APPLE SPECIAL EVENTsystemacrossthe productline, whichis good,because
the perceptionamongsmartphone‑market watchers
is that Apple’s photography game had fallen behind
competitors such as Google, Samsung, and Huawei.
After the event I got to spend some time with an
iPhone 11 Pro and its Camera and Photos apps, both
of which have been modified to support the new
features of the iPhone 11 line. Here’s a look at what’s
new and how it all fits together.
Adding the ‘ultra wide’ camera
All iPhone models gained a camera in this update,
whichAppleis callingthe “ultrawide”.It’s a 12Mp
lens with a 120‑degree field of view. In iPhone camera
terms, it’s the ‘0.5x’ camera, versus the 1x ‘wide’ camera
and the 2x ‘telephoto’ camera. You can toggle between
the lenses by tapping buttons right on the Camera app
- and yes, that means that the iPhone 11 Pro’s Camera
app now has three different buttons as shown in the
photo on page 32. You can also slide your finger over
the buttons to bring up a zoom dial, which prominently
displays the ‘home’ zooms of the available lenses, and
subtly snaps to them when you get close.
While you’re taking video, you can also zoom
in and out using that swiping gesture. The iPhone
software will translate that into a smooth zooming
effect, and hand off between one camera and the
other imperceptibly (a nice trick that requires a lot of
calculations and image manipulation).
Yes, the ultra wide camera is there to help you
take broader shots – especially in scenarios where
you can’t just take ten steps back to get that broader