
What the iPhone has done to cameras is completely insane - Libertatea
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/07/what-the-iphone-has-done-to-cameras-is-completely-insane/
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pmorici
I don't think it is just the iphone the other thing that they don't talk about
is that digital cameras were rapidly improving in image quality from the late
90's to the mid-00's. My digital camera from '02 takes total trash photos
compared to the one I got in '05 but my '05 model is about on par with what I
could buy today for a similar price so there is no reason to spend money on an
upgrade unless it breaks.

~~~
paulmd
There have been at least two game-changers since then.

The first is high-ISO: my Canon 40D can take a good picture at ISO 800, but my
Sony NEX-5N can take a good picture at ISO 12,800, which is basically pitch
black - think dark room by the light of a television. You can shoot available-
light pretty much anywhere, particularly in combination with the image-
stabilization tech and superfast lenses that are now available. Some of the
newer sensors will get a good image up to 102,400 and can capture up to
409,600, which is just nuts. That's "dim moonlight" territory, basically night
vision.

[http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/amazing-sony-a7s-low-light-
te...](http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/amazing-sony-a7s-low-light-test-video/)

The other is phase-detect pixels on the sensors. Previously many cameras had
to use contrast-detect autodetect, where the camera racks the lens and samples
the image for peak contrast on the target. Only SLRs had phase-detect
autofocus, which was much faster and more accurate but required a separate set
of sensors. But now they put phase-detect pixels right on the sensor, so you
can get small cameras with fast/accurate focus.

Not the camera itself, but lenses have also come a long way in the last 10
years. Superfast f/1.4 primes and f/1.8 to f/2.8 zooms are now faster,
sharper, and cheaper (and the idea of a f/1.8 zoom was unthinkable 5 years
ago). On the high end Sigma's Art series are simply fantastic, and Samyang is
raising the bar on low-end lenses too.

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arethuza
While I do have multiple cameras (SLR with long lens for sports, inexpensive
Canon for times I'd be worried about dropping my iPhone - e.g. ski lifts) the
reality is that old saying that "the best camera is the one that's with you".

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stinos
_the best camera is the one that 's with you_

While certainly true, I hate those moments when all I have with me is a
phone's camera, knowing my far-superior-photos-taking SLR one is at home, then
taking the picture anyway and coming home staring at the noise and often
subpar framing (never got used to holding the thing steady in front of me).
That always hurts a bit. Especially in low light etc. Not that I never took
brilliant pictures with a phone or similar, but knowing that the same scene
could have been even captured better with other gear I have still hurts.

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sickbeard
You mean what mobile phones have done to cameras, gps navigators, handheld
gaming, personal music players and other things that required dedicated
devices in the past?

~~~
stinos
Those are not all exactly the same comparisions though. Sure a phone can
perfectly replace a gps, the sound quality is already hard (if not impossible)
to distinguish from dedicated players (usability: not so much though) and sure
it's good at playing games. But there's just no phone, under the circumstances
I often take pictures, which will yield pictures which are good enough or even
close for me. And my dedicated device for that isn't even top of the line.

~~~
trowawee
Ok, but the vast majority of users are content with "good enough" pictures, so
even if you are an outlier, it doesn't really matter. And sickbeard's right
that that's exactly what happened with everything else that smartphones
consumed in their march to rule the planet; they aren't the best at anything,
but they do a little of everything and you always have them on you and it
turns out that beats the hell out of something that does it better, but that
you have to remember to bring all the time.

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basch
Apple and Sony? Doesnt Sony make ~$20 per iPhone because of their camera parts
contribution. And Apple has 8pp engineers on the camera alone.

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gberger
8pp?

~~~
april1stislame
800\. Long press P is how you input the zero on android keyboards

~~~
stephenr
Wat. Fuck the camera thing. _that_ is insane.

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trowawee
Yeah wait, hold up, can we talk about this, that is bonkers.

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kpcyrd
Can somebody change the title to be less clickbaity?

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jbob2000
It was a really thin article anyways, I don't think it belongs here. The whole
article can be summed as "smartphones have tanked camera sales because
smartphones have cameras, here is one chart showing this".

~~~
dmschulman
A poorly planned chart at that. The x-axis is so tiny and hard to read

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emehrkay
I don't understand the dislike for the article title. Wasn't the iPhone the
most used camera on Flickr for multiple years running? And the article is
based on 2007 being a major shift in buying habits. I do feel that he could
have been clearer about how it is smartphones in general that helped the
decline in sales of digital cameras. His closing paragraph makes it seem like
the iPhone is the only phone with a camera.

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SonicSoul
smart phone displaced cheap camera market with image quality that is "good
enough" for every day photos. especially those that will only be used
digitally. they did the same thing to hand held voice recorders. how is this
"completely insane" ?

~~~
paulmd
The low-end camera market has always been dominated by "good enough" right
from the beginning. Things like box cameras have always been enormously
popular, see: the Kodak Brownie line. Disposable cameras were another "good
enough" product, and actually remain extremely popular in less affluent parts
of the world to this day.

And the thing to remember here is that the smartphone is displacing another
"good-enough" product, the digital point-and-shoot, not high-end DSLRs. It's
just a matter of convenience to have it in your smartphone instead of two
separate devices.

Smartphones do not replace a high-end camera system - but those were never
something that everyone owned/carried in the first place. The vast majority of
cameras out there have always been the cheap variety that mom uses to snap
pictures of her kids.

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anonymfus
This is not an article, it's ad.

