Lee Morris of Fstoppers says the iPhone 6S “appears to be a far better video camera” than his Nikon D750 DSLR setup, worth $3000-$4000 with professional lenses attached. Morris explains that the Nikons are used as his “go-to cameras” for professional use and the results are a little “depressing.”
He writes: I did some color/contrast tests and found that the footage out of both cameras looked about the same if I set the Nikon to “neutral.” I then walked around a park near our office and grabbed a few shots. It was impossible to tell which footage looked best in the field but once we got back to our office the comparison was pretty shocking. The iPhone’s 4K footage downscaled to 1080p was significantly better than the Nikon D750.
Morris has addressed the concerns of people who say such a comparison between smartphones and professional cameras isn’t valid. He acknowledges the results would have been very different in lower-lighting conditions and added that the iPhone would be “infinitely worse than any current DSLR for stills.”
However, he also raises the point that a consumer-level smartphone is now capable of out-performing professional equipment worth over four times its own value, noting that 4K video shooting is only just appearing in camera manufacturers’ flagship ranges while it is accessible to the owners of $600 smartphones. Morris says “I just want my camera to shoot footage that is at least comparable to the world’s most common smartphone. Is that too much to ask?”
Professionals will still rely on DSLRs to do all the heavy lifting because only a true DSLR can support additional on-camera lenses and filters while maintaining consistent performance through changing lighting conditions, as critics of Morris’ video are keen to point out. Regardless, it seems as though in favourable lighting conditions, the ordinary consumer holding an iPhone 6S above a crowd may be capturing better video than the professional with the $4000 Nikon standing next to them.
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are the first of Apple’s handsets to support 4K video capture due to the improved 12-megapixel iSight sensor introduced this year. It has been available on other smartphones for some time including this year’s flagships from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and LG.
Morris’ report isn’t the first time that some smartphones have been commended as better than or nearly equivalent to DSLRs. The 41-megapixel Nokia Lumia 1020 created waves at its launch by promising performance comparable to the then-latest Canon EOS cameras, a claim that several reviewers found to be watertight under extensive testing.
