iPhone claims high-ranking spot on Flickr

The iPhone has risen to prominence on Flickr, rivaling most SLRs in popularity. These statistics from Yahoo cover the last 12 months.

(Credit: Yahoo)

The iPhone is the mobile device of choice these days for doing most things that need a network. So it shouldn't be a surprise that the phone has carved out a prominent place on Yahoo's photo-sharing site, Flickr.

The Flickr Camera Finder, Yahoo's statistical counter of camera use among its members, shows that since the arrival of the iPhone 3G model earlier this year, the phone has vaulted not only over all other camera phones, trouncing the Nokia N95 in second place, but also almost all ordinary cameras.

That's a notable accomplishment. I've been watching the Flickr Camera Finder for two years, and that's the first time I recall a camera phone placing so highly. The top ranks have been dominated by SLRs, the camera of choice for many of Flickr's heaviest users.

With the debut of the 3G model, Apple's iPhone surged to a commanding lead among camera phones used at Flickr. These statistics from Yahoo cover the last 12 months.

(Credit: Yahoo)

Right now the iPhone is in a virtual tie with Canon's Rebel XT and Nikon's D80, two SLRs whose popularity is waning with the arrival of newer models from the dominant makers of such cameras. Only Canon's newer Rebel XTi outranks the iPhone.

Though the trajectory is clear, there are caveats. First, Flickr measures popularity on the basis of the number of users who've uploaded a photo on a given day. In other words, the camera used by a person who uploads one photo a day will fare better than one who uploads 100 pictures one day a month. Second, many camera phones don't identify themselves to Flickr, so their use isn't logged. Last, these statistics fluctuate daily, and who knows what kind of anomalous behavior is going on during the holidays.

The total number of photos uploaded from the Rebel XTi is about 51 million, compared with 5.8 million for the iPhone. However, there are nearly 3,000 people uploading daily from their iPhone compared with about 6,500 for the XTi.

My guess is the iPhone's better-than-average network abilities are responsible for the prominence. For the same reason, iPhone users also use Google Maps and other online services more than most mobile device users. The BlackBerry is good at e-mail, but the Internet has other attractions.

What's more interesting is extrapolating from the trend. Certainly the iPhone's image quality doesn't hold a candle to even old point-and-shoots, much less new SLRs, but the phone taps straight into the social features of Flickr--the ability to photographically share with friends and family what's going on in your life, for example. There are innumerable expert photographers at Flickr, but it looks like the yet larger herd of ordinary snapshooters are going to leave them in the dust once liberated with the ability to post pictures at will.

I sent my iPhone photos to Flickr using the site's upload-by-e-mail service (see Yahoo's instructions), but there are several iPhone applications that will do it for you if you prefer. Apple's photo e-mailing software scales photos to 640x480, but I don't mind, given feeble image quality and the unlikelihood that these shots will ever make their way beyond a computer screen.

[sartor1]

Apple would really dominate with a 3-5 megapixel camera!
It would be nice if Apple would also allow movie making with the iPhone also.

[sythara]

If Apple made a dedicated camera it would look ugly and be way too expensive. Oh gods, I can just imagine this: the iCamera (no, not DS-10S).

[Perry_Clease]

"If Apple made a dedicated camera it would look ugly and be way too expensive. Oh gods, I can just imagine this: the iCamera (no, not DS-10S)."

Sartor1 was talking about a 3-5 megapixel iPhone not a standalone camera. However, you would have trolled even if you understood that.

[desmondhaynes]

Nothing suggests that this will happen - not technology at least. And in a year, who will want 3MP? Having said that, check out some awesome pics that can be taken by iPhone (from Flickr). Awesome.

http://coolestphotos.blogspot.com/2008/12/amazing-photo-shots.html

[pcfish]

I don't know how many times we have to say this, it is not megapixels people, its the optic that really counts. A 0.5 megapixels from a Nikon D3 with decent lens is still going to be hundred times better than your 50 megapixels iPhone/Nokia or whatever other phones. I will be more happy if they put more effort on the iPhone's tiny lens and software than increasing the resolution.

By the way, just to have some perspective here. Most 15" laptop only has 1280x800 that is 1Mpxels, Most 17-19" LCD only has 1440x900 which is 1.3Mpixels, and 1080p Full HD is 'just' 2.1Mpixels.

[sythara]

@Perry_Clease, I guess you know better than me what I would do. No I wouldnt have said anything if I knew what he meant. The quote was "Apple would really dominate with a 3-5 megapixel camera!". Not "Apple would really dominate with a 3-5 megapixel camera for the iphone"

Don't assume you're right all the time, you're not the hot sh*t you think you are.

[eBob1]

Not iCamera, it was called iSnap and it was ugly.

[Joe90210]

This interpretation of figures is totally biased. One should keep in mind that while iPhone is the only model from Apple stable, other hand set makers have launched hundreds of if not thousands of models of cell phones. Could we please have data comparing Apple with other hand set makers (Nokia, Samsung, SE, ...)?

[hardeep1singh]

The images from my 5 megapixel N82 are too big to be uploaded without reducing the resolution. An average photo is around 700kb, data costs would kill me if I started uploading those. However, these photos look exceptionally good when I get them printed.

[Penguinisto]

@hardeep1singh:

There are quite a few cures for this. My 6mpx Minolta Maxxum 5D generates images in RAW format that are gargantuan for web use. That said, I can very easily scale them down, and tweak dpi and .jpg compression to get filesizes down to some very respectable numbers without sacrificing quality.

For instance, if you scale the image down to, say, 1600x1200 (or so, depending on aspect ratio and cropping), drop the dpi to 72 (min) to 90dpi, then set .jpg quality to 85 percent (or tweak it to use a tighter algorithm), you can cut a 3.5MB file down to around 220k or so (even less if it's B&W instead of RGB) - if you don't downscale it and keep the same resolution, you can still drop it do around 350-400k with a bit of tweaking in the other aspects I mentioned up there.

HTH,
/P

[tacit]

"For instance, if you scale the image down to, say, 1600x1200 (or so, depending on aspect ratio and cropping), drop the dpi to 72 (min) to 90dpi,..."

Dropping dpi doesn't matter. A 1600x1200 image uncompressed is always 5.49 MB in size regardless of dpi; a 1600x1200 image at 72 dpi is the same file size as a 1600x1200 image at 300 dpi is the same file size as a 1600x1200 image at 3,000,000 dpi.

[Penguinisto]

Okay... so what about this?
http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00HqMM

[Penguinisto]

Oh - better URL that explains that yes, DPI matters:
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/wpdresolution/start.htm

[mbenedict]

Hardeep please ignore the two links Penguinisto posted, he's notorious on CNET for spreading wrong information (usually about Apple products.) Both links he posted are about "input dpi" and are only relevant if you're using a scanner. As you may already know, to reduce the file size you need to: a) resample the image to a lower resolution, or b) crop the image, or c) use more compression.

Unfortunately a lot of people fiddle with settings without really understanding what they're doing. The irony is Penguinisto is really talking about PPI instead of DPI, but let's not confuse him further.

[pcfish]

To Penguinisto, you are totally wrong about dpi having any effect on file compression. dpi, dots per inch is for the printer to calculate the print size only. without giving any detail, higher dpi gets u a smaller but better quality prints, that's it. A 1600x1200 file is still a 1600x1200 file, regardless of dpi.

[desmondhaynes]

Some awesome pics taken by iPhone on Flickr -

http://coolestphotos.blogspot.com/2008/12/amazing-photo-shots.html

[prensmetin]

thank you
http://www.dinamikoyun.com

[sanenazok]

What's funny is I can really see blurriness and artifacts on some of these "best" iPhone pictures. Just look at the birch tree one.

[dysonl]

Watch out people, Firefox reported an attack site when loading that page of "awesome pics".

[docparkny]

I believe the camera on the iPhone is perfectly tuned to the iPhone's display, and adequate for printing 4x6 images. Most of the image on my blog are from iPhone with manipulation using iPhone apps.

http://golfism.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/iphones-camera-is-tuned/

[iphonephoto]

Checkout AirMe iPhone app. AirMe is the best way to upload photos effortlessly to Flickr. Setup is a breeze and uploading pics is a no-brainer. Smart tags and title are added to the pictures automagically. Did I mention that AirMe is free?