Lately, there have been many arguments about whether the iPhone 5 camera is actually better quality than a true point-and-shoot camera. If you already own an iPhone 5, buying a true camera could be considered a waste of money. That is, if the iPhone camera is truly of high quality. Has Apple improved the camera enough? Here's a visual test: iPhone 5 camera vs. the Nikon Coolpix S550, an example of a point-and-shoot.

Picture of a leaf. iPhone (left) vs. Nikon S550 (right). (Click to see larger) [caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Grass - iPhone 5 (left) vs. Nikon S550 (right). (Click to see larger)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="769"] Chair, taken in low light. iPhone (left) vs. Nikon S550 (right); No Flash (top) vs. Flash (bottom).[/caption]  

Disadvantages of the iPhone 5 Camera

In a mobile device, there's always cons over a dedicated camera. In the iPhone 5, they are as follows:

• No Optical Zoom: The iPhone 5 camera, due to its compact size, has no true zoom. You can zoom, but it will be digital zoom. This means that the photo will start to degrade in quality as you zoom. In a way, this is cropping a picture before taking it.
• Low-Power Flash: The LED Flash included in the iPhone 5 camera is not as bright as a dedicated camera's flash. Due to this, your iPhone won't flash until it's rather dark. Thus, many indoor photos can often become grainy, depending on the light level.
• Lower Shutter Speeds: The average indoor photo taken with the iPhone 5 camera has the shutter speed of 1/20 second. In other words, if anything is moving within 1/20 second of the picture being taken, it will appear blurred. For example, if a person was running at 5 mph, it would cause about 5 inches of blur, enough to cause an extremely blurry subject in the photo.

Advantages

In some ways, the iPhone 5 camera is better quality than many point-and-shoot cameras.

• Touch Focus: While taking photos, the iPhone 5 can take advantage of its touch screen. You can tap wherever you want to focus. Most cameras have fair autofocus, but this ability can allow for some unique photos.
• Lower Shutter Speeds: Apple designed this to take low light shots better. Often the iPhone 5 camera can reveal details that point-and-shoots (without the flash) cannot.
• Color accuracy: The iPhone 5 camera has a "smart filter" for better color matching. This has most effect on outdoor photos.
• Back-Illuminated Sensor: This sensor makes the iPhone 5 camera closer to the human eye than traditional camera sensors.

Usually your experience can also be impacted by these technology advantages:

• Fast Shots: The iPhone's CPU allows for very quick full-quality pictures. A traditional camera may take 2 seconds to autofocus and 3 seconds to save. With the iPhone 5 camera, you can basically take a photo and move right on to the next one, with minimal delay.
• Quickly Share Pictures: Take an awesome picture. In under a minute, all your friends can see it.
• Get apps: There are plenty of apps out there designed to apply effects to pictures. This creates many possibilities with the camera.

Conclusion: iPhone or Traditional?

You should not replace your camera with an iPhone if you require zoom, you will take many dark shots, or if you will take many sports shots. SLR cameras are incomparable to the iPhone, so professionals shouldn't use the iPhone 5 camera. Other than those things, the iPhone 5 camera is perfect for the casual photographer, especially those that like to share photos online.