I currently have an iPhone 6 and although the camera is good I still tend to use my DSLR for blog photos and even for Instagram pictures most of the time. But carrying a bulky DSLR around all the time is a pain and so I don’t always get the pictures I’d like. So when the fabulous people at Three sent me a shiny new iPhone 8 Plus to try out I was keen to see if the camera really was good enough to permanently replace my DSLR.

Before we get onto the camera though I just wanted to tell you a little bit about how easy it was to set up the new iPhone. I’m sure when I upgraded from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 6 I had to faff about plugging them both into my laptop, backing up to the Cloud through iTunes, and being terrified that I would end up losing half my photos or other data. That has all changed now though. I turned on the iPhone 8 Plus, it asked me if I had another iPhone or iPad running iOS 11 and all I had to do was put the two phones next to each other. Everything from my own phone transferred to the new one, even down to apps staying logged in. The only things I had to re-authorise were my banking apps, which I guess makes sense. The whole time I was running both phones they synced together so all the data, photos, app updates and everything was the same on both phones.

Once I had got the new iPhone 8 Plus up and running with a Pay As You Go SIM from Three it was time to put it to the test. My immediate impression was that the screen felt more responsive than my iPhone 6, it was faster at doing everything, and even though it was the Plus it didn’t feel too big in my hand. So far so good but the big test was the camera.

I first got a chance to try out the camera when I went to BlogCamp On Board, on a cruise ship in Southampton. I didn’t want to carry the DSLR around all day so I was hoping the iPhone 8 Plus was up to the job of capturing my day. Here are just a few of the pictures I took on board. These haven’t been edited at all, this is how they came straight off the phone…

The depth of field effect is just an effect in the ‘Portrait’ mode, and the phone also saves the unedited picture at the same time. I think it’s pretty effective though, certainly to the untrained eye.

The front facing selfie camera is also better on the iPhone 8 Plus, it takes much clearer pictures and video than my iPhone 6.

The portrait mode also coped well with low autumn light in the house…

I got some really clear outdoor shots even though it was grey and rainy when we went to see my brother in Hebden Bridge a few weeks ago too.

You can definitely tell the difference in the sharpness of the images below – these were taken at the same time (well one after the other) using the forward facing cameras. Again I haven’t edited the images at all so the colours and everything is how they came out of the camera. To be honest I don’t use the selfie camera for taking pictures very often but I do use it for things like Instagram stories and so having a clear image is really important.

The iPhone 8 Plus camera probably didn’t cope as well in low light as the DSLR would. This picture of our cocktails on my night out in Chester last week came out pretty well though…

We went to a birthday party at a trampoline park the next day and unfortunately I didn’t really manage to get any clear pictures – a combination of low light and bouncing children meant that this one was about the best I got. To be fair though I don’t know if the DSLR would have done much better.

The trampoline party did give me a chance to try out the video capabilities of the iPhone 8 Plus and I was pretty impressed! You can see the short video I shot below…

So, in conclusion, do I think the iPhone 8 Plus could actually replace my DSLR? In all honesty, probably not entirely but it would definitely do a great job on a day out with the family. The main question is though, would I get one? For sure! I absolutely loved the iPhone 8 Plus – it was so much quicker than my iPhone 6, the battery lasted longer, the camera was better, and it just felt much more responsive than my old phone. Unfortunately I had to send the iPhone 8 Plus that I was using back to Three but I’m definitely going to get one as soon as I’m eligible for an upgrade.

 

**Disclosure: I was loaned an iPhone 8 Plus for a short period in order to write this post. As always all opinions are my own.