WWDC - Interesting new features in iOS 8

[Mike Hardaker]

Out of curiousity, your expert opinion: How do you grade out the Nokia lumia vs iPhone 5s for image quality, depth, texture right now?

Assuming you mean the Lumia 1020, I don't have any hands-on experience although I've seen a lot of images others have taken. And, to be honest, there's not that much difference. The Nokia has a much better flash, and somewhat better optics, together with a sensor that has too many pixels for its size. And the Nokia's native app is more photographer-friendly than Apple's (which is good, because you don't have a lot of other choices). At a technical level it clearly has superior—if slow—hardware, but that doesn't really translate into substantially better images as far as I can see. The meat of the matter is that the best mobile photography around at the moment all seems to be being taken by people using iPhones!

 

[lazaro]

Assuming you mean the Lumia 1020, I don't have any hands-on experience although I've seen a lot of images others have taken. And, to be honest, there's not that much difference. The Nokia has a much better flash, and somewhat better optics, together with a sensor that has too many pixels for its size. And the Nokia's native app is more photographer-friendly than Apple's (which is good, because you don't have a lot of other choices). At a technical level it clearly has superior—if slow—hardware, but that doesn't really translate into substantially better images as far as I can see. The meat of the matter is that the best mobile photography around at the moment all seems to be being taken by people using iPhones!

Thank you!

 

[Mahadewa]

Just finished my in-depth post yesterday about the cool Manual Camera Control on the upcoming iOS 8. This stuff was not in the Keynote Speech, you need to be in the session (or watching it online) to get the preview. Needless to say, I'm very excited as to what these new API would bring to Mobile Photography. For me it's gonna be quite revolutionary

http://moblivious.com/apple/ios/ios-8-provides-slr-like-manual-camera-controls/

I suspect Mike's 645, ProCamera and other advanced Camera app will incorporate these functionalities in their iOS 8 version?

 

[Mike Hardaker]

I suspect Mike's 645, ProCamera and other advanced Camera app will incorporate these functionalities in their iOS 8 version?

This is the stuff that's really exciting. It's also the stuff that's going to be most interesting to implement. I'm expecting to see a lot of different ways of addressing the usability challenges when iOS 8 finally lands—the APIs are a godsend, but there's an awful lot that needs to be got right when plugging them in to an app...

 

[Mahadewa]

This is the stuff that's really exciting. It's also the stuff that's going to be most interesting to implement. I'm expecting to see a lot of different ways of addressing the usability challenges when iOS 8 finally lands—the APIs are a godsend, but there's an awful lot that needs to be got right when plugging them in to an app...

I'm looking forward to what you will come up with for 645 Mike!

 

[lazaro]

I'm looking forward to what you will come up with for 645 Mike!

any idea if they'll update some of the hardware, like sensor or mps to go along with these advancements? it's phenomenal that they're finally adding this usability, but will such a small sensor be able to handle it? i'd love if they included some sort of zone focus system and not just center focus.

 

[Mike Hardaker]

any idea if they'll update some of the hardware, like sensor or mps to go along with these advancements? it's phenomenal that they're finally adding this usability, but will such a small sensor be able to handle it? i'd love if they included some sort of zone focus system and not just center focus.

Not a clue. That Apple has put a lot of effort into making the APIs much more grown-up suggests that the next batch of hardware may well have some camera tweaks. But Cupertino moves in mysterious ways...

However, the "added usability" doesn't need a bigger sensor nor more MPs. Frankly, I'd take better optics over everything else, given the chance...

 

[lazaro]

Yes, I wish they'd partner with someone like Zeiss or Voigtlander for the lens, not sure who produces it now, if anyone of note, but I imagine partnering with a great lens company would really up the ante.