Death Valley iPhoneography

iPhone, Photography, Travel, Trip Journal No Responses »

Dec 062011

During a recent trip to Death Valley National Park, I often took a step back from my ‘big’ camera and pulled out my phone to make some panoramas. If you want to see the big camera photos, click this – Death Valley 2011. The iPhone panoramas are all linked below – the first set was exported from the amazing Photosynth iPhone app and the second set was stitched using AutoStitch. I wrote about both apps in this post a few months ago.

At first glance, the Photosynth panoramas look weird and terrible. Keep in mind, though, that they are full 360° in all directions and when you constrain it to be a 2D rectangle, things get a little squished. Click the ‘interactive’ link below each image to see it how it was intended. The Dante’s View Photosynth turned out particularly well, in my humble opinion.

The AutoStitch panoramas are much prettier, but of course lack the interactivity and imersiveness (?) of the Photosynths. AutoStitch can handle multiple rows of photos, but in all the cases below I just did a single row. It’s interesting to see what textures and scenes each app could handle gracefully.

Photosynth

Zabriskie Point [interactive]

Dante’s View [interactive] Continue reading »

The Amazing iPhone Camera Comparison – iPhone 4S

iPhone, Photography, Southland, Technology 2 Responses »

Oct 272011

Last year, I wrote The Amazing iPhone Camera Comparison using an iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G. This year, I am doing the same thing with the iPhone 4S and 4. Being able to compare the quality from the two cameras has given me a huge respect for the iPhone 4S – the quality difference is amazing and makes the iPhone 4 feel like a toy.

Yes, I made this image in MS Paint.

My Methods

For the tech specs below, I included my numbers from last year’s post and added the ones for the 4S. Most of the numbers came from directly observing the EXIF data off of the photos, which included shots of the sun (for max shutter speed, etc) and a dark closet (for highest ISO, etc). Continue reading »

First Weekend with the iPhone 4S

iPhone, Photography, Technology No Responses »

Oct 162011

Oh yeah, it's got the GBs

Although I never considered myself one of ‘those people’, I got my hands on the new iPhone 4S the day it came out – Friday, October 14th. There was no line late in the day at the AT&T store, but still a bit of a party atmosphere. We were served popcorn and cotton candy while a DJ spun off to the side. What a strange phenomenon.

Initial Thoughts

Having owned the iPhone 4, the successor is a bit underwhelming. It’s awesome, for sure, but the differences are subtle compared to the huge leap between the 3GS and the 4. But hey, that’s why it’s called the iPhone 4S – the fact that it’s just an upgraded version is right there in the product name. Continue reading »

Panoramic African Vacation with Photosynth

iPhone, Travel No Responses »

Sep 052011

My wife and I recently returned from an amazing 3-week trip to South Africa and Mozambique. Along the way, I used the Photosynth app on my iPhone to capture full 360° panoramas of all of the places we stayed and a few places we visited.

Now I share them with you.

Church Square in Pretoria, South Africa

Each of the links below will open in a new page on photosynth.net, where you can pan around and zoom in/out. Be sure to try it full-screen.

My wife makes many cameo appearances, as does my shadow and feet. Not all of the panoramas are complete due to space constraints and/or laziness. Please ignore any weird artifacts or ghosting effects – Photosynth is a quick-and-dirty tool. OK, let’s get started!

iPhone Panorama Apps – Pano vs Autostitch vs Photosynth

iPhone, Photography 3 Responses »

Jul 282011

As I’ve been using my iPhone for the One/Day Project, I’ve developed quite an interest in the various ways to enhance the iPhone’s camera. Unfortunately, the genre of iPhone photography seems to have already jumped the shark. In addition to some truly ridiculous physical add ons, there are literally thousands of apps available. Of course the vast majority are terrible. Just terrible.

One area that I consider legitimate is panoramas. Since your phone is now a camera as well as a computer, it’s cool that you can take and stitch multiple images into panoramas with the same device. Panoramas allow you to create higher resolution images than is possible with the camera alone. It’s great for capturing the big picture and being able to immediately share it.

Palisades Park - my daily photo for 4/23/09

My interest in panoramas has pointed me towards three apps – Pano, AutoStitch and Photosynth. All three have their pros and cons which I’ve briefly laid out below, along with some sample photos of the same scenes for comparison. Continue reading »

Wallpaper for your iPhone

iPhone, Photography, Technology No Responses »

May 052011

It’s regrettable that even one of the most high-tech handheld consumer devices ever designed suffers from diminishing returns – after you’ve used it for a while, it can get a little boring. To combat this head on, I periodically change the wallpaper on my iPhone. Revolutionary, I know, but I actually find it refreshing because it tricks my subconscious into thinking there’s something new and exciting going on.

Fotos 4 U

I present to you nine photos from the One/Day Project that are sized for the iPhone screen at 640×960 pixels, which is the resolution of the iPhone 4′s ‘retina’ display. They’ll work just fine on an iPhone 3Gs, 3G or original iPhone, too, or any other device with the same 2:3 aspect ratio.

iPhone 4 HDR Photography

iPhone, Photography, Technology No Responses »

Nov 052010

On 9/8/10, folks with an iPhone 4 could upgrade to iOS 4.1 and get HDR capability on the rear-facing camera. If you don’t know what High Dynamic Range photography is, do a quick search.

I’ve never been a fan of HDR – it looks over-saturated, washed out and generally fake. Most of the shots in Flickr’s HDR group back up that claim. That’s not to say it can’t be done well – I’ve liked plenty of HDR shots. The main difference is that I couldn’t immediately tell that they were HDR, because they weren’t screaming “that HDR look.”

I consider HDR more of a trendy novelty style rather than real photography. Regardless of my current views, I was eager to see how the iPhone 4 executed its HDR functionality.

Below is a collection of HDR shots that I’ve taken over the past two months and some comments. I included a wide variety of subjects and lighting conditions. Hover to see the non-HDR version (by default, the iPhone saves both versions). You can view the full size images here, should the mood strike you. Everything is straight out of the camera, no editing. Continue reading »

The Amazing iPhone Camera Comparison!

iPhone, Photography, Technology 3 Responses »

Jul 312010

After both my wife and I upgraded our iPhones, I found myself with a 3G, 3Gs and 4 at my disposal. Which has the best camera? Obviously the newest one – the 4 – but it’s no fun to simply take my word for it. So, for a few days I carried around all 3 phones and took roughly identical photos with each one.

None of these photos are processed, and in almost all cases the camera was in full automatic mode – I didn’t tap to focus or change exposure. In the comparison photos below, I shrank the 3Gs and 4 shots to match the 3G so that everything was the same relative size. You want full size? Go to this gallery to see them in all their glory. Most shots are from Santa Monica near the pier or on the UCLA campus.

Who Cares?

I do. Of course this experiment has no practical purpose, but it’s interesting to see how dramatic the differences are. I expect that we will continue to see improvements in phone cameras and see dedicated compact cameras lose a big chunk of the market.

Personally, I’ve used the iPhone extensively in my One/Day Project because I always have it with me – beats carrying a DSLR around all the time. Even before I had one myself, I used my wife’s 3G to keep up with my daily photos on two long trips we took last year – Maine and West Coast. Assuming I’ll stick with iPhones in the future, I care deeply about the quality of the camera since I use it so often.

Specs

The following table is what I came up with myself by direct observation. Explanations below. Why didnt I compare the the original iPhone, too? Well, you see, I don’t have one. Sorry.

Model	3G	3Gs	4
Megapixels	1.92	3.15	5.02
Photo Dimensions	1600×1200	2048×1536	2592×1936
Aspect Ratio	4:3	4:3	4:2.99
Tap to Focus?	no	yes	yes
Macro (est.)	16″ \| 41 cm	3″ \| 7.5 cm	3″ \| 7.5 cm
Aperture	f/2.8	f/2.8	f/2.8
Shutter Speed (s)	?	1/10 – 1/28000	1/15 – 1/30000
ISO	?	64 – 1016	80 – 1000
Angle	wide	wider	widest!
EXIF Model	iPhone 3G	iPhone 3Gs	iPhone

Dimensions, aperture and EXIF model are all things I read from an image file’s EXIF metadata – the values I listed never change. Macro refers to the closest focusing distance, which I got by putting the lens near the beginning of a ruler and seeing where the numbers came into focus. There are ways of calculating the angle of view, but that’s beyond my pay grade. Continue reading »

Day 1 with the iPhone 4

iPhone, Photography, Technology No Responses »

Jul 102010

I was happy to get an iPhone 4 in the mail yesterday. Today was my first day playing with it. Here are my first impressions, and lots of SOOC (straight out of camera) sample photos.

Cherry Tomatoes from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market

New Features

The new screen is flat-out amazing. Just stunning. The clarity and detail make all other screens seem like you’re viewing it through wax paper that’s pixelated. OK, so I may exaggerate, but it’s quite beautiful. Diminishing returns are part of the deal though, and I’ve already adjusted to the new screen after just one day. I wish it didn’t have such a negative effect on the older phones (making them look like crap), but such is the way of technological advances in the world of Apple. Continue reading »