First iPhone 7 camera tests are out

[SirRahikkala]

I was trying to find first tests and seems that the PC Magazine has done some laboratory level tests. If you find some other sites who has compared the camera's, leave a link.

http://uk.pcmag.com/smartphones/845...us-vs-iphone-6s-vs-galaxy-s7-cameras-compared

TL;DR

The Verdict
When comparing the main cameras on the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S7, the S7 wins out in our lab tests. Its larger sensor size gives it an edge as the ISO is pushed higher, and it scores the highest on our sharpness test. The iPhone 7 (and 7 Plus) come in a close second, with the older 6s trailing the pack.

But, you can't discount the flexibility of dual camera modules, which is a feature that Samsung doesn't offer in its Galaxy line. The iPhone 7 Plus gives you the option of shooting at 56mm, and while you won't be able to benefit from the second lens in very dim lighting, it's a boon for use in daylight, especially for shots where a wide-angle lens is just too wide.

It's early in the game. The 7 Plus's two-camera system is a work in progress. Apple is still working on the software required to capture images with a shallow depth of field using the dual cameras, and it will be interesting to see what other applications Apple and third parties cook up in the future.

 

[Bawstun]

Had a feeling this would be the case. I've never seen such great photos as what the S7 is able to capture (from a phone).

 

[ahostmadsen]

Had a feeling this would be the case. I've never seen such great photos as what the S7 is able to capture (from a phone).

Yes, that's the issue: these days Samsung makes better hardware than Apple. I only ordered the iPhone 7 because of iOS and all the other Apple devices I own.

 

[deadsoul]

That's not unusual Apple is years behind Samsung in the camera department... long gone are those days with the "The best camera in the world"

 

[Setarip]

Hmm...to my eye the 7+ 56mm lens has the best overall look. The s7 no doubt looks better in some of the tests, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a better camera than the 7+. Colors look better on the 7+ as well.

 

[jamesrick80]

S7 has the better overall camera...the usual for Samsung flagships

 

[Cheeseler]

Edit:
Saw there was a thread for this. My bad for posting here. Still a newbie.


So I got my iPhone 7Plus (Silver 256GB) set up and noticed the dual camera is not working as advertised.

If I put my finger over the telephoto lens and tap the 2x, it zooms in, but it looks grainy and isn't dark like when I put my finger over the wide angle lens It's obviously using the wide angle lens when I use the tap 2x zoom or pinch on video, photo, and square. It only toggles to the telephoto on Time Lapse, Slo-Mo, and Pano.

I had to update my phone before I could restore from a back up. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it.

Also my phone is pretty warm from downloading apps for the last couple of hours and I can't use flash while in the camera app or use the flashlight period. I see the icon in the camera app ❗️ Of the exclamation mark inside a triangle. It says my phone needs to cool down beige I can use flash.

 

[entraik]

Hmm...to my eye the 7+ 56mm lens has the best overall look. The s7 no doubt looks better in some of the tests, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a better camera than the 7+. Colors look better on the 7+ as well.

Nah not really

 

[MICHAELSD]

S7 has the better overall camera...the usual for Samsung flagships

Not fair... It has a lighting advantage from the flames.

(Yes, I know the Note 7 is the faulty phone but let us Apple fans have this.)

 

[baypharm]

I think what constitutes a better camera is to a certain extent subjective since our eyes all perceive something different. I owned a 6s Plus, gave it away and now have the S7 Edge. I can say from my perspective the S7 still image quality blows the iphone out of the water. Low light imagery is awesome and hardly any detectable purple fringing when shooting tree limbs against a light colored sky. The 4K video (when the S7 is mounted to a fluid head tripod or steadicam type device) is breathtaking on an 85 inch TV. But then again, the iphone 6s Plus was awesome, too. I am not knocking the iphone 7 per se since I haven't used one. But the imagery produced by this S7 is according to my eyes hard to beat.

 

[x34]

Edit:
Saw there was a thread for this. My bad for posting here. Still a newbie.


So I got my iPhone 7Plus (Silver 256GB) set up and noticed the dual camera is not working as advertised.

If I put my finger over the telephoto lens and tap the 2x, it zooms in, but it looks grainy and isn't dark like when I put my finger over the wide angle lens It's obviously using the wide angle lens when I use the tap 2x zoom or pinch on video, photo, and square. It only toggles to the telephoto on Time Lapse, Slo-Mo, and Pano.

see:

"Every time you take a picture with the iPhone 7, both the wide angle and telephoto fire off. Yes, two 12 megapixel pictures for every shot. This could be a prime driver behind the increase of the iPhone 7 Plus’ memory to 3GB.

Both images are needed due to an Apple technique it is calling “fusion” internally. Fusion takes data from both sensors and merges them into the best possible picture for every condition. If, for instance, there is a low-light scene that has some dark areas, the image-processing chip could choose to pick up some image data (pixels or other stuff like luminance) from the brighter f1.8 wide angle and mix it in with the data from the f2.8 telephoto, creating a composite image on the fly without any input from the user. This fusion technique is available to every shot coming from the camera, which means that the iPhone 7 Plus is mixing and matching data every time that trigger is tapped.

This technique is made possible because the optics, coatings, sensors, perspectives and color balances of the two cameras are perfectly matched.

The fusion technique also comes in handy when using the new zoom functions of the iPhone 7 Plus."

https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/13/review-apple-tees-up-the-future-with-iphone-7/

 

[JOEBETA]

Had a feeling this would be the case. I've never seen such great photos as what the S7 is able to capture (from a phone).

2 photos from my S6 Plus

https://flic.kr/p/M9mbJE
https://flic.kr/p/M9mbQG

Photos I took with the Note 7

https://flic.kr/p/L9gNcJ
https://flic.kr/p/M1F2UK

All photos were touched up with some editing software.

 

[JayIsAwesome]

Both phones are more than adequate for photography, as the both produce some beautiful photos. But I can definitely see how Sammy's camera still outshines Apple

 

[JOEBETA]

Both phones are more than adequate for photography, as the both produce some beautiful photos. But I can definitely see how Sammy's camera still outshines Apple

Yes they are.

 

[baypharm]

Absolutely. I found nothing wrong at all with the picture quality of my previous 6s Plus.

 

[The Game 161]

As long as the 7 plus is better than 6s plus then that's fine..when the update comes later this year for the zoom on the plus hopefully makes it even better

 

[0000757]

I think the idea that the S7 is "better" is like saying someone is a faster runner because they beat someone by 1/10th of a second. Technically? Yes it's better. Realistically, nobody is going to notice any difference in quality 99.9% of the time. Both the S7 (and by extension the S7 Edge and Note 7) have absolutely amazing cameras. After all the Android phones I've had, including the Note 5, the S7 and company are the first Android phones I'd say have a camera that I'm impressed by. The iPhone 7 is also an AMAZING camera phone, and in my opinion comparing identical shots I can BARELY tell a difference, if any.

Both are absolutely amazing shooters. I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[baypharm]

I think people expect a miracle nowdays from camera phones without any thought or input from the user. At the end of the day you have to know what you are doing and have some knowledge of light and shadow (and raw talent doesn't hurt either). You don't have to be an expert level photographer but practice does make you better. Basic rules like having the light behind you rather than shooting into it and shooting in the mornings and evenings will give you better looking images that avoid the flat lighting usually found during the harshest part of the day. Remember if you shoot a black bird against a white sky it will look bad no matter what camera phone you use. And don't forget that the best pictures will be taken during the worst weather conditions - generally speaking.

 

[SirRahikkala]

Some new tests coming out:

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/iphone-7-vs-galaxy-s7-camera,review-3906.html

"It's Close, but iPhone 7's Camera Still Can't Top Samsung"

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-7-plus-galaxy-s7-camera-comparison-2016-9

But in a head-to-head shootout, the iPhone — now much closer to the Galaxy on specs — can't quite keep up. The differences aren'toverwhelming, but they're significant.

http://jbhnews.com/better-camera-samsungs-galaxy-s7-vs-iphone-7/11847/

There are numbers of great and promising features from iPhone 7 camera serving as of important improvements over the iPhone 6S however Samsung Galaxy S7 is indeed on top regarding raw quality.

http://www.techgrapple.com/iphone-7-vs-galaxy-s7-camera-test/

Apple has improved the camera quality in iPhone 7 compared to iPhone 6s Camera, but it’s still not enough to beat Samsung Galaxy S7. Apple still needs some work to do.

SuperSaf video review:

 

[mi7chy]

Auto focus tracking speed + low light performance > 2x zoom

 

[Sekelani]

I guess it's all personal preference really.

 

[The Game 161]

Saf is very much an Android guy so not surprised to see him favour s7

Think it's very close and opinions will change from time to time depending on the pictures. I have seen mixed on who has a better camera. Depends where you look.

 

[callihan_44]

Some new tests coming out:

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/iphone-7-vs-galaxy-s7-camera,review-3906.html

"It's Close, but iPhone 7's Camera Still Can't Top Samsung"

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-7-plus-galaxy-s7-camera-comparison-2016-9

But in a head-to-head shootout, the iPhone — now much closer to the Galaxy on specs — can't quite keep up. The differences aren'toverwhelming, but they're significant.

http://jbhnews.com/better-camera-samsungs-galaxy-s7-vs-iphone-7/11847/

There are numbers of great and promising features from iPhone 7 camera serving as of important improvements over the iPhone 6S however Samsung Galaxy S7 is indeed on top regarding raw quality.

http://www.techgrapple.com/iphone-7-vs-galaxy-s7-camera-test/

Apple has improved the camera quality in iPhone 7 compared to iPhone 6s Camera, but it’s still not enough to beat Samsung Galaxy S7. Apple still needs some work to do.

SuperSaf video review:

I watched some other video performance vids on youtube yesterday and in those videos the recorded sound quality performance was much closer between the iphone 7 and s7...I don't know if that dude had a faulty phone or what but the iphone 7 sounded muffled almost compared to the s7

 

[MongooseJesus]

see:

"Every time you take a picture with the iPhone 7, both the wide angle and telephoto fire off. Yes, two 12 megapixel pictures for every shot. This could be a prime driver behind the increase of the iPhone 7 Plus’ memory to 3GB.

Both images are needed due to an Apple technique it is calling “fusion” internally. Fusion takes data from both sensors and merges them into the best possible picture for every condition. If, for instance, there is a low-light scene that has some dark areas, the image-processing chip could choose to pick up some image data (pixels or other stuff like luminance) from the brighter f1.8 wide angle and mix it in with the data from the f2.8 telephoto, creating a composite image on the fly without any input from the user. This fusion technique is available to every shot coming from the camera, which means that the iPhone 7 Plus is mixing and matching data every time that trigger is tapped.

This technique is made possible because the optics, coatings, sensors, perspectives and color balances of the two cameras are perfectly matched.

The fusion technique also comes in handy when using the new zoom functions of the iPhone 7 Plus."

https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/13/review-apple-tees-up-the-future-with-iphone-7/

Ok, this is the second time I've seen this mentioned online and it's driving me insane!

Techcrunch are the only people saying this about the two camera's. Not even apple themselves are mentioning it on their site (you'd think this'd be quite a big selling point, no?)

So can you please point me to anywhere else, official or otherwise, which is making this claim about the photos being merged together.

I've said it before on Reddit, but I'm pretty sure Techcrunch are misleading people and getting confused with the rumours before the device's launch (when apple bought out Lynx)

 

[MistrSynistr]

Does anyone get the feeling there is a slight arrogance to Apple in that they design all their internals without actually checking/deconstructing competitor products?

Like, how would you release a premium device that doesn't beat the cheesy android version? lol. It should not only beat it but completely destroy it. A newer device that had time to learn from the competitor product and upstage it comes out "slightly" worse than it? what in the..