Why are some of my pictures blurry?

[Big D 51]

Once I transferred all of my pictures from iTunes onto my iPad, a lot of them are blurry. I don't have this issue on my iphone. The same goes with video. Why is video crystal clear on iphone but not on ipad?

[HazyCloud]

Originally Posted by Big D 51

Once I transferred all of my pictures from iTunes onto my iPad, a lot of them are blurry. I don't have this issue on my iphone. The same goes with video. Why is video crystal clear on iphone but not on ipad?

Better cameras on the iPhone. Plain and simple. I'm sure we'll see quite the update to the cameras on the iPad 3.

[gngan]

I had similar issue when i update my iphone 3GS to iOS4. It was a problem with iOS4.

This never happened on my iPad2. What about viewing it on your computer? Is it blurry?

[mstrze]

Fingerprints on the lens? Seems like the iPad would have a greater opportunity to get fingerprints on the camera lens due to more manipulation of the screen whereas the iPhone generally gets held in a way that keeps your fingers away from the camera.

It may be an OS issue, but it's always worth checking lens clarity first.

[Big D 51]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. These are pictures transferred from my computer to iPad. Not taken with iPad.

[Big D 51]

Originally Posted by gngan

What about viewing it on your computer? Is it blurry?

Video yes. Pictures vary. Some are clear and a little blurry on pad. Some are blurry on computer, and super blurry on pad. I'm assuming it's a picture resolution problem.

[Big D 51]

iPad:

[Big D 51]

iPhone:

[Big D 51]

After coming to my computer to see what they look like, the actual picture is small in size. I guess the ipad is stretching the photo causing it to be blurry :-/ .

[vrDrew]

The problem most likely lies in the quality of the original image. If the photo was out-of-focus, the larger screen of the iPad is going to make that much more apparent than the tiny 3.5" screen on an iPhone. Resolution (ie. "retina display") has very little to do with this.

That said, there is ONE factor where resolution comes into play: Image Scaling.

In order to display a digital image, the device usually needs to resize it. In other words, a photo that was taken at 1600 x 1200 resolution (ie. "Good" but not "Best" on most consumer grade point and shoots) needs to be scaled so that it displays as 1024 pixels wide to display full screen on an iPad in landscape mode. Since 1024 is not a perfect factor of 1600 - the software "interpolates" which pixels to keep, which to throw away, and which to change. This can introduce "jagginess" or "blurriness" into an image that wasn't there originally. And it is certainly possible that the algorithm Apple uses for scaling does a better job scaling whatever image size you have BETTER on the iPhones 860 pixel wide screen.

Of course, if the original image was SMALLER than 1024 pixels wide (the iPad's resolution) - then the problem becomes worse. Instead of "throwing away" extra pixels to get the image down to 1024 - the algorithm has to "make them up" (ie. "Upsample") to fill the whole screen width.

This is an extremely over-simplified explanation. Image-scaling and interpolation alogrithms is a complex process, and one that is very difficult to quickly and understandably explain.

[Big D 51]

Originally Posted by vrDrew

The problem most likely lies in the quality of the original image. If the photo was out-of-focus, the larger screen of the iPad is going to make that much more apparent than the tiny 3.5" screen on an iPhone. Resolution (ie. "retina display") has very little to do with this.

That said, there is ONE factor where resolution comes into play: Image Scaling.

In order to display a digital image, the device usually needs to resize it. In other words, a photo that was taken at 1600 x 1200 resolution (ie. "Good" but not "Best" on most consumer grade point and shoots) needs to be scaled so that it displays as 1024 pixels wide to display full screen on an iPad in landscape mode. Since 1024 is not a perfect factor of 1600 - the software "interpolates" which pixels to keep, which to throw away, and which to change. This can introduce "jagginess" or "blurriness" into an image that wasn't there originally. And it is certainly possible that the algorithm Apple uses for scaling does a better job scaling whatever image size you have BETTER on the iPhones 860 pixel wide screen.

Of course, if the original image was SMALLER than 1024 pixels wide (the iPad's resolution) - then the problem becomes worse. Instead of "throwing away" extra pixels to get the image down to 1024 - the algorithm has to "make them up" (ie. "Upsample") to fill the whole screen width.

This is an extremely over-simplified explanation. Image-scaling and interpolation alogrithms is a complex process, and one that is very difficult to quickly and understandably explain.

Even though it was an extremely over-simplified explanation, it was an awesome. Thanks for the information.