iPhone 6s low light question

[Pelea]

i think it's pretty safe to say that the iphone 6s will have a 12mpx camera. My question is how would this affect low light performance? The General concensus is that the increase in mpx would have a negative impact, can someone explain why?

The samsung s6 for example has a 16mpx yet takes much better low light pics than the iphone 6 (according to a BLIND test conducted by phone arena where roughly 98% of participants chose the s6 over the 6+)
Source:
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...-comparison-vote-for-the-better-phone_id70461

 

[maflynn]

The larger the sensor size the more light it can capture, you're jamming in more pixels onto the sensor each pixel picks up less light because its now smaller The sensor size is static, its not increasing in size to accommodate the increase in pixels. So the same amount of light is hitting the sensor as before now its being picked up by more and more pixels so there's less light per pixel.

 

[Newtons Apple]

More pixels on the same size sensor usually indicate less low light performance. Unless Apple has some secret on improving this, they will have to ramp up the Noise Reduction to compensate. Ugh!

 

[Pelea]

The larger the sensor size the more light it can capture, you're jamming in more pixels onto the sensor each pixel picks up less light because its now smaller The sensor size is static, its not increasing in size to accommodate the increase in pixels. So the same amount of light is hitting the sensor as before now its being picked up by more and more pixels so there's less light per pixel.

That was really well written thank you, so basically lets say u have 100J of light hitting a 6mpx camera sensor per minute, if u increase the mpx to a 12 mpx camera, then each pixel would receive half as much light?
Would this be beneficial in bright areas ex outdoors where the sun is shining brightly?

 

[maflynn]

In bright light conditions the smaller pixel issue is diminished, however thing of it this way, consider the shutter speed, the more light hitting each pixel means the shutter can operate faster thus reducing issues from movement. Slower shutter speeds risk impacting the image quality.

 

[geoff5093]

There is a lot on the physical and technological side to compensate for increased noise with a higher MP camera. The image processor alone has a lot to do with this, but they can go the LG G4 route and use a physically larger camera sensor, which also means larger pixels, and therefor lower noise. Just look at the size of the camera module on the G4 vs iPhone 6.

 

[TommyA6]

There is a lot on the physical and technological side to compensate for increased noise with a higher MP camera. The image processor alone has a lot to do with this, but they can go the LG G4 route and use a physically larger camera sensor, which also means larger pixels, and therefor lower noise. Just look at the size of the camera module on the G4 vs iPhone 6.

Increasing the sensor size significantly would also require increasing the depth of the lens system, meaning fatter iPhone, which is a big nono... (for Apple)

 

[Andres Cantu]

i think it's pretty safe to say that the iphone 6s will have a 12mpx camera. My question is how would this affect low light performance? The General concensus is that the increase in mpx would have a negative impact, can someone explain why?

The samsung s6 for example has a 16mpx yet takes much better low light pics than the iphone 6 (according to a BLIND test conducted by phone arena where roughly 98% of participants chose the s6 over the 6+)
Source:
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...-comparison-vote-for-the-better-phone_id70461

It will definitely impact low light performance. However, the current iPhone is using an f/2.2 aperture. If Apple increases its size anywhere from f/2.0 to f/1.8 (my bet is on the f/2.0 to "save" the larger aperture until the iPhone 7s), then they can say that low light performance was not reduced due to the smaller pixels.

The Galaxy S6 probably takes much better low light pictures than the iPhone 6 because of its f/1.9 aperture, which is much larger than the iPhones, so it compensates for the smaller pixels.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Increasing the sensor size significantly would also require increasing the depth of the lens system, meaning fatter iPhone, which is a big nono... (for Apple)

This.

And this is why they did not increase the size of the sensor as the lens is already sticking outside the case of the iPhone.

 

[nj-morris]

It will definitely impact low light performance. However, the current iPhone is using an f/2.2 aperture. If Apple increases its size anywhere from f/2.0 to f/1.8 (my bet is on the f/2.0 to "save" the larger aperture until the iPhone 7s), then they can say that low light performance was not reduced due to the smaller pixels.

The Galaxy S6 probably takes much better low light pictures than the iPhone 6 because of its f/1.9 aperture, which is much larger than the iPhones, so it compensates for the smaller pixels.

This. I was a bit worried about pixel size as my iPad doesn't take the best photos, especially when zoomed, as it has 1.12μm pixels and an ƒ/2.4 aperture. If the iPhone 6S had 1.2μm pixels (this would happen if they made the sensor about the same size) and made up for it with an ƒ/1.8 aperture, it should be fine.

 

[maflynn]

[MOD NOTE]
This is not the place to discuss the iPhone vs. the Galaxy. Please stay on topic, the off topic posts were removed

 

[hobspain]

i think it's pretty safe to say that the iphone 6s will have a 12mpx camera. My question is how would this affect low light performance? The General concensus is that the increase in mpx would have a negative impact, can someone explain why?

The samsung s6 for example has a 16mpx yet takes much better low light pics than the iphone 6 (according to a BLIND test conducted by phone arena where roughly 98% of participants chose the s6 over the 6+)
Source:
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...-comparison-vote-for-the-better-phone_id70461

Check this test shot in very low light of a 5S and the 6s:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-6s-kicks-ass-in-low-light-photography.1921735/