Apple iPhone 3G S camera gets some major upgrades, still lame
Apple announced the next version of its insanely popular iPhone, but the camera is still sad and lame.
While every new product announcement from Cupertino, CA based Apple is treated like something akin to aliens landing on Earth and giving us futuristic technology, there is no denying that the iPhone camera is still a bit of a joke. For all of the technical wonders of the iPhone, how can they still get away with bumping the camera up to 3-megapixels and have consumers think this is wonderful?
The camera did get some very important upgrades in the software field this time with the addition of auto-focus, automatic handling of exposure, white balance and better low-light sensitivity. The new software also has a “tap to focus” feature which allow the user to tap the portion of the screen they wish to focus more tightly on, and the camera will do so before taking the shot.
The biggest upgrade came with the addition that the phone can finally use the camera to shoot video. It will take video at 30 frames per second in VGA quality, which you can then edit on the iPhone itself and send it via email or text to friends, upload it to YouTube and so on.
While Apple is obviously not trying to cater to the professional photographer, or even the serious hobbyist, 3-megapixels is almost insulting in this day and age for even the most casual photographer. There have been rumors floating around that the company is buying up 5-megapixel lenses for an unknown product in the fall (either the iPod Touch is getting a camera, or it will be the rumors 10-inch tablet-like device the company is working on), and while that is slightly better, it still isn’t anything to write home about.
We reported previously on the rumors that Apple might be getting back into digital photography, but if this is the best the company can offer, I think it is safe to say that those stories will firmly stay in the land of rumors.
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June 22nd, 2009
Why would you want to push more than 3 Megapixels onto a sensor the size of a pea? You’re not going to get an increase in quality — probably the opposite, in fact — so what’s the point?
It’s a fairly major step up from the original camera, but is by no means perfect or brilliant. What do you expect from a phone camera with its tiny optics so close to its tiny sensor? You really think Megapixels == Quality still?
July 3rd, 2009
Agreed; 3 megapixels is perfectly fine for a camera phone; I’m not expecting a Nikon D3x to be built into it. A decent lens costs as much or more than the price of the phone. From the samples I’ve seen, the 3GS appears capable of taking perfectly decent pictures for a camera phone. 3 MP is perfectly adequate for web use, which is what the vast majority of pictures shot with the phone will be used for. Is anyone going to try to make a 16×24 print using their iPhone?
I’ll also agree with Gareth’s comment about more pixels not necessarily meaning higher quality. Consumer point and shoot cameras have actually declined in quality in recent years, IMO, because they’re trying to pack a huge number of pixels onto a tiny sensor strictly for marketing purposes.
July 6th, 2009
I’m no physicist specializing in optics, but I’m pretty sure that the autofocus feature is not simply a software thing. I’m trying to figure out how it works though (are there any moving parts in there?)