And in the Beginning…

In this wacky, adrenaline and pixel driven world of digital photography, we’re witnessing something close to a reinvention of the medium rather regularly. In fact, this article looks at new hardware and software that, without exaggeration, really does represent a new beginning in the way we capture and edit our images.

When Apple introduced its first iPhone in 2007, many of us were amazed at the list of jaw-dropping features the new gizmo sported. We could browse the web, send emails, and synch our calendars and address books, all while talking on the phone. But few photographers had any inkling of what creative potential lay under the LCD of Apple’s new “phone.” Boy, was that ever destined to change!

Now here we are in the middle of 2010, with another amazing iPhone hitting the stores. With more resolution, a built-in flash (of sorts) and even a second camera facing the user to facilitate video conferencing, this 4th generation iPhone will once again raise the bar on pocket connectivity and― our concern―great picture making. Sure, we expected more resolution (growing from three to five mega pixels) but, to Apple’s credit, they didn’t just jam more pixels into the same tiny chip (we all know what happens with that scenario―sensor noise). Instead, even with the added resolution, the pixel sites themselves are the same size as in the iPhone 3GS. Apple used the newest backside illuminated CCD, in which the circuitry is placed on the rear of the sensor where it doesn’t compete for photons with the image-forming parts of the sensor. One result: low light shooting (a problem with nearly all small sensor cameras) should be markedly improved with the iPhone 4.