iPhone 17 Pro: New 48MP Telephoto Lens May Change How Zoom Works

[dampfnudel]

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.

Yeah, I was worried too about losing the 3x zoom of my 14 Pro. A 17 Pro with 1x, 2x, 3.5x and good quality 5x digital sounds great to me.

 

[BarrettF77]

This seems like a big downgrade.

The driver is that it is cheaper. All of Apples decisions as of late are driven by this and it would have been wonderful to have 5x and 48. You can always zoom out.

 

[Rychiar]

do they just like being

5x is almost useless, it's very rare that you get to use it. Any picture taken between 1x - 4.9x basically uses the main 1x camera, which is probably 99.9% of all pictures.

I always said that 2x or 3x are the ideal focal lengths for the telephoto, any longer than that, either you add a separate lens or you use digital zoom.

Case in point: I was on vacation with my wife, me with the 3x iphone 15 Pro and she with the 5x Pro Max. I think I wanted her zoom twice in 2 weeks, whereas I took a lot more of pictures with my 3x (but much much more with 2x!)

to you! I use it all the time

 

[Rychiar]

with all that space can't they just add lenses.

 

[cocky jeremy]

I'll pay $100 more for a slimmer, lighter iphone with NO ugly protuberant camera bump, thank you!

I'm sure Apple will be happy to spend millions of dollars in R&D to sell one iPhone for $100 more to please oink_oink. lol.

 

[subjonas]

i still wonder why the camera bump is so huge. it would be stunning, if they'd make that 3.5x with a 2x optical zoom... so we'd have 0.5, 1, 3.5 and 7 @ 48mp and: 2x and 14x @ 12mp. that'd be a dream come true.

3.5x @48mp can do 7x cropped @12mp, right? So maybe if there are four lenses then they would be 0.5x, 1x, 3.5x, and 8x (or maybe even 10x if there isn’t much need between 7x and 10x) @48mp, with 2x, 7x, and 16x(or 20x) @12mp cropped.

Or can 0.1x @48mp do 1x cropped @12mp and look good? If so then it could be 0.1x, 2x, 5x, 12x (or 15x?). But then anything between 1x-2x would be less than 12mp so maybe not good.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

I'm not interested in the zoom for "portrait" photos. I'm interested in it so I don't have to sneaker zoom. I would have been fine with the Samung style 10,000 X zoom or whatever.

 

[fatTribble]

Can we please stop calling it optical zoom? It would simply be an 85mm lens, in addition to the other two lenses. The iPhone essentially has 3 prime lenses. They do not optically zoom. An optical zoom would be 1 lens that OPTICALLY ZOOMED from 24mm to 85mm.

Is telephoto the preferred term?

Can we also stop referring to storage as memory? 🥴
(But I digress)

 

[zapmymac]

There is just no replacement for glass elements making the telephoto / zoom magnification.

Thinner phones & bigger optical zooms mix like oil & water. 😂

But, I’m glad smartphones have brought the love of photography to the masses.

 

[sos47]

a zoom is not a crop is not a telephoto. these are three completely different items in photography.

 

[scoony]

While it might seem like a downgrade, I think a lot of photographers would actually prefer a 3.5x which would equate to an 85mm- a classic portrait length. Double that with the fusion thing and you get 170mm - that much longer reach for certain images. I think this is a good compromise.

I also wonder with the rumour Apple is bring something special for video creators that a smoother transition from 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3.5x and so on would be more beneficial and the UX would also improve. This was one of Dxmark ‘s criticisms of the iPhone camera system, was the poor transition between 2x and 5x.

Are we to expect in several years the telephoto lense vary its optical zoom?

 

[darngooddesign]

The driver is that it is cheaper. All of Apples decisions as of late are driven by this and it would have been wonderful to have 5x and 48. You can always zoom out.

Sure, but with bad results. 4.9X means an extreme crop of the 1X sensor with all the digital upsampling and processing it would take to get 12MP out of that crop.

 

[Kevin2055]

5x is almost useless, it's very rare that you get to use it. Any picture taken between 1x - 4.9x basically uses the main 1x camera, which is probably 99.9% of all pictures.

I always said that 2x or 3x are the ideal focal lengths for the telephoto, any longer than that, either you add a separate lens or you use digital zoom.

Case in point: I was on vacation with my wife, me with the 3x iphone 15 Pro and she with the 5x Pro Max. I think I wanted her zoom twice in 2 weeks, whereas I took a lot more of pictures with my 3x (but much much more with 2x!)

5x is very useful for sports

 

[Jandalf]

I also use 5x a lot and often go up to 10x +
So lets habe a real invention: 4 cameras….
0.5, 1, 3.5, 10 …. 🥳

 

[r_123]

3.5x @48mp can do 7x cropped @12mp, right? So maybe if there are four lenses then they would be 0.5x, 1x, 3.5x, and 8x (or maybe even 10x if there isn’t much need between 7x and 10x) @48mp, with 2x, 7x, and 16x(or 20x) @12mp cropped.

Or can 0.1x @48mp do 1x cropped @12mp and look good? If so then it could be 0.1x, 2x, 5x, 12x (or 15x?). But then anything between 1x-2x would be less than 12mp so maybe not good.

3.5x @48mp can do 7x cropped @12mp, right?: yes

i don't think, we'll see a 4th camera on the back. if we're very lucky, the 3.5x has a 2x optical zoom (so you'd have 48mp@7x and 12mp@14x). it's just something i'm thinking about as the sony xperia already has this. but i have to say: there are no rumors regarding an optical zoom for the tele camera for the iphone. i'm just wondering as the camera bump is so huge.

0.1x @ 48mp can't do 12mp @ 1x (at decent quality). it could do 0.2x @ 12mp.... but there's no 0.1x anyway....

 

[subjonas]

3.5x @48mp can do 7x cropped @12mp, right?: yes

i don't think, we'll see a 4th camera on the back. if we're very lucky, the 3.5x has a 2x optical zoom (so you'd have 48mp@7x and 12mp@14x). it's just something i'm thinking about as the sony xperia already has this. but i have to say: there are no rumors regarding an optical zoom for the tele camera for the iphone. i'm just wondering as the camera bump is so huge.

0.1x @ 48mp can't do 12mp @ 1x (at decent quality). it could do 0.2x @ 12mp.... but there's no 0.1x anyway....

Yeah I don’t think there will be four lenses or optical zooming either, but it’s fun to think about.
Oops “0.1x” was a typo. I meant “0.5x” (the current ultra wide lens).

 

[svish]

Interesting. Would like the telephoto lens to stay at 5x. But because it is shifting to a 48MP telephoto lens, it is also possible that the zoom lens is 3.5x and the maybe Apple could offer a 7x zoom with optical like quality by using cropping. I would have preferred to have another additional lens especially with all the space on the camera island.

 

[Frantisekj]

While it might seem like a downgrade, I think a lot of photographers would actually prefer a 3.5x which would equate to an 85mm- a classic portrait length. Double that with the fusion thing and you get 170mm - that much longer reach for certain images. I think this is a good compromise.

There is one important catch. We often talk about zoom lenses but in fact we have Prime lences with fixed focal lenth or maybe here with 2 focal lenths, 1x and 5x or so, idk, but not zoom that can go continuously from 1x to 5x like in real zoon lenses in cameras.
So when one make photo with 5x and 10x phone lens but want say 7,5 zooming then both has to do digital crop and quality can be questionable.

 

[r_123]

Yeah I don’t think there will be four lenses or optical zooming either, but it’s fun to think about.
Oops “0.1x” was a typo. I meant “0.5x” (the current ultra wide lens).

ah ok - makes more sense.

the 0.5x can do kinda decent quality at 1x, but it's only 12mp then. the 1x now is 48mp and the 1x is the most used one for most people... therefore, the quality should be really good.

i agree on: no optical zoom and no 4th camera on the back... unfortunately... but: i wouldn't rule it out 100%, because i think it's really interesting, that a 3.5x with (around) 2x optical zoom already exists in the sony xperia. that's quite the coincidence...

 

[r_123]

Interesting. Would like the telephoto lens to stay at 5x. But because it is shifting to a 48MP telephoto lens, it is also possible that the zoom lens is 3.5x and the maybe Apple could offer a 7x zoom with optical like quality by using cropping. I would have preferred to have another additional lens especially with all the space on the camera island.

yes... you'd get 7x@12mp. however: most extreme zoom (or better: focal length): iphone will not be able to compete (, if it get's the 3.5x@48mp), i'd say... google and samsung have high megapixel 5x cameras....

 

[uacd]

No 5x? Ok, no new iPhone for me then.
I don’t care about “AI megazoompixels”, I want real optical stuff

 

[rulymammoth]

I quite like the render. I'm not even sure that'll be the real thing, but I don't mind this camera bump.

 

[skier8689]

Is telephoto the preferred term?

Can we also stop referring to storage as memory? 🥴
(But I digress)

Yeah that mixup is the same idea and equally frustrating haha.

If I were writing the article, rather than "However, Bu goes further by claiming that the new lens will offer 3.5x optical zoom (85mm equivalent) instead of the 5x zoom (120mm equivalent) currently available."

I might write something like: "However, Bu goes further by claiming that the new lens will be an 85mm equivalent, instead of the 120mm equivalent in the current lineup."

I do get that focal lengths can be meaningless to non photographers, so the 3.5x and 7x naming scheme can be helpful, just irks me when I see them described as optical zoom lenses. Would be a dream if they were though

 

[Frantisekj]

yes... you'd get 7x@12mp. however: most extreme zoom (or better: focal length): iphone will not be able to compete (, if it get's the 3.5x@48mp), i'd say... google and samsung have high megapixel 5x cameras....

bear on your mind that apple probably knows well what users are doing with phone and they focus of what 80% of their regular users use not we, 2% geeks here and what sounds good in headlines. And portrait photography is in focus in apple for long time.

 

[r_123]

bear on your mind that apple probably knows well what users are going with phone and they focus of what 80% of their regular users use not we, 2% geeks here and what sounds good in headlines. And portrait photography is in focus in apple for long time.

i agree with you.

and i wouldn't be surprised, if google and samsung would go to 3.5x in the future, if apple does it this year.