iPhone X Low Light Photography Test Demonstrates Improved Telephoto Lens

[manu chao]

What I mean by "accept" the motion blur is that I will brace and hold my camera as steady as possible to get the shot, and a bit of noise does not bother me in my typical use case.

So yes, don't tell me how I take my photos. I have an artistic intent behind it.

That I-don't-need-image-stabilisation-because-I-can-hold-the-camera-steady argument is very common among people who for a whole roast of other reasons have bought a camera/lens without stabilisation and feel the need to justify their decision.

I am pretty certain that your decision is based on the dislike others (ie, Apple) making decisions without your say-so and not based on actually comparing the options by comparing test images. I challenge you to take two sets of photos, where set A is using focal length y and IS and set B is using focal length 2*y (plus an f-stop that is 1.3 stops slower) without IS and then compare cropped images from set A with those of set B. Obviously under conditions of equivalent ISO values of those taken by iPhones in low light situations.

 

[lunarworks]

That I-don't-need-image-stabilisation-because-I-can-hold-the-camera-steady argument is very common among people who for a whole roast of other reasons have bought a camera/lens without stabilisation and feel the need to justify their decision.

I am pretty certain that your decision is based on the dislike others (ie, Apple) making decisions without your say-so and not based on actually comparing the options by comparing test images. I challenge you to take two sets of photos, where set A is using focal length y and IS and set B is using focal length 2*y (plus an f-stop that is 1.3 stops slower) without IS and then compare cropped images from set A with those of set B. Obviously under conditions of equivalent ISO values of those taken by iPhones in low light situations.

You obviously don't understand what I use my camera for, so I'm not going to argue with you over technical specifications. I can hold my camera steady enough a good 50% of the time, and take multiple shots to compensate. I do most of my shooting on an iPhone 6, without OIS, after all.

I also don't mind most of Apple's decisions, like removing the headphone jack. But in this case, I would be expecting to use a specific lens, hardware that exists in the device, and the software deciding to use the main lens and just cropping is misleading to me. I can understand why they would do it, because most people, like my wife, don't care about the output resolution, but it would be nice in cases for people who do to have an option to disable it.

When I want to do serious photography I bring along my mirrorless with its nice chunky lens and big image sensor, but most of the time when I'm out on my bike I don't have that with me and have to use what's in my pocket.

 

[manu chao]

You obviously don't understand what I use my camera for, so I'm not going to argue with you over technical specifications. I can hold my camera steady enough a good 50% of the time, and take multiple shots to compensate. I do most of my shooting on an iPhone 6, without OIS, after all.

And you always shoot at base ISO? However well you can stabilise your camera, adding IS allows you to use a lower ISO for the same amount of motion blur. So, of course, if you always shoot at base ISO (and shutter speeds fast enough to avoid motion blur using your shooting technique), then IS doesn't add anything for you.

But you then also would never be affected by the camera module switching, which only happens when the light is low enough to require an ISO higher than base ISO.

I also don't mind most of Apple's decisions, like removing the headphone jack. But in this case, I would be expecting to use a specific lens, hardware that exists in the device, and the software deciding to use the main lens and just cropping is misleading to me.

Just think of the 1x and 2x buttons as AOV selectors, not lens selectors. Problem solved. Your position is not dissimilar to someone whose favourite recipe was altered without telling him or her and who then complains despite actually liking the result more.

The standard camera app takes many automatic decisions, from focus to exposure, to ISO, to WB, to HDR, to noise reduction, why be upset about this one. Heck, modern smartphone cameras not only take multiple exposures and merge them for HDR purposes, they also do so to improve resolution. Computational photography has reached a level where complaining about an implementation detail is missing the bigger picture.

 

[lunarworks]

And you always shoot at base ISO? However well you can stabilise your camera, adding IS allows you to use a lower ISO for the same amount of motion blur. So, of course, if you always shoot at base ISO (and shutter speeds fast enough to avoid motion blur using your shooting technique), then IS doesn't add anything for you.

But you then also would never be affected by the camera module switching, which only happens when the light is low enough to require an ISO higher than base ISO.

That has nothing to do with anything I said. You're just confusing the issue. OIS is physically unavailable on my iPhone 6, which also has nowhere near as good an image sensor as the 8+ or X, and I manage to get results I want without it.

Just think of the 1x and 2x buttons as AOV selectors, not lens selectors. Problem solved. Your position is not dissimilar to someone whose favourite recipe was altered without telling him or her and who then complains despite actually liking the result more.

The standard camera app takes many automatic decisions, from focus to exposure, to ISO, to WB, to HDR, to noise reduction, why be upset about this one. Heck, modern smartphone cameras not only take multiple exposures and merge them for HDR purposes, they also do so to improve resolution. Computational photography has reached a level where complaining an implementation detail is missing the bigger picture.

I'm upset because by cropping to simulate 2x I lose 75% of my image data, which sucks if I want to work in any media beyond the screen.

 

[manu chao]

That has nothing to do with anything I said. You're just confusing the issue. OIS is physically unavailable on my iPhone 6, which also has nowhere near as good an image sensor as the 8+ or X, and I manage to get results I want without it.

You get good results when there is enough light to stay at base ISO and to avoid motion blur (and/or when viewing the images at less than 100%). And again, if there is enough light to stay at base ISO, the module switching doesn't happen and when viewing the image at less than 100%, having a lower resolution is much less of an issue.

I'm upset because by cropping to simulate 2x I lose 75% of my image data, which sucks if I want to work in any media beyond the screen.

At the ISO levels this occurs you wouldn't want to work in any media beyond the screen anyway. Even at base ISO the wide-angle camera module looks already iffy at 100% (you either see noise or NR smearing). The 'tele' camera has an even smaller sensor, why anyone would want to look at an image from it at 100% above base ISO is beyond me.

 

[UL2RA]

Much more complicated or a little more complicated? Don’t you just use a Lightning port splitter so you can continue to use a Lightning cable along with the headphone adapter?

Yes but people like to make the situation seem far worse than it actually is.

 

[rwright]

In theory, iOS can make a better decision between using digital zoom or the built in 52mm lens but from what I've seen it too often moves to digital zoom mode. I'd like the simple ability to just use the built in 52mm lens.

I'm now using ProCamera a lot more now that I have an X. It not only allows you to select the 52mm lens (or 56mm on the 7/8+) but it also lets you change the compression level of the HEIF image it saves. The built-in camera HEIF quality seems no better than JPEG. ProCamera HEIF looks better from my small number of tests. So far that's working well for me.

 

[miniyou64]

Much more complicated or a little more complicated? Don’t you just use a Lightning port splitter so you can continue to use a Lightning cable along with the headphone adapter?

Yeah but then if you need power you really need a splitter and then you’re dealing with a lot of cables. Its not insurmountable but for videography, if you’re going to upgrade the camera that much its frustrating to have limited audio options.

 

[leekil]

In the test, he attributes the difference of two stops to "how improved the second lens is". The specs, however, don't really support that. The difference in the telephoto lens from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone X is a change of aperture from 2.8 to 2.4. This is a difference of half a stop of light, not two; his claimed two stops of light can't be obtained from the difference in the two telephoto lenses. There must be a change in the sensitivity or quality of the sensor of the iPhone X, or else a change in how the camera works and when it decides to switch from one lento the other.

 

[wesley96]

In the test, he attributes the difference of two stops to "how improved the second lens is". The specs, however, don't really support that. The difference in the telephoto lens from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone X is a change of aperture from 2.8 to 2.4. This is a difference of half a stop of light, not two; his claimed two stops of light can't be obtained from the difference in the two telephoto lenses. There must be a change in the sensitivity or quality of the sensor of the iPhone X, or else a change in how the camera works and when it decides to switch from one lento the other.

I think he should have phrased it as "camera module", not "lens". Indeed the lens aperture is insufficient to make up for the difference, but the inclusion of OIS can. When Apple introduced OIS to the iPhone's rear camera module, the lower limit of the shutter speed for the default camera app went down by two stops equivalent, from 1/15s to 1/4s. In iPhone 7 Plus, the telephoto lens doesn't do below 1/60s with the default camera app. So I can assume that the lower limit was lowered in a similar way with the inclusion of OIS capability. This is why I was saying that the person testing it should check the EXIF data of the photos taken.