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Should Apple have increased the mega pixels on the camera?
- Thread starter gadget123
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They don't need to go past 8MP. All it does is increase the storage space required. I'd rather they focus on sensor quality, like they have been.
Also, I thought they did increase the front camera's quality this year?
Also, I thought they did increase the front camera's quality this year?
I was expecting 12mp at least. I have all my photos on cycle through the screen saver on my iMac, and while iPhone photos look decent on phones/iPads/laptops they really fall apart at 27 inch 1440p resolution. The 12mp shots from my note 3 look noticeably sharper. This will be exaserbated next year when I move up to 4k.
8mp is shameful in 2014 put the kool aid down.
I still ordered it. My rx100 is with me most of the time so I can deal.
8mp is shameful in 2014 put the kool aid down.
I still ordered it. My rx100 is with me most of the time so I can deal.
Isn't it? I'm a professional photographer and I'll use whatever camera I have in hand if need be. 8 megapixels is more than enough resolution for most print applications and Apple's compact lens system is no slouch compared to the competition. Ultimately a camera is a tool that can be used for whatever imaging task you choose to set it to. Even Apple plays up its versatility far beyond posting on Facebook and rightly so. Compared to dedicated point and shoots from even five or six years ago the 5S camera is pretty darn capable. Thus the rapid decline in the market for mid and low end point and shoot cameras.
I think you are right. Now, one area they maybe could compete in is the mirrorless/ micro 4/3 camera market that's primary goal is light and compact while still achieving close to, if not at, DSLR levels of image quality.
Plus, an Apple camera would just produce more Samsung adds. I present Exhibit A: the Samsung Galaxy Camera 2
That's why the HTC One M7 and M8 take the crappiest photos of any premium smartphone?
Oh yeah, and the camera is 4MP....
If megapixels are so bad, why did Apple put a 5MP unit in the iPhone 4 and then increase it to 8MP thereafter? Surely 5MP would be better according to the apologists on this forum?
The difference is noticeable, but not due to resolution. Where the iPhone camera struggles is in terms of low light/high ISO situations and in the area of chroma noise due to the minuscule size of the sensor. Adding four more megapixels without increasing the size of the lens and sensor would make the noise problem worse, not better.
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Except that they've already "competed" Nikon, Canon, Olympus and the others (mentioning Leica in this context is asinine IMO) right out of the low and mid range point and shoot market (with help from the other phone makers.) the big camera companies are all in pretty poor shape at the moment exactly because of the cameras that come on these devices. Apple really doesn't have to do anything more than they already are to compete with those guys.
1440p (2560 X 1440) is only 3.7 megapixels. I'd bet it has more to do with compression or rendering than MPs.
Even Apple has to give in to the public from time to time, regardless of if they agree. Look at new screen sizes. And besides, as has been said over and over, the size of the pixels and the quality of the sensor is what matters most, not pixel count.
I think you may need to read up on how the photosites on these chips work. Jamming them in that close together and making them that small is what INTRODUCES the noise. Look it up.
Well personally, I'm tired of lugging around heavy equipment every time I go on a shoot. A lighter, thinner camera would be ideal, and much easier to hold when I don't have a tripod.
DSLR may be a little too dedicated for them, but the point and shoot game? They'd murder it. Imagine a touch screen lcd with IOS integration that allows you to download photo editing apps and edit the pictures right from the camera.
I do realise that. However, the two best mobile phone cameras to date have both had plenty of megapixels. No manufacturer has yet brought out an industry-topping 2MP camera. The leaders to date have all been over 10MP.
There's no disputing that the 8MP iPhone shooter takes perfectly decent photos but this time around the incremental upgrade is minimal. The whole phone has very minimal upgrades over the 5S other than screen size.
To be honest, the 5S camera is good enough for me and the lack of a big leap in the i6 doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Wouldn't be surprised. Apple has been well ahead of the competition in terms of picture quality with their cameras for years.
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How is a decrease in image quality for the sake of incrementing a number on marketing material an upgrade?
No, it will only take up more space. 8mp is a great amount for sharpness while maintaining a relatively smaller sized file. Apple's 8mp camera is also far better than other phone cameras I've used with a higher megapixel amount. I'd much rather have an amazing picture with an 8mp camera that has been developed over the years than an ok picture taken by a 13mp camera just made to increase the megapixel amount.
Not sure if I explained that the way I wanted it to but yeah.
Not sure if I explained that the way I wanted it to but yeah.
On phones with a large megapixel count you get to choose the size of the image you are taking. You don't always have to take full size max megapixel images.
And that's why I said you need to read up on how the technology works, because while it's easy to say "put a better sensor in there" it's impossible to do it when adding megapixels degrades image quality. You might as reasonably say "Toyota should have made this car get 110mpg! How? Just put a better engine in it!"
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... and you still get noisier pictures because you're still using smaller photosites that are closer together, just fewer of them.
There are currently plenty of great options for you without having to wait for an Apple dedicated camera. And an Apple four thirds camera will have a DSLR price. They would also need a partnership with a top of the line lens manufacturer as anyone who knows about cameras knows that the quality of the glass is far more important than any 'newer' feature such as gps, wifi, phone integration/control.
Whatever you say chap. I don't know too much about the real technical things for cameras but I do know that when I take only an 8 megapixel image and blow it up or crop it on my pc it looks like ********** s***. I don't care how good your image quality is with these pissy low megapixel cameras it won't change that.
That's why they upgraded both cameras this time. The fact that some people think that "upgrade" only means "more megapixels" is kind of the point of the discussion, no?
There has to be compromises with a smart phone camera due to size constraints.
A physically larger sensor is what separates very good cameras from smartphone cameras. There is a reason professional equipment is so large, its because it has to be (plus much better optics and better sensor isolation from internal circuitry which adds digital noise).
All things equal two sensors of different size with the same megapixel the larger one will have larger pixels and be better all around.
Adding MP can help in certain situations to produce a better and obviously larger picture however it will also take away in other situation. Thats the compromise that has to be made for a camera in a portable device.
There is a lot of things that I think Apple skimps on hardware wise however I think they do an excellent job with the camera and focusing on what is actually important.
A physically larger sensor is what separates very good cameras from smartphone cameras. There is a reason professional equipment is so large, its because it has to be (plus much better optics and better sensor isolation from internal circuitry which adds digital noise).
All things equal two sensors of different size with the same megapixel the larger one will have larger pixels and be better all around.
Adding MP can help in certain situations to produce a better and obviously larger picture however it will also take away in other situation. Thats the compromise that has to be made for a camera in a portable device.
There is a lot of things that I think Apple skimps on hardware wise however I think they do an excellent job with the camera and focusing on what is actually important.
In other words, you don't really know what you're talking about and should probably just get a dedicated camera if it's of such concern to you because I hate to break it to you but the camera on an iPhone is NEVER going to be that great. No camera with a lens the size of a pencil eraser and a sensor less than 1/3 of an inch is. Ever. Because physics.
I'm not expecting DSLR quality in my damn phone, but with other phones I can blow up an image or crop it and it looks better, this isn't a deal breaker to me I'm just saying that this is the case as I've found.
Yes and the only caveat I'd add is that there's a diminishing return on the large side too. Even more than sensor size the single biggest limiting factor here is the lens. Think of the difference between looking through the peep hole in a door and looking out of a picture window. That's the difference between a smart phone camera lens and a full frame, APS-C or M43 camera lens. You simply can't record a great image if you can't get a LOT of light onto the sensor. Period.
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I seriously doubt that you can find a phone with a better camera than the iPhone. Most of the photography community agrees that Apple's cameras are the best in the industry by a country mile.