725 This is 8.
Hot on the heels of iPhone 7 is 8 …
a special photographers’ edition, due for Christmas. Apple foreshadowed it with a new color for
the 7: New Black (or matte black, the color universally ascribed photographers). The 8 Plus is the same as the 7 Plus, except for one addition and one improvement:
The addition is a third 12mp camera, the improvement is a wider wide-angle lens, improved to be the 35mm-camera-of-old equivalent of 25mm from the present 28mm. So the three cameras feature 25mm wide angle, 50mm normal and 100m tele lenses*. Apple thus give pro photographers what they need.
This is a giant step toward confirming the iPhone as a working tool that is a true alternative to 'real' cameras. The quality of iPhone photography is beyond doubt and it is clear that we are looking here at the future of photography. One improvement awaiting the photographer in the 9 (due September 2018) is a viewfinder.
* Apple talk about the 7
Plus featuring 12-megapixel wide-angle and telephoto cameras. Well, if only, the fact is: they're
lying ... they don't have a telephoto camera. The focal lengths are
28mm and 56mm; the latter is a normal lens (in the old language
a normal lens was 50mm or 55mm). Tele lenses start at 85mm for a modest
tele effect, but good tele effects start at 100mm focal length, or 135mm and 200mm and go up to
300mm, 400mm and beyond.
Update:
I finally ventured into the Apple store and had a good look at the 7 Plus and its "tele" lens. There's more to be said: Not only does it have the 1x and 2x cameras, there's also a digital zoom feature, where you can zoom in from 3x to 10x. This is interesting ... but it's all sooo wrong.
A much better solution would've been - once Apple decided to supply 2 cameras - to have the wide angle and then indeed a "true" tele of approx 100mm = 4x. Then the wide camera of 1x could employ the digital zoom of 2x and 3x (the digital zoom indeed is a reasonable feature with a 12mp chip). The 4x camera would then employ the digital zoom of 5x to 10x ... this would be much more useful.
What were you thinking, Apple?
