Photographers Should Not Buy This Phone - iPhone 13 Mini Camera Review

Do you have the iPhone 13? Let me know in the comments what your experience has been?

A phone is never good for professional photographers....

Great review. I just found it and although it's a year old it helped me in taking a decision regarding the 13 Mini.

Granted, Apple has never advertised its cameras for professional use. Some skilled photographers use them for such purpose but not the majority. The elimination of the HDR option follows a software cost reduction. And, as you well said, the general public does not even notice that.

Regarding the zoom, Sandmarc has some pretty good glass. Their macro, fisheye, and zoom are excellent for iPhones.

Now, on a related note, I want to wait until September before I decide on the Mini. Who knows? Maybe they do launch a Mini 15 since so meany people like the Mini. My own reasons for a Mini are the size and I also want to force myself to use the phone for basic purposes. Mini can help.

I don't consider mobiles professional cameras anyway, the lens are just too small for high quality.

This dudes gay.

For me this is the phone of the decade😊

13 mini user here - I want to offer up a suggestion.

If you’re a professional photographer (which I am), don’t reach for a smartphone! Get a small camera (I have a couple of small fujifilm cameras that destroy any iPhone) and you’ll love family life/daily life photos so much more. I really just use my iPhone camera for pictures of receipts or other random stuff around the house, or maybe a quick video snippet. However, occasionally I might really want to get a “real” photo when I’ve left my camera at home and in these instances, I will definitely be editing my photo in Lightroom.

So, here’s my tip: you can add a Lightroom widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen that takes you directly to the Lightroom camera where you can shoot raw DNGs and immediately edit them. Works great 👍🏼

"I don't think that it's the one for professional photographers" Yeah you don't say. It's a phone, not a professional camera.

Hi I need suggestion on whether to get 13mini or 11pm I need a better battery life but I don’t want a poor camera 😢 thank you

For fun, it works.

No smartphones should really be used over a professional camera for professional photography.

Me watching this while owning a Canon R6: 📷🗿📱

Hopefully Apple crates iPhone Pro Mini that’ll be perfect!! 😍

Gary - Best most informative review EVER. I have loved older Iphone images. Tell me though... which I phone could I buy used that would give me the most artistic aesthetic? As far as HDR toggle on and off - did IOS updates remove this from phones (such as the X?) I actually love a 2016 SE image quality - but I recently broke the screen. Anyway in sum what might be the best used Iphone if I value the"art" side of capabilities WITHOUT having to work at 3rd party apps etc..? Thanks in advance

If you want photos go Sony

Oh man.. professional photographers should work with pro cameras not with simple smartphones, right? I had 12 mini and switched to 13 pro max… and now regret it. Mini is perfect with size and comfort.

iphone 13 mini has a better & clearer photo & videos...i use the iphone mini for my music videos

Got a 13 mini too recently but I totally agree with you on smart HDR. I was extremely surprised to see how heavily processed (Deep Fusion and Smart HDR) the photos come out while using the default camera app. Most photos come out ok but some are just so processed with obvious AI sharpening and weird AI tone adjustment that just look awful. And yeah on top of that how there's even the option to turn this off is even more shocking. When I'm looking through the viewfinder and snap a picture, that is the image I want, not whatever Apple decides is the best version of the photo after it's taken with no way for me to get the old one back.

I've been trying an app called ProCam which seems to take photos in a way which bypasses smart HDR and deep fusion which I enjoy except it does not have OIS which is a bit of a bummer.

Love smart HDR.

There is an excessive amount of drama in the world… 😂 saying that they disabled your ability to add more useless drama, makes me happy 👌

Colour matter a great deal to me. I absolutely love the 12 pro and 13 pro blue colours. Sooooo amazing. That’s why I went with 13 pro.

12 and 12 mini colours were so much better than the 13 and 13 mini.. the choice disappeared. The only 2 colours - blue (okay), and pink (really nice).

I want a mini pro, dagnabbit. As it stands currently, I can get an iPhone mini 13 which ergonomically is a joy to use, or a pro 14, which is double the weight, torture as one strains ones fingers to reach around the screen and be bitten into by the preposterous squared phone edge. 😮

It is not meant for professional photographers because.... IT IS A PHONE NOT A CAMERA. Everybody is a photographer these days.

i love my iphone13 mni because of its small form factor with the same lens from 12 pro. I guess let's just hope Apple updates iOs with that toggle option for the smart hdr.

Pro, using a smartphone 🤣

Photographers should buy a camera, not a phone...

Ok, so if you're a "professional photographer" I would sure as hell hope you're using something other than a smartphone anyway. I mean, WTF? What a bizarre statement to make.

Is the HDR still not available to turn on or off on the mini?

Give feedback to apple company itself

From the very moment I held the Mini 13 I immediately was overcome with an intense desire to buy it, that feeling persisted into the next day so I started looking at prices and reviews and finally the spell was broken when I realised it doesn't have a headphone jack. It reminded me of the kind of company Apple is, which is arrogant beyond belief to the point of contempt for their customers. Even after paying over a grand on a phone and knowing full well most of their customers want a headphone jack they refuse, just like most of their customers still need usb3 for their laptops, even though it creates millions of extra tonnes of E waste.....All to milk more profit...I will keep my money, the flag ship phone is a suckers game.

You don’t buy it if you’re a photographer anyway 😂

As a former pro photographer, I just recently started varying a small mirrorless camera around with me in 95% of the time now. I gave up on the iPhone ever since they took away the option to turn off HDR. I’m not a fan of Apples over processing anyway.

You’re complexly right about the size of phones. I have a 13 mini and I consider it a little too large. There’s no need for it. It has a larger sceen than the 6plus/7plus/8plus.

Why? How about something much more pocketable and I can reach the entire screen with one hand? Something the size of the 5s but with the edge to edge screen of current phones.

I agree with you completely. One workaround is to take your pictures within Lightroom. Full manual control, no enforced HDR. It will really help you realize how terrible the camera is though.

How long it's battery last while recording please tell

Do you know how to fix the problem on the iPhone 13 mini that to get close picture shots little literally like 2 inches away and all the other iPhones it does that even the iPhone SE but the iPhone 13 mini you cannot go like finger nail close up

That’s why i went back to the 12 pro from the 13 normal. The 12 pro has the button to turn smart hdr off and i can also use proraw if i want to. Plus the telephoto lens and night time portrait

If you a professional photographer are you really relying on your iPhone to take pictures? Somehow I don’t believe that.

Hi
I saw your video today and i confirme. With my iphone 12 in ios 16 i can put off HDR function

Professional photographer don’t use phones to take photos 🤦‍♂️ ….this video is null and void.

what did you shoot this video with?

I thought that a real photographer would use a real camera for their professional work 🤔

thank you so much, I just got the 13 but I am an artist and need it to upload my paintings to website and online places, and only got this phone for that, so this info was major for me to know. thx

possibly iOS 16 could change the flaws of ur choices ?

Returned my 13 next day after I bought it due to the same issue you mentioned. Thank you for being so honest, nobody admits that is an issue! I don’t think I will switch from my 11 pro to a new iPhone if they keep releasing such a crappy devices.

How long does the battery lasted ?

Hi Apple.... yes, please cancel the iPhone Mini.... yes... but .... give us the....iPhone Pro Mini please

why profesional photographers buy a phone to take pictures ???

smart phones got smarter and smarter and people got stupid and stupid ....

I have to agree with you concerning the inability to turn off HDR. I hope Apple are listening.

sounds like sony xperia 5ii and 5ii would be better phone for you maybe

is there a camera app in iPhone that doesn't have full automatic settings like normal camera app?