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Will optical zoom ever come to the iPhone?

O

outsidethebox

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2008
90
27
I always have digital zoom turned off because of the awful quality. Is there any specific reason why there still isn't optical zoom in the iPhone?

With a quick google search I've discovered several phones since 2009 which have had the feature. Since the camera is one of the iPhones biggest selling points and zooming is such an important feature in any situation, I'm really surprised it hasn't really even been talked about much.
 
outsidethebox said:
I always have digital zoom turned off because of the awful quality. Is there any specific reason why there still isn't optical zoom in the iPhone?

With a quick google search I've discovered several phones since 2009 which have had the feature. Since the camera is one of the iPhones biggest selling points and zooming is such an important feature in any situation, I'm really surprised it hasn't really even been talked about much.
Click to expand...

Can you list these phones? The reason why optical zooms are not widespread yet is the mechanical requirements and limited space available on slim phones.
 
outsidethebox said:
Since the camera is one of the iPhones biggest selling points
Click to expand...

I will have to disagree with that.

I say iPhone's camara is there to be competitive but not the MAIN reason ppl choose an iPhone vs a competitor.

Now optical mean movable lens. The OZ I seen have a bulge to accommodate the extra mechanicals. Will Apple give u OZ in lieu of a slick casing?

A Sony? I remember seeing no bulge but they usen an internal right angle mechanism to deal with the physical focal lengh needed. Will Apple give out precious internal real estate for a future OZ camara?
 
outsidethebox said:
I always have digital zoom turned off because of the awful quality. Is there any specific reason why there still isn't optical zoom in the iPhone?

With a quick google search I've discovered several phones since 2009 which have had the feature. Since the camera is one of the iPhones biggest selling points and zooming is such an important feature in any situation, I'm really surprised it hasn't really even been talked about much.
Click to expand...

Isnt the reason pretty obvious. OZ would require the phone to be thicker as its made up of movable parts. I doubt if it will be on any phone any time soon.
 
It's possible that in the future, fluid based lenses will be able to provide optical zoom while using less space than current camera modules.
 
Mrbobb said:
I will have to disagree with that.

I say iPhone's camara is there to be competitive but not the MAIN reason ppl choose an iPhone vs a competitor.
Click to expand...
Perhaps not the main reason, but I believe that for many people it's an important reason. If people have a hard time choosing between phone X and iPhone, then the camera might be the decisive factor.
 
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I really have to laugh at people such as you OP. Do you have an idea what it takes to make a zoom lens? The phone would have to be pretty thick to accommodate such a lens and of course that would cause far more people to whine above not having zoom.

If you want tele lenses, buy a stand alone camera you'll be much happier with the results. IF you turn off the digi zoom, why would you want the crap zoom that would be placed into a phone?
 
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AFDoc said:
The phone would have to be pretty thick to accommodate such a lens and of course that would cause far more people to whine above not having zoom
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If the phone had optical zoom, and was in fact thicker in the camera region...why would that cause people to "whine about not having zoom"? I don't understand ur statement.
 
sulpfiction said:
If the phone had optical zoom, and was in fact thicker in the camera region...why would that cause people to "whine about not having zoom"? I don't understand ur statement.
Click to expand...

I see you've been a member starting in 2011 so it leads me to believe you don't pay attention to these forums at all. Have you NOT seen the whining with every new release of the iPhone that's it's not thin enough? OR the "I want quad core, 500gig ram, 500gig space AND thin as paper.

Come on now, an iPhone with a "hump" to accommodate a zoom lense? Yeah right.
 
AFDoc said:
I see you've been a member starting in 2011 so it leads me to believe you don't pay attention to these forums at all. Have you NOT seen the whining with every new release of the iPhone that's it's not thin enough? OR the "I want quad core, 500gig ram, 500gig space AND thin as paper.

Come on now, an iPhone with a "hump" to accommodate a zoom lense? Yeah right.
Click to expand...

I've seen many, many posts with people whining about how the new iPhone isn't good enough..etc, etc, etc. but ur statement says IF apple did incorporate an optical zoom, and was "bumped out" in the camera region..People would "whine" about NOT having zoom. But it WOULD have zoom in ur scenario. That's the whole point.
 
Mrbobb said:
I will have to disagree with that.

I say iPhone's camara is there to be competitive but not the MAIN reason ppl choose an iPhone vs a competitor.

Now optical mean movable lens. The OZ I seen have a bulge to accommodate the extra mechanicals. Will Apple give u OZ in lieu of a slick casing?

A Sony? I remember seeing no bulge but they usen an internal right angle mechanism to deal with the physical focal lengh needed. Will Apple give out precious internal real estate for a future OZ camara?
Click to expand...

observe this camera: Sony TX5

13715-tx5main.jpg


It is almost as slim as an old iphone say a 2G, it has no external moving parts, is tiny, and has an optical zoom. Yes it's probably not possible on the thinness that is the iP5, but it is possible!
 
ucfgrad93 said:
Agreed. No way would Apple include optical zoom.
Click to expand...

I don't think we'll see it soon but I also think if the can develop an optical zoom that adds minimal thickness to the overall design and Apple marketed it as revolutionary and incredibly ahead of its time, then I think the public would not only accept it but they would eat it up. I truly believe this.
 
At this point in time we don't have the technology to put optical zoom on phones without making them significantly thicker. But I hope we can manage that relatively soon as digital zoom sucks.
 
seble said:
observe this camera: Sony TX5

Image

It is almost as slim as an old iphone say a 2G, it has no external moving parts, is tiny, and has an optical zoom. Yes it's probably not possible on the thinness that is the iP5, but it is possible!
Click to expand...

It uses a prism folded zoom lens. The camera mechanism extends down the entire side of that camera using a prism to bend the light path at a right angle.

There is absolutely no way apple would do that and sacrifice volume that could be used for making the phone thinner or the battery lighter.
 
seble said:
but it is possible!
Click to expand...


Frankly am waiting for something even better. There is apparently a technology out there that, OK you took a blurry picture, but the system, having captured the raw photons and through whatever algorithm blah-blah, intelligently re-shapes the picture to makes it sharp.

Up to now, despite ever denser sensors, we are still constricted by physical lens, with all their limitations to do the focusing.
 
With Apple so obsessed with making the phone thin I doubt it. I see Android getting true optical zoom first. It's like the I.R. port. It's finally made a comeback on Android.
 
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