iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15 pro max 5x zoom

[etaleb]

Guys - one of the potential reasons for me to upgrade off the 13 pro max is the zoom ability but was just wondering how many of you are actively using the 5x zoom and what for? Is the stabilization pretty good too for you to get a focused image at 5x zoom? None of the other new features excite me too muc
Thanks

 

[537635]

I'm afraid this is similar to Apple caving into irrational user requests and brought HDMI and SD card reader on their laptop line back.

It's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. (macrumors forum)

I use camera A LOT. In my opinion 5x camera is not meant for people who take photos. It's meant for people who like to use digital zoom (or as much zoom as possible), have a "wow moment" and then never looks at those grainy photos ever again.


Any optical zoom on a small camera has big compromises in terms of image quality. This is why "main" camera is called that. Optical zoom simply means, there is less light available for the image sensor.

With that said, I will (and have in the past) used telephoto lens on the phone for certain portrait shots (if I can't get closer and use the main camera). But if I look at my photos from the past month, I use 5x much less than I did 3x and there are much fewer good photos done with 5x than there were with 3x.

 

[Lammy]

I’ve used the 5x many times. I like the look of the images it produces.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I Like the portraits the 5X lens will take and they are sharp

 

[ManuCH]

I use the 5x often and I love its quality. But it truly depends on what kind of photos you like taking.

 

[HDFan]

The Merlin app allow you to take a photograph of a bird so the app can identifiy it. My bird feeder is at most 5 feet away from my window but resulting picture on my 14 Pro Max was so small that Merlin couldn't use it. With the 5x I can stand right at the window (birds don't see me) and the app can identify the bird.

 

[Tsepz]

Guys - one of the potential reasons for me to upgrade off the 13 pro max is the zoom ability but was just wondering how many of you are actively using the 5x zoom and what for? Is the stabilization pretty good too for you to get a focused image at 5x zoom? None of the other new features excite me too muc
Thanks

The 5x zoom is amazing, I came from a 13 Pro Max and I find the 15 Pro Max 5x optical amazing.

I was at a football game and I was pretty impressed at how stable and detailed the images can be…

 

[LoveMyPens]

I'm afraid this is similar to Apple caving into irrational user requests and brought HDMI and SD card reader on their laptop line back.

It's a classic case of listening to the customer who is wrong. (macrumors forum)

I use camera A LOT. In my opinion 5x camera is not meant for people who take photos. It's meant for people who like to use digital zoom (or as much zoom as possible), have a "wow moment" and then never looks at those grainy photos ever again.


Any optical zoom on a small camera has big compromises in terms of image quality. This is why "main" camera is called that. Optical zoom simply means, there is less light available for the image sensor.

With that said, I will (and have in the past) used telephoto lens on the phone for certain portrait shots (if I can't get closer and use the main camera). But if I look at my photos from the past month, I use 5x much less than I did 3x and there are much fewer good photos done with 5x than there were with 3x.

Do you know if the quality is better with 3x vs 5x?

 

[Surf Monkey]

The 5x tele is workable if you can get enough light into that itty bitty lens. The examples people have posted here are good illustrations. Lots of light = passable 5x shots. But if the scene is not fully lit problems arise. The 5x lens is very apt to give you a dark, grainy, fuzzy image that just isn’t usable.

I agree with the OP. A 5x tele is basically a useless specialty lens that doesn’t represent much value. The ultra wide is the far better lens on iPhone and can be used in a much larger variety of light conditions while producing good results.

The problem, as already stated in the OP is that the vast majority of iPhone owners don’t know what a prime lens is, don’t know that their phone is using digital zoom when they pinch-to-zoom and don’t know the difference between a telephoto lens and a zoom lens.

Regardless, to me a MUCH bigger issue is the inability to set a custom white balance. iPhone is horrible at achieving accurate colors. This could be easily rectified if I could use a grey card target to set custom white balance for each shoot. But no. As always, Apple knows best. No white balance for you.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Do you know if the quality is better with 3x vs 5x?

iPhone has three lenses:

A 12mm wide angle, a 24mm “normal view” and a 120mm telephoto.

At .5 you’re using the 12mm wide angle

At 1x, 28mm 35mm and 2x you’re using the main 24mm sensor digitally cropped to the longer ranges.

At 5x you’re using the periscope telephoto lens.

So if you want the highest possible quality you’d want to shoot the main lens, which is the 1x setting. The 2x digital crop will give you better quality images than the native 5x telephoto simply because it can gather a lot more light.

 

[rkuo]

I was about to come here and post about the 5x lens. It's a downgrade for me in most situations.

First of all, it produces an awful grainy image in daytime indoor lighting. So you need to be outdoors with tons of sunlight to get a good shot.

Second, the focal length is just undesirable for most of my portrait shots. If I'm sitting at a table, I have to lean back in my chair to get anything resembling the crop that I want. And when I bother to make the effort, I get a grainy terrible looking image. I'm genuinely surprised the image is that bad ... I would have thought the phone could fuse more images together to filter the noise with a still shot. But it doesn't seem like that's the case.

3x lens was better for me by far.

 

[thatJohann]

back when I had this phone, I found the 5X to be way too zoomed in

 

[LoveMyPens]

I was about to come here and post about the 5x lens. It's a downgrade for me in most situations.

First of all, it produces an awful grainy image in daytime indoor lighting. So you need to be outdoors with tons of sunlight to get a good shot.

Second, the focal length is just undesirable for most of my portrait shots. If I'm sitting at a table, I have to lean back in my chair to get anything resembling the crop that I want. And when I bother to make the effort, I get a grainy terrible looking image. I'm genuinely surprised the image is that bad ... I would have thought the phone could fuse more images together to filter the noise with a still shot. But it doesn't seem like that's the case.

3x lens was better for me by far.

I have had the same experience with indoor shots… grainy. In a lot of situations for me I think 5x is too close. I’m already back and forth on whether to keep the Pro Max. This may push me towards the Pro.

 

[537635]

The 5x zoom is amazing, I came from a 13 Pro Max and I find the 15 Pro Max 5x optical amazing.

I was at a football game and I was pretty impressed at how stable and detailed the images can be…





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These photos kinda make my point. These are not photos you will ever show to somebody for any other reason than demonstrating the 5x lens. The phone is not in a function of a camera here, but is making up for a 5x binoculars. I'm not saying this is the wrong way to use it, but it is false to say that 5x lens brings improvement in terms of photography.

Apple caved into the "zoom" race, older people probably still remember the zoom race on compact cameras from like 20 years ago, where in the end it was like 1000x zoom or similar. This is the same.

If you want good general photos, you will use the main lens. For portraits 70-ish millimeter equivalent is passable, but not great. 120mm optics would be great if it was full frame with all the beautiful bokeh you get out of that. On a phone, in my opinion, it's just a gimmick.

 

[hajime]

Does the 3x lens on iPhone 15 Pro have such poor image quality issue?

 

[537635]

Does the 3x lens on iPhone 15 Pro have such poor image quality issue?

Less so, but still clearly noticable.

 

[hajime]

Less so, but still clearly noticable.

So for the iPhone 15 series, which is a good buy? I cannot wait until September. I need something to replace my 6s Plus that has multiple issues. For sure, I am returning the 15 Pro Max as it does not always uses 5x even when the user made the selection. The noisy video quality is not worth the extra cost. Based on my limited tests, it seems that the 15 Plus and by generalization the 15 most of the time take equally well photos and videos as the 15 Pro but in some dark and close-up situations, the 15 Pro is about 25% better. What do other members here think?

 

[537635]

I had 15PM, exchanged it for 15 Pro. Much happier. I was hoping titanium would make the Pro Max usable without the case. Nope. Plus 3x zoom is much more useful than 5x.

Batter is also great on the Pro, been using 80% cap, no problems.

 

[hajime]

I am keeping an eye on the 15 Pro Max battery. It seems to drain quite fast compared with the 15 Pro and 15 Plus. 15 Plus's battery is just crazy good.

 

[The Game 161]

I do enjoy the 5x lens in good lighting. do wish we had a 3x option though along with 5 x