Let me start off by saying that I'm not a techie, but I consider myself an artist whose main tool is my iPhone. Like all Apple aficionados, I eagerly awaited news on the latest version of the iPhone. While the new colors and the introduction of Touch ID are welcome additions, the only news I wanted to hear about was the iSight camera.
Bigger Is Better
Having listened to the circulating rumors, I was expecting a 13MP camera. That didn't happen. I wanted MORE megapixels—until I heard Dan Riccio, Senior VP Hardware Engineering, explain that more pixels create a bigger picture, but bigger pixels make an even better picture. Apple's solution to a better photograph—bigger pixels. iPhone 5S will have a wider f/2.2 aperture which will allow more light onto the sensor. The active sensor area itself is 15 percent larger than it was before, which means each 1.5 micron pixel will convert 33 percent more light into image data. This will produce images with a greater dynamic range of color and less noise.
No More Shaky Images
With the new auto image stabilization feature built in as well, the iPhone 5S will take multiple photos with a single shutter press and automatically merge them for the sharpest final image. Street photographers often shoot from the hip to be less conspicuous. This has resulted in a lot of unintentionally blurred images on my camera roll. I'm eager to see how this new feature works in the real world.
True Tone Flash
The world's first True Tone Flash has both cool and warm LEDs, and the iPhone will analyze the lighting of the situation and select the best color of flash for the circumstances. I'm not a big fan of flash photography, but Apple claims this flash will produce better skin tones and more natural looking color.
Burst Mode
Shoot 10 frames per second for as long as you hold down the shutter button when in Burst Mode. Using the A7 chip, the iPhone 5S will analyze those images and present to you the best shot based on exposure, sharpness, and faces in scene. You can also manually select the shot taken from the series. I can imagine this would come in handy for street and sports photography. When a scene is unfolding in front of you, having the option of taking multiple shots may increase chances of catching that right moment.
Slo-Mo
With the introduction of Vine and the video addition to Instagram, many iPhone photographers are using their creativity to produce videos. With the new Slo-mo feature, I look forward to seeing what the cutting-edge creatives produce.
Faster Image Capture
According to the official press release, the improvements in the new iPhone 5S "along with the Apple-designed image signal processor in the A7 chip and the new Camera app in iOS 7, provide up to two-times faster auto-focus, faster photo capture." This is a definite plus for the iPhoneographer!
Learn more about the iPhone 5S in the video below:
Summary
The iPhone 5S itself won't make you a better iPhoneographer, but the enhanced camera features will give you a start with better image quality. The rest is up to you!