Engadget Logo Engadget Japan version Evolved iPhone 13 camera It is attractive that anyone can easily use the latest technology (Masaichi Honda)

Since iPhone 11, Apple has been actively improving the camera function along with the development of its own SoC. This year's iPhone 13 has the same dual camera as last year, but its appearance has changed due to the diagonally arranged lens configuration. However, what has changed is not only the appearance, but also the image quality and functions have greatly evolved.

It hasn't been long since the product arrived, but let's summarize the points of evaluation while introducing examples.

The reason why the lens arrangement is slanted

You may be wondering whether to buy the iPhone 13 (including the mini) or the iPhone 13 Pro (including the Max). The difference between the two is the difference in GPU performance (13 is 25% lower) built in the SoC A15 Bionic, the memory capacity is 4GB and 6GB, respectively, and the glass treatment on the back is matte or glossy. There is a big difference in parts selection (and the cost associated with it), such as whether the frame material is aluminum or stainless steel, whether or not LiDAR is used, and whether or not the latest power-saving display is used as in the previous column.

…… But when choosing a product, there may be a big difference in the built-in camera in addition to the coloring. Although there are different screen sizes, the mini and Max are considerably smaller than the others when it comes to sales of the iPhone 12 series. The other two models both have the same size display and housing, so most consumers choose the 6.1-inch for the latest iPhone. As the battery life has improved this year, the mini composition ratio may increase, but the Max composition ratio may decrease accordingly.

Especially last year, the one who chose the iPhone 12 Pro Max was most concerned about the difference in the built-in camera. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a telephoto camera that is 2.5 times more telephoto than the standard camera, and the standard (wide-angle) camera is equipped with a sensor shift type image stabilization function along with optical image stabilization.

The camera installed in the iPhone 13 Pro series has been renewed this year as well, but I will leave it to another article, but here I would like to focus on the built-in camera of the iPhone 13 and tell you the points of evaluation. The built-in cameras of the 13 and 13 mini will be exactly the same.

Last year, the cameras were lined up vertically, but this year they are placed diagonally to the camera bezel. This is by no means a design accent. It actually had to be placed diagonally.

This is because the sensor shift type image stabilization has been introduced to the wide-angle lens that is mainly used. Also, the lens is equivalent to last year's iPhone Pro Max, and the camera module has become larger overall. Therefore, it became necessary to review the overall layout, and the layout changed. But placement is not the only change.

The left and right button positions of the iPhone 13 have been lowered. This fits the camera bezel of the larger iPhone 13 Pro in order to have the same design as the 13 Pro, but the iPhone 13 mini couldn't accommodate the larger camera module and was a little thicker by 0.2mm. For this reason, it is better to think that conventional accessories cannot be used.

For a camera that is simple, has few restrictions, and is easy to use

This year's iPhone has made a big difference, especially with the Pro camera, but on the other hand, there are some parts that have become a little quirky to use. I would like to see another article that mainly evaluated the iPhone 13 Pro series cameras, but the part that automatically switches to the macro function of the ultra wide-angle camera is annoying. This is because the framing changes.

Related article: Differences from the 13 seen using the iPhone 13 Pro's camera

I'd like to tell you more about it in the iPhone 13 Pro article, but the iPhone 13, which has simply evolved in image quality and features, has few points to consider. There may be few people who buy a new model from last year, but the difference is clear compared to before the iPhone XS generation.

Also, last year, the image quality was greatly improved, and the movie shooting function that enabled HDR video shooting has a new function, and it is now possible to use movies that make use of the bokeh called cinematic mode.

If you like the expressive power of ultra-wide-angle lenses, please also note that you can use the night mode with an ultra-wide-angle camera. Rather, it can be said that the camera is simple and has few restrictions, without having to be aware that "night mode does not work at ultra-wide-angle lenses".

It will be described later together with a photograph style that allows you to memorize your own image creation, but while it will be simple and automatic and preferable, it is also a change of this year's model that a simple mechanism to bring out individuality is introduced. That said, I'd like to talk about that later. First, let's look at the points that should be suppressed regarding image quality.

The decisive factor for feeling high image quality is Smart HDR 4

In terms of image quality, Smart HDR 4 makes the biggest difference when shooting in full auto. The specific difference in processing content from Smart HDR 3 is not clear, but the resulting difference is clear, resulting in higher contrast and deeper detail. Of course, the contrast of the entire photograph is the same, but the local contrast is high for each subject and it is drawn with a wide dynamic range.

Compared to the photo of the train platform, the stones around the railroad tracks should look more three-dimensional. Smart HDR separates the subject and adds contrast to each material. In both smart HDRs, subjects with different brightness ranges such as the sky, the sun in the home, the shade, and the area around the railroad tracks are separated and developed differently, but with smart HDR 4, optimization for each subject is more aggressive. You can see that it is doing.

If you look at the scene with a wide dynamic range taken in the precincts of Meiji Jingu, you will feel that the three-dimensional effect of the person, as well as the texture and three-dimensional effect of the trees in the background, are completely different. In particular, the trunk of the tree has a more three-dimensional depiction.

The image quality of the new camera often feels pretty at first glance even when shooting everyday scenes, but the smart HDR 4 contributes greatly to the background of the reason for having such an impression. It seems.

Of course, some people may not like to automatically recognize these subjects and optimize their development. If you shoot a person against the sun, the sky should fly white. That's exactly right. If you adjust the exposure to a person shot in normal light, the contrast of other subjects should be lowered, so you can understand the opinion that it is "unnatural".

In that case, you can turn off Smart HDR and use it. However, when viewing the landscape with the naked eye, the exposure matches each subject of interest. It may look unnatural for a photo, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be retouched in post-processing. If you think of it as "digital photography in the age of AI," I personally feel that it is in the wrong direction.

Create your own photo style that is not tailored

If it is within the range of general photography, first release. The fact that the iPhone will perform appropriate development processing for each subject after taking a picture is realized by the iPhone's in-house developed SoC, but even so, there is a preference.

If you like S-shaped tone curves with strong contrast, warm tones, cold tones, soft tones and glossy textures, register your taste as "photograph style". For example, you can take a picture that suits your taste.

Apple offers five styles: "Standard," "Rich Contrast," "Vivid," "Warm," and "Cold," for each of the two axes of "tone" and "warmth." It can be adjusted in 100 steps. You might imagine that 100 steps would be a very exaggerated effect, but if you correct it to the maximum, the image creation will change drastically, but it will not collapse. Also, since it changes the parameters during development, it is good that there is almost no decrease in the amount of information unlike retouching.

You can customize 5 presets from "Camera" in "Settings" in advance, and specify the style to be applied by default. You can also select presets and adjust preset parameters when shooting.

It means that we have introduced a mechanism to capture the photographer's intentions in detail, but on the other hand, it is preferable that it is not too complicated. This extends to other functions as a way of thinking, and "automatic" has been added to the Live Photo function. If it is decided that it should be saved as Live Photo depending on the situation, it will be taken as Live Photo, and if the framing before and after the release is not stable, it will be taken as a normal still image.

This area can be adjusted in 100 steps with ±, which is quite fine and has a wide range of tastes. It's a good idea to refer to Apple's basic presets and fine-tune them to your liking. If you select a photograph style from "Settings", you can check on the screen how the development parameters change with respect to the example.

Movie shooting with fun cinematic mode

By the way, the most fun to use in this test is "cinematic mode". This makes it easy to shoot cinematic images, including automatic processing and manual control.

Many of the conventional "movie-like" camera functions include support for 24fps and the adoption of a movie-like look (creating a unique atmosphere with color reproduction maps and tone curves). Or, it was just equipped with the functions of a full-fledged cinema camera like Sony's Xperia series.

But Apple is taking this approach from a completely different direction. I am trying to obtain a movie-like image by simulating the optical characteristics of a lens by machine learning and computing power.

Simply put, it made it possible to shoot video using portrait mode for still images (although there is no switching of lighting effects, etc.). Similar to the portrait mode, it recognizes the subject, calculates the optical characteristics of the subject other than the subject, and then adds the bokeh effect. (Of course, it can also be used with the in-camera)

Since it is a movie, the subject you want to focus on will change one after another, but the live view on the screen will display the recognized subject in units such as "face" and "body", and tap it. It is possible to switch with. At that time, unlike the case of a still image, the focus changes slowly.

Also, as introduced in Apple's demo video, etc., automatic switching of which subject to focus on by machine learning is done. When I use it, I feel that it focuses on the person who is speaking something, but I am not confident because it does not work perfectly.

By the way, even subjects that the iPhone does not automatically recognize can be focused and tracked by tapping on the screen. It loses focus when the shape of the object is out of the frame so that it cannot be recognized, but it tracks while it is being recognized, so it is possible to move the focus between the person and something (for example, glass). In other words, you can enjoy not only the bokeh but also the change in the bokeh caused by the change in the focus position on the video.

Furthermore, some ingenuity has been added to the post-editing. It is the same as portrait mode that you can change the size of the blur with the F value, but can you see from the screen that the automatic subject switching position is indicated by the orange mark?

On the other hand, if you specify a position on the time axis and tap another subject on the screen, you can change the focus to a subject different from the subject automatically selected by the iPhone. (The mark is displayed in gray)

With this function, it is possible to switch the focus at the timing when the person speaking in the conversation changes, or to adjust to another object "afterwards".

However, keep in mind that cinematic mode is a "blurred later" feature. Subjects that are originally out of focus are still out of focus. However, this point is a little good for the non-Pro iPhone 13, and the sensor is a little small, so the range of focus is wide. In fact, when shooting on a bright sunny day, cinematic mode was easier to use than Pro. (Of course there is a difference in image quality, but it is small in bright places)

As with the portrait mode, the ultra-wide-angle camera cannot be used, or the maximum number of pixels is 1080P and the frame rate is 30fps, but arithmetic processing that simulates the optical characteristics of the lens is always performed on the entire screen. Therefore, it is attractive to have a beautiful image as if you were shooting a movie with a cine lens. Once you start shooting, you'll want to shoot in this mode all the time.

The results of computational photography that have become clearer

People often ask me, "Would you like to buy this iPhone?" Or "How about the next camera?", But nowadays, a considerable minority of people buy a new iPhone every year. I can only answer when I want it, but what do you choose from the iPhone series at this moment? In such a case, if you place importance on camera image quality, you should recommend the iPhone 13 series.

After the camera image quality has improved significantly on the iPhone 11, I don't feel any decisive difference in factors other than the camera, but it has steadily evolved to 12 and 13. As in smart HDR 4 and cinematic mode, we have squeezed the approach of computational photography such as simulating optical characteristics, separating subjects and optimizing development processing, and made some updates in combination with our own SoC. ing.

The power of the SoC, which is new every year, is of course available to third-party apps, but it can be translated as Apple's camera being used most effectively. If you want to buy a new one this year, 11 and 12 are still cheap in the lineup, but I would like to choose 13.