Q: Iphone 4s Takes Pictures Upside-Down???

karasardelis wrote:

 

On the othet hand, apple advertises the brand new iPhone 4S in TV taking picture and videos with the volume button up as a shutter release button - this results to all images and videos captured upside down... HUGE MISTAKE!!!

How hard is this to understand???

Lets picture a world where EXIF doesn't exist (for the purpose of this explanation). If you took a photo with the iphone the way they want you to now, ie with the volume button, then the photos/video's are UPSIDE DOWN!. If you were to hold the phone with the home button on the right, ie volume button bottom left, the pictures are RIGHT SIDE UP, but the phone's Camera is apparently UPSIDE DOWN according to how Apple want you to now hold it, ie with the volume button up!!

Personally I didn't realise this issue until Apple told me to use the volume button. I used to take pictures and video with the home button on the right. I had no idea of EXIF because I was taking pics/vid in the cameras upright position. It is still in it's upright position, but now we're told to 'hold it upside down' and let EXIF fix the problem.

EXIF only matters if EVERYONE uses it.

What do Apple need to do to fix this issue?

either

a) physically flip the internal camera 180 degrees, not possible for the phones already out there!!

b) write a patch that flips the internal camera 180 degrees in the OS (is this possible??)

c) realise that not everyone uses EXIF therefore refer to b)

mfarqwa wrote:

 

What do Apple need to do to fix this issue?

Hmmm let me think...because this very expensive phone can't even properly do an insanely simple effing task?!

But wait wasn't this the same company that waited years to flip around a logo on his laptops?!

Whether you want to hear this or not, here goes.

BOTTOM LINE:  The iPhone 4 does not have a bug...

EXPLANATION:  The EXIF information standard found here (http://www.exif.org/Exif2-2.PDF) specifies a setting called "Image Orientation".  It marks where the "0th row and 0th column" of an image is.  In other words, the "upper-left hand pixel" of an image. 

If you take a photo with the iPhone 4/4S using the volume up button, you are holding the camera upside down compared to the expected orientation of the camera... period.  Apple could (should?) change this, but that's how it is currently.  So Image Orientation is reported for the photo by the camera as follows:

Image Orientation: Bottom, Right-Hand (short integer = 3)

Image software SHOULD recognize this and act accordingly.  Preview currently DOES, but Safari, and many other software titles do not.

Honestly, why do we have to go over old ground a thousand times. We know there is no bug. It is however a serious design flaw which Apple should fix. Surely any moron knows that if Apple suggest holding the phone with the volume buttons up then they should design the phone so that the photo is not upside down. Please people, read before you post!

@philzgr8 They don't read... they are so much in love with apple and their iPhone that they are unable to "see" the mistakes Apple made.

philzgr8 wrote:

 

Honestly, why do we have to go over old ground a thousand times. We know there is no bug. It is however a serious design flaw which Apple should fix. Surely any moron knows that if Apple suggest holding the phone with the volume buttons up then they should design the phone so that the photo is not upside down. Please people, read before you post!

I already wrote about that two or three times already, but there is more. Not only the camera lens are placed upside down, they are also placed in the wrong corner/side, so if you hold your phone with the volume buttons up as a shutter release button, then the camera lens are located at the lower right side - where you middle finger is to assist you in holding the phone... now, that's a HUGE mistake...

>>Surely any moron knows that if Apple suggest holding the phone with the volume buttons up then they should design the phone so that the photo is not upside down.

If the software is properly written, the photos come out right side up every time.

>>Please people, read before you post!

Please take your anger meds before you reply :-)

>>then the camera lens are located at the lower right side - where you middle finger is to assist you in holding the phone... now, that's a HUGE mistake...

Now, that's a good point!  But, the phone was not designed with the idea that the buttons would be used at all with the camera.  Only after the fact (and after MANY customer compalints) did they enable "volume up" as a camera button.

I would hope that the iPhone 5 would fix this and/or include a dedicated "shutter" button.

deliot wrote:

 

If the software is properly written, the photos come out right side up every time.

Likewise for Apple..., ie write a patch to flip the internal camera 180 deg, THEN if people want to hold the phone in different ways, EXIF kicks in.

>>If the software is properly written, the photos come out right side up every time.<<

So what does it say of Apple knowing that most software in the world today is written the same way that they choose to adopt a standard which not only does not work on most 3rd party software but does not even work on their own Safari browser. Maybe you should do some homework before making idiotic statements.

>>Maybe you should do some homework before making idiotic statements.

Let's try some facts and opinions...

FACT:  If all image software respected EXIF 2.2 standard, there would be zero problem.

OPINION:  Is is smart of Apple to force this issue and make users pay for it? No.

OPINION:  Is it smart that Apple adapted the Volume Up button without thinking it through? No.

OPINION:  Is it smart that the lens is under the hand when using the Volume up "shutter"?  No.

OPINION:  Is it smart that Apple didn't even make sure Safari worked regarding this issue?  No.

OPINION:  Some anger management classes perhaps Philzgr8?

Amen to the last post!

As much as I love Apple design such failures are just unacceptable, especially when you know the number of people working on the iPhone and such!

>>Wow, I feel for anybody who has to work with you on a daily basis<<

Ha ha. Good to see that you have finally had the good grace to bother reading and restating everything that has already been said in this thread. I pity anyone who would work with you on a day to day basis as obviously in order to stop you from making idiotic statements they would need to tell you everything ten times before you would bother to pay attention.

deliot wrote:

 

>>Maybe you should do some homework before making idiotic statements.

 

Let's try some facts and opinions...

 

FACT:  If all image software respected EXIF 2.2 standard, there would be zero problem.

Come on... you must take a step back and look at the problem from our perspective to understand the REAL problem.... You are talking only about photos but we are talking for VIDEOS too... There is NO EXIF for videos.

I also stated earlier that almost every software NEVER rotates photos upside down even with the EXIF flag properly set. This is because standards like EXIF are very strict and people demands are what makes the real standards. When a photographer takes an upside down photo with his EOS, he/she MEANT to take it that way and wants to view that photo upside down in the editing software. That is the reason even expensive software like adobe NEVER rotates upside down photos.

As to the original question,

Try turning your iPhone right side up.

No, just joking... I commented only to be a part of this huge discussion.

Please refer to my comment on page 6 about writing to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (and his address).  To Apple's credit, I got a call from the Apple exec offices within a very few days of sending my letter about the picture/video problems.  The person who called me was extremely courteous and helpful.  She waited on the line until an Apple engineer came on the line.  However, the good news stops there.  The engineer was unaware of the problem.  After being shown this discussion forum, he essentially stated that "Apple was simply complying with the industry standard".  His position (and I guess Apple's) is that there is not a problem.  Amazing!!!!!

You can write all you want here and on Apple Feedback and NOTHING is going to change.  Strongly suggest writing directly to Tim Cook and voice your displeasure.  If enough people write with the same problem, maybe the Apple engineers will finally believe there is a problem.  Again, attacking each other will accomplish NOTHING.

It is sad that a third party can write SnapBot (which seems to work well with pictures), but Apple cannot write an app to solve the issue.  Any experience with SnapBot with videos??

Don't complain, write a letter (not an email) to Tim Cook, Apple CEO.