iPhone 15 Pro Camera Distortion

[KermitFries]

Hi guys!

Just bought an iPhone 15 Pro! Loving it! On some of my photos, I have noticed a distortion. Like squashed up heads. I have included this photo I found from a YouTube video (@MountMedia). It’s exactly the same as this. I take pictures of my child and I hate that it does this in some photos. Never had this issue with my 13 or 14 Pro. I can’t understand why it’s doing it. I am using default settings at heif at 24mb. Is it anything to do with the 22/28/35mm options? Currently it’s set to 22mm.

Please help!

KF

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I've taken plenty of pics of people with my 15PM and never had any photos that look like that..

 

[lostless]

Completely normal optics. It’s how lenses work based on how close you are to a lens. The closer you are, the skinnier your subject will be. If you take 2 pictures from the same distance and crop the non zoom lens to match the zoom lens, the proportions will be the same. What you have done here is backed up for the zoom photo and then moved in closer for the non-zoom photo to get a similar shot. A good experiment would to be put on your .5 lens and take a picture super close to your face. Look how skinnier your face is. Then put on the normal 1x, do the same. You will see it’s just a zoomed in version of that super skinny version of your face.
This video explains it pretty well.

 

[KermitFries]

Can I DM you the picture in question? I don’t wanna put a picture of her on the net. Was hoping it’s possible to fix it.

 

[ManuCH]

Completely normal optics. It’s how lenses work based on how close you are to a lens. The closer you are, the skinnier your subject will be. If you take 2 pictures from the same distance and crop the non zoom lens to match the zoom lens, the proportions will be the same. What you have done here is backed up for the zoom photo and then moved in closer for the non-zoom photo to get a similar shot. A good experiment would to be put on your .5 lens and take a picture super close to your face. Look how skinnier your face is. Then put on the normal 1x, do the same. You will see it’s just a zoomed in version of that super skinny version of your face.
This video explains it pretty well.

I second that, that's exactly how it is and it's pure optics.

 

[ric22]

Normal optics or not, there's a lot of distorted heads in my Christmas Eve photos!! Never seen that before on an iPhone in full length photos in both landscape and portrait. People in our WhatsApp group even commented on my shared pics, suggesting my settings must somehow be screwed up 😬

 

[KermitFries]

Normal optics or not, there's a lot of distorted heads in my Christmas Eve photos!! Never seen that before on an iPhone in full length photos in both landscape and portrait. People in our WhatsApp group even commented on my shared pics, suggesting my settings must somehow be screwed up 😬

100%

Only way I can get photos to look normal is to use 28 or 35mm zoom. The camera is unusable on full.

 

[lostless]

The issue still falls back to the iPhone 15 camera is wider angle than older phones. if you frame subjects the same as you did with older phones, you will get distorted images on the edges. On older phones you would naturally, physically back up, removing the distortion. but It's not the phone or setting, but the lens that apple is using now.

 

[ric22]

If you can't frame a photo of a human with their feet near the bottom and head near the top any more, isn't that a strange choice of main lens?

 

[ManuCH]

This is all pure physics. If you get a wide angle lens on a professional camera you will notice the same effect. And the 1x lens of the iPhone 15 is basically wide angle already. And it needs to be handled as such.

 

[headlessmike]

100%

Only way I can get photos to look normal is to use 28 or 35mm zoom. The camera is unusable on full.

There are a lot of uses for ultra wide lenses (traditionally anything wider than 24 or 28 mm equivalent). But shots of people aren't usually one of them because of the perspective distortion already mentioned. I would use a 35 or 50 mm lens for wide shots of people and something like an 85 or 135 mm for headshot portraits.

 

[ric22]

So the suggestion is we should only use the 2x zoom on an iPhone for full length portrait photos?

 

[ric22]

I've taken plenty of pics of people with my 15PM and never had any photos that look like that..

So how is it possible this guy doesn't have the same issue with the main lens? That makes no sense

 

[BugeyeSTI]

So how is it possible this guy doesn't have the same issue with the main lens? That makes no sense

Not sure. I'm not saying he isn't having the problem he's describing, I just said I haven't had the issue.. It's quite noticeable so it's not like you could miss something like that..

 

[ric22]

Not sure. I'm not saying he isn't having the problem he's describing, I just said I haven't had the issue.. It's quite noticeable so it's not like you could miss something like that..

I took some more picture today, and they look fine unless someone's head is in the upper third of the image, then it gets distorted. It just means a lot of cropping...

What happens if you try taking a full length photo of someone, on 1x with no zoom, with their head about 1/5 of the full frame from the top?

 

[sdante]

I would not use anything else but 3x lens in 15 Pro or 5x lens in 15 PM for taking portraits. Also 2x "lens" (cropping) gives nice in terms of face proportions (not distorted faces) but fine details are not very good then (not at the same level as was in say 12 Pro or similar iPhones with actual 2x lens and normal 12 MP sensor).

I find very little use for 1x default lens in 15 PM which is a shame since it has be best sensor in that mode. I guess it is good for taking photos of walls and maybe buildings and such with flat surface. Also it works for portraits if taking them so far away that faces are no longer distorted but obviously objects look rather small in the photo, but for some group photo it likely works fine for further away.

If I could choose, I'd rather take 2x lens with 48 MP sensor instead of 1x lens. IMHO 0.5xwide lens with 1x cropping would be sufficient replacement for 1x lens in current 15 series in that case.

 

[headlessmike]

So the suggestion is we should only use the 2x zoom on an iPhone for full length portrait photos?

That is one way to minimize perspective distortion. But if you cannot move far enough from your subject then it's not an option.

So how is it possible this guy doesn't have the same issue with the main lens? That makes no sense

There's more to it than just the focal length. The angle between the image sensor and subject also influence the level of distortion, as does the placement of the subject in the frame. Objects closer to the corners of the image are more likely to look distorted with a wide-angle lens. As for the angle bit, imagine two flat planes, one extending out from your phone (or camera) and one where your subject is. If the two planes are completely parallel, you minimize the perspective distortion. But if they are at an angle to each other, then you'll end up with more perceived distortion. This is often considered in architecture photography (see images), where pointing the camera up or down will cause building to look distorted but holding the camera pointed parallel to the ground will reduce this. The focal lengths in the image are not the cause of the perspective distortion, it's the angle of the camera to the subject.

I took some more picture today, and they look fine unless someone's head is in the upper third of the image, then it gets distorted. It just means a lot of cropping...

What happens if you try taking a full length photo of someone, on 1x with no zoom, with their head about 1/5 of the full frame from the top?

It depends. But even the 1x lens on an iPhone is borderline ultra wide territory which can easily give this type of perspective distortion.

With all this being said, there is not right or wrong in photography. It's an art and the more you learn the more you can use different effects to get the image you want. I've taken plenty of ultra wide portraits (even with fisheye lenses) where I was trying to get a certain look.

 

[ric22]

It seems a bit odd that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has gone with two wide angle lenses and one 5x zoom lens. It sounds like a step back from the options on the 15 Pro.

Is a fourth lens now essential for the 16 Pro? If there's no suitable lens for portraits then Apple have kinda stuffed it for one of the most common photos people take with their phones...

I was happy with the camera until yesterday, but realised since I owned it I'd only taken photos of buildings, mountains and pets, and not really people. The head distortions in what looked like well framed pictures were a catastrophe 😅 Whatever my partner's S23 Ultra is doing with its lenses, it pulls its sh*t together a lot better indoors, and her pics put mine to shame!

 

[headlessmike]

It seems a bit odd that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has gone with two wide angle lenses and one 5x zoom lens. It sounds like a step back from the options on the 15 Pro.

Is a fourth lens now essential for the 16 Pro? If there's no suitable lens for portraits then Apple have kinda stuffed it for one of the most common photos people take with their phones...

I was happy with the camera until yesterday, but realised since I owned it I'd only taken photos of buildings, mountains and pets, and not really people. The head distortions in what looked like well framed pictures were a catastrophe 😅 Whatever my partner's S27 Ultra is doing with its lenses, it pulls its sh*t together a lot better indoors, and her pics put mine to shame!

The telephoto lens is the portrait lens.

The 15 Pro and Pro Max have identical cameras expect for the telephoto lens. The S23 Ultra (I presume) uses the same 24 mm equivalent standard lens as the iPhone 14 and 15 series, and any perspective distortion will be identical to that from the iPhone 15 series. So, if you are getting distorted images and your partner isn't, then it's probably down to technique rather than equipment.

But cropping an image will also give the exact same effect as a longer focal length (with a resolution drop obviously). That's why the standard camera has a 48 MP sensor, so you can crop the image get tighter compositions.

 

[sdante]

Is a fourth lens now essential for the 16 Pro? If there's no suitable lens for portraits then Apple have kinda stuffed it for one of the most common photos people take with their phones...

Definitely 4th lens would be the best but I don't think it is going to happen yet, it will increase manufacturing cost and it might be hard to fit in current size chassis. Probably we eventually get that, it is already seen in some android phones. I think the best compromise would be just replace current 1x lens with 2x lens for 48 MP sensor. Then just add 1x cropping mode for 0.5x lens.

 

[ric22]

Definitely 4th lens would be the best but I don't think it is going to happen yet, it will increase manufacturing cost and it might be hard to fit in current size chassis. Probably we eventually get that, it is already seen in some android phones. I think the best compromise would be just replace current 1x lens with 2x lens for 48 MP sensor. Then just add 1x cropping mode for 0.5x lens.

The 0.5x lens is only useful once in a blue moon, so I'd swap that for a more sensible portrait lens than 5x.

 

[ric22]

The telephoto lens is the portrait lens.

The 15 Pro and Pro Max have identical cameras expect for the telephoto lens. The S23 Ultra (I presume) uses the same 24 mm equivalent standard lens as the iPhone 14 and 15 series, and any perspective distortion will be identical to that from the iPhone 15 series. So, if you are getting distorted images and your partner isn't, then it's probably down to technique rather than equipment.

But cropping an image will also give the exact same effect as a longer focal length (with a resolution drop obviously). That's why the standard camera has a 48 MP sensor, so you can crop the image get tighter compositions.

She's used her camera a lot more than I have, so she's probably got the hang of it better.

I've set the default to 28mm/1.2x crop now, which seems better for home use this Christmas.

 

[lostless]

It seems a bit odd that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has gone with two wide angle lenses and one 5x zoom lens. It sounds like a step back from the options on the 15 Pro.

Well the new lens is not much wider than the 26mm in previous phones, with the new one being 24mm. But it is enough to start seeing some distortion around the edges. But a lot of point and shoots I've used also start their lenses at a 24mm lens, but most people would just zoom in a tad. The 1.1x zoom would be the equivalent to what the older iPhones were. Or just back up a tad and crop. and with the 48mp sensor, you can do that without much loss of resolution.

 

[sdante]

The 0.5x lens is only useful once in a blue moon, so I'd swap that for a more sensible portrait lens than 5x.

That would work very well for me also. I'm afraid we will not get rid of 0.5x soon, I guess it is usable if you want to take photos of some room layouts of houses and such. Probably something that real estate brokers need daily.

 

[MM301]

The 35mm option is great for this case. I find the 24mm almost feels like an ultra wide. Good for scenery but not great for people.