The iPhone 5S has plenty of new features for users to be happy about. One of the best ones is the camera. Apple changed it, and a recent LA Times camera comparison showed that the iPhone 5S had the best quality of the five phones tested.
The LA Times tested the 5S, Nokia Lumia, iPhone 5, Samsung S4 and HTC One in a variety of tests such as taking photos of flowers and using the device in low light and with a flash. The 5S produced the best images in all of the categories except for the jetty test, which the Lumia won. It was clear to the testers that the 5S camera was greatly improved from the first-generation iPhone 5. The 5S took home the top prize, with the iPhone 5 coming in third.
“Overall the iPhone 5S proved to produce the most high-quality images using the automatic setting. Realistically, this will be the way most people will use the camera,” wrote LA Times writer Robert Lachman.
An inside look at the iPhone camera
A look at the new iPhone 5S camera provides some insight as to why it produces the best photos over all the other smartphones. MacWorld's Marco Tabini took an in-depth look at the technology that went into producing the camera.
Firstly, Apple made the camera sensor bigger than it was in the iPhone 5. Even though the company chose not to increase the resolution of the camera on the 5S, this bigger sensor, which is 15 percent larger than that of the 5, allows it to capture more light.
Also helping to create crisper photos is the processor. The A7X was designed with a special section of the chip devoted strictly to pictures, called the Image Signal Processor. Not only does it perform simple camera duties like white balancing and exposure adjustments, it also does local toning mapping, which contrasts specific parts of the picture to create a better shot.
Another new feature to the camera app is the ability to shoot bursts of photos, picking out the ones that turned out the best during the burst. Apple has also updated the flash to include a second one that is of a slightly different color to get nighttime photos just right.
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