How does the iPhone 4S camera stack up against other cameras?
As a professional photographer, comparisons like this drive me absolutely insane, especially when they are called "incredible".
Look, the iPhone 4s processes images with in-camera software and does it aggressively so images look pretty to the average user. They are over-saturated and over-sharpened. And the lack of detail captured by the small sensor all but negates the possibility of any REAL post processing.
I get it. The consumer doesn't care. They just know the pictures look pretty. The practicing photographer knows better.
The video comparisons are even more futile. The depth of field, flexibility, and low light performance of the 5D Mark II is so far beyond the iPhone 4s it makes my head spin.
We are headed into exciting times when a device smaller than a deck of cards will replace a device the size of a toaster. I know. But we aren't there yet. Really, we aren't even close.
The huge leap forward between 3G and 3Gs is mostly the addition of focus. Before 3GS, the iPhone camera was fixed focus.
Taking a photo of something close up looked terrible, like the key does in the photo. I'm guessing they optimized the fixed focus to an object much further away from the camera.
This is a brilliant way to promote their app (cam plus) - a great blog post that adds value, and indirectly is used to promote their app while drawing traffic to their site.
I should use that idea with promoting my apps!
I see a lot of differences in hue/saturation between the S95/5D and the iPhone 4/4S. Reds are redder, blues are bluer. Over saturated images can definitely be pleasing, but typically are not natural.
If the S95 was set to "Vivid" in the color settings, I think the result would be very similar to the iPhone 4/4S.
The other interesting thing...
According to the EXIF, the iPhone was shot with an ISO of 60. The S95 EXIF reports 20,480. That sounds strange to me... And possibly purposefully misleading.
got lucky and shot a hummingbird taking a bath today with my 4s. It's a good example of the video quality this phone offers: http://vimeo.com/mediamaker/hummingbird-iphone4s
There's got to be some shenanigans going on when the iPhone 4s shot of the city looks better than the 5DMKII, an essentially $3000 camera.
Gosh! That is incredible!
I was genuinely expecting a detailed breakdown of the lenses and hardware. Instead what we got was a comparison of images from each camera. And an ad for a camera app.
But really, there is no lens cover, and these things are shoved into a pocket with keys and coins and lint. How is it any phone can take good pictures (as to win contests, and our imaginations.)
Why do so many (most) high end smartphones have no lens covers? It's the first think I would add to a smartphone I design, and yet, I am obviously completely wrong.
Also, here is a neat video comparison between iphone 4s and Canon 5d MKII
They used this little test rig (look at the size difference!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67369108@N02/6248202568/in/phot...
Would be interesting to see such a comparison done between iPhone, and one of its toughest competitors - say Galaxy S2.
I'd really like to see a comparison/analysis between iOS 4.3 and iOS 5. I noticed an immediate, dramatic improvement in subjective quality and focus speed on my iPhone 4. I initially thought that this came down to some kind of auto-sharpening but Lori Grunin, one of the more discriminating camera critics, seems to pin a lot of the iPhone's quality on the AF - http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20122150-1/the-iphone-4s....
Hey Folks, Heads up, this dude is trying to raise money for a project that turns the Iphone 4 and Iphone4S into a GoPro like device that is also compatible with GoPro mounts... This is an awesome idea, I hope he succeeds in this... http://www.facebook.com/actioncase http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/actioncases/action-case-...
I was quite impressed by this video[1] shot with an iPhone 4S, especially it's handling of motion/auto stabilisation.
Looks like unsharp mask filter is automatically applied to 4s.. which is fine for happy snaps, but if DSLR cameras applied such sharpening automatically without the option to turn it off, just watch photographers around the world take to the streets in protest! So many images on the web are so over-sharpened by people who don't know how to sharpen properly or just use the default settings.
As an iPhone 3G owner I feel about this photo just like how I feel about my iPhone: not surprised. 3GS was the phone that started opening doors.
This is pretty incredible, didn't realise how big of a jump there was. You can see that the 4 has a highly capable camera but the 4S is even better.
I'm a 4S owner and can definitely see that it's better. Obviously you could say Camera+ want the iPhone camera to get better as their photos will be better and they'll sell more apps but at the same time it's impressive.
An absurd comparison. The first series is comparing out of focus shots from older iPhones to in focus shots from newer iPhones. The last shot comparing the 5DMII makes the iPhone look better but this is because we are looking at small size photos that the iPhone by default sharpened and increased contrast and saturation on.
Can we please automatically kill submissions with words like "incredible" in the title?
Amazing for sure.
Well that's the end of the camera industry.