Here Are All the Camera Improvements On Apple's iPhone X

Apple’s latest addition to the iPhone family, the iPhone X, comes with several new features, including a better screen, facial recognition technology and more. But mobile photographers should take note that it also includes several small but nonetheless noteworthy improvements in the camera department.

The iPhone X has a dual-lens camera, previously only available on the iPhone Plus models. This provides both a wide-angle and a telephoto lens, which both shoot 12 megapixel images. The wide angle lens will allow for an f/1.8 aperture, while the telephoto lens will have an f/2.4 aperture. The wider aperture on the telephoto lens allows for a shallower depth of field and better performance in low light situations. These should lead to portraits and close up shots that look a bit sharper and brighter.

In addition to optical improvements, dual optical image optimization will reduce motion blur on both lenses while shooting either photos or videos. The recently released iPhone Plus has image stabilization for the wide angle lens, but not the telephoto lens.

Finally, the iPhone X also comes with some camera software improvements. Apple’s Portrait Mode, which isolates a picture’s subject and artificially blurs the background, has been moved from beta to the primetime. A new feature called Portrait Lighting imitates studio lighting setups, with options for contour lighting, stage lighting and more. The lighting effects can be applied either while taking an image or after the fact. This tool is still in beta, however.

TIME put the iPhone X through the photographic paces during New York City’s annual Village Halloween Parade on Oct. 31. Take a look at Photographer Delphine Diallo’s portraits of the parade.

Contact us at letters@time.com.