Why are Apple so slow at improving the camera?

[M. Gustave]

I just learned through leaks that the iPhone camera optics are going to be F/1.9. Just .3 stops from f/2.2. That is lame!!! Why are they so slow at improving the camera?

How is the current iPhone camera holding back your photography, specifically? Can you post an example of what you consider a failed shot of yours, that the competition could have pulled off better?

 

[zhenya]

Specifically, the over-done noise reduction that debuted with the iPhone 6 has to go. It makes way too many photos even shot with good light, look like watercolor paintings. Give me back the plain noise that at least looks realistic.

 

[HEK]

Have either of you even seen a picture taken with a Galaxy S7? I'm pretty sure you have not because the difference in clarity, sharpness, contrast and especially dynamic range is infinitely better. Sorry guys, the S7 is not a perfect package for sure but this one part of makes the iPhone look like a kids toy. It's funny though how certain you are in your statements which are completely false.

"Infinitely better" ? Prone to hyperbole at all? also best fire starter of all smart phones.

 

[M. Gustave]

...also best fire starter of all smart phones.

I believe that title goes to the Note 7.

 

[NT1440]

Slow? Every single year when the new iPhone comes out it tops the charts in camera performance until the next flagship Samsung device comes along ~6 months later.

Wtf is slow about that?

 

[HEK]

These are Samsung troll click bait threads. I was thinking if we stopped answering they would have no sounding board to hit off of.

 

[DNichter]

They aren't

 

[lordofthereef]

It should be. Apple says its best thing about the iPhone is the camera. All of those shot on iPhone commercials are everywhere. We don't see shot on Samsung note or S7 yet that phone has a much better camera. I just wish that apple used the same or better. As a pro photographer, I want my iPhone camera to be great. Those of you that aren't photographers can care less. You guys mostly take snap shots for Facebook and Instagram. I want my iPhone to perform like my DSLR, I realize it can't match it, but at least apple can try. I just hate the aggressive noise reduction and watercolor look seen in medium ISO levels. Bigger optics mean more light grasp and higher resolution.

I use my iPhone for three things: photography, web browsing, and texting. I'm not a gamer, nor do I play Pokemon go!

I hate to be "that guy", but if you're using your phone for things you claim the competition excels in, why are you sticking to iPhone?

I agree though. The camera could be better. I'm happy with the camera in the 6s plus though. We will see what the keynote brings. If the camera blows me away (apparently it won't), it is something that could potentially have is upgrade at least one of our devices.

By the way, unsure what Pokémon go has to do with anything. You can run that game on pretty much any workig smartphone at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if s $100 pay as you go device ran it just fine.
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"Infinitely better" ? Prone to hyperbole at all? also best fire starter of all smart phones.

I think you're thinking of the note lol.
[doublepost=1472823886][/doublepost]

Slow? Every single year when the new iPhone comes out it tops the charts in camera performance until the next flagship Samsung device comes along ~6 months later.

Wtf is slow about that?

Nokia stood their ground very well (and some of their three and four year old phones still smoke low light performances), it's just nobody cared enough. I feel like if they hadn't dedicated themselves to windows they may have risen from the ashes. Sad 🙁 I actually liked my Lumia 920. Had it not been for a complete and utter lack of third party app support I'd have called it my favorite phone to date.

 

[NT1440]

Nokia stood their ground very well (and some of their three and four year old phones still smoke low light performances), it's just nobody cared enough. I feel like if they hadn't dedicated themselves to windows they may have risen from the ashes. Sad 🙁 I actually liked my Lumia 920. Had it not been for a complete and utter lack of third party app support I'd have called it my favorite phone to date.

Other than their ludicrously large camera ones (if you're ok with those they were solid phones), I really liked the aesthetics that the Lumina line was going for as the company cratered. Frankly Windows was the deathknell in making the company irrelevant which is a shame. Nokia was a innovative powerhouse in their labs.

 

[HEK]

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I think you're thinking of the note lol.

Yeah......one of those, "fire sale" phones. 🙄

 

[pixel_junkie]

There are so many things that Apple gets right. I'm on an S7 now but if I went to an iPhone 7 (which I very well may do when it comes out), I would be perfectly happy for the most part as I was with my 6S while I had it up until about 2 months ago. Today Samsung has the upper hand on certain features, tomorrow Apple will be on top and thats great. It's fun to switch back and fourth because I enjoy both ecosystems equally so I win no matter which way that goes. But you have to be OPENminded for that to work. When you make it a religion and start foaming at the mouth the moment you see people say something positive about anything other than your precious iPhone, then YOU lose because you're missing out on some cool stuff that is available to you. Like I said, iPhones are sweet in many many ways but TODAY, the camera module on their products is NOT nearly as good as what SAMSUNG has managed to put in their phones. It isn't even close and that's a fact. Deny it all you want.

 

[maxsix]

Maybe. But why not at the very least match what the competition is doing for almost $700? Apple are milking the brand to the max at the moment. No innovation effort at-all. So sad.

Apple has mastered the art of milking their customers by continuing to sell old technology.

iPhone still has a low resolution display. Still uses a 1950's era analog mechanical home button, still requires a wired charger... And on and on....
[doublepost=1472824562][/doublepost]

Yeah......one of those, "fire sale" phones. 🙄

Let's be fair Apple was the first to offer exploding battery iPhones. 😱

 

[mildocjr]

Well Apple is slow with their camera, because of the form factor. The smaller the device, the more work has to be put into the physics to get everything working the way it should. I don't blame you for being a photo-fanatic and wanting that extra .8 stops, but I'd never buy an Android because I don't want my phone looking like it has a cyst on it's back.

 

[noobinator]

Well Apple is slow with their camera, because of the form factor. The smaller the device, the more work has to be put into the physics to get everything working the way it should. I don't blame you for being a photo-fanatic and wanting that extra .8 stops, but I'd never buy an Android because I don't want my phone looking like it has a cyst on it's back.

We have a cyst. It's just smaller.

 

[HEK]

Apple has mastered the art of milking their customers by continuing to sell old technology.

iPhone still has a low resolution display. Still uses a 1950's era analog mechanical home button, still requires a wired charger... And on and on....
[doublepost=1472824562][/doublepost]
Let's be fair Apple was the first to offer exploding battery iPhones. 😱

So Samsung copied that feature as well? And improved on it. Be careful what you copy.😀

Things started exploding before either of them, once LI Ion batteries were used. Aircraft manufacturers had the fire starter batteries in the tail of aircraft, remember.

 

[mildocjr]

Apple has mastered the art of milking their customers by continuing to sell old technology.

iPhone still has a low resolution display. Still uses a 1950's era analog mechanical home button, still requires a wired charger... And on and on....
[doublepost=1472824562][/doublepost]
Let's be fair Apple was the first to offer exploding battery iPhones. 😱

What was Android the first at, and features they took from the Jailbreak community do not count.

We have a cyst. It's just smaller.

Yeah I was bummed when I saw they didn't keep the camera flush, but it's still more like a pimple than a cyst.

 

[NT1440]

Well Apple is slow with their camera, because of the form factor. The smaller the device, the more work has to be put into the physics to get everything working the way it should. I don't blame you for being a photo-fanatic and wanting that extra .8 stops, but I'd never buy an Android because I don't want my phone looking like it has a cyst on it's back.

I still don't understand this phrasing.

Slow? They consistently get ranked as the best available camera at release time, until the next new flagship comes out from Samsung. Should Apple be updating the iPhone twice a year instead just because Samsung's release cycle is at a different point in the year?

 

[mildocjr]

Samsung didn't get named Samesong just because.
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Slow? They consistently get ranked as the best available camera at release time, until the next new flagship comes out from Samsung. Should Apple be updating the iPhone twice a year instead just because Samsung's release cycle is at a different point in the year?

Yes, slower to provide higher metrics for those who actually use those features. Instead Apple focuses on the actual image processing, so when it all boils down to it, they are developing how the camera works, not developing more features to extend the capabilities as to what is known in DSLRs. By doing the stuff they are doing, they are essentially making a better camera than one .8 stops higher, but they did it by adjusting the components inside of the camera instead of adjusting the numbers.

My iPhone 6S takes great pictures at 12 MP, when I went on vacation, my wife and I didn't mind switching out our D3300 for our phones for quick pictures. The DSLR only showed a noticeable difference when we wanted to take distant cityscape shots since the DSLR was 24 MP.

I think Phil Schiller mentioned how they advanced the camera several times during the past 3 keynotes, and even hit on why they decided not to adjust the f-stop. Answer is, because they got the same effect by redesigning the other components. When it comes to mobile devices, things are working a bit different than in your DSLR.

 

[pixel_junkie]

Yes, that's why I posted what I did. I guess you think blown highlights are a good feature.

Any phone camera on the planet will give you blow highlights in certain conditions. My CANON 1Dx (MSRP - US$6,799.00) will give you blown highlights too sometimes. Camera technology today is pretty advanced but it is nowhere near so advanced that you consistently get perfectly balanced image. Fact

 

[I7guy]

Any phone camera on the planet will give you blow highlights in certain conditions. My CANON 1Dx (MSRP - US$6,799.00) will give you blown highlights too sometimes. Camera technology today is pretty advanced but it is nowhere near so advanced that you consistently get perfectly balanced image. Fact

Total deflection. It's not about whether a dslr blows out highlights it's about comparing results from two phones.

 

[Zaft]

Apple has mastered the art of milking their customers by continuing to sell old technology.

iPhone still has a low resolution display. Still uses a 1950's era analog mechanical home button, still requires a wired charger... And on and on....
[doublepost=1472824562][/doublepost]
Let's be fair Apple was the first to offer exploding battery iPhones. 😱

Oh stop being so dramatic.
Rumor has it they are ditching it in the 7 so we'll see.

 

[pixel_junkie]

Total deflection. It's not about whether a dslr blows out highlights it's about comparing results from two phones.

You missed the point which is that if a top grade DSLR can't manage blown highlights, how can you expect a phone camera to do so? And your iPhone isn't excluded from this, all phone cameras will blow highlights. So if that is your criteria for quality, come back in 20 years, maybe technology will have tackled that problem by then

 

[Kjung7]

Have either of you even seen a picture taken with a Galaxy S7? I'm pretty sure you have not because the difference in clarity, sharpness, contrast and especially dynamic range is infinitely better. Sorry guys, the S7 is not a perfect package for sure but this one part of makes the iPhone look like a kids toy. It's funny though how certain you are in your statements which are completely false.

Keep in mind that the screen of the S7 may be displaying the image that way since it is an OLED panel aka unrealistic colors due to high contrast/saturation of the screen. I'm not denying it doesn't look good, just stating facts.

 

[Phil A.]

Specifically, the over-done noise reduction that debuted with the iPhone 6 has to go. It makes way too many photos even shot with good light, look like watercolor paintings. Give me back the plain noise that at least looks realistic.

I'd agree with this - it's the one thing that annoys me about the iPhone camera: It generally does a great job for what it is (i.e. a cellphone camera), but the noise reduction is sometimes way, way over the top!

 

[I7guy]

You missed the point which is that if a top grade DSLR can't manage blown highlights, how can you expect a phone camera to do so? And your iPhone isn't excluded from this, all phone cameras will blow highlights. So if that is your criteria for quality, come back in 20 years, maybe technology will have tackled that problem by then

You missed the point. The iPhone exhibits better color accuracy, and will meter in some situations so that the sky is not blown out. But note the better color accuracy comment. Of course canon is notorious for the behavior you talk about, but that's another story.