An ultra-wide range of possibilities
iPhone 11 Pro Ultra-Wide Angle Camera
Shooting photos with the iPhone 11 Pro’s new ultra-wide-angle camera is a ton of fun and affords the versatility I’ve enjoyed on flagship Android phones for a few years now. Apple’s implementation at this late stage, as always, means the company has done it a little differently and a bit better than the competition.
Starting with distortion correction, the iPhone 11 Pro does enough to correct the curving of the picture’s edges typically seen on ultra-wide-angle cameras, without making the shot look awkwardly straight. It also preserves the elongation that makes ultra-wide photos so fun to shoot, striking a balance that inspires constant use of this camera.
Especially in larger landscapes and enormous subjects, the ultra-wide-angle lens is a must, but even with scenes that don’t necessarily require it, switching to this camera after snapping the original photo became second-nature to me, just to see how cool it might look on the ultra-wide. A solid consistency between all three cameras (telephoto, wide-angle, and ultra-wide-angle) also helps to make switching less about the quality of the photo you want to take, and more about the style.
iPhone 11 Pro Regular Camera
Aside from this, my only other gripe is that the lens has a fixed focus, which only focuses properly when the subject is at least a meter away. Most ultra-wide cameras on smartphones have this constraint, but it would have been nice for Apple to make its late debut a little more meaningful with a variable focus. On photos like the one of the car, I was forced to either take a step back or use the main lens, when all I wanted to do was get up close and elongate the car for a unique look. Unfortunately, that meant getting a shot with only a very small portion of the car barely in focus and the rest blurring up.