iPhone 15 Camera Upgrades Will Be 'Star of the Show' at Apple Event

[XSparkyxX]

Better zoom quality would be nice i got the iphone 12 and the zoom can be pretty crap. But for normal shots i find this one is fine. If they didnt change the bezel at top i probably wouldnt even be able to tell difference.

 

[headlessmike]

Are you telling me that the "optical zoom" in iPhones is actually digital zoom? If so, then what is the "digital zoom" part of the the zoom in iPhones?

To expand upon what solq wrote, the two or three lenses are of course optical. So, when you tap on one of the "zoom" circles in the camera app, it's switching cameras and that is effectively an optical zoom with discrete steps. The rest is a bit more complicated, however.

The main 1x camera on the iPhone 14 Pro is different from any other iPhone camera made so far. It uses a 48 MP sensor to produce 12 MP files under normal circumstances. That extra resolution can be used to crop the image and still produce a full 12 MP file without any interpolation. So, in terms of the 48 MP sensor, it is a digital zoom, but for the final product of 12 MP, there is not the same loss of quality you would expect of a digital zoom with a 12 MP sensor. Anything between 0.5x and 1x, and anything above 3x, will use a conventional "digital zoom", i.e. crop, to be achieved leading to a degraded image quality for the 12 MP file.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

To expand upon what solq wrote, the two or three lenses are of course optical. So, when you tap on one of the "zoom" circles in the camera app, it's switching cameras and that is effectively an optical zoom with discrete steps. The rest is a bit more complicated, however.

The main 1x camera on the iPhone 14 Pro is different from any other iPhone camera made so far. It uses a 48 MP sensor to produce 12 MP files under normal circumstances. That extra resolution can be used to crop the image and still produce a full 12 MP file without any interpolation. So, in terms of the 48 MP sensor, it is a digital zoom, but for the final product of 12 MP, there is not the same loss of quality you would expect of a digital zoom with a 12 MP sensor. Anything between 0.5x and 1x, and anything above 3x, will use a conventional "digital zoom", i.e. crop, to be achieved leading to a degraded image quality for the 12 MP file.

Thanks Mike. So what will be happening with the periscope lens then?

 

[headlessmike]

Thanks Mike. So what will be happening with the periscope lens then?

The rumoured periscope lens is a normal optical zoom lens, like the one you’d find in a compact camera, but includes a prism or mirror to bend the path of the light by 90 degrees. This allows a proper zoom lens to fit into a narrower space, like the body of an iPhone. In the iPhone 15 Pro, it would probably make the most sense to keep the 0.5x and 1x cameras as they are now, and replace the 3x camera with a 3-6x zooming periscope camera module.

 

[alexanderwolf]

Haha, sure, and in the end the software overdoes it again with aggressive post-processing that you can only reduce by indirection.

This is the glaring problem that I wish Apple would fix. The fact that you can’t turn off all of its insane post processing has forced me to only use Halide for the past few years with my 13 Pro. Thus my iCloud storage is dominated by photos, which had never been the case as the raw files I have to use are 10 times bigger files. Whenever I show my friends the difference between a photo from the stock camera app vs halide, which bypasses the processing… it is night and day 😒

 

[Hank001]

This is the glaring problem that I wish Apple would fix. The fact that you can’t turn off all of its insane post processing has forced me to only use Halide for the past few years with my 13 Pro. Thus my iCloud storage is dominated by photos, which had never been the case as the raw files I have to use are 10 times bigger files. Whenever I show my friends the difference between a photo from the stock camera app vs halide, which bypasses the processing… it is night and day 😒

Halide FTW! I use it too, and the results are vastly 'better'.

 

[floral]

No it doesn’t. Most consumers have no idea what that is.

I'm probably the most average "consumer" and I'm second-handly glad the iPhone userbase no longer has to deal with lightning. Seriously. Those cables are as strong as a saltine in terms of durability D:

 

[headlessmike]

I'm probably the most average "consumer" and I'm second-handly glad the iPhone userbase no longer has to deal with lightning. Seriously. Those cables are as strong as a saltine in terms of durability D:

USB-C has its perks, but the durability of Lightning is still higher though in my experience. Type C connectors grow loose with extended use. Never had that problem with Lightning.

 

[floral]

USB-C has its perks, but the durability of Lightning is still higher though in my experience. Type C connectors grow loose with extended use. Never had that problem with Lightning.

I have a Lightning cable that came with my old iPad... it only took a year before the cable started to 'tilt' out of the position (as in if you put a little pressure, it tilted slightly out of the connection part). Half a year later, I had to adjust it every so often so it wouldn't fall out, which led me to buy a new Lightning cable, which also promptly started wearing out, leading me to just buy a new iPad with a different kind of connection to avoid the issue entirely. D:

 

[headlessmike]

I have a Lightning cable that came with my old iPad... it only took a year before the cable started to 'tilt' out of the position (as in if you put a little pressure, it tilted slightly out of the connection part). Half a year later, I had to adjust it every so often so it wouldn't fall out, which led me to buy a new Lightning cable, which also promptly started wearing out, leading me to just buy a new iPad with a different kind of connection to avoid the issue entirely. D:

We can only give anecdotal data, I guess. My seven-year-old uses my old iPad mini 2 from 2013 and we still have some of the original cables that charge just fine. The only cables that I've had fail were the ones he chewed on as a toddler.

The USB-C cable that came with my 2020 MacBook Pro won't charge half of the time even though I babied that machine and the cable never left my desk.

 

[duffman9000]

We can only give anecdotal data, I guess. My seven-year-old uses my old iPad mini 2 from 2013 and we still have some of the original cables that charge just fine. The only cables that I've had fail were the ones he chewed on as a toddler.

The USB-C cable that came with my 2020 MacBook Pro won't charge half of the time even though I babied that machine and the cable never left my desk.

I have been using one USB-C cable to charge two iPads (IIRC 2018 models). The cable has never left its charger and we've never had a problem.

 

[crees!]

The article is totally missing it.

Look at the logo for the event, it implies the 3D photos and videos that the Vision Pro can capture.

Apple is going to want people to take these types of photos and videos enmasse with their phones so that there will be more buy-in for the headset.

Called it

 

[Pepperfection]

Guys, is the difference in camera quality from 12 PM to 15 PM HUGE/warrant for an upgrade? Still debating and not sure how good the upgrades are from 12 PM to 13PM, then 14PM and now 15PM.

 

[cardfan]

Guys, is the difference in camera quality from 12 PM to 15 PM HUGE/warrant for an upgrade? Still debating and not sure how good the upgrades are from 12 PM to 13PM, then 14PM and now 15PM.

To be honest I haven’t noticed much difference in pic quality since hdr and night mode. iPhone 11 and 12? Screen on 14 is brighter

14 actually looks a bit worse than 13 pics. It’s just really insignificant though.

 

[Pepperfection]

To be honest I haven’t noticed much difference in pic quality since hdr and night mode. iPhone 11 and 12? Screen on 14 is brighter

14 actually looks a bit worse than 13 pics. It’s just really insignificant though.

Thanks man! I am just contemplating if I should upgrade, mainly for storage and camera that is why. Otherwise I wont care.

 

[CSantavy]

I think if there is an iPhone Ultra, that this will contain a pair of lenses for the recording of stereoscopic video.

This would be needed in order to provide the stereo video that can be shown on the Apple Vision Pro.

If Apple don't upgrade the camera system then I don't know of any software fakery that could replicate the functionality that would also be of sufficient quality.

Oooh, called that one correct.

 

[TL24]

Underwhelming as usual.

 

[redbeard331]

If that was the star of the show…😳

 

[iBug2]

However the sensor size between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 pro increased a lot, actually about 50% (1/1.28” instead of 1/1.7”) which was the biggest jump ever between two generations!

Apple seems to have troubles getting the most from a certain sensor using auto processing. In RAW, the 14 pro is superior to nearly anything else (smartphones only of course).

Well, I tested 13 Pro, 14 Pro and my Mirrorless Nikon Z7. If 13 Pro was a 1/10, 14 Pro was 1.1/10 where Nikon was 10/10.

That was how small a difference I saw in my tests.

 

[headlessmike]

Well, I tested 13 Pro, 14 Pro and my Mirrorless Nikon Z7. If 13 Pro was a 1/10, 14 Pro was 1.1/10 where Nikon was 10/10.

That was how small a difference I saw in my tests.

Considering that the Z7 sensor is more than 11x larger than the iPhones’, the winner should be obvious. 1.0 to 1.1 is a 10 percent improvement on your subjective scale, not an insignificant improvement over a single generation.

I too shoot mostly higher end cameras. But even my old iPhone 11 does remarkably in tricky lighting.