Other If you can have only one extra optical zoom option for the rear camera, what would you choose?

[Farrgazer]

Quite sure there isn’t a right or wrong answer here; just want to hear people’s opinions.

Apple initially started with adding a telephoto lens in the bigger phones, and swapped it with an ultrawide lens starting with the 11 onwards.

 

[russell_314]

I guess it depends of what you like taking pictures of. I like taking pictures of things, so that’s usually a single object. In that case zoom in helps me out. It could be an animal that’s not going to let me approach it or even a plant where I can just zoom in instead of trying to crawl through brush to get a picture of. I think for those that like to take pictures of scenes and cityscapes the wide angle is probably their favorite.

 

[Farrgazer]

I prefer the 2X personally. I find most cameras on phones to be too wide for my taste, and a telephoto is quite useful for taking pictures of documents because I can have greater control of the shadow.

 

[lkalliance]

I voted telephoto, because that's what I use most often with my DSLR. I'm unlikely to get a pro, I never have (currently 13 mini), so this question really does get right to my own wants as a consumer. But there are three things I do consider that might actually argue against the telephoto:

(1) I don't expect it to be strong enough to make me not want to use my DSLR when I need to be in close. I bought a Sandmarc 2x external telephoto lens to use with my mini, and though I like the improvement it isn't enough for my needs.

(2) I like the effect of the ultra-wide when photographing something at normal distance; I dig the perspective-warping it does.

(3) Isn't it the ultra-wide lens that the iPhone uses for macro? At least, the iPhone pro? That's something I hope comes downward within a couple of generations of the new phones, instead of remaining pro-level.

And just like that, I've changed my mind!

 

[JPack]

Ultrawide because it's a lot easier to step forward rather than step back, especially when taking photos indoors.

Without telephoto, you can digitally zoom. It's grainy but at least it's still there. Without ultrawide, you do not have the image data. The object is literally outside the frame.

 

[gtg465x]

Ultrawide because it's a lot easier to step forward rather than step back, especially when taking photos indoors.

Without telephoto, you can digitally zoom. It's grainy but at least it's still there. Without ultrawide, you do not have the image data. The object is literally outside the frame.

Can't step forward if you're on a mountain taking a picture of other mountains miles away. I do a lot of hiking and take a lot of landscape photos, and I probably shoot more telephoto shots than main camera shots in those scenarios.

I guess if you mostly take photos inside or in tight spaces, you'll prefer ultra wide, and if you mostly take photos outside in wide open spaces, you'll prefer telephoto.

 

[GMShadow]

Telephoto, and Apple agrees - its why they've always restricted it to the more expensive phones, to force the upgrade.

 

[Farrgazer]

Ultrawide because it's a lot easier to step forward rather than step back, especially when taking photos indoors.

Without telephoto, you can digitally zoom. It's grainy but at least it's still there. Without ultrawide, you do not have the image data. The object is literally outside the frame.

I think you’re onto something. I suppose I never took a lot of indoor shots, so I never considered this point.

 

[wilberforce]

iPhones don't really have telephoto lenses. My iPhone 11 Pro Max has normal, wide, and ultrawide lenses.

Telephoto lenses are generally considered to start at 70mm equivalent focal length.

The latest iPhone 14 Pro has a "3X" 77mm lens, which is barely telephoto.

I think a phone should at least have a normal lens (about 50mm), which the regular iPhone 14 does not have.

btw, if you want a wider field of view than the already wide main lens, you can stitch (excepting fast moving objects). To make stitching easy, iPhone has the panorama mode.
But digitally zooming a 12MP wide angle image looks like garbage very quickly.

 

[JPack]

I think you’re onto something. I suppose I never took a lot of indoor shots, so I never considered this point.

Even outdoors, you get perspectives that are only possible with an ultrawide lens. With telephoto, you're simply getting a sharper version of a zoomed photo. I think that's the reason why virtually every dual lens smartphone (and tablets like iPad Pro) has ultrawide.