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iPhone 12 iPhone 12 vs 12pro: telephoto or not?

Ketsjap

Ketsjap

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 5, 2007
126
135
I am torn between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. The only thing I care for in the Pro would be the telephoto-lens. What I am wondering is this:

- Does the absence of a telephoto lens on the 12 mean that it cannot do optical zoom whatsoever?
- Is the telephoto-lens on the Pro any good?
- What is best if you want to zoom: digital zoom using the 12's wide sensor, or optical zoom with the telephoto-sensor on the 12Pro? Which yields the best results?

I have an XR and the lack of (optical) zoom bugs me. Many Android-phones have impressive optical zoom. But I'm not sure if the telephoto-lens on the 12Pro is the best option to achieve this. Maybe digital zoom on a 'regular' 12 is as good, if not better?

Any thoughts on this?
 
- Does the absence of a telephoto lens on the 12 mean that it cannot do optical zoom whatsoever? Yes
- Is the telephoto-lens on the Pro any good? Yes, but not quite as good as the main wide lens.
- What is best if you want to zoom: digital zoom using the 12's wide sensor, or optical zoom with the telephoto-sensor on the 12Pro? Which yields the best results? Optical is noticeably better in my experience.
 
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The 12 can’t do any optical zoom; that being said, the telephoto lens on the Pro isn’t super-good and in decent light conditions you won‘t notice a night-and-day difference between it and 2x digital zoom IMO. That being said, you can go 10x on the Pro via digital zoom vs. 5x on the regular 12.

Also, you’ll have more options for portrait mode because of the three lenses and LIDAR enables night-mode portraits, which are terrific.
 
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yes, it will not have any optical "zoom-in"; it will have "zoom-out" because of the ultra-wide lens.
Typically, digital zoom up-to 1.5x or 2x in good lighting conditions will be very close to what you get with telephoto.
however, pro will be very good (still not the best) in low light conditions. I say not the best because that is pro-max.

also, digital zoom is digital only..there is so much a digitally zoomed picture can display.
 
it cannot do an optical zoom however you are only getting a 2x zoom on the telephoto (or 2.5x on pro max). its not much difference than just moving closer to your object/photo. Also the phone will intuitively switch to the wide angle camera if there is poor lighting as it will get a better picture doing the zoom through the main camera than telephoto (you can test this trying a telephoto shot in good lighting, and then another telephoto shot in poor lighting covering the cameras each time). Generally yes an optical zoom will be better ofcourse, but you will not find too much difference. I would say its quite niche and if you really think you will be doing a lot of zoom shots then go for the 12 pro / pro max. If you can get away with stepping 1-2metres closer to your subject and/or living with the digital zoom which is probably very good then you will be fine.

I personally have an 8 plus (Which has telephoto, albeit one of the first ones) and I find my partners XR with portrait mode makes just as good photos, albeit mine are slightly more zoomed in.

All in all the 12 is a very good phone to go for most people.
 
jasonht said:
If you can get away with stepping 1-2metres closer
Click to expand...
It's not about "having all things in picture". There is something like "perspective"...
772d640969fff1934e81258c22983e6d.jpg
wide-angle-vs-portrait.jpg
 
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i am saying that on a very basic level, if you are a professional photographer or wanting to take more professional shots then i would suggest obviously going for the pro, thats a no brainer.
 
jasonht said:
i am saying that on a very basic level, if you are a professional photographer or wanting to take more professional shots then i would suggest obviously going for the pro, thats a no brainer.
Click to expand...

I get it.

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I don't know it is just me, but 50mm portrait is something like I see with my eyes.
 
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I think having the 'telephoto' lens is a definite advantage.
I put the word telephoto in quotes, becouse apparently it is only a 52mm (35mm equivalent), so technically it is only a standard lens.
My dilemma is that I cannot deal with large phones and for this reason I am more inclined towards purchasing the mini, however I will definitely miss the 'tele' lens.
So I have been wondering whether it would be worthwhile using an external tele converter on those occasions when it is strictly necessary, such as at concerts or shows. This would have the additional advantage of providing a true telephoto focal length.
 
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Wando64 said:
I think having the 'telephoto' lens is a definite advantage.
I put the word telephoto in quotes, becouse apparently it is only a 52mm (35mm equivalent), so technically it is only a standard lens.
My dilemma is that I cannot deal with large phones and for this reason I am more inclined towards purchasing the mini, however I will definitely miss the 'tele' lens.
So I have been wondering whether it would be worthwhile using an external tele converter on those occasions when it is strictly necessary, such as at concerts or shows. This would have the additional advantage of providing a true telephoto focal length.
Click to expand...
I have a moment 58mm lens. I like it because I can take it to things like kids sports games where I think I will need it. I have an 11 Pro right now, but I am getting the mini, partly because the moment lens on the mini will be much better than the 12 Pro telephoto. I have a really good actual camera that for important moments gets used, but for those times when I don’t want to carry it around (hiking, to every kids sport, a concert, etc) the moment lens is great.
 
kcroyal said:
I have a moment 58mm lens. I like it because I can take it to things like kids sports games where I think I will need it. I have an 11 Pro right now, but I am getting the mini, partly because the moment lens on the mini will be much better than the 12 Pro telephoto. I have a really good actual camera that for important moments gets used, but for those times when I don’t want to carry it around (hiking, to every kids sport, a concert, etc) the moment lens is great.
Click to expand...

Interesting because I was thinking about going with a moment lens for some time now. Definitely worth it???
 
mjschabow said:
Interesting because I was thinking about going with a moment lens for some time now. Definitely worth it???
Click to expand...
I think so. I got mine for $100, which is still a $200 savings when getting the mini instead of the pro. It has 6mm more ”zoom” than the telephoto, which isn’t much but its using the much better main sensor. I have no regrets buying mine at all.
 
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kcroyal said:
I think so. I got mine for $100, which is still a $200 savings when getting the mini instead of the pro. It has 6mm more ”zoom” than the telephoto, which isn’t much but its using the much better main sensor. I have no regrets buying mine at all.
Click to expand...

That’s awesome! Thanks for the advice
 
mjschabow said:
That’s awesome! Thanks for the advice
Click to expand...
Of course. Their cases aren’t bad either. When the 11 Pro first came out they had a slight fit issue with the bracket that holds the lens (it was minor, I could still use mine no issue) so they sent everyone a second case and bracket. My wife likes the case so much its her everyday case, and she never uses the lens. She just took the bracket out.

https://www.shopmoment.com/products/iphone-12-thin-case/iphone-12-mini-black
 
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Can you take a portrait with attached telephoto ? Or you loose software bokeh...
 
kcroyal said:
I think so. I got mine for $100, which is still a $200 savings when getting the mini instead of the pro. It has 6mm more ”zoom” than the telephoto, which isn’t much but its using the much better main sensor. I have no regrets buying mine at all.
Click to expand...
I was thinking of getting the Sandmarc, which is rated as about equal in quality as the Moment. For you with the Moment lens, are you able to simply use the default "Camera" app to take shots, and there is no problem with them not quite getting processed correctly? I had read some comments regarding the Sandmarc and the Moment lens that you had to use a 3rd party app, but I do not want to use those because they do not take advantage of Apple's advanced HDR processing, so am hoping to be able to use the camera app.
 
Wando64 said:
I think having the 'telephoto' lens is a definite advantage.
I put the word telephoto in quotes, becouse apparently it is only a 52mm (35mm equivalent), so technically it is only a standard lens.
My dilemma is that I cannot deal with large phones and for this reason I am more inclined towards purchasing the mini, however I will definitely miss the 'tele' lens.
So I have been wondering whether it would be worthwhile using an external tele converter on those occasions when it is strictly necessary, such as at concerts or shows. This would have the additional advantage of providing a true telephoto focal length.
Click to expand...
i Agree. Regular 12 in odd spot for me since if I went without telephoto I would have gone mini.
 
Ketsjap said:
I am torn between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. The only thing I care for in the Pro would be the telephoto-lens. What I am wondering is this:

- Does the absence of a telephoto lens on the 12 mean that it cannot do optical zoom whatsoever?
- Is the telephoto-lens on the Pro any good?
- What is best if you want to zoom: digital zoom using the 12's wide sensor, or optical zoom with the telephoto-sensor on the 12Pro? Which yields the best results?

I have an XR and the lack of (optical) zoom bugs me. Many Android-phones have impressive optical zoom. But I'm not sure if the telephoto-lens on the 12Pro is the best option to achieve this. Maybe digital zoom on a 'regular' 12 is as good, if not better?

Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
The iPhone 12 Pro does not have a telephoto lens (nor does the 12 Pro Max); it has a 52mm so-called “full-fomat equivalent” n o r m a l lens, the 12 Pro Max has narrower normal lens of 65mm, still not a telephoto lens by standard definitions, very wide telephoto lenses being around 75mm.

But 52mm is nevertheless a very usefull focal length, neither suffering from wide angel distortion nor tele compression. (The 13mm hyperwide is more of a useless gimmick, IMO, YMMV.) A normal lens is great for day-to-day shooting, including half-figure and environmental portraiture.

PS
I wish Apple would make the main camera somewhere around 43mm in 35mm “full-format” terms—the perfect normal lens defined by the diagonal of the 24mm x 35mm frame. Hell, they could even make it the only camera if they upped the sensor size to about one inch (a little bigger than that of high-end Huaweis like Mate 40 Pro+, which has two proper telephoto lenses, 80mm and 260mm (!)) and the resultion accordingly. Then the camera could crop down for telephoto effect. Automatic panorama stitching could be implemented easily in software with the state-of-the-art Apple processing power, for landscape shot without the unavoidable—even for likes of Leitz and Zeiss—optical distortion of an ultra-wide angel.
 
UCDong said:
The iPhone 12 Pro does not have a telephoto lens (nor does the 12 Pro Max); it has a 52mm so-called “full-fomat equivalent” n o r m a l lens, the 12 Pro Max has narrower normal lens of 65mm, still not a telephoto lens by standard definitions, very wide telephoto lenses being around 75mm.

But 52mm is nevertheless a very usefull focal length, neither suffering from wide angel distortion nor tele compression. (The 13mm hyperwide is more of a useless gimmick, IMO, YMMV.) A normal lens is great for day-to-day shooting, including half-figure and environmental portraiture.

PS
I wish Apple would make the main camera somewhere around 43mm in 35mm “full-format” terms—the perfect normal lens defined by the diagonal of the 24mm x 35mm frame. Hell, they could even make it the only camera if they upped the sensor size to about one inch (a little bigger than that of high-end Huaweis like Mate 40 Pro+, which has two proper telephoto lenses, 80mm and 260mm (!)) and the resultion accordingly. Then the camera could crop down for telephoto effect. Automatic panorama stitching could be implemented easily in software with the state-of-the-art Apple processing power, for landscape shot without the unavoidable—even for likes of Leitz and Zeiss—optical distortion of an ultra-wide angel.
Click to expand...
Errata:
 
UCDong said:
Errata: “resolution”; “[landscape] shots”.
Click to expand...

UCDong said:
And, to clarify, by “wide-angel” distortion in the second paragraph I'm refering to the perspective distortion resulting from close distance, not distortion resulting from imperfections of the optical design, which nowadays are neglible in more moderate wide-angle lenses, like the iPhone 12 26mm equivalent main camera.
Click to expand...
 
The real question is do you photograph things and zoom in a lot?

I live at the foot hills of the Front Range in Colorado and zoom constantly. I also take a lot of photos for work and have to zoom there too. Optical is a no brainer for me.

Some people don’t take a ton of tele photos. If you don’t then that may be a waste. Personally, I’d rather have a telephoto then ultra wide angle lens but, so far, with the 12 Pro Max I’ve needed all 3 in certain situations and that made communication easier between my boss and peers.
 
The usefulness of the telephoto lens is limited by its poor sensor. Photos I’ve taken with that lens are always softer and noisier than ones I take with the wide angle lens. I’d rather put up with lens distortion (which the computational photography does its best to correct anyway) to gain more light. I hope next year Apple upgrades the sensors in the telephoto and ultra wide cameras because both pale in comparison to the wide camera, especially on the Max this year.
 
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