Smartphone photos and reality

[Darmok N Jalad]

'One in a Million' iPhone Photo Shows Three Versions of the Same Woman

I know we discussed this in the past, but I thought the above was another interesting development on just how much different smartphone cameras can behave from traditional ones. I suspect the result above was due to the iPhone taking multiple images and then using computational/AI tech to produce what we'd "expect" to see, ensuring there was no blurred movements. Another example is when Samsung was found to be faking the moon. From a personal perspective, the last smartphone camera I actually liked using was the iPhone XR. Every iPhone camera since has just felt overcooked, IMO.

I know through apps, one can shoot RAW, but I even wonder there just how RAW that truly is. It could just be the computational camera work but forgoes the typical JPEG/HEIC compression step. I know even our dedicated cameras have "high res" modes that use pixel shift tech, and they can output RAW, even though technically more than one photo was taken. At least then, you would know why there were stitching errors if movement was involved.

 

[mollyc]

Oh that's really interesting. I guess I never really knew how the computational part worked, with the phone picking and choosing different parts all over.

Now I want to start taking photos in mirrors when I am out to see if I can replicate this! Wouldn't that be a fun project.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Oh that's really interesting. I guess I never really knew how the computational part worked, with the phone picking and choosing different parts all over.

Now I want to start taking photos in mirrors when I am out to see if I can replicate this! Wouldn't that be a fun project.

I thought the same thing! I think low-light scenarios would be the mostly likely place to have this happen. Smartphones do curiously well in low light, considering just how little lens and sensor size they have to work with.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

One thing that I like about cellphones is the ability to scan slide, film, documents, and paper photos and then transmit them "on the go" to other places, electronically, in a short period of time.

 

[decafjava]

Wow, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but this is very interesting.

 

[RyanIsra]

From a personal perspective, the last smartphone camera I actually liked using was the iPhone XR. Every iPhone camera since has just felt overcooked, IMO.

Agree.

Well, in many situations, default iPhone camera processing is optimized for snap-and-share social media rather than true-to-life accuracy that professional photographers demand. It priortizes style over substance.
You can dial back some effects, but Apple's "enhancements" are baked deep under the hood by design.

 

[deep diver]

Maybe it's because I know which arm is and is not real, but............. The "AI arm" in each of the reflections doesn't look real. They don't have the texture of a real arm, and the shapes and lines of those arms don't quite match the real arms.

 

[fauxtog]

I experienced something like this when shooting for the artificial light thread last week. I was walking to the store and was attempting to shoot a leading line shot of the store lights by the entrance. I slowed down to line up the lights and took the shot, so not really standing still. I checked the photo once I entered the store and was shocked to see it was not the shot I lined up.

This picture should have included three rows of round lights in a leading line with this panel was off to the side 🤣

 

[Substance21]

And the plot thickens…

Calling ‘Fake’ on the ‘iPhone Computational Photography Glitch in a Bridal Shop’ Viral Photo

Link to: https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/11/30/a-bride-to-be-discovers-a-reality-bending-mistake-in-apples-computational-photography

daringfireball.net

 

[mollyc]

the seemingly “correct” explanation?

Mystery of 'One in a Million' iPhone Photo Solved

The explanation is really quite simple.

petapixel.com

 

[Abdichoudxyz]

Smartphones do curiously well in low light, considering just how little lens and sensor size they have to work with.

They do, but compared to any half-capable 'real' camera, smartphone images are crap by comparison. Better smartphones like the iPhone do use some fancy software trickery to make low-light shots acceptable, but viewed on any half-decent display bigger than a 'phone screen, and you soon see the deficiencies. You lose any sharpness, and images can often look very 'muddy'. They are fine as 'snappy' cameras though, and have all but replaced the bottom end compact cams. Such things are often still better than a 'phone cam though, as the sensors are just bigger and better. But manufacturers would rather you buy an £800+ 'phone, than an £80 cam...

 

[prog99]

I’ve a few photos taken on a sunny day where the phone has added a sunstar onto the sun.
Happy to be corrected but I’m fairly sure this isn’t possible with an iPhone lens?

 

[oblomow]

According to an article on petapixel it was an acccidental panorama.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I’ve a few photos taken on a sunny day where the phone has added a sunstar onto the sun.
Happy to be corrected but I’m fairly sure this isn’t possible with an iPhone lens?
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Yeah, I forgot about the artificial sunstars. Should only be possible on a lens with stopped-down aperture blades. I think Samsung dabbled with such a thing, but the camera only had 2 blades and 2 stops.