Ban cameras on 'phones

Personally I despise Apple and all their works, but they are not to blame for the fact that most pictures taken with most camera 'phones are complete dross.

I'm amazed that the complaints are only about lens flare, and not blurred images, thumbs in the way and digital noise, to name but a few of the ubiquitous faults with camera 'phone images in general.

This is because the possessors of this technology haven't, by and large, the faintest idea about photography; not one jot. They are of the same mindset as the drivers of the cars we see in the roadside ditches hereabouts on an almost daily basis - their cars have ESP and so they think they can drive them around any bend on any surface in any weather as fast as they like and the technology will just do everything for them. Well it won't, and 'phone cameras, even the iPhone's which is amongst the best, are still total crap compared to almost anything properly described as a camera.

Think people need a dose of common sense - the problem is the camera is so good people do use it - but it does not mean they know how to use it. I'm sure I could get plenty of impressive flare with my £1000+ SLR if I tried to take pictures in the same situations.

Basically it's a very good camera on a phone - probably as good as some mid-range compacts but you can't expect it to be the same quality as a dedicated SLR.

Macturbate / mac-tur-bayt (verb)

v. to pleasure oneself through the use of an Apple product.

Once Mike gets the new iPhone he's going to macturbate for a week straight.

If whilst macturbating to your new iDevice you do not get irrationally excited and pompous, you are holding it wrong.

(should be added to the register lexicon imho)

@Tringle IDK what phone you have my friend, but my SGS2 takes fantastic pictures for what it is. The phone I owned prior to that, the HTC Desire, also took a credible picture.

In low light situations, obviously they struggle, but I have excellent indoor and outdoor shots taken with my SGS2. Some of the landscape snaps of Loch Awe bathed in glorious sunlight are particularly good.

This being Scotland, you have to take your chances with sunny weather, and I wouldn't have those cherished pictures if I didn't have my phone with me, as I certainly wouldn't have had my compact with me at that time.

Perhaps you are a long-in-the-tooth photographer who is tired of people settling for less than perfect photography, but you must remember, that the reason people capture photos is to remind themselves of good times, rather than chasing mythical 'perfect' photos.

There will always be a place for professional photography, of course, but for most folk, being able to pull out the phone on a day out and capture a special moment, is more than enough.

How I wish that, as a lad, me and my mates had had cameras with us at all times. It's one thing to remember some of the laughs we had, but I often wish there were more photos of what went on back then to complement the memories. It's the one thing Facebook is any good for.

Idea for a new iPhone accessory:

A tripod for when you want to be in the group shot, but with a little 'cupping flag' to shield the delicate iPhone mechanisms from the harmful effects of light.

Really. Crappy. Products. Really!

So let's see - the maps issue is something anyone can fix in 10 seconds by shortcutting maps.google.co.uk, the camera issue is not really an issue at all, the back scratches - what do you expect it's anodised aluminium oh and lo-and-behold the glass will break if you smash it against something.

You're holding it wrong!

Now where have I heard that before....

I'm with apple on this one

I'm with apple on this one... they admitted that there are shortcomings in short lens camera lens and sensor assemblies due to side light hitting the sensors and gave relatively simple work arounds to help users avoid it. Yes, it's probably worse in the iPhone 5 because the sensor is better and the package is shorter, allowing more incidental side light in and picking it up better.

The most viable fix is probably to lengthen the overall lens and sensor assembly but the result of this will make the camera thicker and there's no way that they'll be keen to do that as there are currently relatively few marketing-droid fluff points that can be flung around about the latest iPhones as it is. As a result they need to stick with the points they do have and not lose them... i.e. light, and thin - something the iPhone 5 does very well.

This is quite different to the cock up of having poor (laminate) insulation over the external antenna which allowed sweaty palmed people (or just those who don't have dry hands) to ground the antenna to the case. Blocking radio signals with body parts (such as the water in hands) is common to all mobiles, but does depend on where the actual antenna is. Mobile phone antenna tech has come on a long way since the earlier phones that sprouted 6" external antennas, but there's only so much they can do.

To those arguing against phone cameras, the problem here, is not the fact that photos taken with phone cameras are of lower quality, it's that ones taken with the iPhone are of lower quality than other phone-based cameras.

You are using non sequiturs as misdirection to detract from the above fact.

I suspect you bought an iPhone 5 and are disappointed with it's apparent inability to take a decent photograph, so are therefore trying your best to delude yourself that all smartphone cameras take shitty pictures and that your purchase of an iPhone 5 was not a mistake.

I wonder how some of the guys make the 'flares'

First, I like Apple, but my only iPhone is a 3gs that I revived with chines parts after my bro dropped it in the water.

I did do a quick search on google (you can do it to!) and did found some nice pictures, even taken straight into the sun like here : http://www.knowyourcell.com/features/1621140/iphone_5_camera_image_samples.html

Not saying the 'flare' doesn't exists though. But I don't think that people should throw away there iphone 5 just because they cannot take pictures towards a bright object.

I believe even Nasa has to take special counter measurements to take pictures of the sun!

you're holding it wrong

I had one (iPhone 5) in my hand today. It sure is lightweight. It feels like a plastic toy compared to the 4S. The 4S looked and felt expensive but this one...

So the new 2013 trend is that expensive phones look and feel like cheap crap. Wrong or right, I think I'm not gonna hold one at all!

Stop taking photos of the sun and learn how to hold it properly.

You _are_ holding it wrong

I'm gonna get downvoted mightily for this, but <http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/10/our-tests-find-purple-haze-problem-isnt-limited-just-to-the-iphone-5.html>, which is NOT an Apple-friendly site, says that just about all phones in that class have a haze of some kind. Some are apparently worse than iPhone 5s. And, yes, they point out that the iPhone 4S was one of those phones which had a worse haze. One wonders how no-one noticed this until someone actually tested it...

And, yes, fandroids, among the phones tested and shown to be as bad as iPhone 5s were the Samsung Galaxy III and the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx.

Ah, well...

iPhone is shite! It's become nothing more that a limited feature phone!

Ditch the shit and switch!