Canadian photographer and YouTuber Tyler Stalman is back with his annual deep dive into Apple’s latest Pro iPhone cameras, this time putting the iPhone 18 Pro through its paces. This comes on the day Apple’s media embargo lifted ahead of this Friday’s launch.
Stalman, who is based in Calgary, looks at the iPhone 18 Pro mostly as a camera rather than a phone, with a focus on the new variable aperture, Apple’s updated photo processing and changes aimed at more serious photographers and videographers.
The biggest hardware change this year is the new variable aperture on the main 1x camera. Apple has also made the lens faster, moving from f/1.8 to f/1.48, which can let in more light and help reduce noise in darker scenes. Stalman says the wider aperture also produces slightly more natural background blur, though he notes the difference is not dramatic.
The iPhone can automatically adjust the aperture depending on the scene, including how much light is available and how many subjects are in the frame. Users can also stop the lens down when they want more of a scene in focus.
Stalman also compared the iPhone 18 Pro against the iPhone 15 Pro, since he says many Pro iPhone owners tend to keep their phones for around three years. He notes that the ultrawide and telephoto systems have already received major upgrades over the past few generations, while this year’s biggest camera change is concentrated on the main lens.
Apple has also added more software tools aimed at photographers. New Photographic Styles controls include skin smoothing, glow, grain and halation effects designed to give images a more film-like look. Stalman compared the iPhone 18 Pro against real Portra 400 film and found Apple did a convincing job with grain and halation, but said the overall colour and contrast still did not fully match real film.
For the best results, he still prefers shooting in Apple ProRAW and editing images afterward in software such as Lightroom.
On the video side, Cinematic mode can now be applied after a regular video is recorded, while 60 fps capture has also been added. But Stalman says professionals looking for the best video quality should still use Apple Log instead of Cinematic mode.
He also highlighted the larger batteries and improved cooling in the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. Apple rates the iPhone 18 Pro for 36 hours of video playback, compared with 23 hours on the iPhone 15 Pro, although Stalman said he had not yet had enough time to fully test battery life himself.
Overall, Stalman describes the iPhone 18 Pro camera update as a collection of smaller hardware and software improvements rather than one massive leap, but says there are still some meaningful steps forward for photographers.
You can watch his full iPhone 18 Pro camera review below:
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