Thoughts on the iPhone 4S camera?

[jdong217]

I just got the 4S and I wasn't sure what to expect from the camera. I'm really enjoying it though. No longer planning on picking up a P&S in addition to my dslr. A shot from tonight



There's a fair amount of noise but I didn't bother with any noise reduction. It's obviously no dSLR but for the 75% of the time when I don't feel like lugging around a dslr, this will most definitely do

 

[thereyougo!]

It can do some handy shots, quite a bit of noise in difficult light but some surprisingly good stuff too. This pano was shot with iphone4S which I then processed in CS5 knitting them in CS5


Panoramic Langdale on an iphone bw! by singingsnapper, on Flickr

 

[Sw1tchFX]

The point and shoot will be dead within a decade.

 

[Kendustin]

There is no doubts regarding quality of iPhone 4s camera. I have got this and I can guarantee that this camera is delivering superb quality same as 8 mega pixels or 10 mega pixels of other brands phone. Just try it out..

 

[DiskoJoe]

i would hope the camera is as good a a p&s. It sure cost more then one does now. You can get a decent p&s for less then $100 online now.

 

[Gaerek]

The point and shoot will be dead within a decade.

The point and shoot is already in it's death throws. Top end smart phone cameras have 80-100% of the quality of most P&S cameras, they're more convenient and user friendly, and they have nearly instant access to social networking. Not to mention all the other benefits such as geotagging and the ability to do editing right in camera.

My phone is always with me, which means I always have a camera with me. There's no need to purchase a separate P&S when I have something nearly as good in a few areas, and better in many areas.

i would hope the camera is as good a a p&s. It sure cost more then one does now. You can get a decent p&s for less then $100 online now.

Let's see, for $100, I get:

A camera

For $200, I get:

A camera
Ability to edit photos I just took
Ability to upload photos I just took
Ability to share photos instantly
All in a package smaller than most P&S cameras that cost $100

Oh, I forgot a couple other things you get too:
A phone!
The ability to text message
The abilty to browse the Internet
Check Social Networking sites
Email
Games
The list goes on...

Considering I'm going to be paying for a data/voice plan whether my phone has a camera or not, you are getting way more bang for your buck with a smart phone than with a stand alone P&S camera. I wouldn't have said this, even 2 years ago, but the engineers working on cameras in phones are really stepping up their game. There's just no real comparison.

 

[gsgary]

The point and shoot will be dead within a decade.

Will Sony be making cameras that long ?

 

[MLeeK]

The point and shoot will be dead within a decade.

I think he's right.

I have heard tell it's a pretty sweet camera. I know the one on my Droid sucks monkey balls-really bad. Total disappointment. I'd rather have my phone than a point and shoot. Of course, I'd rather have an iPhone than a Droid but my bank account tells me I am delusional too.

I have had people tell me that the new 4s is a bit delicate/breakable compared to older/other phones. how does it feel to you? I know my droid has been indestructable and I am impressed (it's about the only thing impressive about the damn thing.) My grand daughter has thrown it against the concrete floors MANY times. No chip,crack, break, shatter...

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Phone cameras currently have an average of 50% of the size of point and shoot cameras, which makes them have 50% image quality of point and shoot cameras, and not to say the lens factor, which point and shoots are much better.

 

[ann]

My local vendor is feeling the "hit" on the low end point and shoot cameras . Entry level p&s are the ones that are the hardest hit. Frankly I haven't used my p&s in a long time, but the Iphone is great fun and very freeing, altho, i can't remember when I last used it to make a phone call.

I use an Olympus pen 3 as my point and shoot, when I don't what to carry around the d700, but the phone is a great back up when I just don't want to carry around anything (at least slung around my shoulder.)

 

[Vipor]

Agreed. My iPhone4 is with me at ALL times. I have a P&S but I use it only when it is a planned event. My phones camera comes in handy during those impromptu moments (ooo, let me take a pic of it so that I can remember when I get home)... those moments.

 

[iKokomo]

I am impressed though with the quality of my 4s camera though! I remember when phone cameras were awful
Another thing that an smartphone is good for is automatic cloud upload.
I take a picture with my 4s, it uploads to my cloud, which automatically downloads to my computers and iPad without me even doing a thing.

 

[Big Mike]

There is no doubts regarding quality of iPhone 4s camera. I have got this and I can guarantee that this camera is delivering superb quality same as 8 mega pixels or 10 mega pixels of other brands phone. Just try it out..

Mega pixels are not a measure of quality. My 8MP DSLR is way, way better than any camera phone or P&S. :er:

 

[Gaerek]

Phone cameras currently have an average of 50% of the size of point and shoot cameras, which makes them have 50% image quality of point and shoot cameras, and not to say the lens factor, which point and shoots are much better.

This is a bit disingenuous to say. You can't really say 50% smaller = 50% less image quality. It simply doesn't work that way. All sensors and lenses aren't made equally. It is true, that all things being equal, a smaller sensor has less IQ than a larger sensor, but this isn't always the case. The iPhone 4S camera is actually very amazing, and is almost as good if not better than most P&S cameras. Here's a link to see for yourself.

How does the iPhone 4S camera stack-up against other cameras?

That website has comparison shots with all iPhone cameras since the original, plus a Canon S95, and a 5dmkii. The Canon S95 was one of their top of the line compacts, at about the time the 4S came out. It had a $399 suggested retail price (I've seen it as low as about $339 myself). From what my eye can tell, the 4S does almost as good, if not a better job than the S95 (nowhere close to the mythical 50% less quality you think there is). It appears sharper to my eyes. The 5dmkii looks the best, of course, but what's really amazing is that if I saw the 4S and 5d shots next to each other, and was told nothing about either photo, I would assume one was taken with a DSLR and the other with a higher end P&S or even entry level DSLR.

There's a lot of bias against camera phones because early cameras on phones absolutely sucked. But today, they are now the most used feature of phones, beyond making calls and text messaging. The phone companies aren't stupid, they know their camera can sell phones.