An Unfair Comparison
I get this question all the times, “why use a professional camera when you can use an iPhone?” The answer is simple, there is a huge difference between the two of them. Indeed it can save a lot of money to use an iPhone instead of buying all the nice equipment such as a Sony a7S III which is $3,498 and if you add a Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II Lens which costs $2,298, that would bring up the total to $5,796 before taxes. On the other hand, an iPhone 12Pro 256GB is $849 before tax. So the comparison will be between a $5,796 VS $849 device. Here is an as accurate description about Sony a7s III VS iPhone 12Pro as possible.
Main Differences
Major area we will observe are sharpness, autofocus, bit rate, stabilization, recording capabilities, wide angles, and close up shots.
1. Sharpness
When taking a shot on both Sony a7S III & iPhone 12 Pro, the sharpness on Sony is much better than the iPhone 12 Pro. So, from the sharpness aspect, Sony wins.
2. Autofocus
When tested the autofocus, Sony a7S III had a much faster focus and kept the object in it, while on the other hand iPhone 12 Pro was much slower, and lost focus of the object multiple times.
3. Bitrate
This is also known as the number of bits per second. This generally determines the size and quality of the video and audio files. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality. On this aspect, again Sony wins with a higher bitrate than iPhone.
4. Stabilization
For my surprise this is a big win for iPhone 12Pro. If you hold both cameras and walk, iPhone will do a much better job at stabilizing the shots than Sony. That’s why Sony without a stabilizer is pretty hard to get those smooth shots.
5. Recording Capabilities
On here, you can record on both at 4k & 60 fps, which is amazing. The difference comes where you can record 4k & 120 fps (frames per second) on Sony a7S III, and only 1080 & 120 fps on iPhone. This is a pretty big difference and again, Sony wins.
6. Wide Angle
iPhone 12 Pro has the capability to select a wide angle (17mm), and if I use a lens on Sony a7S III to get it down to 17mm, Sony has a much clearer view than the iPhones which is pretty blurry. Sony wins on this one again.
7. Close up Shot
iPhone 12 Pro has the capability to zoom in (52mm), and if we add a lens on the Sony that can zoom in to the same mm, Sony’s view is again much clearer than the iPhones. Sony wins again.
Take Aways?
If you are interested in watching a video with all the points above and have the visuals, click HERE.
Overall, from all the points of observation, it seems like iPhone is better than Sony a7s III only on the stabilization aspect. On all the other points, a professional camera such as Sony a7s III in our case, wins by far. That is the reason I would call this an unfair comparison.
Needless to say the hard time iPhone gives you when you try to export the files on your laptop. On the other hand, Sony makes it so easy to download the footage on any devices. Another reason to have a professional camera.
Hope this article about Sony a7s III VS iPhone 12Pro was helpful. If anyone ever asks you some differences between a professional camera & an iPhone, you have a solid answer to give.
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