for a point and shoot at that res they are pretty good.. especially in low light.
The 4s even has a higher resolution with less noise which is a plus.
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iPhone 4S Photos Begin Appearing on Flickr, Comparisons with iPhone 4
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for a point and shoot at that res they are pretty good.. especially in low light.
The 4s even has a higher resolution with less noise which is a plus.
good enough
The most striking difference between the 2 images is the white balance. Without knowing the scene lighting condition, it's impossible to tell which image is more faithful technically.
That said, the 4s' image is more appealing to me. While I do shoot photos for a living, it's my hobby and I have been doing it for over 10 years with many SLRs and some professional lenses. When I started, my goal was to capture an image that's faithful to the original scene. But gradually, I realized that those shots by and large did not inspire me. Then it dawned on me that my goal is not operating a copy machine or recording crime scenes. So gradually I lean toward taking photos that appeal to me.
I noticed that in quite a few photos comparison of the 4 and the 4s, the 4s shots have better exposure and perhaps more dynamic range which is impressive given the increased resolution. I do however wished the resolution stayed at 5MP as everything else being equal - better light gathering sensor - the lower resolution would result in better low light performance, ie. less noise. 5 MP is plenty for most situation I believe. One of the old Canon SLR had a 3MP sensor, and it produced images that's miles ahead of any current point and shoot. The only thing the high res images from a small sensor of the 4s is good for is cropping. With a wide angle fixed focal lens like the 4s, cropping can be a handy technique to "get closer" to the subject. But in general, I don't need that.
The most striking difference between the 2 images is the white balance. Without knowing the scene lighting condition, it's impossible to tell which image is more faithful technically.
That said, the 4s' image is more appealing to me. While I do shoot photos for a living, it's my hobby and I have been doing it for over 10 years with many SLRs and some professional lenses. When I started, my goal was to capture an image that's faithful to the original scene. But gradually, I realized that those shots by and large did not inspire me. Then it dawned on me that my goal is not operating a copy machine or recording crime scenes. So gradually I lean toward taking photos that appeal to me.
I noticed that in quite a few photos comparison of the 4 and the 4s, the 4s shots have better exposure and perhaps more dynamic range which is impressive given the increased resolution. I do however wished the resolution stayed at 5MP as everything else being equal - better light gathering sensor - the lower resolution would result in better low light performance, ie. less noise. 5 MP is plenty for most situation I believe. One of the old Canon SLR had a 3MP sensor, and it produced images that's miles ahead of any current point and shoot. The only thing the high res images from a small sensor of the 4s is good for is cropping. With a wide angle fixed focal lens like the 4s, cropping can be a handy technique to "get closer" to the subject. But in general, I don't need that.
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Went out with my iPhone today to take pictures, and am VERY impressed with the image quality. I don't have very steady hands, and so many other cameras left me with blurry pics. The iPhone 4S are very sharp.
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Your position seems to be, from your misplaced reply to that other post that they day of every home having a standalone camera is NOT over, since that is the comment you were belittling.
Care to supply any evidence to support your position that every home will have a standalone camera?
SVegard said:
Your position seems to be, from your misplaced reply to that other post that they day of every home having a standalone camera is NOT over, since that is the comment you were belittling.
Care to supply any evidence to support your position that every home will have a standalone camera?
Yeah, because the two are comparable. 
ETA: for those comparing about the noise on the 4S, you obviously didn't look at the noise on a 4.
ETA: for those comparing about the noise on the 4S, you obviously didn't look at the noise on a 4.
Funny how people discuss white balance here. How many of you even use a calibrated screen? Not only do we not know the original scene's colors, but also everyone discussing here uses a different display with different color-temperature/white-point settings. Colors can easily be corrected anyway, so who cares.
Noise isn't great in both of these. Scaling down might help some (no one is gonna use these at 100%).
More importantly, the images still look "flat" and lack plasticity. Also it's nice to see that the 4S can use a smaller ISO for the same scene, but the exposure time is slightly longer (1/15 vs. 1/17). This makes me believe that I will get the same blurry pics with even slightly moving targets that I'm getting with my non S (not to mention the hand-shaking issues with such a small device). I would have like the option to shoot higher ISO with shorter exposure times for less blurriness, or just allow me to shoot at half the resolution (4mp = more light per pixel and faster processing).
Noise isn't great in both of these. Scaling down might help some (no one is gonna use these at 100%).
More importantly, the images still look "flat" and lack plasticity. Also it's nice to see that the 4S can use a smaller ISO for the same scene, but the exposure time is slightly longer (1/15 vs. 1/17). This makes me believe that I will get the same blurry pics with even slightly moving targets that I'm getting with my non S (not to mention the hand-shaking issues with such a small device). I would have like the option to shoot higher ISO with shorter exposure times for less blurriness, or just allow me to shoot at half the resolution (4mp = more light per pixel and faster processing).
I think the 4s camera is good enough for most people
I have a digital SLR and lenses that cost on average of $1000 each. The weight and size of each of those lenses is at least 5, 10, 20x that of the 4s. Needless to say, I almost always have my iPhone 4 with me, but not my SLR and my lenses.
When I use my SLR, I almost always use custom white balance and shoot raw, then convert to jpg on a computer. The white balance is always spot on. Noise is rarely an issue with current SLR unless you shoot really dark scenes which most people don't. While I chase technical perfection in my photography, I realize and confirmed over the years that the most important aspect of photography is being in the right place with the right time with a CAMERA. It doesn't matter if a shot is noisy or blurry; if it's the only shot you have, then it is your best shot! For that reason alone, I think a camera phone is the most significant camera for most people.
As for photo editing, in my the perfect world I would correct every photo I shot the best I can. But in reality, I am at least a few months behind in editing. I suspect that 99% of the people who take photo with a camera never edit them. For that reason, a good enough shot from a phone camera - descent auto white balance, not so distracting noise - is very important.
Having owned expensive noisy point-and-shoot ($500) in the past, I would say that iPhone 4 camera does a pretty good job compared to them. Part of my satisfaction has to do with not expecting too much from such a tiny sensor, and part has to do with knowing how to live with its limitation: more light = less noise. From what I have seen, the 4s is probably better, but either one is good enough that if you are a descent photographer, you can take great shots with them.
I have a digital SLR and lenses that cost on average of $1000 each. The weight and size of each of those lenses is at least 5, 10, 20x that of the 4s. Needless to say, I almost always have my iPhone 4 with me, but not my SLR and my lenses.
When I use my SLR, I almost always use custom white balance and shoot raw, then convert to jpg on a computer. The white balance is always spot on. Noise is rarely an issue with current SLR unless you shoot really dark scenes which most people don't. While I chase technical perfection in my photography, I realize and confirmed over the years that the most important aspect of photography is being in the right place with the right time with a CAMERA. It doesn't matter if a shot is noisy or blurry; if it's the only shot you have, then it is your best shot! For that reason alone, I think a camera phone is the most significant camera for most people.
As for photo editing, in my the perfect world I would correct every photo I shot the best I can. But in reality, I am at least a few months behind in editing
. I suspect that 99% of the people who take photo with a camera never edit them. For that reason, a good enough shot from a phone camera - descent auto white balance, not so distracting noise - is very important.Having owned expensive noisy point-and-shoot ($500) in the past, I would say that iPhone 4 camera does a pretty good job compared to them. Part of my satisfaction has to do with not expecting too much from such a tiny sensor, and part has to do with knowing how to live with its limitation: more light = less noise. From what I have seen, the 4s is probably better, but either one is good enough that if you are a descent photographer, you can take great shots with them.
the picture quality in all situations is much better. its great to have a camera on par with the rest now with all the droid haters out there...
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The camera improvements are pretty huge over the iPhone 4. Loving it so far. Now just need to get Siri to understand me
The camera improvements are pretty huge over the iPhone 4. Loving it so far. Now just need to get Siri to understand me
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I posted some more photos today comparing to the iPhone 4. Pretty impressive improvements. You can check them out here
http://digitalphotobuzz.com/more-iphone-4s-camera-photos-compared
I posted some more photos today comparing to the iPhone 4. Pretty impressive improvements. You can check them out here
http://digitalphotobuzz.com/more-iphone-4s-camera-photos-compared