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iPhone 12 Pro WARNING before you buy: Apple is trying to hide a huge iPhone 12 camera flaw
- Thread starter flyguy5
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Indeed. However the principles are similar. 1x on the wide and 2x on the telephoto.
Not true at all. Either the zoom is 5x or it's not. It's irrelevant how many lenses it's across, as long as it is seamless.
Alright, here’s my take: (because we need another one on this uber important and critical topic)
Whether or not Apple is being misleading on the topic is purely subjective.
Now, that being said... when I was watching the keynote and heard the 5x optical zoom range, my first thought was “Sweet! 5x optical zoom in made it to the iPhone!!”
Of course they then dove into the specific specs and I saw that the zoom-in lens had 2.5x optical zoom. Then I understood.
I was confused at first because this was the first time Apple pointed out zoom *range*. Of course, doing just a bit of reading on the website clears it up and you’ll understand that “range” is calculated from ultra-wide to the 2.5x optical zoom in.
My OPINION is that they were slightly misleading by changing up the terminology they used, as it initially even caught me off guard. Clearly, the bigger number sounds better on paper. Simply put, comparing the Pro’s 4x zoom range to the Max’s 5x zoom range sounds better than saying 2x optical zoom vs. 2.5x optical zoom. In my opinion, that is why they switched it up: a whole number difference feels larger than a half number difference.
It’s not a “flaw” though, and the video is definitely clickbait.
Whether or not Apple is being misleading on the topic is purely subjective.
Now, that being said... when I was watching the keynote and heard the 5x optical zoom range, my first thought was “Sweet! 5x optical zoom in made it to the iPhone!!”
Of course they then dove into the specific specs and I saw that the zoom-in lens had 2.5x optical zoom. Then I understood.
I was confused at first because this was the first time Apple pointed out zoom *range*. Of course, doing just a bit of reading on the website clears it up and you’ll understand that “range” is calculated from ultra-wide to the 2.5x optical zoom in.
My OPINION is that they were slightly misleading by changing up the terminology they used, as it initially even caught me off guard. Clearly, the bigger number sounds better on paper. Simply put, comparing the Pro’s 4x zoom range to the Max’s 5x zoom range sounds better than saying 2x optical zoom vs. 2.5x optical zoom. In my opinion, that is why they switched it up: a whole number difference feels larger than a half number difference.
It’s not a “flaw” though, and the video is definitely clickbait.
Source? Or did you just make that up on the spot to defend Apple's marketing? Considering nobody else is combining multiple lenses to advertise zoom range, I fail to see how this change is an improvement or clarification for a potential buyer.
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Are any phones 35mm baseline equivalent, which is the starting point of traditional zoom?
Given the choice I’d prefer the option of wide angle integration, rather than maximum reach. So I happen to like the implementation.
Sensationalist post is sensationalist.
Given the choice I’d prefer the option of wide angle integration, rather than maximum reach. So I happen to like the implementation.
Sensationalist post is sensationalist.
Neither, it's my opinion as from a user perspective, it's not really relevant...unless you want to pick on apples' marketing. It's useful for me, to know I can go from 40mm(made up) to 120mm(made up), I don't care how many lenses it takes to do this. As long as it's fast and seamless.
Your title is more misleading than Apple’s camera.
The average joe gets the 12, not the 12 Pro. People buying the Pro should know what they’re buying.
Anything can be calculated as “equivalent” to 35mm, if you mean compared to focal length or field of view that is equivalent to what would be seen on a traditional 35mm film camera or full frame DSLR. For those formats 50mm focal length would normally be deemed as standard (let’s call it 1X) because its approximately what the human eye sees.
For that matter all of my Name brand prosumer cameras always declared x times soon with different starting points. Apple makes a legitimate claim.
Apple being deceptive with their advertising? Well, I for one am shocked. Shocked, I tell you.
I saw his video. I’m still buying it since I’m buying to upgrade the camera for wide angle capabilities and low light pictures. I rarely use telephoto. Usually I use it to scan documents from a distance where the overhead shadow doesn’t show up in the scan.
At least we found the bug/problem. 
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Not misleading, more like how it should be. Apple simply stating ”2.5x zoom” or “2x zoom” wouldn’t be completely accurate either.
If you buy a "superzoom" camera, the zoom range is alway stated between the widest and the longest focal lenght.
And the widest lens on the iPhone is the UWA, so Apple is absolutely correct to say it's a 5x zoom.
Just because others make misleading claims, this hasn't to be true.
And the widest lens on the iPhone is the UWA, so Apple is absolutely correct to say it's a 5x zoom.
Just because others make misleading claims, this hasn't to be true.
Typically, when a camera states an nX zoom, it is counted from 1X zoom. So 5X zoom usually means you can zoom up to 5X. This is easy to understand in a traditional camera setup since there's only one single lens.
It's more complicated on a multi lens setup like the iPhone. Due to the fact that we all started with the wide lens as the default, the traditional thinking is that that main lens is the 1X. So it's normal to think that when one talks about 5X, it is 5x zoom from the main wide lens. But here it's not the case. The telephoto lens is only 2.5X the focal length of the main camera. However, there's the ultrawide. And Apple's own camera UI consider this as 0.5X "zoom."
Now Apple listed the camera system as having a 5X zoom range. This is correct when one counts from the ultrawide lens. So from ultrawide and telephoto, that gives 5x zoom. This also follows the traditional camera as 1X is basically the widest focal length on the lens. There's no 0.5X.
Thus I see it's Apple's own "fault" in a sense for making the idea of 0.5x for the ultrawide. Now they are trying to correct it by saying 5X zoom range. This makes people like the OP to see this as misleading, as the actual telephoto only gives 2.5X from the usual "1X" lens, which is the main wide lens.
I can see the confusion, but at the same time, Apple is not lying per se. The way I see it is they should stop using 0.5X for the ultrawide. Simply start with 1X at the widest angle, and go from there, just like a regular traditional camera. The issue of course is the main wide sensor is usually the best sensor, thus it being set as the default "1X."
Anyway, it's still better than Samsung's stupid marketing of "100X Space Zoom." Now that's just silly.
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I noticed that (at least in German) they added a different break point on the website when it comes to the features side by side in bullet points. The iPhone 12 features breaks earlier and thus give the illusion that the iPhone 12 has the same amount of features as the Pro Max because the amount of bullet points is the same. hard to explain haha but I thought it was sneaky
This is all that's needed here. Comparisons to interchangeable lens camera systems don't make sense because my 24-70 lens doesn't "start" at 47mm. This petty discrepancy only exists because people want to cling to the "default" lens as the indicator of the start of the range while ignoring that if you were actually talking about a lens with a zoom range of 14-52mm you would absolutely look at 14 as the wide end of the range not the theoretical middle.
If you're doing enough reading to complain and feel scammed by the definition of "optical zoom" and "zoom range" and "2x vs 5x" then you should have done enough reading to know that there is a wider lens than the default lens and that should make it abundantly clear to you where the camera's "range" starts.
Literally, no one.
absolutely NO ONE. Is buying a state of the art iPhone for 5x zoom.
No one.
please stop trying to justify your recent change to android and giving Samsung your Money.
as you feared, the iPhone 12, especially the PRO MAX will not only run circles around your galaxy, but also take far better pictures AND they will look crystal clear and loose little to no quality once you post them on social media sites, which is when said picture actually matters.
absolutely NO ONE. Is buying a state of the art iPhone for 5x zoom.
No one.
please stop trying to justify your recent change to android and giving Samsung your Money.
as you feared, the iPhone 12, especially the PRO MAX will not only run circles around your galaxy, but also take far better pictures AND they will look crystal clear and loose little to no quality once you post them on social media sites, which is when said picture actually matters.
It is not misleading to me. If you buy a point and shoot camera the company will tell you the zoom is for example 10X. That means from the widest to the longest which is the zoom range. Same thing Apple is doing. Apple could have the camera app start from the ultra-wide and then nobody would complain. But if they did that then people would complain that they have to zoom in for a normal photo. They can't win either way.
IMO people who really know whay they're buying could buy every iPhone 12 (Mini/vanilla/Pro/ProMax) except the Pro 6.1" except for the very niche audience who really take advantage of RAW editing or telephoto (and not 2-3 telephoto picture a year) and can't handle a Max size format / weight.
I know this opinion will not be appreciated on average here on MR since most of us are tech enthusiasts or hardcore Apple fan.
The sad truth is most people who will buy the 6.1" Pro will buy it because they tought it's was way better of regular 12 (it clearly is not true this year with same screen) or apperance based reasons ("Look at my shiny triple optics" "I got the Pro" etc)
If you are trully rationnal, 12 Pro is closer to regular 12 than 12 Pro Max while the price is not reflecting that even at same 128GB storage. The gap in photo between Pro and Pro Max make the Pro model is a no man's land since for +$100 you get way better camera system.