Your iPhone took THAT PICTURE??

[Mikey B]

i've always thought the iPhone's camera is pretty decent. i've taken some great pics with it that only needed a little bit of touching up with Aperture. as someone said, there can be a fair amount of noise, but i notice that mainly when you take pics in low lighting.

i must say i've never understood why so many people fuss about the iPhone's camera. if you want to take "real" pics, use a real camera, not a cell phone's. besides, my digi camera is pretty old, and despite having a great lens with 8x zoom, it is only 3mp. but, it takes great photos. there is way too much emphasis placed on megapixels. having a 10mp camera or whatever certainly doesn't ensure a good quality pic.

but anyway, i wouldn't mind if the iPhone had a better quality camera, of course, but i really must say that it does pretty damn well and blows any other cell phone cam i've ever had.

 

[Consultant]

Damn ... is my iPhone camera busted?

I see photos online from other iPhones, and mine look NOTHING (and I mean *nothing*) like that. On a bright sunny day, photographing something about 5 feet away, it looks like a ****** web cam shot - nothing like a real cam.

If you scratched the lens, the quality degrades... =(

However, the best camera in the world won't produce a good picture if the user doesn't know how to take a picture.

 

[Nicod3mus]

The next version will have a better camera

 

[cellocello]

If you scratched the lens, the quality degrades... =(

However, the best camera in the world won't produce a good picture if the user doesn't know how to take a picture.

Other than pointing, holding steady and clicking -- am I missing something?

 

[gcmexico]

Check these out... i am consistantly impressed with the camera on the iphone and what it is capable of. My wife took this shot the other night at dinner, and i think it looks great. The second shot is HER, and even in low light i cannot complain.

i mean, i could res these up and PRINT them.

Click Link Below for LARGER photo:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/2797677855_2bf9e1e594_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/2798528402_da7ac60112_b.jpg

*
solid pics

 

[uberzete]

Picture quality looks great on the phone itself but not-so-great on the web or on a computer.

And yes, in general there is alot of noise in the photos.

 

[sjo]

I don't understand the obsession with MP. I guess people like bigger numbers. You are still limited by substandard optics.

i agree with you that the optics is important, but you need to understand that nokia n-series, sonye cybershots and high megapixel samsung phones are way way way ahead iphone also in optics. pics taken with iphone look like the phone'd have protective plastics on the camera or they appear to be taken through a windows, even those of op. there also seems to be great variation in optics quality between iphone units.

 

[vegas-steven]

see, I disagree that the shots I posted havethe plasticy/glassy look to them they have good sharpness IMO

Now my wife has a blackberry curve and it suffers from what I can describe as plastic wrap syndrome where all thepics look lime they have Saran wrap over them

My first few iPhone photos looked blurry however after practice and better learning that the light meter in the iPhone SUCKS helps to get better photos.

The light meter issue is software and hardware. There is no reason that a scene with partially high and low contrast scenes causes the photo to go so dark.

I've been using digital cameras probably longer than most people. My first camera was an Olympus with a VGA ccd inside it. You could barely print a 4x6 with it! That was back in summer of 2001
Boy, I paid $300 for that camera heh

But if you learn the iPhone camera you can get good shots.

 

[marksman]

I don't understand the obsession with MP. I guess people like bigger numbers. You are still limited by substandard optics.

Can read more here.

Yeah this always gets me.

It is pointless to discuss this stuff with someone whose only measurement is the MP of the camera.

ps I have a bet that the OP's wife is shorter than 5'4 and a half.

Do I win?

 

[WhySoSerious]

iPhone camera + Picoli app = a happy marriage!

 

[vegas-steven]

Yeah this always gets me.

It is pointless to discuss this stuff with someone whose only measurement is the MP of the camera.

ps I have a bet that the OP's wife is shorter than 5'4 and a half.

Do I win?

Yes you do win. But how tall am I?

Hint: 5'9"

It reminds me of spinal tap (the movie) where he argues the amp is better because "this one goes to eleven"

Foveon image sensors made by sigma are a great example of low mp is meaningless as so many professionals use them in portrait studios.

 

[bluenoise]

My camera isn't as good as yours. All my pictures have a softness to them, but it doesn't bug me enough to try swapping the phone. My other phones' cameras took sharper pictures.

For example:

I took this pic of my kids recently and was disappointed in the blur.

The second shot is one I took of my nightstand as a test while holding the phone dead-steady. I also made sure the lens cover was clean. At the thumbnail resolution, they look all right, but at 1:1, they are too blurry. The nightstand shot seems to show the camera has a very narrow depth-of-field.

 

[vegas-steven]

DOF (depth of field) is going to be poor on all small cameras. The problem lies in the way lenses work.

TYPICAL DETACHABLE LENS SLR CAMERA
(lens)|____distance from sensor____|(sensor)

POINT & SHOOT:
(lens)|___dist___|(sensor)

CELL PHONE:
(lens)|__|(sensor)

And as the distance from the lens to the sensor decreases so does your DOF.
Take your hand and put it 5 inches from your eye, focus on the hand and everything behind your hand is blurred. Put your hand too close to your eye and you can only focus on what is behind your hand.

So that is why there is no real dof on the iPhone. Sucks I know.

The first shot you have looks bad because of the lighting conditions. It is cloudy and dim. In that case you can't do much I suppose. Cameras all have light meters and they evauate the scene andthen change exposure on an automatic camera, but iPhones light meter blows.

What you CAN DO is get a grey card or point the camera at something neutrally grey (khaki pants work well) - this sort of resets the light meter.

Point the camera at the scene and if it looks grey or red-ish than hold up that neutral grey card or whatever in front of it and it will reset the colors on the phone.
Crazy right? But it works. They sell what are called 30% grey cards at photography stores but grey (the same color as the iPhones keyboard the actual keys not the background) anything will work.

 

[JPIndustrie]

For example, next year we'll probably see a forward facing (2mp lol)

What's with everybody and forecasting forward facing cameras on the next iPhone. Seriously. Why does everyone keep saying that?

I really don't get it. Because <sarcasm> current US carriers have the capability and will to deliver videoconferencing via cellular networks </sarcasm>.

Wait, you mean they don't? So there's no absolute need for a forward facing camera? OK!

EDIT: Yeah, I know Europe and Asia have it. Think about it. The iPhone still doesn't have MMS or copy and paste, are they really going to have a feature that none of the phones offered by USDM carriers have? Apple doesn't innovate - they reinvent.

 

[gdeputy]

What's with everybody and forecasting forward facing cameras on the next iPhone. Seriously. Why does everyone keep saying that?

I really don't get it. Because <sarcasm> current US carriers have the capability and will to deliver videoconferencing via cellular networks </sarcasm>.

Wait, you mean they don't? So there's no absolute need for a forward facing camera? OK!

EDIT: Yeah, I know Europe and Asia have it. Think about it. The iPhone still doesn't have MMS or copy and paste, are they really going to have a feature that none of the phones offered by USDM carriers have? Apple doesn't innovate - they reinvent.

considering the success of apples iChat program I don't see it being far fetched a tall. Video conferencing is likely on the next iPhone IMHO.

 

[UFO212]

the image noise is a shame, but i find that you can combat that if you know what you are doing in photoshop... even some automated programs can help alot.

still the major shortcoming of the camera.

sure..
r u in vegas btw??
me too~!