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Galaxy Note 4

pdqgp said:

"perfection is the enemy of good enough"

That applies to both of you when it comes to the use of a cell phone as a camera. Not saying you can't but for either of you to debate the quality of the camera on either the iPhone 6 vs the Note series in a cropping or zoom situation isn't really applicable considering you both are settling for a device that is out of place for the needs you're using it for. However good that need fits each of you. Again, everyone is entitled to what "good enough" means to them. That's cool, carry on.

To hold either phone or any phone to those situations is not appropriate when it comes to judging them for their intended use. Neither Apple nor Samsung is in a race to provide a camera with the ability to work in place of a lens with the proper focal length.
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I disagree....in fact both companies advertise the quality for the camera in their phones. They advertise the use exactly as I tend to use them. Professional grade? No.........nor do i expect them to be. But i have gotten some great shots while outdoors from my smartphones.
But i can see how some photography people would disagree. Thats ok....to each his own.
 
pdqgp said:
Neither Apple nor Samsung is in a race to provide a camera with the ability to work in place of a lens with the proper focal length.
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Well, once they were.

samsung-galaxy-k-zoom-announcement-2014-02-450x344.jpg
 
jamezr said:
As we demand more and more from our smartphones....the technology in them will only get better as well. Look at the Lumia 1020 and its 41MP camera.....
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Yeah, this race is far from over. Who doesn't have a camera bump on the back of their phones these days? And I'm still waiting for front stereo speakers to be the standard.
 
pdqgp said:
Neither Apple nor Samsung is in a race to provide a camera with the ability to work in place of a lens with the proper focal length.
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jamezr said:
I disagree....in fact both companies advertise the quality for the camera in their phones. They advertise the use exactly as I tend to use them.
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I stand by my statement above that niegther the Note 4 nor the iPhones advertise their use in place of a good zoom nor are they good cameras regardless of resolution to heavily crop images. MP's don't replace focal length. Especially on devices where the per-pixel image quality is from a small sensor on a phone.

But i have gotten some great shots while outdoors from my smartphones.
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Everyone has. They do well when the focal length is appropriate and minor cropping is used.

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pdqgp said:
Neither Apple nor Samsung is in a race to provide a camera with the ability to work in place of a lens with the proper focal length.
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rrl said:
Well, once they were.

Image
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^^ but the above is a camera phone that was designed to zoom. The standard Note or S series is not designed to work in place of a proper focal length. All they offer is digital zoom which is not a change in focal length.
 
pdqgp said:
^^ but the above is a camera phone that was designed to zoom. The standard Note or S series is not designed to work in place of a proper focal length. All they offer is digital zoom which is not a change in focal length.
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Yes, digital zoom is nothing more than cropping. I get that. But if I understand things correctly, there can't be a change in focal length without mechanical means, or some very serious processing. And I'm not sure unless there's multiple lenses about the very serious processing part. Anyway, OIS is the first step in the mechanization of mainstream phone cameras, focal length motors seem the next logical step. That must scare the crap out of most manufacturers, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.
 
SeanZy said:
Went into BB today to check out the note, and compared it to my 6 plus.

The screen on the note seemed way warmer and yellow than my 6 plus.

From what I have been reading though, the screen should come off as cooler because of the AMOLED and saturation.

Is this simply the test units? or should i expect this, because I prefer a cooler screen much more
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Sample variation. In the real world the screens of both devices (see: yellow iPhone 6 display complaint threads) are going to vary in white temp by some amount, and unfortunately review sites never go out and get a bunch of samples to assess that variation. Companies may even pick particularly good samples to send out to reviewers. The same issue comes up in reviews of monitors, TV's, etc.

A similar issue is seen in headphone testing: The variances between production units from some companies are so significant that any one set of measurements or any subjective quality assessment becomes nearly meaningless.
 
rrl said:
Yes, digital zoom is nothing more than cropping. I get that. But if I understand things correctly, there can't be a change in focal length without mechanical means, or some very serious processing.
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Focal length requires a true optical zoom.

Anyway, OIS is the first step in the mechanization of mainstream phone cameras, focal length motors seem the next logical step. That must scare the crap out of most manufacturers.
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I do think OIS will become more mainstream and camera phones will continue to eat away at the P&S Market. However, the P&S Market is moving to much better sensors, smaller footprints and will provide higher quality glass/lenses and sensors all around including farther zooming capability thus helping insulate themselves a bit more and defining their new place in the market.

The cell phone market as we know it today lacks the optics and sensor size that will allow for great bokeh and DOF and lighting capability that differentiate a snapshot from a true photograph (my language and opinion)
 
OIS is great for video (although digital stabilisation works well too) but only good for stills of non moving objects. It won't help with taking pictures of people unless they pose! So although OIS is a good addition, it's not a deal breaker for me. Would rather a larger sensor.
 
pdqgp said:
^^ grab a DSLR and a small speedlight and be done with it. No phone is going to offer shutter speeds and exposure through a flash to capture a moving subject like a child indoors in what would be deemed a good photo. Indoor low light often will lead to shark-eyes and photography is about capturing light and all about the eyes.
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I have a DSLR, thanks. Now if you could just tell me how to cram it in my pocket so I can keep it on me at all times I would appreciate it. Lol.

By the way, the 6plus does take adequate (not like my DSLR, but good enough) pics indoors of fast moving subjects. My Note 3 could never do this as it took too long to focus. Now if the Note 4 can focus faster, than that would be awesome. I am just not sure that it can/will do so.
 
fishmd said:
I have a DSLR, thanks. Now if you could just tell me how to cram it in my pocket so I can keep it on me at all times I would appreciate it. Lol.
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My reference to the SLR is to use it for kids indoors. In terms of pocketable size something with as good of image quality and controls, the Nikon V3 or Sony RX100, etc. something along those lines would be a great sidekick for light packing trips and to have handy. Or pick up something like a Panasonic or similar model that allows for 8mp + still extraction from it's video capture. All this coming from someone who is likely more into photography than you, but I'm also not one for side-stepping the best tool for the job. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, just not for me.

By the way, the 6plus does take adequate (not like my DSLR, but good enough) pics indoors of fast moving subjects. My Note 3 could never do this as it took too long to focus. Now if the Note 4 can focus faster, than that would be awesome. I am just not sure that it can/will do so.
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Not sure how the Note 4 will perform. Likely loads faster at focusing as it doesn't need to rely on software stabilization.
 
pdqgp said:
My reference to the SLR is to use it for kids indoors. In terms of pocketable size something with as good of image quality and controls, the Nikon V3 or Sony RX100, etc. something along those lines would be a great sidekick for light packing trips and to have handy. Or pick up something like a Panasonic or similar model that allows for 8mp + still extraction from it's video capture. All this coming from someone who is likely more into photography than you, but I'm also not one for side-stepping the best tool for the job. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, just not for me.



Not sure how the Note 4 will perform. Likely loads faster at focusing as it doesn't need to rely on software stabilization.
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Funny you should mention the Panasonic as I have one of those as well and have used it just as you mention. Only issue is that I don't always have it with me again and sometimes can't be bothered to go and get it.

In all reality, you go to a place like Disney and look and see what people are using to capture memories with and it is a cell phone camera 9/10 times. Is this the best, heck no. But it is the most convenient when you got 2 or 3 or 4 kids and all of there stuff to handle too.

I am hoping someone can do a real world camera test and try out some lower light or indoor shooting with the Note 4 and compare it to the IPhone. Not just pics of still stuff. But of people. Talk about focus time. And see which one does it better.
 
fishmd said:
In all reality, you go to a place like Disney and look and see what people are using to capture memories with and it is a cell phone camera 9/10 times. Is this the best, heck no. But it is the most convenient when you got 2 or 3 or 4 kids and all of there stuff to handle too.
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I live that dream daily too :D

I am hoping someone can do a real world camera test and try out some lower light or indoor shooting with the Note 4 and compare it to the IPhone. Not just pics of still stuff. But of people. Talk about focus time. And see which one does it better.
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dpreview will likely have one before the holidays.
 
Waiting for the Nexus announcement delayed my preordering. Now you guys get to play with your phones early while I get to sit here and play with empty Note 4 cases.
 
I want to wait and see the Nexus 6 announcement, but the Note 4 looks nice. I supposed I could preorder it to take advantage of the $200 promo, and then return it if the Nexus 6 is more compelling. I'm sure it will be announced before the return period. The problem is I don't have a phone to trade in. What is the cheapest smart phone I can buy off of ebay or craigslist?
 
After an exemplary year of Note 3 performance and terrific robust durability, I'm in a very nice position to wait until the Nexus X/6 is released. At 5.92" the display promises to be ideal for my intense daily use. I've learned after using virtually every display size over the last three years that 5.9 to 6.1 is the ideal range.

I maintain a few lines so as to have choices, experience has taught me for my use and preferences a personal smartphone at 5 to 5.2 is ideal if I want something smaller. My Nexus 5 fills that role ideally.

This past year is the first year since the original iPhone was released that I owned, yet rarely used my iPhone 5S. Once I became aware of how good Android is, it's all I used 99% of the time. Very eager to finally witness Apple catch up, there's just too many bugs, annoyances and faults in the 6 plus with iOS 8. I've bought three and resold them without even opening the boxes. Demand brought me huge profits, that was joyous!

Now I'll patiently wait, next year's iPhones will follow Apple tradition, be greatly improved and worth buying.
 
iososx said:
After an exemplary year of Note 3 performance and terrific robust durability, I'm in a very nice position to wait until the Nexus X/6 is released. At 5.92" the display promises to be ideal for my intense daily use. I've learned after using virtually every display size over the last three years that 5.9 to 6.1 is the ideal range.

I maintain a few lines so as to have choices, experience has taught me for my use and preferences a personal smartphone at 5 to 5.2 is ideal if I want something smaller. My Nexus 5 fills that role ideally.

This past year is the first year since the original iPhone was released that I owned, yet rarely used my iPhone 5S. Once I became aware of how good Android is, it's all I used 99% of the time. Very eager to finally witness Apple catch up, there's just too many bugs, annoyances and faults in the 6 plus with iOS 8. I've bought three and resold them without even opening the boxes. Demand brought me huge profits, that was joyous!

Now I'll patiently wait, next year's iPhones will follow Apple tradition, be greatly improved and worth buying.
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Good, take advantage of the hype. The 5S seems adequate for the next year, but I cannot take the small screen, so I am going back to my S5 and returning the 5S.
 
LIVEFRMNYC said:
That was the best review yet, he went through a lot of features. I didn't even know about the side key panel.
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Lots of small changes that will make a big difference as well, like the improved keyboard to access things like the floating keyboard more easily.
 
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