iPhone 14 Pro Max Entire optical zoom range.

[Jrover6382]

There have been some useful discussions here about optical zoom on the iPhone 15 pro Max, but I think I have a more specific question. If you open the “wheel”, i.e. by holding your finger on one of the focus buttons, if you rotate the entire wheel is it sitting in optical all the way 0.5x until x5? I noticed if you continue above around times x8, a rectangle appears which diminishes as you increase “zoom“ which I presume this means digital zooming has started. This implies that all the way from times .5 through to x5 is all optical. But is it? Personally I am interested in the optical zoom ranges so that I can set a magnification throughout glass only.

 

[HuNay]

They’re all fixed or prime lenses you’ll only get true optical focal lengths at the four levels on your screen (0.5, 1, 2, 5)

 

[Jrover6382]

There have been some useful discussions here about optical zoom on the iPhone 15 pro Max, but I think I have a more specific question. If you open the “wheel”, i.e. by holding your finger on one of the focus buttons, if you rotate the entire wheel is it sitting in optical all the way 0.5x until x5? I noticed if you continue above around times x8, a rectangle appears which diminishes as you increase “zoom“ which I presume this means digital zooming has started. This implies that all the way from times .5 through to x5 is all optical. But is it? Personally I am interested in the optical zoom ranges so that I can set a magnification throughout glass only.

They’re all fixed or prime lenses you’ll only get true optical focal lengths at the four levels on your screen (0.5, 1, 2, 5)

Except perhaps the telephoto (X5) which has been quoted as optical zoom. I’m not sure from what to what.

 

[HuNay]

Except perhaps the telephoto (X5) which has been quoted as optical zoom. I’m not sure from what to what.

It’s misuse of the term “optical zoom” on their part due to marketing. The telephoto is fixed at 120mm, so 5x

 

[maerz001]

Also 2x is just a digital crop of the 48MP sensor.

You see 3 fixed lenses on the back. Thats the 0.5x, 1x, 5x (3x on the 14 pro and 15 pro)

All between is digital

 

[Jrover6382]

Agh. Ok. Thanks. I thought so.

 

[Jrover6382]

As a matter of interest on this subject, does anyone know why this zoom rectangle appears in the top right at about x8?

 

[hieubui]

As a matter of interest on this subject, does anyone know why this zoom rectangle appears in the top right at about x8?

Because at that point, it may be difficult to 'navigate' the scene once you've zoomed in too far. It's there to help you get the sense of where things are.

 

[Jrover6382]

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Jrover6382]

So, the bottom line from all your (excellent) answers is: Choose the fixed x0.5, x1, x2 and x5 buttons for ‘optical only’ shots. (I’m aware that the x2 is the actually a pixel fudge of the x1). So, max resolution between x2 and x1 is actually the x1 setting. Is this summary correct?

 

[maerz001]

So, the bottom line from all your (excellent) answers is: Choose the fixed x0.5, x1, x2 and x5 buttons for ‘optical only’ shots. (I’m aware that the x2 is the actually a pixel fudge of the x1). So, max resolution between x2 and x1 is actually the x1 setting. Is this summary correct?

For Max resolution of 48MP you have to use 1x and activated it in camera settings. Standard is 24MP to save storage space

 

[StudioMacs]

So, max resolution between x2 and x1 is actually the x1 setting. Is this summary correct?

When shooting HEIC or JPEG, all focal ranges from 1.0 to 1.9 produce 24MP images. It’s effectively using computational photography to do optical zoom in this range from the fixed-length main camera. Once you go from 1.9× to 2.0×, resolution drops to 12MP.