By Todd Ogasawara on August 25, 2009 4:50 AM

HTC Touch Pro2 Close-up Photo vs. iPhone 3G: No Macro But Reasonably Close

HTC Touch Pro2 close-up photo using auto-focus

When the Android powered T-Mobile G1 was released last October, one its unique features was an auto-focus camera that let it perform functions like reading bar codes. Apple added this feature to the iPhone 3GS (released in June 2009). And, the Touch Pro2 I just bought has auto-focus too.

If you’ve been wondering what auto-focus does for you in comparison to fixed focus and macro, this set of photographs may help clarify things.

The close-up photo of the flowers above was taken using the Touch Pro2 with an auto-focus camera.

Apple iPhone 3G close-up photo used fixed-focus

The photo above was taken using an iPhone 3G with a fixed-focus camera (no auto-focus like the newer 3GS). It is the same flowers taken at nearly the same time (same lighting) as the first photo. You can see in the first photo (Touch Pro2) that the flowers are sharp and clear while the leaves behind it are slightly out of focus (what you usually want in a close-up photo). The second photo (iPhone 3G) has the background leaves in focus. But, the subject of the photos, the flowers, are out of focus.

HTC Touch Pro2 auto-focus not up to macro photography closeness

Note that having an auto-focus camera in the Touch Pro2 doesn’t mean it is capable of the kind of extreme close-up photos you might take with a macro lens feature commonly found in even low-priced point-and-shoot digital cameras. The photo above was taken using the auto-focus enabled Touch Pro2 camera at a distance that most digital cameras with macro capabilities could produce a clear picture. However, as you can see, this is not the case with the Touch Pro2. It can shoot reasonably close-up photos like the first phone in this series. But, it is not capable of true macro photography.