SLR or Phone Quiz

MaKettle · 09-22-2011, 09:50 AM

Try this if you've got ten minutes to kill, CNN has an article detailing image capture with different types of cameras, the story itself is not worth the time to read, but they have this interesting "test" to see if you can tell if an image was taken with a cell phone or an SLR. heres the link,,, I scored 5 out of 10

Phone or fancy camera, can you tell? - CNN.com

**baro-nite** · 09-22-2011, 10:00 AM

You bettered me by 1, but no surprise that it's a "gotcha" test -- makes CNN look clever. You'd think they were trying to sell phones. Image size and quality in general nowhere near enough to make this a real test. Plenty of phones can take photos that are more than good enough for this scale; some even have image stabilization. DOF is one of the main clues, although I got fooled on that on a couple of the shots.

krp · 09-22-2011, 10:28 AM

I got 7 out of 10. The tricky ones are the high iso slr photos that make it look like cell phone quality.

Arrvon · 09-22-2011, 10:35 AM

7/10 here for me as well. I got fooled by the ones taken by the phone where the subject was close enough to the camera that the background was still blurred significantly. It is exceedingly difficult to compare photos that are so small though!

JinDesu · 09-22-2011, 10:39 AM

Well, not just that, you can't "compare" either.

JeffJS · 09-22-2011, 10:58 AM

6/10

My typical score when I just take a WAG at the 50/50 questions. With some of them, it's obvious but at thumnail size, difficult to tell on some of the rest.

TaoMaas · 09-22-2011, 11:18 AM

I was 6 out of 10, too. Like some of the rest of you, the ones that fooled me were the high ASA DSLR shot and the pics where the background was blurred. Cellphones can take pretty decent pics these days. We recently had a cellphone photography contest in our camera club and there were some great pics entered.

**boriscleto** · 09-22-2011, 11:22 AM

4 of 10. But it is obvious that some of the phone pics were post processed to add background blur.

rtpguy · 09-22-2011, 02:35 PM

Originally posted by krp

I got 7 out of 10. The tricky ones are the high iso slr photos that make it look like cell phone quality.

7 out of 10, with at least 2 due to exactly what you wrote, the high iSO noise making me think 'crappy cell phone'

DaveH · 09-22-2011, 02:39 PM

Totally meaningless as a test.

cali92rs · 09-22-2011, 04:54 PM - **1 Like**

I think you guys are looking at it from the wrong point of view...to me, this doesnt illustrate the fact that you can take decent pics with a phone. Rather, it shows that any joe schmo can take a crappy pic with a nice camera.

samtr87 · 09-22-2011, 05:19 PM

Originally posted by rtpguy

7 out of 10, with at least 2 due to exactly what you wrote, the high iSO noise making me think 'crappy cell phone'

Same here. 7/10 and fooled by the noisy pictures.

IIGQ4U · 09-22-2011, 05:43 PM

6/10 here. Those "SLR" photos were terrible.

steve1307 · 09-22-2011, 08:15 PM

I got 8/10 but that was after reading some of the comments, about the grainy SLR shots. I was looking for shallow DOF with a DSLR which also helped with no.6 which i guessed right.

No.1 is a shockingly bad photo, I got that one wrong.

Pretty pointless really.
It should be: Here's a picture taken with an SLR. Now try to take the same picture with a phone.

yeatzee · 09-22-2011, 08:29 PM

They trick you by blurring the background on a couple phone shots to mimic a DSLR shot. Rather sneaky......

09-22-2011, 09:50 AM	#1
MaKettle Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Lafayette Indiana Posts: 28	SLR or Phone Quiz Try this if you've got ten minutes to kill, CNN has an article detailing image capture with different types of cameras, the story itself is not worth the time to read, but they have this interesting "test" to see if you can tell if an image was taken with a cell phone or an SLR. heres the link,,, I scored 5 out of 10 Phone or fancy camera, can you tell? - CNN.com

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
People working with the phone	Caddis	Post Your Photos!	5	09-21-2010 06:59 AM
People Her new cell phone	Mikhail_Kriviniouk	Post Your Photos!	2	09-05-2010 09:10 PM
People Girl on phone	Falcons	Post Your Photos!	3	07-30-2010 12:44 AM
Quiz: Which famous photographer are you?	heatherslightbox	General Talk	36	07-13-2008 07:02 AM
Monday Morning Quiz	jfdavis58	Pentax DSLR Discussion	17	03-13-2007 12:09 PM

09-22-2011, 10:00 AM	#2
baro-nite Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: North Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,295	You bettered me by 1, but no surprise that it's a "gotcha" test -- makes CNN look clever. You'd think they were trying to sell phones. Image size and quality in general nowhere near enough to make this a real test. Plenty of phones can take photos that are more than good enough for this scale; some even have image stabilization. DOF is one of the main clues, although I got fooled on that on a couple of the shots.

09-22-2011, 10:28 AM	#3
krp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Illinois Photos: Gallery Posts: 470	I got 7 out of 10. The tricky ones are the high iso slr photos that make it look like cell phone quality.

09-22-2011, 10:35 AM	#4
Arrvon Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Vancouver, Canada Photos: Albums Posts: 242	7/10 here for me as well. I got fooled by the ones taken by the phone where the subject was close enough to the camera that the background was still blurred significantly. It is exceedingly difficult to compare photos that are so small though!

09-22-2011, 10:39 AM	#5
JinDesu Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: New York City Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,638	Well, not just that, you can't "compare" either.

09-22-2011, 10:58 AM	#6
JeffJS Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,484	6/10 My typical score when I just take a WAG at the 50/50 questions. With some of them, it's obvious but at thumnail size, difficult to tell on some of the rest.

09-22-2011, 11:18 AM	#7
TaoMaas Pentaxian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,574	I was 6 out of 10, too. Like some of the rest of you, the ones that fooled me were the high ASA DSLR shot and the pics where the background was blurred. Cellphones can take pretty decent pics these days. We recently had a cellphone photography contest in our camera club and there were some great pics entered.

09-22-2011, 11:22 AM	#8
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,477	4 of 10. But it is obvious that some of the phone pics were post processed to add background blur.

09-22-2011, 02:35 PM	#9
rtpguy Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: NC Posts: 206	Originally posted by krp I got 7 out of 10. The tricky ones are the high iso slr photos that make it look like cell phone quality. 7 out of 10, with at least 2 due to exactly what you wrote, the high iSO noise making me think 'crappy cell phone'

09-22-2011, 02:39 PM	#10
DaveH Inactive Account Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Wirral, Merseyside Photos: Gallery Posts: 3	Totally meaningless as a test.

09-22-2011, 04:54 PM - 1 Like	#11
cali92rs Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 3,354	I think you guys are looking at it from the wrong point of view...to me, this doesnt illustrate the fact that you can take decent pics with a phone. Rather, it shows that any joe schmo can take a crappy pic with a nice camera.

09-22-2011, 05:19 PM	#12
samtr87 Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: FL Posts: 246	Originally posted by rtpguy 7 out of 10, with at least 2 due to exactly what you wrote, the high iSO noise making me think 'crappy cell phone' Same here. 7/10 and fooled by the noisy pictures.

09-22-2011, 05:43 PM	#13
IIGQ4U Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: La Jolla, CA. Posts: 262	6/10 here. Those "SLR" photos were terrible.

09-22-2011, 08:15 PM	#14
steve1307 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Sydney Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,130	I got 8/10 but that was after reading some of the comments, about the grainy SLR shots. I was looking for shallow DOF with a DSLR which also helped with no.6 which i guessed right. No.1 is a shockingly bad photo, I got that one wrong. Pretty pointless really. It should be: Here's a picture taken with an SLR. Now try to take the same picture with a phone.

09-22-2011, 08:29 PM	#15
yeatzee Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Temecula Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,675	They trick you by blurring the background on a couple phone shots to mimic a DSLR shot. Rather sneaky......