The revolution continues.

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I referred to the three revolutions in photography since its invention in the previous column.

Now we are beginning to see one of the most significant steps forward for minuscule sensors in Apple’s catchily named Deep Fusion technology.

Phil Shills.

While this technology is all about merging disparate images to make a better whole, the software driving this process would not be possible without Apple’s A13 CPU, designed in Cupertino and made by ARM. After the creation of the original iPhone, one of Apple’s best ideas has been the decision to design its processing chips in-house, permitting a level of laser-like focus on design not available with off-the-shelf silicon. Those CPUs are invisible to users but make a lot of the magic underlying computational photography possible. The in-house design also makes it harder for the likes of thieves like Samsung and the others to steal Apple’s intellectual property, a particular expertise of certain far east nations.

Deep Fusion will become available in iOS 13.2 (13.0, 13.1 and 13.1.1, with my iPad a victim of all three, are horribly buggy) and will only work on the latest iPhone 11 models. The idea is not new. Hasselblad provides the ability to merge multiple pixel-shifted images in some of its ridiculously priced medium format digital cameras as does Sony, and maybe others, in some of their FF bodies. NASA has been using the technique for decades to enhance images from poor early sensors. But with all that processing power in the A13 CPU – Apple claims 8.5 billion transistors, and who am I to argue? – Cupertino goes for a far more complex solution. Three frames are taken before the shutter button is touched (how does the phone know to do that?), three more when it’s activated and then one more long exposure when you thought it was all over. The best one of the six short exposures and the long exposure are merged and the magic CPU does the work in delivering the best definition. The complexity notwithstanding, all of this happens invisibly and automatically, taking but one second.

The test images disclosed so far leave no doubt that the definition in iPhone 11 images is adequate for huge prints. Heck, I was making decent 13″ x 19″ prints from my iPhone 4 millenia ago. Sure, they had to be taken in medium lighting and relatively low contrast, but definition was not an issue. No one needs a 50mp monster sensor, unless employed as a spook or trying to impress his mates. Now we have definition galore, much better processing for broad dynamic range and the superb Night Mode which takes low light photography to a new level. The images of the latter disclosed to date are simply breathtaking.

So when I write that the sort of computational photography made possible by high end CPUs in the latest iPhones will kill MFT and, for that matter, most digital cameras, there’s a growing body of evidence to support that opinion.

My iPhone 11Pro? Well, I just took delivery of a new belt holder and protective case (the latter also stores a driver’s license, medical and credit cards), but I cannot buy the new iPhone until sales of my MFT hardware are completed. The cash thus raised will pay for the new cell phone, relieving me of a lot of clutter and no cash.

Update: For test results of Deep Fusion, click here.

The new magic.

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The latest nom de jour in photography circles is ‘computational photography’, which is a fancy way of saying that image control has been passed from hardware to software. This augurs poorly for the latest high end ILCs with their ridiculous 50mp and higher sensors, with attendant demands on computer upgrades to handle those behemoth files in something under a week per snap.

DP Review’s technical writer Rishi Sanyal does an excellent job of explaining just how software in devices like the Phone 11Pro is taking the lead from hardware in delivering the best image quality in small files using brains, not brawn. Sanyal writes:

“Newer, faster processors often mean increased photo and video capability, and the iPhone 11 is no exception. Its image processing pipeline, which handles everything from auto white balance to auto exposure, autofocus, and image ‘development’, gets some new features: a 10-bit rendering pipeline upgraded from the previous 8-bit one, and the generation of a segmentation mask that isolates human subjects and faces, allowing for ‘semantic rendering’.”

What shines through in his detailed exposition of the newest iPhone’s features is how all three of its cameras are used to deliver the best picture, along with brilliant technologies like storage of a depth information profile for an image which allows the application of selective focus, as an example, in post processing.

Some 13 years ago in a piece titled “It’s the software, stupid” I wrote:

“And who will be the genius designing these new ‘lenses’? It won’t be a god the likes of Max Berek or Walter Mandler in Wetzlar. It will be some kid who is really sharp at coding who happens to like a superb picture from the one ounce piece of plastic passing for a lens attached to his camera. The great days of optics are yet to come and their designs will emanate from the keyboard of some unknown master even now getting his lips around the teat on that plastic milk bottle.”

Like that milk bottle, today’s lenses are plastic, their unprocessed quality is garbage, and software does what plastic cannot. Say goodbye to big cameras, big lenses and big sensors.

Profound implications for camera makers.

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Yes, the price of the new iPhone 11Pro, just introduced, is high. Yes, the ergonomics are as awful as they were with iPhone 1 back in 2007. The on/off switch remains opposite the shutter button, making sure you turn off the camera when you most need it. And yes, the absence of a proper viewfinder in bright light makes framing a hit-or-miss proposition. And yes, the device is sprouting ugly faster than the pig in the Oval Office, with its three clunky lenses and increasingly confusing menu structure.

But take a moment to read the specifications and compare them with your advanced MFT or FF camera:

And don’t forget the always on GPS so you always know where your snap was taken. And the cell phone. And the internet. And email. And Messaging. And Google Maps. And all those stupid games. Your camera does none of those.

When I started with MFT one of the primary appeals was that you could get close to FF quality without FF bulk. This was especially true when it came to the size of lenses, something which has always made a nonsense of the ‘in between’ APS-C interchangeable lens format whose lenses are scarcely smaller than their FF counterparts. I transitioned to MFT with the superb Panasonic G1 a decade ago. As a replacement for the film Leica M it was a street snapper’s dream. Better definition, finer grain, lots of images on one card, great lens range and size and bulk comparable to the exemplar of film rangefinder cameras. Later upgrades saw the Panasonic G3 replace the G1 and finally the GX7 which is the ultimate Leica M replacement, with its truly silent electronic shutter and Leica M form factor.

But now the iPhone, with its multiple lenses covering most of what a photographer needs – wide, standard, modest telephoto – looks set to obsolete the MFT system in a much smaller package. FF? At the high end for sports snappers and journalists needing ‘street cred’ (who is going to take you seriously if the iPhone is your camera of choice?) it’s likely to survive, albeit with a minuscule and falling market share.

Price of the new iPhone 11? $1,000 with 64gB, which compares with $600 for iPhone 1 in July, 2007, with its crappy 2mp camera. Inflate that at 4% annually and you get $960 and the new iPhone has a larger, better screen, eight times the memory and is several orders of magnitude faster. So while $1,000 sounds like a lot, I prefer to think that $600 back on 2007 was really expensive. I know. I bought one.