I told you so. By enabling the Apple ProRAW format in the newer iPhones, you get a quality that is waaay better in night photography, compared to if you only use JPG right away.

I mean look; this photo i took HANDHELD for 10 seconds against the sky. Now look how wonderful and pretty evenly the from RAW generated JPG looks like; much, much smoother compared to a straight JPG file from the iPhone without enabling RAW.

It really, really makes all the difference in this kind of photography.

The ease of handholding 10 seconds exposures

Because one can use handheld exposure for 10 seconds - this also rivals normal, larger digital cameras. I can usually not really hold an Olympus OM-1 still for 10 seconds, in order to accomplish this. Perhaps i get lucky with one. But with the iPhone - and the way they implemented "night photography" - it visually works very well this way. Almost ever single time.

So, this is the feature i find the iPhone (and likely similar other top end phones) are very good at: Night photography. But only when using RAW - and then generating a JPG from that RAW file. Or even better: post processing at the computer (Which I did in the main photo)

One thing is for sure: Plenty of stars are visible !!

Not much difference really; iPhone 13, 14, 15 Pro Max
save your bucks and move on...

All the rest with the iPhone 15 Pro Max feels like.... uhm... I could easily used my older iPhone 13 Pro Max for another 3 years, because the difference... yeah... what is the difference ? The iOS version make more difference (but i usually don't jump onto the latest in that regard).

The diminished return of "benefits

The whole handling of the new phone is pretty much the same like the older iPhone 13 Pro Max. So, go and save some serious bucks, either use your older iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max - and be happy. Or buy later a used iPhone 15 Pro MAX if that is your thing.

I really don't find much difference in daily life handling. I mean, the normal usage of a top end iPhone... really doesn't differs much at all between, 13, 14 and 15. The whole Apple show is just a billion sucking industry. I can easily think of keeping a phone - like the aforementioned, for 6 years instead of 3. The only thing that needs to be done after 3-4 or 5 years; to change the battery. The rest, is pretty much the same and can go on for a very long time. After all, the new processors are that powerful. I recommend not to jump onto the latest iOS. Even those are questionable in relative terms of benefits. What worked 3-4 years ago, still works very well (if you are an average user, i mean).

The (main) camera in the iPhone 13 Pro Max was and is fantastic when it comes to for example Night Photography, with Apple ProRAW enabled.

Even there, not much difference really...

After midnight, when i woke up around 02.00 - i discovered very weak Northern Lights / Auroras - so i took a photo with the main camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max (7 seconds). It is of course post processed later at my computer - but the auroras were clearly visible. In fact even at the screen, live, they were visible.

• VERY WEAK AURORA • 1 Sep 2024 at 02.45 with iPhone 15 Pro Max, 24mm ƒ1.8 at ISO 1600 for 7 seconds, handheld

• SUDDEN STRONG AURORA • 15 Jan 2022 at 00.11 with iPhone 13 Pro Max, 26 mm ƒ1.7 at ISO 1600 for 10 seconds, handheld