>>4427822I use a "bad" phone (iphone SE, it was like $250) with halide. Ironically the "bad" phones default app makes for a better camera than the 16 pro. Halide just lets you shoot without auto sharpening and auto HDR for when that looks like shit or cant be avoided (protip: iphone panorama mode turns off a lot of it).
My mom bought the 16 pro and is always texting me horrendous AI nightmares where all the text in the background is turned into alien squiggles and any semi-fine detail is transformed into some lovecraft shit. And when she does I thank god I never fell for the smartphone consumerism meme. Meanwhile my dad bought the S4 ultra and is always texting me these awful photos where everything that moves is a weird static fog and everything is more sharpened than ken rockwell. I'm afraid they think these were good purchases, but i live 3 days away and they could be work phones. I've never asked.
Phone cameras even on the cheap shit are definitely going to get "better" (the test scenes they throw up for the keynote will have less noise) so this is probably the last smartphone I'm using the camera on
