The iPhone can not only zoom digitally, but also optically. This way you can photograph a topic closer without loss of quality. The counting -off camera is mainly used for this, but the ultra -wide angle lens can also zoom out optically.
In this article we explain the differences between digital and optical zooming using the iPhone camera. You can also zoom in optically with a single 48MP Fusion wide -angle lens. In addition, zooming in and out is not only available on the iPhone, but also on the iPad.
Difference digital and optical zoom
The difference between digital and optical zooming with an iPhone camera lies in the way the image is enlarged. Bee Optically zoom Using physical lens elements that shift to get the image closer without loss of quality is used. This is only possible on iPhones with multiple lenses, such as models with a telephoto lens, and offers a clear and sharp magnification.
Bee Digital zoom the image is enlarged by zooming in software, whereby the resolution is lowered because pixels are stretched. This leads to loss of quality and blur, especially at higher zoom levels.
Computational Photography
The iPhone 16th, but also the iPhone 15 or newer can zoom in optically with the help of computational photography. This is because the 48MP Fusion wedding camera has support for multiple focal lengths. The optical zooming is possible by using the quad-pixel sensorwho cuts out the center of the sensor and uses as a 12 MP image.
This process retains the image quality because it does not apply interpolation or digital magnification, but purely uses a physical part of the high-resolution sensor. This creates a 2x zoom option without loss of quality, which functions as a form of optical zoom.
Optical zooming with iPhone
- Open the camera application
- Tap above the recording button at 0.5, 1x, 2x or 5x
- Optical or zooms out
Since the iPhone 16 (Pro) you can also use the camera control to zoom in or out.
Digital zooming for iPhone and iPad
As already mentioned, the optical zooming is only available on the models with multiple camera lenses and/or a 48MP Fusion Wroedhoek camera. If you have a different model iPhone or iPad, you can zoom digitally. You do this by opening the camera app and making a spreading movement on the screen using two fingers. Squeeze the fingers when you want to zoom out.
In addition, you can hold down the 1x button and sweep to the left or right to zoom. So it is possible, but quality loss will occur.