Which lens should I use on my phone — 0.5x, 1x or the telephoto?

People treat the zoom control as a single slider running from wide to tight. It is not. On most phones it hops between two or three physically different cameras with different sensors, apertures and stabilisation, and the picture changes far more than the framing does.

Step by step

1. Default to the main camera.It has the largest sensor, the widest aperture and usually the best stabilisation. On almost every phone, a photo taken at 1x and cropped afterwards beats the same photo taken on a weaker camera.
2. Use the ultrawide when you physically cannot step back.Interiors, a tall building from across a narrow street, a group crammed into a kitchen. That is the job it does that nothing else can. It is a solution to a space problem, not a style choice.
3. Keep faces out of the ultrawide's corners.The stretching that makes the room look impressive also makes a face at the edge of the frame look wide and distorted. Put people towards the centre, or use 1x and take two shots.
4. Expect the ultrawide to collapse in low light.Small sensor, usually a slower lens, often no optical stabilisation. Indoors at night it produces the mushiest files any phone makes. If the light is poor, go back to 1x.
5. Use the telephoto for portraits and separation.A longer lens flattens facial features flatteringly and makes the background appear larger and closer, which is why 2x or 3x looks more like a proper portrait than 1x does — that effect comes from your distance from the subject, not from the lens itself.
6. Know which of your zoom steps are real.Many phones advertise a step that is actually a crop from the main sensor rather than a separate camera. Photograph the same scene at each marked step in dim light: where the picture suddenly gets noisier and softer, you have left the real cameras behind.
7. Stop before the digital zoom.Past the longest real camera, the phone is enlarging and inventing detail. Framing looser and cropping afterwards gives you the same picture and lets you choose the crop later.
8. Check the macro behaviour.Many phones switch to the ultrawide automatically for close-ups, because it focuses nearer. That is why very close shots suddenly look worse. If the switch is optional, compare both before trusting it.

Tips

• Crop from 1x rather than shooting at a digital zoom step. The file is the same or better, and you keep the decision.
• For a portrait, use the telephoto and stand further back. Distance, not the lens, is what stops noses looking large.
• The ultrawide is the one worth cleaning most often — it sits closest to where fingers land.

Common mistakes

• Using the ultrawide because it fits more in — It fits more in by stretching the edges and by using a much weaker camera. In good light with room to move, stepping back and using 1x gives a better picture of the same scene.
• Using the telephoto indoors at night — It usually has the smallest aperture and the smallest sensor of the three. In dim light the phone often quietly crops from the main camera instead, and the result is worse than shooting at 1x and cropping yourself.

Alternatives

• Step back and use 1x: The best quality option whenever there is room. Costs nothing and uses the strongest camera on the phone.
• Panorama for a wide scene: Stitches several main-camera frames into a wider image with better quality than the ultrawide, when nothing in the scene is moving.
• Two frames instead of one wide one: For a group that will not fit, two overlapping 1x photos often serve better than one distorted ultrawide shot.

Questions people ask