It’s not an optical zoom, it’s just a feature that allows you to take pictures of things that are far away so that they appear closer. You know, like an optical zoom lens does.
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Apple Explains Why iPhone 15 Pro Max is Limited to 5x Optical Zoom
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Ugh.
When it comes to camera focal lengths, bigger number ≠ better. Bigger number = different. There are trade-offs. My phone has a “5x” lens. For photos of people, I think I’d be better off with a lens in the 2x to 3x range. For wildlife, sure, a longer zoom may be better.
Thanks, enlightening to say the least.I'd say that's because you get more if you pay more.
Very few actual photography "enthusiasts" have abandoned a dedicated camera for a smart phone. Point and shoot users are not enthusiasts.
Go to any dedicated photography forum, either online or in real life, and make that suggestion and be laughed out of the room. I realize we are on an Apple forum here so there is bias in pretending cellphones replace a dedicated full frame or crop frame camera, but you're way off base. Dedicated camera sales are growing, not shrinking. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1172711/forecast-of-digital-camera-sales-volume/
Not if you come from an iPhone SE 1st gen, it isn't!
Points of view, my friend, points of view.
No, not at all. But I'm sure your facial expression matches your avatar right now, as does mine.Isn't it?
The manufacturer of the lens is struggling to provide the volume, I read somewhere
Google has a LOT of flexibility with which parts they use. In total, they’ve sold around 30 million Pixel phones since their introduction. So, in any given year, they only have to have suppliers deliver 4-5 million parts for them to build their phones. Apple will ship 30 million iPhone 15’s before the new year. That drastically limits the technology that can possibly be in an iPhone.
I don't know why they can't stick to their own ideas. Samsung do this all the time. Have a good idea and then dumb it down to follow Apple. They will end up bringing it back at some point. This has been happening for years. They had a 12 inch tablet back in 2014. Scrapped it then saw Apple doing the larger pros and brought it back. There are so many examples. I would even argue that the S view cases were a spiritual pre-cursor to the dynamic island.
I'm sure, I don't appreciate dropping a half-assed best iPhone ever.
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Nope, my post was one of sarcasm and mockery of the futile nature of engineers trying to rationalize the manifesto of technologies progress.
This is a photo taken by a dedicated camera with a crop factor of 5.58. This means that the equivalent aperture is approximately f44. And is taken with a much smaller sensor than the one on the iPhone. So big aperture doesn’t mean uninteresting images. It is just limited the zoom range on the iPhone. But the existing telephoto lens of 5X is bright enough.
Much a do about nothing, it has it's pros & cons, most users use it once or twice a year and that includes myself.
In an interview with Numerama's Nicolas Lellouche, Apple's VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack explained why the iPhone 15 Pro Max's tetraprism lens system is limited to 5x optical zoom, instead of 10x like on Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra. The interview is in French, so quotes below are computer translated.
Apple says the Telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max features the company's most advanced camera stabilization system yet, with a combination of optical image stabilization and an autofocus 3D sensor-shift module. McCormack said the iPhone's 5x zoom lens can be stabilized "incredibly well" compared to a 10x lens.
"The 5x zoom is something that we can stabilize incredibly well," McCormack said in the interview. "If you look at the 10x zoom, unless you have the steadiest hands in the world or a tripod, it's really difficult to use."
Apple's senior director of iPhone product marketing Maxime Veron, who was also interviewed, added that the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 5x lens opens at ƒ/2.8, allowing for "excellent light management." By comparison, the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 10x lens has a ƒ/4.9 aperture. A lower aperture allows for more light to be captured by the camera's sensor, which can be especially beneficial for Night mode photos.
5x optical zoom is exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with the iPhone 15 Pro remaining limited to 3x optical zoom. It has been rumored that Apple plans to expand the tetraprism lens system to both iPhone 16 Pro models next year.
McCormack and Veron discuss the latest camera innovations on all iPhone 15 models in more detail in the Numerama interview. The devices launch Friday.
Article Link: Apple Explains Why iPhone 15 Pro Max is Limited to 5x Optical Zoom
I had almost convinced myself to upgrade, but early reviews show photos in various scenarios can be a hit or miss and the flares in low light are still very present, what's even more concerning, battery life seems to be worse than on 14 Pro's.
I'm holding off until we get some proper reviews
As an 'enthusiast' photographer and I absolutely use my phone more and more. My dslr and mirrorless are better in some situations, but I'm routinely surprised how great of pictures I can get from my iPhone. I'm worried about taking great pictures regardless of the equipment I have with me at the time.
BTW, the statistics linked show some interesting things. One, there are almost as many iPhones sold in 2 quarters than there are stand alone cameras all year. Second, the average price of < $200 and the largest brand as 'other' tells me the volume is not from what people would consider pro-cameras.
I don't think he's being sensationalist. He points out that in the marketing Apple described the focal length in full frame equivalents but didn't described the aperture in full frame equivalents. That is misleading. Clever, but misleading.
There's just three lenses on the 15 Pro max (you can see them), and the gap between 24mm and 120mm is where many people would want to shoot, but anything shot in that big gap (of nearly 100mm of focal length), like for instance shooting around 80-100mm, is a digital crop and underperforming. The 15 Pro is better in that regard because it's a narrower distance between 24mm and 77mm.
Basically it's best to stick to the actual focal length of any of the three lenses and ignore anything in between. And my guess is that most people shoot at around 77mm and not around 120mm.