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Editorial: Why I can't stop taking iPhone Panoramas

Sep 24, 2013 at 17:00:19 GMT

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DPReview editor Barnaby Britton spent his weekend taking pictures on the new Apple iPhone 5s, which among other refinements features a new camera, larger sensor, built-in filter effects and a unique two-color flash. It also offers an improved panorama mode with adaptive 'live' metering across the frame. In this short article he explains why even if you don't have any interest in the new iPhone, you should definitely pay attention to the iPhone 5s' panorama feature.

Click here to read 'Editorial: Why I can't stop taking iPhone Panoramas'

ARTICLE APPLE IPHONE

Comments

Total comments: 297

People forget how inaccessible panorama photography used to be. I used to admire film panoramic cameras and knowing I probably couldn't budget for one.

With film SLRs I fought to stitch scanned film frames together manually. Then software automated the process, and digital SLRs made it even easier.

To have this capability as a one-shot feature in a pocket camera is amazing. (Who cares if this camera is called an iPhone, it's really a versatile 8MP pocket camera with digital wireless capabilities.)

7 upvotes

panorama = large format, well almost.

0 upvotes

Having this capability in a 700€ phone is meh. Having it in a phone for 70€, now that is amazing.

0 upvotes

I would like to see more panorama selfies...

4 upvotes

It certainly is possible:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9930812366/

(my skiing selfie with the iPhone 5, shot by myself)

0 upvotes

Great information on a top camera er, mobile. Love the pans. RockyOne Australia

1 upvote

I do like the idea of dynamic exposure for panoram, Nice feature

3 upvotes

I use my NEX-4N for sweep panoramas (The only thing I do with it nowadays), but I think these were quite impressive.

0 upvotes

Yup, the sweep pano shots of the iPhones are impressive.

You only need to keep in mind there are some circumstances (flickering and/or low light etc.) when they won't deliver the best possible results. It's then that you must use the AppStore apps I've mentioned below.

0 upvotes

It's better than the performance of many a compact camera. An iPhone truly eliminates the need for a low-end compact for snapshots, and I do believe that at times, you can get a shot with an iPhone that you simply couldn't with a bigger camera, either because it's always with you, or because it's unintrusive and doesn't cause a change in your subject's behaviour before you get the picture, as particularly large cameras with big lenses do have a tendency to do at times.

It might just be my next phone. I just have to wear out, lose or accidentally break my current one first...

4 upvotes

It's funny.

I remember when Dpreview wouldn't even bother to review any compact cameras, because they wanted to put all their energy into the best cameras and the most innovative ones.

But things have really changed. Now they get positively giddy about any cell phone that can take decent snapshots. They honestly consider this newsworthy and important stuff to report.

"Hold the presses.....A cell phone can take decent snapshots!"

15 upvotes

I think that's very disingenuous... we've always covered new developments in digital photo technology and this is very far from a review. I'd also add that I took the pictures in my own time and wrote this in a couple of hours yesterday, between meetings. Net effect on camera reviews? Close to nil.

10 upvotes

""Hold the presses.....A cell phone can take decent snapshots!""

Don't twist the words of the DPRewview staff. They stated - absolutely rightfully! - that the iPhone 5s shoots GREAT sweep panos.

They did NOT state _all_ stills (referred to as "snapshots" by you) these phones shoot are peerless, IQ-wise. "Only" the panos, which is a subset of still images.

0 upvotes

No. What is disingenuous is Dpreview featuring five camera phone stories in the past four days. Is there some good reason we need to get this stuff here, in addition to getting it on your camera phone site?

I really get it. Lots of folks really like camera phones. I really do understand.

And this was the reason you created the CONNECT site. But why do both sites have to be about camera phones? I suppose you probably need to create a third site now... DPcamerareview or something.

Look, it's your website. You folks can do whatever you want to. Just remember, you devoted around 12 years to building the best camera review website, and now you seem pretty anxious to convert it into a mobile phone tech gadget site.

I certainly didn't pay any subscription fee, so I have no right to tell you folks what to do. So carry on....

31 upvotes

Right on Marty. Boring boring boring boring stuff this mobile malarkey. It's like watching a 2010 episode of X factor.

4 upvotes

Marty...they've always reviewed compacts. And now, with Connect, they're keeping up with the times w/ mobile which is dominating new & interesting photography genre.

3 upvotes

And Marty...connect is different website. U can turn off those stories so u won't see them on DPR.

0 upvotes

@ Marty4650, I respect your opinion, but I'm struggling with your comment 'you devoted around 12 years to building the best camera review website, and now you seem pretty anxious to convert it into a mobile phone tech gadget site'

Taken at face value, this comment has no basis in reality, as (hopefully) anyone who pays close attention to our output would realise.

4 upvotes

I agree Marty, what's the point of the connect site if we are degrading dpreview with these flood of smartphone tests. So I see Barney you didn't address Marty's key concern over why here and not on connect?

2 upvotes

Barney, I believe Marty's comments are worthwhile, and most certainly not "disingenuous". It's not simply a matter of you taking only a little of your own personal time to publish this. It's also a matter of devoting a large percentage of the publicity of DPreview to the Apple iPhone. It's not simply a matter of diverting attention to camera phones. It's also a matter of adding more publicity for the one brand's cult. The converse of this is that some people are sick of listening to the howling of fanboys of brand X , and there isn't a balancing act of comparing the panorama capabilities of the iPhone 5s vs. top competitors. This article, while mildly informative, isn't a review, as you already stated, and additionally it isn't a comparison. It seems like it is an advertisement for an iPhone. To be helpful, fair, and objective in this product segment, compare the iPhone panos to the Lumia 1020 , Lumia 900 series phones, Sony and HTC phones, the Galaxy S4, & the LG G2.

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

There is a simple solution to the concern of "flooding" and "diluting". Just use the DPReview news filter feature to turn off the "Connect" part of the feed for your view. You won't see any more of the Connect phone related stories.

2 upvotes

Johnsonj and BradJudy

i already filtered out connect.. and this article still popped up.. that's how bad this is getting.

3 upvotes

Point very well made Marty! I do miss to find the complete reviews of a new DSLR here BEFORE seeing it in other sites! Now is the contrary! :/

3 upvotes

Barney...

I'm almost sorry I raised the point. This is your site and you can do whatever you want with it.

It is abundantly clear, just from reading the comments here, that there are MANY people who are very interested in cell phones. It is also clear that there are quite a few people who aren't, and who enjoyed this website more when it was exclusively devoted to cameras.

I really thought you had addressed this problem when you created CONNECT, and things were pretty good for a while. If you wanted to read about cell phones you just went there.

But lately, cell phones are creeping back in to Dpreview. Five news stories in four days. A nonstop infomercial for Apple.

Barney... you may not realize it, but you folks are creating your own problem here. You had solved your problem with CONNECT, but now you are turning Dpreview back into a site about cell phones as well as cameras again. And now no matter WHAT you do, someone will be upset.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't your intention.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

4 upvotes

What's your definition of a "camera," Marty?

So the iPhone doesn't have a camera? Yes, of course it has a camera. And of course, it's the most popular "camera" in the world.

I've been downgrading cameras since the Canon 5D with the fast L primes.

The iPhone (any iPhone) is a great camera. Give me a Holga and an iPhone and I'm a happy camper.

2 upvotes

I don't see what the big deal is... I read the article out of curiosity, even tho I couldn't care less how great the iOS pano mode is or isn't (or even how it stacks up comparatively) because iOS just doesn't suit my daily needs... But at the same time, I certainly don't find it off putting that DPR has published said content, Connect or otherwise.

It's not like my finger's gonna wither and die if I need to scroll past an extra Apple story I have no time for. Btw I'm pretty sure the dynamic exposure is somewhat innovative but I'd love to find out if another phone or P&S has a sweep mode that incorporates a similar trick...

1 upvote

Personally, the only thing I find frustrating about the smartphone coverage on DPR is the fact that when I do want to look at one, 'Connect' links break the ability to middle/ctrl click to open in a new tab. I don't even understand why, it's not like there's clumsily coded js responsible for handling the links...

0 upvotes

It's all nice and well - as long as you don't magnify the images...

3 upvotes

Why do you say that? I magnified them and they looked really good. Leaf detail, in fact, was pretty impressive.

2 upvotes

Well, the one at the music concert didn't impress me that much - except for the woeful noise and the lack of definition.

0 upvotes

"Well, the one at the music concert didn't impress me that much - except for the woeful noise and the lack of definition."

Yup, as I've stated several times below, indoors the sweep pano shouldn't be used because of its light insensitivity. Autostitch, DMD or even Photosynth would have produced far better and cleaner results (albeit, currently, at a lower resolution).

0 upvotes

I see more detail in the grass than I have seem in many compacts!

3 upvotes

or "why cant dpreview stop posting iPhone articles."

32 upvotes

Really?

8 upvotes

Barney... seriously... did the CONNECT site fold or something?

Why did you folks even BOTHER to create a cell phone site, if you still plan to bombard us with cell phone news and articles on your camera site?

I'm just saying.....

34 upvotes

As cell phone cameras become mainstream in how people capture the moment, it would be foolish not to take them seriously. What define a camera or photography and why is the camera in iPhone not a camera to be taken seriously? Guys, it is time to move on!

3 upvotes

Really. GX7 First Impressions started back in August, still no full review. PEN E-P5 First Impressions, May, still no full review.

11 upvotes

"Really. GX7 First Impressions started back in August, still no full review. PEN E-P5 First Impressions, May, still no full review."
They apparently prioritize the review based on impact — if I remember correctly there is no official full review of the Leica M9, by all means a very serious camera. Why? If a million m4/3 cameras can be sold in 3 days, they will get reviewed fast next time. I too use m4/3 and I am perfectly comfortable with this. You should know this before jumping in.

6 upvotes

In many parts of the world, the iPhone 5s has been in wide release longer than the GX7...

0 upvotes

See my comment on the post above this one.

0 upvotes

barney..

you know that this article pops up even if you filter out connect right?

1 upvote

VERY well said mapgraphs!!!

1 upvote

Many obviously missed the whole point of the article.

I for one have been using a Sony for sweep panoramas for some months now but have since discarded it as it can only do panos which are 1080p high, and the results suck big time for my needs. I needed a camera badly to do good quality sweep panos.

Meanwhile, I've since been eagerly looking out for a better camera to do sweep panos with, although as stop-gap, I'm making do with my SLR and stitching software, which is a cumbersome process.

Now it appears that my prayer came true with the 5S able to do what I needed. Thus I'll buy the 5S not as a smartphone, but as a CAMERA, the simple reason being the 5S can do superior sweep panoramas better than any other camera on the market.

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with singing praises, even a hundred times, for a camera which can do the specific job BETTER than any other camera.

0 upvotes

I take a lot panoramas with my iPhone 5, Sony RX100 and some wtih my Galaxy S4.

The best panoramas are with iPhone 5 or/and Sony RX100. I look forward to dynamic auto exposure in iPhone 5S, because iPhone 5 does a poor job there. Sometimes my Sony Rx100 take way better panoramas and sometimes the iPhone 5 is better. I am not to impressed with my Galaxy S4.

I appreciate the phone cameras because I always carry them and therefore take more pictures. However I love my RX100 and it makes me leave my Canon 7D at home in many occasions. You know guys, the best camera is the one you….

I also "love" dpreview - only the whining in the forums makes me sad:)

Comment edited 11 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

"I also "love" dpreview - only the whining in the forums makes me sad:)"

Yup, we have a lot of camera snobs that think only full frame cameras are capable of producing great-looking photos...

10 upvotes

We've also got a lot of bigoted gadget freaks bashing camera snobs.

3 upvotes

"We've also got a lot of bigoted gadget freaks bashing camera snobs."

One still has to admit that for creating quick, automated sweep panos the 5s is still much better suited than many even fullframe cameras. If something is well done in the stock Camera client of the iPhone, then, it's the sweep pano.

Let me point out again that I very well know the limitations of the iPhone's sweep pano. I've very thoroughly examined it (and have / will publish(ed) a lot of info on it). It doesn't produce nice results in a lot of environments (low light, flickering light, lots of movement etc.) where traditional, non-sweeping panos are a far better choice. If, however, the circumstances are ideal, the iPhone's sweep pano can easily be of much better IQ than those of "big" cameras (assuming they can shoot sweep pano at all, of course).

4 upvotes

Yeah, because one does panoramas like 9 out of 10 pictures, right?

1 upvote

"Yeah, because one does panoramas like 9 out of 10 pictures, right?"

If you meant the difference between sweep and traditional pano shooting, yes. You must shoot (guided or not) shoot traditional stills for traditional, non-sweep cameras and do the stitching either in-camera (if supported) or in post. Sweep camera, at least the iPhone implementation, doesn't take individual still shots. It's only most third-party AppStore apps that operate on individual still shots, with all their advantages (e.g., much better low-light performance and insensitiviy to flickering light) and disadantages (generally, worse stitching artifacts etc.)

0 upvotes

Whatever.

0 upvotes

just use AEB to fire 9 shots for each position, stack them and then stitch. should never shoot single shot on tripod, shoot 3-9 burst instead. won't mind HDR video as long as it can do the job.

btw, real cameras always learn from non-real ones, our vanguard. so if you see something in non-real today, expect it in real tomorrow if it's really good.

0 upvotes

The theater shot is exceptionally noisy and lacking in detail and saturation.

All the panoramas suffer from not having enough vertical field of view.

Not being able to control the final projection used for the finished panorama would be a show-stopper for me.

What about multi-row or vertical panoramas? I probably do more of these than any flavor of single-row.

Every one of the examples suffers from one or more of these deficiencies, not to mention the stitching errors mentioned above.

1 upvote

"The theater shot is exceptionally noisy and lacking in detail and saturation."

Yes, see what I've written about low-light sweep panos below - they're (still, as of the 5s) one of the Achilles' heels of the platforms. Use a "traditional" pano app (AutoStitch or DMD Panorama are the two most recommended ones) in low light.

0 upvotes

"All the panoramas suffer from not having enough vertical field of view."

The full vertical sensor area is used. It isn't as wide as on some other phones, the 5s still being 30mm "only". However, it's still considerably wider than some P&S cameras' sweep mode. For example, the Nikon P300 (which sports a zoom lens starting at 24mm WA) crops heavily (to around 40-45mm equiv) when sweep pano'ing.

Let me show you two examples of this in practice. This is the stock Camera app's pano of the iPhone 5 (which has a 33mm equiv lens):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9591834463/in/set-72157635185544525

and this is that of the P300:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9594631788/in/set-72157635185544525

As you can see, the iPhone 5's pano is much wider (and the 5s would have been even more).

All in all, it's using all the available pixels.

Comment edited 11 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

"What about multi-row or vertical panoramas? I probably do more of these than any flavor of single-row."

For vertical, do what I've explained below: just rotate the iPhone sideways. It'll shoot vertical panos happily.

For multi-row, use a third-party app. As I've explained below, for this, I recommend AutoStitch Panorama or, if you don't mind the lower resolution, the free Photosynth. Both have excellent sphere stitching. The latter has better exposure difference smoothing.

Here are two spheres I've shot with these two apps:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9445337694/in/set-72157634934859658

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9440017228/in/set-72157634934859658

(Tampere, Finland, in front of the church)

And here's a sphere with 360 Panorama (which I don't recommend as much as the two other apps):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9439539840/in/set-72157634934114218

(Tampere, inside the church)

Comment edited 48 seconds after posting

1 upvote

"The theater shot is exceptionally noisy and lacking in detail and saturation."
It's a panorama taken on a phone indoors in low light. It's nothing short of magic, as far as I'm concerned. You need to watch Louis CK on how everything's amazing and nobody's happy (google it, if you're not familiar with it).

3 upvotes

"It's a panorama taken on a phone indoors in low light. "

... and in sweep mode, which uses fast sensor readout only allowing for around 1/60...1/120s equiv shutter speeds and not, say, 1/15s. This is why I've recommended shooting with "traditional" stills-based pano apps (Autostitch or DMD, for example) indoors, instead of the sweep pano of the iPhone - they produce way better results. (And, hopefully, both will be soon updated to produce higher-res output.)

1 upvote

I mainly use pano as a wider angle, both vertical
and horizontally

0 upvotes

@ Alastair: that was totally brilliant. I hadn't heard that Louis ck clip before but it was utterly TRUE and thus hysterical.

I wish it was something everyone could live by....the world would be a better place.

Thanks for the post.

0 upvotes

video is actually (potentially) a better way to shoot still. for one reason that the sensor is exposed most of time and more amount of light makes higher quality image. a problem is processing time, which is less a problem at home.

Comment edited 53 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

"video is actually (potentially) a better way to shoot still. for one reason that the sensor is exposed most of time and more amount of light makes higher quality image. a problem is processing time, which is less a problem at home."

I didn't really get this. You mean shooting video and use the framegrabs of it for later stitching?

Unfortunately, it's a no-go on the iPhone (I know this as I've tested it very thoroughly):

- videos use shutter speeds over 1/30s, meaning significantly worse low-light performance than stills-based stitching. (Nevertheless, their sensitivity is around that of the built-in sweep pano.)

- they use a far narrower FoV, which may be a problem when needing as wide FoV as possible

- they use significantly lower resolution (1080p) than the built-in sweep pano app - and even some third-party apps like DMD or AutoStitch (both using their non-default HQ modes)

0 upvotes

BTW, here are some examples of what I've stated (all shots made on the iPhone 5 and are directly comparable, FoV, noise etc.-wise):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9436316615/in/set-72157634926751083

(360 Video Panorama, using video framegrabs)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9439096672/in/set-72157634926751083

(stock Camera app sweep pano)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9442551427/in/set-72157634926751083

(AutoStitch, using stills as input).

These three panos clearly show all the bullets I've listed above.

Comment edited 20 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

> worse low-light performance than stills-based stitching.

let's think a frame with less light "thinner" and more light "thicker" for higher image quality.

with video, you can have overwhelming number of thinner frames to be stacked much higher than stills. the result is protional to the total time the sensor is exposed at a certain aperture (of course FOV should be counted if different).

also the casual panning, walking-shooting can give video much higher resolution synthesized by a good processor as if it were taken by a much larger lens (though we won't be able to do it in the near future for lack of processing power).

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 11 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

"let's think a frame with less light "thinner" and more light "thicker" for higher image quality. "

You're forgetting the following:

- when shooting video, you have a minimum shutter speed of 1/30s (assuming 1080p30 video), which lets in considerably less light than even the default stills mode of the iPhone, which can shoot as slow as 1/15s (and can go to even 1s if you specifically enable it in a third-party app)

- on non-iPhone models currently using video behind the scenes to create panos, for example, most? all? Sony P&S cameras, produce really bad, oversharpened, flat, truly video-like panos. Check out http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/11/27/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC-WX50_0598sweeppan.jpg (WX50 pano) and compare it to the iPhone panos.

- the currently available video pano apps on the iPhone deliver REALLY BAD IQ. See my 360 Video Panorama flickr examples - I've linked to them in some of my comments. It's just... sub-par.

0 upvotes

Just wondering on the theatre interior shot since it seems it was a live stage show if photography was allowed in the theatre (especially of the lit stage?)

0 upvotes

The band weren't playing at the time (the shot shows the stage being prepared) and I didn't see any dire warnings about photography not being allowed. And as a former professional music photographer, I generally keep an eye on things like that.

1 upvote

pfwa pfwa pfwa pfwaaaah. My old Sony compact does it, my ancient galaxy s does it, so what's new?

0 upvotes

No, they don't support proper sweep pano, unlike the 5s.

3 upvotes

What's new is what we describe in the article as being... new.

4 upvotes

Menneisyys - old Sony compacts DO support proper sweep panorama.

3 upvotes

To my knowledge, at 1080p vertical resolution only (less than half of the iPhone, even that of the iPhone 5) and with a VERY bad IQ. They just can't be compared to the IQ of the iPhone panos.

An example sweep pano from the latest in the series (WX50): http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/11/27/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC-WX50_0598sweeppan.jpg

Are there any Sony compacts that shoot at a significantly higher res (let alone IQ)?

0 upvotes

Everything that doesn't have i in it is very bad. I wish all those fanboys would just die or something. Really get out of my universe!

0 upvotes

Why?

Lack of inspiration? Sexual dysfunction?

Your guess is as good as mine.

0 upvotes

Near as good, as my samsung s4 mini.

0 upvotes

can't stop doing something? I think this is kind of disorder...

By the way, I never like the look of the narrow, panorama pictures.

Comment edited 20 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

You can make the pano as short as you like, ie. just use it as a wider angle

0 upvotes

I think the most interesting question here is that, is iphone 5s fast enough to add vertical camera movement to the stitching also? And still provide as good results. I think that is something we'll see later on

0 upvotes

" is iphone 5s fast enough to add vertical camera movement to the stitching also? "

You meant disregarding (compensating for) the occasional vertical movement of the hands while shooting? Yes, it has always done it pretty well.

0 upvotes

it's like wiping up condensation from windows.
you just feel the desire and then the pleasure.

1 upvote

In the theater shot, can anyone count how many cell phones are visible? LOL

BTW, I have the lowly 4s and really do love the panorama feature.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

The theatre pano is a true stunner. I have looked at and worked on it in Aperture - and the quality is breathtaking (i.e., for a small sensor device). This together with the ease of producing such a shot really impresses me. Not the ultimate quality of course, yet good enough for 95 % of what I shoot. Well done, Apple.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

2 upvotes

Well, that pano does exhibit one of the major problem of the iPhone's quick sensor readout sweep pano (or, for that matter, ANY cameras using sweep panos without shooting individual stills): the pretty bad low-light performance.

I'm absolutely sure using a third-party "traditional" pano app like AutoStitch or DMD would have delivered a far cleaner end image (albeit of considerably less resolution).

For my forthcoming iOS Panorama bible, I've created a lot of panos clealry showing the much worse low-light performance of the iPhone shooting sweep panos than doing the same with individual stills & stitching. Compare for example the following two shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9439096672/in/set-72157634926751083

(pano of the stock Camera app on the iPhone 5)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9442551427/in/set-72157634926751083

(AutoStitch Panorama in HQ mode)

As anyone can see, the latter is FAR cleaner & brighter.

0 upvotes

Honestly tho, if you're gonna take the time to line up shots manually for latter stitching/processing you might as well just use a better camera (and/or a tripod)... I'm not trying to knock what you're suggesting, a lot of people wouldn't carry another camera regardless; a lot of people can't be arsed to line up multiple shots either tho, hence why quick sweep panos caught on. (thanks to Sony I think?)

1 upvote

Thank your Barney - enjoyed the article. Expect to have my iPhone 5s shortly - will definitely try the Panorama feature.

1 upvote

It's a lot of fun but I think I might have developed a hip injury from all the pivoting.

3 upvotes

I actually know what you mean.

0 upvotes

Why all the rage. It's good commentary on how good the iPhone 5s captures panoramas; not ultimate praise compared to dedicated cameras. If you'd rather take no photos than use a phone, go in peace. This wasn't written for you.

4 upvotes

My Nokia 8080 does pano with one of the app, it never got a review on the pano feature. Used to be on cnet, any apple new is published, but other devices take a back seat. Hope preview don't become mac world. Dpreview connect must not get many hits, they keep on posting it here.

7 upvotes

Spectro, while I too love my 808, Nokia's Pano app is just FAR worse than the sweep pano support of even the iPhone 5, let alone the 5s.

Believe me - I've tested these apps a LOT (both that of Nokia and that of Apple - albeit the latter "only" running on the iPhone 5.) Nokia's app produces low-res output and is VERY slow.

No wonder there isn't much praise of the Nokia app here. It's just not fun to shoot with. The iPhone 5+ is - no wonder I keep two phones with me all the time, a 808 and the iPhone 5. When it comes to shooting, I use the latter for panos and quick bursts and the former for everything else.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

You can set the direction for panning. Just click the arrow for left or right panning. Simply turn the phone sideways to make a tall vertical pan. Very nice. It doesn't beat giga pixel images I shoot and stitch with PT GUI, but I would never take my DSLR in my back jersey pocket on all day bike rides. Great job Apple!

1 upvote

I have no idea how good the Nokia 8080 is or how popular it is, but what's not to understand the excitement over Apple's new iPhone 5s? It's not just dpreview, but 9 million people just over last weekend.

0 upvotes

correction I got a 820, mind fart. app is called photosynth. I used it once and it did fine.

0 upvotes

So, you have a WP device and Photosynth, and not the Symbian-based 808? Photosynth is very fast on Windows Phone (at least an order of magnitude faster than Nokia Panorama on the 808) as on iOS but, regrettably, delivers as low resolution as on Apple's platform. I don't really recommend it for quality panos - just take stills and stitch on the desktop.

0 upvotes

I've only done one pano with my 5S since getting it, but it was done very well and the lighting was surprisingly good. More details than I expected, too.

I wish Apple had done more in the way of settings, though - allowing you to choose the direction you wish to pan, such as from bottom to top if you wanted to do a pano of something really tall like a Redwood tree, etc.

0 upvotes

"I wish Apple had done more in the way of settings, though - allowing you to choose the direction you wish to pan, such as from bottom to top if you wanted to do a pano of something really tall like a Redwood tree, etc."

Just turn the phone sideways for shooting vertical panos. It's possible.

Note that many third-party apps also support vertical shooting. For vertical shooting (including full "sphere" ones), in my tests, AutoStitch Panorama (used with its non-default highest-quality settings) has turned out to be the best if you need high resolution. If you don't, the free Photosynth should be used - it has excellent sphere stitching and, generally, has better exposure difference smoothing. (See my remarks & exampled on the latter at http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52215421 )

Comment edited 15 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

I've had great fun taking Panos on a Nex5n & A77, which is what it's all about. You soon figure out which ones and which situations will work, and which won't.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

2 upvotes

"You soon figure out which ones and which situations will work, and which won't."

Exactly, Just like sweep panos - sometimes they're great (good light, not much movement etc.) - and sometimes should not be used, when still-based stitching is to be used (low light, ability to "rollback", flickering lights, saving the original stills etc., doing the CPU-intensive stitching later etc).

0 upvotes

According to the captions many of the photos have problems (stitching, exposure, etc.). So why is this such a great feature? Is it because you never know whether the shot will be decent?

Good ad for Apple though.

0 upvotes

And what about according to your eyes? Also, I'm pretty sure Apple don't need the publicity...

4 upvotes

Please read my posts and comments here - I've even posted exampled of stitching problems.

In a nuthsell: if you want sweep panos (and not still shooting panos with all its advantages and disadvantages), the iPhone's panos are absolutely stunning.

AGAIN: in many cases (low light, ability to "rollback", flickering lights, saving the original stills etc., doing the CPU-intensive stitching later etc), still-based panos are to be preferred to sweep ones.

0 upvotes

Nice. Now if we can just have dynamic auto exposure in a camera with a decent sized sensor we can use the phone for other things.

1 upvote

Why veteran camera makers can let a phone maker do better than them in this regard is baffling, to say the least.

This fact alone makes praises and rave reviews of the 5S, or any other phone for that matter, on this DPReview site justified. After all, DPReview is about digital photgraphy.

0 upvotes

Compacts are done.

0 upvotes

Nope, they aren't.

1, optical zoom
2, with the RX100 and the likes, RAW, IQ etc.
3, 1080p60
4, manual modes (not even the 5s offers any kind of a manual mode)
5, OIS
6, true "B" (or, at least, multiple-second shutter speed) mode (the iPhone can only go up to 1s)
7, stereo audio while recording
8, true, dynamic GPS / sometimes even compass data recording while shooting video with select devices (Pana ZS, Sony HX etc. series)
etc.

Basically, it's "only" at sweep panos that the iPhones are MUCH better than most? all? compacts.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

2 upvotes

Compared to my 50$ GE A950, iPhone is better in doing auto-panos, the rest in terms of photography goes to GEA950. And oh it cannot make phone calls, SMS and browsing. =D

1 upvote

Several smartphones already provide 3-5 on that list and I'm sure other items will get checked off soon... Cheap compacts are definitely done for, they should've been done for ages ago. Camera manufacturers largely sandbagged the compact market for years. First they went on a pointless MP race, then they flooded the market with countless budget models that had few distinctive features, and then came the travel zoom focal length race...

If Canon, Nikon, Sony and even Oly/Panasonic had a larger ratio of truly interesting models like the RX100, S1xx series, LF1/LX series, etc their P&S sales wouldn't be tanking... Instead they each of them has one or two models like that (usually at $400+ unless it's been out a while) and literally over a dozen cheap P&S with very few redeeming qualities.

The market stagnated basically, and that's the onlyreason that a value add feature on a completely different product managed to crush the low end camera market in a matter of 2-3 years. It would've happened to some degree regardless (just like fewer people carry watches or use alarm clocks), but the camera manufacturers didn't do themselves any favors.

If they were a bit more forward thinking they'd be selling a much bigger volume of advanced compacts with RAW, faster lenses etc... Possibly at lower price points, but sheer volume would make up for it and it's not like it'd affect their high end sales either way.

0 upvotes

"... Compacts are done... "

Unless it's an Apple compact.

0 upvotes

Citation from the article:

"The couple with the stroller at mid-right were crossing left-to-right at almost the same speed as I was moving the phone. They've become a little mangled as a consequence. The figures in the middle of the frame, on the other hand, are perfectly rendered."

Yup, this is one of the biggest problems with sweep panos. For example, my example shot at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9439092288/

shows an extreme case of it (on the left, obviously).

This is one of the areas where traditional still-based (non-sweeping) panos are better, particularly ones with a "delete & retake previous shot" feature (top AppStore apps like DMD / AutoStitch Panorama offer the latter. AutoStitch Panorama only on 512+ Mbyte devices.)

0 upvotes

Well, I prefert taking panorama with my old S3, pictures are more better than the one I see from IPhone 5sc

0 upvotes

" I want to take a quick look at what I think is the strongest feature of the new iPhone: its panorama mode. Now, automatic panorama modes aren't new, they've been around for a while, and the feature is now almost"

Agreed. While the IQ of the 5s in stills mode can just beat that of the GS4 but (except for the corners / left&rightmost borders) in no way can beat for example the 1020 (see my writeup here in the DPR forums if interested: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52202175 ), the pano mode is much-much better than most other phones else out there, including the stock Camera client of Android.

Basically, I keep a Nokia 808 and an iPhone 5 with me all the time. I use the latter for panos and quick burst shots - and the former for everything else.

Comment edited 37 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Holy sh*t, that theatre panorama _does_ change my view on phone cameras. Impressive. The daylight panos are also impressively sharp and well exposed.

0 upvotes

Very impressive feature. I'd love to see a panorama feature as good as that on a DSLR, for better image quality.

1 upvote

Such a thing already exists. My Sony NEX has it. Work pretty much the same.

2 upvotes

My X-Pro1 does a nice enough job, but the resolution is limited to 2,160 x 7,680, not the best for large prints.

1 upvote

Sony have it from years, alpha 550.
On actual A99 full frame too.

4 upvotes

Yep. Long before NEXes even exited.

1 upvote

What impress me is the fact that many dedicated photography devices lack features like this but are found in Phones!
Canon i am looking at you, is not even funny!

5 upvotes

Such as?...

Meanwhile, many essential photography features, present in most phones, are missing from the iPhone. OK, let's not talk about the ISO or WB. But exposure compensation is kind of important, as the expsure is never right with my iPhone 5.

Comment edited 14 minutes after posting

5 upvotes

Most of the newest if not all of top of the line EOS cameras don't have it.
Not even a still framing aid for later stitching.
Hell, not even a simple thing such time lapse.!!
On the iPhone you can have exposure compensation with many of the free or $1 iOS photo apps.
Not only that, there are things like separate touch spot metering and spot auto-focus which most current cameras lack. Stabilize trigger, Electronic level,etc
It should be the other way around given that those are general mobile phones as oppose to dedicated photography devices!

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 7 minutes after posting

1 upvote

"On the iPhone you can have exposure compensation with many of the free or $1 iOS photo apps."

Note: it's not TRUE exposure compensation. The API just doesn't make it possible. iOS is, unfortunately, far inferior to Android / Windows Phone / Symbian in this respect. See this full writeup on this issue:

http://www.iphonelife.com/blog/87/exposure-compensation-and-bracketing-bible

2 upvotes

Not true. The Kitcam and Camera+ app DO have exposure compensation.

Comment edited 22 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

"Not true. The Kitcam and Camera+ app DO have exposure compensation."

If you meant the -2....+2EV "exposure compensation" slider in KitCam, then, you're absolutely wrong. It's, as has also been explained in the section "4. What about KitCam?" of the just-linked ( http://www.iphonelife.com/blog/87/exposure-compensation-and-bracketing-bible ) "Exposure Compensation and Bracketing Bible", applies exp. comp. in post.

This "feature" has absolutely nothing to do with true exposure compensation - you won't be able to properly bracket, for example.

1 upvote

It's great for a PHONE.

I wonder if any of the negative commentors even own an iphone.

2 upvotes

i dont even own a mobile

0 upvotes

Maybe if you gave it a try, you'd be pleasantly surprised by the phone shooting experience. Sure, the image quality isn't great, but having a camera with you all the time is great. Liberating. I try to take my camera, but if I don't my phone is my backup. Mediocre image quality shouldn't prevent you from taking interesting photographs.

0 upvotes

"It's great for a PHONE. "

Not only for a phone. I think it's one of the best sweep implementations I've ever tested.

1 upvote

I always have a camera with me, a Sony NEX-C3 with Sigma 30mm f/2.8. It's small enough--seriously if you need something smaller you aren't a real photographer, not even as a hobbyist, I'm sorry--and its image quality matches a Nikon D5100 or D7000.

Now THAT is something worth writing about.

0 upvotes

I dont own one, it i s a great phone for sure but way to pricey in my country, we dont get any deals, we have to pay 1200$ for the 5s hence why i will never buy one.

0 upvotes

I have no intention of getting a smartphone, but I am itching to get the iPhone 5S for this superior panorama feature. I am presently using a Sony compact for sweep and an SLR for manual stitch panos.

The sony's pano image is restricted to a vertical resolution of 1080 pixels. Does anyone know the vertical size of the final pano image on the iPhone 5S? Will appreciate the info.

0 upvotes

Until a year and a half ago, I had no intention of getting a smartphone either but got tired of carrying both a cell and PDA.

0 upvotes

"The sony's pano image is restricted to a vertical resolution of 1080 pixels. Does anyone know the vertical size of the final pano image on the iPhone 5S? Will appreciate the info."

It depends on how steadily you hold the camera because it'll crop away to avoid excess black areas at the top / bottom. Generally, it goes up to around 2400 pixels; that is, it makes use of the full vertical resolution of the sensor.

0 upvotes

The angle certainly looks cool, but ultimately the quality isn't that great. I've been pretty impressed by the pano mode in the X100S, which you say you have used a lot as well. It also seems to have quite a high frame rate. Of course it relies entirely on the user to set the exposure properly, but the results are excellent.

0 upvotes

Honestly I'm pretty impressed. Better auto panoramas than I've seen from anything else.

1 upvote

The last picture of a panorama in a theater is just amazing.

BTW, what do you guys think of the the "two color flash?" Did Apple just reinvented the flash? All the other "traditional" camera makers, shame on you!

1 upvote

id rather take no shots than use a phone.

0 upvotes

Nobody is stopping you from taking no shots.

14 upvotes

Believe me, for my pano-specific articles (a quick one is here at the DPReview forums: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52215421 - I'll soon publish a much longer one) I've tested tons of dedicated cameras and phones, and I've found Apple's implementation of sweep panoramas probably the best and most reliable - even back in the iPhone 5 days.

Of course, it has its share of problems; for example, the relatively worse low light sensitivity in bad light - and, with pre-iPhone 5s models, the lack of adaptive exposure, which rendered a lot of panos useless because of serious under/overexposure at parts of the image.

And I'm not an Apple fanboy.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

exposure differences are easily corrected in stitching software. And if you take 50percent overhead - youll never have problems with stitching either.

i fail to see whats so great about this phone, except that its low res and the iso stinks. BOTH critical criteria for a panorama.

1 upvote

"exposure differences are easily corrected in stitching software."

But not automatically if you want to do it right on your phone. Just check out my flickr sets of third-party iOS pano apps shooting subjects of widely different exposure - NONE of them can smooth out the difference without creating annoying artefacts.

0 upvotes

Looks ok, but also looks like a pano from a cheap compact camera.
Noise in the blue sky and typical bleeding or smearing in image as
found in some compact and phone cameras.
The images looks good from a phone, but hello? Please stop
this unreal praising of the image quality.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

"Looks ok, but also looks like a pano from a cheap compact camera."

Name me one cheap compact camera delivering as consistent, high-res, well-stitched results as the iPhone 5s (or, for that matter, even the iPhone 5) in sweep panorama mode.

(Notice the expression "sweep panorama". Using the traditional manual alignment & in-camera auto stitching, even the HP R707 was capable of pretty good, flawlessly auto-aligned results back in late 2004 - my flickr page of showing this is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/sets/72157635313881181/ - with both the individual shots and the auto-stitched result. A direct link to the latter is http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/9640479120/in/set-72157635313881181 )

Comment edited 36 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Editorial??? More like, Advertorial.

34 upvotes

Apple's propaganda machine, the likes not seen since 1933!

14 upvotes

I'm sure Apple paid 6 million people to line up and act excited on Day 1, too?

10 upvotes

so to be clear here, you're saying Apple paid us to write this?

7 upvotes

"Apple's propaganda machine, the likes not seen since 1933!"

Lolz... I'm in no way an Apple fanboy but still need to state even the iPhone 5 creates great sweep panos, let alone the even better 5s.

I've created tons of sweep panos with the 5 and found it excellent. You only need to know when it won't work (for example, drastic brightness differences in the subject you're going to shoot or very low-light shooting); it's then that you'll need to switch to either DMD Panorama (in HQ mode) or Autostitch Panorama (using its non-default highest-quality, slowest stitching). These two AppStore apps I recommend the most. (And will also elaborate on them in my forthcoming iOS Panorama bible, some shots and comparisons of which I've already published here at the DPR forums at http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52215421 )

0 upvotes

"Editorial??? More like, Advertorial."

You obviously haven't ever shot panos on the iPhone 4s/5/5s.

0 upvotes

@simon - probably the excessive number of articles dedicated to the iphone, makes is similar to "advertorial"

I count 7 articles on the front page. Yes, it's the most used phone camera. I own one. Does not make it the best... but the features are evolutionary, not revolutionary... And personally, I think the iPhone 5 images are better and sharper than the 5s - per your previous comparision.

5 upvotes

And what portion of our annual content output does that represent?

2 upvotes

"I think the iPhone 5 images are better and sharper than the 5s - per your previous comparision."

In the corners, yes. Elsewhere, no. I've posted a very lengthy discussion of DPReview's studio scene results, with several crops, to http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52202175 - there, I've explained why this is the case.

0 upvotes

Agreed! DPreview already become effective advertising e-magazine.
Site have many effective comparing tools, but nevertheless, i am slowly losing interest in reading it.

5 upvotes

Yep, especially as this "non-ad" belongs in CONNECT.
Looks like blocking that is pointless now as well.

2 upvotes

People, come on - seriously? This is about new photography technology. Are you really that blinkered that you'll block it from your news feed just because of the form factor of the camera?

2 upvotes

If you are to count the iCrap-related articles in DPR and Connect, it is like 7 to 3 (Android, Windows, Others).

4 upvotes

"Yep, especially as this "non-ad" belongs in CONNECT.
Looks like blocking that is pointless now as well."

"If you are to count the iCrap-related articles in DPR and Connect, it is like 7 to 3 (Android, Windows, Others)."
.....
I completely agree with these above sentiments. Kindly keep this crapple crud to connect, please. Or, go ahead, keep on alienating your old core constituents here. Up to you.

4 upvotes

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