I'm always wondering if my bulky equipment will soon be replaced with a pocket-sized camera that will do the same thing. I'm sure it will happen the moment I upgrade to the giant $5000 pro camera with all the bells and whistles. Here's an interesting article I found on a really cool website called ars technica.
Can the iPhone 4S replace a "real" digital camera?
Clockwise
from top left: Olympus XZ-1 point and shoot, Canon 20D DSLR with EF-S
10-22mm lens, iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy SII. Photo taken with an iPhone
4.
When Apple announced the iPhone 4S, the company certainly
talked up the improvements made to the smartphone's integrated camera
hardware. With 8 megapixels of resolution, a redesigned lens, and
enhancements to its software, it certainly meets or exceeds the needs of
most casual shooters.
Still, we here at Ars have received plenty of questions to the effect
of, "can the iPhone 4S replace a 'real' camera?" That's actually a hard
question to answer, because individual needs vary widely. Would a
professional photographer replace her trusty DSLR with an iPhone 4S? No.
But, might a casual snap shooter replace a pocket camera with an iPhone
4S? It's pretty likely.
Making a decision to ditch your camera
for a smartphone is always going to be a matter of personal preference
and a trade-off between convenience versus quality. With that in mind,
we set out with a stable of cameras to give as fair a comparison as
possible. Along with an iPhone 4S, we also took sample shots with a 5MP
iPhone 4, an 8MP Samsung Galaxy SII, an 8MP Canon 20D, and a 10MP
Olympus XZ-1.
There are two things we did not do, however. For one, we didn't
compare every generation of iPhone. Camera+ developer Lisa Bettany
already put together a really thorough comparison already,
and suffice to say if you have anything older than an iPhone 4, be
prepared to be blown away with the results from an iPhone 4S. If you
already have an iPhone 4, the improvements to image quality are a little
more subtle. But as we noted in our iPhone 4S review,
the speed of the camera hardware and software is significantly
improved; this alone is a significant factor that improves usability.
A photo taken with each generation of iPhone, from the original 2MP fixed focus iPhone to the 8MP autofocus iPhone 4S.
The other thing we didn't do was compare the video capabilities of
the iPhone 4S. We already found the iPhone 4's 720p recording ability to
be sufficient for casual use, and at least one filmmaker managed to shoot an entire film
using iPhone 4s. The iPhone 4S steps that up to 1080p resolution, and
some curious filmmakers at Robino Films found that in static, well-lit
scenes, it compares favorably
to a Canon 5D mkII. Rolling shutter effects will be a problem, and
lowlight shooting introduces some artifacts, but overall the hardware
performs well shooting video.
iPhone 4S / Canon 5D mkII Side by Side Comparison
What we were interested in was evaluating the iPhone 4S as a
still camera that could possibly replace a 'real' digital camera. To
try and keep things as fair as possible, our Canon 20D was outfitted
with a Canon 10-22mm EF-S lens was set to 22mm (a roughly 35mm
equivalent) and left at f/4.5. Exposure was set automatically using
aperture priority, just as most smartphones do. ISO was set manually
(the 20D doesn't have auto ISO available in aperture priority mode) but
was set to our best guess for the situation at hand.
Likewise, the Olympus was put into aperture priority mode, with its
aperture set to f/2.5—similar to the smartphones we compared against.
ISO was set automatically, and the lens was left all the way at the wide
end—roughly 28mm focal length equivalent.
We took a series of subjects in a couple different lighting
scenarios: flowers in outdoor lighting, a building at sunset, and some
shots in very low indoor lighting at home and at a bar. We'll show you
our comparison shots, noting the performance in each case as well as
considering what each device was like to carry, pull out, set up, and
take each shot.
Outdoors
We took our band of cameras outside during a brisk autumn afternoon
with a clear blue sky to capture some images in bright light. First up
is a series of photos taken of a flower arrangement.
Left: iPhone 4S, 1/3500 f/2.4 ISO80. Right: iPhone 4, 1/1150 f/2.8 ISO64.
Left: iPhone 4S. Right: Samsung Galaxy SII, 1/1400 f/2.6 ISO32.
Left: iPhone 4S. Right: Olympus XZ-1, 1/2000 f/2.5 ISO100.
Left: iPhone 4S. Right: Canon 20D, 1/1000 f/4.5 ISO100.
Here you can see the cameras capturing lots of color. Directly
comparing the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 4 in the first image, there are
two important factors to notice about the improved camera: a greater
dynamic range and a tendency to keep colors—especially reds—from
over-saturating.
Apple claims to have improved white balance in the 4S, and as such,
its images tend to be a little less cold in regular lighting; they show a
little less yellow (as we'll see later) under indoor tungsten lighting
compared to the iPhone 4. It's difficult to say for sure why these
improvements couldn't be passed on to the iPhone 4 with software, but
it's likely that the white balance improvements are at least partially
due to the new 8MP sensor and its hybrid IR filter.
Our relatively high-end point-and-shoot, the Olympus XZ-1,
over-exposed the image quite a bit. It's hard to say what tripped up its
exposure system, but suffice it to say, having a more expensive "real"
camera doesn't automatically guarantee better results. The XZ-1 has the
benefit of offering a variety of manual controls, including ISO
adjustments, exposure compensation, and manual exposure control that
would let us dial in a better exposure if that's what we wanted.
The iPhone 4S, on the other hand, has no such control. Tapping around
different areas of the viewfinder will bias the auto-exposure system
for that particular part of the image, however, so there is a way to
slightly override it. Still, we found that iPhone would generally nail
the exposure about nine times out of ten without intervention.
At screen sizes, there really isn't much difference between the
iPhone 4S, the Galaxy SII, and the Canon 20D. We note that the exposure
and dynamic range of the Galaxy SII is more like the iPhone 4, while the
Canon 20D's rendering is more like that of the iPhone 4S.
100 percent crop of flower images. From left to right: iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy SII, Olympus XZ-1, Canon 20D.
Looking closer at 100 percent crops of each image—pixel peepers
rejoice!—the differences are still subtle, but the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
are clearly noisier than the Olympus or the Canon. The Galaxy SII shows
signs of aggressive noise reduction that leaves odd artifacts, though
at screen sizes or in smaller prints, these won't likely be noticeable.
Both the iPhone 4S and Canon 20D show a little blurriness, but given the
high winds on that particular day, I attribute this to a bit of motion
blur, as other details in the image are sharp.
Photography and Article by Chris Foresman
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