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Will iPhone 12 come with 3 or 4 rear camera?


  • Total voters
    34

murad_fourth

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 29, 2019
416
298
Hello.

What do you think?

3 Rear Camera:

iPhone_11.jpg

or

4 Rear Camera:

iPhone_12.jpg

Let's see what the iPhone users on the forum think about this.

Edit: iPhone 12 in the thread title means Pro models.
 
Last edited:

Nordichund

macrumors 6502
Aug 21, 2007
493
264
Oslo, Norway
Probably the same as the 11 and 11 Pro, but with better software and if lucky a larger sensor and more MPX. I think most of the work will be done on the new 5G.
I must admit I am impressed by the x5 zoom on the Huawei Pro 30.
 
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AppleHaterLover

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2018
2,048
2,051
There are phones with 4 cameras right now but I think it's rather pointless really. After seeing the new RAZR ad, I went on Motorola's site and they have a phone with 4 cameras - wide, ultra-wide, telephoto and a Go-Pro style action camera that shoots landscape video when the phone is in portrait mode. Rather pointless.

What I'm really looking for is continued improvement in low-light performance (something the secondary cameras on the Pro are not excellent at)
 

Burebista

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2019
221
231
There will be a time-of-flight camera on the Pro’s, but that doesn’t really count as 4th camera I guess. That’s for the AR whatever. Imo 3 cameras is the optimum. What Apple needs to do in hardware is boost the zoom to 5x optical, like Huawei did. Even 3x would be a massive improvement. And keep tweaking the software for low- and mid-light performance, there’s a lot of room for improvement still when it comes to indoor shots.
 

lockerc18

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2012
553
209
"WILL IPHONE 12 COME WITH 3 OR 4 REAR CAMERA?"

How about a varible aperture lens instead of either one? This fixed focal point stuff is getting ridiculous.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,491
"WILL IPHONE 12 COME WITH 3 OR 4 REAR CAMERA?"

How about a varible aperture lens instead of either one? This fixed focal point stuff is getting ridiculous.

Not to pick on your post, but what’s ‘ridiculous’ about it? What issues could you possibly have with fixed focal point?
 

lockerc18

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2012
553
209
Not to pick on your post, but what’s ‘ridiculous’ about it? What issues could you possibly have with fixed focal point?
Well, one thing is the requirement to have multiple lenses in order to get depth of field. And the way the computational photography is done to make up for that, it turns out to be a poor approximation of what a real lens with a variable aperture provides. There is outlining on the near object, and that object is entirely in focus, when it should be gradated from the point of focus. I have no idea what a real lens would cost to replace the 3 the Max has, but I'd pay for it to get better picture quality. What the heck, I already paid a grand for the phone, why not pay a few more shekels and get a real lens in it? My point in saying it's ridiculous is that Apple has been trying to sell us on the idea that the camera is so special when it's a kludgy setup. And they have to add more lenses to approximate what an actual camera can do, and that jacks the price up. The next thing you know, you'll have a honeycomb of lenses on the back of the phone, just to get a few more minor capabilities which still aren't what a decent lens can provide. Hence, ridiculous.
 
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The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,217
19,449
UK
There will be a time-of-flight camera on the Pro’s, but that doesn’t really count as 4th camera I guess. That’s for the AR whatever. Imo 3 cameras is the optimum. What Apple needs to do in hardware is boost the zoom to 5x optical, like Huawei did. Even 3x would be a massive improvement. And keep tweaking the software for low- and mid-light performance, there’s a lot of room for improvement still when it comes to indoor shots.
agreed, zoom is the most likely upgrade from the camera from this year.
 

huiAPPOAJ

Suspended
Jul 1, 2019
49
11
I hope they figure out how to put all the cameras into one again. The current triple camera design is beyond retarded
 

pika2000

Suspended
Jun 22, 2007
5,587
4,902
I hope they figure out how to put all the cameras into one again. The current triple camera design is beyond retarded
Do tell how one can "put all the cameras into one".

I wonder if people understand the laws of physics here.
[automerge]1574817732[/automerge]
Well, one thing is the requirement to have multiple lenses in order to get depth of field. And the way the computational photography is done to make up for that, it turns out to be a poor approximation of what a real lens with a variable aperture provides. There is outlining on the near object, and that object is entirely in focus, when it should be gradated from the point of focus. I have no idea what a real lens would cost to replace the 3 the Max has, but I'd pay for it to get better picture quality. What the heck, I already paid a grand for the phone, why not pay a few more shekels and get a real lens in it? My point in saying it's ridiculous is that Apple has been trying to sell us on the idea that the camera is so special when it's a kludgy setup. And they have to add more lenses to approximate what an actual camera can do, and that jacks the price up. The next thing you know, you'll have a honeycomb of lenses on the back of the phone, just to get a few more minor capabilities which still aren't what a decent lens can provide. Hence, ridiculous.
What do you mean by "real lens?"
 

lockerc18

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2012
553
209
Do tell how one can "put all the cameras into one".

I wonder if people understand the laws of physics here.
[automerge]1574817732[/automerge]

What do you mean by "real lens?"
One with a variable aperture. That would eliminate the need to have multiple lens with fixed apertures. My understanding is that such a real lens would be thicker and heavier than the current lenses, but who knows what magic the Apple engineers can pull out of their camera hats?
 

pika2000

Suspended
Jun 22, 2007
5,587
4,902
One with a variable aperture. That would eliminate the need to have multiple lens with fixed apertures. My understanding is that such a real lens would be thicker and heavier than the current lenses, but who knows what magic the Apple engineers can pull out of their camera hats?
The multiple lenses is not for different apertures, but for different focal lengths. Variable apertures won’t replace different focal lengths. Besides, variable aperture on a sensor this small is almost insignificant. You’ll want the largest aperture anyway to allow as much light into the tiny sensor.

I’ll take computational algorithm anytime vs mechanical variable aperture that won’t actually do a thing.
 

lockerc18

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2012
553
209
The multiple lenses is not for different apertures, but for different focal lengths. Variable apertures won’t replace different focal lengths. Besides, variable aperture on a sensor this small is almost insignificant. You’ll want the largest aperture anyway to allow as much light into the tiny sensor.

I’ll take computational algorithm anytime vs mechanical variable aperture that won’t actually do a thing.
Actually, the different lenses are for different depths of view. The context of my post was depth of field, which is controlled by aperture size, not focal length.
 
Last edited:

pika2000

Suspended
Jun 22, 2007
5,587
4,902
Actually, the different lenses are for different depths of view. The context of my post was depth of field, which is controlled by aperture size, not focal length.
In addition to focal length. So using variable aperture won’t replace the multiple focal lens purpose of the multiple lenses. OTOH, going with multiple lens, you get both multiple focal lengths and depth sensing. Thus going multiple lenses is the right way, instead of going with variable aperture that won’t even do much difference in depth of field considering the sensor size.
 

lockerc18

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2012
553
209
In addition to focal length. So using variable aperture won’t replace the multiple focal lens purpose of the multiple lenses. OTOH, going with multiple lens, you get both multiple focal lengths and depth sensing. Thus going multiple lenses is the right way, instead of going with variable aperture that won’t even do much difference in depth of field considering the sensor size.
But... smaller sensors can have better depth of field capabilities than larger ones. "As sensor size increases, the depth of field will decrease for a given aperture (when filling the frame with a subject of the same size and distance). This is because larger sensors require one to get closer to their subject, or to use a longer focal length in order to fill the frame with that subject. This means that one has to use progressively smaller aperture sizes in order to maintain the same depth of field on larger sensors."

(https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm)

A variable aperture would overcome that issue.

But, aside from all that, it may become moot given what this article says:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/70779...liminate-the-need-for-smartphone-camera-bumps

No more camera bumps, and an entirely new technology for smartphone camera lenses.
 
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