iPhone 18 Pro Rumored to Be More Like DSLR Camera With This Upgrade

[Xade]

I miss the xenon flash on my Nokia N808! 😀

 

[techyOS]

Camera people knows: smaller aperture allows longer exposure without ND filters.

EXACTLY. literally try shooting video at a 1/60 shutter speed in daylight, you will NOT be able to see anything other than white unless you have a variable aperture.

 

[techyOS]

The main benefit of a variable aperture is for video. In bright daylight, the exposure is quite short, thus every picture is pin sharp. At 24fps that looks very slip-sticky. With longer exposures due to ND or smaller/variable aperture, the single frames become smoother and thus the video much better.

this describes the previous reply much better. if you go up to a faster shutter speed, you won’t get realistic motion blur.

 

[CharlesShaw]

New mirrorless cameras have a lot of advanced features at this point.

I no longer own or even need a camera, but I still enjoy falling into the camera news rabbit hole on occasion. Thinking about Nikon, Canon, et al making a camera phone makes the idea seem absurd, but Sony already makes many other electronics and has a history of trying things their own way.

 

[9081094]

Since cameras have apparently become the driving force in smartphone innovation, perhaps it's time for a camera maker (Sony?) to incorporate a smart phone into one of their mirrorless cameras. Everyone is already accustomed to carrying a large heavy phone anyhow, right?

Wasn’t Apple going to switch to Samsung photo lenses in future iPhone models? It already is using Samsung screens in its iPhones. Maybe they could just rebrand the Samsung flip with an Apple logo and Apple could introduce its first foldable iPhone with variable aperture in spring or later in the year. Saves Timmy lots of effort and money in R&D and he will have a state of the art iPhone technology wise 😊

 

[jagolden]

So does this mean that the 17P/PM won't be getting a noteworthy camera update?

Probably just mp updates to wide angle and telephoto.

The biggest camera update would be to dump their lousy processing algorithms and go bact to the ones used on the XS Max or the 11 Pro Max.

 

[Cod3rror]

Since cameras have apparently become the driving force in smartphone innovation, perhaps it's time for a camera maker (Sony?) to incorporate a smart phone into one of their mirrorless cameras. Everyone is already accustomed to carrying a large heavy phone anyhow, right?

There were rumours that DJI was going to release a mirrorless camera. Knowing DJI's execution and quality, if they get into it, Sony and Canon will be in trouble.

What would you want from a "smart mirrorless" though?

I would prefer a no compromises cameraphone myself, like the Nokia 808 PureView was at the time. Make it thicker, put a 1"-type sensor in it. And very importantly, use high quality lenses. The Chinese flagships, like vivo X100 Ultra, Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and OPPO Find X7 Pro already do that but it would be interesting if Apple, Samsung, or Google tried it.

 

[Rychiar]

.

 

[cjsuk]

None of this matters. The glass on any camera element that size is crap.

 

[Rychiar]

New mirrorless cameras have a lot of advanced features at this point. I'm using a 5 year-old Olympus and even it has a touchscreen that has a mode where you can literally just tap on the subject on screen and it will autofocus on that and shoot a frame, as well as use that same screen to swipe through your photos. It's not as slick as a phone, but more modern cameras do a lot more. Also, many of them can interface directly with a phone so you can basically get to all the controls using your smartphone if you want to.



I've started using the 2x (72mm) lens on my 15 Pro to shoot, moving physically back away from the subject. This yields half-decent bokeh -- optical, not "portrait mode". Also helps with wide-angle distortion on pictures of people. The default 1x lens is I think a 24mm equivalent, which is not fantastic for portraits.

the 2X isn't a lens... it's just a crop of the 1x. the 15 pro has a 1x, a .5 x and a 5x optica

 

[ignatius345]

the 2X isn't a lens... it's just a crop of the 1x. the 15 pro has a 1x, a .5 x and a 5x optica

I'll be damned. I had that wrong. The way it "fuses" the lenses is really confusing, and it seems like Apple is doing everything it can to make it so.

Anyway, found a good breakdown here:

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/1933877365/iphone-15-camera-tricks-and-tips

How to minimize digital zoom​

The ultrawide (0.5x) or telephoto (3x/5x) cameras each capture images optically, where each pixel corresponds to the area perceived in the field of view – if you don't tweak the zoom. If you choose an arbitrary zoom level between those ranges, such as by pinching two fingers on the screen, the camera zooms digitally and interpolates how the pixels appear based on that field of view, which can introduce softness or artifacts.

The main camera is a special case. At 1x and with HEIF Max or RAW Max enabled it records 48MP of optical information. The 2x level remains at 12MP because it's a crop of the main camera sensor. But for the other zoom levels, including 1x with HEIF Max turned off, the iPhone uses computational photography to create a final 24MP photo. It pixel-bins the sensor (grouping sets of nearby pixels to act like a single, larger pixel) to create a 12MP image and then combines that with a 48MP reference image.

With the Pro models' 1.2x and 1.5x zoom levels, the camera is cropping the 1x frame and then upsampling to make the 24MP photo. The results are usually quite good, which is no doubt why Apple makes 24MP the default resolution.

 

[Cod3rror]

Exactly. Not sure what the value would be for a smaller aperture.

It depends on how it works, but it could be used to take more close up photos of subjects with less lens distortion (smaller shutter).

More importantly, when filming a video in bright sunlight, you could eliminate the need to use ND filters, and it would allow you to lower the shutter speed, giving the video a more pleasant smoother look.

A modern smartphone's quality of the frame itself, I think is more than enough already. But what mirrorless cameras still have on smartphones besides quality lenses, is the depth of field (bokeh), which really can't be addressed because it's physics, and the aperture that allows them to film a pleasant, smooth video. If they found a solution to the aperture on smartphone cameras that allowed them to film smooth videos, it would be huge.

 

[netsped]

I once had a Samsung S10e that had this feature, didn't felt like a DSLR at all... wait, it was missing the Camera Control button though so I guess the iPhone will 😵‍💫

 

[Greenmeenie]

Perfect timing. I usually upgrade my iPhone Pro Max every 2-3 yrs and I just bought the 16 Pro Max which was a nice upgrade from my 14 Pro Max which in turn was a nice upgrade from my 11 Pro Max. As a photographer, i find the iPhone camera upgrades every 2-3 yrs are the sweet spot for significant features. Looks like the 18 Pro Max won’t dissapoint. Especially if it gets larger camera sensors along with variable shutters. 👍🏼

 

[mozumder]

To me this is saying Apple is going to increase sensor size to something large enough that it now needs to limit light coming in to reduce sensitivity, or that the lens is going to become significantly wider that it will have too much bokeh if the lens isn't stopped down.

 

[CharlesShaw]

What would you want from a "smart mirrorless" though?

For me, it's merely a "think piece" since I don't need a camera, so I'm imagining a universe where smartphone innovation moves away from having to have a bigger camera to make money. What if the high end "I always buy the Pro Max to get the best camera" buyers had the option of buying a Sony camera phone hybrid that could surpass any smartphone camera. Of course it would be expensive and also have to look "cool" enough to carry around.

 

[Jensend]

One other advantage I haven't seen mentioned: better spatial video.
Currently, the standard and ultra wide lenses have different apertures, which leads to a mismatch in bokeh size for left and right eyes for spatial video.
This could potentially allow the standard lens to match the bokeh of the ultra wide.

 

[rjw1678]

When I am outside in my backyard with my dogs, my favorite lens is 55mm-250mm for taking candid pictures of my dogs. If I was using an iPhone to take the pictures I would be close enough that I would distract them and not get the candid pictures that I can with a long lens. The iPhone camera has its place and is convenient. I know that is impractical for a 250mm lens on an iPhone and I do use my iPhone camera when it is more convenient. But an iPhone can never fully replace a DSLR or Mirrorless camera. Adding variable aperture to the iPhone 18 will increase the camera capabilities.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I would love to see them create an advanced camera system that would require just one lens, instead of the multiple. I know this would prevent spatial videos, but honestly how many people are actually using it?

What you ask for is a zoom lens, and such lenses typically require more depth. Odds are Apple will always use multiple lenses ans zoom computationally like they do now.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Why do people keep saying this? No phone will ever match a DSLR until they get sensors the same size as a DLSR and lenses to match, no AI or algorithm IMO match the real thing.

Also as above, a DSLR only uses 1 lens on its body at a time.

Except ILC often use a zoom lens; "1 lens" providing multiple focal lengths.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Since cameras have apparently become the driving force in smartphone innovation, perhaps it's time for a camera maker (Sony?) to incorporate a smart phone into one of their mirrorless cameras. Everyone is already accustomed to carrying a large heavy phone anyhow, right?

Correct, Nikon, Canon, etc. blew it big time by failing to quickly integrate good communication into cameras. The cameras integrated into smartphones killed the compact camera market and have seriously constrained the total standalone camera market. In the USA CEOs would have lost their jobs but Japan Inc. has a different culture.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I feel like we're coming around full circle to having a point-and-shoot cameras, except this time they happen to also make phone calls and text message.

IMO something similar to the shift you describe is happening now with Apple alleged to be bringing an uber-thin iPhone which will have lesser camera capability. I could easily see the iPhone lines bifurcate to A) thin less expensive iPhones with adequate cameras and B) thicker more expensive iPhones with increasingly superb cameras.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

You mis interpreted what I said, I meant as in one sensor and one lens on the camera body, you don't have a SLR with 3 or four sensors and lenses on it at once do you.

Most people do have an ILC with multiple lenses on it at once via a zoom lens(es).

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Yeah iPhone pictures are always blurry especially in night time, it does need a bigger sensor

If one's "iPhone pictures are always blurry" one needs to learn how to hold the camera/phone absolutely still when releasing the shutter. "Especially in night time."

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Probably just mp updates to wide angle and telephoto.

The biggest camera update would be to dump their lousy processing algorithms and go bact to the ones used on the XS Max or the 11 Pro Max.

We disagree. I use the iPhone 16PM for pro captures and IMO the newer iPhone Pros and software are clearly superior to the 11P I used many iPhones ago. I review date-based images (thousands) every day and I can easily perceive the improved imagery of 2024 captures over those from 2019 using the iPhone 11 Pro.