iPhone 7 is stunningly amazing at low-light photography

These are just some teasers. Serenity took shots with both iPhones 7 and last year's iPhones 6s, and she's working on a big comparison for later in the week. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few snaps I took with the 4.7-inch iPhone 7. I originally posted them on Instagram last night and several people were blown away enough to accelerate their upgrade plans. If you have the same reaction, I wanted to give you enough time to do something about it.

That these are iPhone 7 and not iPhone 7 Plus shots shouldn't really matter. This year both phones share identical optically image stabilized, 12 megapixel f/1.8 wide angle cameras on the back. iPhone 7 Plus has a non-OIS, 12 megapixel f/2.8 telephoto lens as well, but that doesn't involve itself in extreme low light photography.

So, here are a few sample images.

Many of the lights on the bridge weren't on, so it was very, very dark most of the time. Much darker than these photos convey. None of these photos have been filtered, enhanced, or edited in any way either, though our server will resize them to fit the page. I also didn't stop and try to frame or steady the images perfectly, or take a bunch of shots trying to get each one just right. In cases where I did take multiples or bursts, I picked one at random from the camera roll.

I simply wanted to see if I could walk and shoot in the middle of the night without having to fuss about it, and what the results would be. You know, like a tourist.

If you have access to a 9.7-inch iPad Pro or 2015 iMac with Retina 5K display, you'll be able to enjoy them in DCI-P3 wide color gamut — because that's what iPhone 7 captures in as well. Enjoy!

And if you want to join us as we run around doing all our tests, follow @settern and @reneritchie and keep a look out for our hashtag, #iphone7adventures

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.