Wow...modern phones are amazing.......

BillN_33 said:
iPhone 7 - apart from the improvements and compatibility with my (upgraded) computers........Apple no longer update/support the OS on the phone
Click to expand...
That's the inbuilt and deliberate obsolescence. It's a disgrace.
 
NiallerM said:
That's the inbuilt and deliberate obsolescence. It's a disgrace.
Click to expand...

I cannot see how it is "inbuilt" as how are they, (Apple or anyonelse), to know what the future brings

progress is generally good otherwise we would all be using and abacus and rubbing two sticks together
 
BillN_33 said:
progress is generally good otherwise we would all be using and abacus and rubbing two sticks together
Click to expand...
There are plenty of naysayers who wouldn't allow you the abacus.

They'd say that "little holes in the ground, to put the pebbles in, were good enough for my grandfather, so they should be good enough for you!"
 
I feel guilty now as I have just used my USB, electric, Pencil Sharpener, but at least the "shavings" can go in the garden compost!
 
Last edited:
NiallerM said:
Your first sentence is something of a contradiction. If the cameras are so good, why do you need to upgrade them so regularly?
Click to expand...
What contradiction? Good and better are not contradictory.

They keep getting better, I keep buying them. If they don't I won't. I see the 48mp 8x tele lens ans a a worthwhile upgrade on the 17pro for what I use it for.

What I meant was, if it wan't for the camera upgrades, I'd probably still have the old Iphone 7 I had before the cameras started significantly improving on them.
 
Delphin said:
We have to remember that the best camera in a phone in not available in the west.

Oppo Find X8 Ultra utilises a 1-inch type sensor, the largest you’ll find on a modern smartphone, it’s around 30% larger than the main sensor on mainstream flagships like the iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. There are several others with 1-inch type sensor (Vivo X200 Ultra and Huawei Pura 80 Ultra.), that are extremely hard to get or you would need to import directly.

Phone camera sensors are getting much bigger these days.
Click to expand...
Sony have a phone with a 1” sensor as do a few others that are available in the U.K.

The Oppo X8 is also available in the U.K for example Amazon have them.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
There are plenty of naysayers who wouldn't allow you the abacus.

They'd say that "little holes in the ground, to put the pebbles in, were good enough for my grandfather, so they should be good enough for you!"
Click to expand...
That's something of a misrepresentation. f course progress is good and, thankfully inevitable. Where there are issues is when it something which looks like progress being pushed out for the sake of progress. It's part of my job to rein in development. It's very rarely a case of whether or not we can do something, but rather the often important question of whether we should it remaining unasked.

What passes for AI is a case in hand; the ethical aspects haven't been properly resolved, and it is a major cause of strife in several idustries. Yet, at the heart of it, it's a guessing machine with a Bayesian heart. Meanwhile, genuine originality is seeing its value reduced to almost nothing.

I'm all for technical progress; There are areas which are seeing research which could be off genuine high vaue in imagery. These are what she be following. I'll give an example - and while it may look like AI, it's not. If it ever hits the shelves it is likely to be marketed as such, though. That example relates to something I've considerd in the past, and it relates to motion blur. I've often wondered whether the additional information in a blurred shot can be harnessed into providing an image which is not simply sharp, but also uses that extra data provided by the mvement. By this, I don't mean the usual brute force methods used by software to somewhat sharpen an image that are currently available. Nope, I man using the data captured in the blur for analysis, retention or discard on the basis of reduction of entropy as per information theory principles. As ever, this is being researched for military exploitation, which usually is a precursor to more geeral commercial availability. In fact, it is an example of a technological development which will eliminate the need for an AI solution.

Beefits? More accurate reconstruction of the image, and achieved without reference to the work of others, for a start.
 
NiallerM said:
What passes for AI is a case in hand; the ethical aspects haven't been properly resolved, and it is a major cause of strife in several idustries. Yet, at the heart of it, it's a guessing machine with a Bayesian heart. Meanwhile, genuine originality is seeing its value reduced to almost nothing.
Click to expand...
I agree.

Still, decades at the sharp end of software development taught me that a majority of mid level and senior managers have been promoted way past their ability to understand the obvious technical consequences of their decisions. One colleague suggested to me that, in too many cases, asking for a sensible business decision on technical matters was pointless. As he put it: "You may as well invoke a random number generator to make the decision".

It now appears that the wrong people were listening to him. :(

(Edited to get rid of the double "o" in the last sentence)
 
Last edited:
Stop the world I want to get off

(The original ..........)
 
I've just taken delivery of an Honor Magic 8 Pro with a claimed 200MP. (See here for why.)

I've only got it for a few days (I think) and need to try it out to test its Night capabilities.

But obviously, I'm also just trying it out in general. Not got anything from it yet, but it seems pretty capable on screen. (But then they all do.)

For the sake of going back to the original post. Modern smart phones are amazing. The pictures from them are way better than the pictures you used to get from dedicated 35mm point and shoot film cameras when I was a kid. But they're no replacement, really, for even a half-decent camera. The headlines figures are misleading and images often feel heavily filtered.

I'd still argue that the images from my 20+ year old Pentax Optio 550 are 'better' than from my iPhone 14 Pro.
 
Last edited:
Kell said:
I've just taken delivery of an Honor Magic 8 Pro with a claimed 200MP. (See here for why.)

I've only got it for a few days (I think) and need to try it out to test its Night capabilities.

But obviously, I'm also just trying it out in general. Not got anything from it yet, but it seems pretty capable on screen. (But then they all do.)

For the sake of going back to the original post. Modern smart phones are amazing. The pictures from them are way better than the pictures you used to get from dedicated 35mm point and shoot film cameras when I was a kid. But they're no replacement, really, for even a half-decent camera. The headlines figures are misleading and images often feel heavily filtered.

I'd still argue that the images from my 20+ year old Pentax Optio 550 are 'better' than from my iPhone 14 Pro.
Click to expand...
I think the one with you and your daughter in water is probably better than a phone photo but I am not sure how fast they are now.
 
Here's some shots I've taken with the new one:

(Theme was Night Photography)

what I would say - is that these are NOT SOOC. There's a PRO mode that shoots RAW and gives you control of Shutter speed, ISO, EV +/-, Manual focus. Annoyingly, it doesn't allow you to change aperture. Maybe that's a step too far.

But I still went through the same process of shooting RAW, PP in LR, creating Panos in some cases.

I'll post some from night mode which is fully auto in a mo.


St Paul's from the Tate by Kell, on Flickr


Who photographs the photographer? by Kell, on Flickr


St Paul's Reflected in Rain by Kell, on Flickr


Double Decker in front of St Paul's by Kell, on Flickr


OXO Tower from Gabriel's Wharf by Kell, on Flickr


Shard from under the Millennium Bridge by Kell, on Flickr


Shard from Queenhithe by Kell, on Flickr


St Paul's reflected in a puddle by Kell, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
You can even make phone calls with them :oops: :$
 
Tysonator said:
The motion blurr on the photos above is pretty good considering this is big camera territory ! lol

What is the mode / setting used on a smartphone to achieve this ! ?
Click to expand...

If that was directed at the shots I uploaded, then they're from a relatively new phone. An Huawei Honor Magic 8 Pro.

It has a dedicated 'Night' mode, but that's fully automated. It also has a 'Pro' mode which as far as I can tell, puts you in control of everything except aperture (which is slightly annoying as I wanted a longer exposure for some shots). It's also the only one that gives you the option of RAW files. These were shot in Pro mode.

But essentially I dialled in 50 ISO, and had to experiment with shutter speed to get the exposure. Couldn’t even use a meter as I don't actually know what the aperture is.

Obviously had to use a tripod too as I think they were around 2.5 second exposures.

I included the second suite of images to show what they look like in Night mode SOOC - as I assume that's how the majority of people will use a phone like this.
 
Last edited:
I'm reasonably sure that the standard Android camera has Pro mode built in, with ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation built in. That's true on my Poco F7 which is far from a top-end phone.
 
Harriers9 said:
I wish Samsung would improve the cameras on their phones.

My A56 is great for close ups and general views like your excellent examples but for long distance ????? No. They look like they've been taken through a bowl of porridge.
Click to expand...
With all due respect you're comparing an iPhone 16 Pro, a flagship phone, at least last year, with a Samsung A56 which is a mid-range phone at best.
 
Kell said:
If that was directed at the shots I uploaded, then they're from a relatively new phone. An Huawei Honor Magic 8 Pro.

It has a dedicated 'Night' mode, but that's fully automated. It also has a 'Pro' mode which as far as I can tell, puts you in control of everything except aperture (which is slightly annoying as I wanted a longer exposure for some shots). It's also the only one that gives you the option of RAW files. These were shot in Pro mode.

But essentially I dialled in 50 ISO, and had to experiment with shutter speed to get the exposure. Could even use a meter as I don't actually know what the aperture is.

Obviously had to use a tripod too as I think they were around 2.5 second exposures.

I included the second suite of images to show what they look like in Night mode SOOC - as I assume that's how the majority of people will use a phone like this.
Click to expand...
I will give this a go,...many thanks
 
ancient_mariner said:
I'm reasonably sure that the standard Android camera has Pro mode built in, with ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation built in. That's true on my Poco F7 which is far from a top-end phone.
Click to expand...

Yep, in Pro mode I can set White Balance, ISO Shutter Speed, Exposure Compensation, Manual Focus on my Pixel 10 pro
 
Last edited:
photos.app.goo.gl

New photo · Saturday, Jul 19, 2025 ð¸

Tap to view!
photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

This was a RAW shot from pixel 9 at RIAT. I'm still learning editing so it's probably a bit overdone, but for a phone I don't think it's too bad. Having said that, there wasn't many keepers so to speak. I left my 'proper' camera in the boot of the car because we were rushing to get on the park and ride....

I have pictures shot on both phone and camera, many I'm very happy with. I like the fact that my phone essentially allows me to carry a reasonably decent camera around all the time. I don't really care about the technical aspects too much, if I like an image, I like it, and that's pretty much it for me.

Obviously, you can do much more with a proper camera with a proper camera and phones are not suitable for all scenarios. But I'd never look at a photo and judge it solely on what hardware was used to take it
 
Kell said:
Here's some shots I've taken with the new one:

(Theme was Night Photography)

what I would say - is that these are NOT SOOC. There's a PRO mode that shoots RAW and gives you control of Shutter speed, ISO, EV +/-, Manual focus. Annoyingly, it doesn't allow you to change aperture. Maybe that's a step too far.

But I still went through the same process of shooting RAW, PP in LR, creating Panos in some cases.

I'll post some from night mode which is fully auto in a mo.


St Paul's from the Tate by Kell, on Flickr


Who photographs the photographer? by Kell, on Flickr


St Paul's Reflected in Rain by Kell, on Flickr


Double Decker in front of St Paul's by Kell, on Flickr


OXO Tower from Gabriel's Wharf by Kell, on Flickr


Shard from under the Millennium Bridge by Kell, on Flickr


Shard from Queenhithe by Kell, on Flickr


St Paul's reflected in a puddle by Kell, on Flickr
Click to expand...
Bloody hell, they are lovely
 
We see lots of comment all over the place saying you can't do this or that with a camera phone, but the opposite is also true. As I posted before, there are photos I have that you could not get with a DLSR, because the venue simply will not allow you take a “camera” in.

b.jpgj.jpgr.jpg
 
Last edited:
Delphin said:
We see lots of comment all over the place saying you can't do this or that with a camera phone, but the opposite is also true. As I posted before, there are photos I have that you could not get with a DLSR, because the venue simply will not allow you take a “camera” in.

View attachment 474617View attachment 474618View attachment 474619
Click to expand...
Why can you bring in a phone but not a camera? After all a phone will normally record the action.

About 7 years ago I was at a child's concert and we were far too far from the stage to take a photo with a camera phone - still didn't stop them from telling people not to use their phones because of children!
 
Last edited:
davholla said:
Why can you bring in a phone but not a camera? After all a phone will normally record the action.

About 7 years ago I was at a child's concert and we were far too far from the stage to take a photo with a camera phone - still didn't stop them from telling people not to use their phones because of children!
Click to expand...
A lot of the top end smartphones have 10, or 20+ zoom so taking pictures at a distance is now very possible.
I remember when cameras, and audio recording devices where banned from music / gig venues. I did see security drag a guy of of a gig in the nineties as his thumb glowing red, as he had it over the record red LED light ! !
Nowadays smartphones can do both functions plus video, and venue security can not confiscate every ones smartphone ! ! lol
 
Tysonator said:
Nowadays smartphones can do both functions plus video, and venue security can not confiscate every ones smartphone ! ! lol
Click to expand...
They absolutely can do something about it though. I’ve been to several comedy gigs (Wembley Arena) where every single person has to put their phone into a sealed bag.

You get to keep it and there are several spots around the arena which are away from the auditorium where you can get the bag unlocked to make or take calls.

It is odd though - and weirdly enforced. I went directly from work one night and had a film camera in my bag and I had to hand that over and collect it after the show. Yet was allowed to take in my phone - this time not in a bag.

On a side note. It was a Tom Segura show and I got mistaken for him after the show.
 
Kell said:
They absolutely can do something about it though. I’ve been to several comedy gigs (Wembley Arena) where every single person has to put their phone into a sealed bag.

You get to keep it and there are several spots around the arena which are away from the auditorium where you can get the bag unlocked to make or take calls.

It is odd though - and weirdly enforced. I went directly from work one night and had a film camera in my bag and I had to hand that over and collect it after the show. Yet was allowed to take in my phone - this time not in a bag.

On a side note. It was a Tom Segura show and I got mistaken for him after the show.
Click to expand...
Wow, i have not been to a gig like that before ! !
It has been many, many years since I was last asked, or searched for a camera !

I have been to a few V Festivals with my DSLR with 70-300 lens and most of the time the security thought I was paparazzi !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top