iPhone 7 Plus ‘Portrait Camera’ Beta Mode Hands-On [PICS]

Apple released iOS 10.1 beta today for developers, and within this release it contained the highly anticipated Portrait mode for iPhone 7 Plus users. The mode is currently is beta, but still produces some really nice effects.

Here is a quick breakdown of how the feature works. Once you launch the Camera app, a new ‘Portrait’ option appears next to Photo in the shooting mode carousel.

Once you swipe or tap over to Portrait, it says Portrait Camera (beta) will “create a portrait with a depth effect that keeps your subject sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background.” Users need to tap “Try the Beta” to get started.

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Once in Portrait Camera mode, users will continuously receive feedback on the position of your iPhone 7 Plus to nail that blurred background effect. You’ll be told to “move farther away” or “more light required”, so just do as it says, alright?

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The moment you are in the proper range and lighting conditions are suitable, you’ll see “DEPTH EFFECT” in bold on the screen in yellow, while the background will be blurred, simulating bokeh from dSLR cameras and other images taken with a shallow depth of field:

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Here are our test photos. You can see before and after photos, with and without Portrait Camera mode (a bit of a backlight below):

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For a first beta, it’s good but of course not perfect. We noticed when taking images of subjects with reflections made it difficult for Portrait mode to lock on, sometimes blurring the edges of whatever you’re snapping a picture of.

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All images posted above are untouched, but have been resized.

Portrait Camera mode is only available for iPhone 7 Plus and its dual-camera setup. The beta version of this camera mode should definitely improve, but for now, it’s not a bad start at all. Can’t wait to test this more outside.

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