iPhone 5 photos not full-size?

Holte139 said:

One of the things that's always really confused me about the iPhone 5 is the way that the photos don't seem to be full-screen. When I open the camera app it appears that it will be full-screen as you're preparing to take the photo, but once I've taken it and view it in the gallery the photo is bordered by two black bars and the top and bottom of the screen, like when you use an app that isn't iPhone 5 compatible.

Is this something that occurs with everyone's camera? If so it's a very poor show by Apple I think. Considering that both the camera and display are better quality than previous model I hope that this 'compression' doesn't affect image quality. It's even more bizarre that photos look like this but videos are actually full-screen.

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Screen is 16:9. Photos are 4:3. Videos are also 16:9. Industry standards. End of story.

Holte139 said:

Considering that both the camera and display are better quality than previous model I hope that this 'compression' doesn't affect image quality.

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It's cropping, not compression. A compressed 16:9 image would still be 16:9.

Holte139 said:

And why do industry standards matter for consumer products exactly? Why is it that on my HTC One I can take a photo at a higher resolution and have it appear at it's proper size without it being cropped? Just crying 'industry standards' seems like passing the buck to me, providing the perfect excuse for Apple to not make their products as good as they could be just because of the marketing and number of customers that the logo on the back brings.

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Nothing, it's just that 4:3 photos are perfectly normal. 4:3 isn't better than 16:9 (or the other way around).

This commercial from last fall drove me nuts because it shows the photos from the iPhone 5 being displayed in full screen mode, very misleading, IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvyYxh8BuWo&list=TL_9wxSRndkA8

I want my photos to look like photos, not like a screenshot from a movie. If that's the effect I'm after, I have apps to crop it to the proper dimensions.

Making photos 16x9, just because the screen is 16x9, is an absurd reason to change it. Most people aren't after "widescreen" photos. They would just look wrong and then people would complain the the iPhone takes funny photos that have to be cropped to look normal.

Photos don't fill your iPhone screen because they're not supposed to. They're designed to look like what the average person expects to see for the typical photograph.

So, if you ever had an iPhone with a 4:3 screen, did you complain that videos didn't use the full screen? Did you request that videos get changed to be in a 4:3 format to match your screen? Just curious.

Holte139 said:

And why do industry standards matter for consumer products exactly? Why is it that on my HTC One I can take a photo at a higher resolution and have it appear at it's proper size without it being cropped? Just crying 'industry standards' seems like passing the buck to me, providing the perfect excuse for Apple to not make their products as good as they could be just because of the marketing and number of customers that the logo on the back brings.

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You have it backwards. It's the full screen HTC image that is cropped. Apple provides you with the complete image resulting in the black bars. Is this a troll thread?

Does the HTC not give you the option of viewing uncropped photos?

To fill a 16x9 screen with an image in a standard camera resolution (i.e. 4x3 or 3x2) you have to chop off the top, bottom or ends to fit to screen.

You're full screen image is not the whole picture. It's cropped.

Apple is doing it the correct way.

You keep talking about your screen. That has nothing to do with the photo, that's just how you're choosing to VIEW your photos. Most people send photos in email, post them on Facebook or Instagram or Flickr or they print them or something. They wouldn't want something that looks like an iPhone screen, they want something that looks like a photo.

Much like today's modern digital cameras. Sure, they have screen where you can view your photos. Sure, you can hand your camera to someone and let them browse through the photos. But, that isn't intended to be the primary means of viewing photos. Once you have your photos the whole point is to transfer them to some other medium. I realize the iPhone blurs that line quite a bit, but I think the concept remains.

The phone is the same way. YOU may keep all your photos on your phone. That may be your primary means or sharing photos with people. I don't know. But I'd bet my next paycheck that most people don't work that way and don't want 16x9 photos as the default. They want something they can share with whoever (without handing over their phone) and they want it to look like a photo, not something that looks like it was shot on a cell phone.

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Apple is doing photos correctly (from a photographers point of view) and I'm all but certain that won't be changing anytime soon.

If you don't care for how they choose to do photos, browse the app store. There are hundreds of apps out there and I'd be shocked if you couldn't find at least 1 that does what you want. It would certainly be quicker than waiting on Apple.

Probably would be best if they let you change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, or that the camera would show the 4:3 image in the preview that will actually make it to the picture. It's not extremely practical to prepare the shot you want, take the picture, only to have the final image have more room since the aspect ratio changed and you just couldn't see it in the preview. Sure, you can crop it, but there is nothing wrong with that option..... There also isn't anything wrong with pictures that are 16:9 just like there is nothing wrong with pics that are taken at 4:3. They both work and look great as long as you take set up a good shot.

Holte139 said:

Just thinking logically here, how can a full-screen photo be cropped yet a partial-screen image isn't?

Surely an image that leaves black bars on a screen is more likely to have been cropped than one that hasn't left black bars?

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Oh my. Just rethink what you're saying. Aspect ratio and size are two COMPLETELY different things. The screen is not capturing the image, the SENSOR is. And the sensor has a 4:3 aspect ratio. Why on Earth do you think that the display of a phone has any relationship to the photo quality at all?

The camera crops the picture view, OP, but when you snap the picture, there is more area on the left and right side that were not part of your field of view when snapping the pic.

It only appears that there are black borders on top and bottom because the pic is now wider crossways after capture. Sent from my iPhone 5.

It would be child's play for Apple to include a selector to choose your aspect ratio when taking a picture. And for a company that wants you to use Airplay to display your pictures on your widescreen HDTV, it seems like there should be a setting for people that choose never to print their pictures, but only view them on screen. I'm not one of them ... but there are many, many people out there that are perfectly happy to keep their entire photo collection on their iphone and view it on screen only. Seems like Apple would make it easier for them to use all the available screen real estate.

Just use an app that allows you to take 16:9 photos if it bothers you that much. I'm sure there are tons of free ones in the AppStore.

Bishope1999 said:

Probably would be best if they let you change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, or that the camera would show the 4:3 image in the preview that will actually make it to the picture. It's not extremely practical to prepare the shot you want, take the picture, only to have the final image have more room since the aspect ratio changed and you just couldn't see it in the preview. Sure, you can crop it, but there is nothing wrong with that option..... There also isn't anything wrong with pictures that are 16:9 just like there is nothing wrong with pics that are taken at 4:3. They both work and look great as long as you take set up a good shot.

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When you open the camera app, there are black bars on each end of the screen that hold buttons for the different settings. Everything in the preview window is captured and saved as your picture. The preview window is NOT full screen therefore the resulting picture is also not full screen.

sumsingwong said:

Just use an app that allows you to take 16:9 photos if it bothers you that much. I'm sure there are tons of free ones in the AppStore.

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Well, I do, but it shouldn't be necessary.

Here we go again

I really don't understand why Apple with iOS 7 lets you take square photos, but not widescreen photos. Who takes 1x1 photos anyway?

Merkie said:

Who takes 1x1 photos anyway?

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I do, when it's meant for Instagram. It's been extremely useful and a welcome addition.

thatoneguy82 said:

I do, when it's meant for Instagram. It's been extremely useful and a welcome addition.

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I don't get that, Instagram automatically crops photos to 1x1. No need for the camera app to do so for me.

A good reason for the iPhone 6 screen having a 4:3 aspect ratio rather the longer screen it has now.