China's Huawei Caught Faking DSLR Shots as Smartphone Pictures in a Commercial (theverge.com) 92
Smartphone cameras are better than ever, but sometimes there's just no substitute for a full-sized DSLR. Unfortunately, it seems that Huawei thinks so, too. From a report: A shot in the company's latest commercial for its new Nova 3 smartphone has been revealed by a behind-the-scenes photo to be a DSLR, not the smartphone as the ad alleges. As you can see about halfway through the ad, a bickering couple takes a selfie together apparently to show off how Huawei's AI and camera tech make it so that the woman doesn't need to put on makeup. But a since-deleted Instagram picture posted by Sarah Elshamy (the actress in the scene) reveals that instead of a fun selfie from the Nova 3, the shot in question came from a DSLR, shot by a professional photographer. In fact, the Nova 3 doesn't seem in be in the frame at all.
Lies. All Lies (Score:2)
signed,
The Great Leader
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Microsoft (Score:2)
a few years back, MS did the exact same thing with their surface phones.
Re:who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
You would, if you were expecting a higher quality picture than what the phone actually produces.
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I remember when everyone was alleging Microsoft, Sony, and the lot were using high-end, pre-rendered digital graphics in place of gameplay to oversell their consoles.
Are we still doing this?
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There's plenty of fakes around as the marketing peeps aren't always happy with the results and take the "no one will care anyway" approach. Heck I'd almost wager that some of the stills and maybe even a video or two from the Mars missions, Moon landing and Hubble may have been tweaked or re-rendered to give a better appearance.
Re: who cares? (Score:3)
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This.
What amazes me is that Huawei didn't just use the camera on the phone. Sure, camera phones are awkward tools for pro shoots, and will never be as good as DSLRs. But they are generally pretty good, and steadily getting better. (Unless, of course, Huawei's camera sucks.)
Bad optics on this whole episode. Figuratively and literally.
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what surprises me is that everyone else hasn't gotten caught doing this. Modern phones can take great pictures but this seems to likely to be the start of a diesel-gate-esque revelation where even apple ends up saying 'ok ok ok ok...we used a dslr, but the ad looked good, right?'
Re: who cares? (Score:2)
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what surprises me is that everyone else hasn't gotten caught doing this.
With good light (natural or artificial) even smartphone cameras can take astounding shots.
A few years ago photographer did a fashion shoot with the then-new IPhone 3GS. The pictures looked great, because he had thousands of dollars of lighting equipment helping the camera out.
Re: who cares? (Score:1)
Also, really good photographers can take great photos with almost any equipment, because it's about the skill, not the equipment.
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With good light (natural or artificial) even smartphone cameras can take astounding shots.
And Picasso could have made great art with even with crayons on foolscap. Thank goodness he went with oil paint on canvas.
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So much for the "my phone takes pictures just as good as DSLR" trolls.
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So much for the "my phone takes pictures just as good as DSLR" trolls.
Mine does... but that's because I have an iPhone,
As if we needed any more evidence that Apple owners are delusional.
Re: who cares? (Score:2)
I have an iPhone and an APS-C DSLR (not a high end full frame one), and the iPhone doesnâ(TM)t even come close. Even comparing the photos on the small phone screen that hides the more obvious sensor noise, differences in clarity, etc. Apple do some amazing things in software, but they do not come close to the DSLR in any measure but convenience.
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It is called false advertising. Like how the McDonald's burgers look so delicious on picture but is in fact a soggy mess.
In some countries that is illegal. Sadly the law is selective. Which is why I make my burgers at home.
Can do better (Score:3)
I have a Nova 2i and it's camera quality is VERY good (better than iPhone 7 even)
Yes, but Apple is up to the iPhone 8 (and X) now... both with better cameras.
Cameras keep evolving year to year, especially in mobile, so it's not a surprise some phone makers would crack and attempt to present more of a leap than they had.
No phone camera is anywhere near DSLR (or mirrorless) quality.
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...you mean, a company lied about their products? Inconceivable! FTFY
Until we have some Truth in Advertising laws with teeth, it is still buyer beware.
The key difference is that a reputable company only exaggerates vs lies.
With all that said. Showing off your phone with an ultra-high resolution display on TV and Print will not normally show well or express the quality of the product, so they will normally green screen a doctored image to make the display seem sharp and bright on print, your TV or computer.
China was caught faking MISSILE shots (Score:1)
So faking DSLR shots is like, nothing.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne... [telegraph.co.uk]
What Huawei (or any company) will take away... (Score:2)
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Yeah, it's pretty funny that they got caught by a photo which was, apparently, actually taken with a phone...
And the setup is funny too - you see the guy's arm sticking out there, holding nothing!
Trust us! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Throw away those DSLRs (Score:1)
It's digital, but it's not a single lens reflex. Why they felt they needed to drag forward that acronym is unclear. SLR didn't historically mean 'real good camera' in the first place. SLRs were small portable medium-quality cameras. Good film cameras were Hasselblads and other larger format cameras, not cameras designed to shoot little tiny frames on what was originally motion picture film (35 mm).
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A 4 x 5, 5 x 7, or 8 x 10 sheet film negative is vastly larger than a little frame on a roll of film, whether the camera back is oriented portrait or landscape.
Capitalism promotes fakery (Score:1)
Mind=blown (Score:2)
Wait, so you are telling me that all of those simulated images in commercials are, well, simulated?
Most commercials will state in a disclaimer that images are simulated, but my reading ability for Arabic isn't what it once was (and even then it wasn't very good), so I am not sure if they had a disclaimer in that video or not.
Re: Mind=blown (Score:2)
I can tell watching the TV commercial that those are not cell phone pictures. The depth of field is too great
I think you meant the opposite. Cell phones have great depth of field. Getting a shallow depth of field is the difficult part.
Re: Mind=blown (Score:1)
I think you mean 'controlling the depth of field is part of the art.'
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The ability to stop water droplets without blur. All these things require a decent sized lens
I can tell you don't know much about photography. Freezing water droplets in the frame is a function of shutter speed and fuck all to do with the lens.
More precisely anything quicker than around 1/500 of a second will give you water with no blur. My two year old phone can take photographs at 1/24000 second - rather better than my much more expensive professional grade interchangeable lens camera.
Hardly the first... (Score:5, Informative)
In other news (Score:4, Insightful)
In other news, food does not actually look as good as the picture on the package.
Not saying that I like that, just wondering why start freaking out about it now.
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just wondering why start freaking out about it now.
So because it's happened before, it's not worth reporting on when it happens again? I've never understood these comments. Yeah other companies have done it too. That does not make this story not newsworthy.
Any reason for "China's" (Score:3)
So, any particular reason to include CHINA'S Huawei?? I don't recall there being too many of them to cause confusion?
I don't recall reading that an American Apple iPad exploded recently, or that South Korean Samsung had some trouble with exploding phones a couple years back.
Re: Any reason for "China's" (Score:1)
They didn't want to confuse it with Harlem's Huawei, which is a chinese food storefront with fairly good eggrolls, as long as you don't order them during the lunch rush.
Obvious fakes (Score:2)
The pictures weren't even vertical [youtube.com].
Everyone lies (Score:2)
Which is why I wait for real world reviews / benchmarks before making a decision.
if I was photographer (Score:2)
Aw, c'mon (Score:1)
That photo in ad is so obviously heavily professionally retouched, nobody would see that an think, "Boy, that phone takes great pics!"
Data General? (Score:2)
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Next thing you know they will be photo shopping those Victoria Secret models.
Which would matter if we were buying the models.
What do you expect? (Score:2)
It's a mainland Chinese company.