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I also bought iPhone 15 Pro Max partly because of the 5x zoom, but I'm somewhat disappointed. The gap between 1x and 5x is just too big and includes focal lengt

I also bought iPhone 15 Pro Max partly because of the 5x zoom, but I'm somewhat disappointed. The gap between 1x and 5x is just too big and includes focal lengths that are very useful for things like portraits. I wish they had 4 cameras at 0.5x, 1x, 3x and 10x like Samsung does.

merelysounds 3y ago
Personally even 3x is too much for me, I preferred 2x from earlier iterations; the ~50mm focal length still worked for portraits and also was easier to work with indoors. With 3x I’m getting a lot of “move further away” notifications. All this contributes to complexity and lack of control, and it makes me use my digital camera more. Since this workaround works for me, I’m not interested in upgrading my phone, at least not because of camera improvements.
- eterevsky 3y ago
  When my cat does something funny, I usually have a phone at hand, but the camera is in another room. There's a lot of other situations in which snapping a quick photo on the phone is the only way.
  - postexitus 3y ago
    "The best camera is the one you have with you" - Chase Jarvis
    - _aavaa_ 3y ago
      Carry a better camera.
ricardobeat 3y ago
2x in the iPhone 15 uses pixel binning and should result in the same quality as optical 2x, just at 12MP instead of 24, same as the previous generation. Isn’t that usable?
- eterevsky 3y ago
  With the same optics the 2x picture the effective size of the sensor is 2x smaller and it receives 4x less light. This has to result in the lower-quality picture. Also, the resolution of the photo is mostly limited not by the number of megapixels, but by optical resolution of the lens.
  - The_Colonel 3y ago
    The zoom lenses which need to fit into the phone package have also significantly smaller light gathering capability, so you won't be able to improve a lot over the main camera.
windowsrookie 3y ago
Newer Sony Xperia phones have variable optical zoom by physically moving the lenses. Maybe eventually other manufacturers will start adopting this. https://www.dpreview.com/news/1686332610/sony-s-xperia-1-and-5-mark-iii-introduce-variable-optical-zoom https://www.dpreview.com/news/1686332610/sony-s-xperia-1-and...

merelysounds 3y ago

Personally even 3x is too much for me, I preferred 2x from earlier iterations; the ~50mm focal length still worked for portraits and also was easier to work with indoors. With 3x I’m getting a lot of “move further away” notifications. All this contributes to complexity and lack of control, and it makes me use my digital camera more. Since this workaround works for me, I’m not interested in upgrading my phone, at least not because of camera improvements.

eterevsky 3y ago
When my cat does something funny, I usually have a phone at hand, but the camera is in another room. There's a lot of other situations in which snapping a quick photo on the phone is the only way.
- postexitus 3y ago
  "The best camera is the one you have with you" - Chase Jarvis
  - _aavaa_ 3y ago
    Carry a better camera.

ricardobeat 3y ago

2x in the iPhone 15 uses pixel binning and should result in the same quality as optical 2x, just at 12MP instead of 24, same as the previous generation. Isn’t that usable?

eterevsky 3y ago
With the same optics the 2x picture the effective size of the sensor is 2x smaller and it receives 4x less light. This has to result in the lower-quality picture. Also, the resolution of the photo is mostly limited not by the number of megapixels, but by optical resolution of the lens.
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  The zoom lenses which need to fit into the phone package have also significantly smaller light gathering capability, so you won't be able to improve a lot over the main camera.

windowsrookie 3y ago

Newer Sony Xperia phones have variable optical zoom by physically moving the lenses. Maybe eventually other manufacturers will start adopting this. https://www.dpreview.com/news/1686332610/sony-s-xperia-1-and-5-mark-iii-introduce-variable-optical-zoom https://www.dpreview.com/news/1686332610/sony-s-xperia-1-and...