Wear glasses? This neat iPhone camera trick can simulate your natural vision
Remember the time when a phone was just a phone? No me neither. Over the past two decades, mobile computing has developed faster than any other sector, with smartphones now capable of much more than simply allowing one human to communicate with another remotely.
The iPhone in particular has evolved from a keyboard-less smartphone, to a mobile gaming console, to a DSLR-rivaling camera, and eagle-eyed Apple fans continue to find new and novel use cases for seemingly mundane iPhone features even in 2023.
For example, Japanese optician Sakata Yoshi recently used his iPhone's camera lens to show how people with low vision see without glasses. Why? Well, we're not entirely sure, but if you'd like to understand how your glasses-wearing friends or family members see the world naturallyYoshi's video is worth watching.
As you can see via the X post below, Yoshi simulates (presumably his own) natural vision using the iPhone's AF/AE lock camera feature. This tool allows you to lock the focus and exposure values when you take a photo, which is useful, for example, when shooting scenes with movement in the background or when trying out close-up macro photography.
AE/AF function More information pic.twitter.com/PC0OidnPgUDecember 7, 2023
Pretty cool, right? Here's how you can try Yoshi's method for yourself:
First, place your iPhone's camera lens behind a pair of prescription glasses. Click and hold anywhere in the viewfinder until the AF/AE lock feature appears at the top of the screen. Then simply remove the glasses from view of the iPhone's camera. And voila! This way you (or the person from whom you borrowed the glasses) see the world without glasses.
In a separate video, Yoshi also demonstrates how to simulate presbyopia (that is, the inability to see objects up close) using the same iPhone feature without a pair of glasses.
【老眼の見え方”) Fig. twitter.com/HBQEcynfWUDecember 7, 2023
As you can see, Yoshi focuses on an object a little further away (the curtains) and activates the AF/AE lock by repeating the steps above. Now his iPhone camera can see objects at a similar distance to the curtains clearly, but objects right in front of the iPhone camera are blurry. This is similar to how someone with presbyopia experiences the world without glasses.
By the way, Yoshi's original times, please tell! Everyone on Twitter! Please share your power with me!”. Thanks for sharing your discovery with us, Yoshi.
For more lesser-known iPhone features, check out our overview of the five hidden iOS tricks to help you navigate your iPhone faster.