Smartphones getting better?

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DaveW
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Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

Smartphones getting better but:-

"You're getting to the stage where cameras in high-end models are good enough for the majority of consumers in most environments," said Nick Dillon, a senior analyst at Ovum. But there will be a significant quality gap between the pictures from DSLR cameras and smartphones for the foreseeable future, he said.

One reason is the sensor. The larger the sensor is, the better the image's quality because it can capture more light.

"There is a limitation in the sensor size you can put in smartphones because it would make smartphones bigger," Dillon said.

And that's one crucial reason why professional photographers haven't swapped their cameras for smartphones."


Of course it depends on whether the final method of reproduction can show the differences.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/smartp ... 39079.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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JamesEG
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by JamesEG »

Interesting post Dave, I think it would be very difficult to find or make a smartphone that is as good as some cameras but still practical as both a phone, the Samsung S4 Zoom is a good example of this. It has a decent camera, but it's a phone and I can imagine it's very uncomfortable to use! http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobi ... 1010ZWABTU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's like it couldn't make up its mind on whether to be a phone or a camera :lol:

Phone manufacturers also seem to be trying to get as many megapixels into the phone sensors as possible, I have a Sony Xperia Z1 with a 20.1 megapixel camera, and it's brilliant for a phone, but I would never compare it to my 18 megapixel Canon EOS 60D. It also never seems as sharp in the photos, perhaps due to the lens but whatever phone I've had I've always tried to use my camera instead. It seems that a lot of people think more megapixels equals better pictures, but it's just not the case, especially in phones where the smaller pixels in the sensor can't pick up as much light.
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

Not only phones but camera manufacturers are trying to cram too many megapixels onto too small sensors. One of the reasons the top end cameras are stepping up to full frame sensors in order to increase the megapixels but keep the individual pixel sites as large as possible. Just as with film in the past, a 35mm negative was never as good printed to the same size as a medium format one, and that was not as good as half plate.

Basically the less you enlarge the original sensor or film image for a certain size print the less you enlarge any faults on it. In the case of digital that often means enlarging the noise (the equivalent of grain in film). For web use on low resolution monitors many faults that a print would show are hidden.

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tuto ... al-photos/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.gizmag.com/camera-sensor-size-guide/26684/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.digitaltrends.com/photograph ... e-matters/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unfortunately a smartphone is a jack of all trades (and therefore master of none) in that it tries to be so many different things. A phone, an internet terminal, games console, I-Pod and camera. There were some complaints when smartphones first came out that they were not as good for voice calls as the old dedicated mobile phones. If you try and pack many different features into the same sized case some compromises have to be made, just as if you try and cram a lot more pixels onto the same sized sensor.

Having said that things eventually become good enough for the purpose most want, even if it can be proved dedicated single purpose equipment is better. At the moment the computer screen cannot show up the large differences between a compact camera and a top line DSLR, but maybe if computer screen resolutions improve they may do so in future. Also fewer people now bother to print out anyway, therefore all the extra megapixels needed for this are unused.
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JamesEG
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by JamesEG »

I agree with everything there. Also, phones that fit into a niche where they are very good at one thing just aren't that popular, most consumers want something that can handle most or all situations and uses. Going back to film cameras, they were brilliant at taking photographs, that's the point, now companies are trying to put other things into them such as geotagging, internet connection, or in-camera editing which might distract them from concentrating on the picture quality that is produced by the camera, or almost essential features like good low-light capability which is yet another thing that suffers from a lot of pixels in a small sensor.

I love using my Pentax K1000, not just because it does produce great film images, but also because it's so simple. It does nothing else but take photos and I deliberately chose it for it's lack of an Auto function. I also think I can produce better images with it because I am made to concentrate on the composure and settings rather than just deleting the image if it's not right.
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

I have still not entirely accepted menu's and multifunction buttons on TV's or cameras. In the good old days a button or dial had a single function so you knew where you were. Now you can accidently reset the camera or one of it's buttons to do something you don't want and have to do a two button reset in the case of Nikon to get it back to the default settings because you do not know what you did!

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answer ... t-settings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7147435_reset ... amera.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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JamesEG
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by JamesEG »

I agree, there are just way too many settings! Maybe companies could make and sell a camera with the most basic settings and functions already installed, and then if the user wants extra things like in-camera editing they can install them themselves? Not sure how difficult that would be though...

I like to think I'm good with technology, but when it comes to TVs I have no clue, I've never used a 'smart TV' and if I do ever buy one I think it will take a long time to get used to! Right now I just about manage with Sky+, it's especially bad when settings need to have more than one button pressed that might not even have the symbol of the setting you want, I can never remember it and don't want to keep going back to the manual
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

We obviously both need a child of four to set them up for us! :lol:
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JamesEG
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by JamesEG »

Perhaps :lol: although I tend to neglect instruction manuals and don't read them if possible! #-o
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

Never mind voice activation must be coming eventually, so you will soon be able to tell the video recorder, TV and camera what you want it to do and let it sort itself out!
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JamesEG
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by JamesEG »

:lol: Although then there's this issue with the software understanding what you say, if I try to use voice commands on my phone I often find it takes longer than just typing what I want
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

It's intended to be "one-upmanship" James, not quicker!
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SnowFella
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by SnowFella »

That depends, I spend my working days dealing with a voice recognicion system and it works wonders for us. Fair enough it requires some serious "training" in order to pick up on commands but in less than 40 minutes we can create a template that allows it to work for a new picker.
Allows our pickers to move lots faster than what an older system would allow, be it paper based or PDA based.
DaveW
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by DaveW »

See:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbgKDR9aIRA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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SnowFella
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Re: Smartphones getting better?

Post by SnowFella »

:lol:
Hence why we run a "smart" system that stores a voice template library for every user. Just wish I could get access to the advanced management interface for it, can among other things be used to send messages (using the synthetic voice in the headsets) to individual users. Much fun could potentially be had sending "we are watching you" and similar messages to selected staff.
HR won't let me have access though :(
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