There is a smell of sausages, car exhaust, and late-season playoff hopes in the air as I cross the street towards the stadium. My ID, Kleenex, and an iPhone 14 Pro are included in the pack I carry across my chest. The roof of T-Mobile Park hangs open over the railway and I head towards an entrance with a few things on my agenda.

We like to keep things on-brand here in Seattle, so we encourage you to collect the flannel shirt my ticket entitles me to.

These two phones are the best you can buy right now. I am curious which camera feature sets I should use better over the course of the evening. The S22 Ultra takes a maximalist approach to photography, while the 14 Pro is more of a help. The 10x zoom on the Ultra has impressed me in the past but I am curious to see how it holds up with stadium lights and distant action on the field.

Buildings and a clock tower in downtown Seattle.
A 10x zoom lets you take advantage of some news views of downtown on the walk to the stadium. Taken with the S22 Ultra.

I like how the 14 Pro processes photos better than the S22. Is that enough to make it more useful? I don't know if I will be annoyed by its small zoom range. I would have brought more phones, but I can only carry this pack with me.

On top of that, theMariners are coming off a dismal road trip in which they lost a string of extremely winnable games, casting an all-too-familiar shadow of doubt on our chances of securing a wild card spot They can't afford to lose any more easy games in the last week of the season.

View from stadium over Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.
Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro. We may have the longest running playoff drought in professional sports, but hey, look at the views from the stadium!

The sun peeks through the "O" in T-Mobile for a short time. The S22 Ultra's 10x zoom allows me to get shots of the downtown skyline that the 14 Pro can't. It captures the detail of the noise reduction in the 14 Pro. I like how the 14 Pro handles the situation where the Ultra photos have Thomas Kinkade looking at them. Lose some and win others.

The S22 Ultra is on the right side.

Sometimes I like the Ultra and other times the 14 Pro. The results aren't very inspiring when you get a shot from the stands of a starting pitcher. Details are missing and highlights are not good. It is too difficult of a situation for this small sensor and lens.

I like the 2x portrait focal length of the 14 Pro more than the 1x or 3x options, but it cuts around her curly hair, so I took a picture of my friend with it. The S22 Ultra probably would have done better with subject isolation, but I didn't bother with it. I want to be impressed, but up against these conditions they are just not good enough.

<em>Taken with the Samsung S22 Ultra, 10x lens.</em><em>Taken with the Samsung S22 Ultra, 10x lens.</em><em>Taken with the Samsung S22 Ultra, 10x lens.</em><em>Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro, 3x lens.</em><em>Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro, 3x lens.</em><em>Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro in portrait mode.</em>

There is a 1/6th.

Taken with the Samsung S22 Ultra, 10x lens.

There is not a lot of excitement on the field. The rest of the team's offense is on the injured list as well. The Texas Rangers' pitching looked Cy Young-worthy as the Mariners manufactured zero runs and made them look like they were from another planet. If you don't understand what I'm saying, you should know that the game was disappointing as the score indicates.

I walked back to the light rail station with my phone and flannel in hand. There was a string of losses in late September, but that shouldn't affect the electric season. Who can expect a team to keep up a pace of come-from-behind wins all the way from start to finish in baseball?

I wouldn't have dreamed of using a phone to get these types of photos.

I was disappointed with the two phones I tried out that night. They are both small technological marvels in their own way. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of using a phone camera to take these types of pictures. Even though they didn't do well in this situation, I think they should be given more credit.

They should be at over $1,000 each. They struggle under these circumstances because nobody has figured out how to build a phone camera that can meet all of their needs. I have a new warm shirt to wear as I listen to the Mariners play through their remaining games from the comfort of home. When I attend a game in person, I may need to break out my camera and lens. I need to figure out a way to get it into that bag.