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The developers behind camera app Halide may have discovered a way to enable Portrait mode for pets and objects on the iPhone XR. The revelation was made by one of the developers on Reddit over the weekend, where it was explained that the team found depth data from the iPhone XR’s camera and used it to successfully use Portrait mode on pets and inanimate objects.
Unlike the other new dual-camera iPhone models, the iPhone XR’s single rear camera only supports taking Portrait images of humans, a limitation that may be addressed by third-party apps like Halide. According to the Reddit post, using the mode for non-humans on the iPhone XR is a bit finicky at times and only works if there’s “enough variance in relative distance of objects,” the developer explained.
Depth on iPhone XR vs iPhone XS. The XR has 1/4 the depth data. (Ignore color differences.) pic.twitter.com/WMkDtznY5o
— Ben Sandofsky (@sandofsky) October 27, 2018
“Note that the depth map is way lower resolution than the dual camera setup, but it seems usable,” the post states. Halide developer Ben Sandofsky shared the above Twitter post showing the resolution difference between iPhone XS and iPhone XR depth data on Twitter. The feature needs “some more tooling,” the Reddit post states, but it’s likely Halide will offer the ability to iPhone XR users in a future update.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
