Which phone camera is best for coloured gemstone

[mellowyellowgirl]

Thanks！

Hallo!!!

Sorry I didn’t wear the ring for a while! I would say the blues and pinks are pretty accurate!

Shade



Sunshine

 

[Crimson]

The pink is sooo pretty!!! I had a hard time choosing between pink and green. My husband is techy so he’ll always get the Pro but even he was in love with the pink!

Take some new photos of Minerva for us!!!

Finally took some photos of Minerva with my new pink iPhone 15. Not too bad?

 

[T L]

I have to get some sunlight pictures, but this is on the raw setting/macro mode for the iPhone 15 pro max during a very cloudy rainy day. I’m not that impressed yet. It’s nor very sharp, and the white balance goes awry unless I hold it in the perfect position, this is my skin color, otherwise my skin gets grayish as in the two next photos I posted.

 

[T L]

Sharper image. I had to put the hand closer to the camera, so there’s some shade on the ring. I have the dark phone case.

 

[T L]

One more. You really have to put the ring close to the lens to get crisp images, but my dark titanium blue phone darkens the object. White balance is off. My fingers are this ghoulish looking, and have a warmer cast (see first pic I posted above). The stone is also more saturated than depicted.

 

[T L]

I got some sunlight photos at 1:00 on a crisp fall day. I definitely prefer my husband’s iPhone XR for gem photography. The iPhone 15 pro max washes out color and perhaps that because they want you to be able to edit the photos for truer cooor???

Best shot I could muster


It captures sparkle, but still looks fuzzy.



As detailed as I could get facets by cropping the image.


It still cannot come anywhere near capturing luster or three dimensional facet sparkle like the iPhone XR. Bummed out!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

My 15 is pretty good with the pinks and reds. This ring was notoriously hard to photograph. This is as accurate as I’ve ever managed!

 

[T L]

My 15 is pretty good with the pinks and reds. This ring was notoriously hard to photograph. This is as accurate as I’ve ever managed!

What settings are you using?

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

What settings are you using?

I have the plain 15 so I point, use the 2x zoom, hold it about a hand length away to get it to focus clearly, take the pic.

 

[T L]

I have the plain 15 so I point, use the 2x zoom, hold it about a hand length away to get it to focus clearly, take the pic.

Are you using raw mode? Photo style? Pixels? There are so many options to choose, it’s quite boggling if you’re not a photographer.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Are you using raw mode? Photo style? Pixels? There are so many options to choose, it’s quite boggling if you’re not a photographer.

I just go into the camera app and it’s on the photo setting. I think yours might be fancier because you have the pro with the extra lenses.

 

[T L]

I just go into the camera app and it’s on the photo setting. I think yours might be fancier because you have the pro with the extra lenses.

I just saw a video on the phone I have, the 15 pro max, and people are complaining that saturation is muted.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I just saw a video on the phone I have, the 15 pro max, and people are complaining that saturation is muted.

If you are not going to use a RAW processor after taking your photos, I think you would be better off not shooting in RAW. The RAW files are very large and are intended for post processing.

Also, doesn't your iPhone 15 have a telephoto lens? I think this would be better than the macro for gems since you will have a greater distance between the camera and the stone.

 

[T L]

If you are not going to use a RAW processor after taking your photos, I think you would be better off not shooting in RAW. The RAW files are very large and are intended for post processing.

Also, doesn't your iPhone 15 have a telephoto lens? I think this would be better than the macro for gems since you will have a greater distance between the camera and the stone.

I can try. Thanks for the tips.

There is also a compressed form of RAW image called HEIF. If I crop the images, the size also shrinks. I cannot upload uncropped images to this site. I get an error message stating the file is too large.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Shooting RAW allows you to do much more in post processing. Since the file is much larger than a jpg, there is a lot more detail preserved. Here's an example of a RAW image that is 2 stops underexposed and has the color balance set to incandescent light, but the actual light is cloudy daylight from a window near by.

The next image is that file processed with CaptureOne, the color corrected by taking a sample off the 18% gray card the glue is sitting on, and then the exposure increased by 2 stops, and a little tweaking of the levels in the combined RGB channel.

 

[T L]

Shooting RAW allows you to do much more in post processing. Since the file is much larger than a jpg, there is a lot more detail preserved. Here's an example of a RAW image that is 2 stops underexposed and has the color balance set to incandescent light, but the actual light is cloudy daylight from a window near by.

The next image is that file processed with CaptureOne, the color corrected by taking a sample off the 18% gray card the glue is sitting on, and then the exposure increased by 2 stops, and a little tweaking of the levels in the combined RGB channel.

I know, but I don’t like altering photos. I just wish the colors were more true to life from the raw setting.

Thanks for the info though, you certainly know photography.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I know, but I don’t like altering photos. I just wish the colors were more true to life from the raw setting.

Thanks for the info though, you certainly know photography.

You shouldn't shoot RAW then. That's the whole idea of RAW. The original raw file will look a little dull compared to if you shot JPG. The camera when you shoot jpg does its own processing to try to make the image look like what you saw. I think you will find your images more saturated and pleasing if you don't shoot raw, leave raw for images you want to do some work with and maybe enlarge. You would need an editor that can handle the iPhone RAW images, not all can. If you have a Mac, then the Photos app on the Mac can, and so can other third party programs like CaptureOne.

 

[T L]

You shouldn't shoot RAW then. That's the whole idea of RAW. The original raw file will look a little dull compared to if you shot JPG. The camera when you shoot jpg does its own processing to try to make the image look like what you saw. I think you will find your images more saturated and pleasing if you don't shoot raw, leave raw for images you want to do some work with and maybe enlarge. You would need an editor that can handle the iPhone RAW images, not all can. If you have a Mac, then the Photos app on the Mac can, and so can other third party programs like CaptureOne.

These are the only formats in this phone, no jpeg formats

 

[Avondale]

@T L .heif is the basic image format of the new iphones, it's their equivalent to .jpg, only with better compression so that the files don't end up being too large. In that format the iphone camera is doing all the processing and is spitting a ready image for you, that has benefited from the full strength of the image processing software Apple has developed for their hardware.

RAW files are meant to be put through post-processing. Most of the consumer grade software for displaying images doesn't even recognise them. In order to use the image from a RAW file, you always export it as .jpg or another common image format, because the RAW file itself is useless for posting online, for example.

Furthermore, RAW images in their default state are underexposed and bland. The only reason to shoot them is so that you can edit them, and after that export them into a file you can share. It is during this post processing that photographers manipulate the image into looking true to life. Or they manipulate it into looking magical and whimsical, or something else entirely. It's a form of art. But this is where the value of RAW lies - since it has captured and retained so much information, this manipulation becomes possible. What you can do with a RAW file, you absolutely cannot do with a .jpg file (or a .heif file, for that matter).

In short, if you're not putting the RAW file through post processing, you're not taking advantage of its benefits and are left only with the drawbacks. In this case it's best to default to .heif and leave the image processing to your phone. And if .heif doesn't produce satisfactory results... well, learning to edit RAW can be a lot of fun and you might just end up with the most accurate gem pics of all.

 

[T L]

I’ve photographed in HEIF as well as RAW, and I see no discernible difference. Also, it is worth noting that if you photograph in macro mode, the camera will automatically drop the pixels to 12, even though you can use up to increments of 24 and 48.

 

[Avondale]

Also, it is worth noting that if you photograph in macro mode, the camera will automatically drop the pixels to 12, even though you can use up to increments of 24 and 48.

That's because macro mode uses the ultra wide lens, and the ultra wide lens has a 12mp sensor (same applies to the telephoto lens). Only the main sensor got upgraded to 48, but this lens has a significantly longer focus distance and can't shoot up close.

If .heif is still not showing true colours, then the only logical conclusion is that's how it is with the software processing of this model. Not much to be done about that, sadly. But if you're feeling adventurous, you can try something like lightroom classic and have fun with those RAWs.

 

[PrecisionGem]

These are the only formats in this phone, no jpeg formats

I read this on DPreview:

Capturing higher dynamic range 48MP Raw images is still a premium feature reserved for the Pro models, but now every iPhone 15 device can also record 48MP HEIF (or JPEG if you opt for "Most Compatibility" in the Camera Capture settings) files. In an odd choice of terminology crossover, Apple calls the 48 MP option ‘HEIF Max’ or ‘RAW Max’ - so you can shoot in RAW Max on your iPhone 15 Pro Max or in HEIF Max on your iPhone 15 Plus. Too many superlatives!


I just have an iPhone 13 mini and don't really use the camera much so I'm not an expert on phone cameras.

Here's some info on editing the RAW images. If you have a Mac computer, then I would think using the Photos app would be better than working on the phone, but you can edit them on the phone.

How to edit ProRAW photos on your iPhone

Turn all that good image data into something shareable.

www.theverge.com

 

[T L]

Well
At least it captured yellows (chrysoberyl) decently although there are dark shadows from my phone case.

 

[T L]

Awful for green!

Top iPhone 15 pro max photo makes demantoid look olive green, when in fact it’s more of a slightly bluish green in the same cool lighting in my kitchen. It freakishly makes my hand more yellow to match my hard wood floor I guess??

Awful iPhone 15 pro max with fuzzy olive green and poor capture of dispersion.


Dispersion and sharpness is slightly better when I do a screen capture of a video, but color is still off.


More true color and flash with iPhone X in next two pics.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Are you pictures above cropped, or are you getting that close to the gem?

Which lens of the 3 are you using?

Your pictures look much worse than I would expect from the iPhone 15 pro. A lot of the problem is most likely the light, and you are too close. Get your self one of these very inexpensive light boxes. You only need the 12 x 12 box, I think it's about $33 on Amazon.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Here's a picture with my iPhone 13 mini, in the light box. I did pinch zoom the image about 2x before shooting it. Your phone has a telephoto lens, that's the lens you should be using. The farther from the stone the better.
Notice the gray card in the image. That's an 18% gray used to color balance and expose. You can buy these I'm sure on amazon or any photo shop.

 

[PrecisionGem]

One thing to think about. When you look at a gem with your eyes, you are using two eyes. Each eye sees the gem slightly differently. With the camera there is only on lens, so the camera will pick up more extinction than what you see because dark area's to one eye could be lite up to the other eye.

Green, especially the more intense greens like chrome tourmaline, tsavorite or emerald never photograph well.

 

[T L]

Are you pictures above cropped, or are you getting that close to the gem?

Which lens of the 3 are you using?

Your pictures look much worse than I would expect from the iPhone 15 pro. A lot of the problem is most likely the light, and you are too close. Get your self one of these very inexpensive light boxes. You only need the 12 x 12 box, I think it's about $33 on Amazon.

They’re cropped, as I cannot get too close. They go blurry otherwise. It was a brightly lit room with cool led lights.

I don’t need a light box with the iPhone X.

I’m not sure what lens im using, but it goes to macro automatically if you focus on a small object.

 

[T L]

Here's a picture with my iPhone 13 mini, in the light box. I did pinch zoom the image about 2x before shooting it. Your phone has a telephoto lens, that's the lens you should be using. The farther from the stone the better.
Notice the gray card in the image. That's an 18% gray used to color balance and expose. You can buy these I'm sure on amazon or any photo shop.

I didn’t have to color balance with the iPhone X either Thanks for the tips though.

 

[T L]

This is an iPhone X photo of one of those rings in sunlight. There’s no way I can get this detail and luster with the 15 pro max.