"Apple" iPhone phones from Apple have been produced for more than 10 years and are popular all over the world. Even their outspoken opponents recognize a number of advantages that are implemented better than those of competitors. A prime example is the main camera on the iPhone. I have a few friends after buying this smartphone simply stopped using conventional digital cameras. And one of them even sold a SLR. Indeed, the quality of photos taken on the iPhone is at a very high level and most phones cannot compete with it. How many megapixels is the camera on an iPhone? Many people think that in order to take a high-quality picture, the camera's matrix must have a very, very high resolution! Let's figure it out!

The resolution of an image is determined by the number of dots it consists of. At the same time, one megapixel (megapixel) is one million pixels, that is, dots. That is, the higher the resolution of the phone's camera, the better the detail of the picture that it will make.
Now let's see - how many megapixels is the camera on the iPhone.
Data for each model, starting from the very first models and ending with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7, I collected in a table:

As you can see from the above data, the most modern models of smartphones from Apple have a camera that is average in terms of resolution today. On the iPhone 7, 6, and SE, it's only 12 megapixels.

How so?! It seems to be - make the matrix resolution as high as possible and you will get great pictures ?! No matter how!
By itself, a large number of megapixels does not guarantee high image detail. Much also depends on the sensitivity of the lens, its focusing, noise reduction and image stabilization system. Apple developers have gone down this path.
And in order to take a good picture, the iPhone camera will have 12 megapixels enough for the eyes! Such an image can be scaled in a wide range without loss of quality. And even then, most users will not do this. But due to the excellent work of the stabilizer, noise reduction and good focusing speed, the iPhone can take great photos without chasing the number of megapixels. This fact allows not to make its cost even higher (and they are already sky-high for most of Russia) due to the installation of a matrix with a huge resolution.

panel management

This example used manual focus on LG G2. The picture taken by the iPhone 5s is less bright, but the detail is comparable.

The center of the frame is equally well processed by both cameras, but the LG G2 looks much better on the left side of the frame, you can even read the name of the air conditioner manufacturer (although resolution plays a particularly important role here), while the iPhone 5s has much less noise to the right of the monument, which is clearly visible if you look at the bars in the window.

A few more examples of how dynamic range significantly affects the quality of photographs and their perception. Here, the iPhone 5s leaves no chance for the LG G2.

panel management

Here and in example #13 shows the difference in the distance at which the cameras of the iPhone 5s and G2 can focus.

In this example, camera flaws are noticeable, the iPhone 5s has noise, especially noticeable at the edges of the frame, and the LG G2 has color reproduction.

And here the victory is on the side of LG. With comparable detail, the LG photo turned out to be closer to reality: skin color, lighting.

Comparable photos in difficult conditions. LG has a little better work on the right side of the frame, the iPhone 5s left, but the color reproduction and dynamic range are again on the side of the iPhone.

In this example, almost the full advantage of the iPhone 5s, from detail to dynamic range.

With comparable detail, the iPhone 5s shot looks nicer due to more natural colors.

Shooting with flash showed that its use is not always appropriate. The face of Karabas-Barabas is worked out much worse than in the previous example, and this is true for both the iPhone 5s and G2.

Another confirmation of the more pleasing to the eye color reproduction in the photo taken by the iPhone 5s.

survey solutions

This example clearly shows the advantage of the iPhone 5s in terms of correct backlighting (leaves are not overexposed), noise, and background processing.

Pictures taken using flash and, in the case of the LG G2, manual ISO settings. In general, the result is comparable.

LG has a photo with less noise, but due to the low ISO, despite the use of flash, it is too dark.

A similar shot with similar results, but without flash. Here, as in many other examples, the correct determination of the white balance by the iPhone 5s smartphone is noticeable, while LG has obvious problems with this.

The next two examples left almost no chance Apple iPhone 5s. The photos taken by him are somewhat lighter, but with a comparable ISO value, the iPhone works automatically, the LG manual settings, the amount of noise is noticeably higher.

survey solutions

The situation with video is about the same as with photographs - the iPhone 5s has a better dynamic range, but it is difficult to determine the unambiguous leader in terms of detail.

Full HD Video Examples

As the last example, here is a recording shot at a frequency of 120 frames / s at a resolution of 1280x720 pixels by an Apple iPhone 5s smartphone.

Results

The new Apple iPhone 5s is the owner of one of the best cameras in smartphones today. Considering that even the predecessor could compete on an equal footing with the best camera phones of this year, and in the new smartphone the camera has become even better, we can assume that against the background samsung galaxy S4, pictures and videos captured iPhones 5s will look at least as good. To understand how our assumption corresponds to reality, it will be possible by comparison. In the meantime, we can conclude that the Apple iPhone 5s shoots a little better than the LG G2, although it has a number of problems: blur on the left edge of the picture and noise in low light. However, in order to get a good shot in the iPhone 5s, you do not need to think about the settings, you just point the camera at the subject and press the shutter button, and the camera focuses almost instantly. In addition, the new viewfinder interface has the ability to switch between video, panorama, 1 to 1 shooting and slow motion recording modes by simply scrolling through the corresponding list. Given the small screen, this approach not only justifies itself, but also looks more convenient than using individual switches.

As a result, we can say that Apple iPhone 5s users can be sure that they have in their hands not only the most compact smartphone to date, but also an excellent camera phone capable of both high-quality pictures and excellent video.

As for the LG G2, the manufacturer still has work to do. First of all, this concerns white balance and focusing speed. But even with these features, the LG G2 looks like a worthy rival to the Apple iPhone 5s.

	Apple iPhone 5S 64GB (Space Gray) 3 998 - 9 486 UAH Compare prices
Type of	Smartphone
Type of shell	monoblock
Standard	GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/900/1700/2100/1900/2100
High speed data transfer	GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA (up to 42 Mb/s), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mb/s), LTE (DL up to 100 Mb/s, UL up to 50 Mb/s)
Dimensions (mm)	123.8x58.6x7.6
Weight (g)	112
Processor (for smartphones)	A7, 1.7 GHz (2 cores) + M7 coprocessor + GPU
Memory	1 GB RAM + 64 GB internal memory
Expansion slot	No
Main screen	IPS, 4″, 640×1136 pixels (326 dpi), aspect ratio 16:9, max. brightness 500 cd/m2, contrast ratio 800:1, touch, capacitive, multi-touch support
Keyboard type	screen input
Accumulator battery	Li-Ion, 1570 mAh
Operating time (manufacturer's data)	conversation - up to 10h (3G), standby - up to 250h, Internet browsing - up to 8/10/10h (3G, LTE, Wi-Fi), video viewing - up to 10h, audio - up to 40h
Communications	USB 2.0 (Lightning), Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
SIM card type	Nano SIM
Photography	8 MP (backlit sensor), autofocus, face detection, geotagging, panoramic shooting, 1.2 MP front camera (30 fps)
SIM card type	Micro SIM
Number of SIM cards	1
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 + GPU Adreno 330
Number of Cores	4
Frequency, GHz	2,3
Battery	Li-Ion, 3000 mAh
Diagonal, inches	5,2
Permission	1920x1080
Matrix type	True HD IPS
PPI	424
Brightness sensor	+
Display features	protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 2
Main camera, Mp	13
Video filming	1920x1080 pixels, 60 fps, HDR
Flash	LED
Front camera, Mp	2,1
Camera features	BSI sensor, optical stabilization
Communication standards	GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/900/7900/2100, LTE 850/900/1800/2100/2600
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, DLNA, WiFi hotspot
Bluetooth	4.0 (A2DP)
GPS	+
IrDA	+
FM radio	yes (with RDS support)
Audio jack	3.5mm
NFC	+
interface connector	USB 2.0 (micro-USB, SlimPort, USB Host, USB OTG)
Height, mm	138.5x70.9x8.9
Weight, g	143
Protection against dust and moisture	-
Type of shell	monoblock
Housing material	plastic
Keyboard type	screen input
More	media player, a-GPS receiver, video telephony, gyroscope, electronic compass, accelerometer, integration with social networks and Google services, light and proximity sensors

The question, iPhone front camera how many megapixels, arises among users quite often: people want to know what quality of pictures they can expect. Fortunately, Apple smartphones traditionally offer one of the best cameras to create selfies, which are also constantly improved with the release of a new model of the device.

iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS

The first iPhone or iPhone 2G was introduced to users on January 9, and went on sale on June 29, 2007. It was indeed the first phone designed by Apple. But the developers did not add a front camera: there was only the main one with a resolution of 2 megapixels (MP).

In megapixels, the resolution of the matrix is ​​\u200b\u200bmeasured, their number is one of the most important characteristics of photographic equipment. But other characteristics also have a serious impact: the material of the optics, the quality and size of the matrix, and the focusing algorithms. The iPhone has no problem with this, so even the 5 megapixel cameras of the Apple phone give best quality than 15 megapixels of an unknown Chinese device.

In 2008, the iPhone 3G was introduced to the public, which also did not have a front camera, offering the same 2MP main camera as on 2G. In the 3GS model that appeared a year later, the rear camera already received 3 megapixels and autofocus, but there was still no front camera.

iPhone 4, 4s

Introduced in 2010 iPhone 4 made selfies commonplace by offering users a 0.3 MP front camera. With its help, it was possible to take photos of VGA quality (640 × 480 pixels), as well as shoot videos up to 30 frames / s.

On 4S, the resolution of the front camera remains the same - 0.3 megapixels. But even this indicator was enough for the world to be covered by a selfie mania that continues to this day. Incidentally, in 2010 App Store The Instagram app was the first to appear, so adding a good camera to the phone has become a must for all developers.

iPhone 5, 5c, 5s

In 2012, the next Apple phone model appeared - iPhone 5. Here front-camera already received 1.2 megapixels, which could be used to take photos, record HD video and video calls via FaceTime.

In 2012 Mobile Internet just acquired the necessary speeds to transfer large amounts of data, so that video communication has become commonplace, like front cameras. The 5S and 5C featured a similar 1.2MP module offering the same capabilities.

iPhone 6/6 Plus, 6S/6S Plus

Given the physical size of the sixth iPhone, it seemed logical to increase the number of megapixels in the front camera. However, both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus still have a proven module from the fifth iPhone with a resolution of 1.2 megapixels.

Yes, on big screen It was more convenient to view the photos, but I wanted some kind of qualitative improvement. It didn’t take long: on the 6S and 6S Plus, the front camera immediately received 5 megapixels, making a serious breakthrough.

iPhone SE, 7/7 Plus

After the iPhone 6S, Apple released the iPhone SE, returning to the 1.2MP camera. This decision is due to the fact that SE is, in fact, an updated 5S with filling from 6S. Then came the iPhone 7, which had a 7MP front camera. The iPhone 7 Plus kept up the tradition and also introduced a 7MP camera in addition to the dual rear camera.

Part 2: test the screen, video playback, camera and summarize

In the first part of the article, we covered most aspects of the Apple iPhone 5s, leaving the screen, video playback and photo capabilities out of the brackets in order to pay more attention to them in the second part of the article. If you have not read the first part, we advise you to start with it, and then return to this text.

Screen

The screen of the smartphone is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of bright light sources in it, it has a very effective anti-glare filter, which is superior in reducing the reflection brightness of the Google Nexus 7 screen filter. Doubling (and even tripling) of reflected objects is present to some extent, but the shadows of objects are very weak; this indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass and the matrix surface. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, but still slightly worse than in the case of Google Nexus 7), so fingerprints do not appear as quickly as in the case of ordinary glass, but are removed more easily.

At manual control brightness, its maximum value was about 520 cd / m², and the minimum - 5 cd / m². As a result, at maximum brightness, even in bright daylight, the screen will retain sufficient readability, and in complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. There is automatic adjustment backlight brightness by light sensor (it is located to the left of the front camera). AT automatic mode as the ambient light conditions change, the brightness of the screen both increases and decreases. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 5 cd / m² (this is too low), in an office lit by artificial light it is set to 200-280 cd / m² when increasing from the minimum (acceptable) and to 500 cd / m² (which is too a lot) when decreasing from the maximum, and in a bright environment (corresponding to a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight) increases to a maximum of 520 cd/m². As a result, this function does not work quite adequately: in the dark it lowers the brightness too much, and when switching to medium light levels, the hysteresis is too large. At low brightness, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so visual flickering of the screen cannot be seen.

The iPhone 5s has an IPS type matrix. The micrograph demonstrates the subpixel structure typical of IPS - if you look closely, you can see the division of subpixels by control electrodes into narrow “beds” characteristic of IPS:

The dark dots in the next photo (at a lower magnification) are dust that has settled somewhere between the layers of the screen.

This is far from the first screen with glued layers, but the first in which we found so much dust. Of course, this dirt cannot be seen with the naked eye, and in fact it does not worsen the properties of the screen, but its presence indirectly indicates an insufficiently high production culture at the enterprise that manufactures screens for this smartphone.

The screen has very good viewing angles without hue inversion and without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen. The black field, when deflected diagonally, is highlighted very little and, depending on the direction of the deflection, acquires a red-violet or bluish tint. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good. The contrast is high - about 960:1. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.19, which is almost equal to the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve coincides with the power dependence:

The black-white-black transition response time is 28ms (15ms on + 13ms off), and the transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (by color value) takes a total of 41.5ms. The color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix light filters moderately mix the components to each other, and as a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation:

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is slightly higher than the standard 6500 K and its variation is very small, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (delta E) is significantly less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, as there the color balance does not have of great importance, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

In terms of the combination of characteristics, the screen deserves a very high rating. Especially note the high brightness, stable and deep blacks, very good color reproduction. When compared with the Apple iPhone 5, you can see that the new screen is a little brighter and its color reproduction is a little more accurate - however, these differences are not so fundamental as to argue that there is a significant difference between the screens of these devices.

Video file playback

To test the display of video files on the device screen, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with various parameters: resolution (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps) varied. With). In tests, we used a regular video player launched from a browser. The test results do not need to be summarized in a table, as they are excellent: there are no frame drops, the intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate evenly. The screen refresh rate appears to be 60Hz. Note that, unlike devices (phones and tablets) on Android, on Apple screen iPhone 5s, we never experienced a frame interleaving glitch. The range of brightness displayed on the screen corresponds to the extended range (that is, the range 0-255) - in the shadows and in the highlights, all gradations of shades are distinguished. Most video files are encoded in the video luminance range of 16-235, so the extended range for movie display is harmful, but the Apple player is somehow able to correctly determine the type of encoding, so all the gradations of shades are displayed on the screen anyway, and the black color is real black and white is white. The only thing missing this smartphone, is the ability to display 720p video one to one, without scaling. However, given the physical dimensions of the screen, this point is not of fundamental importance.

Camera

iPhone 5s is equipped with two cameras - front with a resolution of 1.2 megapixels and rear with a resolution of 8 megapixels. Traditionally, here you can not change the resolution of the image, it will always be 3264 × 2448 pixels. The exception is the mode in which the camera takes a square picture with a resolution of 2448 × 2448 pixels. The following are examples of pictures taken with the rear camera in normal mode with a resolution of 8 MP.

	Sharpness is quite good in all plans. The foliage merges to distant plans, but still retains a decent appearance.
	Grass and foliage worked out well for 8 megapixels.
	There is a noticeable smooth drop in sharpness to distant plans, but the camera pulls them out too.
	The exposure is well chosen. Noises in the dark area are almost imperceptible.
	A good macro shot if you know which area is in focus.
	On the flower, you can notice areas that the program could not process correctly.
	But sometimes you can achieve good results.

Image sharpness is generally quite good. Even in dark areas, it is practically not spoiled by noise. It's nice that the foliage in the background looks soft and is exactly the foliage, and not sharp, but incomprehensible pieces. And with the exposure in auto mode, the camera has no problems.

Focusing in macro photography is often wrong, which makes it difficult to capture the desired detail. It takes quite a long time to find the right distance to the object, especially since the minimum focusing distance of the camera is rather big.

HDR shots show not only an extended dynamic range, but also good sharpness, which is very valuable in this case. When shooting HDR, the camera takes two shots with slight exposure compensation in both directions. The compensation is small enough that it does not allow you to immediately select a picture with a wide dynamic range.

Lab Test

	Laboratory lighting ("1"). The stand worked perfectly, no complaints.
	Lighting ½. With reduced lighting, the result is almost as good.
	Lighting ¼. Further deterioration of lighting generated noises, which are very gently processed by noise reduction.
	Lighting ¼, flash. The flash almost brings back the conditions of laboratory lighting.
	Lighting 0. With practically total absence The camera can no longer cope with light. However, you can get some idea of ​​the subject.
	Lighting 0, flash. And even in this situation, the flash works perfectly.

The work of the flash does not cause any complaints. When using the flash, the camera, as expected, shortens the shutter speed and reduces the ISO, due to which it wins well in resolution.

It is clearly seen that in any light conditions the flash achieves almost the same resolution and sharpness as in laboratory light.

When there is no light, the flash turns on in the focus illuminator mode. In such conditions, the camera takes a long time to focus, but the result is worth it. In addition, it should be noted in the flash a successful tandem of "cold" and "warm" diodes, which allow you to get close to natural colors even in bad conditions.

According to the results of shooting the stand, the camera proved to be very worthy compared to other smartphones. Despite the smaller 1 / 3.2 ″ matrix and not the highest resolution, the graph shows that iPhone camera 5s is one of the best. And this is confirmed not only by numbers. She manages to work very softly at high ISO values ​​​​thanks to reasonable noise reduction. The result of his work resembles the work of the color noise reduction function in RAW editors, when color noise becomes gray, and in this form is almost invisible. The sharpening of the camera is barely noticeable - and then if you know where to look.

panoramas

In addition to the already familiar Auto and HDR modes, with the release of iOS 7, the camera has a panorama shooting mode. However, the panorama can only be shot in one position - to swipe from left to right, holding the smartphone vertically. The camera manages to get reasonably good and sharp panoramas with even exposure.

However, there are also failures.

Blurring in the background, white sky and black notches at the bottom are the result of poor processing. Of course, part of the problem here is the carelessness of the photographer, but the program did its job in bad faith.

And yet I would like to note that the panoramas of the camera work well. On the other hand, this is no longer a surprise to anyone. But the restriction on the direction of wiring and the location of the smartphone, of course, is a little frustrating.

Comparison with iPhone 5

Of course, we couldn't help but compare the iPhone 5s camera to that of its predecessor.

As you can see from the above shots, the cameras of the iPhone 5 and 5s are almost the same.

Video

The rear camera can shoot video at 1080p@30 fps and 720p@120 fps.

It is worth noting that 720p@120 fps video, referred to as the “Slow” mode on the smartphone, is slow motion. However, the slowdown (120 fps → 30 fps) is only correctly reproduced by the smartphone itself, and on the computer the video is only played as a video at 120 frames per second. Apparently, the user is invited to slow down the video on the computer four times with his own hands (this can be done in most players when viewing).

Perhaps it is impossible to say that the camera is perfect. You can't even call it the best. However, in itself it has many advantages and practically no significant drawbacks. So iPhone 5s owners will surely be happy with such a pleasant moment in the new smartphone, and iPhone 5 owners, as it turns out, can already use it if they switched to iOS 7.

conclusions

Apple has released a smartphone that cannot be called revolutionary, however, firstly, it is still a very high-quality product, and secondly, it has several interesting features that may well be developed in future devices by both Apple and competing companies.

First of all, it is a fingerprint sensor. To save the user from having to enter a password each time and make it physically impossible for strangers to use his smartphone is a good goal. After all, it's no secret that many people are too lazy to invent and memorize complex passwords, and device security suffers. Again, the fingerprint scanner can be used for many other tasks: for example, on tablets would be useful different levels access to applications, sites and content for different family members. So far this is a matter of the future, but, obviously, the very near future.

The second promising innovation is a 64-bit processor with a new instruction set. Tests have shown that with the same frequency and number of cores, the 64-bit Apple A7 is very significantly (two or more times) superior to the Apple A6, that is, the architecture is very efficient. But this superiority is still not enough to be the undisputed market leader: NVIDIA Tegra 4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 take the frequency and number of cores, demonstrating in benchmarks no less performance than the Apple A7. Now the main intrigue is this: does Apple have a trick up its sleeve, that is, whether the company will be able to release in the near future Apple version A7 for new iPad tablets, but already with four cores and a frequency of around 2 GHz, or there are some technical difficulties, and the performance of the A7 in the iPhone 5s is still the maximum that Apple engineers are capable of at this stage.

As for the camera and screen, this is an improvement over the previous one. iPhone version is minimal (and in the case of the screen, it is completely absent), but this does not prevent them from remaining very worthy solutions that are not taken by record technical specifications, but the quality of all parameters and excellent adaptability to real specific user tasks.

Now about the cost. iPhone 5s has not yet been officially released in Russia. Most likely, at the time of the start of sales, we will have its price similar to the current one. iPhone price 5. Particularly impatient gadget addicts can, of course, already today purchase a smartphone from “gray” supplies. True, in addition to the traditionally inflated price (from one and a half times - for black and white models; up to three times - for golden ones), one must be prepared for the fact that 4G (LTE) will not work, although, judging by the characteristics, Russian LTE bands supported in some modifications of the iPhone 5s. Most likely, Apple will introduce support for Russian LTE networks by the time official sales start, but not the fact that it will automatically appear in "gray" devices purchased in other countries.

Last year after iPhone presentations 5 Renowned photographer Austin Mann traveled to Iceland to compare the quality of the new smartphone's camera shots with those taken with the iPhone 4s. A month ago, Apple introduced its flagship iPhone 5s, equipping the smartphone with f / 2.2 aperture and dual LED flash. To see if the 5s camera is really that good, the traveler headed to Patagonia, where he spent a week testing pictures from the iPhone 5 and 5s.

Together with his colleagues, Mann conquered mountain peaks, walked on glaciers and even slept in the wilderness. The pictures turned out amazing. Most of them Austin chose not to edit with third party applications so that you and I can enjoy authentic photographs of the picturesque mountain expanses ( panoramas are clickable).

Panorama taken on

iPhone 5 (lightened shadows)

iPhone 5s (lightened shadows)

Panorama shot on iPhone 5

According to the photographer, the iPhone 5s camera outperformed the iPhone 5 in all tests. I wonder how he would describe Nokia Lumia 1020 with 41 megapixel camera.

While smartphones are getting better shots , phones are unlikely to be able to . Nevertheless, there are cases when companies, in order to reduce costs, replaced them with ordinary reporters with an iPhone.

Many people wonder: how to take such cool pictures on the iPhone? In fact, photographers often cannot do without additional accessories like a tripod or a detachable lens. In this case, Austin used only a tripod and an iPhone.

By the way, Mann's site will certainly be of interest to lovers of beautiful photographs. Right on it home page contains information about the current journey of the photographer - from the city, country and local weather to the one used in this moment lens.