Phone cameras have gotten incredibly good over the past 5 years, but are their pictures printable? I wanted to find out, and the results blew me away.
I made one Full comparison of my iPhone 13 Pro with my Canon R5 under different conditions and settings. I highly recommend checking out that article to see my real-world comparisons and editing methods. We’ll use an image from that article for this comparison. The short summary is that I tried to capture real-world images while in the field and then edit Canon R5 first images and push them the way I usually do. I then tried to match the iPhone images to those, which pushed some images in the process.
The results from that whole comparison are very impressive, but there is an overwhelming response that images can be obtained for online consumption but not anything professional. I wanted to test that out and see how big of a print we can get these images out.
Method
Regardless of which camera you are printing from, you may need to increase the resolution of the image before sending it out for printing. For example, mine Canon R5 produces images that can be printed as large as 27 x 18 inches at 300 dpi natively, which means that if I want to print larger, such as 24” x 36”, the standard US poster size, I need to enlarge them. This is standard practice in photography and is exactly what I did for the images from both my camera and phone.
I’ve used ON1 Resize and upscale both images to 24 x 36 inches; that’s 10,800 x 7,200 pixels at 300 dpi. This should help make up for the lack of resolution that the iPhone 13 Pro has, but not a “cheat” button to suddenly make the image smaller in full detail. The upscaled images still have a clear difference in detail that you can see when zoomed in to 100% in the comparison above. Programs like ON1 Resize use AI and computational learning to enhance images. This will give better results than simply scaling the image to a larger canvas in Photoshop or exporting at a larger resolution in Lightroom.
I chose this shot from the original comparison shot because it’s the most dynamic, has the most detail, and it’s harder on an iPhone. I specifically had to push the dynamic range and noise floor in this particular image quite far, as you will see in the resulting printout. I printed three sizes: 8 x 12, 16 x 24 and 24 x 36 inches. I printed these by The Print Space, who kindly sent them to me for free. They are printed as C-Type prints on the Fuji Matte.
Result
Let’s just dive into what you’re here for, poster-sized prints. The results are quite impressive and, of course, there is a difference in quality. When you get close enough, especially when you’re comparing two prints side by side. There are more details in Canon R5 shoot. Looking closer at the clouds, ISO noise becomes more apparent. If you look more closely at the light on the fence, you can see the noise visible. Grass is almost unidentified. This is all somewhat expected.
The question is: how much does it matter from a normal viewing distance? If you imagined there was a piece of glass in front of the print, along with a reasonable two to three feet of viewing distance, you would never have guessed this print was taken from an iPhone. Remember that the majority of people who buy your artwork or prints won’t see all of the little details you see. They don’t examine every inch with a magnifying glass.
My final lesson here is that at this size, I wouldn’t professionally sell a print from my phone. But I will print it for myself or my own home. This says a lot, because I have a lot of larger images that I can choose from, but if I capture a beautiful moment on my phone, I can print it without a second thought. more. If you’re reading this and wondering if you can make large prints like this from your phone, give it a try. I think you will be impressed.
Now, for the remaining two sizes. It only gets better from here. At 16 x 24 inches, you’ll be able to print at this size like a pro. I actually think I can professionally print some images from my phone at this size – not this particular image but a slightly cleaner image with less noise and shadow detail better blur. I had to push this shot too far during the editing process, so the noise level is higher than I would like at this size. Drop to 8 x 12 inches through, and that’s a no-brainer. I could easily sell professionally taken pictures of this size with my phone.
Conclusion
When I refer to a professional print, I am referring to something that I qualify as detailed and sophisticated enough to sell to a client. I’m very particular and detail-oriented when it comes to print. I tend to look at my work meticulously, sometimes with flaws, always trying to accomplish something I’m proud of. So when I say I can see myself printing and selling images at up to 16 x 24 inches taken from my phone, that’s hugely impressive. If you want an obvious real-world comparison, head to your local home decor store and find their generic wall art prints that are roughly the size of a poster. The detail in those pieces is considerably less than in prints you can make out of pictures taken with your phone. People decorate their walls with those all the time, it’s a reminder that the majority of customers who buy your work don’t see things under a microscope and that’s about the work as a whole.
Overall, these results are better than I expected, but what’s most exciting about it for me is a reminder of how accessible photography has become over the past 10 years. The more people who can learn, practice and produce photography without barriers to entry is a great place to be. Try printing something from your phone. I’d love to hear about your results!
