Picking the right camera in iPhones

Totem pole in Duncan, BC.  I shot these with my iPhone 15 to illustrate perspective.

I quite like my iPhone 15 Pro's cameras, all three of them.  Each one (0.5x, 1x, and 3x) offers a different perspective and even a certain amount of ability over the others.  

The 0.5x camera has a relative focal length of 14 mm which makes it an ultra wide-angle lens/camera.  It has an increadibly wide field of view and not only takes in a huge amount of scenery, it also causes massive distortions.  You can see that the wings of the totem pole on the left appear much smaller than the two on the right.  The distortion also makes it an undesirable choice as the subject does not have the same presence as in the other two images.

The 1.0 camera (middle image) is the default camera for iPhone.  It has a 48 mp sensor and, at full resolution, allows a 48 mp raw image to be taken.  The other two cameras can produce a 12 raw image.  The 1.0x camera has a relative focal length of 24 mm and, in this case, was the best choice as the distortion was limited (the wings were a bit smaller than the last image, but not significantly), the background was nicely minimized, and the nearby tree did not interfere with the shot.

The 2.0 camera actually uses the 1.0 camera but crops it 50% (horizontally and vertically to produce an image 25% the size of the 1.0 magnification).  The background was more pronounced and distracting and the nearby tree and sign also interfered with the photo.  I also shot with the phone's 3.0x camera and the problem was further exacerbated.  

Picking the right camera depends on many factors.  The 1.0x camera offers the greatest resolution but does cause some distortion.  The 0.5x camera is great for scenes requiring a wide coverage, but the distortion is palpable.  I would suggest using the pano feature for wider shots if you don't want the serious distortion associated with the ultra wide lens.  The 2x and 3x cameras are good choices for portraits and minimal zooming.  Although the camera can be zoomed to 15x, the fact is that most of this is digital vs optical resolution and the image suffers significantly.

We did the totem walk in downtown Duncan.  It was very pleasant, there were lots of local businesses to enjoy and the people were friendly.  It was a great way to spend a few hours.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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