Why New iPhone Cameras are NOT as Good as You Think. 

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I wanted to see how the iPhone 13 photos would look without any AI processing compared to original iPhone to see how much has the actual hardware of the sensor changed.

Forget 90s VHS nostalgia look, I'm all about the DVD 2000s phone camera nostalgia

“I haven’t checked 3 in a while” What an understatement lmao

From a photographic perspective, most of the dynamic range and resolution woes on the original iphone is due to low resolution glass, it reeks of poor optics and looks like a vintage lens slapped on a sensor. I'd like to see someone retrofit some modern glass in front of it and there should be a pretty significant improvement across the board.

What’s interesting to me is the sensors of the iPhone 1 camera give it a filmic look, like you were shooting on 16mm film. Even though the newer camera’s better, there’s a certain nostalgic quality to the photos taken on the 1 that isn’t there on the 12.

Anytime there's a random shot of Sam in the background he should be out of focus and walking with a Bigfoot pose

I work with CCTV cameras for my job. One thing I always find on older cameras that were installed years ago is a haze on the lens and sensor. The plastics inside the unit will out gas over time putting a thin layer of gunk on the sensor and inside lens. This is probably the reason why the original photos seem to have a hazy and unfocused quality to them. I think if you can scour the internet for original iPhone photos from 2007, you would probably have sharper images.

Another interesting comparison would be to do the Google Pixel 3, 4, and 5. They all use the EXACT same Sony Exmor IMX363 12.2 MP sensor just with improved optics and more and more image processing. Going back further to the Pixel 1 (Sony Exmor IMX378) and Pixel 2 (Sony Exmor IMX362), the sensor really hasn't changed much in 5 years, yet the processing power has made vast improvements with the same available resources.

I’m so glad I watched that Bollywood 7 CGI video before it got taken down. I need to watch the full movie now ahaha

The “Hey Guys, this is Austin”… was too funny 😂

The photos from the iPhone 1 look like something from a video game. Sometimes you just want an old and not so great digital camera because it takes photos in a unique way. Working with limitations can be fun.

Not gonna lie, the old iPhone’s camera was much better than I expected and honestly isn’t *that* much worse than the new ones. I’m not saying it’s good, but it did impress me.

The truly amazing part is how fast that processing happens. When you take a picture, it's ready to be viewed in less than a second. Just crazy

Nowadays, you buy a camera that you can also call people with... Seems like every commercial for every cell phone is just about the camera, and of course about ALL the megapixels.

Shoutout to Austin for repping that Logic merch

“PUBG simulates what it’s like to be in a real war, it has features such as guns, and bullets.”

15:30 those aren't AI artefacts. Those are JPEG compression artefacts. Whenever you see those 8x8 pixel squares with wavy patterns aligned vertically or horizontally those all come from the type of compression that JPEG, MP4 and many other photo and video formats use. The way it works is by comressing each 8x8 pixel square separately by first representing it as a sum of wavy patterns with different frequencies and then ignoring the higher frequency patterns to save memory. So it is most noticable around sharp edges which require the higher frequencies to be represented accurately but the compression throws those away. So you get bright and dark spots a few pixels away from the edges.

What’s even crazier is that they weren’t able to get the raw data from the iPhone 1. They just used the processed data. Imagine getting raw data and multiple exposures and stuff

Well, any photographer could tell you this; iPhone cameras still use tiny tiny sensors, (obviously) which creates very high pixel density on the sensor to keep the resolution but creates extreme noise and lack of sharpness (not to mention lack of light fidelity). They also have short little lenses with fixed apertures that, due to their actual size, not F-stop, have horrible low light performance. And of course, no optical zoom, which means they rely on multiple lenses with different focal lengths to achieve the effect, which makes it more complex and expensive. Additionally, they digitize mechanical processes in cameras; phone cameras have no mechanical shutter and rely on a digital pre-capture technique. And lastly, they rely *heavily* on the post-processing of the image. They use fake depth of field because the aperture and sensor can't create it, they add fake sharpness and vibrance, and so much AI BS that just makes pictures look fakely stunning instead of realistically beautiful. And believe me, anyone can tell the difference. Overall, image processing compresses the colorspace and the image size itself, sacrificing clarity, focus, dynamic range, detail, and resolution. When the AI is involved to regenerate the lost data and *attempt* to improve the image, it ends up looking completely fake, as exemplified by the 3rd Party AI programs shown in this video. This is what separates phone cameras from dedicated ones; the software vs. Hardware dichotomy. You can take stunning personal-use photos with phones now, but you could never use a phone for professional use. everything they are could never EVER stack up to any dedicated DSLR or mirrorless camera. The simple fact is phone cameras are so incredibly small, and real cameras are much larger with more features to dedicate and make pictures naturally more perfect. In this sense, size really does matter.

I was hoping you'd try taking 9 photos (from the same position) with the iphone 1, and use all of them to enhance the output image 😌 Perhaps it would end up even better than the enhanced ones you got so far.

“Where are the apps??” On-phone apps were not needed because web apps can be run in the browser. Then on-phone apps were allowed… and they became shells that ran web apps It came full circle. :)

I really like how older cameras look, it gives me alot of nostalgia

That phone clearly wasn’t Russian.. it showed up a day late! 😅😂

0:52 Wow they are legitimately afraid of people re-creating the key. Interesting. I guess that makes sense you can do it off of an image/video.

3:19 wren seal impression

Wren: *falls off his one wheel breaking his collar bone, going through incredible pain, and is inconvienced by a cast for months Also Wren: *Decides it's a good idea to ride his one wheel while holding two phones and wearing novelty glasses that impair his vision 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I did NOT expect Austin in this video! The collab we never knew we needed!

Seeing this makes me annoyed how little the cameras themselves have actually improved across 14 years, the iPhone 1 looks so much better than I was expecting

I actually wish we could disable the AI denoising. It looks super weird sometimes, especially when you know what a denoised render with not enough samples looks like. Just let us choose the image before processing too.

It’s crazy how we used to laugh at CSI ENHANCE and now it’s becoming a real thing

Man those og iPhone photos have such a nostalgic look to them. It's not "good" looking but it takes me back.

Sam and Niko need to quit playing around and give Wren an educational VFX channel under the Corridor umbrella. Wrenducation at its finest. Keep these videos coming!

“We don’t have an iPhone. How are we going to do this video?!” **everyone continues to play Smash**

1:12 Wren talking without moving his mouth, amazing

Haven't watched much Corridor Crew but I INSTANTLY recognized 8:41 as the set of the Aimbot video over on the Rocket Jump channel. Such a classic

It's like Wren wanted to break an arm again the way he was riding the 1-wheel and taking photos.

Perfectly timed, I was about to buy a new phone specifically for the camera. Corridor is always one step ahead 😂

As a photographer who uses a mirrorless camera it’s a little weird seeing phone cameras get so good. Unless you’re doing things that are literally physically impossible on a phone, it’s getting harder to justify getting a dedicated camera for the average non photographer person. Overall though it’s definitely a good thing for accessibility

I’m glad I watched this, I had kind of surmised just from my own knowledge of photography and computing that they were stacking multiple shots and dynamically upping the shutter speed if things moved. Then you showed Phil literally explaining that very thing. Kind of forgot they did that.

I actually kind of like the Polaroid look of the original iPhone way better than I expected to. It weirdly makes the photo seem less "perfect" or clinical. It gives the photo a bit of soul.

Pro tip: pause at 06:52 and cross your eyes, find the right distance and focus from the screen and let your eyes relax. If you succeed you should she 3 images. The one in the middle has an impressive 3D depth and parallax effect when you move the screen or your head. Kinda cool to see a blend of the different phone cameras in crisp 3D depth.

After many months of Austin NOT saying it, Wren had to come in and say “HEY GUYS, THIS IS AUSTIN.” Ahhhhhh

Wren is so good at conveying information in an approachable way

8:27 that Harry Potter moment

Wow, this was another super interesting topic by Wren! He really knows how to bring an idea like this to life and demonstrate it in such an eye opening way! 😊

That was the most unexpected crossover ever

Google pixels are the perfect example of this. The camera hardware is kinda old and mediocre but the post processing let's it compete with the latest iPhones Try to take a video though and the quality goes back to what you'd expect from the pixel hardware

As someone who owned a flip phone in the 2000s, I can't complain at all with the new iPhone cameras

2 notes on the original iPhone: After the release Apple marketing the use of web apps.inside Safari. Less than 6 months after the phone was released, Apple announced upcoming support for 3rd party apps. A little more than a year after its release, that original iPhone had an App Store. I’m only half way through the video, so I’m not sure if it’s mentioned, but the original iPhone couldn’t do video without a 3rd party hack (which was basically just a bunch of pictures put together to make a video, kind of like a GIF)

The insertion of that sponsored segment was so sneaky and smooth. It was beautiful

6:20 ok, the new iphone 13 pro sensors are amazing but austin needs to spit out facts, it is nowhere near 1 inch sensor. In fact, plenty of other phones have bigger sensors. However, apple imaging software is indeed incredible, still, not in any way near a 1 inch sensor and thats not a bad thing, bigger sensor requires bigger and better glass, so I dont think phones will get into 1 inch sensor without having a big, i mean hugeee ass camera bump.

Wren, this is one of those videos where I wish travel and stuff was easier, because I feel like teaming up with someone like Destin from SmarterEveryDay would have made this absolutely insane.

My OnePlus 9 Pro has that Hasselblad camera, which can literally see better in the realtime preview at night than my own eyes do. I can take a picture of what appears to be pitch black darkness to me and it will pull out an image, albeit slightly yellowed. I can also zoom in so far that I can see into the window 8 houses down the street, whereas I can barely even see that house with my eyes. Cameras have gotten so insane, and they're finally starting to really make a lot of progress in those extremes, which you don't use often but also make the more normal situations look way better.

Image stacking would've made a big difference combines with these other upscaling techniques. It's not a fair comparison when the modern iPhone gets to use a series of images taken at different exposures.

4:29 when he said “Hey guys this is Austin”it was such a simple but good reference to Austin’s channel

Wren could not have done a better introduction to Austin 😅

When Wren said "Hey guys" I instinctively said "This is Austin" and then there he was lol

Austin Evans and Corridor Crew. The crossover i never knew i needed

5:16 NOICE!

"this is for Jimmy... Jimmy has not lived here in.. 10 years!!" *Dramatic horror music*

This left me curious how much better would've looked with the 9 photographs reference per scene from the iPhone1 to feed the AI

Film Riot did a great showcase of the 13 Pro's video capture which is definitely a whole lot better than my own DSLR's video. That being said, I'll still reach to my DSLR for shooting RAW photography.

Great stuff! Having a background in image processing and high end photo retouching, a lot of things come to mind to make the iPhone 1 photos even better. For example using multiple shots stacked in Photoshop for superresolution, similar to what deep fusion does. I would love to see things like that in a future video!

those images with the old iPhone made me feel incredibly emotional for some reason. Just like pure nostalgia slapping me in the face

Blackmagic: "Let's do a global shutter on our 4K!" "Nope. Turns out there's always room for Jell-O."

If you really want to do this right, you should take a burst while being extremelly still, upscale them invidually, then mix them, that will give you way better results.

You could have also tried putting it on a tripod and making multiple photos focusing on other parts of the image - and then stack them together with a program like Lightroom to emulate the "Deep Fusion".

Shout-out to the people at Topaz Labs for making those AI programs so good.

Feels like this video is a good example for having access to the raw data so you can have the option to CSI enhance the image like you want it to ;D

When u download something from a really old and unknown website. Noone: Me at the back of my mind : 3:23

I kind of hate how iPhone photos look, I feel like I can't get an accurate gauge on how I actually look when they do stuff like smoothing out skin imperfections in selfies. It makes me look much better than it should, and if I switch to the front facing camera I look completely differently. It's quite frustrating. I want to look accurate.

When he said "He guys" I mentally prepared myself to add "..this is Austin" as a joke. Didn't expect Austin to actually be there

I REMEMBER in 2010 having to intercalate like 3 different photos of varying exposures to create an HDR photo!

I would LOVE to see another "Following Bob Ross in real time" video done with BEEPLE!!!

Bought my first iPhone for $100 while on holiday I’m the US and jailbroke it, with the exchange rate it cost roughly £55, now I pay £1200….. love how times have changed lol Edit: bought direct from the Apple store for clarity

The iPhone doesn’t use the NPU when opening images it’s already taken. It uses the NPU only on capture time. What you’re seeing when opening the photo is the transition from a thumbnail/preview to the full res image.

My favorite videos are where Wren talks at us for 20 minutes.

I've had a number of times where friends questioned why it took so long to get a shot just right with my actual camera and I explained I have to change my settings to get what I want and they go well my phone can take a picture quicker and I'm like ya it does a million things at once. All for them to love how good the photo looks when I'm done 😂 phones are great for capturing fun times and light duty stuff but even with all they do now, a traditional camera will still blow them out of the water.

In my opinion the picture at 13:47 looks more "realistic" to me. Honestly i dont know why there is this feeling, maybe because i grew up with such cameras, but the way the sun is reflecting at the bridge give me some "raw" vibes yk

That gleaming quality at 1:58 is standard fare for the US Postal (dis)Service. Last month, I had to get a package replaced TWICE, because they absolutely mutilated the box with a big fat FRAGILE sticker on it.

Whenever I’ve asked anyone who bought a new iPhone to describe the difference between the new and old tech, they can’t. They upgrade so they can finally use email, FB, IG, YT, text, and calendar... oh wait, they did that on their old phones too. 🤷‍♂️

The colab I never knew I needed lmfao I love Austin

I'm curious about a comparison between the old and if you limit the new to 2MP.

To me improving the software side of things is all great and stuff but what I'm more interested in is having actually better pictures, not something that isn't a true representation of the moment. Apple's objective is probably to offer very ordinary hardware but with software enhancement that way they save money on the hardware components.

He is back the one and only Nerd Wren 8:25 In Season: 8 Episode: 25 Doing Science.

The original version of iOS did support 3rd party apps in the form of web apps which could be saved to the homescreen

So was Arnold's CPU actually an NPU? I mean, his neural net processor was a learning computer...

Now can we get one done for Android devices, I'm curious if they are doing similar work to Apple

If you have photoshop you can take multiple photos and then File>Scripts>Load Files into Stack. From there you can have it align the photos and you can layer the images to average out the noise grain to make these "super resolution" photos.

14:50 - 'Heh... I look like a crazy METH scientist' LMAO

Can’t get over how at 18:06 , when Wren introduces Topaz Labs, the first sentence he speaks is right on beat with the background music.

"Pubg mobile is a real simulation of war" Mobile game ads are legendarily terrible, But that line is pretty ridiculous, even by mobile game ad standards.

I'm really not an Apple guy at all, but even I have to give big props to Jobs and (mostly) his team for putting together such a legendary keynote as that iPhone 1 release announcement. Like literally a historic keynote, as far as keynotes are historic.

You guys are fast becoming one of my favorite channels on RU-vid. Really interesting topics and super informative on the tech behind the scenes without asking me feel like an idiot. 👏

I get y’all are talking about the phone but the jimmy cameo with those classic VGHS headphones I loved that show so much holy crap epic nostalgia

I would really love to see you guys make a time travel animation for back to the future. One as close to the original as possible. One completly overboard. And one how you would imagine it

I appreciate the fact that Nick also put on his lab coat.

Because of the pursuit for the best objective imagine we lose some of the "character" of older technology that had to deal with a lot of limitations. That's one of the reasons why Black pro mist filters are so popular with filmmakers, it adds some character back

The fact that you guys superimpose a countdown timer during the ads really solidifies how fucking nice you are in all ways