iPhone 15 Pro How does the 1.2x and 1.5x zoom works for the 15 Pros?

[Al Rukh]

I’ve looked around and couldn’t find a decent explanation. MKBHD briefly brushed the topic during his podcast but I still don’t get it. GSMarena claims these focal lengths are basically digital crops, or is it not?

Can someone help me understand this?

 

[Ryan1524]

It’s just like the 2x, I believe.

Leica does this too with their Q2/3 cameras.

Not sure if they do some kind of perspective correction to simulate the look. Would be interesting to know.

 

[Al Rukh]

It’s just like the 2x, I believe.

Leica does this too with their Q2/3 cameras.

Not sure if they do some kind of perspective correction to simulate the look. Would be interesting to know.

So it’s like 1.2x digital zoom from a 48MP shot + 1.2x digital zoom from quad-binning to get 12MP shot and processed them to output a 1.2x 24MP shot?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

According to DPReview (which somehow are still online), and are comparing the 15 to the 15 pro:

On the Pro models, Apple has implemented a similar scheme for three other increments of the main camera. Tapping the ‘1x’ button cycles among three zoom levels, which Apple has also marked as photographer-friendly millimeter equivalents: 24mm (1x), 28mm (1.2x) and 35mm (1.5x).

It’s tempting to think these increments are additional crops to the 48MP sensor, the way the 2x zoom is, but on Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro product page, it specifically says, “That’s the power of computational photography.” The camera system appears to be capturing a specific range of the sensor, and then processing with Photonic Engine and other ML technologies in its pipeline.

Apple's iPhone 15 and 15 Pro: Imaging tech examined

This year’s iPhone 15 camera story seems to be about megapixels - 48MP across the board - but it’s also as much about how Apple combines hardware with software to make photos that appeal to photographers and non-photographers alike.

www.dpreview.com

 

[Peepo]

So it’s like 1.2x digital zoom from a 48MP shot + 1.2x digital zoom from quad-binning to get 12MP shot and processed them to output a 1.2x 24MP shot?

Not sure how they do but here are my tests...

Camera Settings, Photo Mode set to 24MP...
Not shooting in RAW modes.

When pressing the 1x button to toggle between the three zooms, all produce 24MP pictures using Main Camera.

1x (24mm) shot is 24MP
1.2 (28mm) shot is 24MP
1.5 (35mm) is 24MP

Apple is able to reconstruct a 24MP image from the 48MP sensor up to 1.5x

Pressing 2x button only produces 12MP pictures off the Main Camera.
2x (48mm) is 12MP

Zoom up to 5x on main camera produces 12MP pictures.
Sometimes 5x zoom or greater in camera app will actually still use the main camera instead of 120mm depending on distance to object, light levels, etc.



Of course, .5 and 5x use the different ultra wide and telephoto cameras respectively, which only produce 12MB pictures.