Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 11 Pro Why is the ultra-wideangel so bad?

S

silas_2001

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2018
26
22
Hi, sorry for my lack of English

Yesterday I got mine iPhone 11 Pro Max, and after some time with the camera, I can se that the quality in the ultra-wideangel is bad.

If you take the step from 0,9x to 1,0x you can really see the different like below.

Has anybody else notice that, or is it my iPhone that has a bad camera?

Wideangel:
IMG_8549.jpg


Ultra-wideangel:
IMG_0831.jpg



Another example, look at the grass:
Ultra-wideangel
IMG_6321.jpg


Wideangel:
IMG_3997.jpg

[automerge]1569113159[/automerge]
 
Haven't notice that. That is quite annoying, but my own fault of course. Thank you for your answer
 
Are you just pointing the camera and shooting a photo or do you touch where you want the camera to focus? A lot of times that makes a difference. Also the ultra wide camera has small optics and because it’s wide, there isn’t much resolution there for distant objects.
 
doboy said:
Because no optical stabilization and F/2.4 aperture.
Click to expand...
With ultra wide angle you rarely need OIS because you’re not zoomed in much so there isn’t much camera shake.

Also, the aperture has nothing to do with how sharp a lens can be. If anything the wider the aperture, the softer a lens tends to be wide open unless it’s high end glass such as Sony GM and Canon L, both of which I have owned and used for over a decade. But even those f/1.2 and f/1.4s tend to have a sweet spot in the f/2-2.8 range where they are sharper that continues through roughly f/8 before shapeless starts dropping off again.

The distortions/softness near the edge of the frame are common in low to moderate grade glass, especially wide open, but can also happen in higher-end glass if they alignment isn’t perfect. We’re talking $2500+ lenses that can sometimes have this issue and need to be sent back because of a manufacturing defect.

This is Apple’s first wide angle lens and they are making many millions of them per month. If OP thinks it has an issue, they should talk to them and have them send a replacement. I think over time they will improve this lens much like they did the telephoto which is now brighter and has OIS, which was sorely needed early on.
 
My wide angel below looks just fine...

The wide angle lens is an extra tool, not designed to be your daily camera. It requires good lighting, a steady hand. Also, depth of what you are shooting will play a big part in the distortion. The further away the objects, the less the depth distortion. Even high end lens on DSLR‘s have distortion with wide angle lens usually. It’s the nature of the beast until we can get multi thousand dollar sensors in phones. Some day the tech will be there but not yet.

2B4FACD4-826A-4FAF-BA53-F3E1D8F9D3F4.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: martin2345uk
If you use 0.9x it is using digital zoom which will look pretty bad. The wide angle camera will always be lower quality than the regular wide if you zoom in. Ideally you shoot everything in the regular wide angle, ultra wide is just there for those shots where you can’t move back to capture the entire scene.
 
  • Like
Reactions: iTom17
Strelok said:
If you use 0.9x it is using digital zoom which will look pretty bad. The wide angle camera will always be lower quality than the regular wide if you zoom in. Ideally you shoot everything in the regular wide angle, ultra wide is just there for those shots where you can’t move back to capture the entire scene.
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree, this isn’t a fair comparison. It’s like comparing the 2x telephoto lens to the standard lens but digitally zoomed to 1.9x. Of course something is going to be lost, as it’s essentially just a cropped photo - OP isn’t comparing shots of the same resolution.

Edit: actually looking at the two shots of the field, it looks like they’re comparing just 0.5x to 1x. I can understand more of what they mean with that comparison. The edges of the grass do look blurred, but I think it’s just a limitation of the glass and not a fault.
 
The photos are bad because your focal choice was wrong. Lens choice is everything in photography. Use the tele lens for that type of landscape shot. Use the portrait lens if you shoot a person or item like the coke bottle from 1-2 meters away. Use the ultra wide when are in a tight situation. Basics first then improv later.
 
If you’re worried about this being a problem with your specific iPhone or the new iPhones in general, be assured it’s normal for now. The Samsung S 10 and Note 10 series now have ultra wide angle lenses and the issues are the same.
 
I reckon there might also be some sample variation happening. My 11 Pro seems to have sharper ultra-wide shots than some other samples I’ve seen.

Note that the UWA lens is fixed-focus, so that could also contribute to blurry corners.

I am also fairly sure that there is some serious vignetting in the lens that’s being corrected in software. The corners seem a lot noisier / blurrier in low light than the center of the image.
 
One thing I notice is the Ultra Wide lens loses a lot of detail in vegetation shots. I think that's the reason Apple did not have any green landscape shots in their featured photos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back