Let's talk cameras

[John Yester]

Ya I don't know much about it yet but the 8 feet rule is annoying. Yet it won't allow anything close to work either.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Portrait mode needs a LOT of work. I can see why it's beta. It gets confused rather easily with finer details (flowers in the wind), etc.
This software background de-focus could easily be implemented on the 7 as well. Samsung has had it for a while now in their software and it works pretty well. And you don't need to be as far away from the subject.

Send them a report on it in the feedback app.

 

[dstrauss]

1. "Optical Zoom" is not the real issue - the 2x lens is really like the the top end of most standard length lens you get with the base level DSLR - (usually 18-55 or so, variable f stop) - your portrait lens so to speak.

2. "Digital Zoom" - I know digital zoom is a "no-no" in any professional setting, but those 10x zooms that Serenity took with the iP7+ sure looked a ton better than any other 10x "digital" zooms I've seen in the past, with much more detail and definition. Pay particular attention the the red buoy in the lake picture.

 

[C6TX6]

Digital zoom has never and, in my opinion, WILL never be a legitimate option because of the nature of how it creates a magnified picture. They didn't really focus on it in the keynote because they knew that digital zoom is still an almost pointless feature for legitimate photos.

It's always better to use the lens at unity and crop in post editing as needed.

However, with 4K, one can get away with digital zoom up (theoretically) 4X and still not see too much degradation when the output is re-encoded at 1080. There's all kinds of tricks and technique at play here. And in those situations where you must see something closer on screen, it does come in handy.

 

[dstrauss]

Digital zoom has never and, in my opinion, WILL never be a legitimate option because of the nature of how it creates a magnified picture. They didn't really focus on it in the keynote because they knew that digital zoom is still an almost pointless feature for legitimate photos.

UPDATED (to add 1x original to see how much zoom you are getting at 10x with both lenses)

I respectfully disagree when it comes to the dual lens setup. Just look at the difference in Serenity's full crop vs 10x images between the wide angle lens crop and the combined digital zoom - the zooms are night and day better. Is that really the right solution - no - but I DON'T want to hang a dongle off the lens for true optical telephoto, and I'm not going to carry my Nikon everywhere I go.

 

[Teemu2]

Just in case anyone hasn't come across this yet, but if the light is low, the 2x shooting mode will revert to the wide angle lens and digitally zoom to 2x rather than switch to the 2x lens.

It looks like the phone is prioritizing lower ISO (with the f/1.8 lens) over optical zoom and higher ISO (with the f/2.8 lens). The only way to know this is happening is by checking the EXIF for the aperture used.

I think this is another example of Apple saving you from you. The only solution so far is to shoot RAW. This allows you to explicitly set the lens you want.

 

[flyinion]

Just in case anyone hasn't come across this yet, but if the light is low, the 2x shooting mode will revert to the wide angle lens and digitally zoom to 2x rather than switch to the 2x lens.

It looks like the phone is prioritizing lower ISO (with the f/1.8 lens) over optical zoom and higher ISO (with the f/2.8 lens). The only way to know this is happening is by checking the EXIF for the aperture used.

I think this is another example of Apple saving you from you. The only solution so far is to shoot RAW. This allows you to explicitly set the lens you want.

You don't have to shoot raw. ProCamera https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/procamera./id694647259?mt=8&at=10l3Vy will let you choose which lens to use and you can choose whichever file format you want when selecting an individual lens. You can also choose "hybrid" which I guess uses both lenses, but that doesn't allow for a RAW image.

 

[Teemu2]

You don't have to shoot raw. ProCamera https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/procamera./id694647259?mt=8&at=10l3Vy will let you choose which lens to use and you can choose whichever file format you want when selecting an individual lens. You can also choose "hybrid" which I guess uses both lenses, but that doesn't allow for a RAW image.

Ok. I guess I should have said that you need to shoot with an app other than the built in Camera.app.

I still find it misleading. One of the big pluses of getting the Plus was having two lenses for optical zoom.