What has evolved in the camera of the iPhone 15 series? An Apple executive explains
John McCormack, Apple's vice president of camera software engineering, and iPhone product marketing talked about the shooting and new features enabled by the camera installed in the iPhone 15 series, which will be released on September 22, 2023. Maxime Veron, senior director in charge, talks to PetaPixel, a news site that is knowledgeable about cameras and photography.
Apple Explains What the iPhone 15 Camera Can and Can't Do – and Why | PetaPixel
https://petapixel.com/2023/09/18/apple-explains-what-the-iphone-can-and-cant-do-and-why/
First, regarding the question, ``Who is the iPhone camera designed for?'' Mr. McCormack said, ``I think it enables people to pursue their own vision.'' We cater to a wide range of people, from the visions of parents with young children who want to be able to take photos at times, to professionals and creators who have a very specific, artistic vision and want to get there as quickly as possible. 'Yes,' he answered.
The table below summarizes the performance of the cameras installed in the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro , and iPhone 15 Pro Max . The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have two cameras, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have three cameras, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a different telephoto camera performance than the iPhone 15 Pro. In addition, the iPhone 15 series is characterized by the fact that all models are equipped with a 48MP quad pixel sensor, and not only the higher-end models iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, but also the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus support Apple ProRAW format. It is now possible to record photos at 48MP in HEIF Max format.
| iPhone 15・iPhone 15 Plus | iPhone 15 Pro | iPhone 15 Pro Max | |||
| Main | 48MP (Megapixel) Focal length: 26mm Aperture value: f/1.6 Sensor shift optical image stabilization 100% Focus Pixels | Main | 48MP Focal length: 24mm Aperture value: f/1.78 2nd generation sensor shift optical image stabilization 100% Focus Pixels | Main | 48MP Focal length: 24mm Aperture value: f/1.78 2nd generation sensor shift optical image stabilization 100% Focus Pixels |
| ultra wide angle | 12MP Focal length: 13mm Aperture: f/2.4, viewing angle 120° | ultra wide angle | 12MP Focal length: 13mm Aperture f/2.2, viewing angle 120° 100% Focus Pixels | ultra wide angle | 12MP Focal length: 13mm Aperture f/2.2, viewing angle 120° 100% Focus Pixels |
| 3x telephoto | 12MP Focal length: 77mm Aperture: f/2.8 optical image stabilization | 5x telephoto | 12MP Focal length: 120mm Aperture: f/2.8 3D sensor shift optical image stabilization and autofocus tetra prism | ||
With the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, you can select the focal length from three types: 24mm, 28mm, and 32mm by simply tapping the '1x' button that indicates 1x angle of view in the genuine camera app. 'This is made possible by advances in sensor resolution and Apple's software,' McCormack said.
However, focal length selection is only available for still images, not for movie shooting. As for the reason, McCormack said, ``When you take a photo with your iPhone, the camera is always active, capturing and collecting information about the surroundings, and continues processing in the background. In the end, they are combined into one photo. This is something that cannot be done with movie shooting.'
'All we want to do is handle everything in the background so that the process is invisible and unobtrusive, allowing people to take great photos and movies with just one tap and beautifully capture real-life moments,' Veron said. We are aiming for this,” he commented.
In addition, the camera sensor of the iPhone 15 series boasts a pixel count of 48MP, but the default shooting setting is set to 24MP. 'When you shoot at 24MP, you get both the dynamic range of 12MP and the detail of 48MP,' explains McCormack, explaining the benefits.
And the iPhone 15 series has adopted a USB-C port for the connector. In particular, the A17 Pro chip in iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max is equipped with a newly designed USB controller and supports USB 3.0 class transfer speeds. It was announced that it is now possible to directly save shot movies to external storage. However, only Apple ProRes format movies shot at 4K/60fps can be saved directly to external storage. Everything else needs to be saved to your iPhone and then transferred separately.
Regarding the reason why movies that can be saved directly to external storage are limited to Apple ProRes format shot at 4K/60fps, Mr. McCormack and Mr. Veron answered, ``Because we are focused on supporting Apple ProRes workflows.'' I am.
PetaPixel points out that as the functionality of the iPhone's camera evolves, core users will demand more functionality from the original app. For example, the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max now allows log shooting with ProRes Log, but the genuine app does not have a function that allows you to set the exposure in more detail. McCormack said, ``We will leave it to app developers to serve users who want to make the most of their hardware and software,'' and said that they want to maintain a clean experience for genuine apps.
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