The iPhone camera is good, but it’s not consistently brilliant

For day to day use, the iPhone camera is a brilliant tool. It is the only camera you need, but it is not capable of doing serious photography in my opinion.

As a tool to capture special moments it works extremely well in most lighting conditions. The video capture is exceptional, but try to go in closer and you soon realise that the macro facility is verging on awful.

The shot above is an example of where the iPhone shines. Everything about my son on his first ski has been captured as I would want it to be.

I have struggled to capture Bailey over the past year because his colouring is densely grey and black. Roughly half of the time the iPhone struggles to focus on his fur, even in good light.

The above is an example of where the iPhone camera falls over. Look closely and you will see few sharp edges and a lack of definition. This show was taken in very good light and yet the over-smoothing of the edges occurs almost every time. Everything on this watch is extremely sharp and the crystal is flat sapphire so there should be no distortions, and yet the iPhone camera simply cannot cope with it.

The above shot may look dramatic, but it is an example of the iPhone camera dragging drama out of the sky that isn't there in the real world. Almost every shot I take of the sky over-exposes the clouds and over-highlights the bright spots. I kind of like it, but the sense that it isn't real stays behind.