What's So Great About the iPhone's New Camera?

By Brent Rose on at

The camera in the iPhone 4S is going to be better! We suspected as much, but now we know exactly how it's going to be better.


It's bigger and brighter. The images it takes will be 8MP at 3264x2448 pixels. That's some nice resolution right there. The image sensor is going to be back iluminated, which will get it 73% more light! In other words, photos you take when the lighting isn't great will suck much less.

It's sharper and more vibrant. The five element lens should give you an increased depth of field and at a wider f/stop range. That should also make it 30% sharper than the iPhone 4. They also included a hybrid infrared filter which, is designed to absorb and suppress the digital phenomena of red ghosting that can occur from bright light sources. This is the kind of thing you usually just see on DSLR cameras. It should give you more accurate and more vibrant colors, and reduce red ghosting which sometimes happens around light sources.

It's cinema-ier. Video hasn't been left out. It will shoot video at up to 1080p, which means it should look good on your HDTV without having to be stretched. This will really take advantage of the back illuminated sensor, too. Welcome to 2011, Apple!
