The last time I posted photos of the monkeys At Ocean Riviera Paradise, the monkeys were shot with my old Sony A7R II and a Sony 24-240mm lens. If you look at that first post, I don’t think an argument can be made that the iPhone 16 Pro even comes close to the quality. The depth of field, dynamic range, and details are far superior. However, the iPhone can fit in my shorts pockets, so it wins in the portability department. Could I have shot better photos with my Sony A1? There’s no question I could have. The best camera isn’t the one I had with me. But it’s good enough. Now, throw some AI upscaling into the mix, and things may take on a new light.

The screenshot above is from Topaz Gigapixel AI, which now has new features to add realistic details to low-resolution images. You can see the absence of fine details in the iPhone 16 Pro 5x lens capture. The 5x lens only captures 12 megapixels. All of the Sony A7R ii images were captured at 42 megapixels. Now, take a look at the image below. This was upscaled by a factor of two and then cropped further to give the impression of a more significant zoom factor.

You see the added detail and the increased clarity in the eyes of the approaching Monkey. This is only going to get better and better. AI upscaling will undoubtedly be built into future smartphone camera systems. For now, I’m content with the ability to have a “good enough” camera with me wherever I go. The rest of the images of the monkeys have not been upscaled. 🙂

Jeff Turner

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