On October 18, 2021, Apple held an online “Unleashed” event where they introduced a “new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max chip, all-new AirPods, and HomePod mini in five bold colors.” On the same day, Apple quietly released an “official” Polishing Cloth as an accessory that was available on the website for $19.
Apple describes the product:
“Made with soft, nonabrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively.”
In addition to the product description, Apple provided a long list of models under the Compatibility header including iPhone models back to the iPhone SE (1st generation), iPad models back to the iPad mini (1st generation), Mac models back to iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 – 2015), all Apple Watch models back Apple Watch 1st generation, iPod models back to iPod shuffle (4th generation), and the Display model Pro Display XDR.
Originally, this Polishing Cloth was included only with the Pro Display XDR that was sold with Standard glass for $4,999 or Nano-texture glass for $5,999.
Apple specified on its support website, “If your Apple Pro Display XDR has nano-texture glass, clean it using only the included polishing cloth.” On the interior of the package, an included cardboard insert explains that the cloth is “Safe for use on all Apple displays and surfaces. For infrequent cleaning of hard-to-remove smudges on nano-texture glass, a 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) solution may be used.”
Soon after the Polishing Cloth was posted on Apple’s site, various tech bloggers began writing tongue-in-cheek articles about the $19 cloth. The articles included reviews, announcements, and even a “tear-down” from the website iFixIt. Some example articles included:
The original blogger who “broke” the story on October 19, 2021, (at 9:55AM) was Victoria Song on Engadget: Apple Wants You to Pay How Much for a Polishing Cloth?! Two weeks later, she proclaimed in a follow-up article, “The Apple Polishing Cloth Is Everything Wrong With Society” where she acknowledged “It was a fun bit, but like many things, it spiraled out of control.”
My testing reveals that this Polishing Cloth functions as described.
Shortly after I received my iPhone 13 Pro that included several new impressive camera upgrades, I wondered if the iPhone camera system had yet improved to the point that it could meet or exceed my Nikon D3500 for my Apple collection photography. While I am by no means a professional-level photographer, I have captured tens of thousands photos of my Apple hardware and collectibles over the past few years, and then edited and posted the results here on my Apple Collection website and blog.
Nearly all the photos on this website were captured with a Nikon D3500 with a basic lens. In fact, it took me about a year to learn how to use this camera—my first Digital SLR. I consulted several websites, a book, and YouTube videos to learn the many methods I now use regularly. I shoot the photos in my relatively low-cost home photography studio. While I originally set out to spend less than $100 on the lighting, backdrop, and table, I upgraded my lighting after two years to bring the total investment to about $150.
As an Apple Collector, I find the idea attractive to use an Apple camera to capture my Apple collection, but this has never been a goal. I decided to shoot photos of one collection item with both the iPhone 13 Pro and the Nikon D3500. The item selected was my recently purchased iPad Pro 11-inch with the M1 chip. The photo session includes the unboxing and the device.
Here’s what I learned.
Device Flexibility
At first, using the iPhone 13 Pro seemed more liberating than the Nikon D3500 because shooting with a phone seemed a bit more nimble than the larger camera. The iPhone screen is considerably larger than the Nikon’s viewfinder and display—and the iPhone shows a better representation of the subject in real time, especially when viewing the depth of field effects rendered with the iPhone 13 Pro.
I changed my mind when I started using the iPhone 13 Pro’s touted Macro features. As it turns out, when you get close to an object with the iPhone 13 Pro, the phone casts a shadow from the studio lights, making the photos nearly unusable without readjusting all my lighting. On the Nikon, I just twist to zoom the lens. While I generally don’t capture many Macro shots, I’d definitely consider adding more if it was easy to do so.
That being said, a few of the Macro shots I captured from the iPhone 13 Pro were impressive after a bit of light fussing.
Macro Lens Issue
When the initial reviews for the iPhone 13 Pro started getting posted, I read about one particular problem with incredulity—the issue of the iPhone camera switching frames when moving between the “regular” camera lens and the Macro lens. Very often, reviewers over-state issues as major problems that turn out to be very minor annoyances. Unfortunately, this is not one of those times.
Reviewer Raymond Wong for inputmag.com states the issue well: “…if you have your iPhone 13 Pro camera set to the 1x wide camera and place an object or a subject within 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) of it, the viewfinder will maintain the 1x framing/composition but use the ultrawide’s close-range autofocusing in tandem. You can literally see the viewfinder flicker/pop and ‘switch’ to this hybrid viewfinder.”
In my experience, Mr. Wong may have understated this problem. When I attempted to frame my Macro shots, I moved the lens to the 2cm zone where I expected the Macro feature to engage, and the iPhone not only reframed my shot, but when the lens changed, I was unable to re-locate the part of the subject I wanted to capture.
How does this happen, you might ask?
If you are shooting, for instance, the overall texture of a surface, getting 2cm from the surface and having the camera system switch to a different lens is not much an issue since the surface you are shooting covers the area still viewable by all the camera lenses. However, if you are attempting to photograph a detail that’s just a few millimeters wide, getting the lens within 2cm and then having then lens switch to a different lens that’s about 2cm away, you have now lost your subject! Most of the time, I couldn’t find the subject again—AND the lenses kept switching as I was attempting to re-locate the subject.
IT WAS INFURIATING, but Apple claims to have a fix for this coming.
Lighting
For both photo shoots, I used the exact same lighting comprised of my three lighting sources: two bright daylight CFL studio lighting bulbs behind a filter (the primary lighting source), two non-filtered daylight CFL studio lighting bulbs providing mostly indirect lighting on the white backdrop, and two LED bulbs providing a “wash” from below my white backdrop. I occasionally use these old LED Philips Hue bulbs to provide a color wash on the backdrop, but they mostly are set to a pure white to match the studio lighting bulbs.
Despite the fact that the lighting was exactly the same for both cameras, the iPhone 12 Pro photos delivered very inconsistent backgrounds compared to the Nikon D3500.
Far more concerning to me, the iPhone 13 Pro captured the light from the Hue bulbs differently in every shot. Although the bulbs are set to pure white, the iPhone somehow captured the cycling individual colors of the LED bulbs. One shot shows this in detail where the background shows color bands of yellow, pink, and blue in distinct stripes of color. At the same time, all lighting looked far darker on the iPhone 13 Pro.
When editing, the only way to remove these odd colorations was to either greatly desaturate the iPhone photos or switch them to black-and-white. To be fair, the Nikon is not blameless in casting odd colors. However, when the D3500 casts color, it is usually yellow—it has never delivered color bands or multiple color casts in the same photo.
Surprise and Delight
When I set out to try the iPhone 13 Pro camera, I was thinking about capturing photos, not using the other features offered by the iPhone 13 Pro and iOS 15. One particular feature truly surprised and delighted me: Live Text.
As I shot the packaging for the iPad 11 Pro, the iPhone’s new Live Text feature immediately “read” and displayed the text on the box—and interpreted the printed text perfectly. Since my collection includes mostly old Apple items that may no longer be online (or difficult to find), my sources are sometimes limited to what’s printed on a box or included in a manual. The iOS 15 Live Text feature allows me to capture a photo of any text and instantly have the ability to select, copy, and paste the text from my photo and use it in my accompanying blog post. Live Text will save countless hours in the future when photographing new items when only printed information is available.
Incidentally, Live Text also perfectly interpreted a printed serial number. I capture serial numbers for every item in my collection, and I dread doing so since they are generally difficult to read and prone to transposition errors. This will make the activity far more palatable.
I was not expecting to consider using Live Text, and the feature is exceptionally useful.
Photo Quality
When comparing the photos from the two camera devices, the overall photo quality is the most important aspect of this exercise. I am surprised by the significant differences between the devices.
While the iPhone 13 Pro photos show an impressive sharpness, that sharpness appears unnatural to me. All the photos appear to use a mechanical-looking pixel pattern compared to the more natural look of the Nikon. The unnatural pixelation is especially obvious in the Macro shots.
Overall, my opinion is that the Nikon D3500 photos look better than the iPhone 13 Pro photos.
Verdict
I will continue to use the Nikon D3500 for my primary Apple Collection photography.
That being said, I will definitely reach for the iPhone 13 Pro when I want a Macro shot to add to my blog post. Similarly, when shooting older product packaging and/or manuals, I will use the iPhone’s Live Text features to grab the text so I don’t have to retype it.
Overall, this verdict is neither surprising nor disappointing to me. I have always had a “pick the right tool for the job” mindset, and this situation is no different.
To see the “official” photo shoot for the iPad Pro 11 (2021) in my collection, please see this post. The photos I captured with the iPhone 13 Pro are shown below in this post.
Thanks
Sincere thanks to my friend Sid for suggesting this comparison! I learned a lot here.
This iPad Smart Folio was released in Electric Orange along with the Generation 3, 11-inch iPad Pro. This folio was also compatible with the Generation 1 and 2 11-inch iPad Pro models. Apple describes the Smart Folio for iPad Pro:
“The Smart Folio for iPad Pro is thin and light and offers front and back protection for your device. It automatically wakes your iPad when opened and puts it to sleep when closed. The Smart Folio attaches magnetically, and you can easily fold it into different positions to create a stand for reading, viewing, typing, or making FaceTime calls.”
In addition to black and white, this version of the Smart Folio for iPad Pro was also available in English Lavender, Dark Navy, Mallard Green, and this color called Electric Orange.
Unlike previous Smart Cover models for iPad, this Smart Folio offers front and back protection using the iPad Pro internal magnets. The front cover folds to allow two different angles, and also folds with the magnets to allow a completely flat position.
Finally, since this iPad is compatible with the Apple Pencil Generation 2, the Smart Folio allows the Apple Pencil to magnetically attach to the side of the iPad for storage and charging.
The Generation 3, 11-inch iPad Pro appears the same externally as its two predecessors, but uses Apple’s significantly faster M1 chip and adds an enhanced front camera. This iPad Pro featured an Apple M1 chip with an 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores along with a 16-core Neural Engine. The iPad Pro website boasts that this model is “Supercharged by the Apple M1 chip” with “Mind-blowing performance.”
Apple adds:
“With M1, iPad Pro is the fastest device of its kind. It’s designed to take full advantage of next‑level performance and custom technologies like the advanced image signal processor and unified memory architecture of M1. And with the incredible power efficiency of M1, iPad Pro is still thin and light with all‑day battery life, making it as portable as it is powerful.”
This iPad Pro 11-inch uses an LED-backlit 2388×1668 Liquid Retina display (264 ppi, 600 nits) with a thin black bezel with rounded corners and flat sides. This iPad is Space Gray, and it was also available in Silver. This 128GB models used 8GB RAM (as did the 256 and 512 GB options, while the 1 and 2 TB models used 16 GB of RAM).
This iPad Pro included a USB-C port (Thunderbolt/USB 4) for charging and wired connectivity. Wireless connectivity included 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Cellular models were also available.
The 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera was the first iPad camera to offer the Center Stage feature that automatically keeps people in the camera frame by zooming and panning. Its two rear cameras included a 12-megapixel wide angle and a 10-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens.
Like iPhone Pro models of the time, this iPad Pro also included LiDAR and Face ID. It could also use a Generation 2 Apple Pencil that charged using a magnetic connection on the side of the iPad. A similar iPad Pro with a 12.9-inch screen was sold at the same time as this 11-inch model.
The iPhone 13 Pro was released in 2021 and featured upgrades to the previous iPhone 12 models, mostly in camera technology and battery life. Its display used a 6.1-inch (diagonal) Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion (2532-by-1170-pixel resolution at 460 ppi).
Upon release, the iPhone 13 Pro used Apple’s then-current A15 Bionic chip and included a 12MP camera system with three cameras: Telephoto, Wide, and Ultra Wide. The cameras allowed 3x optical zoom in, 2x optical zoom out, and 6x optical zoom range with a digital zoom up to 15x. This iPhone added the ability for “Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field (1080p at 30 fps).” It also added the ability to capture Macro photography:
“With its redesigned lens and powerful autofocus system, the new Ultra Wide camera can focus at just 2 cm — making even the smallest details seem epic. Transform a leaf into abstract art. Capture a caterpillar’s fuzz. Magnify a dewdrop. The beauty of tiny awaits.”
For the first time, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offered identical technical specifications—previous Pro Max models offered additional technical capabilities over the smaller Pro model. However, the Pro Max offered slightly longer battery life (due to its increased size), and a larger screen.
The iPhone 13 Pro measured 2.82 inches wide, 5.78 inches high, and 0.30 inch deep. It weighed 7.19 ounces. The size and weight specifications made the phone slightly larger and heavier than its iPhone 12 predecessors.
Apple marketed the iPhone 13 Pro with the following headlines:
“A dramatically more powerful camera system. A display so responsive, every interaction feels new again. The world’s fastest smartphone chip. Exceptional durability. And a huge leap in battery life. Let’s Pro.”
Further, well over half of the iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max main web page was devoted to new camera and video features.
The iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max was offered in four colors including Sierra Blue, Silver, Gold, and Graphite. Capacities included 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and (for the first time in an iPhone) 1TB—an option that cost $500 over the price of the base model.
The iPhone 13 Pro Clear Case with MagSafe was designed for the iPhone 13 Pro to provide a case that was “Thin, light, and easy to grip…” and to highlight the “brilliant colored finish of iPhone 13 Pro while providing extra protection.” Although the case had no seams, it used a “combination of materials including optically clear polycarbonate and flexible materials.”
The built-in MagSafe allowed the iPhone’s MagSafe capabilities to extend through the case and function optimally with charging and accessories. Apple described the experience as:
“…magical attach experience and faster wireless charging, every time. When it’s time to charge, just leave the case on your iPhone and snap on your MagSafe charger, or set it on your Qi-certified charger.”
This example here is shown along with the iPhone 13 Pro in Sierra Blue.
These wireless headphones are branded as Beats. The company Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) describes itself as a “leading audio brand founded in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine…Beats was acquired by Apple Inc. in July 2014.”
The headphones offer up to 12 hours of playback and the magnet is designed to keep “Beats Flex tangle-free as they easily coil up into your pocket or purse.” The audio technology is described on the Apple website:
“Beats Flex employs a dual-chamber acoustic design and a proprietary layered driver to achieve outstanding stereo separation with rich and precise bass response. Laser cut micro-venting provides ear pressure relief, and the optimized driver angle ensures clear, crisp sound. An advanced digital processor fine-tunes your audio for an accurate and emotive listening experience.”
The headphones use a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, and include eartips with four size options. They were available in Flame Blue, Beat Black, Smoke Gray, and the Yuzu Yellow color of this set.
The Nike Sport Loop band was woven from nylon thread to create a hook-and-loop closure. These bands were available for the 41mm and 45mm Apple Watch models, and were offered in sizes to fit 130–200mm wrists and 145–220mm wrists . The bands also fit older Apple Watch sizes of 38mm/42mm and 40mm/44mm.
This Black band used a base color of black (it could also be called dark gray) and had the word NIKE woven into the design around the outer band and the NIKE “swoosh” on the part of the band with the hook-and-loop closure on the back. The connector plastics were black to match the base color of the band.
Apple described the Nike Sport Loop band:
“Breathable and lightweight, the Nike Sport Loop is designed for fitness. It’s made from a soft nylon weave featuring the iconic Nike swoosh. A hook-and-loop fastener makes for quick and easy adjustment, and dense loops on the skin side provide soft cushioning while allowing moisture to escape. On the reverse side, the attachment loops are securely anchored for superior durability.”
The Apple Watch Sport Band was made from a flexible rubber material called fluoroelastomer with a metal pin closure. Sizes ranged from S/M, M/L, or L/XL. When purchasing an Apple Watch Sport Band, the S/M and M/L sizes are included in the box, allowing the band to fit wrists 140–210 mm.
Apple described the Apple Watch Sport band:
“Made from a custom high-performance fluoroelastomer, the Sport Band is durable and strong, yet surprisingly soft. The smooth, dense material drapes elegantly across your wrist and feels comfortable next to your skin. An innovative pin-and-tuck closure ensures a clean fit.”
This version of the Midnight Blue (Generation 1) Apple Watch Sport Band includes a gold pin to match the gold Apple Watch models of the time. Alternate versions of the band had a silver and a rose gold pin.
This band did not come in Apple’s retail packaging. It was purchased from a website that sold Apple replacement parts and used Apple’s OEM packaging.
This set of “Special Tools and Fixtures” are Apple repair components custom-designed to fix the Mac Pro (Late 2013). The parts are named and described in an Apple repair document. According to the document, the parts are named:
Core Cradle (made from a large block of black foam)
Core End Caps (2 identical parts made from clear acrylic)
CPU Riser Cover (made from ITW Formex)
Roof Alignment Fixture (made from a ring of black foam)
I/O Wall Stand (made from a small block of black foam)
Foam block (a small square block of black foam)
The parts are used in the following ways:
The two Core End Caps are inserted into the Core Cradle to support the Mac Pro core assembly, the triangular core of the computer. For some repairs, the Core Cradle is used without the Core End Caps.
The CPU Riser Cover is used as a protective spacer when performing certain repairs (e.g., installation of the I/O and power supply assembly).
The guide specifies that the Roof Alignment Fixture is necessary when servicing the logic board, inlet, and the roof of the Mac Pro core.
When the outer case is removed, Apple recommends laying computer on its side while removing and inserting DIMMs. Using the I/O Wall Stand keeps the inside of the Mac Pro from rocking.
The Foam Block is used when tilting the core assembly into the exhaust assembly or removing other parts of the core assembly (e.g., I/O and power supply assembly) to allow the parts to rest and preventing strain on cables.
Coincidentally, the company that made the Formex material of the CPU Riser Cover is ITW, Illinois Tool Works, based in Glenview, Illinois—a Chicago suburb close to where I live.
