Here's how the new iPhone 8 Plus stacks up against a $9,000 camera

Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider

The specs for the new iPhone 8 Plus' camera sound enticing — it's one of the most highly touted improvements  on the phone.

But when I was given the chance to compare the new iPhone's camera to the $9,000 Hasselblad X1D digital medium-format camera, I couldn't say no.

While drawing a comparison between a Hasselblad camera that produces 51-megapixel image files and an iPhone that produces 12-megapixel image files might not be totally fair (internally, they rely on different technology to capture a photo), I wanted to see how this incredibly expensive equipment held up when it came to taking everyday, tourist-type photographs.

I wanted to answer the question: when it comes to photographing your next vacation, is it worth investing in one of the best new cameras on the market, or should you stick with your iPhone?

I went to photograph Chinatown — one of my favorite New York City neighborhoods because of its vibrant colors and always-busy streets — to find out.

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