iPhone 12 If Apple is planning to continue selling flagship smartphones without a telephoto camera, it needs to improve its digital zoom algorithms.

[Burebista]

So I went into the store today to check out this year’s hardware, and while I loved the design (especially the Mini), the 12’s camera can’t hold a candle to my $300 single-camera Pixel 3a when it comes to zoom.

Even though, just like the iPhone 12, Pixel doesn’t have optical zoom, I still zoom in quite often digitally in different shooting scenarios and it gives very good results up to 2-2.5x thanks to the SuperResZoom computational photography feature which uses shaking of the hands to extract better detail from the picture. I actually find myself zooming in 1.3-1.7x a lot, just to frame something better or emphasize some detail because I’m confident it won’t have any significant effect on the image quality.

I’m sorry to report that I was very disappointed with iPhone’s digital zoom capabilities. The details are very bad, everything is mushy and the overall image practically unusable at just 2x. You have to go up to to 4-5x on a Pixel, that again, costs just a fraction of the price, to get a photo this bad.

I guess Apple’s rationale is - buy a Pro if you want zoom. But I really think it’s unacceptable to ship an $830 smartphone in 2020 that has non-existent zoom capabilities. Fine, you can reserve the extra lens for an even more premium model, but at least provide users with some software solution for what is honestly an essential use case at this point.

 

[The Game 161]

To be honest I don't think the zoom is very good on the pixel either. both aren't great compared to what else is out there currently.

There are rumours all the current 12 mini and 12 will be getting the same cameras from the pro max from this year for the iPhone 13 mini and 13. Time will tell if this is accurate

 

[1096bimu]

No they don't. I don't even get a telephoto lens for my real camera.

 

[obs]

Agreed. 80% of my photos are with the tele. Im going to use my X until mini gets it's own tele or extremely better whatever-they-call-it lens with superb digital zoom.

 

[Significant1]

Agreed. 80% of my photos are with the tele. Im going to use my X until mini gets it's own tele or extremely better whatever-they-call-it lens with superb digital zoom.

It is called Periscope optical zoom lens. Though it will not be easy to fit in the mini.

 

[RRC]

If you want a better photo, move closer to your subject and frame the shot better.

The iPhone is a point and shoot everyday camera, for selfies/ portraits/ pets/ holidays etc.

I am a photographer and the best lenses I have are fixed prime lenses. By positioning myself closer you’ll always get a better shot than zooming.
I understand that isn’t always possible, but most of the time it is.

Also, zoom on the pixel isn’t that much better if at all. Plenty of comparison videos and articles, and I also owned the pixel 3 and the hardware hasn’t changed since before that device.