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iPhone X Camera Overview: Portrait Lighting, Video Improvements, Front-Facing Portraits and More

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With each new iPhone, Apple introduces significant camera improvements, a practice that has established the iPhone as one of the most popular cameras for photography on sites like Flickr.

The iPhone X, as Apple's new flagship device, is no exception. It features new hardware and new features that have established it as the best iPhone camera to date, on par with dedicated point and shoot devices and even DSLRs in some modes. With the iPhone X now widely available, we spent some time with the iPhone X's rear and front-facing cameras to see just what they can do.


There's an all new rear camera in the iPhone X, with two lenses arranged in a vertical orientation, a first for an iPhone. Apple chose a vertical orientation because of space constraints and design changes that required more available surface area for the front-facing TrueDepth camera.

The rear camera has a standard f/1.8 12-megapixel wide-angle lens that's paired with an f/2.4 12-megapixel telephoto lens. Sensors in both lenses have been improved, and the lower aperture of the telephoto lens means it's able to let in a lot more light for sharper images in poor lighting conditions.

iphonexphotograph.jpg

In addition to sensor improvements, Apple has introduced a new color filter for more vibrant photos, and there's a new Apple-designed image signal processor that can detect elements in a scene for faster autofocusing and optimization of scene elements before an image is even captured.

Both rear lenses support optical image stabilization for the first time, for better photo quality in all lighting conditions, and better than ever portraits when using Portrait Mode.

iphonexphotograph2.jpg

There's also a new front-facing camera system, the TrueDepth camera, which is what powers Face ID with its dot projector and infrared camera and sensors. There's also a high-quality f/2.2 7-megapixel camera built into the TrueDepth system for taking selfies.

With the TrueDepth camera, the front-facing camera in the iPhone X now supports Portrait Mode right alongside the rear camera, so you can create Portrait Mode selfies with an artfully blurred background. Both the front and rear-facing cameras also work with the new Portrait Lighting feature for dynamically adjusting the lighting in a photo.

Photo taking isn't the only improvement in the iPhone X. The rear-facing camera supports 4K video capture at 60 frames per second and 1080p slo-mo video at up to 240 frames per second, both significant improvements over previous-generation devices. New video stabilization techniques, the aforementioned larger sensor, and the new image signal processor all go a long way towards improving video quality.

Along with this detailed look at the iPhone X's camera, we're going to be sharing a lot more iPhone X content over the course of the coming week, so make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't done so already.

Article Link: iPhone X Camera Overview: Portrait Lighting, Video Improvements, Front-Facing Portraits and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/07/iphone-x-camera-overview/
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Agree that these photos look great. But how good to cell phone cameras really need to be for the typical (or even advanced) user? Maybe Apple should focus on other areas of improvement for a while, although there does seem to be a "camera race" among manufacturers. I would prefer they race and compete on something else.
 
The example photos in this article are not very impressive. The sky is blown out on the close up of the leaves, and the sticks appear soft. But the BG isn't soft enough to justify a DOF so shallow that the sticks should be soft.

I don't think these examples really show off this camera.
 
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It's a great 8-bit color camera, but since it doesn't support 10-bit color capture, the best I can give it is a B+ grade.

BGR10A2 is the Holy Grail for capture, AND Apple is NOT quite there yet.

I fully expected them to include support for it with (at least) the X, if NOT the entire family of iPhones announced on Sept 12th.

So, Apple still has MAJOR work to do, to offer a Flagship-caliber camera !
 
MarkB786 said:
Agree that these photos look great. But how good to cell phone cameras really need to be for the typical (or even advanced) user? Maybe Apple should focus on other areas of improvement for a while, although there does seem to be a "camera race" among manufacturers. I would prefer they race and compete on something else.
Click to expand...

Like, biometric authentication? Silicon?
 
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MarkB786 said:
Agree that these photos look great. But how good to cell phone cameras really need to be for the typical (or even advanced) user? Maybe Apple should focus on other areas of improvement for a while, although there does seem to be a "camera race" among manufacturers. I would prefer they race and compete on something else.
Click to expand...

I don’t think it is necessarily an either/or question. . Improve the camera and everything else.

Work on the MBPros skip the thinness issue. Lol
 
djcerla said:
Have you tried the long exposure effect on this?
Click to expand...
I haven’t even gotten in the camera settings. I had just received the phone that day and left for a guys weekend out at a buddy’s cabin after I was able to get it activated. That was the very first picture I took with the X. I will definitely have to check more features out!
*edited to add*
How does one do a long exposure? I just checked settings and there isn’t anything for a long exposure shot.
 
Wonderful instagram machines!

(which is good if you use it as part of your social media outreach for a business, but the hype is well over eleven.)
 
cool shots..

Why would you want the same features on a font facing camera, when u'r not suppose to be waving it round like you'd do on the rear one?

This would over-see the needs for the same feature on the front facing camera, where u'd use it for Face-time, or video/skype calls

It would also explain allot as why the rear one is better, and although the front one is improving, there is less of a need for that because u won't be spending all your time shooting with your phone pointing away from you.
 
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I'll be honest, I'm 100% shocked and in awe of how good this camera has been so far. My girl and I were literally just gawking and thinking to ourselves why does the house look so much better in the iPhone photos than in real life lol. The X lens is better than my eye lens lolol.
 
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The camera is terrific. I'm really happy with it, even coming from the 7 Plus. It is faster, smarter, and produces better results.

Yes I own a DSLR for the important occasions, but it's nice to have a great camera in your pocket at all times as well.
 
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