Tag: focal length comparison

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iPhone 14 Pro Camera Lenses – Focal Length Comparison

iPhone 14 Pro Max camera lenses
iPhone 14 Pro Max camera lenses (Photo: Apple Inc)

Similar to the iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro lines, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max camera has three lenses. The iPhone 14 Pro, Max main lens is 24 mm vs 26 mm in the iPhone 11, 12 & 13 Pro. The telephoto lens in the 11 and 12 Pro is 52mm. In the 13 Pro and 14 Pro, the telephoto lens is 77 mm. The lens focal lengths in the Apple specifications are the equivalent focal length of a 35 mm camera, not the actual focal length.

Screen shot of the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera interface
Screen shot of the iPhone 14 Pro Max camera interface

12MP Ultra Wide: 13 mm, ƒ/2.2 aperture with a 120° field of view, six‑element lens:

Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max lens, 12MP Ultra Wide, taken from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands
Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max lens, 12MP Ultra Wide: 13 mm, ƒ/2.2 aperture and 120° field of view

48MP Main: 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization, seven‑element lens:

Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max main lens, 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, taken from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands
Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max main lens, 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, taken from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands

12MP 3x Telephoto: 77 mm, ƒ/2.8 aperture, optical image stabilization, six-element lens:

Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max 12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad-pixel sensor): 48 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands
Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max 12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad-pixel sensor): 48 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands

Apple includes a 12MP 2x Telephoto (enabled by quad-pixel sensor): 48 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization, seven‑element lens, 100% Focus Pixels, which isn’t an image produced from a 48 mm lens but by taking 12 MP from the center of the 48 MP sensor and then doing some image processing on it:

Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max main lens, 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, taken from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands
Photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max main lens, 24 mm, ƒ/1.78 aperture, taken from Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands
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iPhone 11 Pro Camera Lenses – Focal Length Comparison

Apple iPhone 11 Pro lenses (Photo: Apple Inc)
Apple iPhone 11 Pro lenses (Photo: Apple Inc)

The iPhone 11 Pro phones come with triple 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras. The iPhone focal length of the lenses are 1.54mm, 4.25mm and 6mm. Their 35mm equivalent focal lengths are 13mm, 26mm, and 52mm, respectively. Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel gives a great explanation of the different effects of wide, normal and telephoto lenses.

iPhone 11 Pro Max Ultra Wide Camera – lens focal length 1.54mm (35mm equivalent: 13mm)
iPhone 11 Pro Max Ultra Wide Camera – lens focal length 1.54mm (35mm equivalent: 13mm)
iPhone 11 Pro Max Wide Camera – lens focal length 4.25mm (35mm equivalent: 26mm)
iPhone 11 Pro Max Wide Camera – lens focal length 4.25mm (35mm equivalent: 26mm)
iPhone 11 Pro Max Telephoto Camera – lens focal length 6mm (35mm equivalent: 52mm)

In the late 1970’s, I used the Nikon 13mm f5.6 lens on the Nikon F2 camera. The Nikon 13mm lens had a 118 degree angle of view and in its time, it was remarkable in that it was a rectilinear lens. The extreme angle of view opened up new creative possibilities in all types of photography including indoor, architectural and landscape photography.

The iPhone 11 Pro’s Ultra Wide camera angle of view is 120 degrees. When using the Wide and Telephoto cameras with iOS 13.1 camera app, the Ultra Wide lens enables a preview of what is outside the frame. This outside the frame information is also captured in the Wide and Telephoto cameras to enable post processing cropping without losing image information. This setting can be enabled in Settings -> Camera -> Photos Capture Outside the Frame.

iOS 13.1 Camera App screen – Ultra Wide field of view (Photo: Apple Inc)