Former Google exec Vic Gundotra praises Apple iPhone 7 Plus camera, says Android photograp...
Former chief of Android Vic Gundotra praised Apple for its camera on the iPhone 7 Plus, and panned the Android ecosystem for a slow march in photography technology because of how innovations need to propagate across the entire codebase.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, accompanied with pictures that Gundotra took, the ex-Google executive called Android the problem for the reason it takes time it takes for new breakthroughs by companies like Samsung to get wide adoption -- and even afterwards, confusion may reign.
Gundotra said:
Gundotra served as the Senior Vice President of Social Networking Services at Google -- but not before he was the Vice President of Engineering for the company. He was responsible for developer evangelism, overseas applications development, and open source programs -- specifically Android.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, accompanied with pictures that Gundotra took, the ex-Google executive called Android the problem for the reason it takes time it takes for new breakthroughs by companies like Samsung to get wide adoption -- and even afterwards, confusion may reign.
Gundotra said:
Opponents of the post are noting the DxOMark ratings of Android phones -- but appear to be missing the point. Gundotra is talking about the entire experience, from the lenses to the Phone's hardware, to the software, rather than just lens quality.Here is the problem: It's Android. Android is an open source (mostly) operating system that has to be neutral to all parties. This sounds good until you get into the details. Ever wonder why a Samsung phone has a confused and bewildering array of photo options? Should I use the Samsung Camera? Or the Android Camera? Samsung gallery or Google Photos?
It's because when Samsung innovates with the underlying hardware (like a better camera) they have to convince Google to allow that innovation to be surfaced to other applications via the appropriate API. That can take YEARS.
Also the greatest innovation isn't even happening at the hardware level - it's happening at the computational photography level. (Google was crushing this 5 years ago - they had had "auto awesome" that used AI techniques to automatically remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, add vignetting, etc... but recently Google has fallen back).
Apple doesn't have all these constraints. They innovate in the underlying hardware, and just simply update the software with their latest innovations (like portrait mode) and ship it.
Bottom line: If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don't mind being a few years behind, buy an Android.
Gundotra served as the Senior Vice President of Social Networking Services at Google -- but not before he was the Vice President of Engineering for the company. He was responsible for developer evangelism, overseas applications development, and open source programs -- specifically Android.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtmGMcMeEJE&t=311s
I love my iPhone's camera. I also have a Canon 6D, which is a decent camera, but I honestly can't remember the last time I lugged it anywhere to take pictures.
I have my iPhone with me all the time. And, as true as "The best camera is the one you have with you." is, I'm so happy that that camera is the iPhone 7+.
When I need a tripod, I bring along my Manfrotto BeFree: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&ap=y&c3api=1876,{creative},{keyword}&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqvvLBRDIARIsAMYuvBFBck4ztrsMTrEAwJTVMRQ5FzAzpzRPME0lTXSdQ_kLIFy-QcaH5-oaAhmkEALw_wcB&is=REG&m=Y&sku=1083152
well who the hell uses a camera that way instead of whipping it out and taking a picture in less than a second with our shaky hands while carrying some shit in the other hand.
No one of those android shills seemingly does that test. The huge and mounting dsp advantage of the iPhone means the gap is going to be a chasm this fall vs the average even higher end android phone
a camera is not just something you put on a tripod and have all the time in the world to setup
But if you're waiting for me to dispute Mr. Gondotra's comments you'll have a very long wait. He's certainly more qualified that me or anyone else here AFAIK. Note what he actually refers to tho and why he feels as he does (and it makes sense) and not what you'd like to think he's saying. But anyway I have no reason not to trust him.
Anything else?
Here's a review summary from DPReview:
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/iphone-7-plus-camera/10
"The Final Word
Comparing the iPhone 7 Plus to the competition is not an easy task. The dual-camera, with its 56mm lens providing something of a tele-perspective, is currently unique in the market. As we have explained throughout this review, it's not without its flaws and of limited use in low light, but the added reach and alternative angle of view it provides in good light conditions make it a real game-changer for mobile photography. That said, we are looking forward to the second generation of the technology which will hopefully be more useful for indoor and night shooting.
If you can live with the, compared to some rivals, slightly lower levels of image detail, the only thing that could potentially hold you back is the Apple's rather steep price point of $769 for the 32GB base version. However, given the dual-cam's advantages, many users might find the premium over the competition to me more than acceptable."
I expect improvements to the dual camera system at the iPhone 8's release, but I still doubt that metrics or testing for computational photography will have arrived by then, so expect the same limited reviews, and this goes for all of the Android OS dual camera reviews as well.
" Gundotra is talking about the entire experience, from the lenses to the Phone's hardware, to the software, rather than just lens quality."
Yeah, big deal, people still think the app, the quality, the experience etc is better on a Pixel.
It won't take years for them to be on iPhone's level, they already have years ago now.
But go buy an S8, a LG G6, etc
They take excellent pictures.
Then again, 45 years ago, I was taking pictures with a 5x7 field view camera. And a then-oldish Leica IIIc. And a Canon SLR. ...
Different tools for different tasks.
Hahaha "professional movies" ? Like who the hell cares about that ? Real professionals use pro equipment.
The rare one you see on certain magazines, it's just marketing.
so, first of all, when talking about smartphone photography, we have to be careful. I have not seen a single phone, and that does include my iPhone 7+, that doesn’t have major problems. Yes, it’s true. When taking a picture in very good light, and I should emphasize the word “very”, images can come out very well - as long as you don’t need to do much to them in editing, such as exposure, contrast, sharpening, etc. for once you do, the images break down.
so what are the differences in quality between them? I do want to make note that I believe that Mike, when he said lens, meant sensor instead. The DXO numbers are very controversial in the higher end photo community. The reason why is because while they say that the results are objective, they’re anything but. They are very subjective. They decide what will be measured. They decide how to measure, and they decide on what weighting to give to those measurements. A good example why we should take their results with a grain of salt is in what they did with their own iPhone camera a couple of years ago.
While they state that their measurements and numbers are from RAW sensor data, with no manipulation, when it came to testing their own iPhone camera, they departed from that. So they measured multiple exposure results with RAW manipulation to give a much better DXO number than that rather poor sensor itself could have delivered in a conventional shot. They didn’t state this in their results, until it was pointed out by third parties reading the charts and wondering about the numbers. This destroyed their so called standards and objectivity for many.
another problem with their results has to do with people’s need for rankings. Does a sensor that rates a (not necessarily correct) 5 point lead over another actually deliver a noticably better image? Maybe, maybe not. It’s actually more complex than that. In taking 100 random photos with any of these cameras, which camera will take a better quality average? That really only has something to do with the sensor RAW quality. Much of it has to do with proper exposure control, and that’s where most smartphone cameras break down. Also it depends on the level of noise reduction, and how that is accomplished, as well as sharpening. Fortunately for those of us using iPhones, the iPhone has the best consistency when taking photos, even if another smartphone has slightly better quality here and there. And as any Pro can tell you, consistency is more important than a small amount of ultimate quality.
the one thing I’m not happy about, is the lack of sensitivity and dynamic range. But that’s a problem of all tiny sensor cameras, and we’re not going to see a major improvement anytime soon.
Even things like testing OIS, what they use is arbitrary and non transparent. This critic of them has existed outside the realm of smartphone photography too.
If people would use their numbers in a limited way, all would be fine; but they use them as gauge of the whole camera/smartphone assembly with the software, which is absurd.
You can't do that on android, or google takes a long time to implement these features on android by default, without being locked to, say, a samsung phone for example.