There’s a popular saying among photographers—often attributed to Chase Jarvis—that the best camera is the one you have. In other words, It doesn’t matter how good the camera is if you don’t have it in your hand when you want to take a picture.
These days, that would be against the best camera that most of us really have do Be with us all the time: the one on our smartphone. But my mind never bought that idea.
Even though I’ve bought phones that take better and better photos, I’ve decided to think that my best camera is the regular one that spends most of its time in a drawer at home. Currently, that’s the Canon PowerShot SL3 dSLR. It has arguably the best lenses—big, flashy, and more expensive than the camera itself. But like all cameras that are cameras only, my SL3 sports an interface optimized for photography and nothing else. That experience is hard to beat on a device that also lets you make phone calls, read news, watch movies, play games, take notes, navigate cities, and so on.
Not to sound like a photography snob, but even the latest smartphones feel like cameras to me. So every time I bought a new phone, I endured disappointment as I realized it probably wasn’t going to be my favorite camera.
With Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro, which went on sale last Friday, my luck has finally changed. No, it’s not the same thing as a normal regular camera. But it’s the first smartphone I own that seems like it might overcome my endless regret that I don’t have a great camera all the time.
The new iPhone 16 Pro photo feature, Camera Control, is available on all new iPhones. It’s a new button on the right edge of the phone that you press to take a picture, almost like the shutter button that traditional cameras always have. That’s something you can achieve with the programmable Action Button, which was released on last year’s iPhones and is available on all new models. But you can also swipe the Camera Control to zoom. And double-clicking it lets you choose other photo settings—exposure, depth of field, and more.
The Camera Control is just a single button/touch-sensitive row, not full of fancy physical dials like you find on cameras like Fujifilm’s flagship X100VI. And for now, it’s still a work in progress. Apple demonstrated two features that are not yet available: a short press to lock focus (a feature common to standard cameras) and a long press to have Apple Intelligence AI tell you things about what the camera is seeing, such as the type of camera. a dog. I expect the company to continue to refine what the feature can do in future software updates.
However, the camera control actually makes the iPhone feel like a camera rather than a jumble of on-screen icons, an unsatisfying process that involves covering the image you’re trying to capture with your fingers and can result in motion blur. Camera Control also neatly organizes important photo settings in one place. For me, at least, that makes playing with things like depth of field much more inviting than when it’s spread across an on-screen interface.
(Side note: To my surprise, I found the Camera Control to be very useful when I attached my new iPhone to the location of my choice. With the bare iPhone, the button was tucked away on the edge of the phone and difficult to find quickly with my finger; inside the case, it sits in an easy-to-find location. The case also seemed to help me do very reliable light pressure: In his review of the iPhone 16. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber concluded that Camera Control is yet more proof that the best way to use the iPhone outside case.)
Even before you get to Camera Control, the iPhone 16 Pro’s photography specs check some pretty critical boxes that last year’s iPhone 15 Pro didn’t. It has 5X optical zoom, a feature that debuted with the jumbo-size iPhone 15 Pro Max. On the affordable iPhone 16 Pro, that zoom range will allow me to capture wildlife photos I’ve never attempted with a phone before. (I’ll also use it to photograph tech executives as I sit in the audience at key events, allowing me to leave my dSLR at home.) The resolution of the 16 Pro’s ultrawide camera is quadrupled to 48 megapixels, which is even more impressive if you remember. it’s also the camera the iPhone uses to take great photos.
I’m not saying I’ll never touch my Canon again. There’s still charm in the process of choosing a lens, attaching it, and figuring out how to achieve the shot I want by playing with light—no AI trickery required. And the SL3 can take hundreds of photos on a single charge. The iPhone can’t match that feat, at least not without the risk of being dragged down too much to do other tasks. If I happen to want to take a lot of iPhone photos—like when I’m traveling—I’ll try to remember to take out the external MagSafe battery pack.
Still, I couldn’t argue more with anyone who says the new iPhones don’t have major new features. After a few days with mine, I’m sure it’s the smartphone I’ve been waiting for since phones started getting good at photography.
You were reading Plugged In,fast company’A weekly tech newsletter from me, global tech editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this issue to you—or if you read it on FastCompany.com—you can check out past issues and sign up to receive it every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Email me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.
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