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Which phone you would recommend for most color accurate pics?

Lexililac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
202
Hi, Im interested to know which phone is doing the most color accurate gem pics?

I was recently in a phone store and brought some gems. I tested many different phones across to compare the color accuracy on display shown to how my eyes see them. Unfortunately there was just that very bright indoor spot light all around that shop. I think Ive to do the same test in a shop with daylight again. They also had around just the very newest models and I compared iPhone, Huawai and Samsung. So may there are even older models witch show better color accuracy then those newest models? The best color accuracy after my judgement in that specific light was from the iPhone 11 Pro. To my surprise the iPhone 11 Pro Max was quite a bit worst. Maybe it was also just the slightly different kind of light on that spot where the Pro Max was, who knows...will see that I can repeat it ones in daylight.

Im thankful for any opinion or some advice witch model is doing great color accuracy.

Thanks
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
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6,532
I use an IPhone and find it reasonable. What does make a huge difference though is the lighting. Jewellery stores in particular have specialised lighting that they pay thousands for so that their wares are displayed in the best possible light (pun intended).
At home at night I’ve noted that different lightbulbs produce different colour results. Some are LEDs, one warm white, some cool white and some incandescent. And even sunshine daylight vs overcast daylight can alter the colour of the gems.
 

Lexililac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
202
I use an IPhone and find it reasonable. What does make a huge difference though is the lighting. Jewellery stores in particular have specialised lighting that they pay thousands for so that their wares are displayed in the best possible light (pun intended).
At home at night I’ve noted that different lightbulbs produce different colour results. Some are LEDs, one warm white, some cool white and some incandescent. And even sunshine daylight vs overcast daylight can alter the colour of the gems.

Thanks! Yes the lightning conditions are so fundamental for pics. I really have to compare phones in the same natural daylight to get a better feeling for it. Whats a very classic to me is that all phones I ever saw completely fail on rubies. Makes them always way to pink. Interesting to me in that Phone store was that all phones completely failed on a green sapphire exept that iPhone 11 Pro showed that one extremely accurate. To me it was over a huge variety of colors the most constant and accurate one.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Sep 20, 2008
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25,159
I heard Samsung is better than apple. I always think my photos are a bit washed out on my iPhone and forget about getting accurate shots of darker emeralds!!!
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,159
I use an IPhone and find it reasonable. What does make a huge difference though is the lighting. Jewellery stores in particular have specialised lighting that they pay thousands for so that their wares are displayed in the best possible light (pun intended).
At home at night I’ve noted that different lightbulbs produce different colour results. Some are LEDs, one warm white, some cool white and some incandescent. And even sunshine daylight vs overcast daylight can alter the colour of the gems.

Under led’s my stones look less 3D, and it’s frustrating. Here’s an example, so flat, although the color is there. It looks smudged instead of sparkly and full of fire. Sunlight definitely is best for photos.

7E4125F7-B68F-4CC5-A53F-FD78FAC6548C.jpeg
iPhone 8s
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Sep 20, 2008
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25,159
Sunlight photos can be darker too. Two photos, one from the camera, and one color adjusted to more of what I truly see.
 

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qubitasaurus

Brilliant_Rock
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Dec 18, 2014
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1,653
Dont know about photographing gems but I actually recently watched 5 G turn on in china last weekend. At the time I went to play with the new huawei 5 G mate, and the thing was pretty remarkable. No more waiting for things to load (you just clicked on whatever file or YouTube link you wanted and it loaded instantaneously with the entire video downloaded in a second or so). Ofcourse it won't work till your country rolls out 5 G. Also it won't have the Google play store app until china and the US have apparently wrapped up their trade war and renegotiated that one (? Somehow I dont trust trump enough to believe this latest anouncement).

The 4 cameras on the back had also considerably enhanced the quality of the pictures again. This was apparently one of it's most impressive features -- but I didn't really test it.
 

icy_jade

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 1, 2009
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6,131
There are quite a few comparative articles on the internet. Eg


 

voce

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
5,161
Going to test Sony Xperia in stores later this week. The old Sony Xperia phones blew iPhones out of the water back in the day. Haven't owned an Xperia since I started my gemstone hobby, though, so I will need to bring some hard-to-photo gems (ruby, emerald) with me when I go in for testing.

Samsung has great auto focus features, but I don't trust it for color balance.
 

Rose-gold-or-bust

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Messages
314
It isn’t really about the phone. It is about the lighting conditions and the background color. With the same argument in mind, forgetting all about photographing stones, a Colored stone will appear different in different environments due to the lighting and background colors near it.
 
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PrecisionGem

Ideal_Rock
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Jul 27, 2004
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2,016
A phone shouldn’t be your first choice for photographing stones. WIth a phone you need to get to close to the stone, so you effectively are blocking direct light from hitting the stone. It’s always best when photographing stones to have the camera as far away from the stone as possible, and also the light source. This produces a more natural look to the stone as it would be viewed by a person.
 

PinkAndBlueBling

Brilliant_Rock
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Dec 16, 2017
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1,640
Just chiming in to say that any phone in my hands will take crap photos. :lol-2:
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,159
A phone shouldn’t be your first choice for photographing stones. WIth a phone you need to get to close to the stone, so you effectively are blocking direct light from hitting the stone. It’s always best when photographing stones to have the camera as far away from the stone as possible, and also the light source. This produces a more natural look to the stone as it would be viewed by a person.

That’s why I zoom in from afar.
 

Lexililac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
202
Thanks for all the inputs!! Will try to do it with a bit a distance to the gem and the zoom option. Yes after my opinion its also bit pointless to make a 2d pic from a transparent 3d object witch reacts differently to any kind of lights. Thats also why i never had much motivation in in very expensive high end camera equipment and spent an enourmouse mount of time there. Ive a very pragmatic point of view there, just wanna do as accurate as possible pics with a minimum of time an crazy high extra costs for specific equipment. Of course professional pics is a huge field and could be a nice hobby to! Unfortunately Ive actually not the time to do much effort and experiance in that field.
 

Lexililac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
202
Dont know about photographing gems but I actually recently watched 5 G turn on in china last weekend. At the time I went to play with the new huawei 5 G mate, and the thing was pretty remarkable. No more waiting for things to load (you just clicked on whatever file or YouTube link you wanted and it loaded instantaneously with the entire video downloaded in a second or so). Ofcourse it won't work till your country rolls out 5 G. Also it won't have the Google play store app until china and the US have apparently wrapped up their trade war and renegotiated that one (? Somehow I dont trust trump enough to believe this latest anouncement).

The 4 cameras on the back had also considerably enhanced the quality of the pictures again. This was apparently one of it's most impressive features -- but I didn't really test it.
Yea when it comes to topics like 5G then in many countries in Europe you invest better in a good carpet to do smoke signals then in a smartphone But still so many here around have the mindset that in Asia they just grow some rice and producing t-shirts and in Europe we are so modern and on the top of the developement.
 

PrecisionGem

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Messages
2,016
That’s why I zoom in from afar.

Zooming on a phone is the same as cropping the image. It’s not an optical zoom, its digital which is basically cropping the image in the camera. So that’s why you get grainy low resolution images.

There are many inexpensive cameras on the market that have optical zoom and macro capabilities that will do much better than any phone camera can. These cameras will also have larger sensors than phones, and produce a better image. Look for something that you can work in a manual way with both focus and exposure.
 

qubitasaurus

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
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1,653
Yea when it comes to topics like 5G then in many countries in Europe you invest better in a good carpet to do smoke signals then in a smartphone But still so many here around have the mindset that in Asia they just grow some rice and producing t-shirts and in Europe we are so modern and on the top of the developement.

That made me chuckle. My home country is no better. I saw plans for new tech enabled by the 5 G network a couple of months ago. It left me a bit speechless (self driving cars, intersections without traffic lights for driverless cars, smart homes and domestic robots, shops using image recognition software to automatically identify you and your purchases and bill you without checkouts, augmented reality....). It is a bit surprising what they think they will roll out on the back of that technology.
 

Lexililac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
202
That made me chuckle. My home country is no better. I saw plans for new tech enabled by the 5 G network a couple of months ago. It left me a bit speechless (self driving cars, intersections without traffic lights for driverless cars, smart homes and domestic robots, shops using image recognition software to automatically identify you and your purchases and bill you without checkouts, augmented reality....). It is a bit surprising what they think they will roll out on the back of that technology.

Yes such developments are pretty scary, especially if you've read stuff like Huxley`s brave new world or Orwell`s 1984. But just to watch it from a western perspective with a long democratic and (pseudo) humanistic background not let you understand what it means for the people there. Alone in China hundreds of millions of people developed from very poor conditions into solid middle class conditions in a very short period of time. Those people honor that improvement often very much. Additional they have a very different social, cultural and political background and mindset. But in the end human is human and humans are mammals so it will go the way it goes after my opinion.
 
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