How is portrait mode iPhone SE 2020 different from other iPhones

We have already figured out that almost all the equipment of the iPhone SE 2020, with the exception of the processor and RAM, was inherited from the iPhone 8. Even the camera, which was a real surprise for many, turned out to be the same. However, this did not stop Apple from not only improving the quality of the original image, but providing it with additional modes like portrait shooting, using the potential of the A13 processor. Just for an unknown reason, the portrait mode of the iPhone SE 2020 turned out to be trimmed.

Portrait shooting on iPhone SE 2020 has a number of significant limitations

iPhone SE 2020 can take portrait photographs only if the subject is a person. Otherwise, software algorithms will turn it off, and the photo will turn out without a blur effect. This is not a bug, but a functional feature installed by Apple itself. By the way, the iPhone XR always suffered from the same problem, and therefore many decided that, since the cameras of smartphones have the same restrictions, their modules are identical. But this is not so, since the ban on portraiture of animals, food and other objects is exclusively programmatic.

Чем отличается камера iPhone SE 2020 от iPhone XR

Want to upgrade your iPhone SE 2020 camera? There is third-party software for this

If you still think that the iPhone XR and iPhone SE 2020 are identical, you need to know something. Yes, they really have the same resolution, the same aperture and the same limitations when taking pictures, but the modules underlying them are different. From a technical point of view, the iPhone XR camera is a little more advanced. The fact is that the pixel size of its matrix is 1.4 microns, while the iPhone SE 2020 has only 1.22 microns. A little difference, I agree. But even it allows the iPhone XR to capture more light and take slightly better pictures.

I can not guarantee that Apple deliberately limits the capabilities of the new iPhone SE, wanting to make it worse than it actually is, but everything points to just that. Firstly, the iPhone 11 with a software-implemented portrait mode, which works without using a telephoto lens, allows you to take photos of both people and animals. And secondly, the App Store has special applications that make up for the partially lost functionality of the iPhone SE 2020. That is, with their help, users can take pictures with blurring of absolutely any object.

How to improve portrait mode on iPhone SE 2020

On the left is a regular shot, on the right is a portrait shot

One such application is Halide. It uses the depth map that the iPhone SE 2020 camera receives, passing it through a proprietary blur algorithm. That is, in fact, the application does the work of full-time software, which is slightly different for the new product than that used, for example, in iPhone 11. If the picture is high enough and the map is detailed, the application will independently separate the foreground and foreground and automatically apply to The image has a beautiful bokeh effect, as on older iPhone models.

According to Halide developers, in order to implement universal portrait mode on the iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone XR, which suffers from the same problem, they had to carefully study the algorithms used to blur the pictures. In the process, it turned out that the software of Apple branded devices was simply not perfect enough to recognize anyone else but people. Therefore, all Halide needed was to fill in the existing gaps and expand the functionality of the iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone XR cameras.