Choosing a Good Phone Camera

VidThreeNorth · Dec 29, 2022

After years of photography and having used some phone cameras in particular, you'd think I might know quite a bit about it. And yes, I think I do, but I just ran across a couple of YouTube vids that are both "useful" but completely different. So here they are. You might appreciate a good Scotch after seeing them:

"The Best Smartphone Camera 2022!",
posted Dec 21, 2022 by "Marques Brownlee" [length 14:22]
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"Sony Xperia 1 IV vs iPhone 13 Pro CAMERA Review!",
posted May 11, 2022, by "Tony & Chelsea Northrup" [length 10:38]
""

VidThreeNorth · Jan 31, 2023

Another Look at current iPhone and Pixel and Samsung

Max Tech's opinion

Max Yuryev specifically commented on the Marques Brownlee video I posted previously and in a second video provided his own test results. His blind test results do not refute the earlier test, but again, adds more information about such testing.

I think at this point I actually feel confident about what I know about the cameras in these three phones, but let me "throw it all away" with another comment:

All these tested are on literal "point and shoot" results. No adjustments are being made to the cameras. As tests go, this is necessary because the amount of work testing the cameras adjustments takes even more time -- probably months actually, by which time people would lose interest in the results.

Personally, I am confident that I could do as well as most of the best pictures I have seen in all these tests, on my Xperia 10 iii (a "budget" level phone, which was not a phone tested in any of these clips), with a bit of exposure adjustments, and occasional settings changes, and I have no doubt that this is true of all the phone cameras tested in all these clips, and a lot of other phone cameras as well. So these clips give a lot of really good information, but if you really want to learn about phone cameras, you have to go further.

"iPhone 14 Pro Camera got WORSE? No.. (Sorry MKBHD)"
posted by "Max Tech" on Jan 14, 2023, [length 13:53]
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The actual blind test:

"iPhone 14 Pro Camera is BAD? (vs Pixel 7 Pro & S22 Ultra!)"
posted by "Max Tech" on Jan 16, 2023, [length 29:53]
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Strodav · Jan 31, 2023

Top dozen world wide list from DxOMark.com

RacePhoto · Feb 3, 2023

Interesting. $1000 and up, for a phone, so I can take better pictures? But looks like, if I did and I wasn't locked into Apple because of some business requirements - I don't know why it's $1670 instead of the launch price above?

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

50 MP, f/1.4-f/4.0, 24mm (wide), PDAF, Laser AF, OIS
64 MP, f/3.5, 90mm (periscope telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom
13 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), PDAF

90mm 64MP images? I'm impressed.

iPhone 14 Pro Max. right in the same range, Nice.

But reading this is making me think about audio? I have a Zoom that does 16-bit/44.1kHz. (and better but that's CD quality) And for lack of specs. I get this for an iPhone 14 Pro Max - captures wide stereo audio for the videos at about 192kbps.

About... :icon_sad:

And I did do some searching. Good news, I still have the old SE that still has a plug. But there's a headset with mics, that works through the lightning plug. I'm on it!

LWW · Mar 13, 2023

I just bought an iPHONE 14 PRO as my first quasi-serious smartphone camera.

I did not choose the PRO MAX simply because of screen size ... 0.4 inches for $100 extra is a bit much, and the PRO 6.1 inch is actually smaller than my old iPHONE XR.

Also, the PRO is at the low end ... 4 of 5 ... in price among the top 5.

APPLE seems to be taking the razor/inkjet printer business model by selling an item at a good price and making it up on accessory purchases if you buy the APPLE branded accessories.

My reasons were the APPLE ecosystem ... I've used APPLE since 1982, having had 2 APPLE II desktops, a MAC CLASSIC, a MAC PERFORMA, an eMAC, a MACBOOK AIR, a MACBOOK, 2 iPAD, 2 iPOD, and 3 iPHONE models now.

When I take a photo on the iPHONE it is nearly immediately available on the desktop at home.

The synching across devices is flawless. I imagine ANDROID has something comparable, but after 41 years without a failure ... I'm in way too deep to switch.

My $0.02, YMMV.

VidThreeNorth · Mar 16, 2023

RacePhoto said:
Interesting. $1000 and up, for a phone, so I can take better pictures? But looks like, if I did and I wasn't locked into Apple because of some business requirements - I don't know why it's $1670 instead of the launch price above?
. . .

Pricing can depend on regions and distribution channels. Mostly I've personally bought from "service providers" at various discounts. I think my Xperia 10 iii might have been the first phone I bought through an independent retail channel. I don't have the price in front of me, but as I recall, it was "high". But I deliberately decided to buy through the independent channel because that particular phone was not carried by any local service provider, and it was a deliberate choice to go 5G at a time when 5G would have meant getting the top line phones.

Even if you buy from Best Buy, you are usually buying a "service provider" phone and not an "independent channel" phone.

RacePhoto said:
Huawei Mate 50 Pro
. . .

90mm 64MP images? I'm impressed.

iPhone 14 Pro Max. right in the same range, Nice.

I don't know about Huawei currently. Aren't they still using their own clone of Android rather than "real Android"? I'd be careful about that. I don't know how compatible it would be.

RacePhoto said:
But reading this is making me think about audio? I have a Zoom that does 16-bit/44.1kHz. (and better but that's CD quality) And for lack of specs. I get this for an iPhone 14 Pro Max - captures wide stereo audio for the videos at about 192kbps.

About... And I did do some searching. Good news, I still have the old SE that still has a plug. But there's a headset with mics, that works through the lightning plug. I'm on it!

Audio is yet another problem area. There are "paper specs" and then their is "real performance". For recording, I don't use a phone. I use separate recorders.

LWW said:
I just bought an iPHONE 14 PRO as my first quasi-serious smartphone camera.

. . .

LWW said:
When I take a photo on the iPHONE it is nearly immediately available on the desktop at home.

The synching across devices is flawless. I imagine ANDROID has something comparable, but after 41 years without a failure ... I'm in way too deep to switch.

My $0.02, YMMV.

I've had Macs, but I don't use them anymore. I made a deliberate effort to keep abreast of a wide range of computer technologies for a few years. It was hard at first, but I felt it paid off. . . .