Live data from Hacker News

iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

austinmann.com

61–70 of 294 posts

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#61
post #35

I feel for the compact camera manufacturers. Smartphones killed the 2/3" sensor market. Now they've killed the 1" sensor market too. Micro 4/3 is stale with no major sensor advancements for years now. What's left, APS-C and up?

I feel for all camera manufacturers. Why isn't there a Canon or Nikon or Sony cloud service where photos are sent to? Why haven't the big camera companies embraced computation in their cameras? Do DSLR bodies even have GPS capabilities for tagging photos? It feels like there's no innovation in the camera space outside of Apple and Google.

I posted about this in another thread here but I think it's basically about the larger sensor sizes causes ridiculous CPU demands. Consider how even on an iPhone 11 with a tiny sensor, you need a 7 nm CPU with dedicated AI circuitry to do it seamlessly and with maintained battery life. That feels like a mountain to climb for them, and then their sensor problem isn't even solved.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#62
I think the iPhone 11 makes some good advances as outlined in the linked article, but a lot of the pictures didn't particularly wow me at all from a camera capabilities perspective. A bunch of the images at the top of the article are nice, but that is entirely due to the photographer's skill at composing aesthetically pleasing shots and have little to do with the actual capabilities of the iPhone 11.

As someone who owned the LG G3 years ago, and absolutely loved the wide-angle lens on that phone, most of these pictures would look identical. I guess the point I am making is that while it's exciting to have a wide-angle lens on the iPhone 11, it doesn't in any way move the bar compared to what's been out there for a while.

Where the iPhone 11 has improved drastically, is with night mode shots, and that's somewhere it has been lacking substantially compared to the competition. They've done a really good job catching up and maybe even surpassing the competition in some areas. Kudos to them for that.

That being said, you aren't going to get great prints out of night mode images for anything much larger than post-card sized prints with the iPhone 11 (or any other smart phone camera to be honest). I love the image of the person in the boat at dusk, but even at the size displayed, you can see a bunch of artifacts from noise reduction. As much as everyone loves to hate on DSLRs these days, you are going to get much cleaner images in these light starved environments with a large sensor and good lens. I personally think it's absurd to make that comparison, but I just had to say this because every article about the latest smartphone camera ends up having a bunch of comments about how they are superior to DSLRs at this point (which they are on the computational photography side of things, but good luck getting clean, large prints out of a phone camera, especially in low-light situations)

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#63
post #3

Beautiful photos, but why is the Exif scrubbed? I would have liked to see details.

By the way, what happens to exif when you upload online (or also fb or instagram)? Does it get removed or can everyone see my location?

Facebook will usually resize the photo, which ditches most of the EXIF information I think. You can be damn sure that facebook are tracking your location though.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#64
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for all camera manufacturers. Why isn't there a Canon or Nikon or Sony cloud service where photos are sent to? Why haven't the big camera companies embraced computation in their cameras? Do DSLR bodies even have GPS capabilities for tagging photos? It feels like there's no innovation in the camera space outside of Apple and Google.

I posted about this in another thread here but I think it's basically about the larger sensor sizes causes ridiculous CPU demands. Consider how even on an iPhone 11 with a tiny sensor, you need a 7 nm CPU with dedicated AI circuitry to do it seamlessly and with maintained battery life. That feels like a mountain to climb for them, and then their sensor problem isn't even solved.

The iPhone 11 Pro can simultaneously record streams from all four cameras.

Those larger sensors have larger pixels and the CPU demands aren't going to be all that great.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#65
post #8
post #4

The photography in these kinds of reviews is amazing, and the camera looks pretty stellar compared to the XS, but I find myself reading them wondering if it will make my pictures any better. I'm a mediocre photographer at best, and I'm certainly not going to be able to capture many images like the ones in this review.

John Gruber and Matthew Panzerino have good reviews in this respect. Very regular shots. Panzerino does year on year comparisons at Disneyland with his family. https://daringfireball.net/2019/09/the_iphone_11_and_iphones... https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/17/iphone-11-pro-disney-after...

The techcrunch review in particular is pretty well done. Almost makes me want to go trade in my 7+ on a new 11 Pro.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#66
post #48
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DSLR manufacturers already have compact mirrorless to catch up with. Now only if the mirrorless moguls would recognize the potential of ehnancing their comparatively giant APS-C sensors with at least half the computational photography wits of modern camera phones, now that would be magnificent. Also, for me personally, the next waypoint for the phones should be the development of compact telephoto lenses -- it seems…

> would recognize the potential Oh I'm sure they've recognized the potential all right. But these smartphone manufacturers have massive software development departments with heaps of funds poured into AI research for multiple reasons other than this specific field, which is now really starting to benefit them. It's a different culture. And even if we assume a camera manufacturer would have the finances to build this…

> they capture much more information with their larger sensor sizes Most modern cameras are around 24 MPx irrespective of sensor size, this one is 3x12=36 MPx which is about the same total information content (or even less) given these 24 MPx have more bits per pixel.

Another point in case is that one could implement more in-camera techniques for collecting raw data for further offline processing, like focus stacking or aperture simulation which today require external hardware and a decent amount of skill.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#67

I think the iPhone 11 makes some good advances as outlined in the linked article, but a lot of the pictures didn't particularly wow me at all from a camera capabilities perspective. A bunch of the images at the top of the article are nice, but that is entirely due to the photographer's skill at composing aesthetically pleasing shots and have little to do with the actual capabilities of the iPhone 11. As someone who o…

thanks!

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#68
post #50
post #2

These night mode shots are seriously impressive. This might give DSLR manufacturers something to catch up with.

From a technical point of view I'm quite sure my >10 years old Rebel XSi will yield similar photos after editing the raw-file. If you are impressed by this you're probably not really following the tech, don't have any clue about image processing and are just blindly following what Apples advertising is selling you. Most of the "cool" iphone-pictures in non-optimal lighting are about 50% post-processing and they show…

You clearly didn't read the article (which covers the technical details of night mode). It's taking multiple exposures at different shutter speeds and combining together. Allowing you to take sharp photos with long exposure times, hand held. Your Rebel XSi (and even the latest Rebel) can't do that (although they have the advantage of a bigger sensor).

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#69
I have two requirements for camera: fast startup time from a standby to taking photos, and working touch exposure control. The majority of phones I've tested do not provide these. For some reason, on Oneplus 5 it works. I tested a newer model and it was worse. Sure, on a newer phone the photos are better for example resolution wise, but that's usually not the limiting factor.

I have some street photo / rangefinder hobby background where the idea is to not endlessly twiddle some knobs but be able to take technically decent enough photos quickly. No posing or setting up a still life but real events. When I carried a dedicated camera, it wasn't in a bag but in my neck, usually even without a lens cap. Fixed focal length lens, Canon Canonet or Panasonic GF. It's not necessary about automation or "AI" that helps you to be quick, but rather just less features and actual working interfaces.

Re: iPhone 11 Pro Camera Review

#70
post #35

I feel for the compact camera manufacturers. Smartphones killed the 2/3" sensor market. Now they've killed the 1" sensor market too. Micro 4/3 is stale with no major sensor advancements for years now. What's left, APS-C and up?

I feel for all camera manufacturers. Why isn't there a Canon or Nikon or Sony cloud service where photos are sent to? Why haven't the big camera companies embraced computation in their cameras? Do DSLR bodies even have GPS capabilities for tagging photos? It feels like there's no innovation in the camera space outside of Apple and Google.

My SonyAlpha can do all of that. Except for the gps, but the photos are tagged by the phone, so it's not an issue.
Post reply on HN