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Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

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Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably shaky hands indeed. While not indicative of real-world use, comparison shots like this, IMHO, should be done with a stand... unless the only variable being tested is "likelihood of shakiness due to camera(phone) form factor."

I generally agree with you, except in this case one of the specs they touted in the iPhone announcement event was capture speed. It captures much faster than the iPhone 4, and would be a good explanation as to why the 4s appears less shaky.

Except it doesn't. It's the shakiest of the three.

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably shaky hands indeed. While not indicative of real-world use, comparison shots like this, IMHO, should be done with a stand... unless the only variable being tested is "likelihood of shakiness due to camera(phone) form factor."

I generally agree with you, except in this case one of the specs they touted in the iPhone announcement event was capture speed. It captures much faster than the iPhone 4, and would be a good explanation as to why the 4s appears less shaky.

I don't think capture speed has any effect on the sharpness of the image, sharpness is more down to the lens/shutter speed, I'm assuming the "speed" touted by Apple refers to the startup time of the camera app as well as the responsiveness of the UI and the ability to take consecutive shots faster.

Looking at the shots again, it does seem that the sharpest image, that of the original iPhone 4, is also the noisiest, iPhone4 autoexposure set it to high-iso/fast shutter I suppose?

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#15
post #2

iPhone 4S produces more accurate colors. Overall, I'm delighted how great the image quality if for all cell phones; astonishing how far we've come in just a few years.

I've found the built in white balance compensation to be quite poor in Android.

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#16
post #13

Who exactly is robert scoble, and what is his claim to fame? His name seems to come up somewhat frequently

He does excellent interviews with startup founders, which he posts on G+ and also on http://www.building43.com and http://scobleizer.com/.

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#18
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally agree with you, except in this case one of the specs they touted in the iPhone announcement event was capture speed. It captures much faster than the iPhone 4, and would be a good explanation as to why the 4s appears less shaky.

I don't think capture speed has any effect on the sharpness of the image, sharpness is more down to the lens/shutter speed, I'm assuming the "speed" touted by Apple refers to the startup time of the camera app as well as the responsiveness of the UI and the ability to take consecutive shots faster. Looking at the shots again, it does seem that the sharpest image, that of the original iPhone 4, is also the noisiest, i…

Yes, that's definitely the cause here. The iPhone 4 Picture is much darker, meaning it was made with a higher shutter speed and therefore is much shaper when holding it by hand. If you have a good camera lying around you can try it out by playing with iso/aperture/shutter-speed: Make two pictures in a dark(ish) place, one with low speed and low iso, the other with high speed and high iso (but same aperture). Depending on how dark it actually is and how steady your hands are, you'll see a big difference in sharpness.

The other thing are the colors, which seem much better in Samsung's picture. This, too, has nothing per se to do with the quality of the camera but it's settings. This time it's the white balance that's different. This is one of the things, where camera automatics are still often wrong. A small change of the subject can cause big differences. Moving a few centimeters more to the left is enough...

Again, you can try that with a "real" camera. A DSLR will let you choose the color temperature, but even cheap digital cameras have sometimes different modi for "sunlight"/"cloudy"/"artificial light". I won't go into details here (see [1]), sufficient to say that this can greatly affect a picture.

Also note that the picture from the Galayx II and the one from the iPhone 4S have roughly the same brightness and sharpness. Judging from the noise and resolution, the two cameras seem quite similiar (and are maybe even produced by the same factory).

TL;DR This comparison is not meaningful at all. For a professional result you would need to control the cameras completely manual and take a lot more pictures in different settings (light, reference colors, tripod, ...).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_balance

EDIT: He actually made more than these three: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#19
post #13

Who exactly is robert scoble, and what is his claim to fame? His name seems to come up somewhat frequently

I believe this is called the "Robert Scoble"-effect. One could liken it to social media spam: I don't want to know Robert Scoble, don't find him notable, yet his name appears everywhere.

Such people know how to insert themselves in the daily conversations and can count on the support of their followers to carry their views far and beyond. Most of the time those views are not much more than a catchy social hook. You Googling his name and reading this reply will likely cement Robert Scoble in your brain for a while longer.

I find it an interesting, albeit at times annoying, phenomenon. Like the Quora drama (in which Scoble was able to permeate into a lot of topics):

http://scobleizer.com/2011/01/30/why-i-was-wrong-about-quora...

http://www.quora.com/Dan-Kaplan/Sorry-Scoble-Quora-is-not-yo...

Re: Robert Scoble's Galaxy S II vs iPhone 4S camera test

#20

The iphone4S seems more yellowish but it's more detailed when you look the book words. You can't barely read any on the Galaxy unlike on iphone4S.

They are focused on different points. The Galaxy is focused closer than the 4S; the details on the Belkin card reader (in particular, the edge contacts in the slots) are clearer on the Galaxy, and the difference is even more marked on the keyboard letters. The Galaxy also has a higher exposure. On the book paper, the lack of focus combined with overexposure has causing some bleed into the type; but it shows better detail in shadow areas.

Much of a muchness, IMO. The two are very close, and aside from things like color temperature (which I personally would discount and tweak later if desired - though I wonder if the white balance is configurable on either phone), they are all but equal.

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