Apple has started rolling out iOS 10.1 for iPhone 7 Plus which brings ‘Portrait Mode’ in the camera app. Till recently, the update was available for testing in beta version both for developers as well as the public.
When you choose the Portrait mode in the camera App of iPhone 7 Plus it changes to the 2x telephoto lens in the View Finder and one can shoot images with Bokeh-effect thus utilising both the rear camera of the device. For those who are not aware, Bokeh-effect lets you focus on select objects in an image which one usually sees in close-up shots taken by DSLR camera.
However, Apple hasn’t done the whole bokeh thing here. The software automatically blurs the image depending on how far is the non-focused object. More far the object, more blurry it tends to come out in the picture.
Contrary to this, Huawei P9 used a similar concept for the Camera-depth effect or Bokeh-effect but the sensor used in the P9 is much stronger and the software optimisation is much more complicated than iOS 10.1, Hence, you get better results. Further, the software on the P9 also lets you focus on the object after you have taken the picture.
One should note here is that this update only comes for iPhone 7 Plus as it uses its telephoto lens for the bokeh effect.
The first attempt on the bokeh effect through hardware was done back in 2014 when HTC came up with One M8 sporting dual camera set up. However, in that case, the secondary camera was essentially for this purpose only and add more depth of field to the image. Dual-camera set up has come a long way since then and today every other flagship is implementing this concept, not for some few eye-catching features but to improve the overall quality of the images taken from a smartphone.