Infinity and Closeup Focusing in iPhone 5

[VinegarTasters]

Does the camera in iPhone 5 allow closeup and infinity at the same time when recording video? I notice a lot of new phones released force you to choose closeup focus or infinity focus. But sometimes, you want BOTH. I know the iPhone 3GS can somewhat do it. But what about iPhone 5?

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

[BmoreDrumGuy]

I may be wrong on this, but this is what I believe.

With the iPhone's wide open fixed aperture of f/2.4 your depth of field will not allow for focusing at both close and long range. The only way to get better focus of foreground and background would be to find a focal point in the middle to get an even focus. Even then, it won't look as nice as you're wanting, as your depth of field would still drop off as you move away from the focal point.

If the aperture were in the middle, say around f/16, then the focus would be more obtainable, but you're ability to shoot in lower light would be hampered.

The iPhone 5's camera is nice, but can't possibly match the effectiveness of a good camera/lens combo.

[Tea-Aholic]

There are no aperture blades on the iPhone, the aperture is fixed at f/2.4. Therefore you cannot change the depth of field via the aperture.

You can however get more stuff in focus but moving further away from your subject - the closer you are the more blur on foreground objects.

[VinegarTasters]

I don't get it. What are aperture blades? How does the iPhone focus if it can't move the lenses? Is that what you are talking about? I am referring mainly for the ability to have lenses that at a certain point allows infinity and up close both in focus. I believe you can get that by not having lenses that are too curved. The more curved the more focusing you have to do by moving the lens up or down away from the sensor.

If you look at the video. That was taken with a 3GS. Because it is a cheap camera, there are not much lenses, just a flat one over the sensor. Because of the flatness, it is very easy to take pictures with both infinity and closeup at the same time.

[BmoreDrumGuy]

Originally Posted by VinegarTasters

I don't get it. What are aperture blades? How does the iPhone focus if it can't move the lenses? Is that what you are talking about? I am referring mainly for the ability to have lenses that at a certain point allows infinity and up close both in focus. I believe you can get that by not having lenses that are too curved. The more curved the more focusing you have to do by moving the lens up or down away from the sensor.

If you look at the video. That was taken with a 3GS. Because it is a cheap camera, there are not much lenses, just a flat one over the sensor. Because of the flatness, it is very easy to take pictures with both infinity and closeup at the same time.

Aperture blades dictate how wide open your lens is when taking a photo. The smaller the hole (narrow) that the sensor see through to record the image, the more things in the fore and background will be in focus. Basic photography, but can be confusing for beginners. The wider the opening that allows light through to the sensor to record an image, the more shallow focusing will become. This has not much to do with how lenses focus, only how it will affect it. The aperture blades (which are fixed to a certain opening on the iPhone) have nothing to do with the shutter, which traditionally move up and down. Not sure on an iPhone, though. I don't know the tech for the phone's focus.

Since the iPhone has a wide open aperture (more is exposed to the sensor), the focus is shallower. The camera can't do a combination of the two. What you are seeing in the video is soft focus. It's not defined. The iPhone will try to get everything in focus, but it will never be sharp when you have things up close in the foreground, and things further behind in the background.