The popular camera app for iPhone, Halide, is now introducing an important feature to non-Pro users. With version 2.11, the camera client is bringing Neural Telephoto to people with iPhone SE to iPhone 14 models.
Since these iPhones don’t offer a Telephoto lens, which is exclusive to iPhone Pro models, Halide is trying to solve this problem by adding virtual lenses that enhance details in shots by applying the same machine learning that powers its Macro Mode.
Since Apple started its Pro line, it only offered an Ultra-Wide lens to regular iPhone users. With that, shots that needed a bit of zoom would always look a bit blurry due to the lack of a proper camera. To Pro users, on the other hand, Apple has slowly improved the Telephoto lens. Currently, iPhone 14 Pro models offer 3x optical zoom and up to 15x digital zoom. Its most popular competitor, Samsung, offers up to 100x digital zoom with the Galaxy S23 Ultra model.
That said, iPhone users will have improved shots when zooming in using Halide. The developers explain that “while we have previously brought features first and foremost to Pro iPhones, we wanted to add features for serious photography for more than just Apple’s top-end iPhones. This update does precisely that by giving iPhone users – from iPhone SE to the latest iPhone 14 – a whole new camera lens powered by the iPhone Neural Engine.
Halide will store the photos in enhanced JPEG/HEIC and also the unedited version in RAW. To explain how this feature works and how Halide can improve digital zoom shots, the company published a video, which you can watch below.
You can download the app for free on the App Store. It’s important to note that Halide requires a subscription. In addition, you can also buy a lifetime license for $59.99.
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