Disappointed with the camera

[x-evil-x]

If you're buying the phone for improved camera, you'll be disappointed. I currently have the 6s and S7 Edge, but I have to say Samsung kicks Apple's ass on photo, video, and audio quality. The S7, S7 Edge, and Note 7's camera is better. Note 7 has battery problems but they're getting that fixed. If you plan to vlog with your phone, you can certainly tell the iPhone 7 sounds muffled. Both are waterproof to some degree if that's the excuse, but Samsung does much better with video and audio quality.

I don't know why Apple can't include OIS on the telephoto, which is more needed than just the 28mm one. Maybe to have something to upgrade on the 7S? I also don't understand Apple's fascination for their bokeh explanation in their presentation. Samsung has a F1.7 Aperture, which can do very beautiful bokeh, not to mention they allow more camera controls.

I also don't even know why Apple need to remove the headphone jack. The phone has the same thickness as the previous version. There's only one speaker on the bottom, and the microphone doesn't take up that much space. Just more BS excuses to sell their wireless junk headphones. And by junk, I mean Beats.

since when are all bluetooth headphones/earbuds beats?

 

[geoff5093]

Can you notice the difference with the wider color screen and picture? Those of us who don't have a wide color screen can't see it.

Also, take a non macro or non up close photo...like a landscape or a garden and compare those for us. I'm curious if we will see a big difference there.

Also...does the front camera seem a lot better?

I have a 27" 2.5k IPS LCD that I'm viewing these on and they look identical.

 

[chrizzz09]

I have a 27" 2.5k IPS LCD that I'm viewing these on and they look identical.

The important thing is that your display has a DCI-P3 color gamut. Resolution and if it has IPS doesn't matter.

 

[dangeng]

there is that cnet article with comparisons
there may be some more "technically correct" photos by the 7, but honestly i find myself preferring certain photos from each phone depending on the scenario. judging from that article, it doesn't seem to be the reason to upgrade the phone over a 6s by any means

http://www.cnet.com/special-reports...vs-galaxy-s7-vs-iphone-6s-plus/#7-vs-galaxyS7

Thanks for linking to this interesting article!

Can anyone tell me with certainty which photo in the article is from which phone?
Slider all the way to the left which phone? 7 plus?
If so, I personally prefer mostly the photos from the 6S plus.

Anyway, will have my 7 plus hopefully within the next few days and will do my own testing...

Btw. only upgrading vom my 6S to the 7plus because of the camera.
If it's not a visible step up I am going to return it...

Already didn't like that Apple told us at the keynote that the "telephoto" lens doesn't have a stabilizer... Exactly the zoom lens would actually need a stabilization... Also as far as I remember they didn't mention that the zoom lens doesn't have the 1.8 aperture...or maybe I missed it...

Anyway, thanks a lot for all the photo comparisons from you guys...
Really appreciate it!!

Cheers, Daniel
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The important thing is that your display has a DCI-P3 color gamut. Resolution and if it has IPS doesn't matter.

If you really need a high end screen to see the improvements of the iPhone 7 camera, then again Apple can keep it...and I am going to save some bucks and buy a 6S plus...

 

[bbates123]

There is an improvement!!! What you folks are missing or not understanding is the cameras optics. On the iPhone 6s/plus the aperture is f/2.2 and in low light, that aperture forces the camera to use an ISO adequate for that aperture. So, the real comparison between a shot from the 6s vs the 7 is the ISO. The iPhone 7 / plus has f/1.8, therefore the same photo will have an ISO 50% less than that of the 6s. The image may have the same exposure, but the 7 /plus will look less grainy or noisy because of the lower ISO.

This is a good point and I forgot to highlight the noise differences. You are correct that the iPhone 7 should display less noise, but that's not what I'm seeing.

Original image:

Crops...6S on the left and 7 on the right.

In this shot you can clearly see the the iPhone 7 noise is worse.

 

[TJ82]

Have to admit, 7's camera isn't really shining here.

The 7+ regular lens is the exact same as the 7 I think too, so pretty much a dud camera update in terms of quality. Really just a testing ground for a future dual lens platform.

Still okay with me, I just want the water-resistance. Most important feature to me, though probably won't be for most people who're really jumping on this phone for the supposedly big camera update. Bit of a con there considering the marketing.

 

[cardfan]

These are cheap cameras thrown in. People upgrading because of these really shouldn't. You're not going to notice a significant difference except in low light and even then, there's only so much these small sensors can do. Consider any camera improvement a bonus and focus on other features.

 

[Sheboygan]

I used the Adobe Lightroom App and the Camera App to shoot the same photo in DNG RAW and Apple JPEG and then compared them on a 27" Retina iMac display.

The Apple-processed JPEG is a fairly good image, but the RAW photo blows it way and in particular the details where JPEG compression artifacts turn details to blocks. The color was much better in the RAW image with a wider range-- assuming the JPEG processing applied lots of contrast where the RAW does not. And the comparison goes on...

The flip side is that not everyone can or knows how to handle RAW images or has the space to save them. But if you really want to get the best out of the 7 Plus camera, RAW is the only way to go.

 

[dangeng]

I used the Adobe Lightroom App and the Camera App to shoot the same photo in DNG RAW and Apple JPEG and then compared them on a 27" Retina iMac display.

The Apple-processed JPEG is a fairly good image, but the RAW photo blows it way and in particular the details where JPEG compression artifacts turn details to blocks. The color was much better in the RAW image with a wider range-- assuming the JPEG processing applied lots of contrast where the RAW does not. And the comparison goes on...

The flip side is that not everyone can or knows how to handle RAW images or has the space to save them. But if you really want to get the best out of the 7 Plus camera, RAW is the only way to go.

But then again you can do the same with the iPhone 6S.
I did some raw processing already with the iPhone 6S camera and it does definitely increase the 6S images quality by a lot...

Hence, still no need for me to upgrade to the 7 if it doesn't deliver improved raw data...

 

[broadbean]

The flip side is that not everyone can or knows how to handle RAW images or has the space to save them. But if you really want to get the best out of the 7 Plus camera, RAW is the only way to go.

I'm kinda guessing the software/post processing is what we're talking about here, and for the vast majority, the only version (ie JPEG) that matters.

 

[ToddH]

I used the Adobe Lightroom App and the Camera App to shoot the same photo in DNG RAW and Apple JPEG and then compared them on a 27" Retina iMac display.

The Apple-processed JPEG is a fairly good image, but the RAW photo blows it way and in particular the details where JPEG compression artifacts turn details to blocks. The color was much better in the RAW image with a wider range-- assuming the JPEG processing applied lots of contrast where the RAW does not. And the comparison goes on...

The flip side is that not everyone can or knows how to handle RAW images or has the space to save them. But if you really want to get the best out of the 7 Plus camera, RAW is the only way to go.

Which iPhone app do you use for raw capture? I very familiar with raw (Nikon D810 shooter) and I have two apps that will capture raw from my iPhone 7 plus. But I'm curious as to which one you favor...

T

 

[The Game 161]

Have to admit, 7's camera isn't really shining here.

The 7+ regular lens is the exact same as the 7 I think too, so pretty much a dud camera update in terms of quality. Really just a testing ground for a future dual lens platform.

Still okay with me, I just want the water-resistance. Most important feature to me, though probably won't be for most people who're really jumping on this phone for the supposedly big camera update. Bit of a con there considering the marketing.

It's still better in most tests than the 6s so there is still a decent improvement

Zoom is nice to have on the plus

 

[ssledoux]

I have taken more pics with mine now, and I took a couple of my granddaughter in low light that definitely seemed a lot less "fuzzy" than my low light pics on my 6S+. I've also been really impressed with the clarity on the regular pics as well. Overall I'm pleased with the camera upgrade even coming from a 6S+. (I got the 7+)

 

[bbates123]

Looking back at some of my other low light shots there does appear to be less noise in many of the shots taken with the 7, but I also noticed in these shots that the images were less sharp than those taken with the 6S. So my guess is that the noise reduction is created at the expense of sharpness.

I'm hoping to see more professional comparisons.

 

[kycophpd]

I am using ProCam for raw photos. It works really well.

 

[ToddH]

I am using ProCam for raw photos. It works really well.

OK thank you. That's the same one that I have and I also have ProCamera 8

 

[ToddH]

I also would like to know what software apple is using to get rid of the color noise in the Raw photos. I can see it even when ISO 20 is used, I am currently using Snapseed to process the raw files taken by Pro camera, but I'd like to know what I could use to get rid of the color noise. The Enlight app does pretty good, but I'd like to use something like LightRoom. I have light room mobile app, but I think it requires a subscription to use. If any of you guys know exactly what app best removes color noise, let me know
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I am using ProCam for raw photos. It works really well.

Is there an app that you can use on your iPhone that will have really good noise reduction kind of like the desktop version of light room? I have the iPhone lightroom app but I don't see an option on there for noise reduction.

 

[zhenya]

iphone 6s on left. 7 on right. I'm reasonably happy with the improvements here.

 

[ohmyggg]

I am using ProCam for raw photos. It works really well.

Does ProCam allow you to export/AirPlay raw files to your computer, or does an export turn it into a jpeg and that's the only way to access it off the iPhone (as is the case with LR)? Also, if you shoot in ProCam, can you edit that raw file with apps on the iPhone that support raw processing?

 

[ToddH]

I am using ProCam for raw photos. It works really well.

I have found that Pro camera 8 does a better job with lower noise than ProCam. However ProCam just had an update, so I'll have to experiment

Also Lightroom's iPhone app does a great job at processing the DNG / RAW files. Snapseed process raw also but it leaves a lot of color noise in the image where lightroom cleaned it up really well

 

[lancastor]

Can the bad iPhone 7 camera be fixed with an further iOS Update (updating of the ISP and it's algorythm)?

 

[I7guy]

Seems that test sites and reviews agree that camera hype was mostly marketing talk.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/first-iphone-7-camera-tests-are-out.1996881/#post-23508698

But not all:

http://www.cnet.com/special-reports/cameras-compared-iphone-7-plus-vs-galaxy-s7-vs-iphone-6s-plus/

 

[xofruitcake]

But not all:

http://www.cnet.com/special-reports/cameras-compared-iphone-7-plus-vs-galaxy-s7-vs-iphone-6s-plus/

Thanks for the link. The side by side pictures really put the comparison to rest for me. I don't know how anyone can argue 7+ is not a big improvement over 6+ and I dare say that it looks better than s7 in the overall comparison.

 

[no25]

The updated camera was one of the main reasons I got the 7 (upgrading from 6S) but I have to say thus far I'm underwhelmed. Took some shots in full daylight today and couldn't tell much of a a difference, slight edge in brightness/sharpness actually to the 6S. I thought fine, the 7 really shines in low light so that's where I will see the big difference. Nope, in all my sample shots in low light the 6S was actually better. The 6S shots were brighter and sharper. For those of you that upgraded from the 6S to the 7 I would love to get your feedback. If you still have both phones try taking pics of something in low light and let me know what you think.

The 7 Plus has the better camera

 

[aohus]

Works fine for me