Field Notesof an AI Researcher
Photography

Testing the iPhone 18 Pro for photography

Portrait of Aditya Chinchure

Aditya Chinchure, PhD student, CV & NLP at UBC.

Notebook
Photography
Noted
2026-10-21
Frames
8 photos
Length
125 words
Read
1 min

Here are some of my favourite photographs captured so far on the iPhone 18 Pro.

I find the photographic styles paired with the texture control to be really capable at making iPhone photos look unique and have richer, more contrasty colours. I find the grain to be too heavy-handed, and I’d like to see an update where we can control the amount of grain we want to add to the images.

The aperture control on iPhone 18 Pro is not useful in all situations, but I find myself reaching for it a lot when I am shooting pictures with a purpose… the f/4 gives you the sun stars, and the f/1.48 provides really nice background separation, especially when shooting at 2x zoom.

Contact sheet

8 frames
A hand holds a Fujifilm X-T30 III camera up to a garden of pink dahlias behind a wire fence. The camera's rear screen shows the same flowers, with a cream building and trees blurred behind.
01f/1.48 · 1/1608s · ISO 64 · 24mm
Overhead view of dense, glossy green leaves growing in star-shaped clusters, with lighter yellow-green new growth among darker leaves.
02f/4 · 1/121s · ISO 80 · 24mm
Top-down close-up of a cluster of round, button-like yellow flower heads with a bumblebee at one edge, against blurred green feathery leaves.
03f/1.48 · 1/2053s · ISO 64 · 48mm
A tall, broken, moss-covered tree stump in a sunlit forest. The sun bursts into a star through a gap in the wood, surrounded by ferns and leafy undergrowth.
04f/4 · 1/78s · ISO 400 · 24mm
A seaside promenade on a sunny afternoon: a hot dog cart under red umbrellas with a $6 sign, people on benches, palm trees and mountains across the water, framed by out-of-focus pink and orange flowers in the foreground.
05f/1.48 · 1/3145s · ISO 64 · 48mm
Sunset over a marina. The sun forms a star above the treeline, two people sit silhouetted on a seawall beside the water, a small rowboat rests on the rocks, and sailboats are moored in the distance, with a pink lens flare.
06f/1.8 · 1/9174s · ISO 64 · 48mm
A Peya restaurant menu on a wooden table, listing dishes such as lamb shoulder biryani and Chettinad pepper steak above a line drawing of a street with a domed building, beside a green napkin holding gold cutlery.
07f/4 · 1/20s · ISO 1600 · 48mm
A stone mansion with red timber gables and tall chimneys under a deep blue sky, with orange and yellow autumn trees, a stone balustrade, steps, clipped hedges and a lawn in front.
08f/4 · 1/888s · ISO 64 · 48mm
photographyiphone
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