Category Archives: Photography

At the library

Architecture, iPhone, Photographs

Not a right angle in sight.




The ultrawide optics does its thing.

My local library is one of those wildly abstract and severe designs which denies the existence of the ninety degree angle. This sort of architecture is fodder for the camera, as the above image discloses.

One of the complaints I have seen aimed at the ultrawide optic in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro is that it is fixed focus. Such opinions are expressed by those with no training in the physics of photography. A 1.54mm focal length lens (13mm FFE) will render everything sharp all the time, as I illustrate here. There is no need for focusing. And if you want to change depth of field, Focos awaits. The other complaint is that saving the image in RAW format is not possible. Only compressed JPG is available. What this opinion denies is the extent to which computational photography and Apple’s always-on SmartHDR technology obviates the need for RAW. (RAW is available in some camera apps like Halide, not in the stock Camera app). Finally the third complaint – excessive lens distortion and vignetting – is justified, but easily resolved with one click in LR or PS or ACR using my lens correction profile. Apple’s claim that they left distortions uncorrected for the UWA lens to emphasize its ‘wideness’ is so much rot. They clearly rushed the product to market along with a disastrous series of iOS 13.x releases, each replete with bugs.

It is the small file sizes of JPGs for the UWA – and indeed JPG is standard for all three lenses – that is one of the unsung secrets of the camera’s design. As the data for the above image disclose, the RAW image is some 12mp (3024 x 4032 = 12.19 mp), whereas the JPG is a mere 2.88 mp. Now a file from your enormous Nikon D850 with its 50mp sensor and no less gargantuan optics will come in at some 150mp when converted to TIFF or PSD, which is what LR or PS has to do before you apply any processing corrections.




EXIF data for the above image.

And by contrast, so sophisticated is SmartHDR in the iPhone that those corrections are rarely called for. So suddenly LR performs once more like the spring chicken it once was, loading those 3mp files in a trice and creating full size previews in like time, whereas your D850 image dictates ever larger capital outlays on more storage, faster storage and improved GPUs. Why, process just seven of those images and there goes a gigabyte of storage …. And while you are processing all of those bytes, I have crafted a blog entry, written a suitably inflammatory narrative and am out on the street searching out new subjects for my camera. Plus, you are $5,000+ out of pocket and your shoulder is sore. I suffer from neither affliction.

iPhone 11 Pro resolution

iPhone, Photography

Not half bad.

To check how the iPhone’s Normal lens (the 25mm 1x option) compares with a full frame DSLR, I dusted off my Nikon D700, a 12mp FF digital body with a sensor renowned for its low noise. The closest fixed focal length lens in my rapidly dwindling Nikkor collection is the superb 20mm f/3.5 UD Nikkor, a lens which comfortably outperforms its three successors which came in compact variants with f/4, f/3.5 and f/2.8 maximum apertures. Dwindling? I do not collect gear and will have little if any use for these dated behemoths after buying the iPhone 11 Pro.

I then photographed one of my bookshelves with the iPhone and with the Nikkor, comparing the two in Lightroom. In the comparison image below, the iPhone image is straight out of camera. The Nikon’s had to have contrast increased but is otherwise also SOOC. The iPhone image is JPEG, whereas the Nikon image is RAW.




The original image.

The images below are 1:1 enlargements – the pixel peeper’s favorite which has sold a lot of ridiculously large sensors to those who have no earthly need for them. Each image is from the center of the sensor. We are talking 30“ x 40“ prints here.




The Nikon’s ISO was quadrupled to adjust for the smaller aperture. f/4 is very much this Nikkor’s sweetspot.




Extreme corners, at double the magnification of the above.

I would guess that the iPhone image is using Deep Fusion computational photography, but frankly all I care about is the result, not the road traveled to get there. You be the judge.

A first Deep Fusion test

iPhone

Not that obvious.

With the introduction of iOS 13.2 Apple has enabled Deep Fusion for the cameras in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. For an explanation of how this works click here. Note that Deep Fusion does not work with the ultrawide lens; it’s limited to the normal and telephoto. You must also turn off “Photo capture outside the frame” in Camera Settings. Finally, Deep Fusion does not work in burst mode and requires a current top of the line iPhone, meaning the 11 or 11 Pro.

By sampling and combining the best parts of multiple images Deep Fusion claims to further improve the already stellar results from the iPhone 11’s camera. It’s not easy to test, however, as it only kicks in with moderately lit subjects and there’s no indication that it’s working.

To compare results, I took one indoor image using iOS 13.1, downloaded the update, and took a second image with iOS 13.2, the one with Deep Fusion.

Here’s the original:




Before and after exposures and ISOs were identical. No processing was applied in Lightroom.

Here is the center of the image magnified to a print size of 60″ x 80″:




Regular (left) and Deep Fusion images.


There is just a little more detail (and less aggressive sharpening by the iPhone) in the butterfly’s wings in the Deep Fusion version, less smearing and slightly lower contrast.

Now let’s take a look at the shadows nearer the edge:




Regular (left) and Deep Fusion images.


Again there is a very small gain in definition but a significant reduction in grain and less smearing of the detail. Contrast in the Deep Fusion version is again lower.

So does Deep Fusion improve things? Yes. Is that improvement really significant? No.

But the above – these are enormous enlargements – confirm that the days of gargantuan sensors are numbered. A pinhead sized sensor combining multiple images shows barely any grain and more definition than any photographer looking at a 30″ display will ever need. Unlike on your DSLR, that sensor is dust and waterproof. As for web publication, it bears repeating: No one needs more than 3mp.

iPhone 11 ultrawide lens and focus

iPhone

More than meets the eye.

Apple tells us that the exciting ultrawide (UWA) lens in the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro is fixed focus. At 1.3mm focal length (13mm FFE) that’s hardly a limiting factor. Looking at SOOC images from the UWA, everything is indeed sharp from some 6″ to infinity.

This SOOC image testifies to that:




The loudspeaker is 6″ from the UWA lens. No distortion correction applied.

But a quick look at this image in Focos discloses that a full depth map is saved with the photo, and it’s a matter of a second to change focus from ultra close to infinity, thus:




Focus alternatively on the speaker and at infinity, using Focos.
Distortion removed using my lens correction profile.

Is the definition any better? No. It’s identical. Are the creative possibilities great? You betcha! Can your $10,000 full frame DSLR do this? Nope.

iPhone 11 Pro.

iPhone 11 Pro 1.54mm ultrawide lens correction profile

iPhone

No more mustaches.

Click here for an index of all iPhone articles.
Here’s an index of the iPhone 11 Pro pieces:

Part I – The revolution realized
Part II – Upgrading
Part III – The ultrawide lens
Part IV – The Normal lens
Part V – The Telephoto lens
Part VI – The Focos app
Part VII – Quirks and anomalies
Part VIII – HDR and the Night Mode
Part IX – The digital zoom function
Part X – A lens correction profile for the ultrawide optic

It’s common when correcting distortions in ultrawide lenses to end up with a ‘mustache’ effect in originally straight lines. You can see it in my corrected images taken with the otherwise excellent 20mm f/3.5 UD Nikkor.

The 1.54mm (13mm equivalent on FFE) ultrawide (UWA) lens in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro suffers from this malady. Use the distortion correction slider in LR and you get the mustache.

Here’s the uncorrected original image – Apple applies no distortion correction to images taken with the UWA:




Straight out of camera image shows heavy distortion of straight lines.

You can correct the distortion using this setting in the LR Develop module, and get the mustache distortion:




Spherical distortion correction in LR yields the ‘mustache’ effect.

Or you can manually invoke my newly created lens correction profile for the UWA thus, using the Develop module, for truly straight lines at the edges:




How to invoke my iPhone 11/11Pro UWA lens correction profile.

Here is the comparison of the LR corrected image, left, with that corrected using my lens correction profile, on the right:




Comparing LR correction with that from my UWA lens correction profile.

Now you can use that wild UWA lens in the iPhone 11/11 Pro for architectural images.

Go to my Lens Profiles page to download the profile – jump to the end. That page includes installation instructions which must be followed carefully if the profile is to show up in the LR Develop module.

This profile works with JPGs only, not with RAW files unlike the other profiles in that linked page.