Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mjmar

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 20, 2008
1,189
495
So now that all of you have had your iPhone 4S's for almost a month, would you say that the camera is noticiably better in everyday usage than the iPhone 4, or is the improvement not very considerable. I plan on getting the 4S if the camera is good enough to replace my Canon point and shoot. And quite frankly the 4 isn't good enough to do that.
 

Yumunum

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2011
1,452
0
U.S.
The 4S camera is pretty great. Better than the 4... Not worlds better or anything. But things are so clear, I can't even imagine spending money on a normal point and shoot. It'd be such a waste of money.
 
Last edited:

mattdo93

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2010
532
74
The 4S camera is definitely way better than the 4. No more noticeable green spot when you take pictures of white stuff. Better quality overall. Better color saturation. Better white balance. And don't get me started on the 1080p. Much less wind noise and better stabilization. Oh and the quality is better.

Compared to point and shoots cameras? I'm not sure because I never had one.
 

MacDevil7334

Contributor
Oct 15, 2011
2,526
5,716
Austin TX
I'd say the 4 and 4S are pretty comparable when shooting outside or in places with good natural lighting. However, the 4S positively annihilates the 4 when shooting indoors under fluorescent lighting or in low lighting situations. Gone is the hideous green splotch that showed up in images taken with the 4 indoors, and images taken with CFL lighting don't have that ugly yellow tint on the 4S. I definitely think the 4S is the first iPhone that could realistically replace a point and shoot camera in most situations. I do wish it had an optical zoom, but that's not really practical on a device this thin.
 

gadget123

macrumors 68020
Apr 17, 2011
2,261
293
United Kingdom
I'm going to disagree and say you have the classic camera phone issue of more noise and blur going from 5mp to 8mp so for some pictures the Iphone 4 is more than good enough.

Not took many day pictures yet but I went from the 4 to the 4S and not seen much difference. Compared to phones before the smart phone era such as the Cybershot Sony Ericsson it falls behind for me.

Don't get me wrong the camera is decent but not feeling it's much better than the 4 (yet anyway).

----------

I do wish it had an optical zoom, but that's not really practical on a device this thin.

You can buy optical zoom accessories on ebay that fit onto a tripod not sure how good they are but I fancy getting one to try it.
 

TM WAZZA

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2010
1,967
1
Hamilton, New Zealand
The 4S camera is great. I'm no professional photographer nor interested in carrying DSLR cameras around and the quality of photos and videos are great for a phone that I carry around with me every where.
 

ShionoyaTamaki

macrumors 6502
Oct 9, 2011
403
29
I used to carry around my PowerShot SD850 8MP camera around for day to day simple shot and Canon 50D for serious events. Now that I got the iPhone 4S, it has completely replaced my PowerShot for day to day shots. I don't even touch it any more.

If you only take a dozen of pictures here and there, the iPhone 4S hands down replaces point and shoot. Good quality, convenient, always ready.

However, if you are planning take hundreds of pictures at a time a point and shoot would serve you better because of battery life and storage etc.
 

Fatboy71

macrumors 65816
Dec 21, 2010
1,489
427
UK
So now that all of you have had your iPhone 4S's for almost a month, would you say that the camera is noticiably better in everyday usage than the iPhone 4, or is the improvement not very considerable. I plan on getting the 4S if the camera is good enough to replace my Canon point and shoot. And quite frankly the 4 isn't good enough to do that.

I would have to say that I find the camera on the 4S to be noticible better the the camera on my iPhone 4 that I had previously. Quality wise I would say that it is a handy replacement for having to carry a point an shoot camera around. But obviously the 4S is going to have all the various shooting modes, scenes of a dedicated camera though. :)
 
Last edited:

deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,245
6,393
US
Yes the camera on the 4S is good, for a phone camera. Two key things though will keep them from eliminating the need for dedicated compact cameras: optical zoom and a real flash.

Digital zoom, while useful in saving you from cropping the image later, is inferior in quality to optical zoom. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_zoom

LED flash is better than no flash, but still doesn't come close to the flashtubes on even the smallest compacts.

Again the 4S camera is a great phone camera. Having it with you all the time is a benefit; you can't take a picture with the camera you left at home. :D
 

yourtoys7

macrumors 6502a
Sep 3, 2007
572
35
after getting 4S I don't use my sony point shoot except when snowboarding/ or under water. I think for most it is more than good. I'll keep my sony for a while, but that was the last camera I'll buy.
 

alecgold

macrumors 65816
Oct 11, 2007
1,342
841
NLD
after getting 4S I don't use my sony point shoot except when snowboarding/ or under water. I think for most it is more than good. I'll keep my sony for a while, but that was the last camera I'll buy.

I have a Canon G7 with a HUGE flash. That works better for low-light environments or difficult lighting indoors (bright windows and dark people before them). But other than that, the iPhone 4 wasn't too bad, but the iPhone 4S is even better. Low light is clearly better, less noise, better colors. Fluorescent lighting the 4S is way better and in day light it's a notch better, but not a huge difference.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.