Phone digiscoping w/ optical zoom - worth extra $?

[Aaron-in-CO]

Tldr: Is the increased digiscoping zoom with telephoto lens on today’s top-end phones worth the extra few hundred dollars?

I’m unfortunately in the market for a new phone. I’ve never had or even really desired a top of the line phone (iPhone Pros and Galaxy Ultras). The only reason I would consider one is if the dedicated telephoto lens on them makes a huge difference when digiscoping.

I’ve seen a lot on Rokslide about digiscoping hardware but I couldn’t find much about the perceived value of the optical zoom of a phone’s telephoto lens. I’ve heard it mentioned in passing as a nice-to-have.

For my hunting purposes, I’m mostly concerned with determining sex (deer, elk, pronghorn, bear) and bull elk legality (ie 4pt side in CO). I currently have Maven B5 18x binos. I love them, but also wondering if I can get a leg up with the phone in my pocket. I don’t own a spotter and probably wouldn’t carry one for most hunts even if I had it.

What say you, fancy phone fanatics? Worth the upgrade cost or no?

 

[patagonialuke]

I opted for the 'Pro' version of the iPhone in large part to get the 5x lens, and I do find it helpful for long-distance digiscoping (I'm often glassing from 2+ miles away).

When paired with my 20-60x spotter, I don't think the phone's 5x lens ever helped me identify an animal that I couldn't have with the regular phone lens, but it makes a bigger difference when paired with my 12x binos. Per usual with increased magnification, stabilization becomes even more important, and it's less useful the darker the light conditions.

My take is that, since I don't upgrade my phone often, I'm happy I spent the extra money once to have the 5x as an option when I want it for the next several years.

 

[Aaron-in-CO]

Helpful take, patagonialuke!

Bump for more opinions.

 

[Aaron-in-CO]

Another bump. There's gotta be more opinions out there on this.

 

[Gila]

I got the Pro. The only differences are that the screen on the max is slightly larger, the battery capacity is about 5 hours longer and it is quite a bit heavier than the pro. I really like the pro with the telephoto. I use a mountain mag adapter to attach to the spotter. I run the spotter up to 45X and use the 2x lens. That setting gives me the rectangular view on the phone with the best resolution, field of view and clarity. I no longer have to look through the eyepiece to focus or pan. I use the phone’s 5x lens on a tripod. I haven’t used the 5x on a binocular yet. I stopped using Android phones years ago, just too buggy. But I still use a Note 3 with a replaceable battery for offline mapping and ballistics. I still use the In-reach with the old note 3 for sat texting, however the satellite texting works well on the pro.

 

[Aaron-in-CO]

Thanks for the thoughts so far, guys.

I should have clarified in the OP that I’m interested in comparing digiscoping w/zoom vs glassing with eyeballs. I’m not too interested in the difference between digiscoping with vs without zoom.

So to double check, are you guys able to make out more detail on your phone screen when digiscoping with optical zoom vs looking through the glass directly?