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iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

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Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#141

Post by chemmail »

packetslave wrote: post #37

Here's the thing about iPhone photography (and Android too, I suppose): if you know what a DSLR is, or the difference between DSLR and mirrorless bodies, you are not the target audience . Apple isn't trying compete with a $3500 Sony A7R4 with a $1000 90mm macro lens. They're aiming for people who see the example "macro" photos and say "neat! I want to try that". Or the people who have already bought a Moment macro le…

I have friends who have over $30k in glass from Canon and Nikon (some use both!). And they barely touch it anymore because the iPhones have gotten so damn good.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#142

Post by chemmail »

marban wrote: post #6

While the 13 Pro's lens is undoubtedly a marvel of engineering, I feel like all those 'mind.blown' reviews must have been written by youngsters who never used a dedicated macro lens on a (D)SLR.

Is that a DSLR in your pocket? No. It will never fit in your pocket. But a iPhone will. And it replaces 3 lenses on top of that.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#143

Post by EugeneOZ »

jacobolus wrote: post #135
EugeneOZ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, the difference between a full-frame DSLR and any phone camera is night and day. It's just ridiculous to read articles about phone cameras with their ugly photos where authors are writing something like “wow it's amazing - best camera ever, you don't need a pro camera anymore”. It's so funny.

No, the difference between a large-format 8″×10″-negative view camera + dye transfer printing process vs. a cute little digital DSLR is night and day. It’s just ridiculous to read articles about DLSRs with their ugly photos where authors are writing something like “wow it’s amazing – best camera ever, you don’t need a pro camera anymore”. It’s so funny.

I agree with everything except the first word - you are not denying my words ;)

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#144

Post by bosie »

sudosysgen wrote: post #87
bosie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i assume fixed at 24mm because at 90mm, stopping it down to f16 won't do you much good?

Yes, somewhere around 24mm. You'd need to step down a bit more at 90mm. However, at 90mm the object would also be farther away, so you wouldn't need to stop down a lot more than you'd expect.

at 90mm (at 1:1 or higher magnification) stepping down will not solve the issue, you still need to heavily focus stack.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#145

Post by noneeeed »

mhb wrote: post #23
noneeeed wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, as someone who is starting to go long-sighted, this is tempting me towards getting a 13 pro (or Pixel 6 i it is similarly good). I frequently find myself using my phone camera to zoom in on ridiculously small text on things, but my phone has always struggled with it. Good phone macro will be a feature I would use all the time.

I don't want to interfere with a rationalization for a new phone, but how does your phone struggle? I use my iPhone SE (Gen 1) for this all the time.

I have a Moto Z2 Play and its camera is not great when close up, it stuggles to focus.

I suspect a lot of current phones would do a good job with this task, but I'm on the lookout for something that will last me 5 years or more so the 13 pro is in the short list.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#146

Post by jychang »

dylan604 wrote: post #127
jychang wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a software trick. Just one of the unintended benefits of having a smaller sensor. Full frame sensors have thin depth of field. Small sensors like an iPhone don't have that, so they fake it with portrait mode. But when you do macro photography, having thin DoF becomes a drawback, so with big DSLRs you have to do focus stacking (which is unnecessary on an iphone).

>Full frame sensors have thin depth of field. ...when they have a large aperture. Stoping down the lens will widen the DoF on that full frame sensor >so with big DSLRs you have to do focus stacking you don't have to. only if that is the style you are wanting to achieve. you can also stop down the aperture. it's not as obvious as non-macro, but still something doable.

Have you ever stopped to think about HOW MUCH wider the DOF is when you stop down on a DSLR? Because when it comes to macro, the answer is "usually not enough", even at f/22. And at such small apertures, diffraction becomes a big issue.

This is why focus stacking exists for macro on DSLRs, as when using a true macro 100mm lens you basically have only a thin sliver of usable DOF at reasonable apertures.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#147

Post by sudosysgen »

bosie wrote: post #144
sudosysgen wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, somewhere around 24mm. You'd need to step down a bit more at 90mm. However, at 90mm the object would also be farther away, so you wouldn't need to stop down a lot more than you'd expect.

at 90mm (at 1:1 or higher magnification) stepping down will not solve the issue, you still need to heavily focus stack.

If you want to take the images in the article of a ~6mm object even at 90mm stopping down would be possible. You'd be putting the object at around 18cm instead of 2cm though.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#148

Post by sandofsky »

ironfootnz wrote: post #125

I’d say, I almost got tempted to download the app to later realize that I have to commit a 7 day trial before even trying the app. Would be ideal to just buy the app for $$ price rather than upfront cost.

There’s a “Pay Once” option next to the subscription options.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#149

Post by Tagbert »

opensmtpd wrote: post #83

My problem with smartphone cameras(including iPhone) is that they completely misrepresent the scene. They try to make the colors of your photos as punchy as possible even when that's not actually what you're seeing. Older iphones used to capture accurate colors (which is why I preferred iphone cameras in the past) but now they produce the same over-saturated, over-sharpened images as every other phone these days. If…

Apple brought out a new feature in iOS 15 where you can modify the settings used in the initial pipeline. Currently you can adjust some basic settings like contrast, saturation, and color shift. Those settings are then applied to all photos as they are pulled off of the sensors.

Re: iPhone Macro: A Big Day for Small Things

#150

Post by Tagbert »

153957 wrote: post #7

So this is just a digital zoom (crop) with Super Resolution™-like (machine learning) upscaling...

Yes, though there may be some other adjustments it makes. This is just a feature of their Halide app that gives an approximation of macro photos within the limits of the existing lenses. You would need to buy an iPhone 13 Pro to get the new lenses that can focus down to actual macro ranges. The app has lots of manual controls for taking photos that are not exposed on the default camera app.
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