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The 3G S video is pretty impressive for a cell phone. The camera alone seems to be an enormous upgrade over the 2G and 3G iPhones, still, such a tiny lens and chip have big disadvantages with light. I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison in a controlled environment to get an better idea how the 3G S video works. I settled in on the idea of using a chip charts that should run the camera through its paces. This should demonstrate the iPhone's white balance, iris, focus, and resolution as the software chews on the visual exercises. The control camera is a Panasonic HVX200 shot at 720/30p. Obviously there should be no expectation for the iPhone to match this hardware and setting. This is just a baseline of what really good video should look like. The shot utilized three point lighting, manual focus, and the white point and iris were set appropriately. For simplicity the camera was stationary on a tripod as I flipped the pages. On the iphone I moved the phone while flipping the charts. Lighting was identical and all cameras were about 2.5 feet from the charts. Overall I thought the iPhone was pretty impressive. Before shooting I selected the white balance card with the touch tool. I was disappointed in the metering here as the opening poor shot is pretty poor. Once there was some activity, however, the iris got better. I thought the resolution and focus performed considerably better than what I was expecting. In good lighting the camera seems to perform well, but the iris seems to be pretty challenged with complex/changing scenes, at least when up close. The iris seems to perform better with a little more distance. In general, the auto white balance seems pretty warm, but when the iris locks in at a reasonable level, it looks pretty good. I'll be curious if Apple can tweak the software a little since it seems capable of shooting pretty good video when it knows what's going on. All in all, I'm pretty excited about the camera and video. This is a great YouTube camera and general sharing spontaneous moments with friends and family. iPhone 3G S HVX200
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