Today’s Question: As smartphones become more and more impressive in terms of photo quality, I wonder if there’s a particular mistake you find is most common that results in poor smartphone photos?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes! In my view the most common mistake I see that can result in seriously degraded photos is to have fingerprints or other smudges on the smartphone lens.
More Detail: Smartphone cameras have become incredibly impressive in terms of image quality. This is partly due to improved image sensors, partly due to improved lens quality, and significantly due to advanced image processing. In terms of overall image quality many smartphones are on par with the quality of many other “real” cameras (which at this point perhaps just means cameras that can’t make phone calls).
One of the key limitations with smartphone cameras is the lack of significant (or at least more significant) focal length range. Even smartphones with a great range with multiple lenses offer something around the equivalent of 13mm to 120mm focal length range. Still, that’s a pretty impressive range for such a compact camera.
While the smartphones themselves have gotten really impressive in terms of image quality, I frequently find that smudges on the lens lead to seriously degraded photo quality. This is certainly understandable considering smartphones generally get handled quite a bit and are often kept in a pocket without any protection for the lens.
Therefore, one of the things I think you should keep top of mind is to regularly clean the lenses on your smartphone. This can generally be done very easily with a lint-free cloth, just checking first to make sure there isn’t any grit or other debris on the lens that might scratch when rubbed with a cloth. You can also use the standard lens cleaning supplies that you would otherwise use on your “real” lenses for the smartphone lenses.
In addition to cleaning the smartphone lenses on a regular basis, it is also a great idea to clean right before capturing a photo you feel is likely to turn out especially nice, just to be sure you’re getting the best image quality in the process.
