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pikachu2k7

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2012
201
1
North Carolina
Will Apple ever improve or increase the megapixel count in the iphones? It has been 3 generations now using the same 8mp camera. I understand that they have done some other things such as, "sapphire crystal lens" or "15% bump in light sensor area" but will they ever bump the actual mp count to 13 or 17?
 

sumsingwong

macrumors 6502a
Dec 15, 2012
771
368
Will Apple ever improve or increase the megapixel count in the iphones? It has been 3 generations now using the same 8mp camera. I understand that they have done some other things such as, "sapphire crystal lens" or "15% bump in light sensor area" but will they ever bump the actual mp count to 13 or 17?

It's possible but the following link is a very interesting read.

The Megapixel Myth

The megapixel myth was started by camera makers and swallowed hook, line and sinker by camera measurebators. Camera makers use the number of megapixels a camera has to hoodwink you into thinking it has something to do with camera quality. They use it because even a tiny linear resolution increase results in a huge total pixel increase, since the total pixel count varies as the total area of the image, which varies as the square of the linear resolution. In other words, an almost invisible 40% increase in the number of pixels in any one direction results in a doubling of the total number of pixels in the image. Therefore camera makers can always brag about how much better this week's camera is, with even negligible improvements.

This gimmick is used by salespeople and manufacturers to you feel as if your current camera is inadequate and needs to be replaced even if the new cameras each year are only slightly better.
 

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,269
Denver, CO
Megapixels in cell phones mean almost nothing these days. I have a 12MP DSLR from 5 years ago that can shoot circles around any cell phone. What does it have going for it that's better than today's cell phones? Larger sensor, better quality lenses, better image processing. What are the things Apple improved in the iPhone that you completely dismissed without really understanding what they mean? Larger sensor, better quality lens, better image processing.
 

AAPLinc

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2012
1,292
2
Hollywood, CA
Well the amount of pixels actually doesn't matter. I'm sure it will be bumped up for the 6, and tweaks will be added, but technology is sort of at a stand still. We caught up so quick and now things are as good as they can almost be, for now.

I find the 5S camera to be huge upgrade even from my 4S. I'm not a huge photographer, but I take photos for Instagram and they come out stunning looking. I cannot complain about it at all. Smartphones are now to the point where they have almost replaced people's digital cameras. I know true photographers still like to have a nice camera, but the picture quality I find is perfect for me.
 

DanTSX

Suspended
Oct 22, 2013
1,111
1,505
You should just buy a camera with the phone attached.

As previously noted, the megapixel myth is true. Don't worry about it the count. That's a game the Lame android companies play to win uneducated customers.

It appears that apples current approach is to enhance usability and function. For example,
Low light shooting, slow mo, and the camera's functions.
 

joshdammit

Suspended
Mar 6, 2013
321
57
Will Apple ever improve or increase the arbitrary numbers in the iphones? It has been 3 generations now using the same arbitrary number. I understand that they have done some other things such as, a bunch of improvements that actually benefit the average user but will they ever bump the actual numbers so my Android buddies have one less thing to mock me about?

Fixed. If you're that concerned about the number of megapixels on your phone, but easily dismiss all of the other camera upgrades, you don't know what added megapixels actually do and won't benefit from them as a photographer.

I say this with absolute certainty because if you DO benefit from increased megapixels as a photographer, you'd have your own DSLR and the phone on your camera would be reserved for posting pictures of food on instagram.
 

Namji

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2010
627
20
Instead of increasing MP as we should already know isn't necessary..
I rather see features like self timer, time-lapse, and equal image quality for the front facing lens...
 

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
Id love a 12 - 15mp people say pixels numbers dont matter but it does depending on the type of photography you do. More mp will allow for greater zooming and editing without loss of detail.

What I am also hoping for is optional advanced controls to take some choices back from the phone such as seperate white balance, focus and iso controls. Possibly even shutter speeds

All I know is the next camera needs to be a big step up.

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Instead of increasing MP as we should already know isn't necessary..
I rather see features like self timer, time-lapse, and equal image quality for the front facing lens...

Why ? Front camera is only used for skype/ facetime and self portrait. The current seems adequate. There are many improvments the rear camera can benefit from first.
 

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
I don't care for numbers after 8MP to be honest. I start comparing other things after 6MP.

My 5S takes way better pictures than my 4S.

----------

….
Why ? Front camera is only used for skype/ facetime and self portrait. The current seems adequate. There are many improvments the rear camera can benefit from first.
I want to see my grandmas' wrinkles in HD ok :p
 

scotrinaf

macrumors 6502
Oct 6, 2013
333
0
Blountville, TN
Megapixels are nothing but a marketing scheme. The better the lens, the crisper/brighter the image. I had a 3mp Casio QV3000EX that took better pictures than most of today's point-n-shoot cameras... And that was many years ago...

My current camera, a Canon 60D, takes amazing photos, but the lens still makes all the difference in the world...
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
I have to say that my new 5S has impressed me a lot camera wise. Particularly it's low light capabilities. With each new phone, we seem to get an improvement with the 5S the best yet. No reason to assume Apple won't continue to improve it.
 

sumsingwong

macrumors 6502a
Dec 15, 2012
771
368
Id love a 12 - 15mp people say pixels numbers dont matter but it does depending on the type of photography you do. More mp will allow for greater zooming and editing without loss of detail.

What I am also hoping for is optional advanced controls to take some choices back from the phone such as seperate white balance, focus and iso controls. Possibly even shutter speeds

All I know is the next camera needs to be a big step up.

----------



Why ? Front camera is only used for skype/ facetime and self portrait. The current seems adequate. There are many improvments the rear camera can benefit from first.

Zooming? You mean cropping? More MP's doesn't make better quality photos. It just makes the images larger. If the sensor and optics are crap, then you just get a bigger photo that's looks bad.
 

whtrbt7

macrumors 65816
Jun 8, 2011
1,015
73
I want a sensor about the size of APS-C or even FF on the back of an iPhone. The problem would be the glass for it would cost a fortune. Even still, that would only mean a useful MP range of about 24-28 MP. If it was up to me, I would try to invent new glass and sensors for Apple. The issue isn't really the sensor size but rather the sensor size vs the quality/cost/size of glass.

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On that note, I would love to see a f/1.2 lens on a future phone with a larger sensor like a 1 incher or something with phase detect AF.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
Well, it's finally happened. The 'megapixel myth' memo has gone around SO much that we now have people saying that pixels don't matter at all.

Uh… right.


Ok, so adding more megapixels to an iPhone wouldn't matter without making the camera (and thus the phone) thicker. I don't see that happening.

So yes, while 8 MP is perfectly fine for an iPhone, let's not all go crazy and say that megapixels are a totally meaningless number that do nothing. If you have a larger lens with a greater distance to the sensor then, yes, numbers higher than 8 do exist for a reason. Just because the iPhone isn't getting thicker doesn't mean that 12 or 24 MP cameras are a scam or something.
 

Jimmy James

macrumors 603
Oct 26, 2008
5,488
4,067
Magicland
Apple did make a better camera. What they didn't do was provide BIGGER images. That may have made the camera WORSE.

OP, you don't understand. Currently, image quality is adversely affected by image size for a given sensor size.

How large do you print, anyway? I'm assuming you don't post full size images online.
 

PicardsDome

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2013
16
0
Will Apple ever improve or increase the megapixel count in the iphones? It has been 3 generations now using the same 8mp camera. I understand that they have done some other things such as, "sapphire crystal lens" or "15% bump in light sensor area" but will they ever bump the actual mp count to 13 or 17?

Your post makes it abundantly clear you know nothing about what actually makes one camera better than another.
 

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
Zooming? You mean cropping? More MP's doesn't make better quality photos. It just makes the images larger. If the sensor and optics are crap, then you just get a bigger photo that's looks bad.

But the sensor and optics on the iPhone arent. There is a need for an upgrade there though as the full 8mp isnt being fully utilised currently.

Zooming in with a picture is cropping, and it does allow for better quality as you can enlarge an image say a leaf to a greater level with less loss of detail. The extra information can play big part in the quality of an image.

The 5S camera is to me the best in a phone but its not near a DSLR in ability even if Phil gets on stage and says it is. It can be with improvements though.
 

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
Right.. apparently people like Nevaborn do not get it...

:eek:

Actually you appear far more clueless. You solely associate mp with image size but instead think of them as information. The more information you have the more accurate you allow your image to be.
 

Vanilla35

macrumors 68040
Apr 11, 2013
3,344
1,453
Washington D.C.
Will Apple ever improve or increase the megapixel count in the iphones? It has been 3 generations now using the same 8mp camera. I understand that they have done some other things such as, "sapphire crystal lens" or "15% bump in light sensor area" but will they ever bump the actual mp count to 13 or 17?

Well considering this phone was rumored to have 12 MP up until like 4 weeks of launch, I can almost guarantee that the iPhone 6 will have 12 or 13 MP. Because those leaks weren't just coming from nothing....they're definitely working on 12-13 MP cameras

----------

Well, it's finally happened. The 'megapixel myth' memo has gone around SO much that we now have people saying that pixels don't matter at all.

Uh… right.


Ok, so adding more megapixels to an iPhone wouldn't matter without making the camera (and thus the phone) thicker. I don't see that happening.

So yes, while 8 MP is perfectly fine for an iPhone, let's not all go crazy and say that megapixels are a totally meaningless number that do nothing. If you have a larger lens with a greater distance to the sensor then, yes, numbers higher than 8 do exist for a reason. Just because the iPhone isn't getting thicker doesn't mean that 12 or 24 MP cameras are a scam or something.

Thank you!

People are so stupid on this forum sometimes :D. So many iSheep around that simple logic is lost half of the time haha
 

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,269
Denver, CO
Well, it's finally happened. The 'megapixel myth' memo has gone around SO much that we now have people saying that pixels don't matter at all.

Uh… right.


Ok, so adding more megapixels to an iPhone wouldn't matter without making the camera (and thus the phone) thicker. I don't see that happening.

So yes, while 8 MP is perfectly fine for an iPhone, let's not all go crazy and say that megapixels are a totally meaningless number that do nothing. If you have a larger lens with a greater distance to the sensor then, yes, numbers higher than 8 do exist for a reason. Just because the iPhone isn't getting thicker doesn't mean that 12 or 24 MP cameras are a scam or something.

Not sure if you're responding to what I said or not. But please note that I didn't say pixels don't matter. I said they no longer matter in cell phones.

The primary motivations in cell phone construction run contrary to what cameras need to produce better images. In the camera world, larger is often better. Larger sensors, pixels, apertures, lenses all have their benefits. Notice that as cameras improve in quality they generally get larger. But in cell-phone land you want cram as many features into the smallest package possible.

My point is that we've reached the point in cell-phones where we have enough pixels to do what consumers want to do with their images. That is, point-and-shoot with MAYBE some minor edits afterward. We reached this point in the consumer camera world right around 5-8MP mark as well, and that's when the original discussions around the "megapixel myth" started.

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Well considering this phone was rumored to have 12 MP up until like 4 weeks of launch, I can almost guarantee that the iPhone 6 will have 12 or 13 MP. Because those leaks weren't just coming from nothing....they're definitely working on 12-13 MP cameras

Actually, I remember hearing somewhere that if you took the size of the sensor that the 5s shipped with, and kept the same pixel density as the 5, that you wind up with 12-13MP. Not sure if that's totally accurate, but it sounds plausible and the sort of assumption someone would make if all they had was a picture of the part.
 
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