Quick Review: Apple iPhone 5

It's not a personal attack. "You're a dummy/idiot" etc, THAT would be a personal attack. I'm just challenging the notion that using an iPhone is "photography." This thread was about dead anyway, and we seemed to have moved on until next time (with me also acknowledging that Dpreview is now doing lens reviews again & that's just great) so maybe for THAT reason I should have left it alone I suppose.

Oh please, if using a phone camera is PHOTOGRAPHY. then Lucy in "Peanuts" really WAS a "psychiatrist."

larrytroll, if everyone agreed to your definition of photography, there would be no true photographers. http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/no-true-scotsman

well we already reviewed the Nokia 808, and are working on the Samsung G3 and HTC One. Because no, we wouldn't want to give favor to one manufacturer (we gave up caring how we were 'seen' long ago).

@Simon
Then why is the first review the iPhone 5 and not the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S3 ?

the only problem I have seen is people constantly whining about the web site and the cameras, dpreview does a great job with reviewing cameras and the gear and gadgets that go with them

I will agree with (wetsleet) here, although it's somewhat off-topic. How has Nikon managed to "lock-down" the EN-EL14 (D3100-D5100-D3200) and EN-EL15 (D7000, D800, V1, D600) to where you absolutely cannot find a generic equivalent anywhere? Did they get a patent of some sort? The generic companies have managed to overcome just about every other "smart battery" lock-down attempts.

@larrytusaz: Take a look at http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-Battery-Charger-EN-EL15/dp/B009DJ1THW

#1 You hate Apple.

#2 You find reasons to justify #1.

#3 You still don't get a life. Back to #1.

(JPMontez) I appreciate link very much. I don't even own any cameras that use that battery--I have the D5100, which uses the EN-14, and I managed to get spares for it pretty cheap.

However, your link is helpful in the event I ever get a D7000 or D600. I don't like this "smart battery" technology, I like to be able to get my own batteries from ANYBODY. Making people buy their batteries from you--well, it sounds like something Apple would do.

@Pierre-AB
Replace 'hate' with 'love' and repeat.
#1 You love Apple.
#2 You find reasons to justify #1.
#3 You still don't get a life. Back to #1.
Happy now?

The quality of the camera on a smartphone is a big draw nowadays for the general public. Apple know this hence why its features appear on detail on the site above the new connector, maps, siri, iOS6, iCloud and a host of other features.

This is certainly not an afterthought.

If you don't agree with the disagreements don't read them. Easy too :D

Nothing against phone cameras. Something against apple propaganda that is so obvious you have to be blind not to see it. Also, flickr count of pictures taken with the iphone doesn't make it the most popular. It just speaks wolumes about iphone users who are mostly facebook addicts and have to snap every boring moment of their life and publicize their misery to the whole world.

@ veato. Shhh, perhaps Apple would prefer you not to mention the Apple maps! Just because they have a spat with google.

The most popular camera in the world?
I thought that the biggest cameraphone mfg is Samsung, be it a smartphone or a simple featurephone or whatever. Not to mention that prior to Samsung, Nokia was the #1 phone mfg, camera or not. Where was Apple then, when millions of people the world all over were happily taking photos with their phones? I know people who are plenty happy with their 1.3MP photos because they print pretty well *for their needs*. They also spend a lot of time taking photos because they keep almost every one. They also have no idea of how to create a Facebook account or a flickr or whatever, because they don't care to take part in it. Dismissing these facts is naive at best.
The arguments made by Apple fanboys are always, *always* soooo out of place that there's no wonder why Apple managed to get thus far.

--EDITS
Corrections and typos

A camera can be a box with a hole in it. People can take bad or good photos with any camera.

I don't suppose Apple would want Sergey as a customer anyway!

It's not about availability of time or about me as a customer. It is about standardisation, competition, ... like HDMI, USB, SD Card slot, and other open standards ... Android applications, ...and ultimately value and choice to consumers. I believe there are numerous others like me.

and we have learned to read and write!

Some still kept their need to hold iph.. i mean stones.

That's very sound approach, IMO, bravo! But would you then please cover medium format more as well, please? RAW studio samples, some handling impressions and in your hand shots, just to give people an idea what else there is (the Pentax 645D is barely just scratching the surface of MF IQ, I suppose).

Sign of the times. Roll with it.

Digital photography is probably at the biggest disruptive moment since the Nikon D70 brought dSLRs within reach of consumers, ushering in the "golden age of the dSLR". That era is on its way out.

Video, mirrorless, instagram, iphone. What we shoot, how we shoot, who does the shooting, and what we do with the images - its all in a state of flux.

My phone has a 2MP camera that's only useful as a visual notebook, and if you reviewed that type of camera phone it would seem pointless. However, I do think it's great that you're open minded enough to cover devices such as the iPhone and Nokia 808 that potentially have value to photographers.

One item of practical value that you could add to this review is the iPhone's unusual program line.

Scott is right here. It must be articles and tests for all kind of stuff. All of us know that we will not compare an I-Phone to a d800, despite the fact that the 42 mpix Nokia is not so bad compared to it. All of us buy a phone, and since we have a camera included, it is a bargain to see on tests like this one if it is worth to buy that model or not. If we follow that policy the people ask here for, we limit the site to the few FF cameras on the market. One can be against P&S or Phones, if a review is posted, just avoid it, but do not criticize it.

It only makes good business sense that dpreview covers what will most likely be the highest selling camera per volume to ever be produced ...and which probably has outsold most other camera's already. To discount it because it is a phone is almost like just ignoring something that is there.

If I owned DPR, this review would be the highest priority. Good work guys.

@ larrytusaz: This site is not about "fine craft"; it is about digital photography equipment. It doesn't cater to chefs, it caters to everyone who cooks. Above all, it doesn't take a condescending attitude towards those whose needs are satisfied with simple equipment. It's OK if you think differently, but there's no reason to be obnoxious about it and talk down to people. Also, you're mixing up the tools and the result achieved with them. A great photographer will turn out better pictures with a simple camera than an amateur with a high-end one, and using expensive pots will not make you a better cook than if you used cheap pans.

(Daniel) I respectfully stand by what I said. I think the negative comments alluded to clearly illustrate that many of us have been coming here for years specifically because this was, to us, a place for hobbyists & enthusiasts of photography, vs "snapshooting," to discuss techniques and, yes, gear that's commensurate to such aspirations. It doesn't have to be top-end gear, a Nikon D3200 etc is more than enough, & yes Dpreview used to cover Coolpixes, but by & large they were about the enthusiast. We just wish for them to retain that priority. It doesn't have to mean being unimaginative or stale, I don't think any of us want that.

Back in the film days, I had a pocketable "Rollei 35" with a fixed lens and I took it everywhere when the SLR was too bulky. I'm guessing the cameras on these phones will give similar quality so what's the difference?

You just jumped on the hype bandwagon. I suposse anything to apple related is just to click-lucrative to pass by.

And since when has it been wise to review products based on popularity?

I assume the Pentax Q was not very popular then, because while you have time to mess around with phones (four times), you never found the time to review an actual camera that had a totally now mount, I mean what's that all about?

How can a major camera review site justify not reviewing a camera that has a whole new mount, I mean seriously, do you realise how ridiculous that sounds?

No review for the Pentax Q is beyond belief, and I tell you what, I think you're literally digging your own grave by plugging these Apple devices - wait and see.

@Barney

Than why not include a range of direct competitors to the iPhone if you want to inform about the IQ? The S3? Nokia Pureview? Sony Xperia S? Amongst others.

Apple sold 5 million iPhones in their first weekend. That basically means 5 million iPhone *cameras* sold in the first weekend. You simply can't ignore *that many* cameras falling until people's hands without putting it through some tests. Does any other camera sell that many units in its first weekend of availability?

Well, it is a camera. More people own this camera than any other on the planet. A lot of people are wanting to know if this is the one that will replace their point and shoot. It deserves some attention.

@blairquax
Typical Apple-user mentality.

But anyway, CASIO brought the first digital camera to market, so I'm guessing you being wrong makes you look even more stupid then!

I could go into the mechanics of why these devices are already effecting the camera industry for the worse, but explaining such things to an Apple user would be no easy task.

I'll spell it out for you as simple as is humanly possible:

We used to have high-street music dealers that sold music and provided jobs for people throughout the world. Not many left now. Carry on with this crap and it won't be long before there are less and less manufacturers to choose from for our cameras, either.

CASIO is just the start, it's a warning, stupid, so either wake-up, or for crying out loud, please do shut-up until you're capable of reading the economy.

Pumeco, I share similar feelings. There are other photography sites (that are actually purists, at that) out there that I am enjoying exploring. This site here is not what it used to be, sadly.

So we should cover Casio in preference to Apple? Because.... Casio has a longer history of making digital cameras? The iPhone's most recent iterations are some of the most popular cameras ON EARTH.

We're covering the iPhone because it's a popular, relevant product. But it's not like we're covering it at the expense of anything else.

@pumeco
Dismissing someone's criticism as "typical Apple-user mentality" makes you look even stupider than putting "cr" in front of Apple already made you look. Blairquax's comment was considerably less predictable than your retort to him.

Also, you sound like a broken record. And a hypocrite. You accuse DPR of being on the take from Apple, yet you yammer on for 10 paragraphs about Casio?

See what I mean?

Barney, you just totally ignored the reason for the post, the CASIO news article is not on the front page and never has been, even selecting CASIO by tag doesn't bring it up.

Mattwd, the fact that the situation being brought up was avoided, is another example of why it was here. It's a bloody camera review site yet CASIO's new models have got no mention on the front page, yet a damn phone gets four plugs!

Why is it so hard to grasp?
How hard can it be to put it where all the other news is?

PS:

Yes, I absolutely think you should cover CASIO in preference to Apple, because unlike Apple they actually make dedicated cameras, and that is what this site is supposed to be about, isn't it?

The way you talk it's as if CASIO aren't worth writing about, I mean did they p*ss you off at a show or something?

What did they ever do to you other than bring you the words first digital camera? - Just curious because you still haven't put the news up on the front page about their new models.

I know what they are, but the point is, others won't unless you tell them - that being my issue here.

Pumeco, I understand where you're coming from, actually. Paying too much attention to any one product is a slippery slope for a website like this one. I don't agree that they're doing that yet, but it's good we can call them on it if they do.

However, and I hate to break it to you, but Casio just barely matters to the majority of this site's readers. We've all heard the forewarnings of the diminishing necessity of point-and-shoot cameras, and a company that makes nothing BUT compacts is sort of riding on the edge of a razor.

"Serious" photographers are far more likely to split their photography between a DSLR/ILC and a phone. With that in mind, the editors have seen fit to cater to those ends of the spectrum. There are thousands of products in the world of photography and a limited-staff website can only pay close attention to so many of them.

I think a more reasonable request would be for the editors to post head-to-head phone reviews, and something tells me they're working on it.

Thanks Mattwd, and likewise, I see where you're coming from and even where DPReview is coming from, but that has no bearing on what they're doing.

You saw Barney's response which proves he hasn't understood the problem that is being discussed. Barney speaks as if I were asking him to prioritise CASIO over Apple, well I wasn't, I was simply asking him to put the CASIO news on the same page as the others instead of hiding it.

No brand should be prioritised, not through popularity or indeed any other reason. Such a policy goes against what people come to a review site for, and that is to compare an unbiased review of the various options out there.

We cannot do that if DPReview have a policy of news and/or review articles based on popularity.

>Well, it is a camera. More people own this camera than any other on the planet.

Since when does the number of pictures on flickr define the most popular camera in the world? I'm pretty sure there are way more popular camera feature phones alone on the subcontinent than all iphones sold combined. But no one cares about those. They don't access the internet and click on ads on sites for overpriced crap from china like people who stand in line for days just to spend a lot of money on a subpar product. Have your way but please stop with the stupidity you are so proud to sprout around.

Sorry, but crawling to DPReview with a "thank you" does not get you off name calling.

First off, you're in no position to call me an "Imbecile". The word "Imbecile" would be better used to describe one who still hasn't grasped what my issue was and the reason for my posts.

I couldn't give a crap about iPhones because I refuse to buy a product from a company with policies and business ethics such as Apple has. I do not like them, and will never buy one of their products.

The products themselves are fine, I'm well aware of that, I appreciate quality hardware as much as anyone else. However, I will not buy one for the reasons pointed out.

My issue was that a phone gets four plugs while a range of cameras made by a long-time camera manufacturer got none.

Is that clear enough for you this time, imbecile?
"Think" before you rant and call me names.