Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Apple iPod Touch iSight Camera Review


This is a short mini non-technical review of the new iSight camera in Apple's latest iPod Touch 5th generation device, I will just cover the basics of the camera and I am aware that the newest fifth generation iPhone, has a 8 megapixel camera and probably a much better camera, but this is for anyone that is interested in what the new iPod's camera ( 5 megapixels ) is like and if you compare it to the camera on previous iPod ( 4th generation ), which the has a F2.4 3.9 mm lens at 0.7MP its quite a lot better, as you can see by the side by side comparisons images that I have posted with this article.
For what it is, the camera on the 5th generation iPod Touch is great, considering that the device measures 123.4 mm ( 4.86 inches ) X 58.6 mm ( 2.32 inches ) with a thickness of 6.1mm ( 0.24 inch ) and has a feather like weight of 88 grams ( 3.10 ounces ). Packed inside is the iSight camera, which features a fixed 3.3mm F2.4 five-element lens with LED flash, that really works if you are within about 5 to 7 feet of your subject. the camera also sports a hybrid IR filter and autofocus with face detection, quite a few features for such a tiny camera. The camera is very easy to operate, tap of the camera icon and point and shoot. Once the camera app is open there are a few options to chose from with "flash", it can be set for "auto", "on" or "off", I used it in the "on" position for some fill ash ( the old Kodak Brownie picture has a bit of fill flash ) under "options" there is a choice of "grid" useful for getting horizons right and "HDR", which captures three images and combines them, it works very quickly. There is also one other option and that is "Panorama" that is a very good which allows the user to pan from left to right to make a panoramic image, works well. One thing I did find was that it was easy to flick the switch from camera to video mode as the switch is right beside the shutter and/or video button. The camera also sports HD video recording (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio, I don't shoot a lot of video so won't post any samples with this review but again for what it is, the camera produces good quality video from such a small package, great for sharing and posting online.
The lens is a fixed focus lens, with no zoom, I don't mind the restriction , the lens is quite a wider than the previous 4th generation model and can do amazing close ups, it auto focuses quite quickly in good lighting and is a little slow in low light. The ISO appears to run from 32 to a high of 640, ISO 32 is quite clean, there is some noise in the shadows and blue sky areas, 640 is a bit grainy and ISO 500 is decent to use. To get the maximum quality out of the camera, best to shoot on days with good bright light, not too contrasty, as I mentioned the flash is usable and I am quite amazed that the tiny little LED light can produce the amount of light needed, it's a bit harsh looking so beware of hard looking shadows if you are taking pictures of people's faces with the flash. The output file size is quite decent, a 14.4 M image that will make a 8.5 x 6.5 inch print @ 300 dpi.
I would say overall that the camera in the iPod Touch 5th generation is a great little camera if you are looking for a truly pocketable camera and will be great for making quick snaps of family and friends. Its very easy to operate, just point and shoot, it does a good job of calculating the proper exposure with nice bright contrasty images. I would be very interested if Apple ever came out with a "iCamera" maybe a few more features like a zoom lens, a few more megapixels, slight bigger package, I think it would be very popular.
All of these pictures posted with this article were taken in and around my home in West Kelowna. Since I got the iPod last week ( October 25, 2012 ) the weather has been rather cloudy and rainy then this past Monday the weather cleared with a few hours of sun so I got out and made these images. Thanks for reading if you have one of these new iPod's I hope you make some great pictures!
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