We've reached a point in photography where basically every camera can take great images, so does skill simply not matter anymore?
In this video, we put that question to the test. I'm a professional landscape photographer, and my partner, Sophia, would consider herself a novice. What happens if you give her a professional-level camera and stick me with just an iPhone 16 Pro? We spent over a week putting that question to the test with a photo competition that challenged both in a myriad of ways, especially when it wasn't possible to get out and shoot.
There are a few rules for this competition, though, to try and keep it fair:
- No editing allowed: The inability to edit images means you have to spend a lot more time on your shots as you take them. Both the iPhone 16 Pro and Fujifilm X100VI have filters that we utilized. You'll see I struggled with this quite a bit. If editing was allowed, it would be completely unfair to Sophia, who doesn't know how to edit. However, this also means I couldn't even fix my horizon lines if they weren't straight!
- Single lens: Simple—Sophia's Fujifilm X100VI only has a single lens.
- Auto settings (EV adjustments are okay): Sophia, being new to photography, still doesn't quite know the exposure triangle, so we stuck with automatic settings. This actually likely benefited the iPhone 16 Pro since it always shoots in auto!
- Only pick 5 favorites at the end: I went over this limit, but for a good reason!
At the end, you'll have to decide who had the better photos, but I can confidently say that the experience of the camera you're shooting on absolutely makes a difference.
