This is a photo from my iPad Mini. Two-handed, it's is easy to hold still, thus the picture is sharp despite the slow 1/15 second shutter speed. (And top aperture, 2.4.)
But: notice how grainy and unsharp it is, folks. And this is despite the low ISO setting of 250! Even pocket cameras have delivered better results at ISO 800 for the last few years. In other words: The Mini has a very small camera with a very tiny sensor, meaning it's not good in low light. This of course is the price for the wonderful slimness of the Mini, but you need to take it into consideration if you think that the Mini can replace your pocket camera. It can't, unless it's only for snapshots for the web. (It's just 5 megapixels too.)
Original here (click on Download to get full size.)
Update:
Bruce said...
I downloaded the photo and looked at it full size. It's not too bad for grain. Are you sure you are not looking at it oversize on your monitor?
Eolake said...
Well, Blogger scales it down from 5MP to 2MP, that makes the grain and unsharpness much less visible.
But of course few web images are bigger than 2MP. And in better light it'll be better.
Original here. (Click on Download to get full size.)
I was just a little shocked to see image degradation at only ISO 250, to the degree that normally is only seen at maybe 1600.
It's a good camera for the size, but it *is* a very little camera indeed. Just think: it fits in a space a quarter the size of a thimble!
4 comments:
I downloaded the photo and looked at it full size. It's not too bad for grain. Are you sure you are not looking at it oversize on your monitor?
There is an app called FieldCam that would be funny to use with an iPad mini.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/fieldcam/id436733951
Well, Blogger scales it down from 5MP to 2MP, that makes the grain and unsharpness much less visible.
But of course few web images are bigger than 2MP. And in better light it'll be better.
Orig:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dx81qjoeqrtholy/mini-1.JPG
I was just a little shocked to see image degradation at only ISO 250, to the degree that normally is only seen at maybe 1600.
It's a good enough camera for the size, but it *is* a very little camera indeed. Just think: it fits in a space half the size of a thimble!
OK, I see it now, and I agree with you, that's a lot of noise. In viewing the 2MP version I had the right observation ("He can't be looking at the same thing I am") but the wrong conclusion.
I tried moving the original into Lightroom but I wasn't able to reduce the noise without making the image much blurrier.
Indeed, the loss of resolution is perhaps the real enemy in high-ISO signal boosting. Software is good at removing noise, but it can't bring out detail which isn't there, and, seemingly inevitably so far, it always removes some texture and detail with the noise.
... I looked at ISO 3200 images from the big Canon 5D III recently (see eolake.blogspot.com), and it was astounding, they looked basically perfect, you'd have to know about it to notice noise or res loss. That's a big and expensive camera of course, but still, it's amazing how they make progress every year.
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