This is Bo sitting in my lap during an afternoon thunderstorm, complete with lots of thunder. Lots of thunder. Photographed with my iPhone 8 Plus, post processed with Snapseed.

This is probably the last photograph I’ll take with an iPhone.

I started serious iPhone photography with the iPhone 6 Plus, and hit something of a peak with the iPhone 7 Plus. Since upgrading to the 8 Plus I’ve been less and less satisfied with the overall quality of the iPhone’s images. Everything looks like it’s falling apart when you begin to zoom in, and I’m not talking about pixel peeping. I can see the effects of over processing long before I ever get to 100%, especially in broad areas of tone and color. Maybe it’s just me, but my current crop of micro four thirds cameras (E-M5, Pen F, and GH4) do a far better job out-of-camera than the iPhone 8 Plus does.

The falling apart isn’t Snapseed’s fault. The original image is just as bad. I lay the blame on the iPhone’s camera, and more significantly, the software behind it. I thought I might do better by purchasing the Halide app and going to “raw”. Halide’s output is even worse, especially with images taken in less than ideal lighting conditions. It’s interesting that the iPhone 6 Plus’ rear camera had an 8 MP sensor, while the 7 Plus and the 8 Plus both have a 12MP sensor. For whatever reason I preferred what I got out of the 7 Plus, but I think I actually prefer the lower resolution 6 Plus the most.

I won’t be getting rid of my micro four thirds system anytime soon, if ever.