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iPhone 16 Pro 5X camera question
- Thread starter PPCmike
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What types of situations are you seeing this with? In ideal conditions, my 5x zoom appears to have as much detail as 2x or main. That is in great lighting such as outdoors on a sunny day. Indoors and lower light are a different story. I’ll take 5x pics and they show graininess. Is it like that? Or are they poor quality no matter what.
It's a small sensor that needs more light to make up for a weak signal. However at that focal length the shutter needs to be faster to prevent blur from camera shake. So the ISO is increased to amplify the signal and you end up with grain due to the increased noise.
There is a balancing act between blur and grain, grain is preferable but your picking your poison. It just comes down to physical limitations of capturing light in the way your eye sees it combined with Apple trying to make an easy to use point and shoot.
To fix your issue I would recommend a camera app like Halide, using the histogram and zebra decrease the shutter speed and ISO. Depending on lighting you'll need a rest/tripod to prevent blur.
The issue I have with Apple’s camera implementation is that it will use the main camera for zoomed in shots instead of using the 5x telephoto camera. And you only realise this after the fact. I wish that, even under low light conditions, if I click on the 5x icon, it would use that sensor instead of enlarging the main 1x sensor.
It’s a really crappy implementation IMHO.
Look at the 5x pictures you think are grainy, look at the info: I bet you it will say that it’s taken with the main camera.