IPhone camera zoom

IPhone camera zoom

This page will show you how to zoom in with your iPhone camera when you take photos. You will also find out how to view the zoom bar so that you can zoom in and out using that. Every iPhone and iPad that have a camera have the same feature. The iPhone camera zoom is a digital one and the actions are the same. The camera app interface does get updated and changes between iOS versions, but the trick is the same. For all versions. If you have an older iPhone or iPad, then the pinch feature may not work, but you will still be able to use the zoom bar

Here’s how iphone camera zoom works

  1. Open the camera app. (or swipe your lock screen to reveal the camera from the right).
  2. Using two fingers, do the ‘Pinch to zoom’ action. (the same as you do in photos).
  3. You can use the pinch to zoom action to zoom in and out.
  4. You will also see the zoom bar at the bottom of the screen.
  5. You can use the bar to zoom in or out. Just slide the dot towards the + or – to zoom in or out.
iphone camera zoom
Image showing the Apple iPhone camera zoom bar in iOS10.

The zoom feature on the iPhone only does digital zooming. This means the lens doesn’t move, but the picture is enlarged using software. This means that if you zoom in too far then the pictures get distorted and show pixels. The camera and photo zoom shares the same action – pinching.
With every version of iOS apple seem to move / play with the settings.

iphone camera zoom
Image showing the iPhone zoom bar in iOS7.

You can focus on different things by tapping the screen with one finger. A yellow box will appear round the item focused on. This comes in helpful when the camera cant find the object you want to capture. It does take a little time for the camera to adjust. In some cases the moment has passed before the camera fixes itself :(

iphone camera zoom
You can zoom in and out using the photo zoom pinch action in iOS6.

There is a good ‘getting started’ guide on apples support site – there are lots of cool things in the guide to do with the camera, so check it out if you are looking to explore the features in your camera, like HDR and flash settings.

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This Post Has 24 Comments

  1. Suresh Kumar Soni November 10, 2011

    thanks for the tip. I was wondering if the zoom feature was removed

  2. JoreJj Z. Elprehzleinn November 10, 2011

    thanks this was helpful. Peace.

  3. Cp2609 November 28, 2011

    Thanks a lot – you’ve saved me a lot of frustration with this feature. Isn’t it annoying when a feature you depend on just disappears…….

  4. Crestfallenangels November 29, 2011

    so bummed i couldn’t work this out on my own.

    i can count to potato.

  5. Ines Jimenez December 8, 2011

    Thank you so much. I had thought they removed it. I would have been seriously bummed if they did.

  6. Postmaster December 9, 2011

    God!  So easy! Been trying to find this for ages.  Thanks

  7. Jane December 16, 2011

    Thanks for that.  Some-one told me it was not avail with the upgrade lol  Knew that just did not sound right.

  9. Toogracie December 24, 2011

    Thx guys. Wish i had this as i went to my daughters christmas concert. Will know fir future

  13. Steve.Rand January 12, 2012

    Yup, thanks. I should probably have tried that myself.. but I was tapping like I did before IOS5 but it wouldn’t show… pinching kinda makes sense, but will suck when you’re taking pictures one-handed (bike riding, fishing etc…) oh well!

  14. Mike T January 19, 2012

    Amazingly simple – I thought I lost the zoom by upgrading to 5.0.1.  Thanks

  15. Heyjudebr March 10, 2012

    THANK YOU!!! It was making me crazy!

  16. Kristo March 10, 2012

    How can i zoom when i record a video? I cant do it…

  17. Gordon March 31, 2012

    Was the zoom always digital?  Noe the zoomed image looks softer to me

  21. Graeme August 31, 2012

    I tried the pinch with 2 fingers, doesn’t do anything, any idea what’s wrong?

    1. jonathan August 31, 2012

      you need at least ios5 for that to work. if you have ios4 or less then there is a little zoom bar at the bottom

      1. Graeme August 31, 2012

        Thanks jonathan you’r the best, you have so many good tutorials on apple stuff.
        Just to add, in ios4 if the zoom bar is missing you need to touch the screen at the bottom for it to appear.

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