Here’s our quick-and-dirty test of the new iPhone 4S 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. For comparison, we took some of the same photos using a Canon G10 14.7-megapixel compact camera with a 28-140mm wide zoom lens. All photos have been corrected in Photoshop by a professional photographer to produce the best possible result for each camera. iPhone 4S was used in HDR mode.
We also took a few HDR photos with the Canon camera for comparison. The idea here is not to prove that a dedicated photo camera, that costs almost twice as much as the iPhone, can take better photos, but to show how close the cell phone camera technology came to rivaling portable digital cameras. It should also be mentioned that the Canon G10 is among the best cameras in its class.
Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 Conservatory Fountain iPhone 4S, HDR Postprocessing: Neat Image (noise reduction) onOne Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels, sharpen) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 Conservatory Fountain Canon G10, non-HDR Postprocessing: Neat Image (noise reduction) Athentech Imaging Perfectly Clear (levels) onOne Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels, sharpen) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Peirce-du Pont House Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 iPhone 4S, HDR Post-processing: Neat Image (noise reduction) onOne Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Peirce-du Pont House Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 Canon G10 Post-processing: onOne Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Peirce-du Pont House Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 Canon G10, HDR Post-processing: Photomatix Pro (HDR) onOne Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Meadow, Longwood Gardens, PA 2011-10-16 iPhone 4S, HDR Post-processing: Neat Image (noise reduction) Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Meadow, Longwood Gardens, PA 2011-10-16 Canon G10, HDR Post-processing: Photomatix Pro (HDR) Neat Image (noise reduction) Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Peirce-du Pont House Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 iPhone 4S, HDR Post-processing: Imagenomic Noiseware Pro (noise reduction) Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Athentech Imaging Perfectly Clear (levels, contrast) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Peirce-du Pont House Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-15 Canon G10 Post-processing: Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Meadow Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 iPhone 4S, HDR Post-processing: Autopano Giga 2 (panorama stitching) Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Meadow Longwood Gardens, PA; 2011-10-16 Canon G10 Post-processing: Photomatix Pro (HDR processing) Autopano Giga 2 (panorama stitching) Photo Tools Pro 2.5 (levels) Photoshop CS2 (resize, save)
Hi-res HDR panorama made with iPhone 4S, Autopano Giga 2, and krPano Tools.
Good article. As good as the iPhone 4S cell phone cameras are still a long way from replacing better gear. I did a quick test to show a few friends the difference between iPhone HDR and a Nikon D90 with post processing. Results can be found here:
http://mike.heller.ca/2011/10/my-first-iphone-4s-hdr/
Thanks for the article. What I would like to see are samples of the 3gs, 4, 4s and good cannon ps – no retouching. I have a gs and I’m trying to decide if the I want a 4 or 4s. my digital is a cannon s45 (it was a great camera… now I want the s100…)
Meg
My previous phone was the 3GS and the difference is quality of photos between that and the 4S is tremendous. The difference between 4 and 4S is less significant and is limited mostly to higher resolution of the 4S camera. So if you are interested primarily in camera performance but don’t want to spend too much, getting iPhone 4 is a good option.
Thanks or the reply… I guess I should be honest I am trying to justifying upgrading to the 4s from a perfectly good gs.. LOL
Which should I pick for my first smartphone and why?
I’m getting a new phone 2day and idk what to get?! Please Help!! Thanks!