"Tik Tech": We checked the photo and video performance of Apple's iPhone 12 Pro -
20 Minutes
The photo has a little air of déjà vu.
If you look at the back of the iPhone 11 Pro and compare it to that of Apple's new iPhone 12 Pro, it looks like twins.
With two exceptions.
Admittedly, we find the same photo unit with its three lenses on both smartphones, but the 12 Pro is physically larger (it has a 6.1 '' / 15.49 cm screen, against 5.8 '' / 14.73 cm), and its edges are no longer rounded, but rectilinear.
The copy is almost correct.
The iPhone 12 Pro and its three photo modules with a 12 million pixel sensor.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
The photo block of the 11 Pro, or almost
Behind the three objectives, hardly any change.
Each module has a 12 megapixel photo sensor.
We can thus distinguish a telephoto lens (50 mm equivalent) opening at f / 2.4;
an ultra-wide-angle module (13 mm) opening at f / 2.0, and a brighter wide-angle module (26 mm): f / 1.6, against f / 1.8 for the iPhone 11 Pro.
It also incorporates a new lens, for a total of seven, compared to six for its elder.
Not great news.
Ah, yes, one anyway: the iPhone 12 Pro is equipped with a Lidar sensor.
A sensor like on self-driving cars
Lidar?
This is the name of these sensors on board autonomous vehicles.
It calculates at very high speed the travel time of a ray of light between its emission and its return once it is reflected on an object.
Apple claims here a speed multiplied by six compared to that of the TOF (Time Of Light) sensor of the iPhone 11 Pro.
Portrait mode in low light provides good results.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20N MINUTES
The result: a much more responsive autofocus for subjects located more than five meters away.
If the effect of this lidar is difficult to apprehend in daylight, this increased performance is especially true in low light where the iPhone 12 Pro is indeed more responsive at the time of development.
Improved night photos
At night, precisely.
Apple is working hard to improve the quality of its 12 Pro's shots in difficult light conditions.
The new Bionic A14 processor assists in its image management with, on arrival, slightly brighter photos, but also slightly more detailed, which it is now possible to take in ultra-wide-angle.
Video noise (the small pixels that often appear in a night photo) does not disappear, but we notice it much less.
Always the wow effect in full light
During the day, the “wow” effect remains guaranteed on the invoice.
In bright light, and what's more in direct sunlight, the iPhone 12 Pro renders a copy without false notes.
Bright colors but still natural.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
The photos are extremely detailed.
The colorimetry is perfectly respected, with bright but natural colors.
The fall colors are well reproduced by the iPhone 12 Pro from Apple.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
For its part, the management of the lights can seem a little more chaotic in the brighter parts of an image where the 12 Pro still seems to have trouble dealing with large variations in brightness.
Typical example: a cloudy sky, some areas of which may seem overexposed, as in the photo below.
Managing light can sometimes be complex.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
As for the Portrait mode, its results are excellent.
The cat used as guinea pig for our tests still cannot believe the detail of its coat in the image ...
Endless detail in the lens of the iPhone 12 Pro.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
While waiting for the RAW ...
Optical zoom, ultra-wide-angle: depending on the desired photo, both are a good contribution.
Our tests of macro close-ups are successful, but less precise than with the champion in the field: the Find X II Pro from Oppo.
In macro, the iPhone 12 Pro does less well than some competitors, like the Oppo Find X II Pro.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
Note that Apple should soon introduce a “Pro RAW” mode on its iPhone 12 Pro.
We don't know much about it yet, but if its arrival is confirmed, this mode should notably increase the possibilities of post-processing of its sights.
At the front, the photo module remains unchanged from the iPhone X. Either a camera with a 12-megapixel sensor.
The Bionic A14 chip is supposed to come as a backup for night selfies.
No miracle: our photos remain of very limited quality in semi-darkness, sometimes excessive smoothing compensating for the lack of details in the image.
Night selfies that still need to be improved.
- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES
The progress of the iPhone 12 Pro over the iPhone 11 Pro is indeed there, but at the margin.
Not enough, in any case, to replace the elder by the last born.
The price of the 12 Pro remains unchanged: from 1159 euros.
But where the 11 Pro offered at this price a capacity of 64 GB, the 12 Pro offers 128. And it is 5G.
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