One of the many distinguishing features of the iPhone 13 Pro is the presence of a macro function. This feature was not previously available in iPhones at all, and so far it is not available to standard models.
I love macro. Other smartphone makers have been including macro lenses in their flagship (and not so) devices for several years now. Apple went the other way: its macro lens is actually an ultra-wide camera. This is possible thanks to its very significant improvement in all respects, as well as the addition of an autofocus function.
It rained almost non-stop over the weekend, so I stayed at home. If so, I walked around the apartment and took close-up pictures of the most ordinary, usually uninteresting objects.
The result, honestly, struck me as a child. Never before has an iPhone been able to focus on subjects so close. And the pictures came out surprisingly good.
I will give some good examples of macro photos on the iPhone 13 Pro (Max), plus I will add to them a few conclusions made during the shooting process.
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Macro impressions in iPhone 13 Pro (Max). And tips
► iPhone 13 Pro focuses at a distance of 3 to 15 cm. Checked with a ruler. Objects farther plus or minus fit into the minimum focus area of the main camera, and the iPhone most often switches to it itself when the lens is far enough away.
► You need to keep your iPhone as level as possible, but a stabilizer is optional. Hand shaking leads to blurry image details, especially at the edges of the frame.
For best results, try to lean on something. Although, I shoot on an iPhone 13 Pro Max in a transparent MagSafe case, and even with my small hands, I did not feel much discomfort when I took all these macro photos.
Children’s pen.
Drops of water on a glass.
► Macro photos are desirable to process. In less-than-ideal conditions, like indoor macro shots, you’ll end up with a pretty bland, often dark shot.
But all this is fixed in literally 10 seconds in the photo editor built into iOS. All the pictures in the article were edited in it, there was no retouching (except for resizing in mobile Lightroom).
The main strength of the lens is in the high definition of the picture, taking into account shooting on a smartphone, and here the iPhone 13 Pro (Max) deserves respect. You can’t normally finish the actual detailing in Photoshop, but you can always tighten up the colors and brightness.
Small leaf of coffee tree. Its actual size is three centimeters wide.
► I advise you to press the trigger 5-10 timesto get the best result.
The field of sharpness at such small distances is generally measured in literally millimeters, and even minimal hand movements from tapping on the screen shift it – not to mention the blurring of details in motion.
Having picked up a good angle and composition, it’s better to play it safe, press the shutter release many times. Then remove the excess.
Woven bracelet for Apple Watch.
A stone, and on it is some kind of insect a few millimeters in size, which cannot be seen with the naked eye.
► The iPhone exits macro mode too aggressively. If you overdo it and bring the camera too close, the iPhone itself will switch to the main module, and with some kind of crooked animation.
Apple has already promised to fix this and add a feature to prevent auto-switching. So far, it is available only for the Video mode in the section Settings -> Camera -> Video recording and called Camera Mode Lock.
Sponge for washing dishes.
A piece of a children’s toy from IKEA, the real area of the image area is a few centimeters.
IKEA toy, sponge and pencil case, which I shot in the macro above. Just so you know what it looks like without macro.
► iOS lacks manual focus for macro. In future firmware versions, in addition to a separate macro mode, it will be very useful to add a manual focus slider, accessible by swiping from the shutter button or just somewhere else on the screen.
The autofocus on the iPhone 13 Pro (Max) is good, but it’s hard to explain exactly which millimeter of a microscopic object you want to focus on. So far, I’m solving the problem by very slowly moving away or approaching the subject after autofocusing.
Physalis.
Bottle cork.
Macro photography on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max opens up even more creative freedom. And this awesomeExcuse my french. Now you can shoot anything as close as you want.
Having tried the feature yourself, you will be surprised how unusual ordinary objects look in such a microscopic perspective. I spent two evenings with my son doing this activity, both of them were completely delighted.
So here’s another (of the unusually numerous this year) reasons to consider buying an iPhone 13. exactly from the Pro series.
More about iPhone 13:
▪ Unpacked colorful iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. First impressions and tests
▪ Review of the people’s iPhone 13, with which everyone will walk. There are pros, few cons
▪ iPhone 13 mini review. Limits of small smartphones
▪ Took an iPhone 13 Pro and filmed my dog on it. A bit of macro and portrait
▪ Took 7 night photos where iPhone 13 Pro Max did better than iPhone 12 Pro Max
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Nikita Goryainov
@ngoryainov
Editor-in-Chief iPhones.ru. Thanks for reading us. Have a question, suggestion or something interesting? Write to [email protected]
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