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Why don't Apple just give us a nice big camera sensor?

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scaramoosh

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I hate that little camera nipple thing, it looks so pathetic, I want either a full on camera bump or for the phone to be thicker and it to be flush. Camera bumps don't have to be ugly, you can make them look nice like the Nokia 1020 or the 808, they had massive bumps and they were done with style. They were the main feature, it looked like you have a proper camera, along with the Xenon Flash.

I just don't get why we have to make do with the tiny 1/3 sensor of the iPhone. We had those massive sensors years ago, while now the phones they're in aren't capable any more, no one has out done the camera module since.

Just focus on the camera bumps here...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Nokia_Lumia_1020_vs._Nokia_808_PureView.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Nokia_N8_(rear_view).jpg


The rest of the phone aside, I just don't think the bumps look bad, I imagine them on a iPhone and I'd be excited to buy one again. Whats the big deal out of just making them a feature and doing them with style? It allows you to fit a massive sensor that everyone will be talking about. Rather than doing this pathetic looking ugly nub that every time I see I want to chisel off. It would stop the phone from rocking as well as it expands to both side of the phone, not just one corner.


I look at the iPhone 6s and how it's meant to have this 12mp camera, now looking at all the leaks just confirms that the sensor isn't getting any bigger. So Apple will just reduce the pixel pitch for resolution, rather than just giving us a nice big camera sensor.

It doesn't have to be the main phone, but surely they could make a third with an emphasis on the camera. Until then, I just fail to get excited, especially since Apple are so reluctant to do full manual .DNG modes.
 
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scaramoosh

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MH01 said:
That would involve apple making a thicker phone..... Yeah right :)
Click to expand...

It would just involve in one part being thicker and tbh I find the 6 to be too thin, just so slippery... I'd rather it be half as thick again and have twice the battery capacity.
 
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scaramoosh

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Nov 30, 2014
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I think I'm done with the iPhone, but sadly Elop screwed Nokia and so that company which I stuck with for so many years has now gone. They were the only ones that did something different, pushed the boundaries and always pushed camera boundaries... I mean a near 1 inch sensor inside a Smartphone would be mad today, but they did it in 2012.

I just think Johnny Ive or whoever designed these phones has lost the plot a bit.
 
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lagwagon

lagwagon

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Apple bought a company a while back that had new "dual lens" tech which we might see in a future iPhone (not 6s). The lenses themselves are quite a bit thinner than the current iPhone 6 one. They may not use the dual lens but they could very well use the thinner lens construction and get rid of the bump. In the 7 or 8 (depending how those get redesigned.)

Sensor size isn't everything. A canon APS-C (1.6x crop) sensor can produce images just as good as their full frame sensors. It's the "glass" (lens) quality and sensor quality that matter most.
 
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MEJHarrison

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Feb 2, 2009
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scaramoosh said:
We had those massive sensors years ago, while now the phones they're in aren't capable any more, no one has out done the camera module since.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, it seems to me that the answer to your question lies right there. A few years back, someone made a smartphone that was more camera than phone. And in the past 3 years, no one else has attempted such a feat. What I take away from that is that it really didn't sell well enough for anyone else to attempt another. Had it sold like hotcakes, we'd be seeing all kinds of phones today with massive cameras in them. While it may have been a killer feature for you, it must not have been in general.
 
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lagwagon

lagwagon

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MEJHarrison said:
In my opinion, it seems to me that the answer to your question lies right there. A few years back, someone made a smartphone that was more camera than phone. And in the past 3 years, no one else has attempted such a feat. What I take away from that is that it really didn't sell well enough for anyone else to attempt another. Had it sold like hotcakes, we'd be seeing all kinds of phones today with massive cameras in them. While it may have been a killer feature for you, it must not have been in general.
Click to expand...

Not only that, did you look at the two images he linked? Those Nokia's look hideous. He suggesting Apple makes their phones look like cheap disposable cameras with a massive ugly camera unit vs the tiny bump we have now that is only the size of the lens.
 
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T'hain Esh Kelch

T'hain Esh Kelch

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gnasher729

gnasher729

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Apple could certainly create on iPhone with a huge camera sensor. Compromises with the phone size obviously, and probably should start at a bigger storage size, but I bet they could sell a million or two and have a million or two customers who are really happen and tens of millions who don't care. I think it would make money.

Question: Would it make enough money for Apple to bother, or could they achieve more added sales by using their energy elsewhere?
 
FSMBP

FSMBP

macrumors 68030
Jan 22, 2009
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frazzm737 said:
Apple designs its phones to satisfy the majority of its customers who want a thin phone. Most serious photographers would prefer using an actual (gasp) camera.
Click to expand...

You don't have to be a serious photographer to want to take a good-quality photo. I own a DSLR but I also want to take decent indoor shoots using an iPhone (which tend to be grainy/lack dynamic range).
 
Z

zone23

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May 10, 2012
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scaramoosh said:
I hate that little camera nipple thing, it looks so pathetic, I want either a full on camera bump or for the phone to be thicker and it to be flush. Camera bumps don't have to be ugly, you can make them look nice like the Nokia 1020 or the 808, they had massive bumps and they were done with style. They were the main feature, it looked like you have a proper camera, along with the Xenon Flash.

I just don't get why we have to make do with the tiny 1/3 sensor of the iPhone. We had those massive sensors years ago, while now the phones they're in aren't capable any more, no one has out done the camera module since.

Just focus on the camera bumps here...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Nokia_Lumia_1020_vs._Nokia_808_PureView.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Nokia_N8_(rear_view).jpg


The rest of the phone aside, I just don't think the bumps look bad, I imagine them on a iPhone and I'd be excited to buy one again. Whats the big deal out of just making them a feature and doing them with style? It allows you to fit a massive sensor that everyone will be talking about. Rather than doing this pathetic looking ugly nub that every time I see I want to chisel off. It would stop the phone from rocking as well as it expands to both side of the phone, not just one corner.


I look at the iPhone 6s and how it's meant to have this 12mp camera, now looking at all the leaks just confirms that the sensor isn't getting any bigger. So Apple will just reduce the pixel pitch for resolution, rather than just giving us a nice big camera sensor.

It doesn't have to be the main phone, but surely they could make a third with an emphasis on the camera. Until then, I just fail to get excited, especially since Apple are so reluctant to do full manual .DNG modes.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear - you think the iPhone 6 camera ring looks pathetic but the two examples you posted have "style"? I feel like your post has lost all credibility.
 
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geoff5093

geoff5093

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Jimmy James said:
Its due to the focal length. The same reason slr-sized sensors are mounted in bodies that use large removable lenses.
Click to expand...
That's not due to the focal length, DSLR's are large because they house a mirror. Look at mirrorless cameras, they are professional cameras without the mirror, and are much smaller.

With the S6 and G4, Apple really needs to catch up as far as imaging goes in their phones. The G4 has a larger camera sensor and wider aperture lens than the G3.
 
lagwagon

lagwagon

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geoff5093 said:
That's not due to the focal length, DSLR's are large because they house a mirror. Look at mirrorless cameras, they are professional cameras without the mirror, and are much smaller.

With the S6 and G4, Apple really needs to catch up as far as imaging goes in their phones. The G4 has a larger camera sensor and wider aperture lens than the G3.
Click to expand...

You do know the mirror is only so you can see through the viewfinder right? The mirror has nothing to do with the sensor. It flips up when you take the image so that what the lens captures goes into the sensor instead of up into the viewfinder. (And obviously the shutter curtains open same time as the mirror flips up.)
 
Newtons Apple

Newtons Apple

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geoff5093 said:
That's not due to the focal length, DSLR's are large because they house a mirror. Look at mirrorless cameras, they are professional cameras without the mirror, and are much smaller.

With the S6 and G4, Apple really needs to catch up as far as imaging goes in their phones. The G4 has a larger camera sensor and wider aperture lens than the G3.
Click to expand...

The size of the sensor does dictate the minimum size of the lens to cover the entire sensor. Larger sensor will require a larger lens
 
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geoff5093

geoff5093

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Newtons Apple said:
The size of the sensor does dictate the minimum size of the lens to cover the entire sensor. Larger sensor will require a larger lens
Click to expand...
That's true, but giving how small the iPhone camera is in relation to the S6 or G4, they can use a larger sensor without getting too large.
 
Menel

Menel

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geoff5093 said:
That's not due to the focal length, DSLR's are large because they house a mirror. Look at mirrorless cameras, they are professional cameras without the mirror, and are much smaller.

With the S6 and G4, Apple really needs to catch up as far as imaging goes in their phones. The G4 has a larger camera sensor and wider aperture lens than the G3.
Click to expand...
G4 has smaller 1.12um pixels for grabbing light.
The iPhone6 has larger 1.5um pixels for grabbing light.

For the form factor, the iPhone 6 isn't lagging.

It still pales in comparison to the 4.0um pixels on my APSC MILC. But that's a different form factor entirely.
 
Newtons Apple

Newtons Apple

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geoff5093 said:
That's true, but giving how small the iPhone camera is in relation to the S6 or G4, they can use a larger sensor without getting too large.
Click to expand...

I am sure that ANY change in sensor size would require a larger lens. I am sure that Apple has optimized this to the max. People are already pi$$ed that the lens stick out at all and hate to hear the whining if it stick out farther or get bigger. It would likely need to do both!
 
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