This doesn’t sound like a downgrade at all. This sounds fantastic. I was worried about losing the 3x zoom when I upgraded my iPhone 13 Pro Max. If this rumor is true, it is a huge win.
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iPhone 17 Pro: New 48MP Telephoto Lens May Change How Zoom Works
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Depends on the sensor size, Vivo x200 pro has a 3.7x optical zoom but a massive 1/1.4"sensor, and it beats the crap out of 16 Pro (with 5x) in every situation possible when it comes to telephoto. bigger sensor size (if it happens) is better for low light anyway, current 16 Pro will sometimes switch to main camera even in 5x because telephoto sensor is super small (this is actually the worst/smallest telephoto sensor among every flagship). 3.5 is also enough to not have distortion.
3.5x telephoto also means we are not forced to have digital zoom from 1.1 to 4.9 range.
There are pros and cons to this. It would mean less camera shake too. But I also would hate to lose out on having the ultimate zoom length. A 16 Pro would technically take better long focal length photos and there are absolutely scenarios where I would want that. Better long range zoom has often been one of the camera features that most excited me during upgrade cycles.
After all the engineering work they did to squeeze that folded lens into the 16 Pro as well as the Pro Max? Thats disappointing. Maybe we’ll get a 4th lens, but I doubt it.
Why does Apple care about having a great portrait focal length if all their portrait “bokeh” is fake anyway? Or to put a positive Apple-approved spin on it, “computationally generated”
After all the engineering work they did to squeeze that folded lens into the 16 Pro as well as the Pro Max? Thats disappointing. Maybe we’ll get a 4th lens, but I doubt it.
Why does Apple care about having a great portrait focal length if all their portrait “bokeh” is fake anyway? Or to put a positive Apple-approved spin on it, “computationally generated”
Good. The Pro Max's ridiculous normal to tele jump is why I chose the Pro instead.
? The 16 Pro Max and 16 Pro have the same camera setup. Are you talking about a different iPhone?
The 16 Pro Max's Tele aperture is f1.9. There is no way you'd fit even a constant f2.8 optical zoom without making the bump larger so the optical zoom would end up variable aperture zoom which would be slower and therefore noisier with more aggressive noise reduction to compensate.
You need to take into account that there is several things resulting in good image. And here it is optics as well. I am not any pro but better 3.5x can make better pics then worse 5x. No idea how difficult is to make good tiny 5x zoom lens.
But it is important how people use it as others say. Apple do not compete with Samsung 10x. They focus on quality of output. That is even why Samsung went back to 5x as usability of 10x was lower because it is not that easy to make good shot handheld. And 3.5 lens will probably allows more light what is ever positive.
I think we go from hype to practical reality and cost effectivity.
And with big zoom cameras you can make sometimes very dangerous pics and videos
I am not a professional photographer either, but I disagree. There are pros and cons to both a 3.5X tele and a 5X tele. Ideally we'd have both, but we may have to wait until 2029 to get that.
16PM tele is f2.8. i could live with a variable aperture zoom. don't need lot's of zoom when light isn't ideal.
You wouldn't even get f2.8, probably f4-f6 which means plenty of noise reduction with any zoom.
the xperia 1 vi has pretty much exactly, what i'd like from an iphone 17 pro, but make it 48mp instead of the 12 of the sony + larger sensor please...:
xperia 1 vi: 12 MP, f/2.3, 85mm (telephoto), f/3.5, 170mm (telephoto), 1/3.5", 1.0µm, dual pixel PDAF, 3.5x-7.1x continuous optical zoom
Yeah, but Samsung can take perfect tele photos of the moon.
I downsized it to 170x170 pixels and applied a gaussian blur, so that all the detail is GONE. This means it's not recoverable, the information is just not there, it's digitally blurred:
I full-screened the image on my monitor (showing it at 170x170 pixels, blurred), moved to the other end of the room, and turned off all the lights. Zoomed into the monitor and voila -
Here is my theory:
This "leaker" is being paid by Apple and supposed to prepare the world for the fact that Apple is now also only relying on AI and image manipulation. So that there is no outcry.
Because one thing is certain: no matter how much they try to make it sound good, "digital crop" is never as good as real optical zoom.
This "leaker" is being paid by Apple and supposed to prepare the world for the fact that Apple is now also only relying on AI and image manipulation. So that there is no outcry.
Because one thing is certain: no matter how much they try to make it sound good, "digital crop" is never as good as real optical zoom.
incorrect. it already exists since around a year... xperia 1 vi. and the specs are way better than what you describe.
Marketing will "solve" this by having a 7x mode at 24 MP center crop. So they will say the camera system has one additional "camera", the same way there is a 2x camera on the current line up which is just a center crop of the main sensor.
the center crop (7x) of a 3.5x 48mp would be 12mp, not 24.
The Xperia does not have a zoom, you choose between 3.5X and 7.1X so its two primes using the same sensor instead of separate sensors on the iPhone.
incorrect. "3.5x-7.1x continuous optical zoom". and you can also see it here:
They will just call it a 3.5x/7x lens and add those buttons onto the camera app.