Digital Zoom

The digital zoom takes advantage of the high resolutions available on the iPhone to provide an electronic zoom. This is accomplished by digitally cropping a source image. 

To enable digital cropping a 4K image is used as a source. When zoomed out the entire 4K image is used to generate the 1080p output. When zooming in, the 4K image is digitally cropped to create the illusion of a mechanical zoom. 

To use the digital zoom first make sure you are a 1080p recording format then Tap and Drag up and down on the viewfinder to zoom in and out. 

Digital Zoom - Servo Control

The digital zoom servo control uses the distance between the start position (the location of the double tap) and the current end position to set the speed of the zoom. This type of control allows for a smooth zoom at a constant rate. Moving your finger further away from the start position increases the speed of the zoom, moving it closure slows it down.

Digital Zoom - Manual Control

The digital zoom manual control uses the distance between the start position (the location of the double tap) and the current end position to directly set the zoom. This type of control allows for fast direct manipulation of the zoom. Moving your finger away from the start position zooms the camera in, moving it back towards the start position zooms the camera back out. If you stop moving your finger, the zoom stops. 

Digital Zoom - In & Out

Both the servo and manual control use the start position as a reference point for zooming. If you are at maximum zoom then moving your finger down the screen will zoom out. If you are at minimum zoom then moving your finger up the screen with zoom in.

Optical Zoom 

The optical zoom takes advantage of the multiple camera hardware on iOS devices. This hardware provides multiple separate camera modules that can be individually selected. 

To select a camera module just double tap anywhere on the viewfinder.

Unlike the digital zoom, which crops the image and is therefore limited to 1080p, the optical zoom uses distinct lenses which both provide the same 4K (UHD) output. This means you can get super sharp close-up videos at 4K (UHD) resolution with no loss of quality.