Adventures in Tap To Focus

This picture illustrates two things: First, the focal length on the new camera in the iPhone 3Gs looks great. There's maybe six inches of separation between these objects in the picture. And secondly, which you can't tell from looking at it, is the touch-to-focus is distance-dependent, not object dependent.

When this picture was taken, the wind was moving the spores/flower back and forth. I tapped to focus on it when it was in the bottom of the screen, as the wind moved it, rather than maintain that focus, the iPhone used the ground-the new thing in that part of the frame. Not sure if that's a good or bad behavior, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

Comments

[macgirl]

good or bad behavior aside, the image quality is markedly improved. It's enough to have me think I can leave my clunky, big DSLR home when I go out...

[robinson]

But certainly not as good as a DSLR camera-- or one of the many image stabilization, light weight digicams on the market.

Maybe someone can suggest a thin, small one. My phone only does VGA with its camera.

[Scott Hampton]

That sounds like the way it is supposed to work. I don't have the 3GS, but the 3G. I'm basing this off of what would be done if this was photographed with a camera or a DSLR.

You choose what you want to focus on, and the focus is locked. Anything that enters, exits, or moves within the frame will be photographed (and therefore blurry or sharp) in relation to where you set your focus.

Honestly, I am surprised that the little camera can produce such a photograph. Six inches of vertical space between the grass and flower, great detail, great color, and a shallow depth of field. Impressive.