The iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 8x Zoom match a Sony a6000: Here is what we know
Published by RawNews1st
When Apple launched its new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, it couldn’t stop talking about the new 8x-zoom powered by the 4x optical zoom 48MP sensor. Such an 8x zoom is, they claimed, equivalent to a 200mm focal length. As soon as I heard that, my ears pricked up.
It’s the most compact and, for a time, powerful lens I’ve ever owned. When fitted with the lens, the Sony Alpha a6000 is relatively small compared to similarly configured cameras, albeit not small compared to an iPhone.
You see, I’ve been shooting photos with a Sony Alpha a6000 fitted with a Sony 18-200mm lens for well over a decade. It’s my favorite lens, letting you smoothly go from a full-throated close-up of a subject just inches from the glass to an 11x optical zoom that can capture the moon. It’s the most compact and, for a time, powerful lens I’ve ever owned.
Could Apple have possibly equalled that photographic power in a 6.9-inch, 233-gram aluminum and glass frame? There was only one way to find out.
The other day, I took the new phone and my trusty camera to Bryant Park in New York and started taking photos. For each capture, I made sure to take as close as I could the exact same shot with the Sony Alpha a6000 and the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
For its 8x mode, the iPhone 17 Pro Max shoots at a 200mm equivalent by performing a sensor crop on the full 48MP frame, essentially taking the center 12MP. So it’s not a digital zoom, it’s just a piece of the whole sensor image. The Sony Alpha a6000 shoots at 24MP with its not-quite-full-frame APS-C sensor.
Throughout the shoot, I didn’t touch any of the settings, meaning I never tried to lock or fix exposure or the focus. The 4x optical zoom shoots a f/2.8 aperture, which is what the 8X sensor crop inherits as well.
