13 pro, 14 pro max and 15 pro max and the camera improvements are pretty small for most uses. I'd say good enough for most uses, but a 'real' camera is still much better if used right.