iPhone 8 Plus and 7 Plus photos: What's the difference?

The iPhone 8 Plus has new larger camera sensors, a new processor and nifty new software tricks like Portrait Lighting Mode. But how much better is it than last year's 7 Plus?

Let's take a look.

Here are a handful of my favorite photos that I took with the 8 Plus.

I love the way the colors came out in this picture. It really makes that red Fiat 1100D pop.

It's hard to take a bad picture of a sunset over San Francisco when there's no fog.

Singer Camille Safiya taken in Portrait Lighting Mode - Natural Light.

Take a look at the detail of the books.

Here are a bunch of comparison pictures taken with both the 8 Plus and 7 Plus. First up: Stella the cat taken with the 8 Plus.

This 7 Plus photo looks good, but the one from the 8 Plus has more detail.

Notice her fur and how the 8 Plus photos has a wider dynamic range of color.

Dolores Park taken with the 8 Plus. Notice the color of the sky and grass.

Now Dolores Park taken with the 7 Plus.

It's really hard to tell the difference. If you look at the lettering on the building, it's a smidgen easier to read in the picture from the 8 Plus.

A cable car taken with the 8 Plus.

And now taken with the 7 Plus.

There is a little more contrast in the photo from the 8 Plus.

And here is a Portrait Mode photo taken by each phone. The one from the 8 Plus (right) pops a bit more than the 7 Plus (left).

Here are all five Portrait Lighting Mode effects on the 8 Plus side by side. From left to right: Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage and Stage Mono.

The hardest lighting effect to get to work correctly was Stage Light which blacks out the background.

It didn't work much better on inanimate objects.

But when it did work, like here on singer Xiomara, the results were gorgeous.

Here are a couple more Portrait Mode photos from the 8 Plus.

I was impressed with how the 8 Plus handled his curly hair.

Then there's flash photography. Flash pictures from the 7 Plus can have the classic red eye and hard white zombie skin look that make me never want to use a flash.

But the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X all have Slow Sync Flash. As seen here.

Slow Sync Flash keeps the shutter open longer making the background less dark. The flash blends in better. This is my favorite feature on the 8 Plus.

The 8 Plus can shoot slow motion video at 1080p 240fps vs. 120fps on the 7 Plus. The 240fps makes juggler Melanie Webster and her flying potatoes look even cooler. Check out this video to see the footage at full resolution.

The rest of this gallery are photos that I took with the 8 Plus like this quinoa waffle from Nourish Cafe.

I love the blue sky in this photo.

Overall, the 8 Plus is the best iPhone for photos and video. 

But in November the iPhone X comes out.

Internally it is exactly the same as the iPhone 8 Plus.

The rear cameras are the same, aside from the telephoto lens.

The iPhone X, improves the rear telephoto camera with a faster f/2.4 lens and adds optical image stabilization.

On paper, it should take even better photos and video than the 8 Plus.

But will the difference be drastic?

We'll have to wait and see.

For more on the differences between photos and videos from 8 Plus and 7 Plus, check out my in-depth comparison.