subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 22 February 2020 51FORA longtime,Googleseemed
resolutein itsdeterminationthat
justa singlerearcamera/lenswas
allit needed– withzooming
takencareof digitallyviaartificial
intelligence.Withmanyother
flagshipssportingthreelenses,
Googlehasfinallyrelentedand
includedtwoforitslatestflagship
model– thePixel4.
Alongsidethe28mmf/1.7
(equivalent)lensthatwesawon
thePixel3,youalsonowgeta
48mmf/2.4‘telephoto’lens.
WhileGooglelikestoaimitself
at photographers,it’sfrustrating
tonotethatthenativecamera
appremainsa very simple
operation.There’sa fullyautomaticCamera
mode,withnooptionto adjustany
settings.Ontheplusside,youcan
shootin rawformat.Otherthan
that,yougeta Portraitmode(which
youcanusewithnon-human
subjects,if youlike),a Video
modeandthemuch-fetedNight
Sightmodeforusein lowlight.
Wefirstsawtheextraordinary
NightSightappearwiththePixel3,
andnaturallyit remainsonboard
here.Thenewadditiontothe
modeis anAstrophotography
option,whichmakesuseof very
longexposures.It should
automaticallyactivatewhen
alreadyin Nightmode,whenthe
phonedetectsthatit is stable(i.e.
whenmountedona tripod).The
resultsareridiculouslyimpressive
fora smartphone,andshowoff
exactlywhatis possiblewith
computationalphotography.
In othermodestheresultsare
alsoverygood.Coloursarenicely
saturated,detailis goodand
becausethere’snomanual
controlhere,whatyouessentially
haveis anexcellentpoint-and-
shoot– a bitliketheiPhone,but
at roughlyhalftheprice.What
youdon’thaveis anultra-
wideanglelens,butif youcanlive
withoutthatandjustwant
somethingsimple,then it’s an
excellent choice.THELATESTApplemodel,the
iPhone 11 Pro,getsa triple-lens
set-upandincorporatesanultra
wideanglelens– something
we’veseenona fewdifferent
Huawei,Samsungandother
brands’modelsfora fewyears.
Still,thisbeingApple,althougha
littleslowtojointheparty,it’s
nowarrivedwithfinesse.
BoththeiPhone 11 Proand
thelargeriPhone 11 ProMax
sharethesamecameraset-up.
Thetriple-lensarrayaddsan
ultra-wideangle(13mm
equivalent)totheexisting
dual-cameraset-upfromthe
iPhoneXS,whichoffereda
26mm f/1.8 and a 52mm lens.A slighttweakhereis thatthe
longerlensis nowf/2.
AlthoughApplehaskeptthe
nativecameraappsimple,there
aresomeinterestingnew
features.Particularlyusefulis the
waythedisplaymakesuseof the
differentlensestoshowyou
what’shappeningoutsidethe
frame,whichis helpfulfor
composition.Youcanevenswitch
ona settingtorecordthatextra
information,allowingyoutocrop
androtateat a laterdatewithout
losingresolution.
Anothernewfunctionis Night
modethatactivatesautomatically
in lowlight.DeepFusion–
somethingwhichalsoactivates
byitself(withnoindicationwhen
it’son)promisestodeliver
super-finedetailin such
conditions.
Onthewhole,imagequality
fromtheiPhone 11 Prois
fantastic.Low-lightshootingis
verygoodtoo,withNightmode
puttingin a fantastic
performance,withdetail
renderedverywell– especially
whenviewingat small(ish)sizes.
If thebudgetis tight,also
considerthemoreaffordable
iPhone11,whichfeaturesonly
thesuper-wideandthe
standardlens,butis otherwise
very similar to the Pro.RecommendedColours are evenly matched across all three iPhone lenses Colours and detail are both nicely rendered by the Pixel 4Ataglance Ataglance●Double-lenscamera
●Twoscreensizes
●2800/3700mAhbattery
● 64GB/128GB storage●Triple-lensrearcamera
●Availablein twosizes
●iOSoperatingsystem
● Cheaper iPhone 11 also availableRecommendediPhone 11 Pro
● From £1,049● apple.comGoogle Pixel 4
● From £669● store.google.comALL PRICES ARE RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICES