RSSComparing cameras: iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S
By Eric Steil | Published June 19, 2009, 4:50 PM
Avoiding the lines of dozens upon dozens who showed up at Apple Stores early this morning, our server engineer Eric Steil pre-ordered his new iPhone 3G S. It arrived at 9:54 am EDT -- early enough today for Eric to catch a few rays of fleeting sunlight on this otherwise dreadfully wet day in the northeast, and capture some test images from the backyard and around the house at just before noon.
Click the cat for more iPhone 3G vs 3G S comparison shots.
What you're seeing in this photo album are moment-to-moment comparisons (for as long as the cat could hold still) of photographs taken using Eric's original iPhone 3G (with its fixed focus lens and 2 Mp resolution) and his new iPhone 3G S (with 3 Mp, auto-focus, and auto-macro). In some cases, the differences are literally striking, especially as the 3G S camera now seems to do automatic white-balancing with each tap-to-focus.
That is probably the only improvement I've seen that would give me an interest to upgrade. I use some of the apps that take pictures, like an expense app and the pictures my phone takes are barely legible.
Score: 0
|didn't realize the autofocus made that big of a difference. nice.
Score: 1
|You should also put these cams up against a decent smartphone+cam combo and do some comparisons. Nokia n95, n97, n82, n85, all of which range from 2yrs old to just coming out now, have 3, 5, and 8mp, and either LED, dual LED, or xenon flashes, along with the autofocus, macro, and various setting/iso/whitebalance options and carl ziess optics.
Score: -1
|im sure if you or nokia funded it, he'd hop right on it.
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|Carl Ziess, not Carl Ziess.
I've seen output from the N95 and it's not going to win a competition. Much cheaper Sony phones have better cameras.
Apple was lately with decent functionality but anyone who depends on their phone to provide award-winning photos will be disappointed.
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|Eric, how does the video quality rate?
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|I don't have much to compare the video to, but it looks pretty good. Obviously it won't match a good quality video camera. It's good enough that I'm much less likely to buy a Flip now, even though it isn't HD.
There's a sample video I took here: http://www.flickr.com/ph...n/set-72157619962024422/
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|It looks to me that even the trays of flowers have a great increase in contrast and probably, colour fidelity. When it comes to the cameras in phones, almost anything is a huge difference. It's not enough to push people to buy a replacement, most likely.
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|Oh joy.
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|Interesting to see the different field of focus. The auto-focus is definitely doing a decent job of making sure the subject is actually in focus.
I don't use the camera often on my 3G, and probably wouldn't use it that much more if it actually worked, but it would be nice for those times when it did.
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|The pictures of the cat and the yellow flower were very impressive on the 3G S vs the 3G.
Score: 1
|is that a 1 legged cat.............
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