Modern smartphone camera systems often contain more than just a single primary snapper. Chances are you’ll see phones across the price range with ultra-wide and telephoto snappers. But if you only had to choose one, which one would it be?
We asked our readers this question in this survey. Here is what they told us.
Periscope / telephoto camera or ultra-wide?
Results
We saw over 2,400 votes on this poll and the results are pretty close. The slim majority of readers (54.2%) would prefer a periscope or a telephoto camera to an ultra-wide shooter.
Even so, ultra-wide cameras only received ~ 200 fewer votes. These readers chose the versatility of ultra-wide cameras for video. Some even use theirs as makeshift macro shooters. Overall, several readers find that they just use their telephoto cameras more often.
Ultimately, the fine margins between the two camera philosophies suggest that there is no clear winner. Different devices speak to different people, while each camera is better at selecting scenarios.
Here’s what you had to say
- Rahul Pai: Ultrawide for sure. My main camera is high-resolution enough that I can crop it for “zooming”. My phone actually has 2x telephoto, but the trimmed version of the main camera is actually of better quality (Galaxy S10, the telephoto only works in bright light). Ultrawide is very useful to have several people / an entire scene in view without having to walk 10 meters backwards. Sometimes there is also no place to move backwards.
- Wongwatt: Why should I have to choose? There’s no reason a decent phone shouldn’t have at least an ultra-wide and 5-way periscope – modern, high-priced phones that lack both are inexcusable.
- Shizuma: Telephoto without a second thought, I’ve never taken a picture with the standard lens that is already wide and thought I wish this was wider, but I often want zoom. On my old Note 8, I used the 2x zoom lens more often than the normal lens.
- One: I prefer the ultra-wide, but that’s because I understand how much 2x Tele sucks on phones. If it was 3x or better then I would prefer it. I find that most average users zoom too much to zoom in, so they probably prefer telephoto too.
- Ali Marwan: I’ve owned my 7 Pro for 2 years and only took 3 ultra-wide pictures. I honestly have no use for it.
- MM_Rafez: I would use the phone every day. I wish a manufacturer had given us a large sensor with a telephoto / periscope lens with a larger aperture so we could take portraits with natural bokeh.
- mattc: I know that I use the telephoto a lot more often. It’s great for portraits. Said with P30 Pro.
- stephan cevallos: Tele. For some reason, the ultra-wide sucks on my Note 20 Ultra. It takes bright light or it won’t work.
- DBS: Ultra-Wide. Not even a question. It’s much more useful to have a lens that will fit you more into a shot AND that works well as a macro lens too. Telephoto / periscope is fine, but it rarely produces anything of value. And the number of times you need it is close to zero.
That’s it for this poll. Thank you for your votes and comments. As always, if you have other thoughts, drop them below.