iPhone 5s Camera Improvements: Slo-Mo Mode, 'True Tone' Flash and Better Low-Light Performance

[Menneisyys2]

It is. But it's a mobile phone camera!! What are people expecting? It shoots great shots for the majority of people. And it's SUPER handy. This is the big selling point. Phone and camera in one and it's good quality... good enough for the average user.

I'd say they've done a great job on improving the camera.

1. Indeed it's good to have significantly better IQ (which the 5s, at least according to Apple's shots, does have), no question.

2. however, now that OIS is starting to be common with other flagships (LG G2, HTC One, 92x, 1020), it's perfectly understandable photo enthusiast do want it to be implemented in Apple's flagship too. It makes taking decent photos in hostile (almost total lack of light) circumstances much-much easier. With current OIS implementations, for example, with the 92x and the 1020, you can take 1/2s handheld shots and it most probably will be blur-free. With a non-OIS smartphone? No way! You'll be happy if you find one(!) blur-free keeper in a hundred shots...

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"Camera is still low quality"?

Nope. It indeed has significantly better IQ under good lighting, at least according to Apple's own press shots. I've checked them out, 1:1 zoomed in, and found them great for a smartphone.

It's the additional, essential features / capabilities like OIS that are present in other flagships and painfully missing from the 5S that disappoint a lot of power users like me.

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Optical image stabilisation—I can honestly say I don't know. I'd have to compare different phones in practice.

As I've explained above, with a decent OIS, you can easily take 1/2s handheld shots in very low light. Without OIS, it's almost impossible - you MUST use a tripod or some kind of a stand.

 

[honglong1976]

iPhone 4 - 1.75 microns

 

[Menneisyys2]

its funny how some people are saying Apple is only focusing on the camera when some people on this board said the Lumia offers better camera. Apple just cant make anyone satisfied.

Have they tried hard enough? They may have been able to stuff decent OIS in there - which, again, would be essential for low-light stills AND all videos. They have the money reserves to pay the engineers. They didn't really bother.

 

[Menneisyys2]

The 5s does not have optical stabilization, only electronic stabilization, unlike the Nokia Lumia 92x. This, unfortunately, means part of the sensor is used for the stabilization itself, further narrowing the already limited fov.

Note that EIS is only active during movie shooting. When shooting stills, there's no EIS - this is why the majority of handheld 1/15s (the min. shutter speed w/o using third-party apps extending shutter speed up to 1s) shots are blurred.

Also on Apple's Iphones image stabilization cannot be disabled using the standard camera app.

Yup, this is a major problem when you'd shoot from a tripod / would need as wide FoV as possible. (Here's my complete writeup on this entire question here at MR: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1600908/ )

 

[BiscottiGelato]

All those other monster can fit a lot more in it. More optics, OIS, and all that. It's simple to see why Apple don't offer wider angle lenses or OIS capable camera. They clamped down on the size and worked other stuff around this limitation.

It's easy to make something bigger. Given the GS4/HTC One is almost 50% bigger in volume than an i5/i5S, it actually surprises me how it doesn't produce much much better photos than the i5/i5S. Imagine a 50% bigger sensor... There should've been no contest. Yet the i5 still hangs on and produces comparable, if not outright better photos for the average user (whom are usually clueless about photography).

From this, it shouldn't be difficult to see how much more engineering ingenuity and efficiency Apple is able to squeeze to minimize the downside of the size/quality trade-off.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Given the GS4/HTC One is almost 50% bigger in volume than an i5/i5S, it actually surprises me how it doesn't produce much much better photos than the i5/i5S.

Actually, the GS4 produces significantly better photos than the 5. No wonder it's beaten the iPhone 5in DPReview's test too.

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They clamped down on the size and worked other stuff around this limitation.

To put it another way: "Style over Functionality". With a minimal size increase, they could have added OIS. Without even that the other missing stuff: stereo mikes, 1080p60, manual modes etc.

 

[kd5jos]

Who cares about all of this? If I want to be shooting movies or putting together photo albums, I'll get a videocam or SLR.

Or like MOST users you use your phone to shoot a pic. I'm guessing you don't lug an SLR around with you every where you go every day? I'm pretty sure I don't go anywhere outside my house without my phone. I can say that because I have a 12 South Book Book around my phone and use my phone as a wallet.

This is a phone. It's a communication device. Where's HD voice?

This is an iPhone 5 (S). That means the goodies in the 5 are ALSO in the 5S. HD voice is present, if your carrier supports it.

Improved speakers so I can hear speakers on the other end?

Being an amateur radio operator (and a combat radio operator) I can tell you definitively that good speakers on your end can only do so much to fix garbage on the other side.

What about improvements in antenna and reception?

Believe it or not there is a hard set limit for what they can do with the antenna. If they improve the reception of the antenna, they improve transmission too. There is a legal limit to how "loud" the transmission can be.

Speakerphone?

Already built in (like since the original iPhone), so, moving on…

WiFi hotspot ease of use?

Huh? Turn on the hot spot and connect. What is NOT easy about using this?

How about wifi-calling across all wireless carriers?

What? Okay, did you miss that FaceTime Voice is present? So now you can use your phone for video chats OR just audio chats? AND you can do it across WiFi or using your 4G/LTE service… Or are you saying that when you are making a phone call you want that call to jump to WiFi utilization when it's available? If you are, that is as much a function of the carrier agreeing to do it, as it is the technology doing it. Exactly how excited do you think carriers are to do this, considering there is no economic incentive for them to?

Where was additional presentation about ios7 improvements and how they work with the new iPhone. Any improvements in Mail, instant messaging, voicemail, anything at all that improves the iPhone as a communications device?

You must have missed the 64 bit part of the iPhone 5S presentation. They said several times that ALL the apps on the iPhone 5S have been rewritten to take advantage of the 64 bit architecture.

Presentation sucked, all I saw was junk about video games and dual flash for photos that no one cares about. Candy for people who like to waste time. This is a phone.

I submit that your attention span sucked. A LOT of what you said WAS covered, a LOT of what you complained about was NOT even a realistic expectation, and a LOT of what you brought up is simply a lack of YOUR understanding. WHY would you expect Apple to cover features that they have already covered (HDAudio)?

Look, maybe you could calm down a little and do some research before your next post?

 

[kd5jos]

Troll on...

Just like a whippersnapper didn't even read what I wrote just responded.

Okay old timer, lets see you support this statement.

I never said I take my dslr with me everywhere,

So, maybe the implication is there, and your statement above doesn't account for it?

I take it when I know I want to take pictures,

So you NEVER want a picture if you don't plan it? You NEVER want to take a picture if you don't have your DSLR with you. REALLY? I've heard photographers the world over utter, "I wish'd I'd had A camera, ANY camera…"

I'm not someone who wants to catalog every moment of life, like you must want to, I don't need a picture of every meal, I don't need to take my picture infront of every bar or post pictures of me and my friends at clubs, and actually youre in the minority as the population of club going individuals is actually quite small out of the whole populace , but like I said enjoy your toy and your friends twerking to justin beiber

If you are going to be insulting (whippersnapper) about not reading someones post, you look like an idiot for using the EXACT SAME LOGIC to jump to this conclusion. Their's was reasonable assumption, yours takes out the umption. They never said they wanted to catalog every moment of their life. I don't see anywhere they mentioned Justin Beiber, and you really need to dial it back if you want to be taken seriously…

 

[kd5jos]

Exactly. If I want a decent pic in low light I reach for my Canon (which cost about as much as an iphone!)
I'd love to see some enhancements to the PHONE part of the iphone too. Maybe multi-select emails so I can move or delete multiple messages?

1) This isn't a function of the phone part. This isn't a function of the operating system. This is a function of an app that is used on your phone.

2) If we're taking about updating apps, great idea.

Or how about a frickin microSD slot?

Or a floppy drive? Why go backwards to media based storage when non-media based storage is available? AirDrop, iCloud, DropBox, EverNote…


My Olympus EP5 stores directly to my iPhone (there's an app for that). Why don't Cannon and Nikon catch up? Then what exactly would I need "a frickin microSD slot" for?

And I still cannot believe that Aplpe still hasnt revisited the other buttons on its phones. I have had iphones for years and still fumble with the volume and vibrate switch. I simply cannot tell by touch which is which.
(and I have pretty nimble fingers)

Sorry to say, this is a personal problem. It's the first I've EVER heard of it, from anyone. You honestly can't tell a flat rectangular button that slides from a circular button that depresses? You REALLY think this is an issue that Apple needs to fix for YOU? "nimble" I do not think that word means what you think that word means...

 

[watchthisspace]

The improvements to the camera are definitely welcomed and as expected not as mind blowing as a lot would have hoped. But what sets Apple apart is that the software matches the hardwares ability and as Apple always say they have the perfect marriage of software and hardware.

 

[Gudi]

Only noteable difference between the iPhone 5 and 5S...

Yeah right. For all you people who think the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit is neglectable,
I have something to sell to you.

 

[otismotive77]

the only bad thing is that it's still an eight MP camera, was hoping was a better one...

 

[Battlefield Fan]

Yeah right. For all you people who think the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit is neglectable,
I have something to sell to you.

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But to be honest the iPhone 5 is ridiculously fast as is. What's the point in making something faster if there's no difference except in benchmarking tools? Apple would have been better off increasing the battery dramatically over another insane yet silly speed increase. The A7 will be great on the iPad, a true gaming device.

 

[VanZan]

You're in a nightclub, your friends pose for a photo and you "reach for your canon" which you happen to have tucked away in your back pocket...

[image]

I think you're missing the point..

yeah, and the tripod he has in the other back pocket ...

No doubt a DSLR can take better pictures with all the equipment and preparations but me, for my part, I am less and less willing to fiddle with all that stuff.

My iPhone shoots great panos out of the box, shoots HDR out of the box (keep in mind a DSLR needs a tripod for that, at least mine), I don't have entire series of photos messed up by sensor dust and when abroad I can't be recognized as a tourist by every streetthug. There are fewer and fewer reasons for picking the DSLR, at least in my life.

Kudos to Apple for stepping out of the silly megapixel race and instead improving picture and tonal quality.

 

[Gudi]

But to be honest the iPhone 5 is ridiculously fast as is. What's the point in making something faster if there's no difference except in benchmarking tools?

Doing double the amount of work in the same amount of time. How do you think the iPhone 5s Burst Mode shots 10 photos per second, combines them to get an accurate light level, and then automatically chooses the best of the bunch? Do you think the new Slo-Mo Mode, designed to capture 720p video at up to 120 frames per second with 3x live video zoom, could run smooth on a processor half as fast? There is a reason features like these were absent in previous iPhone generations. Faster computers are better computers, do I really need to explain why?

 

[CausticPuppy]

neither 4K recording (the Note 3 and another phone I can't recall the name of do support)

I wonder how many users will find themselves limited by the lack of 4K recording. I guess for somebody who rates phones based on how many bullet points are in the features list, regardless of whether they are actually useful, it's important.

I would actually prefer to be able to set all my video recording to 720p to save space...

 

[Riverton]

Who cares about all of this?

Lots and lots and lots of people care. Why do people say this?

 

[CausticPuppy]

How about wifi-calling across all wireless carriers? Where was additional presentation about ios7 improvements and how they work with the new iPhone. Any improvements in Mail, instant messaging, voicemail, anything at all that improves the iPhone as a communications device?

Presentation sucked, all I saw was junk about video games and dual flash for photos that no one cares about. Candy for people who like to waste time. This is a phone.

That was all covered during the iOS7 presentation earlier in the year. Yesterday's was primarily about the new hardware.

 

[Menneisyys2]

My iPhone shoots great panos out of the box, shoots HDR out of the box (keep in mind a DSLR needs a tripod for that, at least mine)

The iPhone HDR mode only extends the DR by about 1-2 EV. Proper (multishot) HDR can extend by even 10 EV. You can't do the latter with the built-in one-shot HDR mode of the iPhone (by not even that of the LG G2 / GS4 either, of course.) - that is, for the most part, you'd also need tripods.

You must take and stitch multiple shots on your iPhone too to get true HDR.

Some examples of mine showing the difference between true HDR and iPhone's pseudo-HDR mode is in my Exposure Compensation and Bracketing Bible here at MR, should you need a more lengthy explanation & actual example shots.

 

[jnschnitzer]

It really doesn't matter, all pics will be decorated with vignetting and 70s style Instagram filters.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I wonder how many users will find themselves limited by the lack of 4K recording. I guess for somebody who rates phones based on how many bullet points are in the features list, regardless of whether they are actually useful, it's important.

I would actually prefer to be able to set all my video recording to 720p to save space...

Most smartphones have always been pretty good at shooting video - actually, at times MUCH better than, say, even higher-end P&S cameras. (A comparison between the excellent P&S camera Nikon P300 and the iPhone 4 is HERE)

In addition, they're consistently better than large-sensor cameras moire / aliasing-wise (but, of course, not noise / DR-wise), which means there may be situations (good lighting without huge differences in exposure and on a tripod to avoid shake, should the phone not have OIS) where one may want to prefer shooting with a smartphone.

This is why for example I want cutting-edge, future-proof shooting modes NOW.

 

[nickeditor]

All these stuff are marvellous but... why not NFC?

If I want to use next Sony lens with built-in sensor, why I can't?

Can Apple explain it?

Regards

 

[Menneisyys2]

All these stuff are marvellous but... why not NFC?

If I want to use next Sony lens with built-in sensor, why I can't?

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Can Apple explain it?

Regards

You can pair the lens to the iPhone via Wi-Fi too - no NFC needed.

 

[Nickerbocker]

That guy in the picture looks 15 and 55 at the same time

 

[Battlefield Fan]

Doing double the amount of work in the same amount of time. How do you think the iPhone 5s Burst Mode shots 10 photos per second, combines them to get an accurate light level, and then automatically chooses the best of the bunch? Do you think the new Slo-Mo Mode, designed to capture 720p video at up to 120 frames per second with 3x live video zoom, could run smooth on a processor half as fast? There is a reason features like these were absent in previous iPhone generations. Faster computers are better computers, do I really need to explain why?

But how many people are really going to use burst mode? Can't say it was a highly requested feature before... I mean I'm sure the iPhone 5s is great but they need to add new features to the s series and a new design with the whole numbered series. There used to be a time when a lot of their sales came from people updating their 1 year old iPhone because there was a big enough incentive.

Just saying Apple did a pretty bad job...