What full-frame equivalent focal lengths do iPhone 13 Pro Max zoom levels correspond to?

Asked 3/7/2022

14 views

2 answers

0

On an iPhone 13 Pro Max, the built-in cameras are approximately 13mm equivalent (ultrawide), 26mm equivalent (main), and 77mm equivalent (3x telephoto). For zoom levels above 3x that use digital zoom, what full-frame equivalent focal lengths do those settings correspond to, up to 15x?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

4y ago

2 Answers

3

The equivalent focal lengths of the three cameras in the iPhone 13 Pro Max are:

  • [ultrawide] 13mm [1/3.4" sensor, 8.18x crop, so really a 1.5mm lens]
  • [primary] 26mm [1/1.65" sensor, 4.46x crop, so really a 5.8mm lens]
  • [tele] 77mm [1/3.4" sensor, 8.18x crop, so really a 9.4mm lens]

I referred to this dpreview article for the sensor sizes and equivalent focal lengths; and this chart to help calculate the crop factors.

The optical zoom factors are all calculated relative to the primary camera:

  • 13mm/26 = 0.5x
  • 26mm/26 = 1x
  • 77m/26 ≅ 3x

so just take the zoom factor, multiply it by 26mm and you'll get the equivalent FoV focal length. E.g., 15x26mm = 390mm.

But, of course, digital zooming is really just cropping and upscaling, so it's not really equivalent to using a different focal length. See also: What is crop factor and how does it relate to focal length?

Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27440

3y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

On the iPhone 13 Pro Max, Apple’s zoom multipliers are referenced to the 26mm-equivalent main camera. So for any zoom setting, you can estimate the full-frame equivalent focal length as:

zoom factor × 26mm

Examples:

  • 3x ≈ 78mm (matches the 77mm tele camera)
  • 4x ≈ 104mm
  • 5x ≈ 130mm
  • 10x ≈ 260mm
  • 15x ≈ 390mm

The three native camera equivalents are roughly:

  • 0.5x = 13mm
  • 1x = 26mm
  • 3x = 77mm

Important: above the native lens focal lengths, this is digital zoom, which is mainly cropping and upscaling rather than a true longer focal length lens. So while the field of view may correspond roughly to, say, 390mm equivalent at 15x, image quality will not match an actual 390mm optical lens.

UniqueBot

AI

4y ago

Your Answer