Open Mike: Mike's New Camera

No, it's not what you think—I haven't ditched one brand and skipped to another. My "real" camera is still my Fuji X-T1 and 23mm lens, and that's not changing. This is what I got:

Eolake Stobblehouse kindly shared his impressions of the iPhone 6+ and that pushed me over the edge. My old phone was a 4S, vintage late 2011. That's about 25 in dog years, and aren't smartphone years roughly equivalent to dog years?

In the picture (notice how I cleverly integrate the obligatory Butters shot for this week into this iPhone post—oh, canny blogger) we see Butters with Zander's former favorite new hat. Nefarious hound himself is observable in the upper right, back in the bokeh.

I took the 6+ as my only camera to a gathering last night and shot not only a number of pictures with it, but, in the "What's the World Coming To" category, videos as well. Mike shooting videos?!? Preposterous. But you know the old expression, When in iRome, do as the iRomans do. 

First impressions are that the camera, despite similar specs, actually is a big improvement. It's fun to use as a camera. The only thing that satisfies my creative itch right now is Fuji's inimitable way with B&W, but this is nice for snapshots.

Casual iPhone 6+ portrait photo the way it fell out of the phone. Don't know what's up with that color—discontinuous spectrum lighting perhaps? The color was uncorrectable, except by doing this...

By the bye, let me just make a prediction based on an old column of Ctein's and my sense of the smartphone market: somewhere in the 4–10-year timeframe, phone cameras will exceed the quality of all but the best professional DSLRs. Eventually, you'll use a small device with an array of camera modules to take an exposure that allows you to select things like angle of view and focus point after the fact, like we select white balance after the fact now, and which will easily adapt to huge file sizes or super light sensitivity as needed.

Of course, my crystal ball is a good deal cloudier than Ctein's.

Mike
(Thanks to Eolake)

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Barry Prager: "I live in San Francisco, so I see more people taking photos than most. I used to watch them taking crappy photos with a dedicated camera, which at least forced them to take photos in the more appropriate horizontal orientation. Now they're taking the vast number of photos in the vertical position, like they were holding the phone to their ear. Usually with one hand! They would be taking photos of the Grand Canyon in a vertical position. Also the vast number of pictures will remain on their phone as they don't know how to get them onto the computer, or what to do with them if they do. Many billions of crappy photos as digital vapor. No negatives, or any record, is their future. We're in the best of times for photography, and the worst."

Mike replies: One of the theses of John Szarkowski's Photography Until Now was that devices in part dictate the way they are used. And it's not like there haven't been vertical-format cameras before...for instance the Fuji GS645s and the Linhof 220.

Linhof 220

jim (partial comment): "We're in SF this weekend and the city is plastered with iPhone photo billboards promoting it as a camera."

Bryce Lee: "Oh my that gets expensive. Here in Canada basic iPhone 6+ starts at C$859.00 plus here in Ontario a 13 percent sales tax, total $970.67. That's a good chunk of cash...for a bloody telephone!"

Mike replies: Well, I don't know, Bryce...the basic iPhone 6+ is $299 with a calling plan, and you kinda need a calling plan, since it doesn't work without one.

And this isn't exactly news, but it's a little more than just "a bloody telephone." It's a telephone you can carry around with you. And it's a very good dictation machine, with instant OCR (optical character recognition) built in. And you can write notes or letters on it...that are delivered instantly, more or less.

And I paid $700 in 2003 for a worse camera, albeit with a zoom lens. And I used to carry a pocket flashlight, which the iPhone has built-in. In the early '90s I inherited a hard drive the size of a small phone book that my brother paid $800 for...that stored 80 megabytes. My iPhone has 64 gigabytes of storage. I used to pay a quarter to play a game of Asteroids on a large machine at the corner 7-11—the iPhone offers many more games than that, lots of them free. Remember when Scrabble came in a box that contained a fold-out board and little wooden tiles? My girlfriend and I play Scrabble on her iPhone.

It's an extremely accurate pocket watch. It's also a stopwatch (I had to buy one of those in high school), a timer, and a world clock. Remember organizers, or planners? Thick sheaves of bound paper with in a leather or vinyl wraparound binding? It's got that.

I always wanted an Epson Photo Viewer but could never afford one. The iPhone serves.

It's literally easier to get the current outdoor temperature on the iPhone than it is to look out the window at the thermometer.

My brother paid nearly $200 in high school for a scientific calculator. The calculator that comes with the iPhone is pretty basic, but I'll bet you can get apps for better ones.

I used to carry a sheaf of maps in the glove box in my car. The other day I needed to go somewhere I'd never been before, so I punched a button on the iPhone, said "Fork in the Road restaurant, Mukwonago, Wisconsin," and the iPhone spoke directions that took me to the front door. You can buy devices that only do that.

The other night it showed me which lanes of the freeway were closed for construction, before I left the house.

Remember the Sony Walkman? We paid good money for those in the '80s. You can store the equivalent of several sacks full of cassette tapes on the iPhone and listen to your music on earbuds, headphones, or any external device up to a full stereo rig if you want to.

It's a web browser. Tonight at dinner we used it to look up a list of all the museums in the Smithsonian system (the Hirshhorn and the National Zoo are part of the Smithsonian, turns out). I can even watch TV shows and movies on it, although I've never done so. Could replace the in-flight movie you used to watch on a long flight, but with a movie of your own choosing.

I use it to browse real estate listings.

It syncs with my car.

Best of all, you can read books on it. It's a bit small—I prefer my iPad Air for reading—but the 6+ is easily big enough to read on comfortably. It's even a book store, albeit one where it's harder to browse. I still like real bookstores. But then, from a real bookstore, I can't buy a book on a whim at 2 a.m. without getting out of bed, and start reading it 90 seconds later.

It does quite a few more useful things as well. Like it or don't like it, it's more than a bloody telephone!

Bryce replies to Mike: "Mike, and others..when I wrote my initial note was thinking outright purchase. I do not subscribe to this stupid contract bit although our government finally got off its collective ass so we are not bound by a three year contract. It is now a two-year contract plus the cost of the phone. Problem is here in Canada contract rates are C$50–90 a month plus toll charges plus the cost of the phone plus taxes. Have friends with an iPhone 6+ who are paying about $65 a month plus taxes and that's after being loyal custmers for years. Over two years, that new iPhone might be charged out at C$20.00/month give or take. It is as bad as if it were a fixed landline."

Mike replies: Well, but do you want them to give it to you for free? It's true, as Eolake points out, that Apple is richer than his home country (Denmark). But I'll give them my money for the product they're offering. It's worth it.

Here's the best expression of my feelings about the cost of the 6+:

Stephen Gilbert: "Do ya think there's a market for 'distressed' caps? A special 'Butters edition' à la the new Leica."

Speed: "Next thing we know, Mike will have an Instagram page."

Mike replies: What's this "Instagram" of which you speak? (I love being a Luddite, or at least playing one on the Internet.)

Steve P.: "Mike, I note with interest your detailed reply to Bryce Lee's comment and I'm wondering if you can get some kind of 'paddle app' for the iphone? I ask because if the iPhone ever fails you'll be right up S**t Creek!"

Mike replies: It's an issue. I've never had trouble with it myself, but my brother's iPhone failed at night in the thick of Boston traffic when they were depending on it to get to where they were going. It also looms as an issue in case of catastrophe, for instance natural disasters or war. But I presume we are working on contingency plans, since our government is so united and acting as one for the good of the people.

Jordi Pujol: "Used to have a Samsung S4 until recently when my dad got an iPhone 6 from a draw.

"As a student always wandering between home, city and campus I quickly found a nice use of a visual snap journal for the cellphone camera. First, back in 2012 until early last year, I used the crappy 3MP of my cheapo phone. Upgraded twice and it's much more useful.

"A nice feature of the phones is that they are inconspicuous. So much that it lets me shoot scenes that I couldn't, wouldn't or shouldn't with a camera. I took a couple frames of a friend with my OM-1 (with Tri-X, carrying it daily now) and his reaction to the camera was much much different compared to the phones. Not just candids, when he was aware of being photographed his behavior was much different. Curious.

"In fact I'm going for exchange to Sweden later this year and I'm thinking of using the iPhone 6 as my sole digital camera. I can only imagine how happy I'd be if I had such a device 10 years ago at age 10. Just the camera and video and nothing else would be enough.

"The video...that stabilizer is black magic vodoo. Well, overall there is a lot of sotware voodoo that makes it a nice camera. But the IS made me shoot a lot much more video. Walkin'? No problem! Steadicam in your hands. Mike, try hyperlapse from instagram. Nice for making timelapses (I have lots of fun with it in the train and landscape).

"...And a couple of years ago I was a bit skeptical on phone photography. I am 20 now. By the way, this comment written in my iPhone 6."

Robert: "Most people taking photos with a cell phone are producing images that are better in almost every way than those produced by skilled amateurs on their high quality film cameras 30 years ago. The cell phone also offers possibilities that have created completely new markets where many of us traditionalists do not take part. When my daughter and I take our Labrador for a walk in the forest, she takes several 'snaps' which always make me think that I would have not been able to do better with my D800. Thus, I feel a point will be reached soon where sales fall and it will no longer be viable for the Nikons and the like to stay in business. I'm now looking forward to this as it might mean a return to my old film cameras. Using these wasn't just about taking photos, it was, in my case, as much about handling them and the non-instant approach."

Jon Falk:

"A real Photoshop wizard could do much better than I."

Comments

[Mike]

I hope you didn't take any portrait mode videos.

I love that smartphones allow you to always have a decent to pretty good camera with you at all times, but hate how they've made portrait mode videos a thing.

At least the YouTube app will not let you capture a video in portrait mode.

[jseliger]

this is nice for snapshots

Ehhhhhhh—I still carry around a Sony RX-100, and I think the quality improvement over phones is worthwhile. The video is also insane.

[David Anderson]

Mike, what are things coming to indeed! I still use a recently acquired iPhone 5S and that surprises me at times.

As a fellow Fujifilm camera owner, (X-Pro 1, X-T1) I wondered why you decided on the X-T1 plus 23mm f1.4 lens rather than the smaller X100T which has a 23mm f2 lens and identical sensor? I would have thought it more of a one camera one lens system? That is assuming you never want to use other lenses in the future I suppose. - Just curious.

[Gildas]

I still have regular Iphone 4.
For my use, the camera is great as a notepad and find no good reason for not keeping it for at least another 2 years.

[Steve P.]

How in the world are you ever going to commit to the "one camera one lens for one year" project now you've gone and done this!?!

[Tamas Kadar]

I went from the 4S to the 5S to the 6 Plus the last two years or so. Jumping from one to the other felt incremental (especially the 4S -> 5S switch) but I recently picked up an used 4S and wow, the difference between that and the 6 Plus is much bigger than I remembered.

I got the 6 Plus because of the OIS and I have to say, it delivers. I can take surprisingly high quality picture in low light now, the kind of pictures I would use my 6D for instead before. Now, it is still night and day between the tiny sensor of the 6 Plus and the full-frame-sized one in the 6D, nevertheless, the 6 Plus is suddenly good enough in many cases now. Especially after some post-processing in VSCO or Darkroom.

My new favorite addition to my workflow is the Eye-Fi Mobi card: I can shoot a portrait with my 6D, have it on my 6 Plus in 20 seconds, edit in VSCO and up on the internet in less, than 3 minutes. I have not touched Lightroom ever since I got it...

(This comment has not been sponsored by anyone. Where is my money, VSCO/Eye-Fi?)

[Sal Santamaura]

Mike, my wife is also a member of the icult. :-) She too has a 4S and is about to trade it for a 6 or 6 Plus. One of the sales wizards at an Apple store told her the 6 Plus' optical image stabilization is only functional for video recording and not employed when making still photographs. Apple's own Web pages as well as multiple independent 6 / 6 Plus on line reviews seem to indicate the exact opposite, i.e. digital image stabilization is used for both, in both phones, but optical image stabilization on the 6 Plus is "stills only."

Can you verify which is correct for your 6 Plus and let everyone know? Thanks in advance.

[Seems to work in both to me, but then I just got it. --Mike]

[Joe Holmes]

The expression on Butters's face alone justifies the price of that iPhone!

I've checked out a number of third-party camera apps for the iPhone 6 -- Manual, Camera+, ProCam, Hipstamatic -- and there are things to like about each one. But I end up coming back to the built-in Camera app. I guess its simplicity is a big enough plus. (Also, it's the only camera accessible without unlocking the iPhone.)

Hipstamatic has some really nice implementations of B&W "film" (check out @jorgecolombo on Instagram for examples), but the app is way too limited (no way to adjust the exposure, for example). I hear they're about to release a new version, though, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled.

[Rick Wilcox]

I know just how you feel, Mike. I too do not shoot videos, even though all my camera choices do. I also had the iPhone 4s and upgraded to a 6+ just last week. A great snap shooting camera. With the addition of slow motion, I did venture a trial video. I'm impressed. But I also have a Fuji that does great black & white. Not an X-T1. A X-Pro 1. Same sensor. I also have a X-100s, only because the price dropped in half and I couldn't resist. (Bought through your site, by the way.) Both are my go to cameras, as of late. My two big Nikons, FX & DX, and all the big lenses have been staying home more and more.

It's a brave new world.

[Stephen Scharf]

Congats, Mike! I think I will be upgrading to the iPhone 6 (not Plus) soon. Pretty interested in iPhone 6 as I've been reading great things about the camera functionality. BTW, Apple is running *billboards* of photos taken with the iPhone 6 all over the Bay Area. Who says you need full-frame? Impressive.

Aww...Butters!

[Manuel]

Shame on you, Mike!
...Actually I had an eye-opening experience about the iPhone last year. A nephew of mine, whom I helped raising and is a former graphic design student, took his iPhone 4S during a snow vacation in Asturias, Spain. The pictures he made got me quite impressed: the iPhone ticked all the relevant boxes, especially in terms of definition, white balance and colour accuracy, and dynamic range. (The latter assertion must be taken 'cum grano salis', of course: there's little such a tiny sensor can do to avoid blown highlights.)
The world has decidedly moved on since the ages when a mobile phone wasn't capable of any more than embarrassing images. Of course, if you asked my nephew - who isn't really that much into photography - about the merits of the iPhone's camera, you'd get the predictable answer: OK for casual shots, way out of its depth with more demanding scenes. I'd add it's actually more than just OK for the former: it surpasses all camera phones and all but the best enthusiast-level compact cameras in what concerns image quality. There is obviously a lot going on between the moment you press the shutter button and the appearing of the image on the screen, but whatever the processor does, it does quite well. Images are very well-judged with nice colour balance, good noise reduction and adequate sharpness.
The iPhone doesn't serve my photographic purposes; I'd never use one for the kind of pictures I take pleasure in making, but I'd be more than happy to use one if casual photos were my thing. Hell, I'd even take it out of my pocket and use it should an unmissable photographic opportunity arrive and I had no other camera at hand.
That's how good I found the 4S. If you say version 6 is even better - and I have no reason to doubt such statement -, then it must be a damn good camera phone!

[Eolake]

Congratulations.
I like how you move fast, once you have made your decision.
And you even got a bumper case. Very wise, this camera (oops, phone. Computer? Whatever) is a bit slick, what with the rounded corners and the slimness.

Have fun.
It is not unusual for me to think back to a moment in the past before smartphones, and think: how I wish I'd had my iPhone with me back then to photograph that.

http://eolake.com

[R. Edelman]

Mike, if you haven't already read it, I think you would very much enjoy The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs.

[Stephen Gilbert]

Nice hat. But doesn't the bill tend to flap around?

[jim]

We're in SF this weekend and the city is plastered with iPhone photo billboards promoting it as a camera. And the iPhone page on the Apple website has some photos of merit: http://www.apple.com/iphone/world-gallery/

[Keith B]

Barry, holding the iPhone vertically for stills is not that big a deal, since it's aspect ratio is something like 1.25:1. The more annoying (to me, I admit) crime is to shoot video (1.78:1) vertically. When will they learn?
Mike: Your iPhone has a scientific calculator built in: rotate the standard calculator 90º and you'll see it.

[Bill Tyler]

If you turn the phone sideways, the calculator changes from basic to a scientific calculator with lots of functions.

[almostinfamous]

congrats on the 6+ and condolences on the cap though it seems to have served many more purposes than it was originally intended to :)

[Christopher Perez]

I don't think it takes being Nostradamus to accurately predict the end days of traditional photography.

What has me thinking about(perhaps a little too hard) is what happened to all this electronic media when the electrons stop flowing?

At least with prints and books the possibility of a body of work surviving one's lifetime "felt" assured. Now with Flickr, Instagram, and Facebook, what will happen? Who will look? How will images be consumed? What will the mean?

[Alex S]

Have you tried using the calculator in landscape mode?

[Bob]

Mike,

Not sure if you are aware of this but if you pull up the iPhone calculator and then turn your phone sideways to the landscape orientation the calculator screen now converts to a scientific calculator.

[Soeren Engelbrecht]

"The calculator that comes with the iPhone is pretty basic, but I'll bet you can get apps for better ones"

Or just try turning your phone sideways :-)

[Carsten W]

Mike, about the basic calculator, have you tried turning the phone sideways while in the app? A bit more stuff...

I also went from 4S to 5S to 6+. I already found the 5S too large, so by the time the 6 came out, I had already had to give up all my habits and expectations, and decided to just go for the biggest screen. I use it more like I would an iPad mini, but really, I would prefer to go back to the 4S form factor, all considered. I do also own an iPad Air, FWIW.

[Winfried Heyland]

Hi Mike,
on your couple's portrait color problem. Bay the ProCamera app. Wonderful tool and you can easily correct White Balance and that will solve your color problem.
Regards, Winfired

[Alastair]

Have you tried using the calculator in landscape mode?

[Minnow]

On my phone you have to tap the screen to take a photo which is uncomfortable also means that half the shots are blurred. Is that the same on the iPhone? It stops me taking photos. Can you imagine a camera designed like that?

Still a lot of distortion too, with that wide angle lens, even when the images are sharp.

[Well, I wouldn't say you have to "tap" the screen. An extremely light touch will do. I tried, and couldn't touch it so lightly that it failed to fire. --Mike]

[psu]

Welcome.

[FK]

Your response to Bryce Lee!

[psu]

Two other thoughts after more reflection:

1. If that's a 6+ in your hand there you must have enormous hands. 😃

2. I *usually* have better luck with the phone's automatic color balance then either of my fancy digital cameras ... but when it fails you are in JPG space and can't do too much about it. There are probably some third party camera applications for the phone that give you more control over white balance.

[It's a 6+ and my hands are proportionally sized for a 6'1" Ammuricun male, so far as I know. I do have an oversized head, but that's not in evidence in this shot. --Mike]

[Speed]

Mike wrote, "Don't know what's up with that color—discontinuous spectrum lighting perhaps?"

I visited and photographed in a townhouse lit entirely by compact fluorescents in the ceilings. No two rooms have quite the same light color (different brands of bulbs) and none can be corrected. It makes pictures made near large windows using filtered morning light especially beautiful.

[steven Ralser]

Mike - did you know if you turn your phone horizontal while having the calculator app open you get a scientific calculator. A lot of my students don't know this.

[My phone doesn't actually have the calculator app. When I go to the app store there seem to be mostly third-party ones. Do you know how to restore missing apps that the phone was supposed to come with? --Mike]

[Wayne]

I agree with your point that cameras in smart devices will continue to advance at a rate exceeding that of dedicated cameras. After all, it is obvious the real potential for profit will be in the smart devices.

I guess my question, concerning quality of image possible, is: What about all of this historic discussion concerning superiority of larger formats? Given that the lens/sensor combination in the smart device will likely be only a fraction of the size of that- even the smallest- dedicated cameras, will even this problem be overcome by advances in technology? Or, when you say "exceed the quality of all but the best Professional DSLRs" do you mean that they will produce a more visually appealing snapshot?

I guess, in a nutshell, I am asking if such terms as "medium format look" is just that, a term, rather than something actually connected with the amount and direction of light directed to an imaging surface?

I apologize if my question seems befuddling. I am frequently befuddled by technical discussion of cameras.

[Trecento]

This is great news, Mike.

I have to say I'm a little worried that the remaining camera manufacturers won't be able to make affordable-to-me cameras on the small sales volumes remaining. I do like my bokeh.

But still! The vast majority of human existence is completely undocumented, and now so many people can see and show what they've seen. Fantastic!

[Jim]

4-10 years? Next year's IPhone7:

http://www.iphone7buzz.com/iphone-7-to-sport-21-megapixel-dslr-quality-camera/

6 months later the Iphone7S will appear and give some photographers even more GAS.

I'm happy with my 4S... as phone and email device. I paid ATT 99 cents for the 3G when the 4S came out,99 cents for the 4S when the 5S came out and will likely buy the 5S for 99 cents whenever they initiate that offer.

[Edwin]

Mike:
You're right on with your reply to the comment by Bryce Lee, that the iPhone is more than a bloody $900+ telephone.... But what you described, could be had with a $200 smartphone, more or less. The picture quality may suffer a bit, the screen may not be of the same resolution, the responses may not be as quick, BUT, I bet you, a bloody $200 phone can do most of what you described. SO, to amend Bryce Lee's comment: "That is a $900+ bloody smartphone", and one can have 95% of that for <$200. There are capable smartphones out there other than the iPhone. Just look around.....

[Edwin, you can get an iPhone 6 for $199 if you also sign up for a calling plan. And why would I want a worse phone when a better one is available? I could get along with the camera in my iPhone, too, but I'm not going to give up my Fuji and its fine lens. --Mike]

[Dan]

"more appropriate horizontal position"?

Vertical is just as appropriate when it is what you want.

Few magazine covers are Horizontal.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

That photo of Butters is perfect, Mike! As Joe already noted, the expression is perfect as a mate to that disembowled hat. But it's the blur on the tail at the other corner that really sells the scene. Apple could license this as a sales aid for th phone on their tv ads.

[A. Costa]

I'm happy you have discovered the wonderful world of smartphones, that let you make a call, browse internet, navigate with gps, receive weather forecasts, take shots, listen to music, watch movies, and many more other things. All in a so-and-so way.
Dedicated gear is better just for this reason: and remember, drop your phone and you have lost in a moment your gps, mp3player, camera, etc... ;)

[Bryce Lee]

Mike, and others..when I wrote my initial note was thinking outright purchase. I do not subscribe to ths stupid contract bit although our government finally got off its collective ass so we are not bound by a three year contract. It is now a two year contract plus the cost of the phone. Problem is here in Canada contract rates are C$50.00-90.00 a month plus toll charges plus the cost of the phone plus taxes.
Have friends with an iPhone 6+ who are paying about $65.00 a month plus taxes and that's after being loyal
custmers for years.

Over two years, that new iPhone might be charged out at C$20.00/month give or take. It is as bad as if it were a fixed landline.

EOR

[Dave in NM]

Steve P. - I don't think he'll need a "paddle app".

The damn thing is so big, all he'll need to do is duct tape a broomstick to it, and he'll have a real paddle.

[Herman]

It's only recently that I got a cordless telephone. Maybe some day I'll get a digital camera.

[John Allen]

@Mike
the basic iPhone 6+ is $299 with a calling plan, and you kinda need a calling plan, since it doesn't work without one.

It's somewhat illusory to price the iPhone like that. It really does cost $600-$800, and one way or the other you will be paying for it. Here in Luxembourg - simplifying a bit - a calling plan including an iPhone will be around 30 euros per month more expensive than a calling plan without a phone, say 720 euros extra over the mandatory 24-month period. If your telco doesn't offer a calling plan without a phone, at least for comparison purposes, it's a bad sign because it means they don't want you to calculate how much the phone is costing you.

[I bought an electric water heater for my house for $800. But the bastards want me to pay for electricity too, and the water heater won't work without the electricity. So it actually costs much more than $800. Complete rip-off, right? --Mike]

[Dogman]

Hi Mike. I got my first smart phone 2 weeks ago--the 128 Gb Iphone 6. I agree that it has a lot of great benefits but I can't see it ever replacing maps for trip planning or a real camera for me.

Paper maps are like photo books to me. I want to study them closely and at length. For simply getting from point to point, following a GPS is usually fine (although the damn things have gotten more than a few people lost and in trouble). For discovery, a good map or atlas is a wonderful thing.

The Iphone 6 camera has been frustrating to me. The ergonomics and handling feels like I'm trying to dig a ditch with a dead fish. I've seen good work done with the camera but it's not working for me.

[Speed]

Modern "cell" phones are magic and have become indispensable. However, many of their important functions are inferior to the dedicated single purpose devices they replace. In fact, all else being equal (which it never is) I prefer my desk phone to my cell phone for talking to people.

Readers of TOP understand the importance of an ever-present camera but they are also likely to be frustrated by shutter lag and often ungainly controls.

[Elisabeth Spector]

As far as I know, the stock apps cannot be deleted. Some can be hidden, though, if Settings > General > Restrictions are enabled. You can enter the passcode and toggle them back on. I've also "lost" apps by inadvertently putting them into an app folder. If that happened, you can always do a search of your apps (down swipe to bring up the search entry bar) and look for "calculator" to see what folder it is in.

[Yonatan Katznelson]

I think that it is mainly lens technology that is holding the phone-cameras back (I have given this 45 seconds of thought, so I must be right). When apple can give me the fov and rendering characteristics of something like the m.zuiko 75mm f/1.8, paired with m43 sensor, or the Pentax 77 ltd, paired with APS or (maniacal giggle) full frame sensor, together with control over aperture and raw output in an iPhone 6-sized phone, then I might stop buying dedicated cameras.

[Bryce Lee]

And as to the YouTube video and the cost of postage try these for our current Canadian rates:
Basic postal rate
#10 envelope weighs 30 grams
Canada
$1.00
USA
$1.20
International
$2.50

Plus 13 percent
sales tax on the stamp.

[Stephen Scharf]

Why would one assume the best possible image quality in 4-10 years would still be limited to DSLRs? Surely the mirrorless offerings in 4-10 years will be as good or better than many DSLRs, and better than smartphones as well.

[psu]

FWIW, the normal 6 in my hands looks like the 6+ in yours.

But then I'm probably on the small side for an American.

[Elisabeth Spector]

In case want to see another rendition of your iPhone picture (I think Jon's version is a big improvement but still too red):

http://spector.smugmug.com/Before-and-After/Before-and-After/n-sWjz4/i-DsKZCSp/A

I stuck it in a hidden gallery and will delete it after a while.

Oh, and congratulations on your new iPhone. I upgraded from a 4S to a 6 just a couple of days ago and am quite pleased so far.

I also wanted to say that I love the picture of Butters (and especially that blurred tail; I agree completely with the other poster).

[Steve Jacob]

An iPhone will never match a large sensor camera, but then neither will most casual photographers.

We live in an age where easy convenience trumps all. We WANT out gadgets to flatter us by saving us having to think about tedious things like depth of field, exposure and so on. If we can do it all on our one must-have gadget all the better.

Phone cameras are to photography what MP3s are to music. The lowest state of acceptability and the highest state of convenience.

That doesn't mean someone with a good eye for composition can't make very appealing images with one. They just fall apart rather quickly when you look at them at any size.

It is ironic that the beleaguered camera industry is now producing some of the finest products ever made, but it's going the way of decent hi-fi.

"Enthusiasts only"

[ctein]

Dear Steve,

A 35mm film camera will never match an 8x10 view camera.

Who cares.

I don't know what you mean by "at any size," but iPhone camera photos make lovely 11x14 or 13x19 bordered prints. I've printed Nokia phonecam photos at 20x24 and bigger and they look fine.

I'm not talking about working any of that patented Ctein magic, just printing.

pax / Ctein

[Speed]

Shot on iPhone 6
http://www.apple.com/iphone/world-gallery/

I can't vouch for the presence or absence of patented Ctein magic but they are pictures I'd be happy with.

[psu]

Sensor size and film format size are not really the same thing because for digital files the notion of "enlargement" is much more fuzzy, as it were.

All files that have (say) 3000x2000 pixels of the same per-pixel 'quality' (whatever that means) will make equally good prints at whatever size you choose. The only question is whether you can get good pixels as the sensors get smaller.

15 years ago when the first APS cameras came out, you could do about as well as 35mm film at comparable speeds (arguably) and the tiny sensors in phone cameras were comparatively awful. Since then everything has gotten a lot better and the best phones compete well with 35mm film from back in the day at comparable print sizes ... and more importantly they do about as well as the bigger DSLRs from five or ten years ago. The iPhone 6 is certainly close to as good as my old D200.

Of course, "quality" is a loaded word here that is hard to pin down. But you probably have some idea of what you think I mean, and that's all the matters.

[Steve Jacob]

Hi Ctein,

I use my phone camera (Galaxy S5) all the time. It is a useful photographic tool.

I was specifically responding to the assertion that phone cameras would "catch up with" full frame cameras, not that you need a full frame camera.

I have no doubt it's possible to make nice A2 prints, though I would expect to see a difference when compared with a print from an EM1. Does it matter? Depends.

The issue is not so much resolution but shot noise limited tonal/colour range and capacity limited DR. Neither is 'negotiable' in engineering terms unless there is some miraculous jump in QE. Notching up the ISO makes it even worse.

DxO data (for those Nokias with RAW) pretty much follows the predicted size/capacity model in terms of performance. I would wager a large degree of the iPhone 6 IQ has to do with a very sophisticated digital processing engine. Helps having a decent spec processor on board.

If it enables people to achieve a high success rate with little effort, that makes it a success in the context of the target audience. Hat's off to Apple.

Cheers
Steve

[Mike Hazel]

Hi Mike, long-time lurker here. Good article.

Are you certain that you don't have the calculator app? It is usually found inside the utilities folder along with the compass and voice recorder, therefore making it a little easier to possibly overlook. And you can always drag it out of the folder and put it on the main screen if you want.

Second, and no disrespect intended, but your water heater analogy earlier is off-base.

The $450.00 that you didn't pay up front for the phone by signing a 2-year contract is built into the monthly payments. I ran across this article yesterday that sums it up fairly well: http://time.com/3732923/cell-phone-plans-two-year-contract/

After paying full price for the phone, two years on a month-to-month no-contract plan saved over 400.00 versus a 2-year contract.

[Mani Sitaraman]

Yeah, I know that Linhof 220 is practically obsolete and all, but nothing in the camera world in the last 35 years matches that gorgeously large direct view high eye-point viewfinder.

PS: And don't tell me about the parallax-I simply don't care.

[John Camp]

Phone cameras are Point 'n Shoots that people always have with them -- the improvement being the "always have with them" part. But I doubt that they'll replace serious cameras in our lifetimes simply because they'll always be compromises, the compromise having to do with the size of pants pockets and purses, as well as price-points. Generally, that'll keep the chip sizes smaller in a situation where bigger is better -- and will probably stay that way.

[Joe Holmes]

BTW, you don't have to tap the screen to take a photo with camera apps. If you keep your thumb on either the up or down volume buttons on the edge of the phone, squeeze to press the button and trigger the shutter.

Also, if you can't find your Calculator app, swipe down in the middle of the home screen to open the Find function and search for Calculator. You can open the app from there, but the right column of the results will tell you where it's hidden.

[Gabe]

Is there any way you could bind Ctein to always supply "the last word" in any technical or semi technical discussion?

Damn I miss his experience, wisdom, and calm commentary. Not to mention good looks or dancing skills. ( I told you no to mention ...........)

Pax
Cgabe

[Alex (no not that one)]

I'm still using two phones from 2005. They last a week on battery, can be comfortably operated in gloves, are tiny and weightless and both survived more than a person's head could, not to mention a modern phone.

Only the cameras on both are broken, which is too bad, those were some very decent 2 MPx with AF. Lots of phones these days don't take pics like that (see the 'black and blue dress').

Oh yea, they have internet access, calculator, light and all the gadgets and features people tend to think didn't exist before the iPhone.

Yea, I own a couple of 'smart' phones and a tablet also but these granddaddies are irreplaceable if you want something actually reliable to make calls with.

[ctein]

Dear Gabe,

As a matter of fact, I am now TOP's paid "Technical Editor"... but that doesn't mean I know squat about how to use an iPphone (which does not work entirely the same as an iPad).

~~~~

Dear Steve,

That isn't what Mike said, but let's put that quibble aside.

What Mike is doing is not making a technical analysis of what is theoretically possible but more of a market analysis of what he think will be done. Quantum efficiencies and the like are not germane. There are many ways to sidestep that. Go reread my column on the "iPad view camera" that Mike previously linked to.

Even if all those tricks are applicable to a FF SLR (they're not, but some are), it doesn't mean they will be. In fact, given the larger potential collection surface in my hypothetical, I can pretty much assure that it will surpass an FF SLR, always. And I could build it tomorrow, if anyone cared. (I don't know if anyone will- I solved an intellectual problem-- Mike is the one making product predictions.)

Going further out on a limb, I just read a paper on a more-or-less flat lensless microscope that does wavefront reconstruction to produce the magnified image... in 3-D, yet. So I'm beginning to think one could usefully put a FF sensor in the back of an iPhone! Not that I'm expecting anyone to want to.

Just saying... quoting physics as to why phonecams won't match most high end cameras is not only incorrect but kind of off his point.

pax / Ctein

[Moose]

"I visited and photographed in a townhouse lit entirely by compact fluorescents in the ceilings. No two rooms have quite the same light color (different brands of bulbs) and none can be corrected."

That's why one might choose to carry a neutral color reference all the time. Include it in an inconspicuous place or take a shot just for it. Then one click in ACR, PS, LR, etc. and you are corrected. Perfect? Sometimes yes, sometimes just quite close.

In strongly separated mixed light, two or more reference shots and masking in post can make the impossible possible.

I carry the WhiBal wallet/credit card size. It adds pure black and white references. Put it in a little cover to prevent surface damage, and it's always there when I need it.

That I forget sometimes is not the fault of the card. {;~)>

[William Furniss]

I have been struggling with a pinched nerve in my back for about a month, this brought on by back packing too much gear and then, feeling weak, over compensating in the gym. I have probably spent about $700 so far on the drugs, physio, and Pilates to resolve it.

The biggest take away is that my posture was horrible before this happened. I think looking at my fellow humans right now and their handheld habits, shoulders hunched heads down, the iPhone is going to cause a lot of people a lot of problems in the future, don't be one of them Mike. As my cantonese only speaking masseuse Coco tells me "iPhone no!"