When Apple launched the new iPhones for this year, the company was pretty proud of the smartphones' camera skills, especially in the iPhone 7 Plus. While the dual lens camera system isn't exactly a first time in the smartphone market, Apple might have been one of the first to tackle clearly how this technology works. The company explained all the good things brought about by the iPhone 7 Plus' Portrait Mode and how it works.
What Is Portrait Mode In The New iPhone 7 Plus?
Portrait Mode is a new feature from the iPhone 7 Plus that uses two of its camera lenses. These lenses allow the phone camera to produce the same quality of photos as what cameras with a telephoto lens can capture. To put it simply, the Portrait Mode allows users to take photos with a clear subject and a blurred background. Just like what the name implies, Portrait Mode focuses on a portrait or a lone subject, blurring everything else that is around it.
How Does The Portrait Mode Work?
The said feature is a byproduct of having two cameras. It's like how the eyes work. When you put something right in front of you and close one eye, you'll see exactly what the one eye sees, and vice versa. The same thing goes with the two cameras of the Apple iPhone 7 Plus, they each see things in a different perspective. What the system does is that it slices the capture of the dual camera into layers, and then pick up the sharper ones. Once the subject is recognized, the image processor would blur details that are far from it.
iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode Review
TechCrunch says that the iPhone 7 Plus can indeed deliver incredible portraits. It's not yet perfect, but overall it's a good advancement in mobile photography. It does have problems with patterns, leaves and even motion. However, it is also worth mentioning that it handles tough parts well, such as hair, people looking away and non-human subjects. It's worth noting that the iPhone 7 Plus also uses face detection for easier processing of photos with faces. Apple says that this feature is still in beta, so any of the feature's imperfections are quite understandable.
The Portrait Mode was a big part of Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus unveiling this September, but the released devices do not have the feature natively. Apple Insider says that this feature will be a part of the iOS 10.1 update. Fans can expect a new software update to arrive very soon.
