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iPhone 4s camera...is it really upgraded? maybe not...

TheBigGiantHead

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Ok, this is strictly about the camera and the camera alone. The iPhone 4s video mode shooting at 1080p is an amazing jump from the iphone 4 720p resolution, there's no doubt about that. My question though is the camera. Every year iPhone and Andriod phones battle over who has the superior phone and camera Mega-pixels are always thrown around. I work for a professional photography studio and as though im not a professional photographer (im actually IT/amateur photohrapher) i have been around and in the photography industry for over 10yrs. Apple is touting the camera as being "upgraded" because of the additional lenses they added and the built in apps for photo editing as well as having a high MP, 8 to be exact which is 3MP higher than the 4. Below are the property values of 3 cameras, each box is labeled to the corresponding device.

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on the far left, are the property values of an image they used as an example of the 4s's camera i pulled from Apples website. The middle values belong to a lower grade professional camera and the far right to my iPhone 4. MP directly correspond with the dimensions of the image. Higher the MP, the bigger the image. The iPhone 4s most definitely has a high MP count, higher than the low grade professional camera (the values of the professional camera were pulled from an actual image we use for publishing) as well as being higher than the iPhone 4. But the real quality of the camera can be found in the "Vertical" and "Horizontal" resolution. Professional photographer do not shoot anything less than 300dpi, so the middle camera is by far and away the superior of the 3, as it should be. Both the iPhone 4 and 4S have an identical dpi. Though the 4S has more bells and whistles to go along with the camera and a higher resolution (which is almost pointless without an equal dpi) than the iPhone 4, the fact that their dpi is the same which means to me that the camera really isnt that much better.

This is just an observation on my part...i am in no way discounting the amazingness of the new iphone, in fact, i might be using one of the other lines on my accounts upgrade to get it. I'm just simply putting out there (mainly because im at work and i have a lot of down time) that the camera your getting isnt a huge step up because of the 8MP count. The step up is really in the software that goes with it along with better video shooting.
 
I will be blunt. Your post shows you know absolutely nothing about photography as well as what DPI means.

The definition of DPI is very simple. Mainly because it is self explanatory. Dots Per Inch. That means if you have a 3264x2448 jpg and you print it on 6" x 4" photo paper, you have 544 DPI in the length and 612 DPI in the width. That means at 300 DPI, the iPhone 4S can print a 10.88" x 8.16" with no issues.

The reason Apple embedded 72 DPI is for BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY with all known display systems for personal computers. Considering that screens used on PCs today are generally 96 DPI to 120 DPI, it shows you Apples commitment to making sure their products work across the largest swath of devices.
 
It also has a fater aperature, which means more light is hitting the sensor. With more light hitting the sensor, it lets you shoot at a faster shutter speed, as shown in your screenshot above, resulting in cleaner images.
Plus the new 8MP does mean more information in the image file.

I see it as an upgrade.
 
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