iPhone 11 Camera question- Digital 2x zoom quality on standard lens vs. the Tele lens?

[johnnylarue]

Yep, good point. For me, it is why I still always carry my backpack with DSLR and lenses with me when I go on hikes, because my phone will never replace it for good landscape shots.
The phone works great for pics of kids, and maybe playing around with some other types of shots- but that is about it.

I admire your dedication. For me it’s a relatively compact Leica M4... or a Fuji X100 if my film supply is low and I’m feeling lazy.

 

[the future]

Great point both of my shots focused on a subject just a few feet from me. Here is another pair I took a few days ago. The tele I find is sharper and retains more detail but shows a lot of purple fringing, and has a warmer white balance. The zoomed in wide lens is noisier. Here the tele to me is the better shot and the subject was further out so a case for how the tele aka ‘normal’ 52mm lens can come in handy. But it does seem like the differences are relatively minor

To me, the differences here are not minor. The 52 looks so much better.

In good light, the digital crop of the 26 doesn‘t stand a chance in general. In darker environments, the difference is much smaller as the brighter aperture (Edit: and the bigger sensor) of the 26 becomes more relevant.

 

[LonestarOne]

Interestingly, as the photographer described the lenses, in a couple reviews they mentioned that using the standard lens and just zooming in digitally to 2x provides equal or slightly better results than using the tele lens, given the fact that the standard lens has a far better sensor.

It depends on the lighting. In the standard Camera app, you can’t actually choose the lens. The app choose between the tele lens and digital zoom based on lighting conditions.

 

[johnnylarue]

It depends on the lighting. In the standard Camera app, you can’t actually choose the lens. The app choose between the tele lens and digital zoom based on lighting conditions.

Right. Night mode defaults to the normal Wide lens. It’s interesting considering the Tele isn’t “slow” by any means at f2.0, but I guess it must be paired with a fairly noisy sensor. Will be interesting to see how the newer Tele lens of the 12 Pro Max performs... not that I plan on joining Club Phablet anytime soon.

 

[the future]

Right. Night mode defaults to the normal Wide lens. It’s interesting considering the Tele isn’t “slow” by any means at f2.0, but I guess it must be paired with a fairly noisy sensor. Will be interesting to see how the newer Tele lens of the 12 Pro Max performs... not that I plan on joining Club Phablet anytime soon.

Indeed, the aperture of the 52 is (or would be) fine even for low light shots, but the sensor is significantly smaller than the one behind the 26 lens. I don't think the sensor behind the new 65 f2.2 "tele" on the Max will be much bigger, if at all; if it was, Apple would certainly mention it (like they do with the bigger sensor behind the Max 26).