I'd much rather have a good quality Carl Zeiss Lens, Quartz based calibration system and optical zoom than 5MP.
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Next-Generation iPhone Set to Carry 5-Megapixel Camera?
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I think we're on the same page here. I'm of the mind that the iPhone doesn't need any additional resolution nearly as much as it needs a much better sensor and lens. However, I'm also of the mind that when it comes to resolution of commercial content there is an additional benefit all the way up to the resolution a glass mirror from the 1950's provides. I have no idea what that resolution would be in digital terms, but it's several orders of magnitude higher than even 1080p Blu-ray could ever provide.
There's no fixed screen size for 1080p
The 40" urban legend about 1080p is overly simplistic.
The issue is "apparent size" of the screen, which is a function of the actual screen diagonal and the viewer's distance from the screen. If you're 2 feet from a 20" screen, you can definitely tell the difference. If you're 15 feet from a 42" screen, you probably can't. (My TV is set up so that the head position on the sofa is about 9' from a 52" screen, so I'm in the "can tell" group.)
And even lowly Blu-ray resolution is completely wasted on a display of less than 40 inches because you can't tell the difference at sizes smaller than that anyway.
The 40" urban legend about 1080p is overly simplistic.
The issue is "apparent size" of the screen, which is a function of the actual screen diagonal and the viewer's distance from the screen. If you're 2 feet from a 20" screen, you can definitely tell the difference. If you're 15 feet from a 42" screen, you probably can't. (My TV is set up so that the head position on the sofa is about 9' from a 52" screen, so I'm in the "can tell" group.)
I'm terrified that some of the people who claim the 3GS has the best 3.2 megapixel camera they've ever seen may have driving licenses.
And I say that as a pedestrian, wearing a big bright obvious yellow jumper.
It has terrible (and in some circumstances genuinely bizarre) image processing, a ****** lens, bad low light performance, no flash, massive chromatic aberrations and poor colour reproduction. Really. It is really not a very good camera at all. It's not even a very good cellphone camera (the Pre's poops on it from a significant height, and that's by no means wonderful itself).
A 5mp sensor would be good news - not enough to be causing significant noise issues despite some of the claims here, but enough to give good prints with a bit of a safety net for cropping and zooming as required. Any more in a future revision would be stupid, but 5mp is about exactly right.
But a better lens, or a flash, or image processing that didn't seem to be handled by getting a large bunch of monkeys in Apple headquarters to punch out the hexadecimal code for each pixel at random in a typewriter would all be good improvements too.
Phazer
And I say that as a pedestrian, wearing a big bright obvious yellow jumper.
It has terrible (and in some circumstances genuinely bizarre) image processing, a ****** lens, bad low light performance, no flash, massive chromatic aberrations and poor colour reproduction. Really. It is really not a very good camera at all. It's not even a very good cellphone camera (the Pre's poops on it from a significant height, and that's by no means wonderful itself).
A 5mp sensor would be good news - not enough to be causing significant noise issues despite some of the claims here, but enough to give good prints with a bit of a safety net for cropping and zooming as required. Any more in a future revision would be stupid, but 5mp is about exactly right.
But a better lens, or a flash, or image processing that didn't seem to be handled by getting a large bunch of monkeys in Apple headquarters to punch out the hexadecimal code for each pixel at random in a typewriter would all be good improvements too.
Phazer
megapixels don't mean nuffin. Chances are it will still be a very low quality camera like the current.
Welcome to the year 2000 aegisdesign.
The MP race is about as useless as the now old-fashioned MHz race.
Yeah, but it's a bigger number. And consumers LOVE bigger numbers and their e-penis's. Plus, a 5mp camera will fill up an 8gb phone faster, requiring an upsell to the 16 or 32gb iPhone. Money money money!
Have a guess which photo was taken with a 5MP Nokia N95 and which was taken with a 3.2MP iPhone 3GS?
Hard to tell, because you resized them so a lot of artifact and noise is reduced.
I'm going to take a stab and say that the bottom one is the N97.
Right on. Two 200 Kpixel images, and we're expected to figure out which original was 5 Mpx and which was 3.2 Mpx.
LOL
What's the point? It's all about the size of the lens. These camera-phones will never replace a DigiCam, much less a DSLR.
But unlike your DSLR, your phone is always in your pocket, so it's nice for it to have the best camera that can be managed. Of course better optics would be more useful than more megapixels.
I agree. I was at Busch Gardens today and left my camera in the car. I had a few excellent photo ops that I missed because my cell had no camera.
Good Point
here are both images at 3MP.
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/1235/image1yw.jpg
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/178/image2nh.jpg
My point I'm trying to make here is that more mega pixels does not equal better quality photos is also a lie.
You can moan and grizzle all you want about how the iPhone camera is the best, but at the end of the day its not. Personally, I think that the N95 has a great camera, complete with flash and auto focus. The obvious downside to this? The size. The N95 is a fairly large and bulky phone.
However, it was released in 2007 and technology has progressed in that time (The N97 is 3mm thinner then the N95).
What you should be saying is how the iPhone camera is good for its size. At the moment, Apple has such a small camera sensor only for its looks. Is it prepared to sacrifice them for a better camera? Would you be prepared to have a phone 1-2mm thicker with a slightly better camera (with flash)?
I don't understand the whining. Be happy there's a camera upgrade! And then people complain that other phones have 8-12 megapixel cameras while the iPhone has only 3.2 megapixels.
Because adding a higher MPX count isnt actually an improvement.
You have a pressing need for higher-noise pictures that take up more file space?
Different people have different needs. How about having a 1 megapixel camera on the iPhone? There is a clear difference in picture quality, apart from the size the photos are able to be printed.
No QUALITY comes form the Lens and the Sensor. Detail comes form the MPX count. If you increase the Mpx count but dont put in a better sensor a lot of it is wasted space and noise.
If I had a choice between a quartz sensor and a Carl lens at 1MpX or 5MpX with a low brow sensor I'd pick the 1MpX
IIRC the N95 has Carl Zeiss optics. I can assure you that is what the iPhone is missing. It's not got good enough optics to fully take advantage of the ccd it already has.
But I'd be lying.
The lens and sensor assembly in an N95 is no bigger than that in a 3GS incidentally.
Phazer
To a point yes but there's some cracking 5mp camera phones out there and there has been for years, just not from Apple. And yes, they're in phones thinner than the iPhone and come with Flash and better optics, not just more mp.
They already are and have been for years. Been to a wedding lately? Party? How many people are lugging a camera around or just snapping on their phone? For some people camera phones have already replaced cameras, particularly people who NEVER print their photos and just stick them on Facebook.
For other people, they're a perfect supplemental camera to their higher end gear. I'm ditching my Canon EOS gear next year for a Lumix GF1 as I hate looking like a pro at an event. Similarly, there's times when having a camera phone handy is less intrusive. Why not have a passable camera in your phone?
All this defending the iPhone's ****** camera is tiresome and so are people quoting the ever so patronising "megapixel myth" like anyone discussing cameras doesn't already know it's a combination of sensor, glass and processing.
You must be a 3G owner, not a 3GS owner.
I had a 3G and it was fine, when OS 3.0 came out, you'd swear apple deliberately slowed it down, my 3G was no longer snappy enough, the 3GS is fine though.
Would love a bloody option in the iphone camera software to take a picture by clicking ANYWHERE on the screen though - hard to hit the button when you can't always see it.