Railfan Technology > When I have to use my cell phone camera

There are places I can't take a real camera -- the top of a ski run, for instance. I'm buying a new smartphone. Which do you think takes the best photos? Thank you.

Apple is releasing an new I-phone next month with a 12MP camera and it's suppose to be cheaper than the ones currently on the market.  It has a 4" screen, so it you like the big screen, it's out of the question.  

As far as answering your question, a lot of the photos with cellphones are pretty bad, not because the camera is so poor, but because of technique.  Also, I think the lenses get fuzzed up with pocket lent and that distracts from the quality.   Good composure (holding the camera level and getting the right distance from your subject) and holding it steady will do wonders for you.  That part goes for any camera.  A dirty lens on a $10,000 is going to get a washed out picture.  A little post processing can help also.

This attachment is from a regional area photographer.  He often challenges himself to get at least one cellphone photo a day.  He says this one was, "Shot with the HDRPro App on the iPhone 4S with some slight post processing in Photoshop CS6."    You can see more at his webpage or his facebook page.  On most of his photos he will list the camera and the settings.  BTW, most of his photos are railroads so you might enjoy it just for that.  When you see his other photos you'll know he's not taking snapshots.

The second photo is one of y sister-in-law.  It's not great.  We were having lunch and I decided to take a photo and she cooperated.   Occasionally I may be somewhere and I won't have a camera with me when I want to take a photo.  In the winter when I wear a jacket I usually have a point-n-shoot in my jacket pocket.  This is a 334.6KB file.  A larger file would have better detail.  This was also on an Apple I-phone 4 but I forgot what sub-class in that series.  I've had it about 5 years and I'm about to replace it.

I hope others can chime in with some of the Androids, Samsungs, and others.  

John



 

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I have no expertise in this area but....  Mosey over to www.dpreview.com and take a look at some of the forums.  There is one devoted to android devices and some to iphones.  There are some supplementary add-ons that claim to be near DSLR quality.  Remember, this is a gearhead site,

For railroad photography smartphone cameras do a good job with standing front lit subjects. They can do a nice job with sunny day panoramic action photos. They do not work so well with roadside action photos and backlit subjects a short ways away. A little more control of manual exposure and flash would be a great improvement. Maybe there is an app for that.

Posted from iPhone

The second poster is referring to the forthcoming iPhone SE, which is basically the guts of the iPhone 6 stuffed into the smaller form-factor 5S body. It has the same 12MP camera from the 6, however the front-facing "selfie" camera is the old 5S 1.2MP camera.

The bottom line is that if you want the new 12MP camera in the iPhone, you get it now in the iPhone 6 if you like that form-factor, or if you want a smaller phone, waiit for the SE.

At the end of the day, smartphone cameras have their limitations so if you really want to get as much as you can from them, you will have to rely on aftermarket support (hardware and software) and that is where Apple shines. There are a lot of companies that make lens kits, and apps designed to maximize the camera's potential. You will have to expect some post processing as well.

Personally, if I wanted stellar image quality in a small footprint, I would look at some of the new compact P&S cameras. If price is no object, look at the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 Mark IV. It's tiny but produces images no phone can touch.

Don't ignore Windows phones! I have the Lumia 929 / Icon, which I believe has been superseded by the 950. The Lumia Camera app is great - it allows full manual control and it has served me well on full auto. It can shoot jpg and raw (dng) images. Absolutely love it. Have had it for almost two years. And, it ain't an Apple - no fancy cords or software required.

Just my $0.02... Worth a look if nothing else.

Posted from Android

Here's a video I posted taken with my iPhone 6s+ last December:  http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3921430,3921430#msg-3921430  

And the two photos were also taken with the phone as well.  Certainly not my instrument of first choice, but they have come a long, long way in the last few years.

 

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