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"A Photographer's Take on the LG G4"

codesplice

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Oct 29, 2013
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I am a professional photographer (for more than 30 years now) and I use high end Nikon equipment.

If you are trying to compare the camera on the LG G4 to professional cameras costing thousands of dollars (just look up the cost of a Nikon D4s or the Canon EOS-1D X) the G4 will look pale by comparison. It is by no means a true professional camera.

Th LG G4 has a 16MP image sensor that is (approx) 9.77mm x 9.77mm. The Nikon D4S has 16MP images sensor that is 23.9mm x 36mm. The standard consumer DSLR has a 15.6mm x 23.5mm also at 16 MP.

The larger the sensor the greater the range of light that can be recorded by it. This is called dynamic range, this is the range between the dimmest and brightest pixel that can be captured in a single image. The LG G4 has a 95.43 square mm area, the typical consumer DSLR's sensor is 366.6 square mm and the Nikon D4s' sensor is 860 square mm. This means that the Nikon D4S has 9 times the sensor area or 9 times the dynamic range. For the same number of pixels this means that each pixel on the sensor of the Nikon D4S is approx. 9 times more sensitive than the LG G4. The typical DSLR sensor has approx. 3.8 times the sensor area.

For this reason alone the camera on the LG G4 cannot be truly compared to true professional camera. And we haven't even started to talk about lenses.

If you are looking at the camera on the LG G4 as compared to other cell phone cameras it is by far the best for now.

The F1.8 f-stop is nice for low light, though most professionals rarely shoot with a lens wide open (at the lowest F-stop) and combined with the 3 axis vibration reduction will allow for much less vibration is low light situations. This will yield "better" pictures mostly because the image will be less likely to be blurred due to camera motion. This is the most common problem with pictures taken in low light situation.

The manual control is an awesome idea for advanced amateurs and professionals to be creative when their main cameras are not available or inconvenient to use. This will also allow the camera to be used in a more artistic manner.

Having raw output available is a requirement for any real post processing as JPG file sacrifice data for compression.

In the final analysis the LG G4 has a very nice camera in it for a cell phone. But when compared to consumer DSLRs it starts to lose some of it's appeal. And when compared to professional cameras, like the models mentioned earlier, it just cannot compare at all.

Comparing the camera on an LG G4 to a Nikon D4S or Canon EOS-1D X is like comparing a Smart car to a Lamborghini. The Smart car is very good at what it is designed for but is no Lamborghini.

All the hype and hyperbole aside, the LG G4 has the best camera currently available on a cell phone. Enjoy the camera, take advantage of the manual mode and raw pictures.
 
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