National Geographic Photographer Praises iPhone 5s Camera

[Constable Odo]

Supposedly the best smartphone camera comes with the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone. The camera has bragging rights specs of 41 MP. I guess that automatically makes it the hands down winner of the smartphone industry.

 

[wovel]

I'll take my DSLR (Canon 70D) over the iPhone (or any other phone/P&S, FTM) any day. You'd have to be insane to bring a phone as your only camera on a "once in a lifetime" trip! This story is bogus. NG would not pay his expenses if all he had with him was a phone camera.

I am guessing here, but I am pretty confident his phone pictures are better than your DSLR pictures. No one anywhere claimed Nat Geo paid his expenses, but they did publish his story and pictures on their web site. (http://proof.nationalgeographic.com...of-the-scottish-highlands-with-the-iphone-5s/). You might check out his bio on their page too.

 

[kenosecon]

Supposedly the best smartphone camera comes with the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone. The camera has bragging rights specs of 41 MP. I guess that automatically makes it the hands down winner of the smartphone industry.

show us your proof by comparing two pics please.

 

[imaginex20]

He didn't say that he brought only the 5S and not the Nikon, but if I had a Nikon with me, I wouldn't use the 5S!

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But the pro photographer didn't understand this. My bet is that he just did it to get publicity as a pro photographer using an iPhone 5S. Look, he got an article on MacRumors.

It didn't state anywhere that he took the iPhone 5S as his only camera did it? Am I missing something or is it implied?

 

[kenosecon]

I'll take my DSLR (Canon 70D) over the iPhone (or any other phone/P&S, FTM) any day. You'd have to be insane to bring a phone as your only camera on a "once in a lifetime" trip! This story is bogus. NG would not pay his expenses if all he had with him was a phone camera.

admit it you don't have a 5s...

 

[wovel]

Supposedly the best smartphone camera comes with the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone. The camera has bragging rights specs of 41 MP. I guess that automatically makes it the hands down winner of the smartphone industry.

It takes pretty crumby pictures. There have already been dozens of comparison reviews. The general conclusion is there are some limited situations where the Nokias camera may be better. However, it is not enough of an improvement to warrant carrying a Windows phone.

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It didn't state anywhere that he took the iPhone 5S as his only camera did it? Am I missing something or is it implied?

In the article on the Nat Geo site they say he left his Nikon behind. We don't really know if that means for the whole trip or just for that day.

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But the pro photographer didn't understand this. My bet is that he just did it to get publicity as a pro photographer using an iPhone 5S. Look, he got an article on MacRumors.

This was not a guy looking for publicity. He is a very well known photographer that has been printed in National Geographic for 25 years. He has had Nightline do a special following him around the office doing editing. I am not sure getting on to MacRumors was a goal of his.

 

[MacinDoc]

Supposedly the best smartphone camera comes with the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone. The camera has bragging rights specs of 41 MP. I guess that automatically makes it the hands down winner of the smartphone industry.

Give me an 8 MP camera over a 41 MP any day, providing that they both have the same sensor size; MP alone say very little about the quality of a camera. Having said, that, I think the Lumia does have a bigger sensor, but the 41 MP are mostly wasted. Better that it had been a 12 MP sensor, that would have been perfect, especially in situations with less ambient light and in action shots.

 

[imaginex20]

Paul, when I work for Apple (and I have) or for Epson (and I have) you know it. I’m very transparent.
Why did I shoot it on a cell phone? Because I enjoyed it. I always enjoy exploring new technology and seeing where it will take me. I was one of the first NG photographers to shoot a digital story. I was one of the early NG photographers posting on Instagram, both because I enjoyed it and it was a way of figuring out the social media and what it might be used for when the subject got serious and we needed to use the tool for serious storytelling. You might have noticed that this was a bit of travel photography. Sometimes it pays to lighten up a bit, to explore, to play, to re-imagine, to see where the images will take you. I said that up front in the first blog post. Reinvention. (And yeah, it’s a little risky, particularly when you don’t know who is out there watching and what they are going to say when you try.)
Compromises? Well, a couple of years ago cell phone photographs looked unmistakably like… cell phone photographs. Now it’s not so easy to tell. I stand by what I said. The image quality is good.

This was posted by Jim Richardson in reply to a poster on the article from National Geographics' website

 

[akadmon]

If I had a Nikon with me, I wouldn't use the 5S!

Not trying to argue with you, just sayin...What exactly is the point of this story? So Iphone 5s takes picture that are good enough to post on Instagram. Big friggin' deal! So do iPhones 5 and 4s. Sure, the best camera is the one you have on you, but ... a photo of a plane crash will look just as dramatic when it's taken with an Iphone 4s as it will when it's taken with an iPhone 5s, and a photo of the thing you ate for breakfast will look just as stupid, no matter if the highlights/shadows are exactly the way they were in reality or not quite.

 

[Klae17]

Wrong, your post is completely illogical. If those people didn't think photo quality was important, they wouldn't be buying those cameras. Anyone with any camera and minimal skill can get press as a photographer, as long as they are (a) photographing exotic places, people, or things that are interesting and rarely seen, OR (b) have media connections, or some kind of reputation and following that will cause media to take notice. That's it. Many people take incredible photographs that the media never see, and the media see many people who never take incredible photographs. There is little or no correlation between the two at all.

You are completely wrong. There is a huge correlation between the two. Stop diminishing other's hard work and achievements with your babble like you know what it's like to be in the business. If it were that easy let's see you do it.

And there are a ton of people who buy expensive crap just for a hobby. It's called having too much money.

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f I had a Nikon with me, I wouldn't use the 5S!

Not trying to argue with you, just sayin...What exactly is the point of this story? So Iphone 5s takes picture that are good enough to post on Instagram. Big friggin' deal! So do iPhones 5 and 4s. Sure, the best camera is the one you have on you, but ... a photo of a plane crash will look just as dramatic when it's taken with an Iphone 4s as it will when it's taken with an iPhone 5s, and a photo of the thing you ate for breakfast will look just as stupid, no matter if the highlights/shadows are exactly the way they were in reality or not quite.

Good enough for Instagram? Did you read the article?

 

[AppleScruff1]

And there are a ton of people who buy expensive crap just for a hobby. It's called having too much money.

I'll be willing to bet that the people who buy the expensive gear don't think of it as expensive crap. And how do you judge what someone does with their money?

 

[Ryth]

[/COLOR]

But the pro photographer didn't understand this. My bet is that he just did it to get publicity as a pro photographer using an iPhone 5S. Look, he got an article on MacRumors.

Do you even know who this photographer is?

The last thing this guy needs is publicity.

 

[Klae17]

If you use Instagram, you're someone who shoots for fun, not professionally.

This is by no means a pro reviewer.

So if you use Instagram AT ALL you lose all credibility?

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I'll be willing to bet that the people who buy the expensive gear don't think of it as expensive crap. And how do you judge what someone does with their money?

You might want to look at what I'm quoting.

 

[Ryth]

Give me an 8 MP camera over a 41 MP any day, providing that they both have the same sensor size; MP alone say very little about the quality of a camera. Having said, that, I think the Lumia does have a bigger sensor, but the 41 MP are mostly wasted. Better that it had been a 12 MP sensor, that would have been perfect, especially in situations with less ambient light and in action shots.

I think the next big leaps in the iPhone are going to be with the camera, video, etc. You really can't do much more with the software unless you come out with some really nice upgrades in the hardware.

The iPhone 6 is probably going to shoot 4k or something

 

[akadmon]

I am guessing here, but I am pretty confident his phone pictures are better than your DSLR pictures. No one anywhere claimed Nat Geo paid his expenses, but they did publish his story and pictures on their web site. (http://proof.nationalgeographic.com...of-the-scottish-highlands-with-the-iphone-5s/). You might check out his bio on their page too.

I know a thing or two about composition, and there is nothing in the photos posted in the NG article that wows me.

 

[Pyrrhic Victory]

You are completely wrong. There is a huge correlation between the two. Stop diminishing other's hard work and achievements with your babble like you know what it's like to be in the business. If it were that easy let's see you do it.

And there are a ton of people who buy expensive crap just for a hobby. It's called having too much money.

I've diminished nothing. "Getting press as a photographer" is not some kind of coveted badge of honor worn by good photographers. They are interested in the photography itself, not any superficial accolades from pandering media that incidentally come along with it.

"In the business?" LOL, photography isn't *a* business, it's a discipline from which a wide variety of business models can be derived, and I am personally involved in one of those, so I would suggest that you stop talking like you know what business I am or am not in. Also please tell me where I said that getting press as a photographer was "easy" or that photographing exotic subjects is easy or that having media connections is easy, or for that matter even that taking god photographs is easy. The fact that anyone with any camera and any skill level can get noticed doesn't mean it's easy to achieve the criteria I mentioned that actually are necessary.

Of course there are a ton of people who buy expensive gear just to show off, but the post I quoted (which you seem to have overlooked) was not talking about those people, but rather about the people who buy expensive gear because they think it will transform them into good photographers. My point was that that group of people would never agree with the statement I made that he quoted in his post.

 

[BvizioN]

4,000 photos? Did Apple give him a special edition 128 GB model???

These are not 41 Megapixels photos of Lumia.
If you do your circulations right, you can have 4,000 photos even in 16 Gb version of iPhone and have almost half of the memory storage free.

 

[brewno]

I can't wait to test the new camera. My phone arrives this week. So excited!

 

[Moshu]

I see ppl here excited about 41 MP camera.

I'm sorry to say but I would never buy that on a phone, due to the small sensor size which would produce bad photos in low light.

If you would check the 41 MP photos at full size, you will hate the looks because the pixels look like **** due to small sensor size.

So what do you do? You resize the photo, you make it 3-4 time smaller, then it starts to look OK.

But in the resizing process, the color information is combined, the pixel accuracy is lost, and basically you're back to a 10 MP camera, with bad color accuracy.

8-10 MP is enough, what you want is a BIG SENSOR (which translates into an increased sensor pixel size) in order to have improved color accuracy. And for a 41MP crammed into a phone, that's just not possible. Your sensor pixels will be too small.

Beware the marketing!

 

[aristotle]

I know a thing or two about composition, and there is nothing in the photos posted in the NG article that wows me.

Post links of your work?

 

[macsrcool1234]

So why is a professional Nat Geo photographer using Instagram?

 

[imaginex20]

So why is a professional Nat Geo photographer using Instagram?

Paul, when I work for Apple (and I have) or for Epson (and I have) you know it. I’m very transparent.
Why did I shoot it on a cell phone? Because I enjoyed it. I always enjoy exploring new technology and seeing where it will take me. I was one of the first NG photographers to shoot a digital story. I was one of the early NG photographers posting on Instagram, both because I enjoyed it and it was a way of figuring out the social media and what it might be used for when the subject got serious and we needed to use the tool for serious storytelling. You might have noticed that this was a bit of travel photography. Sometimes it pays to lighten up a bit, to explore, to play, to re-imagine, to see where the images will take you. I said that up front in the first blog post. Reinvention. (And yeah, it’s a little risky, particularly when you don’t know who is out there watching and what they are going to say when you try.)
Compromises? Well, a couple of years ago cell phone photographs looked unmistakably like… cell phone photographs. Now it’s not so easy to tell. I stand by what I said. The image quality is good.

To reiterate...

 

[olowott]

This guy was just having fun!

4000 photos - now thats what apple drives at - u just having fun with their products.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Now to replace my Nikon D800....

 

[SvenSvenson]

"Oh cool!" I thought "Finally a review by someone who knows something about photography, not another Instagram selfie poster"

Sigh...

You should check out his Instagram 'selfies' - there's one of himself dressed as a boat, one of himself hiding in a canon and several of him pretending to be natural landscapes. *bigger sigh*.