The iPhone 4.0 Commeth!

Photo from Apple.com

I’m a self-avowed gadget guy, and iPhone users for the past two years (I came on board with the release of the iPhone 3G). I love the iPhone – it brings so much goodness to my life, it’s hard to describe. So I’ve been following the development and announcement of the new iPhone 4.0 pretty closely. I’ll assume at this point, you know pretty much all about the announced features and specifications of the phone. If not, click here to read my Summary of the WWDC 2010 over in the Community Forum of WATCH TALK FORUMS.

I think the iPhone 4.0 will have a substantial impact on photography. Sure, for a pro, a cell phone isn’t going to cut it for picture quality. But sometimes the best picture is the one you actually get. I’ll sacrifice some photo quality in many cases if it means the difference between having the photo or not, since I don’t always have my DSLR with me, like I do my mobile phone.

Of course, I’m trying not to get my hopes set too high with regard to the iPhone 4.0’s photo capabilities. Have you seen Apple’s gallery of sample iPhone 4.0 photos (bottom of the page)? If you haven’t, have a look. I’ll be honest in that I’m more than a little dubious of Apple’s claim that the photos are “unretouched photographs” taken with the iPhone 4.0. But we can hope.

Truthfully, with the right post photo editing apps, photos taken with the current iPhone 3GS are in many cases quite usable. Here’s a couple of macro wrist shots taken using my 3Gs in office lighting:

Rolex Daytona Wrist Shot Taken with the iPhone 3Gs

The detail is a little soft on these, but overall not too shabby – especially given the fact that they are macro photos. Here’s a photo from a recent trip to New York City I posted on my Facebook page – one of my friends asked me if I used a Canon 5D Mark II to take it:

Manhattan skyline from the Empire State Building Using The iPhone 3Gs

So while the iPhone 3Gs photos aren’t anything to write home about, they are usable, and a quantum leap over the photo quality of the previous generation iPhone 3G. And that makes the 3Gs camera a functional tool – let’s hope the iPhone 4.0 is an even better one.