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iPhone 5 pictures arent very sharp

B

bbplayer5

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2007
3,134
1,158
Anyone having this issue? If I take a picture at a distance of around 20 feet, its pretty clear, however, surrounding objects closer to me are blurry. Adding a little sharpness to the picture makes it look stunning, however, I shouldn't have to do this I wouldn't think? Pictures taken with the Galaxy SIII seem a lot sharper, but not really on the same level with color depth.

Anyone running into this? I mostly see it when I take a picture of text though. Text on the GS3 seems way sharper, and I have to run filters on the iPhone to correct it.

First iPhone:

photo1.jpg



GS3

20121009_160032.jpg



iPhone 5 with added sharpness

photo1-1.jpg
 
Can't really tell the difference Before and After the edit for iPhone? Care to circle the difference?

Anyway, the colour for G3 is so washed out. iPhone colour seems so much better.
 
sandwicher said:
Can't really tell the difference Before and After the edit for iPhone? Care to circle the difference?

Anyway, the colour for G3 is so washed out. iPhone colour seems so much better.
Click to expand...

Ya sorry about that, i didnt realize macrumors would shrink them that much :) There is a difference in the sharpness, I just didnt go overboard. Since it shrunk the picture, I guess it will look sharp regardless.
 
It is not new that iphone 4-4s-5 now take very saturated pictures wich most people will find to look "better".
 
I agree that the iPhone is the better picture. :cool:

And yes, shrinking the picture will sharpen it up a bit.
 
I feel like the GS3 is washed out... Where did you tap the focus on the iPhone when you took the pic? That might have something to do with the picture being darker as well.
 
VSMacOne said:
I feel like the GS3 is washed out... Where did you tap the focus on the iPhone when you took the pic? That might have something to do with the picture being darker as well.
Click to expand...

I took a picture where i tapped on the door of the shed, and one where I didnt tap at all, and let it auto focus. To be honest, there wasnt any difference.
 
Givmeabrek said:
I agree that the iPhone is the better picture. :cool:

And yes, shrinking the picture will sharpen it up a bit.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree, but the level of detail on the GS3 is better. HDR pictures on the iPhone are unmatched though. The HDR on the GS3 is horrible. The HDR of the shed didnt make a difference, so I didnt bother posting it.
 
Looks like the GS3 has a wider view angle getting more of the picture in also.
 
It could look less sharp than the G3 because of the colors. iPhone 5 has more of a darker rich color meaning somewhat saturated so you don't see details as much but it's still a sharp photo. The G3 colors are washed out so you see lines and details of the object more.
 
Last edited:
LouieSamman said:
I could look less sharp than the G3 because of the colors. iPhone 5 has darker rich colors meaning somewhat saturated so you don't see details as much but it's still a sharp photo. The G3 colors are washed out so you see lines and details of the object more.
Click to expand...

Ya thats a good point. I think its better to add a little sharpness to a picture, than to try to add saturation.
 
I guess that's just a software difference.

When saving a picture to JPEG, cameras add a certain amount of sharpness.

Even with a DSLR, shooting a JPEG with default settings will get you a sharper image vs shooting in RAW. A lot of people are surprised by how not sharp RAW pictures are before editing. I know Canon DSLRs add +3 in sharpness to JPEGs by default (Standard profile).

The point of RAW is that you can edit the picture later on and add the desired amount of sharpness without sharpening destructively at the time of taking the picture like JPEG compression does.

It's really a matter of preference, whether you want an accurate picture or one that appears to be better by inflating the sharpness. It's a subjective debate like with screens (good color accuracy vs inflated saturation) or headphones (flat response or inflated bass).

The GS3 probably adds more software sharpening than the iPhone 5 but it still looks realistic. If you have ever seen a picture taken with a BlackBerry PlayBook, you know how bad software sharpening can look if you add too much of it.
 
Isn't this just bokeh?

The iPhone has an 8% wider aperture than the sgs3 so it has a narrower depth of field.
 
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