Does the 2.5x setting on an iPhone 12 Pro Max produce the same image quality as the 1x setting?

[Turnpike]

I am taking photos of some glass figurines and vases for a magazine, and am taking them with an iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The studio lights give a nice reflection on the figurines and vases, but when I stand between the lights I'm in the reflection.

If I stand back farther, but then zoom in 2X or 2.5X I get what looks to be the same quality photo but since I am standing behind the studio lights, I'm not in the reflection.

My question is this: am I getting a much lesser quality of my subject because I'm using the zoom, or is it because it's digital that it won't make much difference? I don't know anything about layout and even digital photos, and I want the editor to get as much to work with as possible, both for editing and the best quality picture.

To me (looking at them on the phone) the photos look the same, and even if I stand back and take it at 1x and then zoom in to make the subject full frame it looks like the same quality image to me. But is it actually pretty close? Or am I severely reducing the sharpness or whatever of the item by using the zoom?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I updated the thread question to something better because of what I learned from the replies, at the time I asked this I didn't even really know what I was asking. Thanks to Kallisti for their help and explaining it so perfectly.

 

[akash.nu]

Any “zoom” except the native cameras available with the device is going to degrade the quality. Essentially, with digital zoom you’re cropping into the picture while taking the shot.

Take a full frame shot and try to keep yourself out. That’s your best solution when it comes to quality.

 

[cupcakes2000]

It will be a lesser quality than optical zoom or the non zoomed version. The extent of which may or may not matter to your work. Best bet is to shoot non zoomed and crop after.

 

[r.harris1]

Technically yes, digital zoom is going to be degraded. Think of doing a crop on an image and that's similar to what you're doing. I say "similar" because there's a lot of processing that happens on the phone's imaging pipeline that's going to mitigate manual cropping to a degree, so in many cases it will be a better end result than simply post processing. Ultimately, it's going to depend on your audience and what they stare at. If it's a web based audience, you may have more flexibility.

 

[kallisti]

I could be mistaken, but I believe the 2x on the 12 Pro (or 2.5x on the 12 Pro Max)) is actually optical zoom and not digital zoom. It is using a different lens than the 1x or 0.5x which each use different lenses. Stated another way the 12 Pro and the 12 Pro Max each have 3 different lenses. The "telephoto" lens on the 12 Pro is 2x and on the 12 Pro Max it is 2.5x.

So the 2.5x would be optimal if that gets you the composition you desire without reflections.

[Edit: here is a link to the apple tech spec page for the 12 Pro Max (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP832?locale=en_US). 3 different lenses, "ultra-wide", "wide", and "telephoto". The "telephoto" lens is 2.5x. So the zoom factor is optical and not digital. So image quality should be fine using 2.5x zoom.]

 

[kenoh]

This is a great video about M Flags and the 4 stop shadow.

Teaches you how to hide yourself.

 

[Turnpike]

I could be mistaken, but I believe the 2x on the 12 Pro (or 2.5x on the 12 Pro Max)) is actually optical zoom and not digital zoom. It is using a different lens than the 1x or 0.5x which each use different lenses. Stated another way the 12 Pro and the 12 Pro Max each have 3 different lenses. The "telephoto" lens on the 12 Pro is 2x and on the 12 Pro Max it is 2.5x.

So the 2.5x would be optimal if that gets you the composition you desire without reflections.

[Edit: here is a link to the apple tech spec page for the 12 Pro Max (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP832?locale=en_US). 3 different lenses, "ultra-wide", "wide", and "telephoto". The "telephoto" lens is 2.5x. So the zoom factor is optical and not digital. So image quality should be fine using 2.5x zoom.]

YES! I didn't understand exactly what optical / digital means or what the difference is, but this is sort of what I was hoping... that I could choose the 2.5X option and it was just using a different lens, and the photo would be as "uncompromised" as using the 1X lens.

Do people agree with Kallisti's reply?

 

[kenoh]

YES! I didn't understand exactly what optical / digital means or what the difference is, but this is sort of what I was hoping... that I could choose the 2.5X option and it was just using a different lens, and the photo would be as "uncompromised" as using the 1X lens.

Do people agree with Kallisti's reply?

Yes, if it is optical zoom great. If digital, no, digital zoom is algorithmic extrapolation rather than physically more detail.

 

[kallisti]

Yes, if it is optical zoom great. If digital, no, digital zoom is algorithmic extrapolation rather than physically more detail.

2.5x on the iPhone 12 Pro Max is using the telephoto lens where 1x is using the wide lens. The 2.5x “zoom” is optical and *not* digital.

All of the comments about digital zoom are correct. But they do not apply to the OP’s specific question. The OP was concerned that the 2.5x setting was using the 1x lens on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and thus degrading image quality when shot at the 2.5x setting. That is not the case. It is a separate lens and the 2.5x is an optical capture, not an extrapolated digital capture from the 1x lens.

The thread title is unfortunate in hindsight. A better title would have been “Does the 2.5x setting on an iPhone 12 Pro Max produce the same image quality as the 1x setting?”. However as stated in the follow up reply, the OP doesn’t have the experience to distinguish between optical zoom and digital zoom or to know which one applied to the iPhone 12 Pro Max settings. Which is fine and totally understandable. Many people don’t know this.

The marketing departments for many camera makers have historically intentionally blurred the lines between the two when digital zoom was involved, for obvious reasons (not wanting consumers to know that digital zoom can significantly degrade image quality). I’m not sure Apple is as clear as they could be (which is unfortunate as this should be a selling point—“we are using 3 separate lenses to ensure optimal image quality across the entire zoom range from 0.5x to 2.5x”).

 

[Turnpike]

2.5x on the iPhone 12 Pro Max is using the telephoto lens where 1x is using the wide lens. The 2.5x “zoom” is optical and *not* digital.

All of the comments about digital zoom are correct. But they do not apply to the OP’s specific question. The OP was concerned that the 2.5x setting was using the 1x lens on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and thus degrading image quality when shot at the 2.5x setting. That is not the case. It is a separate lens and the 2.5x is an optical capture, not an extrapolated digital capture from the 1x lens.

The thread title is unfortunate in hindsight. A better title would have been “Does the 2.5x setting on an iPhone 12 Pro Max produce the same image quality as the 1x setting?”. However as stated in the follow up reply, the OP doesn’t have the experience to distinguish between optical zoom and digital zoom or to know which one applied to the iPhone 12 Pro Max settings. Which is fine and totally understandable. Many people don’t know this.

The marketing departments for many camera makers have historically intentionally blurred the lines between the two when digital zoom was involved, for obvious reasons (not wanting consumers to know that digital zoom can significantly degrade image quality). I’m not sure Apple is as clear as they could be (which is unfortunate as this should be a selling point—“we are using 3 separate lenses to ensure optimal image quality across the entire zoom range from 0.5x to 2.5x”).

OMG!!! Somebody please lock up my thread right here. This explains and sums up everything SO WELL, including the cluelessness with which I started the thread, and answers my question perfectly. THANK YOU!! It's replies like this that make me value forums for information so much. Also, I updated the original thread title as per your suggestion, so the actual question is more clear for the benefit of whoever else is wondering the same thing. Thanks again Kallisti.

 

[mtbdudex]

placeholder for photos ...taken at various optical and zoom on my iPhone 11 (3 optical lens, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0)

If you desire pure optical , no digital interpolation, then only hit one of the 3 and you will be “pure” thru the lens to sensor. If you “pinch” to zoom in / out the phone selects lens and interpolates the pixels.

Will need to pixel peep on my 27” iMac to see if there’s anything to notice .. and also like on a DSLR where a wide lens, std lens, zoom lens gives different “look” to a same scene

I pinched in on 2x and the phone selected 1x lens at 1.9x setting , that’s apple’s algorithm

Same here, at 1 lens then pinched in, phone switched to 0.9x, as such it might give a different look as it’s going thru 0.5 lens then scaling up , vs near same 1 lens

And just for fun, went 10x .. tube amp