Professional photographer Stephan Wiesner puts the new iPhone 14 Pro through its paces

To take a closer look at the new product highlight from Apple, professional photographer Stephan Wiesner went to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg in search of various shooting opportunities. To be able to flexibly capture different motifs, he reports on which new smartphone functions were convincing and which photo accessories he used.

Powerful Camera Modes for Breathtaking Shots

The Action Mode is a major innovation on the iPhone that Wiesner immediately put to the test. The goal of this camera mode is to create smooth and almost shake-free video recordings. To test it under the best possible conditions, the professional photographer ran down a staircase and around a corner. Despite these circumstances, the result looked more than satisfactory. From the photographer's perspective, this function is also very exciting for upcoming vlogging uses, where one doesn't want to rely on an additional action cam.

Another exciting feature is the Cinematic Mode, which can be used for both the front and main cameras. Here too, the mode in 4K and 24 fps seemed to impress Wiesner in initial tests. Especially with the front camera, where the background is blurred in Cinematic Mode, the photographer noticed a significant improvement. Not only were the actual recordings in terms of sharpness more than satisfactory, but the white balance also convinced in different lighting situations. The wide-angle lens also produced razor-sharp images, even when people moved towards the camera.

In terms of photo capabilities, the iPhone 14 Pro with its 48-megapixel main camera is in no way inferior to video recordings. Wiesner quickly noticed that the smartphone had no problems with RAW recordings with strong backlighting at 12 megapixels. With four zoom levels across three lenses, the smartphone offers diverse options for taking pictures. It was particularly exciting for Stephan Wiesner that the shots showed hardly any blurriness even with strong magnification. This is complemented by the fact that even during blue hour or late twilight, the ISO noise was not really present in most results.

Perfectly Combined with Rollei Equipment Thanks to Smartphone Holder

To best tackle the various shooting situations, Stephan Wiesner used various smartphone equipment. Among them was the flexible compact tripod Rollei Monkey Pod 2, which was mainly used in vlogging style. For this, the photographer held the tripod in his hand and could thus attach an external microphone or, later in the day, a compact LED light above the smartphone via an optional smartphone holder.

Long exposures, or generally shake-free shots, were also no problem for him with the new iPhone 14 Pro. To achieve still photo shots in addition to Action Mode, he resorted to the carbon tripod Rollei C6i. He particularly likes that this travel tripod is compatible with the Smartphone Holder II, into which the device fits perfectly. In addition, this smartphone holder from the Rollei C6i can also be switched to the Rollei Monkey Pod, so that further accessories can be combined via the integrated hot shoe connection.

Conclusion on the iPhone 14 Pro

At the end of the test, the photographer was very impressed by the shots and the software with which the new iPhone handles various lighting situations. Most impressive was the sharpness of the different subjects. "With my Sony camera, I don't have as much play when zooming in," Wiesner emphasizes. The RAW files created are also super easy to edit afterwards and open up new creative possibilities in post-processing. In combination with other smartphone equipment, such as a travel tripod or a smartphone gimbal, even more can be gotten out of the device to achieve professional shots in everyday life.

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