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Ars Technica iPhone, Galaxy SII, and Canon 20D, Olympus ZX-1 comparison

akugami

akugami

Diamond Member
Ars Technica article

Ars Technica iPhone, Galaxy SII, and Canon 20D, Olympus ZX-1 comparison.

Just thought it'd be interesting. The new line of camera phones actually does well as a quick point & shoot replacement IMHO.
 
A very interesting article. The iPhone 4S is impressive in this field. Having once owned a Canon 20D, I can appreciate the logistical efficiency of the iPhone.
 
I still carry my DSLR for set family outings to places like the beach, but just hanging around and stuff, I use my iPhone 4. It has almost completely replaced the need for a compact point & shoot camera. And the Samsung Galaxy SII is not bad either in the camera department.

The quality of the cameras on these two phones is probably going to be the norm for any mid to high priced phones in the upcoming year or two. Which is going to put a major hurt on traditional camera sellers like Canon, Nikon, and Olympus.

Obviously they're not going to beat a DSLR but for a 4x6 print in a generally well lit setting, it's more than adequate.
 
My Brother and his family shoot everything on their iphone4 (they only have one between them). They use their ip4 out of "necessity" because their old p&s broke and my brother is too cheap to buy his wife a new p&s. They are getting a p&s from me for Christmas. They go hiking a lot and I'm getting sick of seeing pictures of beautiful scenery captured on the mediocre ip4 camera.
 
Oh jeez. So this is going to result in a whole raft of 'iPhone is as good as DSLR' superlatives - and the usual people who don't actually do any research as to what they're comparing with will never realise it's a practically decade-old machine.

Yes, most modern cameraphones are getting decent, but even compact cameras will continue getting more decent - this is just nonsense.
 
The iphone 4s is not even the best camera phone, nevermind the ridiculous notion that it can ever compete with the XZ1 or a DSLR. Regardless of the test results, the typical iphone user will continue snapping away with the smug look like he was using something special, and the DSLR user will continue to laugh at the phone snapper.
 
Munky, just curious what you'd say was the best camera on a modern day phone? Most reviews I see show the iPhone 4 and 4S consistently as the best.

As far as mistaking the iPhone (or any phone camera) to a DSLR, I hope no one gets that impression. To me, it's just that for most situations where it's spur of the moment, a modern day phone camera is good enough to get the job done and still do it decently well. It's this niche that will help kill most compact point & shoot cameras IMHO. Obviously it won't hold a candle to a DSLR, or even a nice P&S camera when not in well lit areas or when speed is needed. We also have to remember the adage that the best camera is the one you have on you.
 
akugami said:
Munky, just curious what you'd say was the best camera on a modern day phone? Most reviews I see show the iPhone 4 and 4S consistently as the best.

As far as mistaking the iPhone (or any phone camera) to a DSLR, I hope no one gets that impression. To me, it's just that for most situations where it's spur of the moment, a modern day phone camera is good enough to get the job done and still do it decently well. It's this niche that will help kill most compact point & shoot cameras IMHO. Obviously it won't hold a candle to a DSLR, or even a nice P&S camera when not in well lit areas or when speed is needed. We also have to remember the adage that the best camera is the one you have on you.
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The Nokia N8 has the best camera phone. I don't believe the phone will kill the P&S market any more than I believe the tablet will kill the PC market. At best, the phone is the camera of last resort since it's almost always on you, but many people still don't use smart phones or prefer a more capable P&S camera.
 
Munky said:
The Nokia N8 has the best camera phone. I don't believe the phone will kill the P&S market any more than I believe the tablet will kill the PC market. At best, the phone is the camera of last resort since it's almost always on you, but many people still don't use smart phones or prefer a more capable P&S camera.
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Wasn't aware of the Nokia N8's camera. Damned nice. Wouldn't have noticed it because I haven't owned a Symbian phone since the N95.


Not saying that camera phones are going to completely kill the P&S market but it's going to put a major hurt on them. Enough to potentially turn it into a niche market where the compact point & shoot phones are pretty much dead and only the higher end P&S are left.

Smartphones are still in the minority, but as we go further and further forward, smartphones are going to be the norm rather than the exception. Think of it this way, there are an increasing amount of Android phones out now that occupy the $50-100 range on contract. The better cameras (roughly on par with the Samsung and the iPhone) on phones are going to trickle down and get cheaper and cheaper.

I think it's also important to remember that to the average consumer, the picture quality is "good enough" even though more critical eyes such as yours may not find it so. Most consumers probably won't print a picture larger than 4x6 and they are blind to the subtle details you might instantly pick out.

I had a cousin in law who had an early digital camera that took sub-megapixel pictures about 10 years ago and was absolutely horrid IMHO. That was the camera he used to take pictures of his kids. I kept telling him he was better off with a 35mm film camera. The pictures would come out sharper and with more detail. His response was that he was printing it on a small prints anyways, the details don't matter. Sad but true and I think it's indicative of general consumers towards cameras.
 
Munky said:
The iphone 4s is not even the best camera phone, nevermind the ridiculous notion that it can ever compete with the XZ1 or a DSLR. Regardless of the test results, the typical iphone user will continue snapping away with the smug look like he was using something special, and the DSLR user will continue to laugh at the phone snapper.
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This is the problem with most tech comparsions by the Apple-added these days I find. They don't compare on the basis of anything else being better. They start by assuming the Apple item is amazing and then rig everything else to make it seem that way. Morons. To even begin to compare that XZ-1 with the iPhone camera is a 24-carat joke, even for a 'snapper'.
 
I think people are interpreting these types of articles wrong. It's not saying, "Hey! Look the iPhone 4S is just as good as a DSLR" but more of a "Hey! Look at how advance tiny phone cameras have become"


This thread just seems to have a bunch of Apple hate in it :\
 
alfa147x said:
I think people are interpreting these types of articles wrong. It's not saying, "Hey! Look the iPhone 4S is just as good as a DSLR" but more of a "Hey! Look at how advance tiny phone cameras have become"


This thread just seems to have a bunch of Apple hate in it :\
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No, more the sort of moron who puts anything Apple front and center. The company or the product is not in dispute - the iPhone 4S is a very good cellphone camera, but that's *all* it is. To do the comparison the way it was done highlights the Apple-uber-alles nature of the writers. Apple itself is not the problem, at least not directly.
 
vbuggy said:
No, more the sort of moron who puts anything Apple front and center. The company or the product is not in dispute - the iPhone 4S is a very good cellphone camera, but that's *all* it is. To do the comparison the way it was done highlights the Apple-uber-alles nature of the writers. Apple itself is not the problem, at least not directly.
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I disagree. It's simply a comparison.
 
alfa147x said:
I disagree. It's simply a comparison.
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There's a difference between a comparison and trying to tell your own story through a "comparison".

It's kind of the difference between trained journalists and bloggers / op-ed types for example.

As far as 'pretty awesome for a cellphone' goes, we've been seeing the same things said about the leading products since years ago. I had a Sony Ericsson W800 which had a much-lauded camera at the time (about '05). But once again, a similar-megapixel'd compact from a few years prior to that, let alone a compact available at the same time, would have knocked the stuffing out of it and I never used it for taking anything truly worthwhile.

I refer you back to what I said about modern cameraphones getting decent.
 
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One of the biggest things to look at is the amount of noise with low light. Watch the video the 5DII vs iPhone 4s

The iP4s has more noise but no where near what you would expect a cellphone to do
 
vbuggy said:
<steeples fingers>

What if I was? Where would you say the key components for image quality are in a camera?
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Wow. Any argument you were trying to make just flew out the window if you base megapixel count for image quality.
 
dougp said:
Wow. Any argument you were trying to make just flew out the window if you base megapixel count for image quality.
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Of freakin' course not.

Alfa's response was a typical 'let's pick out a particular detail in a post then raise issue with it' of the fanboi, so since he raised the point, I asked what he would say to a "megapixel guy" - which I thought would give both him and me more context as to why the article is approached in the manner I said it was.

Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a mind of his own, preferring quotes. A shame.
 
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Offhandedly, it appears to me that there has been a more rapid improvement to cell-phone cameras compared to typical P&S cameras in the last 5 years.

I'm not sure what the ceiling for cell-phone cameras could be in the near future, but they sure seem to be getting some reasonable shots.
 
CuriousMike said:
Offhandedly, it appears to me that there has been a more rapid improvement to cell-phone cameras compared to typical P&S cameras in the last 5 years.

I'm not sure what the ceiling for cell-phone cameras could be in the near future, but they sure seem to be getting some reasonable shots.
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It's hard not to get that feeling when you do look at the cameraphone shots in isolation.Some do let the enthusiasm run away though, especially when it's made by the fruit-flavored corporate they slobber over.

I happened to find a well-reviewed 2005-era bridge camera not so long ago and I compared to one of my present-day P&S's - and really, no contest in any shape or form. And no, we're not talking megapixels.
 
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CuriousMike said:
Offhandedly, it appears to me that there has been a more rapid improvement to cell-phone cameras compared to typical P&S cameras in the last 5 years.

I'm not sure what the ceiling for cell-phone cameras could be in the near future, but they sure seem to be getting some reasonable shots.
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My roommate bought a P&S recently so he can take pictures of some materials for school (Middle school teacher). I can't remember the last time I used one. They really haven't evolved like DSLRs and phones have.
 
That comparison of a key of all iPhone generations is flawed. This comment said it best:

Andrew Reid said:
Sorry but I can't get away from the vested interest aspect of this kind of test. The 4S shots are warmer and prioritised. The 5D Mk II is ungraded and handled with a lack of inspiration. The 3G iPhone shots aren't even focussed on the key. I am sure they don't focus as closely but the test is designed to make the difference between the 3G and 4S as large as possible and as close as possible between 4S and 5D, which makes for an inaccurate advert for the 4S and a rather cynical marketing attempt. Quite shameful really.
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