Since I got my iPhone 17 Pro Max I have thought about using it for some filming, video blog type things. I know I could do that selfie thing and hold the camera in my hand, but I also wanted to do some pieces to camera, where I am not holding the phone.
I looked online and decided to get a tripod mount for the phone, I already have a tripod, so this would be something I could use with that.
Apple started back in 1976, though I am old enough to remember 1976, my personal history with Apple begins half way through their fifty year history in 2001.
I have already written about my computing for personal and professional reasons, the iPad, and the iPod; this post is about the iPhone.
I have used a range of iPhones over the years, some through work and those that I bought for personal use.
I now have an iPhone 17 Pro Max and the main use case I got for this was the photographic capabilities which have made dramatic improvements over the years.
I have also used the iPhone 13. It’s interesting that in the early iterations of the iPhone there was often very good reasons for upgrading, with the more recent versions, the improvements have been marginal at best. You notice the improvements when jumping from something like the 13 to the 17.
I didn’t buy the first version of the iPhone, mainly as it didn’t have 3G, which I felt was important for how I was using a phone.
I did get the iPhone 3GS. I liked it, but it was a secondary phone and I kept the Google Nexus One going for a few years.
Through work I then got an iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 is what the iPhone should have been from day one. Finally, the iPhone came of age. It is one of the best phones I have ever used. The camera was better than ever before, and the phone also came with a front facing camera. At the time the iPhone 4 was one of the best phones I had ever used, and I was really pleased with it.
My next iPhone was the iPhone 5S. I also had a work phone in the iPhone 6 Plus for a while, and I replaced my dependable Google Nexus One with an iPhone 6S Plus. Later in a different job I had the iPhone 8, but the iPhone 6S Plus kept me going for a few years.
I then had an iPhone 13 for a few years, but now I have the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which I am hoping will last a few years.
I recently upgraded my phone to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, I went with this model for two core reasons, one was the bigger screen, I like a phone with a big screen, two was the photographic capabilities of the Pro Max compared to the other phones in the 17 range.
The power of the iPhone camera system gives you a wide range of focal lengths with exceptional framing flexibility — from sharp close‑ups to sweeping wide shots that let you capture more of a scene without stepping back. And get up close like never before with 8x optical-quality zoom on iPhone 17 Pro — the longest zoom ever on an iPhone.
The 17 Pro Max has the following capabilities:
48MP Pro Fusion camera system
48MP Fusion Main
48MP Fusion Ultra Wide
48MP Fusion Telephoto
Compare that to the standard 17 which has:
48MP Pro Fusion camera system
48MP Fusion Main
48MP Fusion Ultra Wide
The iPhone Air and the iPhone 17e have the following:
48MP Fusion camera system
48MP Fusion Main
Over the years I have made extensive use of the ultra wide capability on my old iPhone, but one thing I missed was an optical telephoto lens. I knew I could zoom in digitally, but that wasn’t the same as using a telephoto lens.
So, I did want to give it a go, so when I was down on Weston beach I took a photograph of the Grand Pier.
Then I zoomed in…
Now this isn’t even the full zoom, but I was impressed with the results.
