Austin Mann Reviews the iPhone 6 Plus’ Camera ⇥ austinmann.com

Okay, he reviewed it in Iceland, which is a bit like cheating for any camera review. But I’ll be damned if these are some of the best photos I’ve seen from any smartphone. Hell, these look better at typical viewing size than the photos from some point-and-shoots.

The improved low-light photography is what I’m really interested in, though. A few weeks ago, I went out stargazing with a couple of pals, and it was spectacular. To the west, the faint glow of the city lights; to the east, nothingness. Facing south was incredible: we saw the full band of the Milky Way streaking across an expanse that looked like it had more stars in it than sky. The calm was occasionally punctuated by the odd lightning strike in the distance.

Then, we turned around to face north, and were surprised to see an extremely vibrant band of Northern Lights, dancing across the sky. We stood in awe; though, because we’re photo geeks, we tried to take a couple of pictures on our phones. I had my 5S, and the best shot I got all night was this one:

Meanwhile, a friend of mine has a Nokia Lumia something-or-other and managed to get this gorgeous shot and this other pretty good one. I am very jealous of the camera in that phone.

Anyway, Mann’s review is great and you should read it like I did: with a gaping jaw.