The Sushi Photo Was Taken with an iPhone 4S

Tuesday October 4, 2011 7:08 pm PDT by Arnold Kim

In early September, we saw a photo of sushi that was believed to have been taken with a next-generation iPhone. The photo appeared in the Flickr stream of a known Apple employee and was found to have some unusual characteristics:

This (very attractive) photo claims to have been taken by an iPhone 4, but the rest of its EXIF data tells a different story: although the image has been cropped to 2235x2291 (5.12 megapixels), the original picture was a much larger 3264x2448 -- or just shy of eight megapixels. What's more, the lens was recorded as a 4.3mm f/2.4, which is closer to that of a point-and-shoot than the iPhone 4's actual 3.85mm f/2.8.

With the announcement of the iPhone 4S and release of full resolution photos from the device, we see that the specifications line up nicely:

- Image size : 3264 x 2448
- Aperture : F2.4
- Focal length : 4.3 mm (35 mm equivalent: 35.0 mm)

So, it seems that this was an early iPhone 4S shot from back in July.

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

.Andy

Posted: 8 months ago

Thank goodness this finally puts the contentious sushi question to rest.

Rating: 13 Positives / 0 Negatives

r.j.s

Posted: 8 months ago

Did he get fired?
Probably forgot that he even had a 4S in his hands.

I don't see why he would get fired ... it's not like he let the phone at the sushi restaurant.

Rating: 13 Positives / 0 Negatives

rsbagga

Posted: 8 months ago

Re: earlier comment - megapixels are not the important number here - the aperture is the important number in a small camera like this. Optics and a wide aperture (which will let in a ton of light) will beat megapixels every time, especially with a small camera/sensor situation here. Megapixels are basically the digital camera industry's way to make an objective, easy to understand number by which to compare cameras. But compare a good 4 megapixel camera with a crappy 12 megapixel camera. The optics will matter more every time.

Rating: 11 Positives / 0 Negatives

zipster

Posted: 8 months ago

8mp is not impressive by todays standards

In a tiny mobile phone, it absolutely is.

Rating: 10 Positives / 0 Negatives

foodog

Posted: 8 months ago

8mp is not impressive by todays standards

MP doesn't mean a thing... its a number. The sensor is what is important in any camera. crappy sensor and low pixel count is a better photo than a high pixel count and crappy sensor.

Rating: 9 Positives / 0 Negatives

appleguy123

Posted: 8 months ago

Did he get fired?
Probably forgot that he even had a 4S in his hands.

Rating: 7 Positives / 1 Negatives

Negritude

Posted: 8 months ago

I'd have been more impressed by a photo of some marinated lime shrimp ceviche...

Rating: 4 Positives / 0 Negatives

Irishman

Posted: 8 months ago

That's why there were no leaks of the new iPhone for such a long time. It's just the same.:(

How is it just the same?

Rating: 4 Positives / 0 Negatives

nagromme

Posted: 8 months ago

That's why there were no leaks of the new iPhone for such a long time. It's just the same.:(

There were all kinds of leaks—even component photos—pointing to the 4S we got, which is huge upgrade over the iPhone 4 :)

All of which has little to do with the business at hand: sushi rumors!

Rating: 6 Positives / 2 Negatives

iPegboy

Posted: 8 months ago

I think Cook missed an opportunity for a good laugh. When he was showing gorgeous pictures the 4Gs could take, he should have flashed this photo as well. The crowd would have loved it.

Rating: 2 Positives / 0 Negatives

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