Mobile phone cameras?

dougan

dougan

Messages
1,379
Name
Dougie
Edit My Images
Yes
Must say I have been very impressed with the camera of my new Google Pixel phone.
Visited Scotney castle today, I lent my Son my Olympus OMd 10 which I would have used and just used my phone.
This is one straight off the phone, looks half decent to me?

IMG_20170805_125032.jpg
 
Try getting a pic of your kid running towards you in a poorly lit room, or even on a bright sunny day.

Fine for static subjects though.
 
Everything changes. Cant wait for a major breakthrough in sensor technology. It will happen sooner or later
 
Most half decent spec phones can take a good snapshot nowadays. But they're crap for low light mostly. Sure you can get a usable Facebook shot, because people only view them in small size, but blow them up a little and they're a noisy mess. Kids running about indoors in bad lighting? blur city.

The sensors are just tiny and can only handle so much information. The camera on my phone is above the average, but I use it maybe once a week, snap shots of the kids mostly. Whereas for anything else, I'll go to the extra bother of using a proper camera, shooting RAW and going through the processing ...er, process, because I feel it's worth it to get significantly better quality images.
 
Phones tend to do a lot of the work for us, even so far as to slightly edit them in post before we do "Final touches" Most phones now will shoot HDR and be ready for any use at pretty much all times. The only downside I find with Phones is a lack of Manual shutter speeds, 9I know you can get an app, but im lazy and like to moan :) )

As always though, it always comes back to the basics, User, location, weather, Lighting. If any combination of those are crap no matter how good a phone is, it won't be getting good images.

Nice image though, looks like it was a lovely day!
 
dougan said:
Must say I have been very impressed with the camera of my new Google Pixel phone.
Visited Scotney castle today, I lent my Son my Olympus OMd 10 which I would have used and just used my phone.
This is one straight off the phone, looks half decent to me?

IMG_20170805_125032.jpg
Click to expand...

It seems to have balanced the exposure between the sky and foreground really well. I agree with what @Cagey75 said as i tend to do the same. Having said that, i've got a fortnight off work and i've banned myself from using the dslr when i'm out with the missus and kids. The last time i was off, i had the dslr with me everywhere we went and it spoilt spending quality time with them. That's another reason the phone comes in handy just to be able to take a quick shot and quickly edit it later as oppose to sitting in front of the pc for a couple of hours.
 
My experience of mobile phone cameras mirrors what others have said - good in good light and good on static subjects. This is certainly true of the iPhones that I use, just don't pixel peep on a proper monitor - you'll be disappointed.

However, I was commissioned by O2 to shoot the Samsung S7 last year as part of the launch and was very impressed at how good it was in low light, way better than the IPhone 5 I had then, and better than the 7 I have now. Granted, the pictures weren't as good as those off the proper cameras I took as well, but I was highly impressed.
These were the ones taken using the S7:
http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/london-road-fire-station-samsung

http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/crossness-pumping-station
 
EddyWelbz said:
Phones tend to do a lot of the work for us, even so far as to slightly edit them in post before we do "Final touches" Most phones now will shoot HDR and be ready for any use at pretty much all times. The only downside I find with Phones is a lack of Manual shutter speeds, 9I know you can get an app, but im lazy and like to moan :) )

As always though, it always comes back to the basics, User, location, weather, Lighting. If any combination of those are crap no matter how good a phone is, it won't be getting good images.

Nice image though, looks like it was a lovely day!
Click to expand...
My Honor 8 even has manual shooting mode built in. The small lenses and small sensors will never collect enough light in low light situations.
 
Furtim said:
Guy makes a post saying he's happy how his phone performed.
Forum corrects him on how crap phone cameras really are.
Click to expand...

It's a photography forum, what do you expect? He left a ? on end, seemed like he wanted some input.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
My experience of mobile phone cameras mirrors what others have said - good in good light and good on static subjects. This is certainly true of the iPhones that I use, just don't pixel peep on a proper monitor - you'll be disappointed.

However, I was commissioned by O2 to shoot the Samsung S7 last year as part of the launch and was very impressed at how good it was in low light, way better than the IPhone 5 I had then, and better than the 7 I have now. Granted, the pictures weren't as good as those off the proper cameras I took as well, but I was highly impressed.
These were the ones taken using the S7:
http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/london-road-fire-station-samsung

http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/crossness-pumping-station
Click to expand...
I'm pretty surprised how good the camera on my S7 is for general shots, even indoors.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
My experience of mobile phone cameras mirrors what others have said - good in good light and good on static subjects. This is certainly true of the iPhones that I use, just don't pixel peep on a proper monitor - you'll be disappointed.

However, I was commissioned by O2 to shoot the Samsung S7 last year as part of the launch and was very impressed at how good it was in low light, way better than the IPhone 5 I had then, and better than the 7 I have now. Granted, the pictures weren't as good as those off the proper cameras I took as well, but I was highly impressed.
These were the ones taken using the S7:
http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/london-road-fire-station-samsung

http://www.theviewfromthenorth.org/crossness-pumping-station
Click to expand...
I'm pretty surprised how good the camera on my S7 is for general shots, even indoors.
dougan said:
Must say I have been very impressed with the camera of my new Google Pixel phone.
Visited Scotney castle today, I lent my Son my Olympus OMd 10 which I would have used and just used my phone.
This is one straight off the phone, looks half decent to me?

IMG_20170805_125032.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks like a decent shot to me.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Yes, input on the image, not how crap phone cameras are.
Click to expand...

You may go back and read again, I said "crap for low light" - there's a difference. And they are! It's not like anyone could be offended over it. We all have 'smart' phones. If they were good enough we wouldn't bother with pricey cameras. It would be a done and dusted thread if we just went, "nice phone pic" .... nowt wrong with discussion. I was more continuing on from other posts rather than the Op's for starters anyway.
 
Last edited:
Cagey75 said:
You may go back and read again, I said "crap for low light" - there's a difference. And they are! It's not like anyone could be offended over it. We all have 'smart' phones. If they were good enough we wouldn't bother with pricey cameras. It would be a done and dusted thread if we just went, "nice phone pic" .... nowt wrong with discussion. I was more continuing on from other posts rather than the Op's for starters anyway.
Click to expand...

Actually, I thought the S7 was pretty good in low light. Not as good as a proper camera and rather noisy, but after my first shoot which I did on a tripod, I did the second hand held. These were situations which would require probably Iso800 and above on a proper camera - so not terribly high ISO by today's astronomical standards, but for something that relies on a small sensor and software witchcraft it's not bad at all.
 
My phone camera is pretty poor but my Mrs has a more modern one as do all her friends and I have to say that on their phones and tablets pictures can look very good indeed but once on the pc any problems and limitations are there to be seen if I look close enough. The OP's picture looks nice but may do so at least in part as it's a small picture and maybe pictures look good on phones and tablets because they have good screens.

Anyway, I think that phone cameras are pretty good these days and the pictures can look really good on the phone, on a tablet and also when printed a reasonable size too.
 
Last edited:
I have a Cubot Note S phone that I bought through Aliexpress. It' s only a 3G phone.
However, we were on holiday in Cala En Porter, Menorca and I took five shots of the bay from the road called Passeig Maritim.
Using Hugin, I've stitched the five shots together to produce this. The only criticism that I have of the stitching is that the bottom of the wall in the foreground has not lined up properly.
Have a look and see what you think. Not bad for a £60 phone?
Cala7.jpg
 
Last edited:
A phone camera is a tool, sure it has limitations but work around those, use the light and you'll still get good images.

Its the old adage - a decent photographer with a lesser camera can always get better photos than a poor photographer with the best kit going :)

As for phone cameras, yes they are limit by the laws of physics. Where we are really seeing improvement alongside the limited hardware is the built in default processing that is getting better at fixing and hiding said shortfalls. The software involved is protected far more by phone / tech companies than the hardware!
 
Last edited:
Cagey75 said:
Sure you can get a usable Facebook shot, .
Click to expand...


Most people shooting with a phone are doing so for facebook (any social media) so job done...no need for a camera.... when i go on holiday or days/weekend out.. my missus has a decent phone and i take a pocket camera and the only time any pics are seen are social media..... and as we know any old tripe can look good at that size :)
 
Smart phones are getting better there is no doubting the technology advances.
The Author only stated that he je thought his photo look pretty decent. I agree with him it does.
The photo is of course decent enough for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, What's App etc.
The problem comes if you want to crop of print the photo. Then the limitations come to light, noise, small sensor, dynamic range etc.
The smart phone company's are not competing directly with DSLR's or mirrorless as not everyone can afford one or owns one. I use my my S4 and now S7 camera alot. As it is always with me my bad boy camera isn't !

As amateur photographers we should be showing what our bad boy gear can do over smart phones.
I was at a wedding earlier this year and lots of people took photos on their smart phones, and some were bloody good. Even the function of taking pre photos before you press the button. This gave a gif file effect. While impressive a gif file can not go in a photo album, and most of smart phone photos only looked good on the gorgeous smart phone screen. When cropped or enlarged the IQ was apparent.
I look for the same features on a smart phone camera as i do a dslr, AF, IQ dynamic range. Most pro togs put the their 30+ megapixel photo on social media to promote their work. They actually down size the out put file in LR for social media. Smart phones bridge that gap, take the photo, tweek in phone, post on social media.
So is the authors photo good enough for social media, of course it is !
 
People say decent cameras are expensive so people use their iPhone 7 or Galaxy s8 (or whatever they're on now), I can't help notice how much *more* these cost than a decent DSLR and lens?!
 
Last edited:
odd jim said:
People say decent cameras are expensive so people use their iPhone 7 or Galaxy s8 (or whatever they're on now), I can't help notice how much *more* these cost than a decent DSLR and lens?!
Click to expand...
Agreed, I moved to having a dedicated camera because the limits of phone cameras were starting to irritate me, particularly the focal lengths. Since getting a DSLR and spending the time to learn how to use it, I have also bought a compact zoom camera to go in my pocket. From now on, I will ignore the cameras on future phone purchases and save money.
 
I think phone cameras have there place, I have a Samsung s7 and the camera is great. I can take a snap (because that's generally what it is) and put it on to social media within a minute. But it'll never replace the quality and functionality of a dedicated camera, whether that be a dslr, bridge or compact.

Edit: One good thing that has come about because of the availability of phone cameras is more people are taking photos and some of those people are then buying dedicated cameras, this should be a good thing, not just for the camera manufacturers (although I'm sure they're happy), but photography in general.
 
Last edited:
odd jim said:
People say decent cameras are expensive so people use their iPhone 7 or Galaxy s8 (or whatever they're on now), I can't help notice how much *more* these cost than a decent DSLR and lens?!
Click to expand...

Ah but can you make a call or send a message with a DSLR? ;)
 
odd jim said:
Why on earth would you want to??
Click to expand...

Because for a similar amount of money you'd pay for the DSLR and lens many people have and leave at home much of the time you can call, TXT, send emails, surf the next, shoot vid or take pictures with a device that many people carry everywhere and if perfectly good enough for casual stuff and social media etc. And they're getting better.
 
woof woof said:
Because for a similar amount of money you'd pay for the DSLR and lens many people have and leave at home much of the time you can call, TXT, send emails, surf the next, shoot vid or take pictures with a device that many people carry everywhere and if perfectly good enough for casual stuff and social media etc. And they're getting better.
Click to expand...

I know all that, that wasn't the issue the issue was price (I won't go into the physics, long lenses, shallow DOF, ergonomics / handling etc etc as that's been done to death)

And I don't want my camera to interrupt me with a spam call when I'm trying to compose a shot.

But I also think the joy with a DSLR / mirrorless etc is that you **don't** have it on you all the time, that's a good thing! You take it out when you want to absorb yourself in your hobby, shoot something worthwhile, drive somewhere specifically to use it, an event. Not just him drum day to day stuff. Since when did we all aspire to be reportage photographers all of a sudden?
 
Last edited:
odd jim said:
I know all that, that wasn't the issue the issue was price (I won't go into the physics, long lenses, shallow DOF, ergonomics / handling etc etc as that's been done to death)

And I don't want my camera to interrupt me with a spam call when I'm trying to compose a shot.

But I also think the joy with a DSLR / mirrorless etc is that you **don't** have it on you all the time, that's a good thing! You take it out when you want to absorb yourself in your hobby, shoot something worthwhile, drive somewhere specifically to use it, an event. Not just him drum day to day stuff. Since when did we all aspire to be reportage photographers all of a sudden?
Click to expand...

I like "photography" too but me, you and other here are not representative of the general population who will not put a DSLR+lens into their hand bag, man bag or back pocket :D and I think we're reaching a point where phone cameras are easily good enough for many people. I only have to look at the pictures my Mrs and her family and friends send each other, on their phones and pads many of the pictures look nothing short of excellent and many people just don't need more and even people like us who use cameras can think...

dougan said:
Must say I have been very impressed with the camera of my new Google Pixel phone.
Visited Scotney castle today, I lent my Son my Olympus OMd 10 which I would have used and just used my phone.
This is one straight off the phone, looks half decent to me?
Click to expand...

Wasn't that the point of the thread?
 
woof woof said:
I like "photography" too but me, you and other here are not representative of the general population who will not put a DSLR+lens into their hand bag, man bag or back pocket :D and I think we're reaching a point where phone cameras are easily good enough for many people. I only have to look at the pictures my Mrs and her family and friends send each other, on their phones and pads many of the pictures look nothing short of excellent and many people just don't need more and even people like us who use cameras can think...
Click to expand...

I don't disagree they are more than enough for Joe Average, look at the shots you used to get from the little 110 compacts, what we have in our phones now is much better. Have I been impressed by a phone shot of late? Very rarely, even with flagship phone tech. The only ones I've looked at at and thought they were half decent are a few on the mobile phone thread on here. Most I see (on FB and Flickr) are pretty dire, from both a technical standpoint and an overall photographic standpoint. But I guess thats the difference between a lot of casual users and photographers who work to the limits of the camera and actually think about the image rather than some dross just for FB.

On a side note, at work, we have been issued MS Lumia phones that have replaced the little compacts we used for evidential photography amongst other functions (yes, you read that right, though DSLRs are still used for the serious stuff!), and I can tell you after the sun goes down, its nearly impossible to get anything worthwhile. The old Nikon compacts we were issued back in 2009 are better and more useful :)
 
Last edited:
odd jim said:
Why on earth would you want to??
Click to expand...

Well I was merely joking implying that the reason behind the cost is the additional features which ironically are actually what a phone is supposed to be for rather than a camera/computer/radio etc.
Phones are incredibly expensive these days however I feel that most people don't buy a phone for its photography,it's just an additional bonus and another thing for companies to help sell a product.However the technology is improving with them and you can take good pictures with them. I use my phone for a host of things however I don't use it for photography, if I want to go out with the sole purpose of taking pictures I will take the DSLR.The cameras on phones are ideal for social media etc however most platforms (Facebook,instagram etc) dramatically reduce the quality of pictures anyway so in that instance the quality is kind of irrelevant to a point anyway if it's only going to get lowered when you upload a picture.
 
samp09 said:
Well I was merely joking .
Click to expand...

You should know you can't joke on the internet ;)

Mobile phone cameras give people a chance to share their daily lives, their holidays and their dreams and ideas, there are some excellent shots out there and there are some crap one, much like DSLRs, SLRs, Mirrorless, compacts. MPP still follows the same principles as its forbearers, that if you stop and compose your image, take time to "set the stage" if you will, then you're going to get some great shots. The reason many people don't do that is simply because they don't have the knowledge or time,

Phones allow us a quick snapshot and can update people as to work that is coming from DSLRs, they're here to stay and will be getting better, I doubt they'll surpass DSLRs any time soon but hey, no one thought Trump could be president eh ;)
 
EddyWelbz said:
You should know you can't joke on the internet ;)

Mobile phone cameras give people a chance to share their daily lives, their holidays and their dreams and ideas, there are some excellent shots out there and there are some crap one, much like DSLRs, SLRs, Mirrorless, compacts. MPP still follows the same principles as its forbearers, that if you stop and compose your image, take time to "set the stage" if you will, then you're going to get some great shots. The reason many people don't do that is simply because they don't have the knowledge or time,

Phones allow us a quick snapshot and can update people as to work that is coming from DSLRs, they're here to stay and will be getting better, I doubt they'll surpass DSLRs any time soon but hey, no one thought Trump could be president eh ;)
Click to expand...
I did lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top