Iphone Photography

[HSakols]

Thanks for the article.  I've been trying to use Ipad Minis to teach photography to a small group of sixth graders.  I'm already amazed by what they are doing with Snapseed. Is there any app that will allow for one to have control over the aperture?  I'm amazed what people are doing especially with modifying JPEGs out of the phone.  Later this month my students will bring their Ipads to Yosemite Valley where they will try and emulate Ansel Adams.  I meant to ask about using an ipad as a camera, but figured I would be laughed off this forum.  

[Telecaster]

I'm pretty sure the iPhone/iPad camera apertures are fixed. I have a couple apps that allow direct setting of shutter speed & ISO (as of iOS 8 )…no such luck with aperture.

-Dave-

[Colorado David]

I read the article with interest.  In September I was on a flight that arrived near sunset.  As we were descending, I saw the most beautiful sunset with interesting clouds over a countryside filled with lakes unfolding.  My camera gear was safely stowed in a backpack in the overhead bin across the isle.  My only choice to photograph the scene was my iPhone.  I was really amazed with the quality of the image I was able to get.  I did a little work in PS and may print the image.

I was also a little bit interested in the author's surname.

[E.J. Peiker]

That is correct. The lens is a fixed aperture and since its actual focal length is so tiny even at the relatively fast aperture of the iPhone cameras (varies by iPhone model but generally around f/2) the DOF is nearly infinite in all but very close-in shooting.  As you stated, there are a number of apps that allow you to manipulate things like ISO, shutter speed, tone curves and even capture the RAW data straight off the sensor and store it as a TIF file but there is no way to change the aperture.

[Isaac]

…the DOF is nearly infinite in all but very close-in shooting.

I guess for many people that eliminates the most common fault with their photos.

[Telecaster]

In September I was on a flight that arrived near sunset.  As we were descending, I saw the most beautiful sunset with interesting clouds over a countryside filled with lakes unfolding.  My camera gear was safely stowed in a backpack in the overhead bin across the isle.  My only choice to photograph the scene was my iPhone.  I was really amazed with the quality of the image I was able to get.  I did a little work in PS and may print the image.

Yeah! My in-flight pic taking went way up after getting my first phone-based camera. It's something I look forward to. Decades ago, during a flight to the Middle East, my plane passed over a huge ice-covered area. The colors & tones of the ice, via a fairly low sun, were spectacularly beautiful. I could still kick myself for not pulling my camera out of overhead and photographing it. I've taken more or less the same flight path a number of times since, but never again at the right time with the right conditions. At least now, though, I'm more prepared.

-Dave-