How To Use Its Incredible New Features

The iPhone 7 Plus camera is a real game-changer in the world of mobile photography. The additional built-in telephoto lens means that you can now take high quality “zoomed in” photos with the iPhone. And the new Portrait camera mode has an incredible Depth Effect which allows you to mimic the shallow depth of field that you could previously only achieve with a DSLR camera. In this tutorial you’ll discover more about these new iPhone 7 Plus camera features, and how to use them to take your creativity to the next level. The regular iPhone 7 camera has the standard wide-angle lens, similar to previous iPhone models. But the iPhone 7 Plus has two separate rear-facing camera lenses. This is what makes the 7 Plus such an amazing camera. The first lens is the standard wide-angle lens, which is perfect for capturing a wide view of your scene. The other lens, which you’ll only find on the iPhone 7 Plus, is a 2x telephoto lens.

This lens allows you to capture a closer view of your subject without having to physically move any closer. With other models of iPhone, you’d have to attach a third-party telephoto lens like those from olloclip, Moment or ExoLens onto the built-in wide angle lens in order to achieve this telephoto view of your subject. When shooting with the iPhone 7 Plus, it’s easy to switch between the built-in wide-angle and telephoto lenses. When you open the camera app, you’ll notice that it says “1x” at the bottom (or right) of the frame. That means you’re currently using the wide-angle lens. To switch to telephoto mode, simply tap the 1x icon. It will now say “2x” which indicates that you’re using the 2x telephoto lens. Selecting the 2x option gives you a closer view of your subject. This is great for situations where it’s difficult or impossible to walk closer to the subject.

In the example above, I would have had to stand in the middle of a busy street in order to get the closer view. Below is an example of using the 2x telephoto lens to capture a closer of my subject without disturbing her and ruining the peacefulness of the moment. The telephoto lens was the perfect way to capture the intimacy of the scene from a respectful distance. You can use the 2x telephoto function in Time-Lapse, Slo-Mo, Video, Square and Pano mode, as well as the regular Photo mode. Being able to shoot 2x in different camera modes gives you more options to express your vision as a photographer. Remember that one zoom mode isn’t necessarily better than the other. They’re just two different ways of showing the same scene. The photo above was shot with the 1x wide-angle lens, and the photo below was shot with the 2x telephoto lens.

The two lenses/zoom options allowed me to easily capture two different views of the scene from the same shooting spot. Another thing you should consider when using the telephoto lens on the iPhone 7 Plus is that not only does it make the subject appear closer, but it also changes the relationship between the subject and the background. Telephoto lenses appear to compress space, making the subject and the background look closer together. Below is an example to show you what I mean. The images show how I photographed my friend, Rita, in three different ways: using the 1x wide-angle setting, the 2x telephoto setting, and then by walking closer to her and shooting her with the 1x wide-angle setting again. The first two photos are exactly what we’d expect. By changing to the 2x telephoto mode, it makes the subject look a lot closer than it did before. But what’s the difference between the middle image and the right one,



Remember for the third image I walked closer to Rita to frame her approximately the same way that I did with the telephoto lens. Notice the difference in the relationship between Rita and the background. Even though she’s standing in the same place for both photos, she appears to be closer to the background when shooting with the 2x telephoto lens. That’s because a telephoto lens compresses space. In other words, it makes the distance between the subject and the background appear to be less. The example on the right was taken with the 1x wide-angle lens which exaggerates the depth of a photo, making the subject feel farther away from the background. With this knowledge, you can now make a creative choice when shooting with the iPhone 7 Plus. If you want your photo to feel flatter and more compressed, use the 2x telephoto lens. If you want your photo to feel deeper, use the regular 1x wide-angle lens. As well as the 1x/2x zoom option, the camera app also has a digital zoom feature which allows you to “zoom in” even closer.