iPhones are some of the most popular devices for uploading photos to the web in world – the iPhone 3G is still the most popular camera on photo sharing site Flickr. Apple claims the new iPhone 4 camera is much, much better. But is it? Read on to find out.

Verdict – Great camera, great video. Pity it’s not more flexible
We love – Good detail in photos and video, quick focusing
We hate – You have very little control over the camera’s settings

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The iPhone series of devices has become one of the primarily sources for photos uploaded to the internet, even though the iPhone 4 is the first of Apple’s phones to feature a camera that we’d describe as decent.

The iPhone 4’s five-megapixel sensor sounds piddly next to the 12-megapixel sensors used in the top-end camera phones currently on the market, but as any self-respecting camera geek will tell you, it’s not all about megapixels. The megapixel count is only as good as the sensor itself, which is what brings in the light to be converted into a digital image.

Apple seems to have put a focus on quality of experience – as it always does – rather than the size of its numbers because we found that the iPhone 4 out-performs 5-megapixel rivals like the HTC Desire and Google Nexus One. The camera uses both autofocus and touch focus. You can leave the iPhone 4 to focus on the natural “scene stealing” object in a scene, or pick your own subject by tapping on it in the camera preview.

Focusing is quick and, for the most part, accurate. You need to put around 10cm distance between the iPhone 4’s camera and an object to get a strong focus lock-on, and it has some trouble with small or shiny objects, but in general use the iPhone 4’s camera is quick and reliable.

Apple seems to have put some clever IS (image stabilisation) tech inside the iPhone 4, because you don’t have to try hard to stay particularly still to end up with sharp, in-focus images. The same can’t be said of many rival Android cameras, which rely on you having the shake-free grip of a surgeon.

In darker conditions, the LED flash provides a decent light for subjects up to 2-3m away, but the camera still needs some environmental light to focus by. In pitch black conditions, most of your images will end up out-of-focus, especially close-ups. However, as long as there’s some light for the sensor to hook onto, results are good, with a respectable level of noise on show.

Video is even better, especially if you tool your iPhone 4 up with the iMovie (£2.99) app. It records at 720p, 30fps video, coping extremely well with quick motion for a camera phone. Touch focus features in video too, letting you switch focus between facial close-ups to faraway vistas in a second or two.

Great quality imaging aside, we’re disappointed that the iPhone 4 gives you virtually no control over your photos or video, aside from choosing what to focus on and whether to use the flash. Other mobile phone cameras at this level let you shoot in black and white or sepia, let you choose ISO settings and give you great control over the quality you record/shoot at.

The iPhone 4 doesn’t, instead giving you the option to compress photos as you share them over email. Video compresses itself automatically over email, do you’ll need to sync your files over iTunes if you want to keep your video at full quality.

The iMovie app is a neat way to stitch together different videos and pictures, but just like the camera itself, you’re not given enough control to make it a full end-to-end solution. All the iPhone 4’s camera problems can be fixed with a software update, so hopefully Apple get around to pushing one out once it has stopped patting itself on the back about how good the iPhone 4 is.

OTHER iPHONE 4 REVIEWS –
Apple iPhone 4 review
Apple iPhone 4 review – iOS 4 and apps
Apple iPhone 4 review – build, body and looks
Apple iPhone 4 review – Retina display screen
Apple iPhone 4 review – gaming

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