iPhone 3GS auto-exposure
The iPhone 3GS allows you to tap on a preview image to choose what part of the scene you want to use to determine focus and exposure. Most of the attention that this capability has garnered has concerned foreground versus background focus. In my testing, however, I found that the variability in exposure levels - especially on a bright, sunny day with tons of light - is far more noticeable.
Here are a few examples that show the 3GS's exposure range, as chosen by taps on its preview display.
The Museum of Modern Art's circular roof is well-exposed - but not much else is
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Tap differently, and everything brightens up - although maybe a bit too much
Click for a full-resolution image
In the first example above, I tapped on the roof of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's trademark circular roof. It looks great, but the rest of the shot looks like late evening, not high noon. In the second example, I tapped on the foreground bush, which was a mere dark blur in the first example. The entire scene brightened considerably - although distant buildings went a little soft.
Nice-looking slate plaza
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Nice-looking statue features
Click for a full-resolution image
Here's the Shaking Man again - you remember him from the previous page. In the first example, I tapped on the bright plaza surface and was rewarded with fine detail of the slate tiles. In the second example, I tapped on the mutant businessman's face - he came out okay, but he could be just as well as standing on a snowbank as on an attractive urban public square.
Next page: Funny colors and wavy sidewalks
COMMENTS
review failure
8mp camera vs 3mp phone...
I never have my camera when i wanted to take a pic....i always have my phone
Im alway humping around my camera to snap pics that my phone does a perfectly good job at, I have maybe 5 photos that my camera was needed for.
The thing was I only knoticed this when my frien pointed it out the other day.
now I never bother with my camera.
PS why didnt you review the magic...oh you merkins dont get it yet.
oh the speed thing quite pertitant.
Reviewer is an iDiot
Typical Bay Area iTard. Why the hell are you comparing phones that are nowhere near top-of-the-range in terms of camera quality to a DSLR at the opposite end of the scale?
You should be comparing a phone with top-of-the range camera quality to an average point-and-shoot DSC. If, for example, you compared the latest Samsung M8910 Pixon12 or Sony Ericsson Saito, you would see that the quality is near indistinguishable from an average point-and-shoot.
Jimi Hendrix on a 5 stringed wooden spoon > most folk on a £1000 guitar
The person taking the photo is the main variable.
Better cameras don't make it possible for everyone to take better photos.
Better cameras make it easier for some people to take better photos some of the time.
Some of the more stuck up among you probably wake up in a cold sweat after having nightmares about lomography, eh?
Call me daft, but when I'm on my hols, in the pub, or wherever, I want to enjoy the moment, and maybe grab a few quick reminders of it all. That means not having to lug around and nurse a muli-hundred pound piece of kit. Whatever. I use my E71 for all my snaps. Used to have a K770i for all snaps. Sue me. Before that I had a period where I took very few snaps. Because I just couldn't be doing with the hassle of carrying around extra tech.
Notice I used the term snaps? Does that make you feel any better? Knowing that I don't call them photographs?
If you're doing pro or enthusiast photography (where the expectation is completely apart from the accepted capabilities of a cameraphone), then yeah, have a good lurk around at dpreview and enjoy your "proper" camera.
I'll check gsmarena in the meantime, until El Reg can come up with a more meaningful cameraphone comparison than this dead end of an article.
And in other news
Component Hi Fi gives better music reproduction than mobile phone media player. Can this be true? gasps phone owner. Wii and Playstation 3 give better gaming experience than mobile phone. Noooooooo! Screams same phone owner. It couldn't be true.
Radio reception and stereo separation on mobile phone 'poor' compared to 2 grand receiver.
But ....the games you can play on the component hi fi are limited. My phone takes better pictures than my radio does....straw men, man
@Steve Evans
"One day someone will invent a sensor that can handle a range of 12EV or more, until then, we'll have to use a bit of skill to get the shots :-)"
Or to look at it another way: "If you're a really bad photographer, this extended dynamic range is helpful for recovering lost highlights" (Ken Rockwell, reviewing the Fuji S5). :-)
I like film (and vinyl records) but that doesn't stop me from shooting digitally virtually all the time, or listening to MP3's. At least we've got the choice, even if that doesn't include Kodachrome any more.
