iPhone Pro and Noir Black and White Filter Review

Long story short, iPhone Pro and noir is great. No third party apps— just the default iPhone Pro shooting in Noir filter mode, and later with some processing in the built-in Photos app:

1. DETAILS

My first verdict:

iPhone Pro is truly “good enough” in terms of image quality, aesthetics, for artistic photography.

It can be used as your solo camera (if you desire).

2. Processing

iPhone Pro has TRULY GREAT in-camera processing tools (Apple Photos is phenomenal in terms of the capabilities).

My suggestion:

Don’t use third-party apps, just use the default apps.

Why? “It just works”. Also better integration with the whole Apple ecosystem.

Screenshots:

3. PHOTOS

The photos look very good. Not as good as RICOH GR III, but still very good!

4. Downsides of iPhone Pro

iPhone Pro with noir is great, but if you want the apex of monochrome, better to use RICOH GR II, RICOH GR III, or shoot black and white film.

For example, RICOH GR III default high contrast black and white JPEG mode gives you far “deeper blacks”, and far more dynamic range:

NYC Subway, 2019 #ricohgriii
Providence, 2019
Providence, 2019
Eugene, 2019 #ricohgriii #21mm
Berlin, 2019 #cindyproject
Berlin, 2019

Conclusion

If you love monochrome, stick to RICOH GR III. iPhone Pro is probably better for a general productivity device.

But what I’m interested and excited for is shooting more selfies on iPhone Pro.

Also further experimentation with iPhone, Noir mode, flash! Or selfies with flash in noir.