iPhone 7 camera gets ‘Shot on iPhone’ photogs drooling

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This photo by Flavio Sarescia was part of the original
This photo by Flavio Sarescia was part of the original "Shot on iPhone 6" campaign. Sarescia and others from the campaign eagerly upgraded to the iPhone 7 Plus.
Photo: Flavio Sarescia/Apple

Their photography on the iPhone 6 and 6s was celebrated by Apple with glossy magazine ads, billboards and banners that stretched down skyscrapers.

But the photographers whose work fueled the “Shot on iPhone 6” marketing campaign are trading in the old technology for the shiny new iPhone 7, in most cases the dual-lens 7 Plus.

Before whipping out their credit cards for pre-order, some of the photographers whose work were featured in Apple’s iPhone 6 World Gallery pow-wowed on social media for advice on which model to buy.

“For me, it is a no-brainer,” iPhone shooter Brendan Ó Sé of Ireland wrote on Twitter. “If you’re into photography on an iPhone, you have to have the best. 7+=best.”

Two lenses better than one

Apple rolled out the iPhone 7 Wednesday and, as rumored, the 7 Plus was designed to appeal to serious photographers with two lens – one an optical zoom – a larger sensor for better low-light photography and an eventual software upgrade that will include the option to blur the background of photos.

iphone 7 plus camera
The dual-lens iPhone 7 Plus has photographers excited.

Photo: Apple

Many of the photographers from Apple’s marketing campaign grew close through social media, exchanging pictures of each others’ work found in advertising around the world. The conversation was published on the blog of Cielo de la Paz, who has had a few photos and videos featured in Apple adds, including a self-portrait of her reflection holding a red umbrella in a rain puddle.

shot on iphone 6
Ceilo de la Paz made this reflective self portrait with an iPhone 6.

Photo: Cielo de la Paz/Apple

“The 2X optical zoom and the bokeh (a photographic term for the out-of-focus parts of an image) are the features I most excited about,” de la Paz told Cult of Mac. “I can finally zoom! And I can only imagine the awesome things that third-party apps will come up with.”

On the Plus side

Eight of the photographers – de la Paz, Ó Sé, Teppo Kotirinta, Jen Pollack Bianco, Michael Mainenti, Jason Ruby, Dusty Knapp and Flavio Sarescia – surveyed each other. All but Mainenti and Pollack Bianco got the 7 Plus with 256 GB of storage.

Pollack Bianco ordered both.

She is a globe-trotting travel writer and photographer and will find uses for both phones, she said.

“The 7 will be my primary phone,” Pollack Bianco told Cult of Mac. “It’s more portable. I travel a lot so two phones help me hedge my bets between two carriers with international coverage. Also, having both versions will allow me to play with video and stills in certain scenarios.”

Matte black was the most popular finish of the bunch, though de la Paz ordered hers in gold.

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