iPhone 6 Rumored to Include 10+-Megapixel Camera with f/1.8 Aperture and Improved Filter

[Menneisyys2]

Oh, I thought SLR was just had to do with the quality of pixels being super refined on point and shoot cameras. I kinda want to see the point and shoot camera to disappear and centralize everything within a cell phone. My friend does digital photography and she's super pro cannon, but I don't use anything outside of my phone, but I have the HTC One, so my camera is good.

Most (but definitely not all!) P&S cameras have equally low pixel sizes as many smartphones.

This means, unless they have much brighter lens (which is increasingly no longer the case by the top phones' getting brighter and brighter lens all the time), they have similar(ly bad) low-light performance and dynamic range as camera phones.

Of course, as they are allowed to occupy much more volume, P&S cameras are way better than most camera phones in the following respects:

- optical zoom
- Xenon flash
- optical IS

Also, as they can have much larger lens, several of them (particularly the higher-end ones) can have (in cases, much - some even start at f/1.4, which is a stop brighter than most phones) brighter lens than phones.

Nevertheless, noise- and dynamic range-wise, most (again, I'm not speaking about large-sensor (1/1.7" and larger), superbright-lens enthusiast models) P&S cameras aren't better than (camera-wise top) phones. In this regard, they're already beaten.

 

[charlituna]

As nice as this sounds I'm always suspicious when unknown sites start dropping rumors that name drop companies not known to work with Apple. Seems too much like hit whoring and stock games

 

[CFreymarc]

Manual controls for exposure would also be good.

You and about every other photo buff out there. I worked on a job while ago where client insisted on app controlled exposure and shutter rates. Took a lot of research but came down to it that there is now third party API to access these settings. About the only thing I found was some jail break examples directly addressing the camera driver and that changes from model to model of iPhone. Client was not happy with this and project ended up canceled over it.

 

[richman555]

Better than having to wait for, say, half an hour next to a wall outlet to get some life back to your phone with a non-replaceable battery...

I own one of these and they are great! No need for a replaceable battery.

http://www.jackeryusa.com

More specifically I own the jackery bar.

http://www.jackeryusa.com/#!jackery-bar/c6ce

 

[Menneisyys2]

You and about every other photo buff out there. I worked on a job while ago where client insisted on app controlled exposure and shutter rates. Took a lot of research but came down to it that there is now third party API to access these settings.

A quick note: I publish a lot of articles on photography on the iPhone, also cross-posted here in the MR forums. In some of my articles, I've elaborated on this very question, also pointing out not even iOS7 supports any kind of manual, proper exposure / shutter speed control (apart from extending the latter to 1s), let alone earlier OS versions.

----------

I own one of these and they are great! No need for a replaceable battery.

http://www.jackeryusa.com

Quite a lot of additional bulk, compared to a much smaller battery...

 

[richman555]

Quite a lot of additional bulk, compared to a much smaller battery...

They are quite small actually and fit in your pocket. I use it all the time with no problems at all. Also with the bar, I can recharge fully 3 times.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Great! Now please continue to offer a 4 inch model.

It's ok, you'll have adult sized hands one day and the 4.7" screen will fit perfectly.

 

[Markarian421]

That's not entirely true. Sensors quality and sensitivity can be technologically improved allowing increase in megapixels. That can be specially relevant in a small device like a phone where you need to keep the sensor small.

I'd be very interested to hear about these improvements and how they work. Details please.

 

[lk400]

Megapixels don't matter, at this point in a cell phone sensor more megapixels = more noise and worse pixels. People comparing megapixels in cell phones to megapixels in Nikon and Canon dSLRs are comparing matchbox cars to real cars. For most journalists and consumers it's just a big number they don't understand but they want it to be bigger because why not?

Larger pixels are better pixels. Pixels are like buckets, the more they can hold (what they're holding is electrons generated by photons) the better -- more dynamic range. The sensor in a dSLR is huge, if those pixels are buckets, cell phone pixels are like thimbles. Wanting more megapixels is wanting a smaller thimble. But it's worse than that, reading out a pixel creates a certain amount of noise, no matter how big or small the pixel is. If it's a small pixel that holds less, that means a very low signal to noise ratio, and overall more noise in the image the more of those pixels you have.

I'm a scientist who designs cameras for other scientists, and the main thing they ask for is bigger pixels. And more of them, so basically bigger cameras all the way around. (I can show you a great 111 Mpix sensor, but it's the size of a bathroom tile.) A cell phone is pretty much the opposite of all of that, consumers demand crappier cameras because they've been misled by journalists who have been misled by marketing types who won't listen to the engineers anymore. I used to go to an imaging conference (that's happening this week actually) where there were entire days of talks about cell phone sensors that boiled down to "how bad can the image get before the consumer will notice" and "what kind of processing can we do to the images so the consumers won't notice how crappy the image is getting as we add more megapixels?" But that conference got too depressing (and too irrelevant to building good cameras) so I don't go anymore.

I think this was very much the case in the mid 2000s compact camera frenzy.

But, most tech sites, camera enthusiasts and even average journalists nowadays recognize that bigger megapixel counts dont necessarily equate to better quality pictures. In fact, now it seems people are becoming preocupied with microns as the new number that means bigger is better.

The irony is that the technology has changed, and with modern sensor designs (im talking those in consumer type cameras, not for scientific purposes), better pixel binning techniques and so on, higher megapixel sensors can result in better quality images than the same size sensors with bigger pixels (in terms of detail, sharpness and noise).

 

[ghettochris]

Great! Now please continue to offer a 4 inch model.

and a new 2.5-3 inch iphone mini/nano as well for those of us that don't want to lug a brick around with us 24/7

Just enough to be able to do stuff when I need to on the go.

 

[albusseverus]

If only.

I suspect the previous rumour is correct. Another 8MP, with optical stabilisation.

You can never have too many megapixels. Now talk to me about quality.

 

[HarryWild]

I turn this stuff off since it will not come out time September - probably middle to third week of this year so it about 8 and 3/4 months away! Think of it as after Summer and you get the time frame.

Just hope it has 802.11ac, 4GB RAM, 64 bit A8, 4K screen resolution and option for 256GB Flash! 4.7" screen!

 

[Tech198]

Neat...

So it seems Apple also like to increase get better camera....

Its not all about how many lenses you have....... I should have known this already...

Now its clear...

Soon we'll start saying "The Next iPhone will have 40-Megapixel Camera"

And i thought Apple was all about greeting great picture quality. ok,, who really cares.. Apple may not be able to have 40 (or 38 actually) of Nokia Luna, but so what.......Apple's all about better pictures ?

Why do they need to keep pace ?

 

[Fishticks]

This IS cool.
Too bad they've been waiting too long for releasing a decent size screen though.

 

[Exhale]

Just hope it has 802.11ac

AC is largely pointless. Better to hope it actually supports multiple WiFi streams. Unlike AC, that'd allow for doubling the throughput, and it would be an improvement that works with just about every single router from the past 7 years.

 

[everything-i]

You and about every other photo buff out there. I worked on a job while ago where client insisted on app controlled exposure and shutter rates. Took a lot of research but came down to it that there is now third party API to access these settings. About the only thing I found was some jail break examples directly addressing the camera driver and that changes from model to model of iPhone. Client was not happy with this and project ended up canceled over it.

Apple really need to provide a richer API for 3rd party apps. I can understand their own app being automatic and super easy to use but at least provide the ability for other developers to provide a more complex app with manual control.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I'd be very interested to hear about these improvements and how they work. Details please.

You can't beat the laws of physics, regrettably. This is also true with upping the pixel count. That is, the OP has been overly optimistic.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Apple really need to provide a richer API for 3rd party apps.

Agreed. Too bad it's unlikely to happen.

 

[Grolubao]

I really just want a bigger battery which allows for a full day without thinking.

 

[Max(IT)]

I own one of these and they are great! No need for a replaceable battery.

http://www.jackeryusa.com

More specifically I own the jackery bar.

http://www.jackeryusa.com/#!jackery-bar/c6ce

I'm using a mophie juicy pack smaller than that .

Speak about replaceable batteries is just ridiculous. No one has spare batteries, and you need to put it in the phone to recharge it properly.
Plus the access to a removable battery needs a removable backplate and in general a bulkier design of the device.
Do we really want our next iPhone with the same poor design and construction quality of a Samesung device ?

 

[Menneisyys2]

Speak about replaceable batteries is just ridiculous. No one has spare batteries, and you need to put it in the phone to recharge it properly.

No one with an iPhone, yes. But a lot of people with other brands. People that hate, compared to plain batteries, bulky snap-on chargers.

 

[Max(IT)]

No one with an iPhone, yes. But a lot of people with other brands. People that hate, compared to plain batteries, bulky snap-on chargers.

I don't know a single user with a spare battery .... Android, windows, iPhone, whatever, not a single one who goes around with a battery.
To manage a spare battery is just a pain in the @ss ... Open the phone , charge the battery, open it again, swap the battery, and so on ....
Some friends of mine with Samesung smartphones use external battery pack like mine.

And there is nothing bulky in this charger ...

Where you can fit a battery, you can fit a charger like that.

 

[D-Dave]

Canon 5D & 6D says they are. Not sure about Nikon.

Nikon Df says Nikon is too

 

[JAT]

It's ok, you'll have adult sized hands one day and the 4.7" screen will fit perfectly.

Not if you want to use it one-handed. The 4" iPhone is difficult at times to reach all of the screen.

And I wear mens XXL gloves or larger. Couldn't find them last time I bought leather gloves, so I'm stuck with these tiny XL things in which I can barely close my hand. It's like I'm the Penguin wearing them.

 

[paolo-]

What if I have this one

Image

I guess you can't trump skills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUavVTTjb8
(David Hobby, pro photographer using that exact camera)

As for the iPhone. There's no doubt in my mind that more pixels on the camera is the least of it's worries. For starters, the iPhone's bane is low light, the image gets very grainy very fast.

Next I don't think the camera even resolves it's current 8MPix. Even when in good light, the image is a bit blurry and noisy when looking at 100%. That's doesn't really matter as no one looks at pictures at 100% other than if you print them huge. But it still tells us that there would be little gain with more pixels, I don't think the lens resolves it anyhow.

Lastly, the dynamic range of the camera is pretty bad. In other words, if there's a big difference between the dark and light parts of the image, it will the image starts loosing detail. IE, an indoor shot with a window on a bright day will show up completely white rather than show you some detail of the outdoors.

Better lens, larger sensor, better noise capability on the sensor, image stabilization should be prioritized. 8MPix is plenty from what I see people do with the images from their phones.